Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics
Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics

Author: D. Contractor

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 914

ISBN-13: 9789058091833

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Covering a wide range of topics involving both research developments and applications, resulting from the 10th International Conferecne on Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) held in January 2001 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The theme of the conference was Fundamentals through Applications. The up-to-date research results and applications in this 2-volume work (> 1900 pages) should serve as a valuable source of information for those engaged in research, analysis and design, practical application, and education in the fields of geomechanics and geotechnical engineering.

Application of Numerical Methods to Geotechnical Problems
Application of Numerical Methods to Geotechnical Problems

Author: Annamaria Cividini

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-05-04

Total Pages: 760

ISBN-13: 370912512X

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The NUMGE98 Conference brought together senior and young researchers, scientists and practicing engineers from European and overseas countries, to share their knowledge and experience on the various aspects of the analysis of Geotechnical Problems through Numerical Methods. The papers address a broad spectrum of geotechnical problems, including tunnels and underground openings, shallow and deep foundations, slope stability, seepage and consolidation, partially saturated soils, geothermal effects, constitutive modelling, etc.

Static effects and aspects of feasibility and design of drainages in tunnelling
Static effects and aspects of feasibility and design of drainages in tunnelling

Author: Sara Zingg

Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Published: 2017-02-21

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 3728138193

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This PhD thesis investigates the effectiveness of drainage measures with respect to two particularly important problems associated with tunnelling through water-bearing, weak ground: the stability of the tunnel face and the stability and deformation of grouting bodies. Water is an adverse factor with respect to the stability and deformation of underground structures due to the pore water pressure and the seepage forces associated with seepage flow towards the tunnel. Drainage boreholes reduce the pore water pressure and the seepage forces in the vicinity of the cavity. Furthermore, loss of pore water pressure increases the effective stresses and thus the shearing resistance of the ground („consolidation“), which is favourable in terms the deformation occurring during and after tunnelling. The goal of the PhD thesis is to elaborate a more detailed understanding of the interrelationships between drainage measures and the stability of the tunnel face and grouting bodies. The main objectives of the investigations relating to the tunnel face are: 1. analysis of face stability through limit equilibrium computations taking account of the numerically determined seepage flow conditions prevailing in the ground after the implementation of drainage measures; 2. systematic investigation of tunnel face stability considering several different drainage layouts and working out designnomograms; 3. consideration of a series of aspects limiting pore pressure relief and thus the effectiveness of drainage measures and their impact on face stability. The main objectives of the investigations with regard to grouting bodies are: 1. a study of the stabilizing effect of the virtual case of ideal drainage on tunnel support and plastification in grouted fault zones in plane strain conditions; 2. a comparison with the stabilizing effect of real drainage layouts, i.e. when considering pore pressure relief due to specific drainage borehole arrangements; 3. application of the drainage measure both before and after the injection works. In summary, the contribution of this PhD thesis is the detailed investigation of the static effects of drainage measures during tunnelling in water-bearing ground with respect to the stability of the tunnel face and the grouting body as well as the supply of design aids capable of providing a quick assessment of face stability when considering a number of advance drainage schemes.

Instabilities in alpine permafrost: strength and stiffness in a warming regime
Instabilities in alpine permafrost: strength and stiffness in a warming regime

Author: Yuko Yamamoto

Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Published: 2014-08-20

Total Pages: 519

ISBN-13: 3728136409

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Alpine permafrost exists at high altitude at lower latitudes, such as in the Swiss Alps. Accelerating climate change, including rising mean annual air temperature and extreme rainfall conditions in alpine regions induces permafrost degradation. The warming of permafrost causes accelerated creep of rock glaciers, due to increased unfrozen water content and higher deformability of the ice phase. Recently, the development of deepening depressions has been observed in several rock glaciers in Switzerland, and the changes in land surface characteristics and drainage systems may initiate slope instabilities in rock glaciers. The main aim of this thesis is to characterise the strength and stiffness of alpine frozen soil in rock glaciers. To this end, the geotechnical response, such as creep and failure of frozen soil was investigated through a triaxial stress path testing programme with novel measurement systems for detecting acoustic emissions and measuring volumetric change. In addition, the resistance to crack initiation and propagation was investigated through a beam bending test programme on rectangular artificially frozen soil specimens, using the acoustic emission measurement system. The evaluation of laboratory tests on artificially frozen soil specimens implied that the development of deep depressions in rock glaciers occurs through differential creep and thermal degradation, and that the rate of deformation has the potential to lead to instabilities in rock glaciers. A comparison of the simulation results with the experimental data demonstrated that the semi-coupled model was successful in simulating the most important aspects of the temperature-dependent stress-strain relationship for the frozen soil behaviour that was measured at the element scale. This thesis contributes to an understanding of the variations in geotechnical response of alpine permafrost, by investigating the behaviour of artificially frozen soil specimens experimentally and numerically with time and temperature under specific stress paths. However, further investigations are necessary to assess the long-term stability of rock glaciers affected by climate change.

Failure mechanisms in unsaturated silty sand slopes triggered by rainfall
Failure mechanisms in unsaturated silty sand slopes triggered by rainfall

Author: Amin Askarinejad

Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Published: 2015-11-26

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 372813676X

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Landslides triggered by rainfall cause significant damage to infrastructure annually and affect many lives in several parts of the world, including Switzerland. These landslides are initiated by a decrease in the effective stresses, and hence the shear strength of the soil, as a result of the increase in pore water pressure. The frequency of their occurrence is directly affected by the climatic and hydrological conditions in the region. Therefore, it is expected that the predicted rise in the number of extreme meteorological events, accompanied by the concentration of population and infrastructure in mountainous regions, will result in an increased number of casualties associated with landslides in the future. The main goal of this doctoral project was to study the effects of pore water pressure perturbations on the stability of unsaturated silty sand slopes and to investigate the mechanisms leading to the initiation and propagation of the shear deformations and eventually possible rapid mass movements. The behaviour of the test slope prior to the failure induced by the artificial rainfall event was investigated using analytical and numerical methods. The mechanical features of unsaturated soils and reinforcing effects of the vegetation were implemented in 2D and 3D limit equilibrium analysis. The possible depth of the failure surface was calculated based on these simplified models and was compared with the depth of the real failure surface in the landslide triggering experiment. The soil-bedrock interactions, in terms of the pattern of pore pressure distributions and their influence on stabilising or destabilising the slope, were studied and the results were compared to the field measurements.

Inverse Analysis in Road Geotechnics
Inverse Analysis in Road Geotechnics

Author: Carlo Rabaiotti

Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 3728132748

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This research work had the aim of developing a procedure for back-calculating accurate and precise parameter values, describing the mechanical behaviour of the materials built in an existing road structure. After reviewing the existing testing techniques, a new device was designed and assembled at the IGT, Institute for Geotechnical Engineering (ETH Zürich) for measuring the three dimensional deflection bowl under a standard axle load (SAL). Particular attention was paid for obtaining precise and accurate significant measurements for inverse analysis. Three field tests on different locations and road structures were carried out: a flexible pavement type built in a concrete pit (indoor facility) at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), a semirigid type in Hinwil (Switzerland) and a flexible type in Bellinzona (Hinwil). The tests results show that the measured road displacements under a SAL, for relatively low temperatures, are generally reversible and time independent. Laboratory tests (uniaxial compression) were carried out on cores obtained from field samples.The strain measurements of the loaded samples were carried out with strain gages, and validated against devices with different technology (LVDT). The analysis of the test results showed that the materials have different bulk and deviatoric stress-strain behaviour. A new thermodynamical framework for non linear viscoelasticity (hyperviscoelasticity) was developed. Experimentally validated hyperviscoelastic and hyperelastic constitutive laws were adopted respectively for describing the mechanical behaviour of asphalt and cement stabilized mixtures. The inverse analysis of the field tests results was carried out with two different optimization algorithms (Levenberg Marquardt and Mesh Adaptative Direct Search), the FE program ABAQUS, and the developed user defined models. The results demonstrate the accuracy and precision of the parameter values obtained with the proposed inverse analysis procedure, demonstrating a potential for application of the developed technique for non destructing testing of real road structures.

On the Feasibility of TBM Drives in Squeezing Ground and the Risk of Shield Jamming
On the Feasibility of TBM Drives in Squeezing Ground and the Risk of Shield Jamming

Author: Marco Ramoni

Publisher: vdf Hochschulverlag AG

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3728133639

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Squeezing ground represents a challenging operating environment as it may slow down or obstruct TBM operation. Due to the geometrical constraints of the equipment, relatively small convergences of 10-20 cm may lead to considerable difficulties in the machine area (sticking of the cutter head, jamming of the shield) or in the back-up area (e.g., jamming of the back-up equipment, inadmissible convergences of the bored profile, damage to the tunnel support). Depending on the number and the length of the critical stretches, squeezing conditions may even call into question the feasibility of a TBM drive. On account of this, and bearing in mind the steady increase in the number of tunnels excavated with TBMs through so-called "difficult ground conditions", the topic investigated in this PhD thesis is of great practical relevance.Based upon case histories reported in the literature, Part I sets out firstly to give an overview of the specific problems of TBM tunnelling under squeezing conditions. Part II presents a computational model which simulates accurately and efficiently the advancing TBM and the installed tunnel support in one single computational step applying the so-called "steady state method". Part III advances a number of theory-based decision aids, which will support rapid, initial assessments to be made of thrust force requirements. Part IV investigates the complex problem of the interaction between the advancing TBM, the consolidating ground and the lining. Emphasis is thereby placed on the effect of the gross advance rate and the effect of ground permeability on shield loading during regular TBM operation (the boring process including short standstills) and during a long standstill.