A novel coupled FDM-DEM modelling method for flexible membrane boundary in laboratory tests

Difficulties are involved in discrete element method (DEM) modelling of the flexible boundary, that is, the membranes covering the soil sample, which can be commonly found in contemporary laboratory soil tests. In this paper, a novel method is proposed wherein the finite difference method (FDM) and DEM are coupled to simulate the rubber membrane and soil body, respectively. Numerical plane strain and triaxial tests, served by the flexible membrane, are implemented and analysed later. The effect of the membrane modulus on the measurement accuracy is considered, with analytical formulae derived to judge the significance of this effect. Based on an analysis of stress-strain responses and the grain rotation field, the mechanical performances produced by the flexible and rigid lateral boundaries are compared for the plane strain test. The results show that (1) the effect of the membrane on the test result becomes more significant at larger strain level because the membrane applies additional lateral confining pressure to the soil body; (2) the tested models reproduce typical stress and volumetric paths for specimens with shear bands; (3) for the plane strain test, the rigid lateral boundary derives a much higher peak strength and larger bulk dilatation, but a similar residual strength, compared with the flexible boundary. The latter produces a more uniform (or ‘diffuse') rotation field and more mobilised local kinematics than does the former. All simulations show that the proposed FDM-DEM coupling method is able to simulate laboratory tests with a flexible boundary membrane.     

移动式海上基地(MOB)连接器动力响应试验研究

移动式海上基地(Mobile Offishore Base，MOB)是由若干半潜模块相连而成的超大型浮式结构物。在进行海上作业时，模块间的连接器将会产生巨大的载荷。用缩尺比为1：100的三模块MOB模型在实验室进行了连接器动力响应试验研究。文中对试验的关键问题，如连接器模型的设计、制作、安装、试验工况的确定和测试方法等作了较详细的介绍。     

Performance of hemi-cylindrical and rectangular submerged breakwaters

A parametric experimental study is conducted to compare the reflection and transmission characteristics of submerged hemi-cylindrical and rectangular rigid and water-filled flexible breakwater models. The results show that, for the rigid breakwaters, rectangular models are more effective than hemi-cylindrical ones in terms of reduction of transmitted waves. As for the flexible breakwaters, the hemi-cylindrical models may give better wave reflection than rectangular ones. However, the energy loss induced by the rectangular breakwaters is much larger and more significant to result in an overall better efficiency in terms of reduction in wave transmission. The effects of internal pressure show that the lowest pressurized flexible models considered in this work are the most effective in the reduction of the transmitted wave height. Higher wave reflection, lower wave transmission and higher energy loss are obtained consistently at the lower submergence depth ratio.     

溪洛渡水电站坝址区岩体蠕变特性试验研究

介绍了溪洛渡水电站坝址区岩体柔性板法蠕变试验方法及试验结果,给出了岩体蠕变模型及其参数,为工程设计提供了参考依据。     

刃具斜切入破岩的试验与研究

介绍了刃具斜切入破岩的试验装置及试验结果，推导出了跃进载荷的计算公式，并对试验结果进行了理论分析，探讨了影响刃具侵入岩石难易的因素和影响破岩比功大小的因素。     

桩长及水泥掺入量对柔性桩承载力等的影响

采用弹性无限半空间体内的Mindlin应力解和分层总和法，计算分析了柔性桩的荷载传递规律，较详细地讨论了桩长、固化剂（水泥）掺入量对柔性桩复合地基承载力、变形的影响。计算值与实测值比较吻合。     

Performance of pile-restrained flexible floating breakwaters

The overall performance of pile-restrained flexible floating breakwaters is investigated under the action of linear monochromatic incident waves in the frequency domain. The aforementioned floating breakwaters undergo only vertical structural deflections along their length and are held in place by means of vertical piles. The total number of degrees of freedom equals the six conventional body modes, when the breakwater moves as a rigid body, plus the extra bending modes. These bending modes are introduced to represent the structural deflections of the floating breakwater and are described by the Bernoulli–Euler flexible beam equation. The number of bending modes introduced is determined through an appropriate iterative procedure. The hydrostatic coefficients corresponding to the bending modes are also derived. The numerical analysis of the flexible floating breakwaters is based on a three-dimensional hydrodynamic formulation of the floating body. A parametric study is carried out for a wide range of structural stiffness parameters and wave headings, to investigate their effect on the performance of flexible floating breakwaters. Moreover, this performance is compared with that of the corresponding pile-restrained rigid floating breakwater. Results indicated that the degree of structural stiffness and the wave heading strongly affect the performance of flexible floating breakwaters. The existence of an “optimum” value of structural stiffness is demonstrated for the entire wave frequency range.     

Experimental Study on Coupled Cross-Flow and in-Line Vortex-Induced Vibration of Flexible Risers

In this work, we study the coupled cross-flow and in-line vortex-induced vibration （VIV） of a fixedly mounted flexible pipe, which is free to move in cross-flow （ Y- ） and in-line （ X- ） direction in a fluid flow where the mass and natural frequencies are precisely the same in both X- and Y-direction. The fluid speed varies from low to high with the corresponding vortex shedding frequency varying from below the first natural frequency to above the second natural frequency of the flexible pipe. Particular emphasis was placed on the investigation of the relationship between in-line and cross-flow vibration. The experimental results analyzed by using these measurements exhibits several valuable features.     

Bragg reflection of water waves by multiple floating horizontal flexible membranes with submerged rectangular bars on the seabed

Bragg reflection of water waves by multiple floating horizontal flexible membranes is investigated based on the linear wave theory and the assumption of small membrane response. Under the floating horizontal membranes, periodical submerged rectangular bars are arranged on the flat seabed. The total reflection and transmission coefficients are obtained by using the eigenfunction expansion method and the wide spacing approximation. The calculated coefficients are validated with the results available in the literature, which shows that the present method is applicable. The characteristics of Bragg reflection are systematically investigated by changing various parameters including the height of the rectangular bars, the number, the tension, the spacing, and the length of the flexible membranes. The results can help designing multiple floating horizontal flexible membranes as effective floating breakwaters by taking advantage of Bragg reflection.