Updated normalized load-settlement model for full-scale footings on granular soils

The design of spread footings on granular soils is generally governed by serviceability requirements. Recent studies have utilized databases of load tests to investigate the use of normalized load-settlement curves to model the behavior of footings on sands. A major limitation of available databases is that they are based primarily on data from plate load tests or footings that have an equivalent width smaller than 1.0 m. There is a need to confirm the applicability of these curves to footings of practical scale. The main objective of this paper is to update available normalized load-settlement curves using point measurements of settlement and load from full-scale footings. Bayesian techniques are employed in the updating process. Results indicate that the updated normalized load-settlement relationship is slightly more conservative but less uncertain than the current relationship. Results from an illustrative example involving serviceability limit state reliability analyses using footings with widths ranging from 1.5 to 3.0 m indicated that the updated relationship resulted in a slightly higher reliability level compared to the prior relationship.     

MTA固井技术在煤层气井中应用的实验研究

MTA固井技术在油气田中的运用已经取得了显著效果,能够提高二界面的抗剪切强度以及抵抗地层水对二界面的冲蚀。通过室内实验,对MTA固井技术在煤层气井中的运用进行探索。实验结果表明,MTA技术在煤层气井的固井模拟实验中,也能够有效的提高二界面的抗剪切强度,实现二界面的整体固化胶结,抵抗地层水对煤层气二界面的冲蚀,这些特点对于提高煤层气井的产能具有重要意义。作为一种施工简捷、效果显著的固井技术,MTA固井方法在煤层气井中的应用前景是极为广阔的。     

Pipe-soil shear interaction stiffness in horizontal directional drilling and pipe bursting

During horizontal directional drilling and pipe bursting installations, the shear forces between the pipe and the surrounding soil play a major role in the tensile loads and stresses experienced by the pipe. The magnitudes and variations in the shear forces are controlled by the pipe-soil interaction characteristics. This paper discusses the shear interaction between the pipe and the soil during those trenchless installations. A pipe-soil interaction mechanism is described that quantifies the relationship between the shear force and shear displacement, as well as the shear force at which sliding takes place. A simple analytical approach, as well as a finite element procedure, is employed to provide guidelines on practical values of the pipe-soil interaction stiffness and to investigate the effect of some soil and geometric parameters on the interaction stiffness magnitude.     

Numerically observed shear bands in soft sensitive clays

The numerical challenges that arise in modelling shear bands in soft sensitive (SS) clays have not yet been fully resolved. Convincing and well-accepted solutions have yet to be found. This paper presents some novel information related to the shear band phenomenon in SS clays. In this study, the hypothesis is that the generation and dissipation of excess pore pressure from shear bands could regularise the strain softening and result in a mesh independent shear band thickness. The generation and dissipation of excess pressure is modelled by a coupled consolidation process. The simulation aims at modelling two counteracting mechanisms in the SS clay. First, the shear band narrows because of strain softening. Second, the internal pore water pressure drainage reduces the rate of strain softening. This counteracting mechanism provides an inherent regularisation technique for SS clays. This study presents some numerical results involving these two counteracting mechanisms. This study also shows that an inherent internal parameter applicable for SS clays can be defined by the ratio between soil permeability and the applied strain rate. In the case of SS clays, the range of this parameter varies from 0 to 0.0002 mm.     

Evidence of late oligocene/early miocene backthrusting in the central alpine “root zone”

Abstract

Two groups of stretching lineations can be distinguished in the Central Alpine " root zone " between Ticino and Mera :

1) Steeply plunging lineations formed during retrograde metamor-Phism under amphibolite/greenschist facies conditions indicate an uplift movement of the Central Alps. The lineations can be related to an important back-thrusting event of late Oligocene/early Miocene age.

2) Gently plunging lineations formed under lower greenschist facies conditions display a pattern typical of a dextral strike-slip system. These lineations are of early Miocene age.

This cpmbined movement, achieved by ductile deformation along the lnsubric line was followed by a stage of brittle deformation in a dextral strike-slip system (= Tonale line).

The signification of this interpretation is shown in a new crustal cross section through the Central Alpine/Southern Alpine border zone in the Iicino area.     

Analyses d’ouvrages

New structural data and P–T estimates of syn-deformational assemblages within the Beni Bousera peridotites and their crustal envelope are used to explain their Alpine exhumation. The Beni Bousera peridotites occur as thin sheets within high grade crustal units of the lower Sebtides (inner Rif, Morocco) and are composed of weakly deformed spinel lherzolite in the core of the massif and garnet-spinel mylonite at the rim. The main foliation trajectories in both the peridotites and overlying crustal units show systematic rotation towards their mutual contact, indicating a kilometer-scale top to the NW shearing with a dextral component along this crust/mantle contact. Widespread top to the NW shear criteria within the crustal units overlying the peridotite support this feature. Available ages constrain the development of the main foliation in both the peridotites and crustal rocks between 25 and 20 Ma. New P–T data from the peridotites show that deformation occurs during decompression from ≈ 22 kbar, 1050°C to ≈ 9-15 kbar, 800°C. As a consequence, exhumation of the Beni Bousera peridotites takes place during the Oligo-Miocene lithosphere thinning in the footwall of a lithospheric extensional shear zone. The exceptional preservation of garnet within the mylonitic peridotites results from rapid cooling of the border of the massif due to the juxtaposition with colder crustal rocks along this shear zone. Uplifting of the hot mantle rocks simultaneously induces high temperature metamorphism in the overlying crustal units. These new findings allow us to reconstruct the deformation history of the Beni Bousera region and the Alboran domain in the framework of the western Mediterranean geodynamics during the last 40 Myrs.     

非均质土坡降雨入渗的耦合过程及稳定性分析

针对天然土质边坡通常呈现非均质特性这一问题,进行了降雨入渗作用下非均质土坡稳定性分析,考虑了渗流场和应力场之间的耦合作用。以一简化非均质土坡模型为例,对比了耦合和非耦合情况下渗流场的差异,验证耦合的客观性和其必要性;细-粗型和粗-细型土坡的降雨入渗过程可分别分为2个和3个阶段;运用有限元强度折减法,以特征部位位移突变并结合塑性区贯通作为失稳判据,进行了土坡稳定性分析,发现雨水到达土坡土层接触面的时刻即为边坡稳定性突变的时刻;并通过深入分析孔隙水压力分布,揭示了降雨诱发非均质土坡的变形破坏机制。同时,就降雨强度、历时和渗透系数对非均质土坡入渗过程和稳定性的影响进行了大量的计算和分析,发现只有当雨水进入到下层土体时,该层土体渗透系数才会对土坡稳定性产生较大影响。     

基本气流的垂直切变作用下的低纬低频波

在低纬地区,风速的垂直切变也是很明显的,作者解释了这些纬向气流的垂直切变对低纬长波性质以及对不同模态的相互作用的影响,并且发现切变对低纬波动的影响具有明显的选择性.     

Gemstone Mineralization in the Palghat-Cauvery Shear Zone System (Karur-Kangayam Belt), Southern India

We summarize here the occurrence of a number of semiprecious stones within a major gemstone belt in the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone system close to the northern margin of the Madurai Granulite Block, southern India. The gem mineralization in this belt includes different varieties of corundum (star ruby, sapphire), cordierite (iolite), feldspar (moonstones and sunstone of various hues), beryl (emerald, aquamarine), chrysoberyl (alexandrite), kornerupine, topaz, spinel, crystal quartz and amethyst, among others. Gem mineralisation has not been directly dated, but is associated with pegmatites that crosscut rocks metamorphosed in late Neoproterozoic/Early Cambrian times. Similar aged gem mineralization occurs south of the Achankovil Shear Zone in southern India, as well as in Sri Lanka and Madagascar and strengthen the view of a broad late Neoproterozoic-early Cambrian gemstone province in central Gondwana. The ruby mineralization within this belt can be correlated with similar occurrences in eastern Madagascar, supporting a correlation between the Malagasy Betsimisaraka suture zone and the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone system in southern India.     

Flow and deformation failure of sandy slopes

The effects of earthquake induced pore pressure on seismic and post seismic stability conditions of cohesionless slopes are investigated with reference to the infinite slope scheme. In cohesionless slopes the shear strength reduction caused by pore pressure build-up may lead the slope to a deformation failure or to a flow failure if liquefaction conditions are approached. Two critical values of the seismic induced pore pressure ratio are introduced to evaluate the effect of shear strength reduction on the slope failure mechanism. The results are given in the form of stability charts and a procedure for the evaluation of the seismic stability condition is described. The procedure gives useful information about the failure mechanism that slopes may exhibit and the displacement analysis which should be carried out.