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Quantifying uncertainties in subsurface properties and stratigraphy can lead to better understanding of the ground conditions and enhance the design and assessment of geotechnical structures. Several studies have utilized Cone Penetration Test (CPT) data and employed Bayesian and Machine Learning methods to quantify the geological uncertainty, based on the Robertson’s soil classification charts and the Soil Behaviour Type Index (Ic). The incorporation of borehole data can reduce the stratigraphic uncertainty. Significant challenges can arise, however, mainly due to the intrinsic differences between field and laboratory-based soil classification systems, which can potentially lead to inconsistent soil classification. To this end, this study proposes a multivariate Gaussian Process model that utilizes site-specific data and: i) jointly models multiple categorical (USCS labels) and continuous (Ic) variables, ii) learns a (shared) spatial correlation structure and the betweenoutputs covariance, and iii) produces two types of dependent classification outputs. The results indicate that the integration of geotechnical and geological information into a unified model can provide more reliable predictions of the subsurface stratification, by allowing simultaneous interpretation of USCS and Ic profiles. Importantly, the model demonstrates the potential to integrate multiple variables of different types, aiming to contribute to the development of a methodology for joint modeling of geotechnical, geological and geophysical data.
Most railway embankments in the UK were built in the Victorian era and are of end-tipped construction using materials (usually cohesive) excavated from adjacent cuttings, resulting in a clod-and-matrix structure. Historically, there has been a lack in understanding of the mechanical behaviour of such railway embankments. In the next decade railway traffic in the UK, particularly freight, is forecast to grow considerably. Consequently, there is a need to improve the understanding of how increases in rail traffic loading may influence the mechanical behaviour of railway embankments and thus track performance. The Rail Safety and Standards Board in conjunction with Network Rail is currently undertaking a programme of applied research into this topic. As part of these studies a programme of physical model tests has been carried out. Physical model tests can provide high quality data on system performance under a large range of loading conditions and geometrical configurations. The data can be generated rapidly, with test periods of weeks or months rather than years or decades. Additionally, boundary conditions are well-defined and controlled, compared with the complex situations encountered in full scale embankments in the field. This paper summarises the physical model test programme, the development of the test set-up, the tests themselves and the conclusions drawn.
In this contribution, we consider two applications in which probabilistic approaches can potentially complement or enhance the design and assessment of offshore wind turbine foundations. First, we illustrate in a numerical example that probabilistic modelling can be helpful in dealing with chang-es in turbine locations during the planning phase of an offshore wind farm. In this case, spatial probabilistic modelling of the ground conditions enables (a) an inference of the soil properties at the modified turbine location from field data collected at different locations across an offshore wind farm site and (b) an optimisation of further site investigations. Second, we discuss the uncer-tainties and risks associated with the installation of large diameter monopiles in soils with hetero-geneities such as strong layers and/or embedded boulders. Subsequently, we present a concept for modelling, understanding, and managing these risks based on a probabilistic model of the subgrade conditions, monopile, and subgrade-pile-interaction.
We focus here on the major and still relevant issue of soil erosion by fluid flows, and more specifically on the determination of both a critical threshold for erosion occurrence and a kinetics that specifies the rate of eroded matter entrainment. A state-of-the-art is first proposed with a critical view on the most commonly used methods and erosion models. It is then discussed an alternative strategy, promoting the use of model materials that allow systematic parametric investigations with the purpose of identifying more precisely the local mechanisms responsible for soil particle erosion and ultimately quantifying both critical onsets and kinetics, possibly through existing or novel empirical erosion laws. Finally, we present and discuss several examples following this methodology, implemented either by means of experiments or numerical simulations, and coupling erosion tests in several particular hydrodynamical configurations with wisely selected mechanical tests.
The structural performance of many geotechnical systems (e.g. axially-loaded pile foundations), depends on the shearing resistance at the soil interface, which may govern the load bearing capacity of the foundation. Experimental investigations have shown that this interaction is mainly localised within a narrow shear band next to the structure. Under cyclic loading, a contraction of the soil at the interface may arise (net volume loss), possibly leading to a stress relaxation and thus to a reduction of the load bearing capacity (the so-called friction fatigue). Based on the constitutive similarities between soil continua and interfaces, we propose here the adaption of a Generalized Plasticity model for sandy soils for the numerical analysis of interface problems. In this contribution, the results of an experimental campaign for the parameter calibration of the constitutive model are presented. The tests have been conducted with a ring shear device involving different normal stresses, roughness of the steel plates as well as cyclic loading. The new modelling approach shows promising results and has the additional practical advantage that the interface zone and the soil continuum can both be described with the same constitutive model in general boundary value problems.
In this paper a shear test, which helps to study local behavior of the soil-pile interaction, is modelled numerically with the Finite Element Method as a 2D plane strain problem. A normal pressure on top and shear displacement on side were applied. So far, the material behavior was considered elastic for the sake of simplicity.
The effect of thickness on contact elements and the presence of in plane stress has been highlighted. The purpose of the paper is to find a suitable contact element which represents more close to reality a soil-pile interaction problem under cyclic axial loading. Moreover, an insight on the presence of in-plane stress shows that it needs to be considered cautiously.
The shaft bearing capacity often plays a dominant role for the overall structural behaviour of axially loaded piles in offshore deep foundations. Under cyclic loading, a narrow zone of soil at the pile-soil interface is subject to cyclic shearing solicitations. Thereby, the soil may densify and lead to a decrease of confining stress around the pile due to microphenomena such as particle crushing, migration and rearrangement. This reduction of radial stress has a direct impact on the shaft capacity, potentially leading in extreme cases to pile failure. An adequate interface model is needed in order to model this behaviour numerically. Different authors have proposed models that take typical Interface phenomena in account such as densification, grain breakage, normal pressure effect and roughness. However, as the models become more complex, a great number of material parameters need to be defined and calibrated. This paper proposes the adoption and transformation of an existing soil bulk model (Pastor- Zienkiewicz) into an interface model. To calibrate the new interface model, the results of an experimental campaign with the ring shear device under cyclic loading conditions are here presented. The constitutive model shows a good capability to reproduce typical features of sand behaviour such as cyclic compaction and dilatancy, which in saturated partially-drained conditions may lead to liquefaction and cyclic mobility phenomena.
The aim of an ongoing research project is to develop a design approach for typical offshore driven piles (e.g. Jacket piles) based on the application of injections by compaction grouting directly at the pile shaft. The paper aims to present the results of laboratory and in-situ tests, which reveal the efficiency and the promising potential of the optimised foundation concept for a more economic dimensioning of pile foundations and to increase their bearing capacity in non-cohesive soil at any moment after installation.
The authors are currently investigating the possibility to apply compaction grouting for offshore pile foundations (Jacket piles as well as monopiles) as a possible retrofitting technique for an optimised foundation concept. In this research project, we are developing a design approach aiming to predict the ideal amount and properties of a grout for a specific soil situation and desired improvement of pile bearing capacity after Installation and during service time. Both numerical and experimental tests have been carried out to investigate the injection process during which a highly viscous grout is injected into the soil under high pressure to displace and compact the surrounding soil without fracturing it. The implicit Material Point Method (MPM) based on a mixed formulation is the numerical technique chosen to deal with the expected large deformations and the arbitrary shape of the developing grout bulb. The usage of MPM prevents both the need of remeshing and the numerical instability induced by extensive mesh distortion. For validation with experimental results, we have constructed a testing chamber with one transparent sidewall. This chamber enables us to observe the injection process directly at the transparent vertical window and to measure the in-plane soil displacements and strains by means of the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique.
The results already reveal the interrelation of soil and grout properties for a successful usage of this common ground improvement technique.
Here we investigate the physical mechanisms behind the surface erosion of a cohesive granular soil induced by an impinging jet by means of numerical simulations coupling fluid and grains at the microscale. The 2D numerical model combines the Discrete Element and Lattice Boltzmann methods (DEM-LBM) and accounts for the granular cohesion with a contact model featuring a paraboloidal yield surface. Here we review first the hydrodynamical conditions imposed by the fluid jet on a solid granular packing, turning then the attention to the impact of cohesion on the erosion kinetics. Finally, the use of an additional subcritical debonding damage model based on the work of Silvani and co-workers provides a novel insight into the internal solicitation of the cohesive granular sample by the impinging jet.