Finite element analysis of slope stability by expanding the mobilized principal stress Mohr's circles-Development, encoding and validation

In recent years,finite element analysis is increasingly being proposed in slope stability problems as a competitive method to traditional limit equilibrium methods(LEMs)which are known for their inherent deficiencies.However,the application of finite element method(FEM)to slope stability as a strength reduction method(SRM)or as finite element limit analysis(FELA)is not always a success for the drawbacks that characterize both methods.To increase the performance of finite element analysis in this problem,a new approach is proposed in this paper.It consists in gradually expanding the mobilized stress Mohr’s circles until the soil failure occurs according to a prescribed non-convergence criterion.The present approach called stress deviator increasing method(SDIM)is considered rigorous for three main reasons.Firstly,it preserves the definition of the factor of safety(FOS)as the ratio of soil shear strength to the mobilized shear stress.Secondly,it maintains the progressive development of shear stress resulting from the increase in the principal stress deviator on the same plane,on which the shear strength takes place.Thirdly,by introducing the concept of equivalent stress loading,the resulting trial stresses are checked against the violation of the actual yield criterion formed with the real strength parameters rather than those reduced by a trial factor.The new numerical procedure was encoded in a Fortran computer code called S^(4)DINA and verified by several examples.Comparisons with other numerical methods such as the SRM,gravity increasing method(GIM)or even FELA by assessing both the FOS and contours of equivalent plastic strains showed promising results.

Rotational failure analysis of spherical-cylindrical shell pressure controllers related to gas hydrate drilling investigations

In situ pressure-preserved coring(IPP-Coring)technology is considered one of the most efficient methods for assessing resources.However,seal failure caused by the rotation of pressure controllers greatly affects the success of pressure coring.In this paper,a novel spherical-cylindrical shell pressure controller was proposed.The finite element analysis model was used to analyze the stress distribution and deformation characteristics of the pressure controller at different rotation angles.The seal failure mechanism caused by the rotation of the pressure controller was discussed.The stress deviation rate was defined to quantitatively characterize the stress concentration.Based on the test equipment designed in this laboratory,the ultimate bearing strength of the pressure controller was tested.The results show that the rotation of the valve cover causes an increase in the deformation on its lower side.Furthermore,the specific sealing pressure in the weak zone is greatly reduced by a statistically significant amount,resulting in seal failure.When the valve cover rotates 5°around the major axis,the stress deviation rate is-92.6%.To prevent rotating failure of the pressure controller,it is necessary to control the rotation angle of the valve cover within 1°around the major axis.The results of this research can help engineers reduce failure-related accidents,provide countermeasures for pressure coring,and contribute to the exploration and evaluation of deep oil and gas resources.

Experimental study on the dynamic modulus of compacted loess under bidirectional dynamic load

The dynamic characteristics of compacted loess are of great significance to the seismic construction of the Loess Plateau area in Northwest China,where earthquakes frequently occur.To study the change in the dynamic modulus of the foundation soil under the combined action of vertical and horizontal earthquakes,a hollow cy-lindrical torsion shear instrument capable of vibrating in four directions was used to perform two-way coupling of compression and torsion of Xi'an compacted loess under different dry density and deviator stress ratios.The results show that increasing the dry density can improve the initial dynamic compression modulus and initial dynamic shear modulus of compacted loess.With an increase in the deviator stress ratio,the initial dynamic compression modulus increases,to a certain extent,but the initial dynamic shear modulus decreases slightly.The dynamic modulus gradually decreases with the development of dynamic strain and tends to be stable,and the dynamic modulus that reaches the same strain increases with an increasing dry density.At the initial stage of dynamic loading,the attenuation of the dynamic shear modulus with the strain development is faster than that of the dynamic compression modulus.Compared with previous research results,it is determined that the dynamic modulus of loess under bidirectional dynamic loading is lower and the attenuation rate is faster than that under single-direction dynamic loading.The deviator stress ratio has a more obvious effect on the dynamic compression modulus.The increase in the deviator stress ratio can increase the dynamic compression modulus,to a certain extent.However,the deviator stress ratio has almost no effect on the dynamic shear modulus,and can therefore be ignored.