Performance of composite foundations with different load transfer platforms and substratum stiffness over silty clay

The semi-rigid pile-supported composite foundation is widely used in highway projects due to its effectiveness in increasing the bearing capacity and stability of foundations.It is crucial to understand the stress distribution across the embankment width and the behaviour of unreinforced foundations.Thus,five centrifuge tests were conducted to examine the bearing and deformation behaviours of NPRS(Non-Connected Piled Raft Systems)and GRPS(GeosyntheticReinforced Pile-Supported systems)with varying substratum stiffness,then a comparative analysis was conducted on embankment settlement,pressures underneath the embankments,and axial forces along the piles.The results indicated that greater substratum stiffness correlates with reduced settlement and deformation at various depths.Deformation occurring 5 meters from the embankment toe includes settlement in NPRS and upward movement in GRPS.The potential sliding surface is primarily located within the embankment in NPRS,whereas it may extend through both the embankment and foundation in GRPS.The pile-soil stress ratio and efficiency in NPRS are higher than in GRPS across the embankment.The axial force borne by end-bearing piles is significantly greater than that by floating piles.As the buried depth increases,the axial force in GRPS initially rises then declines,whereas in NPRS,it remains relatively constant within a certain range before decreasing.This study aids in assessing the applicability of composite foundations in complex railway environments and provides a reference for procedural measures under similar conditions.

Numerical and theoretical study of load transfer behavior during cascading pillar failure

To further study the load transfer mechanism of roofemulti-pillarefloor system during cascading pillar failure(CPF),numerical simulation and theoretical analysis were carried out to study the three CPF modes according to the previous experimental study on treble-pillar specimens,e.g.successive failure mode(SFM),domino failure mode(DFM)and compound failure mode(CFM).Based on the finite element code rock failure process analysis(RFPA^(2D)),numerical models of treble-pillar specimen with different mechanical properties were established to reproduce and verify the experimental results of the three CPF modes.Numerical results show that the elastic rebound of roofefloor system induced by pillar instability causes dynamic disturbance to adjacent pillars,resulting in sudden load increases and sudden jump displacement of adjacent pillars.The phenomena of load transfer in the roofemulti-pillarefloor system,as well as the induced accelerated damage behavior in adjacent pillars,were discovered and studied.In addition,based on the catastrophe theory and the proposed mechanical model of treble-pillar specimen edisc spring group system,a potential function that characterizes the evolution characteristics of roof emulti-pillarefloor system was established.The analytical expressions of sudden jump and energy release of treble-pillar specimenedisc spring group system of the three CPF modes were derived according to the potential function.The numerical and theoretical results show good agreement with the experimental results.This study further reveals the physical essence of load transfer during CPF of roof emulti-pillarefloor system,which provides references for mine design,construction and disaster prevention.

Intelligent Power Grid Load Transferring Based on Safe Action-Correction Reinforcement Learning

When a line failure occurs in a power grid, a load transfer is implemented to reconfigure the network by changingthe states of tie-switches and load demands. Computation speed is one of the major performance indicators inpower grid load transfer, as a fast load transfer model can greatly reduce the economic loss of post-fault powergrids. In this study, a reinforcement learning method is developed based on a deep deterministic policy gradient.The tedious training process of the reinforcement learning model can be conducted offline, so the model showssatisfactory performance in real-time operation, indicating that it is suitable for fast load transfer. Consideringthat the reinforcement learning model performs poorly in satisfying safety constraints, a safe action-correctionframework is proposed to modify the learning model. In the framework, the action of load shedding is correctedaccording to sensitivity analysis results under a small discrete increment so as to match the constraints of line flowlimits. The results of case studies indicate that the proposed method is practical for fast and safe power grid loadtransfer.

Optimal allocation method of electric/air braking force of high-speed train considering axle load transfer

Reasonable distribution of braking force is a factor for a smooth,safe,and comfortable braking of trains.A dynamic optimal allocation strategy of electric-air braking force is proposed in this paper to solve the problem of the lack of consideration of adhesion difference of train wheelsets in the existing high-speed train electric-air braking force optimal allocation strategies.In this method,the braking strategy gives priority to the use of electric braking force.The force model of a single train in the braking process is analyzed to calculate the change of adhesion between the wheel and rail of each wheelset after axle load transfer,and then the adhesion of the train is estimated in real time.Next,with the goal of maximizing the total adhesion utilization ratio of trailer/motor vehicles,a linear programming distribution function is constructed.The proportional coefficient of adhesion utilization ratio of each train and the application upper limit of braking force in the function is updated according to the change time point of wheelset adhesion.Finally,the braking force is dynamically allocated.The simulation results of Matlab/Simulink show that the proposed algorithm not only uses the different adhesion limits of each trailer to reduce the total amount of braking force undertaken by the motor vehicle,but also considers the adhesion difference of each wheelset.The strategy can effectively reduce the risk and time of motor vehicles during the braking process and improve the stability of the train braking.

Quantification of the Vertical Load Applied to the Pavement during Cornering Maneuver of a Battery Electric Commercial Vehicle

The wheel loads of heavy trucks are the major source of pavement damage,given the repeated loadings imposed by them due to transient events and surface irregularities.While related studies focus on steady-state context regarding simplified vehicle’s parameters and ideal pavement conditions,this paper aims to analyze the vertical load applied to the pavement by considering cornering maneuver as a transient event,on a battery electric vehicle truck.In this concern,measurements were performed on a rigid truck,with two steering front axles,in a closed course proving ground.The relationship has been presented between vehicle’s speed,lateral acceleration and transferred vertical load for a given curve radius of 85.6 m and 3.7°of transversal slope.The measurements results indicated that for every 10 km/h increasing on the vehicle’s speed,additional 110 kgf will be transferred to the pavement on the outer side of the cornering radius.This value itself could not be considered high,but it will be also added to the static load,or overload in some truck applications.

A hardening load transfer function for rock bolts and its calibration using distributed fiber optic sensing

Confinement of rock bolts by the surrounding rock formation has long been recognized as a positive contributor to the pull-out behavior,yet only a few experimental works and analytical models have been reported,most of which are based on the global rock bolt response evaluated in pull-out tests.This paper presents a laboratory experimental setup aiming to capture the rock formation effect,while using distributed fiber optic sensing to quantify the effect of the confinement and the reinforcement pull-out behavior on a more local level.It is shown that the behavior along the sample itself varies,with certain points exhibiting stress drops with crack formation.Some edge effects related to the kinematic freedom of the grout to dilate are also observed.Regardless,it was found that the mid-level response is quite similar to the average response along the sample.The ability to characterize the variation of the response along the sample is one of the many advantages high-resolution fiber optic sensing allows in such investigations.The paper also offers a plasticity-based hardening load transfer function,representing a"slice"of the anchor.The paper describes in detail the development of the model and the calibration/determination of its parameters.The suggested model captures well the coupled behavior in which the pull-out process leads to an increase in the confining stress due to dilative behavior.

A priority-based dynamic load transfer algorithm for cellular/WLAN integrated networks

For the integration network of a cellular network and a wireless local area network （WLAN）, a priority-based dynamic load transfer （PDLT） algorithm is proposed. The dynamic vertical handoffs by call admission control are jointly determined by the network conditions and the traffic characteristics in combination with the location-condition of mobile terminals. When there is no bandwidth resource available in the cellular network or WLAN, the proposed PDLT algorithm allows an incoming voice call or data call within the overlapping area of the cellular network and the WLAN to be directed to the spare network; meanwhile, by dynamically computing the occupancy of the bandwidth resource, the proposed PDLT algorithm also allows an ongoing voice call or data communication to be transferred to the network with a sufficient bandwidth resource according to the given threshold to balance the number of voice/data calls in the two networks. The analysis results of a two-dimensional Markov model and the simulation results show that the PDLT algorithm can effectively enhance the whole integrated network＇ s traffic, reduce the blocking probability of new calls and increase the data throughput, and thus decrease the response time for various services.

Analytical method of load-transfer of single pile under expansive soil swelling

The elastic differential equations of load-transfer of single pile either with applied loads on pile-top or only under the soil swelling were established,respectively,based on the theory of pile-soil interaction and the shear-deformation method.The derivation of analytic solution to load-transfer for single pile in expansive soil could hereby be obtained by means of superposition principle under expansive soils swelling.The comparison of two engineering examples was made to prove the credibility of the suggested method.The analyzed results show that this analytic solution can achieve high precision with few parameters required,indicating its' simplicity and practicability in engineering application.The employed method can contribute to determining the greatest tension along pile shaft resulting from expansive soils swelling and provide reliable bases for engineering design.The method can be employed to obtain various distributive curves of axial force,settlements and skin friction along the pile shaft with the changes of active depth,vertical movements of the surface and loads of pile-top.

Optimization of the fully grouted rock bolts for load transfer enhancement

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of bolt profile configuration in load transfer capacity between the bolt and grout.Therefore,five types of rock bolts are used with different profiles.The rock bolts are modeled by ANSYS software.Models show that profile rock bolt T_3 and T_ with load capacity 180 and 195 kN in the jointed rocks,are the optimum profiles.Finally,the performances of the selected profiles are examined in Tabas Coal Mine by FLAC software.There is good subscription between the results of numerical modeling and instrumentation reading such as tells tale,sonic extensometer and strain gauge rock bolt.According to the finding of this study,the proposed pattern of rock bolts,on 7 + 6 patterns per meter with 2 flexi bolt(4 m) for support gate road.

Vertical bearing capacity of pile based on load transfer model

The load transfer analytical method is applied to study the bearing mechanism of piles with vertical load in this paper. According to the different hardening rules of soil or rock around the pile shaft, such as work-softening, ideal elasto-plastic and work-hardening, a universal tri-linear load transfer model is suggested for the development of side and tip resistance by various types of soil (rock) with the consideration of sediment at the bottom of the pile. Based on the model, a formula is derived for the relationship between the settlement and load on the pile top to determine the vertical bearing capacity, taking into account such factors as the characteristics of the stratum, the side resistance along the shaft, and tip resistance under the pile tip. A close agreement of the calculated results with the measured data from a field test pile lends confidence to the future application of the present approach in engineering practice.

Uplift behavior and load transfer mechanism of prestressed high-strength concrete piles

Prestressed high-strength-concrete (PHC) tube-shaped pile is one of the recently used foundations for soft soil. The research on uplift resistance of PHC pile is helpful to the design of pile foundations. A field-scale test program was conducted to study the uplift behavior and load transfer mechanism of PHC piles in soft soil. The pullout load tests were divided into two groups with different diameters, and there were three piles in each group. A detailed discussion of the axial load transfer and pile skin resistance distribution was also included. It is found from the tests that the uplift capacity increases with increasing the diameter of pile. When the diameter of piles increases from 500 to 600 mm, the uplift load is increased by 51.2%. According to the load-displacement (Q-S) curves, all the piles do not reach the ultimate state at the maximum load. The experimental results show that the piles still have uplift bearing capacity.

Full-scale pullout tests of rock anchors in a limestone quarry focusing on bond failure at the anchor-grout and grout-rock interfaces

Rock anchors are a common safety measure for stabilising large-scale infrastructure,such as bridge towers,retaining walls,rock slopes and windmills.There are four principal failure modes for rock anchors:(a)tensile failure of the steel anchor,(b)anchor-grout interface failure,(c)grout-rock interface failure,and(d)rock mass uplift.Field tests were performed in a limestone quarry.These tests were designed to test failure modes B and C through pullout.In the tests of failure mode B,the shear stress on the anchor-grout interface is the largest at the top of the grout column and attenuates towards the distal end for small loads.The shear stress becomes uniformly distributed when the applied load is approximately 50%of the ultimate pullout load.The anchors designed to test failure mode C were installed with an endplate and had a higher toughness than the straight bar anchors.The shear stress on the grout-rock interface is the largest at the endplate and attenuates upward before slip starts along the interface.When the ultimate pullout load is reached,and the grout column starts to slip,the shear stress is approximately constant.The bond shear strength on the anchor-grout interface was approximately 20%of the uniaxial compressive strength of the grout,and the bond strength of the grout-rock interface was around 5%for that of the grout.The grout-rock interface is likely determined by whichever is weaker,the grout or the rock.

Stress response characteristics of BFRP anchors on loess mudstone slope under rainfall conditions

To investigate the stress response characteristics and shear stress transfer mechanism of BFRP(basalt fiber reinforced plastics)anchors under rainfall conditions and to explore the reinforcement effect of BFRP anchors,a comparative indoor physical model test was conducted in this study using loess mudstone slope as a typical case,and multi-attribute response data,such as slope displacement,BFRP anchor strain and axial force,were obtained.Based on the variation law of slope displacement,it can be concluded that the deformation displacement of the slope on the side reinforced by BFRP anchors is smaller than that of slopes reinforced with steel anchors;the bearing capacity of BFRP anchor is given priority in time,and the anchoring effect of BFRP anchor at the top of the slope is given priority,and the axial force value of anchor is characterized by a surface amplification effect in space;the axial force is higher around the anchor head and tends to decay as a negative exponential function as the anchor extends in the direction of the interior of the slope;the shear stress of BFRP anchor and anchorage body are unevenly distributed along the axial direction,with the maximum value occurring in the free section near the slope surface and decreases as the BFRP anchor extends towards the interior of the slope.These results can provide a theoretical basis for the optimal design of BFRP anchors.

Simulation and Experimental Design of Load Adaptive Braking System on Two Wheeler

The braking quality is considered the main execution of the adaptive control framework that impacts the vehicle safety and rides solace astoundingly notably the stopping distance.This research work aims to create a pattern and design of an electromechanically adjusted lever that multiplies the applied braking force depending on the inputs given by the sensors to reduce the stopping distance of the vehicle.It is carried out using two main parts of the two-wheeler vehicle:thefirst part deals with the detection of load acting on the vehicle and identifying the required braking force to be applied,and the second part deals with the micro-controller which activates the stepper motor for varying the mechanical leverage ratio from various loads on the vehicle using two actively movable wedges.The electromechanically operated variable braking force system is developed to actuate the braking system based on the load on the motorcycle.The MATLAB simulation and experimental work are carried out for various loading(driver and pillion)conditions on a two-wheeler.The results indicate that the proposed electronically operated braking system is more effective than the conventional braking system for various loads and vehicle speeds.Specifically,the stopping distance of the vehicle is decreased significantly by about 4.9%between the con-ventional braking system and the simulated proposed system.Further,the experi-mental results show that the stopping distance is condensed by about 4.1%.The validation between simulated and experimental results revealed a great deal with the least error percentage of about 0.8%.

A simplified approach for settlement calculation of pile groups considering pile-to-pile interaction in layered soils

A simplified approach is presented for the analysis of the settlement of vertically loaded pile groups. In order to simulate the nonlinear pile-to-pile interaction in pile groups, the soils along the piles are assumed to behave as a series of nonlinear springs subjected to the shaft shear stress at the pile/soil interface. Considering the displacement reduction induced by the pile-to-pile interaction, the shear-deformation method is adopted to approximate the displacement field of the layered soils around the piles, and the equivalent stiffness of the springs is obtained. Furthermore, the load-settlement response of pile groups is deduced by modifying the load-transfer functions to account for the pile-to-pile interaction. The settlements of a laboratory pile groups computed by the presented approach are in a good agreement with measured results. The analysis on Contrastive parameters shows that the settlements of pile group decrease with the increase of the pile space and pile length, and the part of piles exceeding the critical pile length has little contribution to the beating capacity of the pile groups.

Utilizing a novel fiber optic technology to capture the axial responses of fully grouted rock bolts

Rock bolts are one of the primary support systems utilized in underground excavations within the civil and mining engineering industries. Rock bolts support the weakened rock mass adjacent to the opening of an excavation by fastening to the more stable, undisturbed formations further from the excavation. The overall response of such a support element has been determined under varying loading conditions in the laboratory and in situ experiments in the past four decades; however, due to the limitations with conventional monitoring methods of capturing strain, there still exists a gap in knowledge associated with an understanding of the geomechanical responses of rock bolts at the microscale. In this paper, we try to address this current gap in scientific knowledge by utilizing a newly developed distributed optical strain sensing(DOS) technology that provides an exceptional spatial resolution of 0.65 mm to capture the strain along the rock bolt. This DOS technology utilizes Rayleigh optical frequency domain reflectometry(ROFDR) which provides unprecedented insight into various mechanisms associated with axially loaded rebar specimens of different embedment lengths, grouting materials, borehole annulus conditions, and borehole diameters. The embedment length of the specimens was found to be the factor that significantly affected the loading of the rebar. The critical embedment length for the fully grouted rock bolts(FGRBs) was systematically determined to be430 mm. The results herein highlight the effects of the variation of these individual parameters on the geomechanical responses FGRBs.

A coal rib monitoring study in a room-and-pillar retreat mine

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH)conducted a comprehensive monitoring program in a room-and-pillar mine located in Southern Virginia.The deformation and the stress change in an instrumented pillar were monitored during the progress of pillar retreat mining at two sites of different geological conditions and depths of cover.The main objectives of the monitoring program were to better understand the stress transfer and load shedding on coal pillars and to quantify the rib deformation due to pillar retreat mining;and to examine the effect of rib geology and overburden depth on coal rib performance.The instrumentation at both sites included pull-out tests to measure the anchorage capacity of rib bolts,load cells mounted on rib bolts to monitor the induced loads in the bolts,borehole pressure cells(BPCs)installed at various depths in the study pillar to measure the change in vertical pressure within the pillar,and roof and rib extensometers installed to quantify the vertical displacement of the roof and the horizontal displacement of the rib that would occur during the retreat mining process.The outcome from the monitoring program provides insight into coal pillar rib support optimization at various depths and geological conditions.Also,this study contributes to the NIOSH rib support database in U.S coal mines and provides essential data for rib support design.

The Effects of Fatigue Cracks on Fastener Loads during Cyclic Loading and on the Stresses Used for Crack Growth Analysis in Classical Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics Approaches

High strength threaded fasteners are widely used in the aircraft industry, and service experience shows that for structures where shear loading of the joints is significant, like skin splices, fuselage joints or spar caps-web attachments, more cracks are initiated and grow from the edges of the fastener holes than from features like fillets radii and corners or from large access holes. The main causes of this cracking are the stress concentrations introduced by the fastener holes and by the threaded fasteners themselves, with the most common damage site being at the edge of the fastener holes. Intuitively, it is easy to visualize that after the crack initiation, during the growth stages, some of the load transferred initially by the fastener at the cracked hole will decrease, and it will be shed to the adjacent fasteners that will carry higher loads than in uncracked condition. Using currently available computer software, the method presented in this paper provides a relatively quick and quantitatively defined solution to account for the effects of crack length on the fastener loads transfer, and on the far field and bypass loads at each fastener adjacent to the crack. At each location, these variations are determined from the 3-dimensional distribution of stresses in the joint, and accounting for secondary bending effects and fastener tilt. Two cases of a typical skins lap splice with eight fasteners in a two rows configuration loaded in tension are presented and discussed, one representative for wing or fuselage skins configurations, and the second case representative for cost effective laboratory testing. Each case presents five cracking scenarios, with the cracks growing from approx. 0.03 inch to either the free edge, next hole or both simultaneously.

Influence of cement-fly ash-gravel pile-supported approach embankment on abutment piles in soft ground

Abutment piles in soft ground may be subjected to both vertical and horizontal soil movements resulting from approach embankment loads. To constrain the soil movements, the soft soil ground beneath the approach embankment is often improved using composite pile foundations, which aim at mitigating the bump induced by high-speed trains passing through the bridge. So far, there is limited literature on exploring the influence of the degree of ground improvement on abutment piles installed in soft soil grounds. In this paper, a series of three-dimensional （3D） centrifuge model tests was performed on an approach embankment over a silty clay deposit improved by cement-fly ash-gravel （CFG） piles combined with geogrid. Emphasis is placed on the effects of ground replacement ratio （m） on the responses of the abutment piles induced by embankment loads. Meanwhile, a numerical study was conducted with varying ground replacement ratio of the pile-reinforced grounds. Results show that the performance of the abutment piles is significantly improved when reinforcing the ground with CFG piles beneath the approach embankment. Interestingly, there is a threshold value of the replacement ratio of around 4.9% above which the effect of CFG pile foundations is limited. This implies that it is essential to optimize the ground improvement for having a cost-effective design while minimizing the risk of the bump at the end of bridge.

Bearing capacity and load transfer mechanism of a static drill rooted nodular pile in soft soil areas

The static drill rooted nodular pile is a new type of pile foundation consisting of precast nodular pile and the surrounding cemented soil.This composite pile has a relatively high bearing capacity and the mud pollution will be largely reduced during the construction process by using this type of pile.In order to investigate the bearing capacity and load transfer mechanism of this pile,a group of experiments were conducted to provide a comparison between this new pile and the bored pile.The axial force of a precast nodular pile was also measured by the strain gauges installed on the pile to analyze the distribution of the axial force of the nodular pile and the skin friction supported by the surrounding soil,then 3D models were built by using the ABAQUS finite element program to investigate the load transfer mechanism of this composite pile in detail.By combining the results of field tests and the finite element method,the outcome showed that the bearing capacity of a static drill rooted nodular pile is higher than the bored pile,and that this composite pile will form a double stress dispersion system which will not only confirm the strength of the pile,but also make the skin friction to be fully mobilized.The settlement of this composite pile is mainly controlled by the precast nodular pile;meanwhile,the nodular pile and the surrounding cemented soil can be considered as deformation compatibility during the loading process.The nodes on the nodular pile play an important role during the load transfer process,the shear strength of the interface between the cemented soil and the soil of the static drill rooted pile is larger than that of the bored pile.