Search results for "Geotechnical Engineering"
showing 10 items of 489 documents
Frequency composition of traction and tillage forces on a mole plough
1997
Field experiments were carried out in order to quantify the variations of the traction and tillage forces on a mole plough, in the case of four clayey soils of Eastern France. The same tractor-implement system, the same forward working speed (1 m s−1) and the same length of ploughing (20 m) were used. Specially designed strain gauge transducers applied to the system delivered a signal which was numerised and analysed in terms of power spectral density (PSD) function. The frequency composition of the traction and tillage forces consisted of interactions between soil and tool as well as vibrations of the tractor-implement system. Low frequencies (0–2 Hz range) were related to the random prope…
Measurements of pressure and frictional tractions along walls of a large-scale conical shallow hopper and comparison with Eurocode 1991-4:2006
2014
Abstract A silo׳s hopper supports the majority loads induced by the stored particulate solids. Such loads vary from filling to discharging provided the hopper is steep enough to secure a mass flow; when the hopper is too shallow to promote a mass flow, funnel flow usually prevails – where how loads develop along walls of a shallow hopper remains to be addressed. In the paper, normal pressure and frictional traction were measured with pressure transducers as imposed by testing material sand along the walls of a full-scale conical shallow hopper. The transducers were carefully mounted in the designated positions of hopper walls along a generator. To make the measurement results representative…
X-ray Computed Tomography for Capillary Collapse of Loose Unsaturated Sand
2016
Abstract The collapse of unsaturated soils consists of the reduction in volume upon wetting at constant total stress. Several studies at the macro scale outline the influence of initial void ratio, confining pressure and matric suction on the onset of collapse of standard laboratory specimens. Conversely, few observations at the micro scale are available in the literature, although the influence of the particles arrangement and intergranular bonding has been formerly supposed. The collapse of fine sand derived by a pyroclastic soil of Southern Italy is investigated in this paper at the microscale using the X-ray Computed Tomography. The experimental procedure, formerly tested on similar pyr…
Sulfide mineral identification using laser-induced plasma spectroscopy
2003
Sulfide minerals in rock samples were identified with laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) in the near vacuum ultraviolet spectral region. Reference spectra of pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, barite, calcite and dolomite were applied to classification of minerals in sulfur-bearing drill core samples. On the basis of the results mineral distributions in the sample were estimated. The potential of the LIPS method for in situ analysis is discussed.
Nonlinear Time-Series Adaptation for Land Cover Classification
2017
Automatic land cover classification from satellite image time series is of paramount relevance to assess vegetation and crop status, with important implications in agriculture, biofuels, and food. However, due to the high cost and human resources needed to characterize and classify land cover through field campaigns, a recurrent limiting factor is the lack of available labeled data. On top of this, the biophysical–geophysical variables exhibit particular temporal structures that need to be exploited. Land cover classification based on image time series is very complex because of the data manifold distortions through time. We propose the use of the kernel manifold alignment (KEMA) method for…
Experiences of perinatal women and public healthcare providers in a community affected by the great east Japan earthquake and tsunami: Concerns that …
2020
Abstract Particular support needs of perinatal women in a disaster have been difficult to grasp through preexisting quantitative epidemiological studies. This study aimed to extract concerns that must be considered for perinatal women's mental healthcare in postdisaster settings based on lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Narrative messages regarding protective and risk factors for mothers' mental health from a representative population of mothers who had given birth and all official maternal caregivers, in a coastal town devastated by the catastrophe were subjected to qualitative analyses. Eight concerns were extracted as specific support needs: (1) improve information pathways,…
Benchmark study of undrained triaxial testing of Opalinus Clay shale: Results and implications for robust testing
2021
Triaxial testing of argillaceous rocks and shales is significantly more challenging than conventional rock mechanical testing. The challenges are mainly related to the very low permeability of these geomaterials, and their sensitivity to exposure of atmosphere and brines, which induces variations of water content, suction and effective stress. There are currently no international standards to guide service laboratories for robust testing procedures for shales. A benchmark study of undrained triaxial testing was therefore initiated with three leading service laboratories in shale testing, performing 13 tests and using two different methods of establishing sample saturation prior to deformati…
A Top-Down Approach Based on the Circularity Potential to Increase the Use of Reclaimed Asphalt
2023
Resource depletion and climate change, amongst others, are increasingly worrying environmental challenges for which the road engineering sector is a major contributor. Globally, viable solutions that comply with the principles of circular economy (CE) are being investigated that can replace conventional asphalt mixtures in a post-fossil fuel society. The use of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is a widely used and well-established method to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of asphalt mixtures while increasing their circularity. However, RA’s market supply and demand have not yet been systematically analyzed and established. Moreover, the actual circularity potential and the opportu…
Normal pressures and frictional tractions on shallow conical hopper walls after concentric filling: Predictions and experiments
2013
Author's version of an article in the journal: Chemical Engineering Science. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2012.11.028 A silo with a shallow hopper is designed to achieve the required silo capacity when the headroom available is limited, provided that the issue of segregation of stored particulate solids is not a problem. Several analytical models have been proposed to try to predict the design loads for such shallow silo hoppers to guarantee their structural integrity. In this study, a novel finite element analysis has been conducted to explore the development of pressures and tractions on the wall of a full scale shallow hopper when it is filled wit…
Stability of Embankments Resting on Foundation Soils with A Weak Layer
2021
The presence of weak layers in geotechnical systems, including soil or rock masses, both natural and man-made, is more frequent than is normally believed. Weak layers can affect both failure mechanisms, in drained and in undrained conditions, as well as in static and seismic conditions, and the safety factor. In the present study, conducted numerically using the finite-element method (FEM) Plaxis 2D code, the influence of a horizontal thin weak layer on stress and strain distribution, on failure mechanisms and on the overall stability of an embankment was evaluated. The results obtained prove that when the weak layer is located at a significant depth from the foundation plane, the failure m…