Geotechnical properties of soft clays from the Witch Ground Basin, central North Sea

Author(s):  
M. A. Paul ◽  
L. M. Jobson

AbstractThe Witch Ground Basin to the northeast of Peterhead is occupied by Late to Postglacial clays which reach a maximum thickness of over forty metres. High resolution seismic surveys have shown that the Sediments can be divided into two stratigraphic units on the basis of their acoustic signatures: the upper Witch Ground Formation shows in its lower part a finely detailed pattern of laterally continuous multiple reflectors, whereas the lower Swatchway and Coal Pit Formations present a disorganised signature in which few reflectors are continuous.Profiles of bulk density, water content and undrained shear strength have been obtained from two continuously sampled, adjacent boreholes which penetrated the sediments to a depth of forty metres. These show that the deposits of the Witch Ground Basin comprise a single geotechnical unit with the properties expected of a fine grained sediment of glaciomarine origin. The principal geotechnical properties change gradationally as a result of changes in composition and from selfweight compression. The different seismic signatures on which the basin stratigraphy is based are not reflected by major geotechnical changes within the sediment, but may well result from secondary features of the geotechnical profile.

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-522
Author(s):  
Michael Long

The objectives of this paper are to provide an update on work done and the development of knowledge on Irish compressible soils since Eamon Hanrahan's book on the topic. Eamon subdivided these soils into three categories; namely, alluvial, estuarine and lake-bed deposits, and he termed them ‘troublesome soils’. A brief background geology will initially be presented. The complexity of the deposits both on a macro- and micro-scale will be highlighted. Sites that have been well studied will be summarized and the engineering solutions used to construct on these sites will be reviewed. Although work on these sites presents a significant engineering achievement, some important lessons were learned. The remainder of the paper deals with how these lessons might be addressed in the future; for example, how to use modern ground investigation techniques to best characterize these complex deposits and what are the best techniques for examining important detailed aspects of 1D consolidation behaviour such as the identification of the apparent preconsolidation stress, the sometimes rapid rate of consolidation and creep, and also how to characterize the undrained shear strength of the soils. The work will be benchmarked against experience of the behaviour of Scandinavian soft soils.


2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 749-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco D’Ignazio ◽  
Kok-Kwang Phoon ◽  
Siew Ann Tan ◽  
Tim Länsivaara ◽  
Suzanne Lacasse

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Abeer F. Hussein ◽  
Ahmed S. Ali ◽  
Abbas J. Al-Taie

Plastic soil exhibits unfavorited geotechnical properties (when saturation), which causes negative defects to engineering structures. Different attempts (included various materials) were conducted to proffer solutions to such defects by experimenting in practical ways. On one hand, these attempts aimed to improve the engineering characteristics of plastic soil, and on the other hand, to use problematic waste materials as a stabilizer, like cement kiln dust, and to reduce environmental hazards. This paper explored the shrinkage, plasticity, and strength behavior of plastic soil enhanced with cement dust. The cement dust contents were 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by dry weight of soil. An experimental series of shrinkage and plasticity tests and unconfined compression tests were carried out to explore the effects of cement dust on the quantitative amount of shrinkage, plasticity characteristics, and shear strength experienced by plastic soil. The effects of curing on soil strength were also investigated. The finding of this paper showed that the critical behavior and plasticity of plastic soil could be reduced by mixing the soil with 15% or 20% of cement dust. The undrained shear strength, cu, of plastic soil-cement dust mixtures increased with the increasing dust content up to 20%. In fact, this strength was affected by the curing period. The best enhancement was attained when the content of cement dust was 20%, and the undrained shear strength was increased more than three times at this content.


Author(s):  
Tariku Tafari Bakala ◽  
Emer Tucay Quezon ◽  
Mohammed Yasin

Shear strength is the essential engineering property of soil required to analyze and design foundations, retaining walls, bridges, embankment, and related infrastructure. The laboratory equipment and field instruments are not sufficient in developing countries to obtain soil engineering properties, especially strength properties. Thus, Geotechnical engineers usually endeavor to develop statistical models that best fit a particular area and soil type, especially for analysis and design purposes. In this research, a Statistical Analysis on the Shear Strength parameter from the Index Properties of Fine-Grained Soils was studied. For predicting the undrained shear strength parameter, single linear regression (SLR) and multiple linear regressions (MLR) analyses were developed. To develop the intended statistical models for a study, SAS JMP Pro 13, SPSS v22, and Microsoft Excel-2013 software were introduced. The results of a  study indicated that undrained shear strength(Cu) was significantly correlated with liquid limit(LL), plastic limit(PL), bulk density (ρbulk), dry density(ρdry), natural moisture content(NMC), and plasticity index(PI). While it was not significantly correlated with a specific gravity (Gs) and liquidity index (LI) of study area soil. Finally, a strong Model of Cu with a coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.806), good significance level, and less Std. error was obtained from multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis. The developed model can figure undrained shear strength parameter and wide application in the construction industry to minimize the cost, effort, and time for laboratory tests of shear strength parameter of a study area.


Author(s):  
Kamil KAYABALI ◽  
Özgür AKTÜRK ◽  
Mustafa FENER ◽  
Ayla BULUT ÜSTÜN ◽  
Orhan DİKMEN ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 130-138
Author(s):  
Pan Gao ◽  
Zhihui Liu ◽  
Ji Zeng ◽  
Yiting Zhan ◽  
Fei Wang

AbstractPunch-through is a major threat to the jack-up unit, especially at well sites with layered stiff-over-soft clays. A model is proposed to predict the spudcan penetration resistance in stiff-over-soft clays, based on the random forest (RF) method. The RF model was trained and tested with numerical simulation results obtained through the Finite Element model, implemented with the Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) approach. With the proposed CEL model, the effects of the stiff layer thickness, undrained shear strength ratio, and the undrained shear strength of the soft layer on the bearing characteristics, as well as the soil failure mechanism, were numerically studied. A simplified resistance profile model of penetration in stiff-over-soft clays is proposed, divided into three sections by the peak point and the transition point. The importance of soil parameters to the penetration resistance was analysed. Then, the trained RF model was tested against the test set, showing a good prediction of the numerical cases. Finally, the trained RF was validated against centrifuge tests. The RF model successfully captured the punch-through potential, and was verified using data recorded in the field, showing advantages over the SNAME guideline. It is supposed that the trained RF model should give a good prediction of the spudcan penetration resistance profile, especially if trained with more field data.


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