Failure Envelopes of Single-Plate Rigid Helical Anchors for Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

Helical anchor is a kind of novel foundation for floating offshore wind turbines,which should be subjected to combined tensile loading caused by wind,wave and current.However,the research about the capacity of helical anchor was mainly examined under uniaxial loading and scarcely explored under combined loading.In this study,three-dimensional finite element limit analysis is adopted to assess the bearing capacities of single-plate rigid helical anchors with different ratios of helix to shaft diameter,D_(H)/D_(S) and embedment ratios L/D_(S).Result shows that the vertical,horizontal and moment bearing capacities increase with increasing D_(H)/D_(S) and L/D_(S).The normalized V-H failure envelopes expands with increasing L/D_(S),while the normalized V-M failure envelopes tend to contract with the increase of D_(H)/D_(S).With increasing D_(H)/D_(S) or decreasing L/D_(S),the normalized H-M failure envelopes expand when the horizontal and moment loading act in the same direction and contract when they act in the opposite direction.The effect of D_(H)/D_(S) and L/D_(S) on the shape of H-M failure envelope become insignificant when L/D_(S)≥4.A series of failure mechanisms under different loading conditions were observed and can be used to explain the trend.Besides,a series of approximate expressions were proposed to fit the uniaxial bearing capacities and the failure envelopes.

Calibration of Four Nonlinear Failure Envelopes from Triaxial Test Data and Influence of Nonlinearity on Geotechnical Computations

It is now recognized that many geomaterials have nonlinear failure envelopes. This non-linearity is most marked at lower stress levels, the failure envelope being of quasi-parabolic shape. It is not easy to calibrate these nonlinear failure envelopes from triaxial test data. Currently only the power-type failure envelope has been studied with an established formal procedure for its determination from triaxial test data. In this paper, a simplified procedure is evolved for the development of four different types of nonlinear envelopes. These are of invaluable assistance in the evaluation of true factors of safety in problems of slope stability and correct computation of lateral earth pressure and bearing capacity. The use of the Mohr-Coulomb failure envelopes leads to an overestimation of the factors of safety and other geotechnical quantities.

Study on Failure Mechanism and Bearing Capacity of Three-Dimensional Rectangular Footing Subjected to Combined Loading

This paper presents two kinematic failure mechanisms of threc-dimensional rectangular footing resting on homogeneous undrained clay foundation under uniaxial vertical loading and uniaxial moment loading. The failure mechanism under vertical loading comprises a plane strain Prandti-type mechanism over the central part of the longer side, and the size of the mechanism gradually reduces at the ends of the longer side and over the shorter side as the corner of rectangular footing is being approached where the direction of soil motion remains normal to each corresponding side respectively. The failure mechanism under moment loading comprises a plane strain scoop sliding mechanism over the central part of the longer side, and the radius of scoop sliding mechanism increases linearly at the ends of the longer side. On the basis of the kinematic failure mechanisms mentioned above, the vertical ultimate bearing capacity and the ultimate bearing capacity against moment or moment ultimate bearing capacity are obtained by use of upper bound limit analysis theory. At the same time, numerical analysis results, Skempton＇ s results and Salgado et al. ＇s results are compared with this upper bound solution. It shows that the presented failure mechanisms and plastic limit analysis predictions are validated. In order to investigate the behaviors of undrained clay foundation beneath the rectangular footing subjected to the combined loadings, numerical analysis is adopted by virtue of the general-purpose FEM software ABAQUS, where the clay is assumed to obey the Mohr-Coulomb yielding criterion. The failure envelope and the ultimate bearing capacity are achieved by the numerical analysis results with the varying aspect ratios from length L to breadth B of the rectangular footing. The failure mechanisms of rectangular footing which are subjected to the combined vertical loading V and horizontal loading H （Vertical loading V and moment loading M, and horizontal loading H and moment loading M respectively are observed in the finite element analysis. ） is explained by use of the upper bound plasticity limit analysis theory. Finally, the reason of eccentricity of failure envelope in H-M loading space is given in this study, which can not be explained by use of the traditional ＇ swipe test＇.

Three-dimensional FDEM numerical simulation of failure processes observed in Opalinus Clay laboratory samples

This study presents the first step of a research project that aims at using a three-dimensional （3D） hybridfinite-discrete element method （FDEM） to investigate the development of an excavation damaged zone（EDZ） around tunnels in a clay shale formation known as Opalinus Clay. The 3D FDEM was first calibratedagainst standard laboratory experiments, including Brazilian disc test and uniaxial compression test. Theeffect of increasing confining pressure on the mechanical response and fracture propagation of the rockwas quantified under triaxial compression tests. Polyaxial （or true triaxial） simulations highlighted theeffect of the intermediate principal stress （s2） on fracture directions in the model： as the intermediateprincipal stress increased, fractures tended to align in the direction parallel to the plane defined by themajor and intermediate principal stresses. The peak strength was also shown to vary with changing s2. 2014 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting byElsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of structural loess strength and preliminary framework for joint strength formula

The strength of structural loess consists of the shear strength and tensile strength. In this study, the stress path, the failure envelope of principal stress （ Kf line）, and the strength failure envelope of structurally intact loess and remolded loess were analyzed through three kinds of tests： the tensile strength test, the uniaxial compressive strength test, and the conventional triaxial shear strength test. Then, in order to describe the tensile strength and shear strength of structural loess comprehensively and reasonably, a joint strength formula for structural loess was established. This formula comprehensively considers tensile and shear properties. Studies have shown that the tensile strength exhibits a decreasing trend with increasing water content. When the water content is constant, the tensile strength of the structurally intact soil is greater than that ofremolded soil. In the studies, no loss of the originally cured cohesion in the structurally intact soil samples was observed, given that the soil samples did not experience loading disturbance during the uniaxial compressive strength test, meaning there is a high initial structural strength. The results of the conventional triaxial shear strength test show that the water content is correlated with the strength of the structural loess. When the water content is low, the structural properties are strong, and when the water content is high, the structural properties are weak, which means that the water content and the ambient pressure have significant effects on the stress-strain relationship of structural loess. The established joint strength formula of structural loess effectively avoids overestimating the role of soil tensile strength in the traditional theory of Mohr-Coulomb strength.

A simplified three-dimensional extension of Hoek-Brown strength criterion

The Hoek-Brown(HB)strength criterion has been applied widely in a large number of projects around the world.However,this criterion ignores the intermediate principal stress s2.Many evidences have demonstrated that the rock strength is dependent on s2.Thus it is necessary to extend the HB criterion into a three-dimensional(3D)form.In this study,the effect of s2 on the strength of rocks is identified by reviewing the true triaxial tests of various rock types reported in the literature.A simple 3D strength criterion is developed.The modified criterion is verified by the true triaxial tests of 13 rock types.The results indicate that the modified criterion can achieve a good fit to most of rock types.It can represent a series of criteria as b varies.For comparisons,several existing 3D versions of the HB criterion are selected to predict the strengths of these rock types.It is indicated that the proposed criterion works better than other criteria.A substantial relationship between parameter b and the unconfined compressive strength is established,which guarantees that the proposed criterion can still work well even in the absence of true triaxial test data.

A temperature/strain-rate-dependent finite deformation constitutive and failure model for solid propellants

The stress-strain response under progressive damage and the ultimate failure of solid propellants are two key issues affecting the integrity of solid rocket motors.Previous research primarily focused on the progressive damage in solid propellants during production and storage.However,they failed to take the temperature/strain-rate-dependent ultimate failures into consideration.The failure strains of solid propellants are experimentally observed to show strong temperature/strain-rate dependence and exhibit an abnormal evolution at low and high temperatures,respectively.With increasing loading strain rate,the failure strains decrease at low temperatures near the glass transition temperature(T_g)but increase at high temperatures far above T_(g).In this study,we introduce the glassy and rubbery failure criteria based on strain energy densities at ultralow and ultrahigh temperatures,respectively,into a viscoelastic constitutive model and build a unified model for the progressive damage and the ultimate failure of solid propellants.With the introduction of these two additional criterion parameters,the developed model can effectively predict the yield-type stress-strain responses,microscopic damage-induced volume dilatations,and temperature/strain-ratedependent ultimate failures of the solid propellants by comparing the model predictions with the experimental results.The competition between the glassy failure and the rubbery failure results in the propellants exhibiting a maximum break strain near the glass transition temperature.Consequently,when the strain rate is increased,the propellants exhibit a predominantly glassy response,which shifts the failure envelope toward a higher temperature.This induces an abnormal evolution of failure strains by making the propellants stretchable at high temperatures and brittle at low temperatures.