Influence of differential settlement on pavement structure of widened roads based on large-scale model test

This study introduced at first the background of numerous highway widening projects that have been developed in recent years in China.Using a large ground settlement simulator and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor network system,a large-scale model test,with a similarity ratio of 1:2,was performed to analyze the influence of differential settlement between new and old subgrades on pavement structure under loading condition.The result shows that excessive differential settlement can cause considerable tensile strain in the pavement structure of a widened road,for which a maximum value (S) of 6 cm is recommended.Under the repetitive load,the top layers of pavement structure are subjected to the alternate action of tensile and compressive strains,which would eventually lead to a fatigue failure of the pavement.However,application of geogrid to the splice between the new and the old roads can reduce differential settlement to a limited extent.The new subgrade of a widened road is vulnerable to the influence of dynamic load transferred from the above pavement structures.While for the old subgrade,due to its comparatively high stiffness,it can well spread the load on the pavement statically or dynamically.The test also shows that application of geogrid can effectively prevent or defer the failure of pavement structure.With geogrid,the modulus of resilience of the subgrade is increased and inhomogeneous deformation can be reduced;therefore,the stress/strain distribution in pavement structure under loading condition becomes uniform.The results obtained in this context are expected to provide a helpful reference for structural design and maintenance strategy for future highway widening projects.

Study on Criterion of Differential Settlement in Subgrade Widening Project of an Expressway

Criterion of differential settlement in subgrade is useful for keeping road in a good serving condition. The theory of traditional materials strength and their technologic economy are applied to analyze the additional bend stress of the pavement structure, the equivalent beam of elastic foundation and influence on the pavement structure of an uneven settlement. The allowable settling ratio of pavement index （ △i ） is got and is used to appraise the uneven settlement standard value in subgrade. The allowable settling ratio of pavement index is applied in an certain widening expressway project and △i ≤0.36 % is attained by the analyzing, calculating and adding a certain safe coefficient. This value was put into practice and is effective during the past two years.

Explanation of the Damage to the Royal Family’s Cemetery in Historic Cairo and Examination of the Building Materials

The cemetery of the royal family, who ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1952, is one of the masterpieces of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Historic Cairo. It is a complex building from massive stone masonry walls supporting hemispherical domes and is very rich with the marble decorative elements. Unfortunately, it suffers nowadays from serious cracking due to on-going structural damage. Almost all the structural elements are cracked. Besides, the continuous rise in the groundwater table affects both its structural stability and aesthetics. A detailed inspection was carried out to identify and explain all the manifested damage by the structural elements of the cemetery. The differential settlement damage was found to be very noticeable in the form of many diagonal cracks that are active and threaten the overall stability of the cemetery. The construction history was investigated and found to have a clear effect on the noticed damage. Examination of the construction materials and deterioration products was carried out by inspecting representative samples of the stone, the marble, the mortar, the plaster and the salt. They were examined using different analysis techniques including the Polarized Microscope, the Stereo Microscope, the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) provided with Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) unit. This examination helped in identifying the type of the used stone, the mortar components, the types of salts affecting the structure, and the deterioration manifested by the marble. It seems that the cemetery needs an urgent conservation project to stop the deterioration and keep it safe for the next generations.

Geotechnical Perspective of the Causes of Cracks in Building of Univer­sity Campus(Sindh University Jamshoro Sindh Pakistan)

The building construction throughout world faces the defects from normal to heavy and destructive like cracks and fractures which cause damages and eventually collapses to heavy life losses alongside economical and financial.The cracks like structures are found in wall and columns also.For the aim of the study,the international experts have classified the minimum allowable standards of those defects which can not be harmful to buildings and other people living there.This research study has been administered to research the most reasons to research the causes of cracks during a newly completed and used buildings in where some distinct cracks appeared immediately and after some years.Often these cracks seem in almost in walls,columns,beams,and so-like structures having different patterns.the foremost useful and customary methods consisting of reconnaissance survey;building inspection and laboratory testing were wont to investigate the causes of those distinct cracks which will cause the formation of cracks were considered and analyzed by the utilization of reconnaissance survey,factors like width,pattern,and conditions of the cracks were identified during the building inspection stage and therefore the soil properties associated with the creation of cracks were determined during the laboratory test.supported the results of the study;there was no distinct evidence of things like a matured system which will cause the creation of cracks within the building;The pore water pressure during this sort of soil takes longer time to fade,which may be expressed by the very low value of the coefficient of permeability(1.90x 10-7 to 2.15 x 10-7 m/s)acquired from different soil samples collected from the study area.Hence the cracks during this sort of building were found to be caused by the settlement of the building thanks to the character of the predominant soil type that was found within the study area,all the cracks are active cracks with their width increasing with time and therefore the soils within the entire block of the building possessed high percentage of fine materials with high moisture content and plasticity indices.

Influence of adjacent shield tunneling construction on existing tunnel settlement: field monitoring and intelligent prediction

Urban subway tunnel construction inevitably disturbs the surrounding rock and causes the deformation of existing subway structures. Dynamic predictions of the tunnel horizontal displacement, tunnel ballast settlement, and tunnel differential settlement are important for ensuring the safety of buildings and tunnels. First, based on the Hangzhou Metro project, we analyzed the influence of construction on the deformation of existing subway structures and the difficulties and key points in monitoring. Then, a deformation prediction model, based on a back propagation(BP) neural network, was established with massive monitoring data. In particular, we analyzed the influence of four structures of the BP neural network on prediction performance, i.e., single input–single hidden layer–single output, multiple inputs–single hidden layer–single output, single input–double hidden layers–single output, and multiple inputs–double hidden layers–single output, and verified them using measured data.

Finite element prediction on the response of non-uniformly arranged pile groups considering progressive failure of pile-soil system

A uniform arrangement of individual piles is commonly adopted in the conventional pile group foundation,and basin-shaped settlement is often observed in practice.Large differential settlement of pile groups will decrease the use-safety requirements of building,even cause the whole-building tilt or collapse.To reduce differential settlement among individual piles,non-uniformly arranged pile groups can be adopted.This paper presents a finite element analysis on the response of pile groups with different layouts of individual piles in pile groups.Using the userdefined subroutine FRIC as the secondary development platform,a softening model of skin friction and a hyperbolic model of end resistance are introduced into the contact pair calculation of ABAQUS software.As to the response analysis of a single pile,the reliability of the proposed secondary development method of ABAQUS software is verified using an iterative computer program.The reinforcing effects of individual piles is then analyzed using the present finite element analysis.Furthermore,the response of non-uniformly arranged pile groups,e.g.,individual piles with variable length and individual piles with variable diameter,is analyzed using the proposed numerical analysis method.Some suggestions on the layout of individual piles are proposed to reduce differential settlement and make full use of the bearing capacity of individual piles in pile groups for practical purposes.

Thermal and deformational repairing effect of crushed rock revetment acting as reinforcement along Qinghai–Tibet railway in permafrost regions

Due to the particularity and complexity of permafrost subgrade,research on its long-term maintenance and reinforcement under climate warming and engineering activities is of great significance.To mitigate subgrade diseases caused by thermal disturbance during the engineering construction and operation in the initial stage,the crushed-rock revetment(CRR)was additionally paved with a thickness of 1.5 m and 1.0 m on some sunny and shady shoulders of the traditional embankments along the Qinghai-Tibet railway,respectively.The improving effects for thermal and deforming stability are evaluated based on observation data of ground temperatures and embankment deformations at two sites from 2002 to 2014.The results show that a larger uplifting magnitude in the artificial permafrost table(APT),greater ground temperature decreasing amplitudes and reduction ranges of settling rate appear under the shady embankment shoulder in warm permafrost region,and both sides in the cold permafrost region when reinforcing with CRR.However,in warm permafrost region,the laying of CRR on the sunny slope of subgrade may cause considerable thermal disturbance to the underlying permafrost foundation,combined with the resulting additional stress,induce the further expansion of differential settlement.Moreover,the thermal stability strengthening effect of the CRR is closely related to the variation of the APT thickness in the earlier stage,convection intensity inside the CRR,‘cold energy reserve’in the deeper permafrost,and amount of solar radiation received by the CRR.More effective reinforcements should be implemented to alleviate the potential threaten beneath sunny embankment slope in warm permafrost regions.