Influence of joint spacing and rock characteristics on the toppling stability of cut rock slope through a simplified limit equilibrium method

Toppling failure of rock mass/soil slope is an important geological and environmental problem.Clarifying its failure mechanism under different conditions has great significance in engineering.The toppling failure of a cutting slope occurred in a hydropower station in Kyushu,Japan illustrates that the joint characteristic played a significant role in the occurrence of rock slope tipping failure.Thus,in order to consider the mechanical properties of jointed rock mass and the influence of geometric conditions,a simplified analytical approach based on the limit equilibrium method for modeling the flexural toppling of cut rock slopes is proposed to consider the influence of the mechanical properties and geometry condition of jointed rock mass.The theoretical solution is compared with the numerical solution taking Kyushu Hydropower Station in Japan as one case,and it is found that the theoretical solution obtained by the simplified analysis method is consistent with the numerical analytical solution,thus verifying the accuracy of the simplified method.Meanwhile,the Goodman-Bray approach conventionally used in engineering practice is improved according to the analytical results.The results show that the allowable slope angle may be obtained by the improved Goodman-Bray approach considering the joint spacing,the joint frictional angle and the tensile strength of rock mass together.

Overhanging rock slope by design:An integrated approach using rock mass strength characterisation,large-scale numerical modelling and limit equilibrium methods

Overhanging rock slopes(steeper than 90°) are typically avoided in rock engineering design, particularly where the scale of the slope exceeds the scale of fracturing present in the rock mass. This paper highlights an integrated approach of designing overhanging rock slopes where the relative dimensions of the slope exceed the scale of fracturing and the rock mass failure needs to be considered rather than kinematic release of individual blocks. The key to the method is a simplified limit equilibrium(LE) tool that was used for the support design and analysis of a multi-faceted overhanging rock slope. The overhanging slopes required complex geometries with constantly changing orientations. The overhanging rock varied in height from 30 m to 66 m. Geomechanical modelling combined with discrete fracture network(DFN)representation of the rock mass was used to validate the rock mass strength assumptions and the failure mechanism assumed in the LE model. The advantage of the simplified LE method is that buttress and support design iterations(along with sensitivity analysis of design parameters) can be completed for various cross-sections along the proposed overhanging rock sections in an efficient manner, compared to the more time-intensive, sophisticated methods that were used for the initial validation. The method described presents the development of this design tool and assumptions made for a specific overhanging rock slope design. Other locations will have different geological conditions that can control the potential behaviour of rock slopes, however, the approach presented can be applied as a general guiding design principle for overhanging rock cut slope.

Lateral Bearing Capacity of Modified Suction Caissons Determined by Using the Limit Equilibrium Method

The modified suction caisson(MSC) adds a short-skirted structure around the regular suction caissons to increase the lateral bearing capacity and limit the deflection. The MSC is suitable for acting as the offshore wind turbine foundation subjected to larger lateral loads compared with the imposed vertical loads. Determination of the lateral bearing capacity is a key issue for the MSC design. The formula estimating the lateral bearing capacity of the MSC was proposed in terms of the limit equilibrium method and was verified by the test results. Parametric studies on the lateral bearing capacity were also carried out. It was found that the lateral bearing capacity of the MSC increases with the increasing length and radius of the external skirt, and the lateral bearing capacity increases linearly with the increasing coefficient of subgrade reaction. The maximum lateral bearing capacity of the MSC is attained when the ratio of the radii of the internal compartment to the external skirt equals 0.82 and the ratio of the lengths of the external skirt to the internal compartment equals 0.48, provided that the steel usage of the MSC is kept constant.

A Generalized Limit Equilibrium Method for the Solution of Active Earth Pressure on a Retaining Wall

In this paper, a generalized limit equilibrium method of solving the active earth pressure problem behind a retaining wall is proposed.Differing from other limit equilibrium methods, an arbitrary slip surface shape without any assumptions of pre-defined shapes is needed in the current framework, which is verified to find the most probable failure slip surface. Based on the current computational framework, numerical comparisons with experiment, discrete element method and other methods are carried out. In addition, the influences of the inclination of the wall, the soil cohesion, the angle of the internal friction of the soil, the slope inclination of the backfill soil on the critical pressure coefficient of the soil, the point of application of the resultant earth pressure and the shape of the slip surface are also carefully investigated. The results demonstrate that limit equilibrium solution from predefined slip plane assumption, including Coulomb solution, is a special case of current computational framework. It is well illustrated that the current method is feasible to evaluate the characteristics of earth pressure problem.

A NEW ITERATIVE METHOD FOR FINDING COMMON SOLUTIONS OF GENERALIZED EQUILIBRIUM PROBLEM,FIXED POINT PROBLEM OF INFINITE k-STRICT PSEUDO-CONTRACTIVE MAPPINGS,AND QUASI-VARIATIONAL INCLUSION PROBLEM

In this article, we introduce a hybrid iterative scheme for finding a common element of the set of solutions for a generalized equilibrium problems, the set of common fixed point for a family of infinite k-strict pseudo-contractive mappings, and the set of solutions of the variational inclusion problem with multi-valued maximal monotone mappings and inverse-strongly monotone mappings in Hilbert space. Under suitable conditions, some strong convergence theorems are proved. Our results extends the recent results in G.L.Acedo and H.K.Xu [2], Zhang, Lee and Chan [8], Wakahashi and Toyoda [9], Takahashi and Takahashi [I0] and S. S. Chang, H. W. Joseph Lee and C. K. Chan [II], S.Takahashi and W.Takahashi [12]. Moreover, the method of proof adopted in this article is different from those of [4] and [12].

Comprehensive analysis of slope stability and determination of stable slopes in the Chador-Malu iron ore mine using numerical and limit equilibrium methods

One of the critical aspects in mine design is slope stability analysis and the determination of stable slopes. In the Chador- Malu iron ore mine, one of the most important iron ore mines in central Iran, it was considered vital to perform a comprehensive slope stability analysis. At first, we divided the existing rock hosting pit into six zones and a geotechnical map was prepared. Then, the value of MRMR （Mining Rock Mass Rating） was determined for each zone. Owing to the fact that the Chador-Malu iron ore mine is located in a highly tectonic area and the rock mass completely crushed, the Hoek-Brown failure criterion was found suitable to estimate geo-mechanical parameters. After that, the value of cohesion （c） and friction angle （tp） were calculated for different geotechnical zones and relative graphs and equations were derived as a function of slope height. The stability analyses using numerical and limit equilibrium methods showed that some instability problems might occur by increasing the slope height. Therefore, stable slopes for each geotechnical zone and prepared sections were calculated and presented as a function of slope height.

A Method Combining Numerical Analysis and Limit Equilibrium Theory to Determine Potential Slip Surfaces in Soil Slopes

This paper describes a precise method combining numerical analysis and limit equilibrium theory to determine potential slip surfaces in soil slopes. In this method, the direction of the critical slip surface at any point in a slope is determined using the Coulomb’s strength principle and the extremum principle based on the ratio of the shear strength to the shear stress at that point. The ratio, which is considered as an analysis index, can be computed once the stress field of the soil slope is obtained. The critical slip direction at any point in the slope must be the tangential direction of a potential slip surface passing through the point. Therefore, starting from a point on the top of the slope surface or on the horizontal segment outside the slope toe, the increment with a small distance into the slope is used to choose another point and the corresponding slip direction at the point is computed. Connecting all the points used in the computation forms a potential slip surface exiting at the starting point. Then the factor of safety for any potential slip surface can be computed using limit equilibrium method like Spencer method. After factors of safety for all the potential slip surfaces are obtained, the minimum one is the factor of safety for the slope and the corresponding potential slip surface is the critical slip surface of the slope. The proposed method does not need to pre-assume the shape of potential slip surfaces. Thus it is suitable for any shape of slip surfaces. Moreover the method is very simple to be applied. Examples are presented in this paper to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method programmed in ANSYS software by macro commands.

Using Event-Based Method to Estimate Cybersecurity Equilibrium

Estimating the global state of a networked system is an important problem in many application domains.The classical approach to tackling this problem is the periodic(observation)method,which is inefficient because it often observes states at a very high frequency.This inefficiency has motivated the idea of event-based method,which leverages the evolution dynamics in question and makes observations only when some rules are triggered(i.e.,only when certain conditions hold).This paper initiates the investigation of using the event-based method to estimate the equilibrium in the new application domain of cybersecurity,where equilibrium is an important metric that has no closed-form solutions.More specifically,the paper presents an event-based method for estimating cybersecurity equilibrium in the preventive and reactive cyber defense dynamics,which has been proven globally convergent.The presented study proves that the estimated equilibrium from our trigger rule i)indeed converges to the equilibrium of the dynamics and ii)is Zeno-free,which assures the usefulness of the event-based method.Numerical examples show that the event-based method can reduce 98%of the observation cost incurred by the periodic method.In order to use the event-based method in practice,this paper investigates how to bridge the gap between i)the continuous state in the dynamics model,which is dubbed probability-state because it measures the probability that a node is in the secure or compromised state,and ii)the discrete state that is often encountered in practice,dubbed sample-state because it is sampled from some nodes.This bridge may be of independent value because probability-state models have been widely used to approximate exponentially-many discrete state systems.

Mobile Equilibrium Method for Determining Composition and Stability Constant of Coordination Compounds of the Form M_mR_n

A new method is proposed for determining the composition and stability constant of coordination compounds of the form M m R n ; it can be used to differentiate mono and poly nuclear coordination compounds. The equation derived is lg( A i/(A max - A i) m)=n lg c′ R+lg( m·β(c M/A max ) ( m -1) ). The method is based on Bent French limited logarithm method. The demonstration of the proposed method has yielded correct results for Sc 3+ chlorophosphonazo Ⅲ system and Fe 3+ Chromazurol S system.

Lattice Boltzmann method with the cell-population equilibrium

The central problem of the lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） is to construct a discrete equilibrium. In this paper, a multi-speed 1D cell-model of Boltzmann equation is proposed, in which the cell-population equilibrium, a direct non- negative approximation to the continuous Maxwellian distribution, plays an important part. By applying the explicit one-order Chapman-Enskog distribution, the model reduces the transportation and collision, two basic evolution steps in LBM, to the transportation of the non-equilibrium distribution. Furthermore, 1D dam-break problem is performed and the numerical results agree well with the analytic solutions.

LOCAL EQUILIBRIUM METHOD IN STUDYING PHASE DIAGRAM OF Mn-MnO SYSTEM

A special method based on the local equilibrium principle has been introduced in the research of the phase diagram of Mn-MnO system.With this method,the problems of volatilization of Mn and the corrosion of Mn and MnO to refractory materials were prevented efficiently.The solubility of oxygen in Mn and the composition of the interface between MnO and Mn were determined.Partial phase diagram of Mn-MnO system were constructed according to pres- ent experimental results.

AN EXTRAGRADIENT METHOD FOR RELAXED COCOERCIVE VARIATIONAL INEQUALITY AND EQUILIBRIUM PROBLEMS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of finding the common element of the set of common fixed points of a countable family of nonexpansive mappings, the set of an equilibrium problem and the set of solutions of the variational inequality prob- lem for a relaxed cocoercive and Lipschitz continuous mapping in Hilbert spaces. Then, we show that the sequence converges strongly to a common element of the above three sets under some parameter controlling conditions, which are connected with Yao, Liou, Yao[17], Takahashi[12] and many others.

Hybrid Extragradient-Type Methods for Finding a Common Solution of an Equilibrium Problem and a Family of Strict Pseudo-Contraction Mappings

This paper proposes a new hybrid variant of extragradient methods for finding a common solution of an equilibrium problem and a family of strict pseudo-contraction mappings. We present an algorithmic scheme that combine the idea of an extragradient method and a successive iteration method as a hybrid variant. Then, this algorithm is modified by projecting on a suitable convex set to get a better convergence property. The convergence of two these algorithms are investigated under certain assumptions.

Subgradient Extragradient Methods for Equilibrium Problems and Fixed Point Problems in Hilbert Space

Inspired by inertial methods and extragradient algorithms,two algorithms were proposed to investigate fixed point problem of quasinonexpansive mapping and pseudomonotone equilibrium problem in this study.In order to enhance the speed of the convergence and reduce computational cost,the algorithms used a new step size and a cutting hyperplane.The first algorithm was proved to be weak convergence,while the second algorithm used a modified version of Halpern iteration to obtain strong convergence.Finally,numerical experiments on several specific problems and comparisons with other algorithms verified the superiority of the proposed algorithms.

Phase equilibrium data prediction and process optimizationin butadiene extraction process

In response to the lack of reliable physical parameters in the process simulation of the butadiene extraction,a large amount of phase equilibrium data were collected in the context of the actual process of butadiene production by acetonitrile.The accuracy of five prediction methods,UNIFAC(UNIQUAC Functional-group Activity Coefficients),UNIFAC-LL,UNIFAC-LBY,UNIFAC-DMD and COSMO-RS,applied to the butadiene extraction process was verified using partial phase equilibrium data.The results showed that the UNIFAC-DMD method had the highest accuracy in predicting phase equilibrium data for the missing system.COSMO-RS-predicted multiple systems showed good accuracy,and a large number of missing phase equilibrium data were estimated using the UNIFAC-DMD method and COSMO-RS method.The predicted phase equilibrium data were checked for consistency.The NRTL-RK(non-Random Two Liquid-Redlich-Kwong Equation of State)and UNIQUAC thermodynamic models were used to correlate the phase equilibrium data.Industrial device simulations were used to verify the accuracy of the thermodynamic model applied to the butadiene extraction process.The simulation results showed that the average deviations of the simulated results using the correlated thermodynamic model from the actual values were less than 2%compared to that using the commercial simulation software,Aspen Plus and its database.The average deviation was much smaller than that of the simulations using the Aspen Plus database(>10%),indicating that the obtained phase equilibrium data are highly accurate and reliable.The best phase equilibrium data and thermodynamic model parameters for butadiene extraction are provided.This improves the accuracy and reliability of the design,optimization and control of the process,and provides a basis and guarantee for developing a more environmentally friendly and economical butadiene extraction process.

Probabilistic Analysis of Slope Using Finite Element Approach and Limit Equilibrium Approach around Amalpata Landslide of West Central, Nepal

The stability study of the ongoing and recurring Amalpata landslide in Baglung in Nepal’s Gandaki Province is presented in this research. The impacted slope is around 200 meters high, with two terraces that have different slope inclinations. The lower bench, located above the basement, consistently fails and sets others up for failure. The fluctuating water level of the slope, which travels down the slope masses, exacerbates the slide problem. The majority of these rocks are Amalpata landslide area experiences several structural disruptions. The area’s stability must be evaluated in order to prevent and control more harm from occurring to the nearby agricultural land and people living along the slope. The slopes’ failures increase the damages of house existing in nearby area and the erosion of the slope. Two modeling techniques the finite element approach and the limit equilibrium method were used to simulate the slope. The findings show that, in every case, the terrace above the basement is where the majority of the stress is concentrated, with a safety factor of near unity. Using probabilistic slope stability analysis, the failure probability was predicted to be between 98.90% and 100%.

Nash Equilibrium of a Fixed-Sum Two-Player Game

It is well established that Nash equilibrium exists within the framework of mixed strategies in strategic-form non-cooperative games. However, finding the Nash equilibrium generally belongs to the class of problems known as PPAD (Polynomial Parity Argument on Directed graphs), for which no polynomial-time solution methods are known, even for two-player games. This paper demonstrates that in fixed-sum two-player games (including zero-sum games), the Nash equilibrium forms a convex set, and has a unique expected payoff. Furthermore, these equilibria are Pareto optimal. Additionally, it is shown that the Nash equilibrium of fixed-sum two-player games can theoretically be found in polynomial time using the principal-dual interior point method, a solution method of linear programming.

Ageing process of pre-precipitation phase in Ni_(0.75)Al_(0.05)Fe_(0.2) alloy based on phase field method

By utilizing phase field method combined with analysis on free energy and interatomic potentials, pre-precipitation phase formation and transformation process of Ni0.75Al0.05Fe0.2 alloy in early precipitation stage during the ageing process under 1 000 K were studied. And free energy, microstructures, compositions and volume fractions of pre-precipitation phase and equilibrium phase were analyzed. The simulation results indicate that nonstoichiometric Llo pre-precipitation phase formed first, and then would gradually transform into L12 equilibrium phase. It is discovered that the phase transformation process was closely related to free energy and interatomic potentials. Additionally, it is revealed that free energy of Llo pre-precipitation phase was higher and interatomic potential was smaller than that of L12 equilibrium phase. Therefore, it is concluded that Llo phase was unstable, and phase transformation would occur to L12 which was more stable.

A new double reduction method for slope stability analysis

The core of strength reduction method(SRM) involves finding a critical strength curve that happens to make the slope globally fail and a definition of factor of safety(FOS). A new double reduction method, including a detailed calculation procedure and a definition of FOS for slope stability was developed based on the understanding of SRM. When constructing the new definition of FOS, efforts were made to make sure that it has concise physical meanings and fully reflects the shear strength of the slope. Two examples, slopes A and B with the slope angles of 63° and 34° respectively, were given to verify the method presented. It is found that, for these two slopes, the FOSs from original strength reduction method are respectively 1.5% and 38% higher than those from double reduction method. It is also found that the double reduction method predicts a deeper potential slide line and a larger slide mass. These results show that on one hand, the double reduction method is comparative to the traditional methods and is reasonable, and on the other hand, the original strength reduction method may overestimate the safety of a slope. The method presented is advised to be considered as an additional option in the practical slope stability evaluations although more useful experience is required.