Shear Resistance of Siltous Sands Improved with Bridelia Tannins

The ruin of several civil engineering works occurs due to shear rupture of the ground. When the stress is greater than the shear resistance, the internal friction angle and the cohesion of the soil loosen and rupture occurs. Cement and lime are often used to stabilize soils and improve soil strength. The costs and environmental problems of these technologies raise concerns and challenge researchers to innovate with clean, inexpensive materials, accessible to the most disadvantaged social classes. The question that this study seeks to answer is whether the binders derived from plant tannins, which also stabilize soils, improve the shear resistance of these soils. To do this, we determined for silty sand the shear parameters, notably the cohesion and the angle of internal friction in the non-stabilized state and when they are stabilized with the powder of the bark of the Bridelia under different water states. The results show that the addition of Bridelia powder to silty sand increases the cohesion of the soil by nearly 70.71% and the friction angle by 4.31%. But in unfavourable water conditions, the cohesion and internal friction angle of the silty sand material improved with Bridelia bark powder drops drastically by nearly 81.56%. but does not dissolve completely as for the same material. When it is not stabilized. This information is an invaluable contribution in the search for solutions to increase the durability of earthen constructions by improving the water-repellent properties of soils.

Comparative Analysis of Statistical Thickness Models for the Determination of the External Specific Surface and the Surface of the Micropores of Materials: The Case of a Clay Concrete Stabilized Using Sugar Cane Molasses

In this work, four empirical models of statistical thickness, namely the models of Harkins and Jura, Hasley, Carbon Black and Jaroniec, were compared in order to determine the textural properties (external surface and surface of micropores) of a clay concrete without molasses and clay concretes stabilized with 8%, 12% and 16% molasses. The results obtained show that Hasley’s model can be used to obtain the external surfaces. However, it does not allow the surface of the micropores to be obtained, and is not suitable for the case of simple clay concrete (without molasses) and for clay concretes stabilized with molasses. The Carbon Black, Jaroniec and Harkins and Jura models can be used for clay concrete and stabilized clay concrete. However, the Carbon Black model is the most relevant for clay concrete and the Harkins and Jura model is for molasses-stabilized clay concrete. These last two models augur well for future research.

Integrated Structure and Mineralization Study Using Aero-Magnetic, Aero-Spectrometric and Remote Sensing Data at Esh El-Mallaha Area, Eastern Desert, Egypt

The main scope of this research is to detect geologic structure trends affecting the study area, determine uranium anomalous areas and define alteration zones. Airborne magnetic data were used to detect the geologic structure trends affecting the study area through applying edge detectors such as total horizontal derivative, analytic signal and tilt derivative. The radio-spectrometry data and Landsat image data were used in determining the uranium anomalous areas and alteration zones. The integration between geology, magnetic and Landsat image was applied through constructing lineaments density map for the three data sets resulting in the leading of NW-SE trend all over the area. This integration makes clear that the basement (Red Sea hills), Esh El-mallaha range and G. Zeit are limiting two large basins (West Mallaha and Zeit). In addition, the main areas of uranium enrichment (Duwi formation at Esh El-Mallaha range) are found to be well related to alteration zones.

Factors Predisposing and Triggering the Phenomenon of Shrinkage-Swelling of Clay Soils in the Urban Center of Diamniadio

The phenomena of shrinkage and swelling of clay induce damage to housing structures every year. Precipitation, climatic changes and drought are the cause of wall cracks due to subsidence or swelling of the supporting soil. This movement alters the balance between the soil and the structures. To explain this defection, the soil is made up of three elements: the solid, the liquid and the gas. Sometimes in a natural way or following a human intervention, one of these elements undergoes an abnormal variation that causes the loss of the balance between land and works. It is in this sense that this article deals on the one hand with the factors of predisposition and triggering of the phenomena of shrinkage-swelling of the clay soils of Diamniadio and on the other hand, the factors of aggravation linked to the lithological heterogeneity and the variation in the thickness of the layers susceptible to shrinkage-swelling. The studies carried out have enabled a deeper understanding of the behavior of expansive soils following their interactions with climate, vegetation, hydrology, hydrogeology, constructions among others, but also the influence of lateral and vertical variations of fine soil facies.

Physical and Mechanical Features of the Quaternary Basanites of the Cap-Vert Peninsula of Dakar (Senegal, West Africa)

This work presents the results of geotechnical tests carried out in the laboratory on specimens of Quaternary olivine basanites from the Cap-Vert peninsula of Dakar. The samples were taken following geotechnical investigations in the Fann-PE, Mermoz-Ouakam, Yoff and Ngor areas respectively. The results obtained show a dry density between 20.45 and 29.30 kN/m3 which corresponds to medium to high density basanites. The porosity varies between 0.33% and 4.20%. For microlitic basanites, the porosity remains low, on the other hand, for micrograined basanites;a slight increase in porosity is noticed. As for the methylene blue adsorption test value measured, it is between 0.25 and 1.10. The uniaxial compression strength (Rc) and Young’s modulus (E) vary respectively from 12.19 MPa to 41.748 MPa and from 1477.6 MPa to 7699.1 MPa. The low strength values are recorded in altered and vesicular basanites. Also, a correlation was made between uniaxial compression strength and porosity and showed a gradual decrease in strength with increasing porosity.

Lithostratigraphy and Characterisation of Paleocene Limestones for Optimal Exploitation (Senegal, West Africa): Comparative Study of the Bandia and Popenguine Quarries

Limestones of different facies in the Senegal basin are most commonly used as aggregates, regardless of their petrographic properties. These differences may influence their behaviour. The aim of this paper is to study the stratigraphy and characterise the limestones of the Bandia and Popenguine quarries. Sampling and geochemical and geotechnical characterisation were carried out on these limestones. The results show the presence of several very different facies in the Paleocene formation. The geochemical study shows that the Bandia limestones (Bd2) have the highest CaCO3 percentages (98.54%) and the highest SiO2 percentages were recorded in the Popenguine limestones (Pop2). The study also gives MDE values of 22.38 and LA of 22, which are acceptable for use in road construction. It is important to carry out a complete study in order to select the right materials for optimal use.

Determination of Curie Point Depth and Heat Flow Using Airborne Magnetic Data over the Kom-Ombo and Nuqra Basins, Southern Eastern Desert, Egypt

The Kom-Ombo and Nuqra basins in southern Egypt have recently been discovered as potential hydrocarbon basins. The lack of information about the geothermal gradient and heat flow in the study area gives importance to studying the heat flow and the geothermal gradient. Several studies were carried out to investigate the geothermal analyses of the northwestern desert, as well as the west and east of the Nile River, using density, compressive wave velocity, and bottom hole temperature (BHT) measured from deep oil wells. This research relies on spectral analysis of airborne magnetic survey data in the Kom-Ombo and Nuqra basins in order to estimate the geothermal gradient based on calculating the depth to the bottom of the magnetic source that caused the occurrence of these magnetic deviations. This depth is equal to the CPD, at which the material loses its magnetic polarisation. This method is fast and gives satisfactory results. Usually, it can be applied as a reconnaissance technique for geothermal exploration targets due to the abundance of magnetic data. The depth of the top (Zt) and centroid (Z0) of the magnetic source bodies was calculated for the 32 windows representing the study area using spectral analysis of airborne magnetic data. The curie-isotherm depth, geothermal gradient, and heat flow maps were constructed for the study area. The results showed that the CPD in the study area ranges from 13 km to 20 km. The heat flow map values range from 69 to 109 mW/m2, with an average of about 80 mW/m2. The calculated heat flow values in the assigned areas (A, B, C, and D) of the study area are considered to have high heat flow values, reaching 109 mW/m2. On the other hand, the heat flow values in the other parts range from 70 to 85 mW/m2. Since heat flow plays an essential role in the maturation of organic matter, it is recommended that hydrocarbon accumulations be located in places with high heat flow values, while deep drilling of hydrocarbon wells is recommended in places with low to moderate heat flow values.

Study and Comparison of Swelling and Compressibility Characteristics of Crumb Marl, Flaky Marl with Attapulgite and Sandy Clay from the Diamniadio Urban Pole at the Oedometer

In Senegal, the Diamniadio, Sebikhotane and Bargny sector contains clay soils that are problematic for construction. In order to have more information on the behavior of the clay soils of Diamniadio, free swelling tests followed by load-discharge cycles were carried out according to standard NF P 94-090-1. These tests were carried out using an Oedometric device on the three samples from the study site (sandy clays with calcareous concretion, marls with crumbs and laminated marls with attapulgite) to apprehend their swelling aspects in saturated conditions. For the free swelling test, a determination of the different swelling phases will be carried out followed by a comparison of the rate of evolution of the phases for the three samples from the site. In the same vein, the compressibility characteristics of the samples will also be provided from load-unload Oedometric tests. Thereafter, we proceed to a comparison of the void index at the initial state of the samples after two charge-discharge cycles and the influence of the cycles on the reorganization of the internal structure of the samples. These studies will provide more information on the swelling behavior of Diamniadio soils in the presence of water.

Slope Stability Analysis: Case of the West Wall of the EMZ Pit at the Essakane Gold Mine in Burkina Faso (West Africa)

Knowledge of the state of stability of mining pits is both a basic condition, an essential axis and a safety benchmark for mining operations. This stability is largely based on the knowledge of the rock mass sheltering the mining works and this requires a perfect characterization of all of its structural formations through mapping (manual or digital). The families of discontinuities, namely family 1 (bedding), family 2 (Joint 2) and family 3 (Joint 1) obtained through structural mapping in the Essakane open pit mine, made it possible to analyze the failure modes at the origin of rock instabilities. The respective dips of these different directional families are: 77˚ - 85˚/N 058˚ - 068˚, 66˚ - 74˚/N 133˚ - 143˚, 25˚ - 35˚/N115˚ - 130˚. An average safety factor of 4.3 was estimated for the area with a quality of the rock mass (RMR) estimated at 47. The results obtained reflect on the one hand the risks of instability associated with the quality of the rock mass studied and on the other hand highlights the state of stability of the study area.

Experimental Analysis of Hydraulic Conductivity for Saturated Granular Soils

Hydraulic conductivity is the ability of a porous media to transfer water through its pore matrix. That is a key parameter for the design and analysis of soil fluid associated structures and issues. This paper presents the test results of the vertical hydraulic conductivity kv carried out on one poorly graded sand and three gap graded gravely sand. It was found that the vertical hydraulic conductivity of saturated soil depends on the grain size distribution curve, on the initial relative density of the soil. Compilation of these current test results and other test results published, shows that the common approaches predict well to some extent the vertical hydraulic conductivity kv for the poorly graded sand materials and underestimate the kv values for gap graded gravely sand materials. Therefore, new approaches are developed for the prediction of the vertical hydraulic conductivity in saturated poorly graded sand and gap graded gravely sand. The derived results from the new approaches lie in the range of the recommended values by (EAU 2012) and (NAVFAC DM 7 1974).

Potential for Use of Iron Mining Tailings Calcined in a Flash Furnace as Pozzolanic Material

This paper presents a study of the potential use of iron mining tailings as artificial pozzolan (metakaolin) after their submission to thermal treatment via calcination in a flash furnace. The research consists of the characterization of the tailings before and after calcination, chemical, mineralogical, thermogravimetric, and mechanical strength analyses were conducted. The results were compared with those for commonly used pozzolans, metakaolin, and similarities were identified. The study of the morphology of the particles before and after calcination was conducted through analyses of images obtained by scanning electronic microscope. The pozzolanic activity of the fine mining tailings calcined with flash technology was evaluated in uniaxial compression trials, which showed excellent results.

Assessment of Rockfall Hazard along the Road Cut Slopes of State Highway-72, Maharashtra, India

Rockfall is a major problem in high hill slopes and rocky mountainous regions and construction of highways at these rockfall prone areas often require stable slopes. The causes of rockfall are presence of discontinuities, high angle cut slopes, heavy rainfall, and unplanned slope geometry etc. Slope geometry is one of the most triggering parameters for rockfall, when there are variations in slope angle along the profile of slope. The Present study involves rockfall hazard assessment of road cut slopes for 15 km distance starting from Mahabaleshwar town along State Highway-72 (SH-72). The vertical to subvertical cut slopes are prone to instability due to unfavorable orientation of discontinuities in slope face of weathered and altered basaltic rockmass. The predominant type of instability has been found as wedge type failure involving medium to large size blocks. In order to investigate the existing stability conditions, analyses were carried out at two locations under different slope conditions. The kinematic analysis was performed using stereographic projection method. RockFall 4.0 numerical simulator software was used to calculate the maximum bounce heights, total kinetic energies and translational velocities of the falling rockmass blocks, and a comparative analysis is presented with increasing the mass of blocks and height of the slope. The result of numerical analysis shows that varying slope angle geometry creates more problems as compared to the mass of blocks in the scenario of rockfall.

Reductive Acid Leaching of Low Grade Manganese Ores

Manganese recoveries from low-grade ores using organic acids as reducing agents were investigated in the present work. The acid leaching potential of both oxalic acid and citric acid were estimated. Manganese leaching amount were measured by using standard manganese curve and estimated by titration method. Effects of various acid concentrations on leaching efficiency were studied. The observed result suggested prominent manganese recovery of 66% by oxalic acid at 2 M concentration whereas citric acid had less effect on leaching showing leaching percentage upto 40% in 6 days. Acid leaching of manganese ore with both the acids gave a comparative data stating that oxalic acid leached better than citric acid.

The Study of Electromagnetic Stress Testing Method on Oil-Gas Pipelines Based on WT

This paper proposes an effective method for early diagnosis (stress concentrating) of the oil-gas pipeline. Based on the principle of electromagnetic induction Faraday, we have designed and realized the nondestructive testing system for stress concentration area of ferromagnetic materials by means of the research of metal materials inverse magnetostrictive effect mechanism. The system changes the influence degree of the stress in ferromagnetic materials’ magnetic conductance to the corresponding voltage array by using discrete wavelet analysis method to process the data, in which not only the measuring accuracy is improved, but also the stress concentration is more directly reflected. The experiments confirm that the electromagnetic stress testing method is feasible and valid.

A Coal Mine Dump Stability Analysis—A Case Study

The present paper mainly deals with a case study of failed dump slope in western coalfield limited, Nagpur, India. A huge mass of debris flow had happened during the routine the activity of mining. The failed dump had a height of 75 m with 43? slope angle which had slipped forward by 18m. Representative loose dump material samples were collected from the site and tested to determine the physico-mechanical properties of dump material. The dump material consisted of loose fragments and lumps of friable sandstone, shale, clay and carbonaceous shale. To evaluate the condition of failure, a well known, shear strength reduction tech-nique has been applied to achieve the desired factor of safety using two dimensional finite element code. Fi-nally, a economical, sustainable and stable dump angle and height has been suggested for smooth and safe disposal of the dump.

Experimental Study of Induced Polarization Effect in Unconventional Reservoir Rocks

Unconventional hydrocarbon reserves substantially surpass those of conventional resources and therefore are extremely economically attractive. However, exploration and production of uncon-ventional reserves is challenging. This paper demonstrates that one can observe significant induced polarization effects in shale reservoir rocks, which can be used in exploration for unconventional reserves. The generalized effective-medium theory of induced polarization (GEMTIP) was used to model the complex resistivity of shale rocks. We demonstrate that GEMTIP modeling provides an evaluation of mineral composition and volume fractions in rock samples. We have conducted spectral induced polarization (IP) measurements using different types of shale rocks to test the feasibility of the IP method and GEMTIP modeling for studying unconventional hydrocarbon (HC) reservoir rocks.

Characterization of Clayey Soils from Congo and Physical Properties of Their Compressed Earth Blocks Reinforced with Post-Consumer Plastic Wastes

Physical properties of compressed earth blocks reinforced with plastic wastes are compared to those of nonreinforced ones. These bricks are made with two clayey soils from two deposits of Congo located in Brazzaville and Yengola. Mineralogical and geotechnical analysis revealed that the soil of Brazzaville is mainly composed of kaolinite whereas that of Yengola is a mixture of kaolinite and illite. The amounts of clay (46 and 48%, respectively) are higher than those usually recommended for bricks’ production without stabilizers. Despite this difference of mineralogical compositions, the physical properties of these soils are quite similar. The compressive strength of the resulted bricks compacted with an energy of 2.8 MPa is about 1.5 MPa, which is the lower limit value allowed for adobes. Reinforcing with polyethylene waste nets increased the strength by about 20 to 30% and slightly enhanced resistance to water, Young’s modulus and strain to failure. However, the reinforcement had no significant effect either on bricks’ curing length or on their shrinkage.

Mineralogical Investigation and Washability Treatment of the Nickeliferous Lateritic Deposit of Nome (Albania)

The Nome nickel laterite deposit is located in the North East of Albania. The ore deposit, developed between ultramafic rocks and limestones during Early Cretaceous to Eocene, represents part of the Albanian Mirdita ophiolite zone. The lateritization of the deposit was observed mainly in three separate areas, the Has-Kukes-Lure in the North, Pogradec-Librazhd in the center and Devoll in the South. The main mineralogical components of the ore are goethite, hematite and quartz, while the secondary ones are chlorite (clinochlore, Ni-chlorite), kaolinite and lizardite. Nickel is mainly found in chlorite. The ore is characterized by the presence of spheroid particles, such as oval, pisoid, peloid and composite spheroid. According to the microscopical examination the ore is characterized in general as allotriomorphic, inequigranular and the texture is oolitic-pisolitic. For the mineral processing gravimetric and magnetic separation are used in the size fractions &#458 + 4 mm, &#454 + 1 mm, &#451 + 0.250 mm and &#450.250 + 0.063 mm. The chemical and mineralogical analyses, as well as the microscopic examination have shown that mineral processing by magnetic separation gives the most satisfactory results for the size fractions &#451 + 0.250 mm and &#450.250 + 0.063 mm.

Hole Cleaning Prediction in Foam Drilling Using Artificial Neural Network and Multiple Linear Regression

Foam drilling is increasingly used to develop low pressure reservoirs or highly depleted mature reservoirs because of minimizing the formation damage and potential hazardous drilling problems. Prediction of the cuttings concentration in the wellbore annulus as a function of operational drilling parameters such as wellbore geometry, pumping rate, drilling fluid rheology and density and maximum drilling rate is very important for optimizing these parameters. This paper describes a simple and more reliable artificial neural network (ANN) method and multiple linear regression (MLR) to predict cuttings concentration during foam drilling operation. This model is applicable for various borehole conditions using some critical parameters associated with foam velocity, foam quality, hole geometry, subsurface condition (pressure and temperature) and pipe rotation. The average absolute percent relative error (AAPE) between the experimental cuttings concentration and ANN model is less than 6%, and using MLR, AAPE is less than 9%. A comparison of the ANN and mechanistic model was done. The AAPE values for all datasets in this study were 3.2%, 8.5% and 10.3% for ANN model, MLR model and mechanistic model respectively. The results show high ability of ANN in prediction with respect to statistical methods.

Kozeny-Carman Equation and Hydraulic Conductivity of Compacted Clayey Soils

The saturated hydraulic conductivity of a soil is the main parameter for modeling the water flow through the soil and determination of seepage losses. In addition, hydraulic conductivity of compacted soil layers is critical component for designing liner and cover systems for waste landfills. Hydraulic conductivity can be predicted using empirical relationships, capillary models, statistical models and hydraulic radius theories [1]. In the current research work the reliability of Kozeny-Carman equation for the determination of the hydraulic conductivity of compacted clayey soils, is evaluated. The relationship between the liquid limit and the specific surface of the tested samples is also investigated. The resulting equation gives the ability for quick estimation of specific surface and hydraulic conductivity of the compacted clayey samples. The results presented here show that the Kozeny-Carman equation provides good predictions of the hydraulic conductivity of homogenized clayey soils compacted under given compactive effort, despite the consensus set out in the literature.