Search results for "Geotechnical engineering"

Managing in-country transportation risks in humanitarian supply chains by logistics service providers: Insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake

2017

International audience; Humanitarian supply chains (HSCs) play a central role in effective and efficient disaster relief operations. Transportation has a critical share in HSCs and managing its risks helps to avoid further disruptions in relief operations. However, there is no common approach to or culture of risk management that its applicability has been studied through recent cases. This paper incorporates an empirical research design and makes a threefold contribution: first, it identifies in-country transportation risks during Nepal response. Second, we evaluate afore identified risks through an expert driven risk assessment grid. Third, we use our field data to study how some humanita…

Comments on “Predicting the Effect of Rock Fragments on Saturated Soil Hydraulic Conductivity”

2007

Controlling a Negative Loaded Hydraulic Cylinder using Pressure Feedback

2010

Volume change response and fabric evolution of granular MX80 bentonite along different hydro-mechanical stress paths

2022

AbstractDespite the increasing understanding of bentonite behaviour, there is still missing evidence on how different hydro-mechanical loadings, including sequences of hydration and compression, affect the fabric and the volume change behaviour of the material. It is generally assumed that the interplay between the behaviour of clay assemblages and the overall fabric of the material is the reason of having final states that are dependent on the stress path followed. Here the results of an experimental campaign aiming to study these factors are reported and discussed. Free swelling and swelling pressure tests were performed, both followed by compression to a relatively high stress. The exper…

The Landslide of Agrigento Hill (Sicily, Italy)

2018

This paper illustrated the geological, morphological and hydrogeological studies performed for the analysis and monitoring of the landslide involving the northern side of the hill of Agrigento (335 m a.s.l.) on which the ancient Cathedral was built during the 11th Century. The hill is made of a typical Plio-Pleistocene transgressive succession made of clays (M. Narbone formation), calcarenites, sands and clayey soils (Agrigento formation). The area has been unstable since 1315, involving both the little-welded, very porous and fractured calcarenitic sections (E-W) from Pleistocene and the clay layers interstratified within these sections. Since 1924, from time to time, various typologies of…

Strategies investigation in using artificial neural network for landslide susceptibility mapping: application to a Sicilian catchment

2013

Susceptibility assessment of areas prone to landsliding remains one of the most useful approaches in landslide hazard analysis. The key point of such analysis is the correlation between the physical phenomenon and its triggering factors based on past observations. Many methods have been developed in the scientific literature to capture and model this correlation, usually within a geographic information system (GIS) framework. Among these, the use of neural networks, in particular the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) networks, has provided successful results. A successful application of the MLP method to a basin area requires the definition of different model strategies, such as the sample selec…

Methodological approach for evaluating the geo-exchange potential: VIGOR Project

2012

In the framework of VIGOR Project, a national project coordinated by the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources (CNR-IGG) and sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE), dedicated to the evaluation of geothermal potential in the regions of the Convergence Objective in Italy (Puglia, Calabria, Campania and Sicily), is expected to evaluate the ability of the territory to heat exchange with the ground for air conditioning of buildings. To identify the conditions for the development of low enthalpy geothermal systems collected and organized on a regional scale geological and stratigraphic data useful for the preparation of a specific thematic mapping, able to represent in a …

Reduction of scouring downstream of a rigid bed by means of a vegetated carpet: experimental investigation in a laboratory flume

2016

Vegetation is a critical component of aquatic ecosystems and exerts an important role in river morphodynamics. This paper describes the results of laboratory study carried out to investigate the role of vegetation on flow field and erosion process developing in non-equilibrium situations. Particular attention is paid to scour evolving downstream of a rigid bed and to the effect of a vegetated carpet used as a protective measure against scouring. The reported experimental study shows that the introduction of the vegetated carpet results in a more favourable configuration than in its absence determining reduced values of flow velocity, turbulence intensity and bed shear stress, and modifying …

Slippage of water over hydrophobic surfaces

1999

When water is confined between hydrophobic surfaces, its flow properties are significantly different from those in bulk, or between hydrophilic surfaces. These changes (that are usually ignored) may be interpreted in terms of hydrophobic slippage. This chapter reviews recent developments in the hydrodynamics of water confined between solid hydrophobic surfaces, emphasizing the main experimental facts, theoretical models suggested, and different aspects of thin film drainage. The relevance of slippage in hydrophobic surface force measurements and on the coagulation rate of hydrophobic particles is discussed.

Infilled frames: Developments in the evaluation of cyclic behaviour under lateral loads

2005

In order to consider the modified seismic response of framed structures in the presence of masonry infills, proper models have to be formulated. Because of the complexity of the problem, a careful definition of an equivalent diagonal pin-jointed strut, able to represent the horizontal force-interstorey displacement cyclic law of the actual infill, may be a solution. In this connection the present paper, continuing a previous work in which a generalised criterion for the determination of the ideal cross-section of the equivalent strut was formulated, analizes some models known in literature for the prediction of the lateral cyclic behaviour discussing their field of validity. As a support of…