Ground movements due to deep excavations in Shanghai： Design charts

Recent research has clarified the sequence of ground deformation mechanisms that manifest themselves when excavations are made in soft ground. Furthermore, a new framework to describe the deformability of clays in the working stress range has been devised using a large database of previously published soil tests. This paper aims to capitalize on these advances, by analyzing an expanded database of ground movements associated with braced excavations in Shanghai. It is shown that conventional design charts fail to take account either of the characteristics of soil deformability or the relevant deformation mechanisms, and therefore introduce significant scatter. A new method of presentation is found which provides a set of design charts that clarify the influence of soil deformability, wall stiffness, and the geometry of the excavation in relation to the depth of soft ground.

Seismic demand of plan-asymmetric structures:a revisit

In view of the recognition of the importance of the interdependent behavior of strength and stiffness of walltype structural elements,the seismic demand of plan-asymmetric systems is revisited.Useful strength distribution strategies,i.e.,＇Center of Strength-Center of Mass（CV-CM） coinciding＇ and ＇Balanced Center of Strength-Center of Resistance（CVCR）＇ are adopted.Design charts for the seismic demand of classical uni-directionally and bi-directionally asymmetric systems are developed in a simple unified format.A conceptual framework is also outlined to conveniently apply the design charts.Illustrations are included to explain the use of the current recommendations in practical design.The study also highlights the relative performance of ＇CV-CM coinciding＇ and ＇Balanced CV-CR＇ criteria.

Free-Fall Penetration Behaviors of A New Dynamically Installed Plate Anchor in Marine Clay

A new dynamically installed plate anchor, the Flying Wing Anchor~?, has been developed as a sustainable anchor concept for deep-water offshore wind turbines. The anchor is firstly installed by free-fall penetration and then followed by drag embedment. If the anchor is subjected to environmental loads, it dives deeper to mobilize a higher capacity. This study presents a series of free-fall penetration tests with model anchors in different weights to assess the anchor behavior during the free-fall penetration performance in one-layer soil with a constant shear strength profile. Anchor velocities and embedment depths were measured by a magnetometer. An energy-based model and a force-based model were calibrated against the test results of model anchors with different weights. Based on the calibrated force-based model, a series of design charts were developed to estimate the embedment depth of anchors in different sizes and with different impact velocities in various marine clays. The framework to plot design charts presented herein can be potentially applied to other dynamically installed anchors to predict embedment depth in engineering practice.

DE based economic control chart design and application for a typical petrochemical process

Petrochemical industry plays an important role in the development of the national economy. Purified terephthalic acid(PTA) is one of the most important intermediate raw materials in the petrochemical and chemical fiber industries. PTA production has two parts:p-xylene(PX) oxidation process and crude terephthalic acid(CTA) hydropurification process. The CTA hydropurification process is used to reduce impurities, such as 4-carboxybenzaldehyde, which is produced by a side reaction in the PX oxidation process and is harmful to the polyester industry. From the safety and economic viewpoints, monitoring this process is necessary. Four main faults of this process are analyzed in this study. The common process monitoring methods always use T^2 and SPE statistic as control limits. However, the traditional methods do not fully consider the economic viewpoint. In this study, a new economic control chart design method based on the differential evolution(DE) algorithm is developed. The DE algorithm transforms the economic control chart design problem to an optimization problem and is an excellent solution to such problem. Case studies of the main faults of the hydropurification process indicate that the proposed method can achieve minimum profit loss.This method is useful in economic control chart design and can provide guidance for the petrochemical industry.

Undrained stability of active trapdoors in two-layered clays

Several environmental changes can induce an underground hole,leading to failures of non-ground infrastructure,such as pavements.Under a continued overload of traffic action on the pavement,the hole can potentially collapse,leading to creation of potholes.This phenomenon is commonly known as a trapdoor problem.Even though there are several previous works considering this problem,the stability solutions of trapdoors in two-layered soils have not yet been studied.To estimate the undrained stability of active trapdoors in two-layered clays under plane strain conditions,numerical solutions based on the finite element method have been developed.The influence parameters include the coverage depth of the trapdoor,and the thickness and undrained shear strength of the clay layers.The effects of these parameters on the stability of active trapdoors as well as their associated failure mechanisms are examined and discussed in this paper.The solutions are presented in the form of dimensionless charts that can be used for the design of trapdoor systems in two-layered clays with different thicknesses and undrained shear strengths.