Biaxial test simulations using a packing of polygonal particles

The mechanical response of cohesionless granular materials under monotonic loading is studied by performing molecular dynamic simulations. The diversity of shapes of soil grains is modelled by using randomly generated convex polygons as granular particles. Results of the biaxial test obtained for dense and loose media show that samples achieve the same void ratio at large strains independent of their initial density state. This limit state resembles the so‐called critical state of soil mechanics, except for some stress fluctuations, which remain for large deformations. These fluctuations are studied at the micro‐mechanical level, by following the evolution of the co‐ordination number, force chains and the fraction of the sliding contacts of the sample. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring Large-Scale Tests for Nuclear Waste Disposal

Two large-scale “in situ” demonstration experiments and their instrumentation are described. The first test (FEBEX Experiment) involves the hydration of a compacted bentonite barrier under the combined effect of an inner source of heat and an outer water flow from the confining saturated granite rock. In the second case, the progressive de-saturation of Opalinus clay induced by maintained ventilation of an unlined tunnel is analyzed. The paper shows the performance of different sensors (capacitive cells, psychrometers, TDR’s) and a comparison of fill behaviour with modelling results. The long term performance of some instruments could also be evaluated specially in the case of FEBEX test. Capacitive sensors provide relative humidity data during long transient periods characterised by very large variations of suction within the bentonite.     

Alboran Sea late cenozoic tectonic and stratigraphic evolution

Analysis of airgun seismic profiles from the Alboran Sea reveals a complex morphostructure with margins, basins, and structural highs. North of the Alboran Ridge, south-facing margins have a passive style of evolution, with thick progradational sequences of post-Messinian deposits, whereas north-facing margins are tectonized along structural highs with reduced sediment cover. Basins are extensional features developed since the Early Miocene by mechanisms of tectonic escape and pull-apart, under generalized northwest-southeast to north-south compression. Depositional sequences in this semi-land-locked sea were controlled by the local tectonism and influenced by global sea-level oscillations.     

Boulder 1, Station 2, Apollo 17: Petrology and petrogenesis

Boulder 1, Station 2, Apollo 17 is a stratified boulder containing dark clasts and dark-rimmed light clasts set in a light-gray friable matrix. The gray to black clasts (GCBx and BCBx) are multigenerational, competent, high-grade metamorphic, and partially melted breccias. They contain a diverse suite of lithic clasts which are mainly ANT varieties, but include granites, basaltic-textured olivine basalts, troctolitic and spinel troctolitic basalts, and unusual lithologies such as KREEP norite, ilmenite (KREEP) microgabbro, and the Civet Cat norite, which is believed to be a plutonic differentiate. The GCBxs and BCBxs are variable in composition, averaging a moderately KREEPy olivine norite. The matrix consists of mineral fragments derived from the observed lithologies plus variable amounts of a component, unobserved as a clast-type, that approximates a KREEP basalt in composition, as well as mineral fragments of unknown derivation. The high-temperature GCBxs cooled substantially before their incorporation into the friable matrix of Boulder 1. The light friable matrix (LFBx) is texturally distinct from the competent breccia clasts and, apart from the abundant ANT clasts, contains clasts of a KREEPy basalt that is not observed in the competent breccias. The LFBx lacks such lithologies as the granites and the Civet Cat norite observed in the competent breccias and in detail is a distinct chemical as well as textural entity. We interpret the LFBx matrix as Serenitatis ejecta deposited in the South Massif, and the GCBx clasts as remnants of an ejecta blanket produced by an earlier impact. The source terrain for the Serenitatis impact consisted of the competent breccias, crustal ANT lithologies, and the KREEPy basalts, attesting to substantial lunar activity prior to the impact. The age of the older breccias suggests that the Serenitatis event is younger than 4.01±0.03 b.y.     

Land-Parcel Land-Use History as a Key to Site Selection for Documenting Soil Contamination Risk： a Case Study from Australian Suburbia

In that orcharding in early-to-mid twentieth century southeastern Australia involved use of certain heavy metal and As compounds in regular pest-control spray procedures, some interest attaches to the possibility that these landparcels are underlain by soils with above-background Cu, Pb and As levels. Interpreta- tion of Land-cover changes allowed land parcels previously occupied by orchards to be identified in the 1950s through time-series air-photos. A comparison of soil analysis results referring to soil samples from control sites, and from land parcels formerly occupied by orchardists, shows that contamination （above-background） levels of cations in the pesticides can be found in the top 6 cm of former orchard soils. It is clear that digital spatial data handling and culturally-informed air photo interpretation has a place in soil contamination studies, land-use planning （with particular reference to re-development） and in administration of public health.     

Suction-controlled experiments on Boom clay

The understanding of the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of a clay barrier is needed for the prediction of its final in situ properties after the hydration and thermal transient in a radioactive waste repository.

As part of the CEC 1990–1994 R&D programme on radioactive waste management and storage, the CEA (Fr), CIEMAT (Sp), ENRESA (Sp), SCK · CEN (B), UPC (Sp) and UWCC (UK) have carried out a joint project on unsaturated clay behaviour (Volckaert et al., 1996). The aim of the study is to analyse and model the behaviour of a clay-based engineered barrier during its hydration phase under real repository conditions. The hydro-mechanical and thermo-hydraulic models developed in this project have been coupled to describe stress/strain behaviour, moisture migration and heat transfer. A thermo-hydraulic model has also been coupled to a geochemical code to describe the migration and formation of chemical species.

In this project, suction-controlled experiments have been performed on Boom clay (B), FoCa clay (Fr) and Almeria bentonite (Sp). The aim of these experiments is to test the validity of the interpretive model developed by Alonso and Gens (Alonso et al., 1990), and to build a database of unsaturated clay thermo-hydro-mechanical parameters. Such a database can then be used for validation exercises in which in situ experiments are simulated.

The Boom clay is a moderately swelling clay of Rupellian age. It is studied at the SCK · CEN in Belgium as a potential host rock for a radioactive waste repository. In this paper, suction-controlled experiments carried out on Boom clay by SCK · CEN are described. SCK · CEN has performed experiments to measure the relation between suction, water content and temperature and the relation between suction, stress and deformation. The applied suction-control techniques and experimental setups are detailed. The results of these experiments are discussed in the perspective of the model of Alonso and Gens. The influence of temperature on water uptake was rather small. The measured swelling-collapse behaviour can be explained by the Alonso and Gens model.     

Microbial photosynthesis in coral reef sediments (Heron Reef, Australia)

We investigated microphytobenthic photosynthesis at four stations in the coral reef sediments at Heron Reef, Australia. The microphytobenthos was dominated by diatoms, dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria, as indicated by biomarker pigment analysis. Conspicuous algae firmly attached to the sand grains (ca. 100 μm in diameter, surrounded by a hard transparent wall) were rich in peridinin, a marker pigment for dinoflagellates, but also showed a high diversity based on cyanobacterial 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Specimens of these algae that were buried below the photic zone exhibited an unexpected stimulation of respiration by light, resulting in an increase of local oxygen concentrations upon darkening. Net photosynthesis of the sediments varied between 1.9 and 8.5 mmol O₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ and was strongly correlated with Chl a content, which lay between 31 and 84 mg m⁻². An estimate based on our spatially limited dataset indicates that the microphytobenthic production for the entire reef is in the order of magnitude of the production estimated for corals. Photosynthesis stimulated calcification at all investigated sites (0.2–1.0 mmol Ca²⁺ m⁻² h⁻¹). The sediments of at least three stations were net calcifying. Sedimentary N₂-fixation rates (measured by acetylene reduction assays at two sites) ranged between 0.9 to 3.9 mmol N₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ and were highest in the light, indicating the importance of heterocystous cyanobacteria. In coral fingers no N₂-fixation was measurable, which stresses the importance of the sediment compartment for reef nitrogen cycling.     

Sampling the vertical particle flux in the upper water column using a large diameter free-drifting NetTrap adapted to an Indented Rotating Sphere sediment trap

Further development of the large, surface-tethered sediment trap (NetTrap) employed as part of the MedFlux program is described whereby the large collection capacity of the NetTrap is combined with an Indented Rotating Sphere/Sample Carousel (IRSC) sediment trap (IRSC–NT). This trap is capable of collecting particle flux either in a time series or settling velocity mode; settling velocity mode allows the collection of particles that fall within discrete settling velocity intervals. During short field deployments in the Mediterranean Sea the IRSC–NT configured in the settling velocity mode successfully collected unpoisoned samples for chemical and microbiological experiments. In addition to the development of the IRSC–NT, particle-settling behavior above and below the swimmer-excluding IRS valve was tested during on-deck experiments using a specially constructed water-tight trap. Chemical analyses of settling materials (published elsewhere) suggested that separation of particles by settling velocity was achieved. However, due to the motion of the ship, it was not possible to directly measure particle-settling velocities within the trap. Particle release from the IRS did not bias the apparent settling velocity spectrum. Rotation of the IRS did not engender turbulence at the surface of the sphere or within the skewed funnel below. Tests of different ball designs over the course of the MedFlux program showed that a “ridge and saddle” pattern was optimal for efficiently transferring particles under the IRS seal while still reducing swimmer entrance to the collection funnel. The large size of the IRSC–NT did not prevent it from drifting effectively with the current. Several modifications of the present design are proposed that should improve the accuracy of the settling velocity measurements.