Unified description of different soils based on the superloading and subloading concepts

Geotechnical engineering often involves different types of geomaterials,such as sandy soil and clayey soil.Existing studies have confirmed that these soils have some common features,i.e.their mechanical behaviors depend not only on the inherent characteristics but also on their initial states.To describe the main mechanical behaviors of different soils within a simple and reasonable constitutive framework is of great significance for the numerical analysis on geotechnical engineering.This paper first introduces a model based on the concepts of superloading and subloading,which considers the“state dependence”(effects of overconsolidation and structure)of soil and only adds two material parameters compared with the Cam-Clay model.Secondly,conventional triaxial tests are systematically carried out on four types of soils(i.e.sand,silty clay,clay,and intermediate soil)with different initial void ratios,and the mechanical similarities and differences of these soils are discussed uniformly.After that,six material parameters of these soils are uniformly determined based on the concepts of superloading and subloading,and then used in constitutive calculations to verify the feasibility.The calculated results show a good agreement with test data,indicating that the model based on the concepts of superloading and subloading has great potential for describing the general mechanical behaviors of different soils within a unified framework.This work is expected to be applied to constitutive selection and parameter determination in the geotechnical numerical analysis of complex soil profiles.

Evolution of domain structure in Fe_(3)GeTe_(2)

Two-dimensional(2D)magnets provide an ideal platform to explore new physical phenomena in fundamental magnetism and to realize the miniaturization of magnetic devices.The study on its domain structure evolution with thickness is of great significance for better understanding the 2D magnetism.Here,we investigate the magnetization reversal and domain structure evolution in 2D ferromagnet Fe_(3)GeTe_(2)(FGT)with a thickness range of 11.2-112 nm.Three types of domain structures and their corresponding hysteresis loops can be obtained.The magnetic domain varies from a circular domain via a dendritic domain to a labyrinthian domain with increasing FGT thickness,which is accompanied by a transition from squared to slanted hysteresis loops with reduced coercive fields.These features can be ascribed to the total energy changes from exchange interaction-dominated to dipolar interaction-dominated with increasing FGT thickness.Our finding not only enriches the fundamental magnetism,but also paves a way towards spintronics based on 2D magnet.

Liquefaction-induced damage evaluation of earth embankment and corresponding countermeasure

Liquefaction of sandy soils is a big threat to the stability and the safety of an earth embankment laid on saturated soils.A large number of liquefaction-induced damages on embankment due to different types of earthquakes have been reported worldwide.In this research,the dynamic behaviors of earth embankment and the reinforcement effects of grouting as remediation method,subjected to moderate earthquake EQ1 and strong earthquake EQ2,were numerically investigated.The seismic behaviors of ground composed of cohesionless sandy soil and cohesive clayey soil were uniformly described by the cyclic mobility(CM)model,which is capable of describing accurately the mechanical property of the soil due to monotonic and cyclic loadings by accounting for stress-induced anisotropy,over-consolidation,and soil structure.It is known from the numerical investigation that the embankment would experience destructive deformation,and that the collapse mode was closely related to the properties of input seismic motion because high intensities and long durations of an earthquake motion could lead to significant plastic deformation and prolonged soil liquefaction.Under the strong seismic loading of EQ2,a circular collapse surface,combined with huge settlement and lateral spread,occurred inside the liquefication zone and extended towards the embankment crest.In contrast,in moderate earthquake EQ1,upheaval was observed at each toe of the embankment,and instability occurred only in the liquefied ground.An anti-liquefaction remediation via grouting was determined to significantly reduce liquefaction-induced deformation(settlement,lateral spreading,and local uplift)and restrain the deep-seated circular sliding failure,even though the top sandy soil liquefied in both earthquakes.When the structure was subjected to EQ2 motion,local failure occurred on the embankment slope reinforced with grouting,and thus,an additional appropriate countermeasure should be implemented to further strengthen the slope.For both input motions,the surface deformation of the considered embankment decreased gradually as the thickness of reinforcement was increased,although the reinforcement effect was no longer significant once the thickness exceeded 6 m.