scholarly journals Assessing the undrained strength of very soft clays in the SPT

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Francisco Lopes ◽  
Osvangivaldo Oliveira ◽  
Marcio Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Standard Procedure ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Test Procedure ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Technical Note ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Soft Clays ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
Present Information ◽  
Undrained Strength

The log of a SPT in very soft clay may simply indicate a zero blow-count, or present information on the penetration – under self-weight – of the composition (sampler, rods and hammer) as recommended by some standards. The second type of information is often disregarded by design engineers due to the lack of a standard procedure for measuring these penetrations or because the test is regarded as not sensitive enough to give an indication on the undrained shear strength of soft clays. The penetration under the composition’s selfweight, however, can indicate the magnitude of Su, which, along with other more specific and sensitive tests, can help in assessing the spatial distribution of clay consistency in a large deposit. A proposed test procedure and interpretation had been given in an earlier technical note. This note presents an extended formulation and an evaluation of Su via the SPT at a construction site in Rio de Janeiro, including comparisons with results of piezocone and vane tests. The values of Su obtained with the SPT lie between the profiles given by vane tests, corrected by Plasticity Index, and the Critical State Theory, the latter representing a lower bound to the clay strength.

Behaviour of friction piles in soft sensitive clays

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Blanchet ◽  
F. Tavenas ◽  
R. Garneau
Keyword(s):  
Precast Concrete ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Load Test ◽  
Pile Groups ◽  
Test Program ◽  
Shear Creep ◽  
Soft Clays ◽  
The North ◽  
Effective Stress Analysis

During the construction of heavy structures, such as bridges and overpasses, on soft clays on the north shore of the St. Lawrence Valley, a detailed load test program on friction piles was performed to establish the characteristics of the most suitable type of pile and to study its long-term behaviour. Three types of piles, timber, steel pipe with closed end, and precast concrete Herkules H-420 piles, were tested. Four timber piles driven in a group and submitted to a 712 kN load served to study the long-term settlement of a small group of piles. Three deep settlement gauges were installed in the centre of this group for measuring settlements in clay at various depths.This test program was completed by the instrumentation of two bridge piers in order to verify the behaviour of larger groups of piles.The paper presents the results of the test piles, the long-term behaviour (4 years) of the bridge pier foundations resting on friction piles in soft clay, and the interpretation of the results.This study shows that the pore pressures induced by pile driving are related to the pre-consolidation of the clay and that they are much larger for tapered piles. It is demonstrated that the effective stress analysis method proposed in 1976 by Meyerhof determines adequately the ultimate pile bearing capacity, but that the effect of the timber pile taper doubles the skin friction.The settlement analysis of pile groups shows that settlements are due to the reconsolidation of the clay and shear creep deformations in the clay close to the pile wall.

Online Adaptive Control Tuning in a Gas Turbine Hybrid System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Bonilla-Alvarado ◽  
Bernardo Restrepo ◽  
Paolo Pezzini ◽  
Lawrence Shadle ◽  
David Tucker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Mass Flow ◽  
Pid Controller ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Test Procedure ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
Pid Controllers

Abstract Proportional integral and derivative (PID) controllers are the most popular technique used in the power plant industry for process automation. However, the performance of these controllers may be affected due to variations in the power plant operating conditions, such as between startup, shutdown, and baseload/part-load operation. To maintain the desired performance over the full range of operations, PID controllers are always retuned in most power plants. During this retuning process, the operator takes control of the manipulated variable to perform a standard procedure based on a bump test. This procedure is generally performed to characterize the relationship between the manipulated variable and the process variable at each operating condition. After the bump test, the operator generally applies basic guidelines to assign new parameters to the PID controller. In this paper, the Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC) control technique was implemented to update the PID controller parameters online without performing the bump test procedure. This approach allows updating the controller response on-the-fly while the power plant is running and without using the standard procedure based on a bump test. The MRAC was developed and demonstrated in the gas turbine hybrid cycle at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to retune a critically damped mass flow PID controller into an over-damped response. Results showed stable performance during mass flow setpoint steps and also a stable update of the controller parameters.

scholarly journals Design of portable rheometer with new vane geometry to estimate concrete rheological parameters

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamza SOUALHI ◽  
El-Hadj KADRI ◽  
Tien-Tung NGO ◽  
Adrien BOUVET ◽  
François CUSSIGH ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Yield Stress ◽  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Test Procedure ◽  
Plastic Viscosity ◽  
Rheological Parameters ◽  
Construction Site ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mineral Additions ◽  
High Plastic ◽  
Rheometer Test

This paper presents the development of a portable vane rheometer to estimate concrete plastic viscosity and yield stress. The apparatus can be used not only in laboratory but also on construction site. In this study, new blade geometry was proposed to minimize the effect of segregation of concrete during testing, and also to expand the wide range of concrete work­ability with a slump of approximately from 7 cm to fluid concrete, and concrete with high plastic viscosity such as concrete with mineral additions. The used blade (U shaped and reversed) allows reducing the vibration of the apparatus, and ob­taining more stable measurements. The obtained results permit validating the rheometer test procedure and confirmed that the results are reliable, with a low coefficient of variation of 9% for repetitive test and of 5.8% for reproductive tests.

Effective stress paths and yielding in soft clays below embankments

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Folkes ◽  
J. H. A. Crooks
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Effective Stress ◽  
Strain Softening ◽  
Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Stress Path ◽  
Excess Pore Water Pressure ◽  
Soft Clays ◽  
Effective Stress Path

Current methods of predicting the response of soft clays to surface loading are often unsuccessful because the assumed constitutive relationships, including effective stress path behaviour, are incorrect. In particular, the transition from small-strain to large-strain behaviour (i.e. yielding) is frequently not taken into account. Recent laboratory testing has demonstrated that the behaviour of soft clays is largely controlled by yielding. The locus of effective stress states causing yield is known as the yield envelope (YE).The effective stress paths (ESP's) in soft clay foundations below the centre of six fills were determined from computed total stresses and measured pore-water pressures. Yield behaviour is clearly indicated by ESP shapes. The yield envelopes inferred from analyses of field data are similar to those obtained from laboratory testing. Effective stress path shapes vary widely, depending on a variety of factors, including imposed stress level, rate of construction, and boundary drainage conditions. This finding contradicts an earlier conclusion that soft clay behaviour can be characterized by a single ESP. Because of the wide range of possible ESP shapes, the parameters [Formula: see text] does not provide an adequate basis for determining the effective stress state in a soft clay.The ESP/YE analyses indicate that yield can occur either during loading or during excess pore-water pressure dissipation following completion of loading. Yield of sensitive soils during loading is usually followed by strain softening. However, in some soils, dilatant behaviour appears to occur. Yield during dissipation of excess pore-water pressure is characterized by a dramatic change in cv and increased compressibility. Key words: soft clay, yield, effective stress paths, field behaviour, strain softening, rate of consolidation.

scholarly journals Prediction of spudcan penetration resistance profile in stiff-over-soft clays

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 1978-1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zheng ◽  
M.S. Hossain ◽  
D. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Bearing Capacity ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Bottom Layer ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Rate Dependency ◽  
Soft Clays ◽  
Perfectly Plastic ◽  
Clay Deposits ◽  
Additional Resistance ◽  
Elastic Perfectly Plastic

Spudcan punch-through during installation and preloading process is one of the key concerns for the jack-up industry. This incident occurs in layered deposits, with new design approaches for spudcan penetration in sand-over-clay deposits reported recently. This paper reports a novel design approach for spudcan penetration in stiff-over-soft clay deposits. Large-deformation finite element (LDFE) analyses were carried out using the Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach. The clay was modelled using the extended elastic – perfectly plastic Tresca soil model allowing strain softening and rate dependency of the undrained shear strength. A detailed parametric study was undertaken, varying the strength ratio between bottom and top soil layers, the thickness of the top layer relative to the spudcan diameter, and degree of nonhomogeneity of the bottom layer. Existing data from centrifuge model tests were first used to validate the LDFE results, and then the measured and computed datasets were used to develop the formulas in the proposed design approach. The approach accounts for the soil plug in the bottom layer, and the corresponding additional resistance. Where there is the potential for punch-through, the approach provides estimations of the depth and bearing capacity at punch-through, the bearing capacity at the stiff–soft layer interface, and the bearing capacity in the bottom layer. Comparison shows that the punch-through method suggested in ISO standard 19905-1 provides a conservative estimate of the bearing capacity at punch-through, with guidelines provided to improve the method.

Field Performance of a Deep Multi-Strutted Excavation in Hangzhou Soft Clays

2011 ◽  
Vol 243-249 ◽  
pp. 2324-2327
Author(s):  
Hong Wei Ying ◽  
Yong Wen Yang ◽  
Xin Yu Xie
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Soft Soil ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Field Performance ◽  
Soft Clays ◽  
Soil Clays ◽  
History Of ◽  
Creep Deformations ◽  
Surface Settlements

A case history of a deep multi-strutted soft clay excavation in Hangzhou is presented in this paper. What makes it particular interest is its three characteristics: large scale, deep excavation and very soft clays. The excavated area was about 99750 square meters. The depth of excavation was 12.85 m. 4 m below the ground surface located about 24 m very soft soil clays. Wall deflections and ground settlements were measured and compared with similar case histories worldwide. It was shown that the maximum horizontal deformations of the excavation was very large which this excavation reached to 220 mm. “Creep” deformations occurred apparently during the curing of the bottom slab of the basement. The distributions of the surface settlements seemed to be parabolic, and the settlement influence zone could reach to a distance of more than 2H, whereHis the final excavation depth. The ratio between the maximum ground settlement and the maximum horizontal deformation of the wall is about 0.6.

Failure of a Test Embankment On a Sensitive Champlain Clay Deposit

1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. La Rochelle ◽  
B. Trak ◽  
F. Tavenas ◽  
M. Roy
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Factor Of Safety ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Undrained Strength ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Long Term Behavior ◽  
Test Embankment

The present paper reports on the failure of a test embankment built on a soft, sensitive, and cemented clay in Saint-Alban, Quebec. The embankment was built as a first stage of a research program aimed at studying the short and long term behavior of embankments on soft clay foundations.A complete description of the embankment, of the instrumentation, and of the failure is given, followed by the analysis of the failure performed on the basis of different assumptions of fill behavior and of vane strength values mobilized in the clay crust. The analyses show that the assumptions of full mobilization of friction in the fill seems to be the most representative of the fill behavior in the present case and that a suitable factor of safety is obtained only when a reduction of vane strength is assumed to act in the crust.A new approach based on the residual undrained strength is suggested and seems to offer some potential as a valuable means of analyzing the stability of embankments on clay foundations.

Construction Technique of Cement-Soil Mixing Anchor in Foundation Pit in Soft Soil Area

2011 ◽  
Vol 261-263 ◽  
pp. 1784-1788
Author(s):  
Gan Bin Liu ◽  
Rong Hua Ye ◽  
Li Xu ◽  
Xue Yi Shen
Keyword(s):  
Soft Soil ◽  
Drill Pipe ◽  
Soft Clay ◽  
Mechanical Equipment ◽  
Pullout Capacity ◽  
Foundation Pit ◽  
Construction Technique ◽  
Soil Mixing ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
Cement Soil

In this paper, the construction technique of a new soil anchor-the cement-soil mixing anchor, which is applicable in the area of soft clay, is introduced. During the construction of the anchor, the drill pipe and blade is served as a reinforced body and formed an anchorage body with the cement-soil body. The material and making, technics parameters, mechanical equipment and construction requirement of the cement-soil mixing anchor are presented firstly. Then, the uplift tests of the cement-soil mixing anchor are carried out, and the ultimate pullout force which is 1.6 times greater than that of the soil nailing in the same condition is obtained. At last, an application of the cement-soil mixing anchor in a foundation pit is given. The test results shown that the application of the cement-soil mixing anchor can reach the expected reinforcement effect. Therefore, this framework can then be used by design engineers to more confidently estimate the pullout capacity of cement-soil mixing anchors under tension loading.

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