Reliability assessment of granular filters in embankment dams

Empirical criteria have been used successfully to design filters of most embankment large dam projects throughout the world. However, these empirical rules are only applicable to a particular range of soils tested in laboratory and do not take into account the variability of the base material and filter particle sizes. In addition, it is widely accepted that the safety of fill dams is mainly dependent on the reliability of their filter performance. The work herein presented consists in a new general method for assessing the probability of fulfilling any empirical filter design criteria accounting for base and filter heterogeneity by means of first‐order reliability methods (FORM), so that reliability indexes and probabilities of fulfilling any particular criteria are obtained. This method will allow engineers to estimate the safety of existing filters in terms of probability of fulfilling their design criteria and might also be used as a decision tool on sampling needs and material size tolerances during construction. In addition, sensitivity analysis makes possible to analyse how reliabilities are influenced by different sources of input data. Finally, in case of a portfolio risk assessment, this method will allow engineers to compare the safety of several existing dams in order to prioritize safety investments and it is expected to be a very useful tool to evaluate probabilities of failure due to internal erosion. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Centrifugal test of a road embankment built after new dredger fill on thick marine clay

Abstract

The construction of a 100-km road network is planned on a land reclamation area in the Oujiang Estuary in China. The embankment had a height of 4 m and a base width of 60 m. The reclamation area is newly filled by a 3-m dredger fill on a 48-m thick layer of marine clay. Estimation of the settlement of the future road network is difficult. To guide the construction of the road network, a 1/100-scale centrifuge model test was performed with a marine clay sample from the construction site to simulate the layered settlements and evaluate the drainage effect of prefabricated vertical drains in the dredger fill in the following 10 years. The results of the centrifuge modeling test are verified by 10-month in situ monitoring, which shows agreement between the centrifuge modeling test results and the in situ results. The test results indicate that additional time is needed to reinforce the newly added dredger fill by the surcharge preloading method to uplift the elevation of the reclamation area with dredger fill.     

Post-Miocene stratigraphy and depositional environments of valley-fill sequences at the mouth of Tampa Bay, Florida

Post-Miocene sea-level low stands allowed rivers and karst processes to incise the exposed carbonate platform along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Few Miocene to mid-Pleistocene deposits survived erosion along the present coast except within incised valleys. Since their formation, these valleys have been filled and incised multiple times in response to sea-level changes. The thick sedimentary sequences underlying the mouth of Tampa Bay have been recorded as a range of depositional environments and multiple sea-level incursions and excursions during pre-Holocene time and subsequent to the accumulation of the Miocene carbonate sequences. Sediment analysis of cores collected from a north–south transect across the mouth of Tampa Bay has enabled the identification of lithofacies, ranging from well-sorted, quartz sand to dense, fossiliferous, phosphatic grainstone. These facies were deposited in freshwater, estuarine, and shallow, open marine environments. As a result of channel development and migration within the paleovalley, and cut-and-fill associated with individual transgressions and regressions, correlation of the lithofacies does not extend across the entire transect. Fining-upward sequences truncated by tidal ravinement surfaces that extend throughout the paleovalley can, however, be identified. Age determinations based on 14-C analysis, amino-acid racemization, and strontium isotope analysis dating of numerous samples yield ages of Miocene, Pliocene, early Pleistocene, and late Pleistocene, as well as Holocene for sequences that accumulated and were preserved in this valley-fill complex. Numerous inconsistencies in the stratigraphic organization of the age determinations indicate that there are bad dates, considerable reworking of shells that were dated, or both. For this reason as well as the lack of detailed correlation among the three relatively complete cores, it is not possible to place these strata in a sequence stratigraphic framework.     

祁连山南部地区三叠纪弧后前陆盆地——基于沉积填充与大地构造的证据

本文通过对祁连山南部地区三叠纪沉积充填特征的研究,建立了盆地形成过程中沉积充填与区域构造演化的关联。依据沉积充填特征、构造接触关系及区域地质背景,认为祁连山南部地区三叠纪盆地具有弧后前陆盆地的构造属性;综合分析年代学、沉积物性和盆地内部填充单元的差异划分出与柴达木岛弧带和祁连山南部弧后前陆盆地相关的区域大地构造单元。认为早三叠世-中三叠世中期,南部遭受俯冲作用持续向北挤压推覆导致盆地挠曲沉降;中三叠世中期-晚三叠世中期发生弧(东昆仑-柴北缘)-陆(巴颜喀拉地块)碰撞,祁连山南部盆地挠曲沉降增大,其间形成区域性断裂和不整合等盆地记录的地质事件;晚三叠世晚期祁连山南部盆地发生过补偿陆相填充,弧后前陆盆地消亡。     

Permeability of Hydraulic Fills and Barricade Bricks

Permeability is one of the most important parameters in the design of hydraulic backfilling of mine stopes. A simple and reproducible method was developed for preparing reconstituted hydraulic fill sample in the laboratory, that is representative of the hydraulic fill in the mine stope, replicating the slurry sedimentation process taking place in the mine. Constant head and falling head permeability tests were carried out on the samples, giving consistent results. A brick permeameter was developed to study the flow characteristics of the porous barricade bricks under one-dimensional flow, simulating the flow conditions in the mine. Three different methods were used to determine the permeability of the brick and the results showed very good agreement. This is the first rational attempt to measure the permeability of the porous barricade bricks that are used to close the horizontal access drives in the mines, thus retaining the hydraulic fill. The measurements show that the permeability of the barricade brick is about two to three orders of magnitude greater than that of the hydraulic fill.     

青藏高原清水河多年冻土区铁路路基沉降变形特征研究

通过埋设在青藏铁路路基中两个断面内的6条沉降观测管3 a来的地基沉降变形资料,研究了高原多年冻土区铁路路基的沉降变形特征,分析了填筑铁路路基对下伏多年冻土融化变形的影响。研究表明,由于受到填筑路基时赋存在路基填料内的热量的影响,铁路路基下伏多年冻土上限在施工初期会有一个明显的下移沉降,铁路路基也随之有一个较大幅度的工后下沉变动,随着时间的推移,路基下降速率会逐渐下降,但在短时间内不会停止下来,而且由于太阳辐射和路基边坡形状的影响,路基向阳面与背阴面的变形有较大的差别,且在近南北向展布的路基上表现最为明显。     

江西白垩纪—新近纪陆相红色盆地的盆缘类型划分与盆地充填样式

根据在江西白垩纪—新近纪陆相红盆地中1：50000地质填图对盆地的盆缘类型和盆地充填样式研究的新认识，以及陆相红盆地的形成、发展机制与盆地边缘岩石的成生性质，将盆缘划分为基底盆缘和新生盆缘2类；又依据盆缘的原始自然坡度和形态特征划分为缓坡型、折坡型、陡坡型(或断坡型)和新缓坡型、新折坡型、新陡坡型等6型。根据陆相红盆地中不同构造期(幕)不同沉积环境沉积的沉积体的空间展布特征及其各种有序叠置组合形式，厘定了辫状河—湖三角洲—浅湖型、冲积扇—辫状河—湖三角洲—浅湖型、冲积扇—浅湖型、近岸水下扇—浅湖型、冲积扇—辫状河型和河流—沼泽(湿地)型等6种盆地充埴样式。     

填土引发的桩基负摩阻力问题及其灌浆处理技术

阐述了填土地基的沉降计算方法，分析了填土引发桩基负摩阻力的机理及危害，探讨了采用压力灌浆技术加固填土地基、消除桩基负摩阻力、控制桩基沉降的加固机理、施工工艺和应用效果。     

陕北神木地区早、中侏罗世含煤岩系层序地层特征

以陕北神木地区1：5万区域地质调查成果资料为基础，运用层序地层学的理论和方法，系统分析与研究了该区中生代含煤岩系的层序地层特征、盆地充填样式，初步建立了该地区区域岩石地层模型。本文反映了该区层序地层学研究的新进展，对应用层序地层学理论进行成煤规律分析及成矿预测进行了有益的探索。     

青藏铁路抛石路基的温度特性研究

铁路道渣和片石铺层的对流换热为多孔介质的热传导问题，根据多孔介质中流体热对流的连续性方程、动量方程和能量方程，应用伽辽金法导出了多孔介质对流换热的有限元公式，并对抛石路基和传统道渣路基在未来25a创温度变化进行了预报分析和比较．计算结果表明，在150cm的抛石厚度，片石直径为10cm，年温度较差30℃的倩况下，在路基中心线y＝一5m处，抛石路基下的冻土温度要比传统路基的温度低2．45℃，抛石路基有对其下面的冻土提供冷能的制冷作用，可以保证冻土路基的稳定．因此，推荐该种路基作为青藏铁路高温冻土区的路基结构，可以最大限度地保护冻土区的铁路．