Microbial geotechnology or biogeotechnology is a new branch of geotechnical engineering. It involves the use of microbiology for traditional geotechnical applications. Many new innovative soil improvement methods have been developed in recent years based on this approach. A proper understanding of the various approaches and the performances of different methods can help researchers and engineers to develop the most appropriate geotechnical solutions. At present, most of the methods can be categorized into three major types, biocementation, bioclogging, and biogas desaturation. Similarities and differences of different approaches and their potential applications are reviewed. Factors affecting the different processes are also discussed. Examples of up-scaled model tests and pilot trials are presented to show the emerging applications. The challenges and problems of biogeotechnology are also discussed.
On June 24, 2021, a 40-year-old reinforced concrete flat plate structure building in Miami suffered a sudden partial collapse. This study analyzed the overall performance and key components of the collapsed building based on the building design codes (ACI-318 and GB 50010). Punching shear and post-punching performances of typical slab-column joints are also studied through the refined finite element analysis. The collapse process was simulated and visualized using a physics engine. By way of these analyses, weak design points of the collapsed building are highlighted. The differences between the reinforcement detailing of the collapsed building and the requirements of the current Chinese code are discussed, together with a comparison of the punching shear and post-punching performances. The simulated collapse procedure and debris distribution are compared with the actual collapse scenes.
A novel floating breakwater-windbreak structure (floating forest) has been designed for the protection of vulnerable coastal areas from extreme wind and wave loadings during storm conditions. The modular arch-shaped concrete structure is positioned perpendicularly to the direction of the prevailing wave and wind. The structure below the water surface acts as a porous breakwater with wave scattering capability. An array of tubular columns on the sloping deck of the breakwater act as an artificial forest-type windbreak. A feasibility study involving hydrodynamic and aerodynamic analyses has been performed, focusing on its capability in reducing wave heights and wind speeds in the lee side. The study shows that the proposed 1 km long floating forest is able to shelter a lee area that stretches up to 600 m, with 40%–60% wave energy reduction and 10%–80% peak wind speed reduction.
This paper provides insight into the seismic behavior of a full-scale precast reinforced concrete wall under in-plane cyclic loading combined with out-of-plane loading replicated by sand backfill to simulate the actual condition of basement walls. The tested wall exhibited flexural cracks, owing to the high aspect ratio and considerable out-of-plane movement due to lateral pressure from the backfill. The wall performed satisfactorily by exhibiting competent seismic parameters and deformation characteristics governed by its ductile response in the nonlinear phase during the test with smaller residual drift. Numerical analysis was conducted to validate experimental findings, which complied with each other. The numerical model was used to conduct parametric studies to study the effect of backfill density and aspect ratio on seismic response of the proposed precast wall system. The in-plane capacity of walls reduced, while deformation characteristics were unaffected by the increase in backfill density. An increase in aspect ratio leads to a reduction in in-plane capacity and an increase in drift. Curves between the ratio of in-plane yield capacity and design shear load of walls are proposed for the backfill density, which may be adopted to determine the in-plane yield capacity of the basement walls based on their design shear.
The mechanical properties of CFRP-confined rectangular concrete-filled stainless steel tube (CFSST) stub columns under axial compression were experimentally studied. A total of 28 specimens (7 groups) were fabricated for the axial compression test to study the influences of length-to-width ratio, CFRP constraint coefficient, and the thickness of stainless steel tube on the axial compression behavior. The specimen failure modes, the stress development of stainless steel tube and CFRP wrap, and the load–strain ratio curves in the loading process were obtained. Meanwhile, the relationship between axial and transverse deformations of each specimen was analyzed through the typical relative load−strain ratio curves. A bearing capacity prediction method was proposed based on the twin-shear strength theory, combining the limit equilibrium state of the CFRP-confined CFSST stub column under axial compression. The prediction method was calibrated by the test data in this study and other literature. The results show that the prediction method is of high accuracy.
A new type of suspension bridge is proposed based on the gravity stiffness principle. Compared with a conventional suspension bridge, the proposed bridge adds rigid webs and cross braces. The rigid webs connect the main cable and main girder to form a truss that can improve the bending stiffness of the bridge. The cross braces connect the main cables to form a closed space truss structure that can improve the torsional stiffness of the bridge. The rigid webs and cross braces are installed after the construction of a conventional suspension bridge is completed to resist different loads with different structural forms. A new type of railway suspension bridge with a span of 340 m and a highway suspension bridge with a span of 1020 m were designed and analysed using the finite element method. The stress, deflection of the girders, unbalanced forces of the main towers, and natural frequencies were compared with those of conventional suspension bridges. A stiffness test was carried out on the new type of suspension bridge with a small span, and the results were compared with those for a conventional bridge. The results showed that the new suspension bridge had a better performance than the conventional suspension bridge.
In the recent era, piled raft foundation (PRF) has been considered an emergent technology for offshore and onshore structures. In previous studies, there is a lack of illustration regarding the load sharing and interaction behavior which are considered the main intents in the present study. Finite element (FE) models are prepared with various design variables in a double-layer soil system, and the load sharing and interaction factors of piled rafts are estimated. The obtained results are then checked statistically with nonlinear multiple regression (NMR) and artificial neural network (ANN) modeling, and some prediction models are proposed. ANN models are prepared with Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm for load sharing and interaction factors through backpropagation technique. The factor of safety (FS) of PRF is also estimated using the proposed NMR and ANN models, which can be used for developing the design strategy of PRF.
Site-specific seismic hazard analysis is crucial for designing earthquake resistance structures, particularly in seismically active regions. Shear wave velocity ( V S) is a key parameter in such analysis, although the economy and other factors restrict its direct field measurement in many cases. Various V S–SPT– N correlations are routinely incorporated in seismic hazard analysis to estimate the value of V S. However, many uncertainties question the reliability of these estimated V S values. This paper comes up with a statistical approach to take care of such uncertainties involved in V S calculations. The measured SPT– N values from all the critical boreholes were converted into statistical parameters and passed through various correlations to estimate V S at different depths. The effect of different soil layers in the boreholes on the Vs estimation was also taken into account. Further, the average shear wave velocity of the top 30 m soil cover ( V S30) is estimated after accounting for various epistemic and aleatoric uncertainties. The scattering nature of the V S values estimated using different V S– N correlations was reduced significantly with the application of the methodology. Study results further clearly demonstrated the potential of the approach to eliminate various uncertainties involved in the estimation of V S30 using general and soil-specific correlations.
Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls are popular for highway bridge structures. They have precast concrete panels attached to earth reinforcement. The panels are designed to have some lateral movement. However, in some cases, excessive movement and even complete dislocation of the panels have been observed. In this study, 3-D numerical modeling involving an existing MSE wall was undertaken to investigate various wall parameters. The effects of pore pressure, soil cohesion, earth reinforcement type and length, breakage/slippage of reinforcement and concrete strength, were examined. Results showed that the wall movement is affected by soil pore pressure and reinforcement integrity and length, and unaffected by concrete strength. Soil cohesion has a minor effect, while the movement increased by 13–20 mm for flexible geogrid reinforced walls compared with the steel grid walls. The steel grid stresses were below yielding, while the geogrid experienced significant stresses without rupture. Geogrid reinforcement may be used taking account of slippage resistance and wall movement. If steel grid is used, non-cohesive soil is recommended to minimize corrosion. Proper soil drainage is important for control of pore pressure.
The influence of closed and open surface flaws on the stress distribution and failure in rock specimens is investigated. Heterogeneous finite element models are developed to simulate the compression tests on flawed rock specimens. The simulated specimens include those with closed flaws and those with open flaws on the surface. Systematic analyses are conducted to investigate the influences of the flaw inclination, friction coefficient and the confining stress on failure behavior. Numerical results show significant differences in the stress, displacement, and failure behavior of the closed and open flaws when they are subjected to pure compression; however, their behaviors under shear and tensile loads are similar. According to the results, when compression is the dominant mode of stress applied to the flaw surface, an open flaw may play a destressing role in the rock and relocate the stress concentration and failure zones. The presented results in this article suggest that failure at the rock surface may be managed in a favorable manner by fabricating open flaws on the rock surface. The insights gained from this research can be helpful in managing failure at the boundaries of rock structures.
Drawing from the advantages of Classical Mechanics, the peridynamic theory can clarify the crack propagation mechanism by an integral solution without initially setting the factitious crack and crack path. This study implements the peridynamic theory by subjecting bilateral notch cracked specimens to the conditions of no local damage, small radius local damage, and large radius local damage. Moreover, to study the effects of local stochastic damage with different radii on the crack propagation path and Y-direction displacement, a comparison and contact methodology was adopted, in which the crack propagation paths under uniaxial tension and displacement in the Y-direction were compared and analyzed. This method can be applied to steel structures under similar local random damage conditions.
This study extended blending proportion range of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement blends, and investigated effects of proportions on setting time, workability, and strength development of OPC-CSA blend-based mixtures. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were conducted to help understand the performance of OPC-CSA blend-based mixtures. The setting time of the OPC-CSA blends was extended, and the workability was improved with increase of OPC content. Although the early-age strength decreased with increase of OPC content, the strength development was still very fast when the OPC content was lower than 60% due to the rapid formation and accumulation of ettringite. At 2 h, the OPC-CSA blend-based mortars with OPC contents of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% achieved the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of 17.5, 13.9, 9.6, and 5.0 MPa, respectively. The OPC content had a negligible influence on long-term strength. At 90 d, the average UCS of the OPC-CSA blend-based mortars was 39.2 ± 1.7 MPa.
To reveal the potential influence of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer modification on the anti-aging performance of asphalt, and its mechanism, we explored the aging characteristics of base asphalt and SBS-modified asphalt by reaction force field (ReaxFF) and classical molecular dynamics simulations. The results illustrate that the SBS asphalt is more susceptible to oxidative aging than the base asphalt under oxygen-deficient conditions due to the presence of unsaturated C=C bonds in the SBS polymer. In the case of sufficient oxygen, the SBS polymer inhibits the oxidation of asphalt by restraining the diffusion of asphalt molecules. Compared with the base asphalt, the SBS asphalt exhibits a higher degree of oxidation at the early stage of pavement service and a lower degree of oxidation in the long run. In addition, SBS polymer degrades into small blocks during aging, thus counteracting the hardening of aged asphalt and partially restoring its low-temperature cracking resistance.
In this paper, the effect of usage of the permeability reducing admixture (PRA) having different action mechanisms on hardened state properties of cementitious systems containing mineral additives is examined. For this aim, three commercial PRAs were used during investigation. The effective parameters in the first and third PRAs were air-entraining and high-rate air-entraining, respectively. The second one contained the insoluble calcium carbonate residue and had a small amount of the air-entraining property. Mortar mixes with binary and ternary cementitious systems were prepared by partially replacing cement with fly ash and metakaolin. The hardened state properties of mortar mixtures such as compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, water absorption, drying shrinkage and freeze–thaw resistance were investigated. The ternary cement-based mixture having both fly ash and metakaolin was selected as the most successful mineral-additive bearing mix in regard to hardened state properties. In this sense, PRA-B, with both insoluble residues and a small amount of air-entraining properties, showed the best performance among the mixtures containing PRA. The combined use of mineral additive and PRA had a more positive effect on the properties of the mixes.
Liquid droplets in solid soft composites have been attracting increasing attention in biological applications. In contrary with conventional composites, which are made of solid elastic inclusions, available material models for composites including liquid droplets are for highly idealized configurations and do not include all material real parameters. They are also all deterministic and do not address the uncertainties arising from droplet radius, volume fraction, dispersion and agglomeration. This research revisits the available models for liquid droplets in solid soft composites and presents a multiscale computational material model to determine their elastic moduli, considering nearly all relevant uncertainties and heterogeneities at different length scales. The effects of surface tension at droplets interface, their volume fraction, size, size polydispersity and agglomeration on elastic modulus, are considered. Different micromechanical material models are incorporated into the presented computational framework. The results clearly indicate both softening and stiffening effects of liquid droplets and show that the model can precisely predict the effective properties of liquid droplets in solid soft composites.
