Generalized plasticity state parameter‐based model for saturated and unsaturated soils. Part 1: Saturated state

The behavior of granular materials is known to depend on its loose or dense nature, which in turns depends both on density and confining pressure. Many models developed in the past require the use of different sets of constitutive parameters for the same material under different confining pressures. The purpose of this paper is to extend a basic generalized plasticity model for sands proposed by Pastor, Zienkiewicz and Chan by modifying the main ingredients of the model flow—rule, loading–unloading discriminating direction and plastic modulus—to include a dependency on the state parameter. The proposed model is tested against the available experimental data on three different sands, using for each of them a single set of material parameters, finding a reasonably good agreement between experiments and predictions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elastic behavior of weakly cemented contact

We investigate the elastic behavior of weakly cemented contact. We show that the radial distribution of stresses and the stiffnesses of a cemented contact are governed by the ratio a/RΛ, where R, a, and Λ are, respectively, the grain radius, the contact size, and the ratio of the elastic moduli of cement and grains. Moreover, we show that a cemented contact is always less stiff than a Hertzian contact having a similar size. Finally, we propose accurate approximate expressions of the contact stiffnesses. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemo‐mechanics of cemented granular solids subjected to precipitation and dissolution of mineral species

This paper studies the chemo‐mechanics of cemented granular solids in the context of continuum thermodynamics for fluid‐saturated porous media. For this purpose, an existing constitutive model formulated in the frame of the Breakage Mechanics theory is augmented to cope with reactive processes. Chemical state variables accounting for the reactions between the solid constituents and the solutes in the pore fluid are introduced to enrich the interactions among the microstructural units simulated by the model (i.e., grains and cement bonds). Two different reactive processes are studied (i.e., grain dissolution and cement precipitation), using the chemical variables to describe the progression of the reactions and track changes in the size of grains and bonds. Finally, a homogenization strategy is used to derive the energy potentials of the solid mixture, adopting probability density functions that depend on both mechanical and chemical indices. It is shown that the connection between the statistics of the micro‐scale attributes and the continuum properties of the solid enables the mathematical capture of numerous mechanical effects of lithification and chemical deterioration, such as changes in stiffness, expansion/contraction of the elastic domain, and development of inelastic strains during reaction. In particular, the model offers an interpretation of the plastic strains generated by aggressive environments, which are here interpreted as an outcome of chemically driven debonding and comminution. As a result, the model explains widely observed macroscopic signatures of geomaterial degradation by reconciling the energetics of the deformation/reaction processes with the evolving geometry of the microstructural attributes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generalized plasticity state parameter‐based model for saturated and unsaturated soils. Part II: Unsaturated soil modeling

The aim of this paper is to extend the generalized plasticity state parameter‐based model presented in part 1 to reproduce the hydro‐mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. The proposed model is based on two pairs of stress–strain variables and a suitable hardening law taking into account the bonding—debonding effect of suction and degree of saturation. A generalized state parameter for unsaturated state is proposed to reproduce soil behavior using a single set of material parameters. Generalized plasticity gives a suitable framework to reproduce not only monotonic stress path but also cyclic behavior. The hydraulic hysteresis during a drying—wetting cycle and the void ratio effect on the hydraulic behavior is introduced. Comparison between model simulations and a series of experimental data available, both cohesive and granular, are given to illustrate the accuracy of the enhanced generalized plasticity equation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A probabilistic approach for computing water retention of particulate systems from statistics of grain size and tessellated pore network

The paper offers an analytical determination of the hydraulic properties of an unsaturated soil with reference to its retention curve, which describes the relationship between the volumetric water content and capillarity through matric suction. The analysis combines a particulate approach focused on the physics at the pore scale, including microstructural aspects, with a probabilistic approach where the void space and grain size are considered as random variables. In the end, the soil water characteristic curve of an unsaturated granular medium along a drying path can be derived analytically based on the sole information of particle size distribution. The analysis hinges on the tessellation of a wet granular system into an assemblage of tetrahedral unit cells revealing a pore network upon which capillary physics are computed with respect to pore throat invasion by a non-wetting fluid with evolving pendular capillary bridges. The crux of the paper is to pass from particle size probability distribution to a matching void space distribution to eventually reveal key information such as void cell and solid volume statistics. Making reasonable statistically based assumptions to render calculations tractable, the water retention curve can be readily constructed. Model predictions compare quite favourably with experimental data available for actual soils, especially in the high saturation range. Having a sound scientific basis, the model can be made amenable to address a variety of soils with a wider range of particle sizes.     

Granular element method for three‐dimensional discrete element calculations

This paper endows the recently‐proposed granular element method (GEM) with the ability to perform 3D discrete element calculations. By using non‐uniform rational B‐Splines to accurately represent complex grain geometries, we proposed an alternative approach to clustering‐based and polyhedra‐based discrete element methods whereby the need for complicated and ad hoc approaches to construct 3D grain geometries is entirely bypassed. We demonstrate the ability of GEM in capturing arbitrary‐shaped 3D grains with great ease, flexibility, and without excessive geometric information. Furthermore, the applicability of GEM is enhanced by its tight integration with existing non‐uniform rational B‐Splines modeling tools and ability to provide a seamless transition from binary images of real grain shapes (e.g., from 3D X‐ray CT) to modeling and discrete mechanics computations.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A variable precision rough set approach to knowledge discovery in land cover classification

This paper presents a granular computing approach to spatial classification and prediction of land cover classes using rough set variable precision methods. In particular, it presents an approach to characterizing large spatially clustered data sets to discover knowledge in multi-source supervised classification. The evidential structure of spatial classification is founded on the notions of equivalence relations of rough set theory. It allows expressing spatial concepts in terms of approximation space wherein a decision class can be approximated through the partition of boundary regions. The paper also identifies how approximate reasoning can be introduced by using variable precision rough sets in the context of land cover characterization. The rough set theory is applied to demonstrate an empirical application and the predictive performance is compared with popular baseline machine learning algorithms. A comparison shows that the predictive performance of the rough set rule induction is slightly higher than the decision tree and significantly outperforms the baseline models such as neural network, naïve Bayesian and support vector machine methods.     

粗砂砾石地层中高压旋喷桩隔水帷幕施工技术

太原万达广场A2区商住楼基坑工程部分区域为粗砂砾石地层,基坑隔水帷幕中深层搅拌桩无法有效使用。提出了在粗砂砾石地层采用高压旋喷桩隔水帷幕的施工技术方案,采用双套管锚杆钻机引孔、单管高压喷射工艺进行施工,成功实施了这一工程。经检查,喷射注浆体相互咬合良好,有效桩径内水泥含量均匀无夹块现象,隔水帷幕止水效果良好。     

活性污泥和颗粒污泥生物吸附废水中Pb~(2+)的对比研究

采用序批式实验,分别以活性污泥和颗粒污泥为吸附材料,考察接触时间、pH等因素对废水中Pb2+生物吸附效果的影响.结果表明,活性污泥和颗粒污泥对低浓度Pb2+(0～20 mg/L)能在30 min内达到吸附平衡,当Pb2+浓度在20～100 mg/L时,浓度越低,达到平衡时间越快,以被动吸附为主.在Pb2+低浓度条件下(0～20 mg/L),初始pH为4～5时,Pb2+的去除率达99%以上,且初始pH值是影响活性污泥和颗粒污泥生物吸附Pb2+的重要因素.活性污泥和颗粒污泥对Pb2+的生物吸附符合朗缪尔(Langmuir)方程,在pH为4及25 ℃下,活性污泥饱和吸附量为59.88 mg/g,颗粒污泥饱和吸附量为80.65 mg/g.因此,活性污泥和颗粒污泥可作为有效的生物吸附剂处理低浓度(0～20 mg/L)含铅废水,且颗粒污泥比活性污泥的生物吸附效果好.