Behavior of Floating Stone Columns and Development of Porewater Pressure Under Cyclic Loading

Author(s):  
Mahdi Karkush ◽  
Anwar Jabbar
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi O Karkush ◽  
Anwar Jabbar

A stone column is one of the soil improvement methods that are mainly used for improving the geotechnical behavior of soft soils. For deep improvement of soft soil, the floating stone columns are considered the best and effective economically which provide lateral confinement and drainage and longitudinal skin friction. In this study, six tests were carried out on the natural soft soil of undrained shear strength of 5.5 kPa improved by single and two linear distributed floating stone columns. The stone column dimensions are 30 mm in diameter and 180 mm in length and the stone column material is sand of high internal friction angle of 48°. The natural and improved soil samples are tested under isolated raft foundation of dimensions 120×120 mm subjected to vertical static and cyclic loading of frequency 2Hz and continued for 50 seconds. The results showed a significant improvement in soil bearing capacity when reinforced with stone columns despite the small area replacement ratio, where the bearing capacity of improved soil increased by 120 to 145%. The compressibility of improved soil decreased by 57 to 86% in comparison with that of natural soft soil. Also, the floating stone columns reduced the porewater pressure, where the stone columns considered efficient in providing short drainage pathways. This can be one of the reasons why soil reinforced with floating stone columns hold higher cyclic and static stresses regardless the end bearing of stone columns.


Author(s):  
Mahdi Karkush ◽  
◽  
Anwar Jabbar ◽  

One of the common geotechnical problems is the construction on soft soil and the improvement of its geotechnical properties to meet the design requirements. A stone column is one of the well-known techniques used to improve the geotechnical properties of soft soils. Sometimes thick layers of soft soil imposed the designer to use floating stone columns for improvement of such soil; in this case, the designer will be lost the end bearing of the stone column. In this study, the effects of several patterns of floating stone columns distribution under footing on the bearing capacity of soil and the distribution of excess porewater pressure are investigated. The soft soil used in this study has a very low undrained shear strength (cu) of 5.5 kPa and improved by several patterns of stone columns (single, two linear, triangular, square, and quadrilateral). The stone column has a length of 180 mm and a diameter of 30 mm. The material of the stone column is poorly graded sand has an angle of internal friction (48.5°) at a relative density of 65%. The results indicated a significant increase in the ultimate bearing capacity of soft soil when treated with floating stone columns despite the small ratio of area replacement and reducing the excess porewater pressure and settlement. Also, the ultimate bearing capacity of soil calculated from experimental work is compared with the corresponding values obtained from the proposed equations in the previous studies to evaluate the validity of using such equations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
Yousef Ghaderi Dehkordi ◽  
Ali Pourkamali Anaraki ◽  
Amir Reza Shahani

The prediction of residual stress relaxation is essential to assess the safety of welded components. This paper aims to study the influence of various effective parameters on residual stress relaxation under cyclic loading. In this regard, a 3D finite element modeling is performed to determine the residual stress in welded aluminum plates. The accuracy of this analysis is verified through experiment. To study the plasticity effect on stress relaxation, two plasticity models are implemented: perfect plasticity and combined isotropic-kinematic hardening. Hence, cyclic plasticity characterization of the material is specified by low cycle fatigue tests. It is found that the perfect plasticity leads to greater stress relaxation. In order to propose an accurate model to compute the residual stress relaxation, the Taguchi L18 array with four 3-level factors and one 6-level is employed. Using statistical analysis, the order of factors based on their effect on stress relaxation is determined as mean stress, stress amplitude, initial residual stress, and number of cycles. In addition, the stress relaxation increases with an increase in mean stress and stress amplitude.


Author(s):  
R. Z. Aminov ◽  
A. N. Bayramov ◽  
M. V. Garievskii

The paper gives the analysis of the problem of the primary current frequency regulation in the power system, as well as the basic requirements for NPP power units under the conditions of involvement in the primary regulation. According to these requirements, the operation of NPPs is associated with unloading and a corresponding decrease in efficiency. In this regard, the combination of nuclear power plants with a hydrogen complex is shown to eliminate the inefficient discharge mode which allows the steam turbine equipment and equipment of the reactor facility to operate in the basic mode at the nominal power level. In addition, conditions are created for the generation and accumulation of hydrogen and oxygen during the day, as well as additionally during the nighttime failure of the electrical load which allows them to be used to generate peak power.  The purpose of the article is to assess the systemic economic effect as a result of the participation of nuclear power plants in combination with the hydrogen complex in the primary control of the current frequency in the power sys-tem, taking into account the resource costs of the main equipment. In this regard, the paper gives the justification of cyclic loading of the main equipment of the hydrogen complex: metal storage tanks of hydrogen and oxygen, compressor units, hydrogen-oxygen combustion chamber of vapor-hydrogen overheating of the working fluid in the steam turbine cycle of a nuclear power plant. The methodological foundations for evaluating the working life of equipment under cyclic loading with the participation in the primary frequency control by the criterion of the growth rate of a fatigue crack are described. For the equipment of the hydrogen complex, the highest intensity of loading is shown to occur in the hydrogen-oxygen combustion chamber due to high thermal stresses.  The system economic effect is estimated and the effect of wear of the main equipment under cyclic loading is shown. Under the conditions of combining NPP power units with a hydrogen complex, the efficiency of primary reg-ulation is shown to depend significantly on: the cost of equipment subjected to cyclic loading; frequency and intensity of cyclic loading; the ratio of the tariff for peak electricity, and the cost of electricity of nuclear power plants.  Based on the developed methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the participation of nuclear power plants with a hydrogen complex in the primary frequency control, taking into account the damage to the equipment, the use of the hydrogen complex is shown to provide a tangible economic effect compared with the option of unloading nuclear power plants with direct participation in frequency control.


PCI Journal ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 58-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa M. Vasconez ◽  
Antoine E. Naaman ◽  
James K. Wight

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