Analytical model for predicting time-dependent lateral deformation of geosynthetics-reinforced soil walls with modular block facing

To date,few models are available in the literature to consider the creep behavior of geosynthetics when predicting the lateral deformation(d)of geosynthetics-reinforced soil(GRS)retaining walls.In this study,a general hyperbolic creep model was first introduced to describe the long-term deformation of geosynthetics,which is a function of elapsed time and two empirical parameters a and b.The conventional creep tests with three different tensile loads(Pr)were conducted on two uniaxial geogrids to determine their creep behavior,as well as the a-Pr and b-Pr relationships.The test results show that increasing Pr accelerates the development of creep deformation for both geogrids.Meanwhile,a and b respectively show exponential and negatively linear relationships with Pr,which were confirmed by abundant experimental data available in other studies.Based on the above creep model and relationships,an accurate and reliable analytical model was then proposed for predicting the time-dependent d of GRS walls with modular block facing,which was further validated using a relevant numerical investigation from the previous literature.Performance evaluation and comparison of the proposed model with six available prediction models were performed.Then a parametric study was carried out to evaluate the effects of wall height,vertical spacing of geogrids,unit weight and internal friction angle of backfills,and factor of safety against pullout on d at the end of construction and 5 years afterwards.The findings show that the creep effect not only promotes d but also raises the elevation of the maximum d along the wall height.Finally,the limitations and application prospects of the proposed model were discussed and analyzed.

Influence of Various Earth-Retaining Walls on the Dynamic Response Comparison Based on 3D Modeling

The present work aims to assess earthquake-induced earth-retaining(ER)wall displacement.This study is on the dynamics analysis of various earth-retaining wall designs in hollow precast concrete panels,reinforcement concrete facing panels,and gravity-type earth-retaining walls.The finite element(FE)simulations utilized a 3D plane strain condition to model full-scale ER walls and numerous nonlinear dynamics analyses.The seismic performance of differentmodels,which includes reinforcement concrete panels and gravity-type and hollowprecast concrete ER walls,was simulated and examined using the FE approach.It also displays comparative studies such as stress distribution,deflection of the wall,acceleration across the wall height,lateral wall displacement,lateral wall pressure,and backfill plastic strain.Three components of the created ER walls were found throughout this research procedure.One is a granular reinforcement backfill,while the other is a wall-facing panel and base foundation.The dynamic response effects of varied earth-retaining walls have also been studied.It was discovered that the facing panel of the model significantly impacts the earthquake-induced displacement of ER walls.The proposed analytical model’s validity has been evaluated and compared with the reinforcement concrete facing panels,gravity-type ER wall,scientifically available data,and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials(AASHTO)guidelines results based on FE simulation.The results of the observations indicate that the hollow prefabricated concrete ER wall is the most feasible option due to its lower displacement and high-stress distribution compared to the two types.The methodology and results of this study establish standards for future analogous investigations and professionals,particularly in light of the increasing computational capabilities of desktop computers.

Lateral earth pressure of granular backfills on retaining walls with expanded polystyrene geofoam inclusions under limited surcharge loading

Existing studies have focused on the behavior of the retaining wall equipped with expanded polystyrene(EPS)geofoam inclusions under semi-infinite surcharge loading rather than limited surcharge loading.In this paper,the failure mode and the earth pressure acting on the rigid retaining wall with EPS geofoam inclusions and granular backfills(henceforth referred to as EPS-wall),under limited surcharge loading are investigated through two-and three-dimensional model tests.The testing results show that different from the sliding of almost all the backfill in the EPS-wall under semi-infinite surcharge loading,only an approximately triangular backfill slides in the wall under limited surcharge loading.The distribution of the lateral earth pressure on the EPS-wall under limited surcharge loading is non-linear,and the distribution changes from the increase of the wall depth to the decrease with the increase of the limited surcharge loading.An approach based on the force equilibrium of a differential element is developed to predict the lateral earth pressure behind the EPS-wall subjected to limited surcharge loading,and its performance was fully validated by the three-dimensional model tests.

Resilient performance of self-centering hybrid rocking walls with curved interface under pseudo-static loading

Frame and rocking wall(FRW)structures have excellent resilient performance during earthquakes.However,the concrete at interfacial corners of rocking walls(RWs)is easily crushed due to local extreme compression during the rocking process.An innovative RW with a curved interface is proposed to prevent interfacial corners from producing local damage,enhancing its earthquake resilient performance(ERP).The precast wall panel with a curved interface is assembled into an integral self-centering hybrid rocking wall(SCRW)by two post-tensioned unbonded prestressed tendons.Moreover,two ordinary energy dissipation steel rebars and two shear reinforcements are arranged to increase the energy dissipation capacity and lateral resistance.Two SCRW specimens and one monolithic reinforced concrete(RC)shear wall(SW)were tested under pseudo-static loading to compare the ERPs of the proposed SCRW and the SW,focusing on studying the effect of the curved interface on the SCRW.The key resilient performance of rocking effects,failure modes,and hysteretic properties of the SCRW were explored.The results show that nonlinear deformations of the SCRW are concentrated along the interface between the SCRW and the foundation,avoiding damage within the SCRW.The restoring force provided by the prestressed tendons can effectively realize self-centering capacity with small residual deformation,and the resilient performance of the SCRW is better than that of monolithic SW.In addition,the curved interface of the SCRW makes the rocking center change and move inward,partially relieving the stress concentration and crush of concrete.The rocking range of the rocking center is about 41.4%of the width of the SCRW.

Green Walls as Mitigation of Urban Air Pollution:A Review of Their Effectiveness

Mitigation of urban air pollution has been constrained by the availability of urban spaces for greening.Green walls offer the prospect of greening spaces and surfaces without requiring large areas.Green walls can largely be divided into green facades where the aboveground parts of plants rooted in soil and pots grow directly on,and living walls holding bags,planter tiles,trays and vessels containing substrates in which plants are grown.Green facades and living walls can be continuous or modular with repeating units that can be assembled for extension.This review aims to pres­ent the effectiveness of green walls in removing different types of air pollutants in indoor and outdoor environments.It examined more than 45 peer-reviewed recently published scholarly articles to achieve the aim.It highlights that most of the studies on green walls focus on particulate matter removal and green walls could effectively remove particu­late matter though the effectiveness varies with plant types,air humidity,rainfall and its intensity,leaf area index and contact angle,green wall surface coverage ratio,as well as the height of green walls.Increasing the height of green walls and optimizing their distance from roadsides could promote the deposition of particulate matter.Washing off could regenerate plant surfaces for capturing pollutants.Green walls are also effective in removing NO2,O3,SO2 and CO.Indoor active living walls,when properly designed,could have air purifying performance comparable to a HVAC system.The performance of green walls could be optimized through polycultures,selection of plants,surface coverage and height,and air inflow.

Electronic states of domain walls in commensurate charge density wave ground state and mosaic phase in 1T-TaS_(2)

Domain walls(DWs)in the charge-density-wave(CDW)Mott insulator 1T-TaS_(2)have unique localized states,which play an important role in exploring the electronic properties of the material.However,the electronic states in DWs in 1TTaS_(2)have not been clearly understood,mostly due to the complex structures,phases,and interlayer stacking orders in the DW areas.Here,we explored the electronic states of DWs in the large-area CDW phase and mosaic phase of 1T-TaS_(2)by scanning tunneling spectroscopy.Due to the different densities of DWs,the electronic states of DWs show distinct features in these phases.In the large area CDW phase,both the domain and the DWs(DW1,DW2,DW4)have zero conductance at the Fermi level;while in the mosaic phase,they can be metallic or insulating depending on their environments.In areas with a high density of DWs,some electronic states were observed both on the DWs and within the domains,indicating delocalized states over the whole region.Our work contributes to further understanding of the interplay between CDW and electron correlations in 1T-TaS_(2).

Numerical simulation on the seismic performance of retrofitted masonry walls based on the combined finite-discrete element method

Due to the long construction life,improper design methods,brittle material properties and poor construction techniques,most existing masonry structures do not perform well during earthquakes.The retrofitting method using an external steel-meshed mortar layer is widely used to retrofit existing masonry buildings.Assessing the seismic performance of masonry walls reinforced by an external steel-meshed mortar layer reasonably and effectively is a difficult subject in the research field of masonry structures.Based on the combined finite-discrete elements method,the numerical models of retrofitted brick walls with four different masonry mortar strengths by an external mortar layer are established.The shear strength of mortar and the contact between the retrofitted mortar layer and the brick blocks are discussed in detail.The failure patterns and load-displacement curves of the retrofitted brick walls were obtained by applying low cycle reciprocating loads to the numerical model,and the bearing capacity and the failure mechanism of the retrofitted walls were obtained by comparing the failure patterns,ultimate bearing capacity,deformability and other aspects with the tests.This study provides a basis for improving the seismic strengthening design method of masonry structures and helps to better assess the seismic performance of masonry structures after retrofitting.

The contribution of steel wallposts to out-of-plane behavior of non-structural masonry walls

For years,non-structural masonry walls have received little attention by code developers and professional engineers.Recently,significant efforts have been made to shed more light on out-of-plane(OOP)behavior of non-structural masonry walls.In updated provisions of the Iranian seismic code,bed joint reinforcements(BJRs)and steel wallposts have been suggested for use.BJRs are horizontal reinforcements;steel wallposts are vertical truss-like elements intended to provide additional OOP restraints for a wall.The contribution of BJRs has previously been investigated by the authors.This study is devoted to investigating the contribution of steel wallposts to the OOP behavior of non-structural masonry walls.Using pre-validated 3D finite element(FE)models,the OOP behavior of 180 non-structural masonry walls with varying configurations and details are investigated.The OOP pressure-displacement curve,ultimate strength,the response modification factor,and the cracking pattern are among the results presented in this study.It is found that steel wallposts,especially those with higher rigidity,can improve the OOP strength of the walls.The contribution of wallposts in the case of shorter length walls and walls with an opening are more pronounced.Results also indicate that masonry walls with wallpost generally have smaller modification factors compared to similar walls without wallpost.

Stability Analysis of Landfills Contained by Retaining Walls Using Continuous Stress Method

An analytical method for determining the stresses and deformations of landfills contained by retaining walls is proposed in this paper.In the proposedmethod,the sliding resisting normal and tangential stresses of the retaining wall and the stress field of the sliding body are obtained considering the differential stress equilibrium equations,boundary conditions,and macroscopic forces and moments applied to the system,assuming continuous stresses at the interface between the sliding body and the retaining wall.The solutions to determine stresses and deformations of landfills contained by retaining walls are obtained using the Duncan-Chang and Hooke constitutive models.A case study of a landfill in the Hubei Province in China is used to validate the proposed method.The theoretical stress results for a slope with a retaining wall are compared with FEMresults,and the proposed theoreticalmethod is found appropriate for calculating the stress field of a slope with a retaining wall.

Lateral Performance for Wood-Frame Shear Walls–A Critical Review

Wood is a green material in line with the sustainable development strategy.From the excellent performance of engineering wood products,modern wood structures represented by light wood structures have gained more development opportunities.As an indispensable part of light wood structure systems,the wood-frame shear wall plays a vital role in the bearing capacity and earthquake resistance of light wood structure systems.This paper is focused on a review of the lateral performance of wood-frame shear walls and classifies the influencing factors in relevant experimental research into three categories,including internal factors such as shear wall structure,external factors such as test scheme,and other factors of material production and test process.Finally,the research prospects in this field were introduced based on the summary of the research status.This work can be a reference for further research on the lateral performance of wood-frame shear walls.

Performance of masonry enclosure walls:lessons learned from recent earthquakes

This paper discusses the issue of performance requirements and construction criteria for masonry enclosure and infill walls. Vertical building enclosures in European countries are very often constituted by non-load-bearing masonry walls, using horizontally perforated clay bricks. These walls are generally supported and confined by a reinforced concrete frame structure of columns and beams/slabs. Since these walls are commonly considered to be nonstructural elements and their influence on the structural response is ignored, their consideration in the design of structures as well as their connection to the adjacent structural elements is frequently negligent or insufficiently detailed. As a consequence, nonstructural elements, as for wall enclosures, are relatively sensitive to drift and acceleration demands when buildings are subjected to seismic actions. Many international standards and technical documents stress the need for design acceptability criteria for nonstructural elements, however they do not specifically indicate how to prevent collapse and severe cracking, and how to enhance the overall stability in the case of moderate to high seismic loading. Furthermore, a review of appropriate measures to improve enclosure wall performance and both in-plane and out-of-plane integrity under seismic actions is addressed.

Shake-table testing of a self-centering precast reinforced concrete frame with shear walls

The seismic performance of a self-centering precast reinforced concrete （RC） frame with shear walls was investigated in this paper. The lateral force resistance was provided by self-centering precast RC shear walls （SPCW）, which utilize a combination ofunbonded prestressed post-tensioned （PT） tendons and mild steel reinforcing bars for flexural resistance across base joints. The structures concentrated deformations at the bottom joints and the unbonded PT tendons provided the self-centering restoring force. A 1/3-scale model of a five-story self-centering RC frame with shear walls was designed and tested on a shake-table under a series of bi-directional earthquake excitations with increasing intensity. The acceleration response, roof displacement, inter-story drifts, residual drifts, shear force ratios, hysteresis curves, and local behaviour of the test specimen were analysed and evaluated. The results demonstrated that seismic performance of the test specimen was satisfactory in the plane of the shear wall; however, the structure sustained inter-story drift levels up to 2.45%. Negligible residual drifts were recorded after all applied earthquake excitations. Based on the shake-table test results, it is feasible to apply and popularize a self-centering precast RC frame with shear walls as a structural system in seismic regions.

Evaluation of four final irrigation protocols for cleaning root canal walls

The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of four final irrigation protocols in smear layer removal and bacterial inhibition in root canal systems.Thirty roots inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis were prepared with ProTaper Universal files.The teeth were disinfected by conventional needle irrigation,sonic agitation using the EndoActivator device,passive ultrasonic irrigation,or an M3 Max file.Teeth with no root canal preparation served as blank controls for the establishment of the infection baseline.Teeth with preparation but no final irrigation served as a post-instrumentation baseline.After the final irrigation,the teeth were sectioned in half.One half of each tooth was examined by scanning electron microscopy(SEM)to assess smear layer removal using a five-point scale.The other half was examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy(CLSM)using the LIVE/DEAD BackLight bacterial viability kit to evaluate the depth of bacterial survival in dentinal tubules.SEM analysis revealed no significant difference in smear layer removal throughout the whole canal among the EA,PUI,and M3 Max groups(P>0.05).CLSM revealed that PUI achieved the greatest bacterial inhibition depth in the coronal((174.27±31.63)μm),middle((160.94±37.77)μm),and apical((119.53±28.49)μm)thirds of the canal(all P<0.05 vs.other groups).According to this comprehensive SEM and CLSM evaluation,PUI appears to have the best infection control ability in root canal systems.

Reflection and Transmission of Regular Waves from/Through Single and Double Perforated Thin Walls

In this paper, reflection and transmission coefficients of regular waves from/through perforated thin walls are investigated. Small scale laboratory tests have been performed in a wave flume firstly with single perforated thin Plexiglas plates of various porosities. The plate is placed perpendicular to the flume with the height from the flume bottom to the position above water surface. With this thin wall in the flume wave overtopping is prohibited and incident waves are able to transmit. The porosities of the walls are achieved by perforating the plates with circular holes. Model settings with double perforated walls parallel to each other forming so called chamber system, have been also examined. Several parameters have been used for correlating the laboratory tests’ results. Experimental data are also compared with results from the numerical model by applying the multi-domain boundary element method （MDBEM） with linear wave theory. Wave energy dissipation due to the perforations of the thin wall has been represented by a simple yet effective porosity parameter in the model. The numerical model with the MDBEM has been further validated against the previously published data.

Experimental Study on Bubble Pulse Features Under the Combined Action of Horizontal and Vertical Walls

The pulse features of a bubble have a close connection with the boundary condition. When a bubble moves near a rigid wall, it will be attracted by the Bjerknes force of the wall, and a jet pointing at the wall will be generated. In real application, the bubble may move under the combined action of walls in different directions when it forms at the corner of a pipe or at the bottom of a dam. The motion of the bubble shows complex and nonlinear characteristics under these conditions. In order to investigate the bubble pulse features near complex walls, a horizontal wall and a vertical wall are put into the experimental water tank synchronously, and an electric circuit with 200 voltages is designed to generate discharge bubbles, and then experimental study on the bubble pulse features under the combined action of horizontal and vertical walls is carried out. The influences of the combined action of two walls on the bubble shape, pulse period, moving trace and inside jet are obtained by changing the distances from bubble center to the two walls. It aims at providing references for the relevant theoretical and numerical research.

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of obfique wave action on vertical walls

A three-dimensional numerical model based on the potential theory was developed to study the oblique wave action on vertical walls. A source term inside the domain was used to generate incident waves and outgoing waves were dissipated by sponge layers and transmitted by radiation boundaries. The finite difference method was used to solve the governing equations and boundary conditions in the regular transformed domain in σ-coordinate. Satisfactory agreements between the numerical predictions and experimental results of wave force were obtained. It is concluded that the maximum wave force acting on the vertical walls is induced by the obliquely incident waves rather than the normally incident waves.

Numerical Modeling Strategy for the Simulation of Nonlinear Response of Slender Reinforced Concrete Structural Walls

A three-dimensional nonlinear modeling strategy for simulating the seismic response of slender reinforced concrete structural walls with different cross-sectional shapes is presented in this paper.A combination of nonlinear multi-layer shell elements and displacement-based beam-column elements are used to model the unconfined and confined parts of the walls,respectively.A uniaxial material model for reinforcing steel bars that includes buckling and low-cyclic fatigue effects is used to model the longitudinal steel bars within the structural walls.The material model parameters related to the buckling length are defined based on an analytical expression for reinforcing steel bars embedded in reinforced concrete elements,which are developed based on beam-on-springs model,and validated with experimental tests of boundary elements of structural walls available in the literature.Six experimental case studies of reinforced concrete walls with rectangularshape,T-shape,and U-shape cross-section are used to validate the structural wall numerical modeling strategy.

Temperature Stability of Vertical Bloch Line Chains in the Walls of the First Kind of Dumbbell Domains

The“softening”process of the first kind of dumbbell domains(IDs)with the increase of temperature was experimentally revealed as follows:IDs first convert to ordinary hard bubbles(OHBs)through a partial loss of the vertical Bloch lines(VBLs)in their walls and then these OHBs convert to soft(normal)bubbles(SBs)through a further loss of VBLs.As a result,the critical temperature for the break down of VBL chains of IDs is apparently higher than OHBs.

Experimental and Numerical Study on the Bubble Dynamics near Two-Connected Walls with An Obtuse Angle

This study is concerned with the dynamic characteristics of bubbles near two connected walls(one horizontal and the other inclined with an obtuse angle from the horizontal one). In this study, we set up an experiment system to conduct typical cases, and the boundary element method is employed to explain the bubble behavior and study the effect of relative parameters. Comparing the two mutually perpendicular walls, we find that the liquid jet deviates from the horizontal direction within a much shorter range. On the intersection of the two walls, the motions of bubbles have similar trends. The relatively low pressure between the bubble and walls causes the transition of the bubble, and a local high-pressure zone leads to the formation of a liquid jet. Moreover, there are moments when the two walls are evenly stressed in the first bubble cycle. Through parameter analysis, we find that the jet directions of bubbles perform interesting discrepancies for different buoyancy and distances to walls. Some instructive conclusions are given to serve practical applications.

An effective simplified model of composite compression struts for partially-restrained steel frame with reinforced concrete infill walls

To resolve the issue regarding inaccurate prediction of the hysteretic behavior by micro-based numerical analysis for partially-restrained（PR）steel frames with solid reinforced concrete（RC）infill walls,an innovative simplified model of composite compression struts is proposed on the basis of experimental observation on the cracking distribution,load transferring mechanism,and failure modes of RC infill walls filled in PR steel frame.The proposed composite compression struts model for the solid RC infill walls is composed ofαinclined struts and main diagonal struts.Theαinclined struts are used to reflect the part of the lateral force resisted by shear connectors along the frame-wall interface,while the main diagonal struts are introduced to take into account the rest of the lateral force transferred along the diagonal direction due to the complicated interaction between the steel frame and RC infill walls.This study derives appropriate formulas for the effective widths of theαinclined strut and main diagonal strut,respectively.An example of PR steel frame with RC infill walls simulating simulated by the composite inclined compression struts model is illustrated.The maximum lateral strength and the hysteresis curve shape obtained from the proposed composite strut model are in good agreement with those from the test results,and the backbone curve of a PR steel frame with RC infill walls can be predicted precisely when the inter-story drift is within 1%.This simplified model can also predict the structural stiffness and the equivalent viscous damping ratio well when the inter-story drift ratio exceeds 0.5%.