CPT-Based estimation of undrained shear strength of fine-grained soils in the Huanghe River Delta

The Huanghe River(Yellow River)Delta has a wide distribution of fine-grained soils.Fluvial alluviation,erosion,and wave loads affect the shoal area,resulting complex physical and mechanical properties to sensitive finegrained soil located at the river-sea boundary.The cone penetration test(CPT)is a convenient and effective in situ testing method which can accurately identify various soil parameters.Studies on undrained shear strength only roughly determine the fine content(FC)without making the FC effect clear.We studied four stations formed in different the Huanghe River Delta periods.We conducted in situ CPT and corresponding laboratory tests,examined the fine content influence on undrained shear strength(S_(u)),and determined the cone coefficient(N_(k)).The conclusions are as follows.(1)The fine content in the area exceeded 90%,and the silt content was high,accounting for more than 70%of all fine particle compositions.(2)The undrained shear strength gradually increased with depth with a maximum of approximately 250 kPa.When the silt content was lower than 60%–70%,the undrained shear strength decreased.(3)The silt and clay content influenced undrained shear strength,and the fitted f_(s)h/q_(t) function model was established,which could be applied to strata with a high fine content.The cone coefficients were between 20 and 25,and the overconsolidated soil layer had a greater cone coefficient.

Study on the shear strength of deep reconstituted soils

Based on analytical methods of strength studies for deep soils, direct shear tests were carried out to investigate the shear strength of deep reconstituted soils at different initial dry densities and amounts of water.The results indicate that the shear strength of deep reconstituted soils for identical amounts of water below the plastic limit is enhanced with increasing dry density and but reduced sharply at the critical density, the point at which coarse particles break down.Moreover, the shear strength for identical dry density decreases with additional amounts of water and the rate of degradation is the greatest at the critical density.This is because the friction resistance between coarse particles reduces with increasing amounts of water higher than the plastic limit.In order to obtain reliable strength of deep reconstituted soils, suitable dry densities and amounts of water are necessary.

Shear strength features of soils developed from purple clay rock and containing less than two-millimeter rock fragments

Soil shear strength is an important indicator of engineering design and an essential parameter of soil precision tillage and agricultural machinery and equipment design. Although numerous studies have investigated the characteristics of different soil shear strengths, only a few of these works have paid attention to soils containing considerable quantities of rock fragments. To date, most studies on the effects of rock fragments on the shear strength have paid attention to the role of rock fragments with sizes >2 mm. The effects of rock fragments <2 mm in soil are generally ignored. Similar to rock fragments >2 mm, the presence of rock fragments <2 mm could also change the mechanical properties of soils. Thus, in the present study we evaluated the potential influence of <2 mm rock fragments on soil shear strength via an unconsolidated undrained(UU) triaxial compression test. Our results were as follows:(1) A certain quantity of <2 mm rock fragments presented in purple soils developed from clay rocks; and an appropriate quantity of <2 mm rock fragments could improve the shear strength of soils.(2) The different PSDs of soils containing <2 mm rock fragments mainly caused variations in the internal friction angle of soils.(3) The shear strengths of the two mudstone-developed red-brown and gray-brown purple soils was more sensitive to water than that of the shale-developed coarse-dark purple soil. As the soil water content increased from 9% to 23%, the changes in the cohesion, internal friction angle, shear strength, and the maximum principal stress difference were smaller in the coarse dark purple soil than in the two other soils. We therefore concluded that <2 mm rock fragments in purple soils exerted important effects on soil shear strength. A better understanding of the differences among the shear strength features of purple soils could help improve the design of agricultural machinery and equipment.

Using Piezocone Dissipation Test to Estimate the Undrained Shear Strength (<i>s_u</i>), <i>N_kt</i>and <i>N_Δu</i>Factors in Cohesive Soils

The current practice of geotechnical engineering commonly uses a combination of theoretical and empirical correlations to estimate the soil undrained shear strength in clays from the piezocone test. In order to complement the use of such correlations, the application of a method to estimate the soil undrained shear strength, using measures of the excess pore pressure in dissipation tests of piezocone is presented. In cohesive soils, excess pore pressure and undrained shear strength are dependent on the same variables (stress state, stress history, soil stiffness), which allows them to be related by the theoretical cavity expansion-critical state framework. This paper mentions the mathematical formulation that supports the theoretical framework used, its relationship with the Nkt and NΔu factors and their estimation in a case studied. The results obtained are consistent within the dispersion found in the international literature and encourage the use of the method in engineering practice.

Estimating shear strength of high-level pillars supported with cemented backfilling using the HoekeBrown strength criterion

Deep metal mines are often mined using the high-level pillars with subsequent cementation backfilling(HLSCB)mining method.At the design stage,it is therefore important to have a reasonable method for determining the shear strength of the high-level pillars(i.e.cohesion and internal friction angle)when they are supported by cemented backfilling.In this study,a formula was derived for the upper limit of the confining pressure σ3max on a high-level pillar supported by cemented backfilling in a deep metal mine.A new method of estimating the shear strength of such pillars was then proposed based on the Hoek eBrown failure criterion.Our analysis indicates that the horizontal stress σhh acting on the cemented backfill pillar can be simplified by expressing it as a constant value.A reasonable and effective value for σ3max can then be determined.The value of s3max predicted using the proposed method is generally less than 3 MPa.Within this range,the shear strength of the high-level pillar is accurately calculated using the equivalent MohreCoulomb theory.The proposed method can effectively avoid the calculation of inaccurate shear strength values for the high-level pillars when the original HoekeBrown criterion is used in the presence of large confining pressures,i.e.the situation in which the cohesion value is too large and the friction angle is too small can effectively be avoided.The proposed method is applied to a deep metal mine in China that is being excavated using the HLSCB method.The shear strength parameters of the high-level pillars obtained using the proposed method were input in the numerical simulations.The numerical results show that the recommended level heights and sizes of the high-level pillars and rooms in the mine are rational.

Novel Hybrid X GBoost Model to Forecast Soil Shear Strength Based on Some Soil Index Tests

When building geotechnical constructions like retaining walls and dams is of interest,one of the most important factors to consider is the soil’s shear strength parameters.This study makes an effort to propose a novel predictive model of shear strength.The study implements an extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)technique coupled with a powerful optimization algorithm,the salp swarm algorithm(SSA),to predict the shear strength of various soils.To do this,a database consisting of 152 sets of data is prepared where the shear strength(τ)of the soil is considered as the model output and some soil index tests(e.g.,dry unit weight,water content,and plasticity index)are set as model inputs.Themodel is designed and tuned using both effective parameters of XGBoost and SSA,and themost accuratemodel is introduced in this study.Thepredictionperformanceof theSSA-XGBoostmodel is assessedbased on the coefficient of determination(R2)and variance account for(VAF).Overall,the obtained values of R^(2) and VAF(0.977 and 0.849)and(97.714%and 84.936%)for training and testing sets,respectively,confirm the workability of the developed model in forecasting the soil shear strength.To investigate the model generalization,the prediction performance of the model is tested for another 30 sets of data(validation data).The validation results(e.g.,R^(2) of 0.805)suggest the workability of the proposed model.Overall,findings suggest that when the shear strength of the soil cannot be determined directly,the proposed hybrid XGBoost-SSA model can be utilized to assess this parameter.

Studies on Suction-Assisted Installation Behavior of Suction Caissons in Clay Under Various Undrained Shear Strengths

Suction caissons are widely used for anchoring floating platform and offshore wind turbines.Penetration of the suction caisson into the desired position under the combination of its self-weight and applied suction resulted from pumping out the encased water is integral to practical engineering.Model tests were carried out to investigate the suctionassisted installation of suction caissons in clay under various undrained shear strengths.It was found that there exists a critical penetration depth value.When the penetration depth is smaller than the critical value,the soil plug undrained shear strength is higher than intact clay(i.e.,clay prior to installation).However,when the penetration depth is greater than the critical penetration depth,the undrained shear strength of soil plug is lower than intact clay.The critical value decreases with the increasing consolidation time and undrained shear strength of clay.During suction-assisted installation,cracks occur around suction caissons.The installation way has little effect on the crack formation.The influence range(i.e.,the maximum distance between the crack and the suction caisson edge)was found to increase with the increasing friction coefficient of interface between the suction caisson wall and soil and decreases with the increasing soil undrained shear strength.In addition,the drained condition of the clay during installation is dominated by the caisson aspect ratio,the undrained shear strength and the friction coefficient between the caisson wall and clay.Equations to estimate the penetration resistance and the required suction to install the suction caisson are summarized.

A consecutive joint shear strength model considering the 3D roughness of real contact joint surface

A consecutive joint shear strength model for soft rock joints is proposed in this paper,which takes into account the degradation law of the actual contact three-dimensional(3D)roughness.The essence of the degradation of the maximum possible dilation angle is the degradation of the 3D average equivalent dip angle of the actual contact joint asperities.Firstly,models for calculating the maximum possible dilation angle at the initial and residual shear stress stages are proposed by analyzing the 3D joint morphology characteristics of the corresponding shear stages.Secondly,the variation law of the maximum possible dilation angle is quantified by studying the degradation law of the joint micro convex body.Based on the variation law of the maximum possible dilation angle,the maximum possible shear strength model is proposed.Furthermore,a method to calculate the shear stiffness degradation in the plastic stage is proposed.According to the maximum possible shear strength of rock joints,the shear stress-shear displacement prediction model of rock joints is obtained.The new model reveals that there is a close relationship between joint shear strength and actual contact joint roughness,and the degradation of shear strength after the peak is due to the degradation of actual contact joint roughness.

A method to predict the peak shear strength of rock joints based on machine learning

In geotechnical and tunneling engineering,accurately determining the mechanical properties of jointed rock holds great significance for project safety assessments.Peak shear strength(PSS),being the paramount mechanical property of joints,has been a focal point in the research field.There are limitations in the current peak shear strength(PSS)prediction models for jointed rock:(i)the models do not comprehensively consider various influencing factors,and a PSS prediction model covering seven factors has not been established,including the sampling interval of the joints,the surface roughness of the joints,the normal stress,the basic friction angle,the uniaxial tensile strength,the uniaxial compressive strength,and the joint size for coupled joints;(ii)the datasets used to train the models are relatively limited;and(iii)there is a controversy regarding whether compressive or tensile strength should be used as the strength term among the influencing factors.To overcome these limitations,we developed four machine learning models covering these seven influencing factors,three relying on Support Vector Regression(SVR)with different kernel functions(linear,polynomial,and Radial Basis Function(RBF))and one using deep learning(DL).Based on these seven influencing factors,we compiled a dataset comprising the outcomes of 493 published direct shear tests for the training and validation of these four models.We compared the prediction performance of these four machine learning models with Tang’s and Tatone’s models.The prediction errors of Tang’s and Tatone’s models are 21.8%and 17.7%,respectively,while SVR_linear is at 16.6%,SVR_poly is at 14.0%,and SVR_RBF is at 12.1%.DL outperforms the two existing models with only an 8.5%error.Additionally,we performed shear tests on granite joints to validate the predictive capability of the DL-based model.With the DL approach,the results suggest that uniaxial tensile strength is recommended as the material strength term in the PSS model for more reliable outcomes.

Hydraulic path dependence of shear strength for compacted loess

Shear strength is an essential geotechnical parameter for assessing the landslide potential of loess slopes under rainfall infiltration and farm irrigation conditions on the loess plateau.However,the hydraulic path dependence of shear strength for compacted loess under varying rainfall infiltration conditions has not been thoroughly investigated yet.To this end,a series of direct shear tests and nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)measurements are carried out on compacted loess.The shear strength tests were continuously implemented on loess specimens under scanning wetting paths besides initial drying paths.The experimental data quantitatively verify the significant effect of hydraulic paths applied to specimens on shear strength of compacted loess.The unique failure envelope of shear strength of loess is identified under the effective stress framework based on intergranular stress,which verifies that the effective stress framework can consider the effect of hydraulic paths on shear strength.Based on the effective stress,a shear strength formula is proposed to characterize shear strengths under varying hydraulic paths,in which the parameters from the soil-water retention curve and shear strength at saturated state are simply required.The proposed shear strength formula can properly predict the measured shear strength data of compacted loess experiencing three hydraulic paths.Furthermore,the distribution curves of transverse relaxation time for pore water in soil under varying hydraulic paths are simultaneously measured using the NMR method.The physical mechanism for the difference in shear strength of loess subjected to different hydraulic paths can be uncovered based on soil-water evolutions in pores in microscale.

The Characteristics of Glued Tensile Shear Strength Constituted of Wood Cut by CO_(2) Laser

The performance of engineered wood products is highly associated with proper bonding and an efficient cutting method.This paper investigates the influence of CO_(2) laser cutting on the wetting properties,the modified che-mical component of the laser-cut surface,and the strength and adhesive penetration near the bondline.Beech-wood is cut by the laser with varying processing parameters,cutting speeds,gas pressures,and focal point positions.The laser-cut samples were divided into two groups,sanded and non-sanded samples.Polyvinyl acetate adhesive(PVAc)was used to bond the groups of laser-cut samples.After assembly with cold pressing,the tensile shear test was carried out.Numerical modelling was carried out to determine the partial elongation and shear strain of the glue line.Based on this,the shear modulus and linear elasticity of the glue line were estimated.Scan-ning electron microscopy was used to assess the adhesive penetration into the porosity structure of the laser-cut samples,and the depth of the heat-affected zone.The laser-cut surface was analysed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.The wetting properties of the laser-cut surface were investigated by using a contact angle goni-ometer.The numerical model of the strain-stress curve confirmed the experimental model.The highest modulus of the linear elasticity of the glue in the numerical calculation belongs to the joint containing laser-cut samples at a gas pressure of 21(bar).The penetration depth of PVAc adhesive into the porosity structure of the laser-cut sam-ples was similar to that of sawn samples.The deepest heat-affected zone in the laser-cut samples was 150µm.A PVAc drop disappeared immediately on the laser-cut surface without sanding,but gradually on the sanded surface.In contrast,the drop on the sawn surface remained with an angle of 32°–48°.The degradation of hemi-cellulose and lignin was proven by the lower intensity of the C=O and C-O Bonds,compared to the sawn surface.

Modeling the Undrained Shear Strength with Soil Index Properties for Niger Delta Soft Clays

The aim of this study was to model the Undrained Shear Strength (USS) of soil found in the coastal region of the Niger Delta in Nigeria with some soil properties. The undrained shear strength (USS) is a key parameter needed for most geotechnical/structural designs. Accurate determination of the USS of soft clays can be challenging to obtain in the laboratory due to the difficulty in remoulding the clay to its in-situ conditions before testing and more accurate test such as Cone Penetration test (CPT) can be quite expensive. This study was carried out at Escravos site which is located in Delta state, Nigeria. Three Boreholes were drilled and soil samples were collected at 0.75 m intervals up to a depth of 45 m. Laboratory tests were used to obtain the moisture content, bulk unit weight, liquid and plastic limit, while CPT was used in obtaining the undrained shear strength. Classification of the soil samples was done by adopting the Unified Soil Classification System and various models relating the USS with the soil properties were developed. The result showed that most of the soils at Escravos site were predominately inorganic clay of high plasticity which are problematic due to the expansion and shrinking nature of this type of soil. The model developed showed that the soil properties that gave the best fit with the USS were the moisture content and effective stress of the soil. The coefficient of determination (R2) and the root mean square error (RMSE) obtained for this model were 0.805 and 6.37 KN/m2, respectively.

Undrained vane shear strength of sand-foam mixtures subjected to different shear rates

The shear strength of sand-foam mixtures plays a crucial role in ensuring successful earth pressure balance(EPB)shield tunneling.Since the sand-foam mixtures are constantly sheared by the cutterhead and the screw conveyor with varied rotation speeds during tunneling,it is non-trivial to investigate the effect of shear rates on the undrained shear strength of sand-foam mixtures under chamber pressures to extend the understanding on the tunneling process.This study conducted a series of pressurized vane shear tests to investigate the role of shear rates on the peak and residual strengths of sand-foam mixtures at different pore states.Different from the shear-rate characteristics of natural sands or clay,the results showed that the peak strength of sand-foam mixtures under high vertical total stress(σ_(v)≥200 kPa)and low foam injection ratio(FIR30%)decreased with the increase in shear rate.Otherwise,the peak strength was not measurably affected by shear rates.The sand-foam mixtures in the residual state resembled low-viscous fluid with yield stress and the residual strength increased slightly with shear rates.In addition,the peak and residual strengths were approximately linear with vertical effective stress regardless of the total stress and FIR.The peak effective internal friction angle remained almost invariant in a low shear rate(γ′<0.25 s1)but decreased when the shear rate continued increasing.The residual effective internal friction angle was lower than the peak counterpart and insensitive to shear rates.This study unveiled the role of shear rates in the undrained shear strength of sand-foam mixtures with various FIRs and vertical total stresses.The findings can extend the understanding of the rate-dependent shear characteristics of conditioned soils and guide the decision-making of soil conditioning schemes in the EPB shield tunneling practice.

Physical and mechanical properties and microstructures of submarine soils in the Yellow Sea

In recent years,the exploration of seabed has been intensified,but the submarine soils of silt and sand in the Yellow Sea area have not been well investigated so far.In this study,the physical and mechanical properties of silt and sand from the Yellow Sea were measured using a direct shear apparatus and their microstructures were observed using a scanning electron microscope.The test results suggest that the shear strength of silt and sand increases linearly with the increase of normal stress.Based on the direct shear test,the scanning electron microscope was used to observe the section surface of sand.It is observed that the section surface becomes rough,with many“V”‐shaped cracks.Many particles appear on the surface of the silt structure and tend to be disintegrated.The X‐ray diffraction experiment reveals that the sand and silt have different compositions.The shear strength of sand is slightly greater than that of silt under high stress,which is related to the shape of soil particles and the mineral composition.These results can be a reference for further study of other soils in the Yellow Sea;meanwhile,they can serve as soil parameters for the stability and durability analyses of offshore infrastructure construction.

Estimation of residual shear strength ratios of liquefied soil deposits from shear wave velocity

For sites susceptible to liquefaction induced lateral spreading during a probable earthquake, geotechnical engineers often need to know the undrained residual shear strength of the liquefied soil deposit to estimate lateral spreading displacements, and the forces acting on the piles from the liquefied soils in order to perform post liquefaction stability analyses. The most commonly used methods to estimate the undrained residual shear strength （Su~） of liquefied sand deposits are based on the correlations determined from liquefaction induced flow failures with SPT and CPT data. In this study, 44 lateral spread case histories are analyzed and a new relationship based on only lateral spread case histories is recommended, which estimates the residual shear strength ratio of the liquefiable soil layer from normalized shear wave velocity. The new proposed method is also utilized to estimate the residual lateral displacement of an example bridge problem in an area susceptible to lateral spreading in order to provide insight into how the proposed relationship can be used in geotechnical engineering practice.

A Study on the Shear Strength Characteristic of Unsaturated Red Clay

The red clay in Chenzhou, Hunan province is mostly in unsaturated state. Simply applying the mechanical properties that derived from classic saturated soil mechanics often leads to slope failures in this region. In order to study the shear strength characteristic of unsaturated red clay in Chenzhou and to explore a shear strength equation that can be easily applied in engineering practice, a series of triaxial tests of saturated and unsaturated red clay samples were performed using the regular triaxial testing apparatus. The testing results show that the peak strength of red clay drops slightly before the moisture content of 30% but decreases sharply after that. The friction angle of red clay under unsaturated state is basically equal to the effective friction angle under saturated state, while the cohesion of unsaturated red clay is far much bigger than that of saturated one, which indicates that the matric suction makes a great contribution to the cohesion. By fitting the testing results with appropriate curves, the relationships between total strength parameters and with moisture content were obtained. The total increases logarithmically before the moisture content of 35% then decreases linearly, while decreases cubically with increasing moisture content.

Comparison of Remolded Shear Strength with Intrinsic Strength Line for Dredged Deposits

Chandler proposed the intrinsic strength line to correlate the undrained shear strength of samples one-dimensionally consolidated from slurry with the void index proposed by Burland. The undrained shear strength on the intrinsic strength line is different from the remolded undrained shear strength that is an important parameter for design and construction of land reclamation. The void index is used in this study for normalizing the remolded strength behavior of dredged deposits. A quantitative relationship between remolded undrained shear strength and void index is established based on extensive data of dredged deposits available from sources of literature. Furthermore, the normalized remolded undrained shear strength is compared with intrinsic strength line. The comparison result indicates that the ratio of undrained shear strength on the intrinsic strength line over remolded undrained shear strength increases with an increase in applied consolidated stress.

Influence of the roots of mixed-planting species on the shear strength of saline loess soil

In order to improve our knowledge of the mechanical effect of the roots of mixed-plantings on soil reinforcement and slope protection,the influence of roots of a mixed-planting with four herb species(Medicago sativa L.,Elymus nutans Griseb.,Puccinellia distanx(L.),and Poa pratensis L.)and one shrub species(Caragana korshinskii Kom.)were investigated on the shear strength characteristics of saline loess soil.The root distribution characteristics were assessed via a survey when the plants grew for one year.The effects of the root biomass density,the root mass ratio(RMR)of the fine roots to the coarse roots,the moisture content,and the salt content on the shear strength index of the rooted soil were analyzed via a triaxial compression test,and the mechanism of these effects was discussed.The results indicate that the biomass density decreased linearly with increasing depth.The RMR initially decreased with depth and then increased,exhibiting in a quadratic relationship.The cohesion of the rooted soil increased linearly as the biomass density increased.The cohesion of the rooted soil initially increased with increasing RMR and salt content,and then it decreased.The turning point of the cohesion occurred when the RMR was 0.6 and the salt content was 1.18%.The internal friction angle of the rooted soil initially increased with biomass density and then decreased,and the turning point of the internal friction angle occurred when the biomass density was 0.015 g/cm3.The relationships between the internal friction angle of the rooted soil and the RMR and salt content were exponential incremental and linear subtractive relationship,respectively.Both the cohesion and the internal friction angle of the rooted soil linearly decreased with increasing moisture content.

Shear strength behavior of geotextile/geomembrane interfaces

This paper aims to study the shear interaction mechanism of one of the critical geosynthetic interfaces,the geotextile/geomembrane, typically used for lined containment facilities such as landfills. A largedirect shear machine is used to carry out 90 geosynthetic interface tests. The test results show a strainsoftening behavior with a very small dilatancy （〈0.5 mm） and nonlinear failure envelopes at a normalstress range of 25e450 kPa. The influences of the micro-level structure of these geosynthetics on themacro-level interface shear behavior are discussed in detail. This study has generated several practicalrecommendations to help professionals to choose what materials are more adequate. From the threegeotextiles tested, the thermally bonded monofilament exhibits the best interface shear strength underhigh normal stress. For low normal stress, however, needle-punched monofilaments are recommended.For the regular textured geomembranes tested, the space between the asperities is an important factor.The closer these asperities are, the better the result achieves. For the irregular textured geomembranestested, the nonwoven geotextiles made of monofilaments produce the largest interface shear strength.

Prediction of undrained shear strength using extreme gradient boosting and random forest based on Bayesian optimization

Accurate assessment of undrained shear strength(USS)for soft sensitive clays is a great concern in geotechnical engineering practice.This study applies novel data-driven extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)and random forest(RF)ensemble learning methods for capturing the relationships between the USS and various basic soil parameters.Based on the soil data sets from TC304 database,a general approach is developed to predict the USS of soft clays using the two machine learning methods above,where five feature variables including the preconsolidation stress(PS),vertical effective stress(VES),liquid limit(LL),plastic limit(PL)and natural water content(W)are adopted.To reduce the dependence on the rule of thumb and inefficient brute-force search,the Bayesian optimization method is applied to determine the appropriate model hyper-parameters of both XGBoost and RF.The developed models are comprehensively compared with three comparison machine learning methods and two transformation models with respect to predictive accuracy and robustness under 5-fold cross-validation(CV).It is shown that XGBoost-based and RF-based methods outperform these approaches.Besides,the XGBoostbased model provides feature importance ranks,which makes it a promising tool in the prediction of geotechnical parameters and enhances the interpretability of model.