Response of Vertically Loaded Pile in Clay: A Probabilistic Study

This study presents the response of a vertically loaded pile in undrained clay considering spatially distributed undrained shear strength. The probabilistic study is performed considering undrained shear strength as random variable and the analysis is conducted using random field theory. The inherent soil variability is considered as source of variability and the field is modeled as two dimensional non-Gaussian homogeneous random field. Random field is simulated using Cholesky decomposition technique within the finite difference program and Monte Carlo simulation approach is considered for the probabilistic analysis. The influence of variance and spatial correlation of undrained shear strength on the ultimate capacity as summation of ultimate skin friction and end bearing resistance of pile are examined. It is observed that the coefficient of variation and spatial correlation distance are the most important parameters that affect the pile ultimate capacity.     

Risk analysis of landslides – A case study

The effects of uncertainty due to the variability of soil parameters on the risk of landsliding in the Himalayan region are investigated using a random field model combined with slope stability analyses. Effects of spatial variability both in horizontal and vertical directions, number of test samples, variations in piezometric level and the influence of earthquake on the reliability of a typical slope in a slide area are investigated. The results show that the reliability of slopes in the slide area is significantly affected by the coefficients of variation of soil parameters, spatial variations of soil parameters, number of test samples and piezometric variations. The results also show that the assumption of isotropic variations to assess slope reliability isconservative. The results of the study are useful in providing guidelines and pointing to remedial measures in the form of sub-surface drainage to improve slope reliability in the area.     

Petrology and geochemistry of greywackes from Goa-Dharwar sector,western Dharwar Craton: Implications for volcanoclastic origin

Late Archaean Supracrustals of the Goa-Dharwar sector (GDS) are composed of a thick sequence of greywacke sequence with narrow intercalations of quartzite, BIF and carbonates. Mafic volcanics occupy the base of the sequence. The greywackes are predominantly tuffacious containing chlorite-sericite and hornblende. Arkosic variations containing biotite dominate the western part of the sector. Fine-grained variations occur as isolated narrow lenses within other types of greywackes. The conglomeratic greywackes are localized along the western and the eastern margins of the sector. All of the greywackes are all typically immature containing coarser clasts of mostly plagioclase (18–23%) and quartz (32–34%). Lithic fragments of felsic volcanic rocks are common. The matrix is dominated by mafic material. Biotite and amphibole are related to metamorphic recrystallization. Chlorite, sericite, epidote, carbonate and chert are products of the interplay of diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism. Fe-Ti oxide, sphene, apatite and zircon are usual accessories. But for slight enrichment in K₂O, the major element chemistry of the GDS greywackes is similar to the chemistry of Late Archaean greywackes. They also compare in respect of V, Co, Hf contents, K₂O/Na₂O, SiO₂/Al₂O₃, Na₂O/Al₂O₃, Ba/Rb, Th/U, La/Th, Sm/Nd ratios, steep REE patterns with distinct LREE enrichment and HREE depletion. The GDS greywackes however are distinctly enriched in Rb, Ba, Sr, Th, U, Cu, Zr, Ce/Ce* and depleted in Cr, Ni, and Zn. The conglomeritic and biotite bearing verities contain considerable proportions of clasts derived from the basement tonalitic/granitic terrain. The common tuffacious greywackes containing hornblende and biotite-sericite however include only volcanic clasts and bear evidence of derivation from submarine weathering of predominantly felsic volcanics erupted on a large scale to form a magmatic arc in the later stages of geosynclinal deposition. Geochemical data suggest that the GDS greywackes were laid down in progressively changing basin geometry from a passive to active continental margin and island arc setting.     

Influence of spatial variability of permeability property on steady state seepage flow and slope stability analysis

In recent years, spatial variability modeling of soil parameters using random field theory has gained distinct importance in geotechnical analysis. In the present study, commercially available finite difference numerical code FLAC 5.0 is used for modeling the permeability parameter as spatially correlated log-normally distributed random variable and its influence on the steady state seepage flow and on the slope stability analysis are studied. Considering the case of a 5.0 m high cohesive–frictional soil slope of 30°, a range of coefficients of variation (CoV%) from 60 to 90% in the permeability values, and taking different values of correlation distance in the range of 0.5–15 m, parametric studies, using Monte Carlo simulations, are performed to study the following three aspects, i.e., (i) effect of stochastic soil permeability on the statistics of seepage flow in comparison to the analytic (Dupuit′s) solution available for the uniformly constant permeability property; (ii) strain and deformation pattern, and (iii) stability of the given slope assessed in terms of factor of safety (FS). The results obtained in this study are useful to understand the role of permeability variations in slope stability analysis under different slope conditions and material properties.     

Prediction of vegetation anomalies over an inland river basin in north‐western China

Vegetation cover plays an important role in linking the atmosphere, water, and land and is deemed as a key indicator in the terrestrial ecological system. Therefore, it is of great importance to monitor vegetation dynamics and understand the mechanisms of vegetation change, including that driven by climate change. This study examines (a) the evolution of vegetation dynamics over the Heihe River Basin in the typical arid zone in north‐western China using nonparametric Mann–Kendall test and Thiel Sen's slope; (b) the relationships between remotely sensed vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI] and enhanced vegetation index [EVI]) and hydroclimatic variables based on correlation analysis; and (c) the prediction of vegetation anomalies using a multiple linear regression model. For the analysis, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer NDVI/EVI product and the gridded daily meteorological data at a spatial resolution of 0.125° over the period 2001–2010 are considered. The results indicate that vegetation cover improved over a large proportion during 2001–2010, with a significant trend towards warm and wet, characterized by an increase in average annual temperature and precipitation by 0.042 °C/year and 5.8 mm/year, respectively. We test the feasibility of NDVI and EVI in quantifying the responses of vegetation anomaly to climate change and develop a statistical model to predict vegetation dynamics in the basin. The NDVI‐based model is found to be more reliable than the EVI‐based model, partly due to the vegetation characteristics and geomorphologic properties of the study region. The proposed model performs well when there is no lag time between meteorological factors and vegetation indices for grassland and cropland, whereas 1‐month lead time prediction is found to be best for forest. The soil water content is introduced as an extra explanatory variable, which effectively improves the prediction accuracy for different land use types. In general, the predictive ability of the proposed model is stable and satisfactory, and the model can provide useful early warning information for regional water resources management under changing climate.     

A Fourier transform method for the interpretation of self-potential anomalies due to two-dimensional inclined sheets of finite depth extent

The self-potential anomaly due to a two-dimensional inclined sheets of finite depth extent has been analysed in the frequency domain using the Fourier transform. Expression for the Fourier amplitude and phase spectra are derived. The Fourier amplitude and phase spectra are analysed so as to evaluate the parameters of the sheet. Application of this method on two anomalies (synthetic and field data) has given good results.     

A study on contaminant migration of sugarcane effluent through porous soil medium

A significantly large volume of effluent is generated during the manufacture of sugar and contains high amount of pollution load. The effluent from sugarcane industry is disposed off on land moves into the wider environment through a number of routes and the soil itself retains the various contaminants in the effluent to a greater or lesser extent depending on the physical nature of the soil. The analysis of contaminant transport through soil used to design of industrial wastewater treatments and disposal systems. This paper discussed the adsorption and diffusion of cations calcium, magnesium, sodium and anions chloride and sulphate by the sorption diffusion permeameter under different hydraulic retentions time of 3 min, 13 min, 27 min and 58 min with a constant diffusion flow rate of 3.6 L/h. In this study, less percentage error found between observed adsorption and diffusion coefficients from the experiments at different hydraulic retentions time and optimum adsorption and diffusion coefficients from the experiments at optimum hydraulic retentions time of 30 min for calcium, magnesium, sodium, choloride and sulphate. The results of regression analysis implied that the adsorption and diffusion coefficients obtained from the equation for cations and anions were good recognizing with the experimental results.