Mesoscopic measurement of damage and shear bands of granite residual soil using Micro-CT and digital volume correlation

The mesomechanics of geotechnical materials are closely related to the macromechanical properties,especially the mesoscale evolution of shear bands,which is helpful for understanding the failure mechanism of geotechnical materials.However,there is lack of effective quantitative analysis method for the complex evolution mechanism of threedimensional shear bands.In this work,we used X-ray computed tomography(CT)to reconstruct volume images and used the digital volume correlation(DVC)method to calculate the three-dimensional strain fields of granite residual soil samples at different loading stages.The trend of the failure surface of the shear bands was obtained by the planar fitting method,and the connectivity index was constructed according to the projection characteristics of the shear bands on the failure trend surface.The results support the following findings:the connectivity index of the shear band increases rapidly and then slowly with increasing axial strain,which is characterized by a near'S'curve.As the stress reaches the peak value,the connectivity index of the shear bands almost exceeds 0.7.The contribution of the new shear band volume to the connectivity of the shear bands becomes increasingly small with increasing axial loading.Affected by quartz grains and stress at the initial stage,the dip angle gradually and finally approaches the included angle of the maximum shear stress from the discrete state with increasing axial loading.The tendency and dip angle of the resulting shear bands are dynamic,and the tendency slightly deflects with increasing loading.

Monitoring Study of Long-Term Land Subsidence during Subway Operation in High-Density Urban Areas Based on DInSAR-GPS-GIS Technology and Numerical Simulation

During subway operation,various factors will cause long-term land subsidence,such as the vibration subsidence of foundation soil caused by train vibration load,incomplete consolidation deformation of foundation soil during tunnel construction,dense buildings and structures in the vicinity of the tunnel,and changes in water level in the stratum where the tunnel is located.The monitoring of long-term land subsidence during subway operation in high-density urban areas differs from that in low-density urban construction areas.The former is the gathering point of the entire urban population.There are many complex buildings around the project,busy road traffic,high pedestrian flow,and less vegetation cover.Several existing items requiremonitoring.However,monitoring distance is long,and providing early warning is difficult.This study uses the 2.8 km operation line between Wulin Square station and Ding’an Road station of Hangzhou Subway Line 1 as an example to propose the integrated method of DInSAR-GPS-GIS technology and the key algorithm for long-term land subsidence deformation.Then,it selects multiscene image data to analyze long-termland subsidence of high-density urban areas during subway operation.Results show that long-term land subsidence caused by the operation of Wulin Square station to Ding’an Road station of Hangzhou Subway Line 1 is small,with maximumsubsidence of 30.64 mm,and minimumsubsidence of 11.45 mm,and average subsidence ranging from 19.27 to 21.33 mm.And FLAC3D software was used to verify the monitoring situation,using the geological conditions of the soil in the study area and the tunnel profile to simulate the settlement under vehicle load,and the simulation results tended to be consistent with the monitoring situation.

Research Progress on the Influence of Varying Fiber Contents on Mechanical Properties of Recycled Concrete

Applying recycled concrete for engineered projects not only protects the ecological environment but also improves the utilization rate of waste concrete to satisfy sustainable development requirements.However,the mechanical properties of recycled concrete are not as good as those of ordinary concrete.To enhance the former’s performance and increase its popularity and application in engineeringfields,notable advances have been made by using steel,synthetic,plant,and mineralfiber materials.These materials are added to recycled concrete to improve its mechanical properties.Studies have shown that(1)steelfibers have a distinct reinforcing effect and improve the strength,toughness,and elastic modulus of recycled concrete;(2)the addition of syntheticfibers can improve the tension,crack resistance,and durability of concrete,but the size effect needs to be further explored and elaborated;(3)plantfiber concrete is lightweight and environmentally friendly and provides high toughness and good thermal insulation,but thefibers corrode in alkaline environments;in addition,plantfibers have high water absorption capacity,which leads to wet expansion and dry shrinkage phenomena,which need to be further studied;and(4)the cost of basaltfiber,a mineralfiber,is relatively low,and a suitable basalt content can improve the mechanical properties of recycled concrete to a certain extent.

Influence of Bayer Red Mud on the Operational and Mechanical Characteristics of Composite Cement Mortar

The aim of this study is to enhance the value and utilization of red mud generated in the Bayer process by preparing composite cement mortars.The effects of two different types of Bayer red mud with varying physical and chemical characteristics on the fluidity,mechanical strength,mineral composition,and microstructure of the composite cement mortar were systematically evaluated.The results showed that the optimal addition of red mud A was 10 wt%,while it was 20 wt% for red mud B.The mechanical properties of the composite cement mortar met the standards for P·O42.5 cement.Furthermore,the composite mortar with the addition of red mud B showed higher flexural and compressive strengths compared to the composite mortar with red mud A.This improvement is attributed to the smaller particle size of red mud B,which filled the micro-pores and increased the compactness of the cement stone,as well as its higher content of Na_(2)O,K_(2)O,and other free alkalis,which resulted in more obvious alkali activation,accelerating the hydration of the active minerals in the slurry.

A novel method for simulating nuclear explosion with chemical explosion to form an approximate plane wave: Field test and numerical simulation

A nuclear explosion in the rock mass medium can produce strong shock waves,seismic shocks,and other destructive effects,which can cause extreme damage to the underground protection infrastructures.With the increase in nuclear explosion power,underground protection engineering enabled by explosion-proof impact theory and technology ushered in a new challenge.This paper proposes to simulate nuclear explosion tests with on-site chemical explosion tests in the form of multi-hole explosions.First,the mechanism of using multi-hole simultaneous blasting to simulate a nuclear explosion to generate approximate plane waves was analyzed.The plane pressure curve at the vault of the underground protective tunnel under the action of the multi-hole simultaneous blasting was then obtained using the impact test in the rock mass at the site.According to the peak pressure at the vault plane,it was divided into three regions:the stress superposition region,the superposition region after surface reflection,and the approximate plane stress wave zone.A numerical simulation approach was developed using PFC and FLAC to study the peak particle velocity in the surrounding rock of the underground protective cave under the action of multi-hole blasting.The time-history curves of pressure and peak pressure partition obtained by the on-site multi-hole simultaneous blasting test and numerical simulation were compared and analyzed,to verify the correctness and rationality of the formation of an approximate plane wave in the simulated nuclear explosion.This comparison and analysis also provided a theoretical foundation and some research ideas for the ensuing study on the impact of a nuclear explosion.

Simulation of Airblast Load and Its Effect on RC Structures

In the analysis of a structure subjected to an explosion event, the determination of the blast load constitutes a crucial step. The effect of the blast load on the structure depends not only on the peak shock overpressure, but also the impulse (hence the duration). For structures with a regular geometry, the blast load may be fairly well estimated using appropriate empirical formulae; however, for more complex situations, a direct simulation using appropriate computational techniques is necessary. This paper presents a numerical simulation study on the prediction of the blast load in free air using a hydrocode, with focus on the sensitivity of the simulated blast load to the mesh grid size. The simulation results are compared with empirical predictions. It is found that the simulated blast load is sensitive to the mesh size, especially in the close-in range, and with a practically affordable mesh grid density, the blast load tends to be systematically underestimated. The study is extended to internal blast cases. An example concrete slab under internal explosion is analyzed using a coupled analysis scheme. The internal blast load from the simulation is examined and the response of the RC slab is commented.

Application of functional-link neural network in evaluation of sublayer suspension based on FWD test

Several methods for evaluating the sublayer suspension beneath old pavement with falling weight deflectormeter(FWD), were summarized and the respective advantages and disadvantages were analyzed. Based on these methods, the evaluation principles were improved and a new type of the neural network, functional-link neural network was proposed to evaluate the sublayer suspension with FWD test results. The concept of function link, learning method of functional-link neural network and the establishment process of neural network model were studied in detail. Based on the old pavement over-repairing engineering of Kaiping section, Guangdong Province in G325 National Highway, the application of functional-link neural network in evaluation of sublayer suspension beneath old pavement based on FWD test data on the spot was investigated. When learning rate is 0.1 and training cycles are 405, the functional-link network error is less than 0.000 1, while the optimum chosen 4-8-1 BP needs over 10 000 training cycles to reach the same accuracy with less precise evaluation results. Therefore, in contrast to common BP neural network,the functional-link neural network adopts single layer structure to learn and calculate, which simplifies the network, accelerates the convergence speed and improves the accuracy. Moreover the trained functional-link neural network can be (adopted) to directly evaluate the sublayer suspension based on FWD test data on the site. Engineering practice indicates that the functional-link neural model gains very excellent results and effectively guides the pavement over-repairing construction.

Implicit scheme for integrating constitutive model of unsaturated soils with coupling hydraulic and mechanical behavior

A constitutive model of unsaturated soils with coupling capillary hystere- sis and skeleton deformation is developed and implemented in a fully coupled transient hydro-mechanical finite-element model （computer code U-DYSAC2）. The obtained re- sults are compared with experimental results, showing that the proposed constitutive model can simulate the main mechanical and hydraulic behavior of unsaturated soils in a unified framework. The non-lineaxity of the soil-water characteristic relation is treated in a similar way of elastoplasticity. Two constitutive relations axe integrated by an implicit return-mapping scheme similar to that developed for saturated soils. A consistent tan- gential modulus is derived to preserve the asymptotic rate of the quadratic convergence of Newton＇s iteration. Combined with the integration of the constitutive model, a complete finite-element formulation of coupling hydro-mechanical problems for unsaturated soils is presented. A number of practical problems with different given initial and boundary conditions are analyzed to illustrate the performance and capabilities of the finite-element model.

Development of 3D top coal caving angle model for fully mechanized extra-thick coal seam mining

During high-intensity,fully mechanized mining of extra-thick coal seam,the top coal would cave to a certain 3D form.Based on the data collected during drilling,a 3D model of top coal caving surface space was established to determine the relationship between the location of the stope roof and the caving surface,enabling the mathematical computation of the top caving angle(φ).The drilling method was employed to measure the top caving angle on two extra-thick fully mechanized coal caving faces under the conditions of three geological structures,namely,no geological structure,igneous rock structure,and fault structure.The results show that the value of top caving angle could be accurately estimated on-site with the 9-parameter 3D top coal caving surface model built with the drilling method.This method is a novel on-site measurement that can be easily applied.Our findings reveal that the characteristics of the coal-rock in the two mining faces are different;yet their caving angles follow the ruleφ_(igneous rock structure)<φ_(no geological structure)<φ_(fault structure).Finally,through the data fitting with two indexes(the top coal uniaxial compressive strength and the top caving angle),it is found that the relationship between the two indexes satisfies an exponential decay function.

Research on mechanism of groundwater pollution from mine water in abandoned mines

In order to understand the mechanism and regularity of the groundwater contamination from mine water of abandoned mines, experiments were conducted on an abandoned coal mine in Fuxin, a representative city with lots of mine water in northeast China. The groundwater pollution from different contaminants of coal-mining voids （total hardness, SO4^2-, CI^- and total Fe） and pollution factors transportation situation in the coal rock were simulated by soil column experiment under the conditions of mine water leaching and main water leaching （similar to rainwater leaching）, and the water-rock interaction mechanism was discussed during mine water infiltration through saturated coal rock by application of principle of mass conservation, based on physical properties of coal rock, as well as monitored chemical composition. The results show that, compared with the clear water leaching process, trends of change in pollutant concentrations presented different characteristics in the mine water leaching process. Groundwater is contaminated by the water rock interactions such as migration ＆ accumulation, adsorption ＆ transformation, dissolution ＆ desorption and ion exchange during the mine water permeation. The experiments also suggest that at first dissolution rate of some kinds of dissoluble salts is high, but it decreases with leaching time, even to zero during both the mine water leaching and main water leaching.

Effects of Curing Temperature on Rheological Behaviour and Compressive Strength of Cement Containing GGBFS

The viscoplasticity and compressive strength of cement with high erosion performance were studied. The influences of curing temperature and content of ground granulated blast furnace slag(GGBFS) on these performances of the medium heat cement(including high iron and low calcium phase) were also investigated. The results indicate that the medium heat cement with high iron phase can maintain better fluidity and low temperature sensitivity than that of ordinary Portland cement at high temperature. GGBFS can play an important role in improving the fluidity and stability of the slurry, and avoid the cement setting and hardening prematurely at high temperatures. The microstructure analysis shows that a large amount of CH with layer shape appear in the slurry. The amount of this gel layer in the slurry increased as the curing temperature elevated. The layer can make the cement stone structure more denser, so that the compressive strength of samples are enhanced in the later stage. When the medium heat cement contains 40% GGBFS, the system has the best flow performance and stability under high temperature environment, and can be applied to mass concrete with excessive internal temperature.

Experimental Research of Concrete with Steel Slag Powder and Zeolite Powder

In order to increase use ratio of steel slag solid waste,the concrete containing steel slag powder and zeolite powder as admixtures was prepared by using the orthogonal test method.The effects of water-binder ratio,sand ratio,steel slag powder content and zeolite powder on working properties,mechanical strength and chloride ion permeability of the concrete was studied.It was found that the early strength of the concrete had a decrease with the mixing of steel slag and zeolite powders,but its later strength approached to pure concrete.Moreover,the physical filling and pozzolanic activity of the admixtures increased the density of the concrete,resulting in the improvement of the durability of the concrete by the migration speed of Cl−reducing.The optimum mix ratio of C40 steel slag powder-zeolite powder concrete is obtained,and which had the slump of 220 mm,the 3 d,7 d and 28 d compressive strengths of 27.8 MPa,37.5 MPa and 48.4 MPa,the 6 h electric flux of 950 C and the diffusion coefficient of 1.65×10−12 m2/s.

A quantitative model for danger degree evaluation of staged operation of earth dam reservoir in flood season and its application

Based on the natural disaster risk evaluation mode, a quantitative danger degree evaluation model was developed to evaluate the danger degree of earth dam reservoir staged operation in the flood season. A formula for the overtopping risk rate of the earth dam reservoir staged operation was established, with consideration of the joint effect of flood and wind waves in the flood sub-seasons with the Monte Carlo method, and the integrated overtopping risk rate for the whole flood season was obtained via the total probability approach. A composite normalized function was used to transform the dam overtopping risk rate into the danger degree, on a scale of 0-1. Danger degree gradating criteria were divided by four significant characteristic values of the dam overtopping rate, and corresponding guidelines for danger evaluation are explained in detail in this paper. Examples indicated that the dam overtopping danger degree of the Chengbihe Reservoir in China was 0.33-0.57, within the range of moderate danger level, and the flood-limiting water level （FLWL） can be adjusted to 185.00 m for the early and main flood seasons, and 185.00-187.50 m for the late flood season. The proposed quantitative model offers a theoretical basis for determination of the value of the danger degree of an earth dam reservoir under normal operation as well as the optimal scheduling scheme for the reservoir in each stage of the flood season.

Load-bearing characteristics of square footing on geogrid-reinforced sand subjected to repeated loading

A series of dynamic model tests that were performed on a geogrid-reinforced square footing are presented.The dynamic(sinusoidal)loading was applied using a mechanical testing and simulation(MTS)electro-hydraulic servo loading system.In all the tests,the amplitude of loading was±160 kPa;the frequency of loading was 2 Hz.To better ascertain the effect of reinforcement,an unreinforced square footing was first tested.This was followed by a series of tests,each with a single layer of reinforcement.The reinforcement was placed at depths of 0.3B,0.6B and 0.9B,where B is the width of footing.The optimal depth of reinforcement was found to be 0.6B.The effect of adopting this value versus the other two depths was quantified.The single layer of geogrid had an effective reinforcement depth of 1.7B below the footing base.The increase of the depth between the topmost geogrid layer and the bottom of the footing(within the range of 0.9B)did not change the failure mode of the foundation.

Mineralogical and Active Mechanical Excitation Characteristics of Filled Fly Ash Cementitious Materials

To reveal the influence of mechanical activation on the performance of fly ash, the microanalysis（the energy spectroscopy, XRD and SEM）, the distribution size of particle of fly ash and cement paste intensity of various age for different grinding time were studied. The relationships of the activity and the composition of fly ash, microstructure and the distribution of particle size by mechanical activation of fly ash were obtained. The internal glass beads with activity were released by grinding fly ash for a certain time. The particle specific surface area was improved and the hydration reaction of the interface and the surface active center was increased by grinding. The granularity distributing of fly-ash trended towards optimization. The polar molecules or ions were easier to intrude into the internal cavity of the vitreous body. The active silica and alumina of fly ash were rapidly depolymerized. Each performance index of fly ash was increased before grinding for 20 min. Cement paste intensity of various age increased along with the grinding time, and the early strength increase range was big, but the later period intensity increase range hastened slightly. The internal part of vitreous of fly ash was destroyed if the fly ash continued to be ground and the activity of fly ash was reduced. It is suggested that Guozhuang＇s fly ash should be ground for 20 min.

Active vibration control of nonlinear benchmark buildings

The present nonlinear model reduction methods unfit the nonlinear benchmark buildings as their vibration equations belong to a non-affine system. Meanwhile, the controllers designed directly by the nonlinear control strategy have a high order, and they are difficult to be applied actually. Therefore, a new active vibration control way which fits the nonlinear buildings is proposed. The idea of the proposed way is based on the model identification and structural model linearization, and exerting the control force to the built model according to the force action principle. This proposed way has a better practicability as the built model can be reduced by the balance reduction method based on the empirical Grammian matrix. A three-story benchmark structure is presented and the simulation results illustrate that the proposed method is viable for the civil engineering structures.

Dynamic Analysis of Structural Columns Subjected to Impulsive Loading

For a building structure subjected to impulsive loading, particularly shock and impact loading , the response of the critical columns is crucial to the behaviour of the entire system during and after the blast loading phase. Therefore, an appropriate evaluation of the column response and damage under short-duration impulsive loading is important in a comprehensive assessment of the performance of a building system. This paper reports a dynamic analysis approach for the response of RC columns subjected to impulsive loading. Considering that the dynamic response of a column in a frame structure can also be affected by the floor movement which relates to the global vibration of the frame system, a generic column-mass model is used, in which a concentrated mass is attached to the column top to simulate the effect of a global vibration. To take into account the high shear effect under impulsive load, the model is formulated using Timoshenko beam theory, and three main nonlinear mechanisms are considered. Two typical scenarios, one under a direct air blast loading, and another under a blast-induced ground excitation, are analyzed and the primary response features are highlighted.

Effects of leachate infiltration and desiccation cracks on hydraulic conductivity of compacted clay

Both cracks in clay liner and the complex composition of landfill leachate might have effects on the hydraulic conductivity of a compacted clay liner. In this study, the hydraulic conductivities of natural clay and bentonite-modified clay with and without desiccation cracks were measured, respectively, using three types of liquids as permeating liquid： 2 500 mg/L acetic acid solution, 0.5 mol/L CaCl2 solution, and tap water. When tap water was adopted as the permeating liquid, desiccation cracks resulted in increases in the average value of hydraulic conductivity： a 25-fold increase for the natural clay and a 5.7-fold increase for the bentonite-modified clay. It was also found out that the strong selfhealing capability of bentonite helped to reduce the adverse impact of cracks on hydraulic performance. In contrast to tap water, simulated leachates（acetic acid and CaCl2 solutions） show no adverse effect on the hydraulic conductivities of natural and bentonite-modified clays. It is concluded that desiccation cracks and bentonite have more significant effects on hydraulic performance than simulated leachates.

APPLICATION OF PENALTY FUNCTION METHOD IN ISOPARANIETRIC HYBRID FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

By the aid of the penalty function method, the equilibrium restriction conditions were introduced to the isoparametric hybrid finite element analysis, and the concrete application course of the penalty function method in three-dimensional isoparametdc hybrid finite element was discussed. The separated penalty parameters method and the optimal hybrid element model with penalty balance were also presented. The penalty balance method can effectively refrain the parasitical stress on the premise of no additional degrees of freedom. The numeric experiment shows that the presented element not only is effective in improving greatly the numeric calculation precision of distorted grids but also has the universality.

Analysis of Hydration Mechanism and Microstructure of Composite Cementitious Materials for Filling Mining

To obtain the compositions and microstructure of hydration products of cementitious material in different hydration ages and its growth law of filling strength, the optimal proportion of composite cementitious material was determined according to the chemical composition of cement clinker which was composed of the Portland cement 32.5R, CSA 42.5 sulphoaluminate cement and two gypsum（CS）. The characterization of composite cementitious materials in different hydration ages was conducted by NMR, XRD and SEM techniques. The mechanism of hydration was explored. It is shown that the compressive strength of the test block increases gradually with the increase of hydration age. The microstructure of composite cementitious material can be changed from Al-O octahedron into Al-O tetrahedron in the hydration process. The hydrated alkali alumi niumsilicate formed with Si-O tetrahedron and Al-O tetrahedron. The degree of polymerization of Si-O tetrahedron gradually increased, and the structural strength of cementitious materials continued to increase. The diffraction peak of clinker minerals gradually decreased with the extension of hydration age. The CaSO4 completely hydrated to produce Aft during hydration which resulted in high early strength of cementitious material. The early hydration product of composite cementitious materials was Aft with a needle bar structure. The main middle and last hydration products were CSH gel and CH gel with dense prismatic shape. The microscopic pore of composite cementitious material gradually decreased and improved the later strength of filling block. The strong support was provided for mined-out area.