scholarly journals Metamodel-Based Slope Reliability Analysis—Case of Spatially Variable Soils Considering a Rotated Anisotropy

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 465
Author(s):  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Xiangfeng Guo ◽  
Julien Baroth ◽  
Daniel Dias
Keyword(s):  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Strength Properties ◽  
Deterministic Models ◽  
Sparse Polynomial ◽  
Model Combining ◽  
Sensitivity Indices ◽  
Anisotropic Soil ◽  
Autocorrelation Length

A rotation of the anisotropic soil fabric pattern is commonly observed in natural slopes with a tilted stratification. This study investigates the rotated anisotropy effects on slope reliability considering spatially varied soils. Karhunen–Loève expansion is used to generate the random fields of the soil shear strength properties (i.e., cohesion and friction angle). The presented probabilistic analyses are based on a meta-model combining Sparse Polynomial Chaos Expansion (SPCE) and Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA). This method allows the number of involved random variables to be reduced and then the computational efficiency to be improved. Two kinds of deterministic models, namely a discretization kinematic approach and a finite element limit analysis, are considered. A variety of valuable results (i.e., failure probability, probability density function, statistical moments of model response, and sensitivity indices of input variables) can be effectively provided. Moreover, the influences of the rotated anisotropy, autocorrelation length, coefficient of variation and cross-correlation between the cohesion and friction angle on the probabilistic analysis results are discussed. The rotation of the anisotropic soil stratification has a significant effect on the slope stability, particularly for the cases with large values of autocorrelation length, coefficient of variation, and cross-correlation coefficient.

Evaluating stability of anisotropically deposited soil slopes

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 753-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Zhu ◽  
L.M. Zhang ◽  
T. Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Friction Angle ◽  
Probability Of Failure ◽  
Strength Properties ◽  
Lower Probability ◽  
Safety Level ◽  
Soil Fabric ◽  
Independent Case ◽  
Anisotropic Soil ◽  
Unfavorable Condition ◽  
Spatially Varying

Natural soils often exhibit an anisotropic fabric pattern as a result of soil deposition, weathering or filling. This study aims to investigate the effects of spatially variable anisotropic soil fabric in a slope on its safety factor and failure mechanisms, and to identify the critical fabric orientation that is most unfavorable to the slope stability. The strength properties of colluvium (i.e., cohesion and friction angle) are modeled as random fields under two conditions (i.e., independent and negatively correlated). The study reveals that there exists a critical fabric orientation at 30° at which the mean factor of safety is the lowest and the probability of failure is the highest. The negative cross-correlation between soil shear strength properties leads to a significantly lower probability of failure, compared to the independent case. The highest proportion of deep failure mechanism is also identified at the same fabric orientation of 30°. The identified critical fabric orientation is gentler than the slope inclination. This study suggests that the conventional understanding that stratification parallel to the slope surface appears to be the most unfavorable condition leading to the lowest safety level does not hold for spatially varying soils.

General concept of determining the parameters of non-mining walls of ultra-deep diamond deposits development open pits

2021 ◽  
pp. 48-53
Author(s):  
I. V. Zyryanov ◽  
A. N. Akishev ◽  
I. B. Bokiy ◽  
N. M. Sherstyuk
Keyword(s):  
Rock Mass ◽  
Structural Relaxation ◽  
Slope Angle ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Strength Properties ◽  
Strength Characteristics ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Relaxation Coefficient

A specific feature of open pit mining of diamond deposits in Western Yakutia is the construction of the open pits in the zone of negative ambient temperatures, which includes thick permafrost rock mass, and which is at the same time complicated by the influence of cryogenic processes on deformation of pit wall benches. The paper presents the comparative analysis of strength characteristics in frozen and thawed rocks, stability of benches during mining, the general geomechanical approach to the determination of parameters of non-mining walls of the ultra-deep open pit diamond mines, and the parameters of nonmining walls and benches. Optimization of open pit wall configuration should primarily be based on the maximum utilization of the strength properties of frozen rocks in combination with the development of new approaches, calculation schemes and methods for assessing stability of open pit walls and benches of unconventional design, including the non-mining vertical benches. The main design characteristic that determines the parameters of open pit walls is the structural tectonic relaxation coefficient, which specifies the calculated value of cohesion in rock mass. For the diamond deposits, the values of the structural relaxation coefficient were obtained in a series of field tests and back calculations. Full-scale tests were carried out both during exploration operations in underground mines and in open pits. The accuracy of determining the values of the structural relaxation coefficient in the range of 0.085–0.11 is confirmed by the parameters of non-mining walls in an open pit mine 385–640 m deep, with overall slope angles of 38–55° and a steeper H 0.35–0.5 lower part having the slope angle of up to 70° with average strength characteristics of 7.85–11.84 MPa and the internal friction angle of 28.1–37.4°. Using the natural load-bearing capacity of rock mass to the full advantage, which the values of the structural relaxation coefficient of deposits show, allows optimization of open pit wall slope design and minimization of stripping operations.

scholarly journals AN INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECTS OF MICRO-PARAMETERS ON THE STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF ROCK

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-119
Author(s):  
Behzad Jafari Mohammadabadi ◽  
Kourosh Shahriar ◽  
Hossein Jalalifar ◽  
Kaveh Ahangari
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Tensile Strength ◽  
Compressive Strength ◽  
Friction Coefficient ◽  
Critical Stress ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Strength Properties ◽  
Brazilian Tensile Strength ◽  
The Relationship

Rocks are formed from particles and the interaction between those particles controls the behaviour of a rock’s mechanical properties. Since it is very important to conduct extensive studies about the relationship between the micro-parameters and macro-parameters of rock, this paper investigates the effects of some micro-parameters on strength properties and the behaviour of cracks in rock. This is carried out by using numerical simulation of an extensive series of Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) and Brazilian Tensile Strength (BTS) tests. The micro-parameters included the particles’ contact modulus, the contact stiff ness ratio, bond cohesion, bond tensile strength, the friction coefficient and the friction angle, and the mechanical properties of chromite rock have been considered as base values of the investigation. Based on the obtained results, it was found that the most important micro-parameters on the behaviour of rock in the compressive state are bond cohesion, bond tensile strength, and the friction coefficient. Also, the bond tensile strength showed the largest effect under tensile conditions. The micro-parameter of bond tensile strength increased the rock tensile strength (up to 5 times), minimized destructive cracks and increased the corresponding strain (almost 2.5 times) during critical stress.

scholarly journals Probabilistic Bearing Capacity of a Pavement Resting on Fibre Reinforced Embankment Considering Soil Spatial Variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kouseya Choudhuri ◽  
Debarghya Chakraborty
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Bearing Capacity ◽  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Horizontal Scale ◽  
Vertical Scale ◽  
Scale Of Fluctuation ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Finite Difference Method

This paper intends to examine the influence of spatial variability of soil properties on the probabilistic bearing capacity of a pavement located on the crest of a fibre reinforced embankment. An anisotropic random field, in combination with the finite difference method, is used to carry out the probabilistic analyses. The cohesion and internal friction angle of the soil are assumed to be lognormally distributed. The Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to obtain the mean and coefficient of variation of the pavement bearing capacity. The mean bearing capacity of the pavement is found to decrease with the increase in horizontal scale of fluctuation for a constant vertical scale of fluctuation; whereas, the coefficient of variation of the bearing capacity increases with the increase in horizontal scale of fluctuation. However, both the mean and coefficient of variation of bearing capacity of the pavement are observed to be increasing with the increase in vertical scale of fluctuation for a constant horizontal scale of fluctuation. Apart from the different scales of fluctuation, the effects of out of the plane length of the embankment and randomness in soil properties on the probabilistic bearing capacity are also investigated in the present study.

Comprehensive global sensitivity analysis of a repository model using different types of transformations and metamodeling techniques

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine M. Spiessl ◽  
Dirk-A. Becker ◽  
Sergei Kucherenko
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Global Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
High Dimensional Model Representation ◽  
Model Output ◽  
Global Sensitivity ◽  
Sparse Polynomial ◽  
Sensitivity Indices ◽  
Highly Nonlinear

<p>Due to their highly nonlinear, non-monotonic or even discontinuous behavior, sensitivity analysis of final repository models can be a demanding task. Most of the output of repository models is typically distributed over several orders of magnitude and highly skewed. Many values of a probabilistic investigation are very low or even zero. Although this is desirable in view of repository safety it can distort the evidence of sensitivity analysis. For the safety assessment of the system, the highest values of outputs are mainly essential and if those are only a few, their dependence on specific parameters may appear insignificant. By applying a transformation, different model output values are differently weighed, according to their magnitude, in sensitivity analysis. Probabilistic methods of higher-order sensitivity analysis, applied on appropriately transformed model output values, provide a possibility for more robust identification of relevant parameters and their interactions. This type of sensitivity analysis is typically done by decomposing the total unconditional variance of the model output into partial variances corresponding to different terms in the ANOVA decomposition. From this, sensitivity indices of increasing order can be computed. The key indices used most often are the first-order index (SI1) and the total-order index (SIT). SI1 refers to the individual impact of one parameter on the model and SIT represents the total effect of one parameter on the output in interactions with all other parameters. The second-order sensitivity indices (SI2) describe the interactions between two model parameters.</p><p>In this work global sensitivity analysis has been performed with three different kinds of output transformations (log, shifted and Box-Cox transformation) and two metamodeling approaches, namely the Random-Sampling High Dimensional Model Representation (RS-HDMR) [1] and the Bayesian Sparse PCE (BSPCE) [2] approaches. Both approaches are implemented in the SobolGSA software [3, 4] which was used in this work. We analyzed the time-dependent output with two approaches for sensitivity analysis, i.e., the pointwise and generalized approaches. With the pointwise approach, the output at each time step is analyzed independently. The generalized approach considers averaged output contributions at all previous time steps in the analysis of the current step. Obtained results indicate that robustness can be improved by using appropriate transformations and choice of coefficients for the transformation and the metamodel.</p><p>[1] M. Zuniga, S. Kucherenko, N. Shah (2013). Metamodelling with independent and dependent inputs. Computer Physics Communications, 184 (6): 1570-1580.</p><p>[2] Q. Shao, A. Younes, M. Fahs, T.A. Mara (2017). Bayesian sparse polynomial chaos expansion for global sensitivity analysis. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 318: 474-496.</p><p>[3] S. M. Spiessl, S. Kucherenko, D.-A. Becker, O. Zaccheus (2018). Higher-order sensitivity analysis of a final repository model with discontinuous behaviour. Reliability Engineering and System Safety, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2018.12.004.</p><p>[4] SobolGSA software (2021). User manual https://www.imperial.ac.uk/process-systems-engineering/research/free-software/sobolgsa-software/.</p>

scholarly journals Determining the Shear Strength and Permeability of Soils for Engineering of New Paddy Field Construction in a Hilly Mountainous Region of Southwestern China

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1555
Author(s):  
Zhen Han ◽  
Jiangwen Li ◽  
Pengfei Gao ◽  
Bangwei Huang ◽  
Jiupai Ni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shear Strength ◽  
Internal Friction ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Soil Water Content ◽  
Paddy Field ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Strength Properties ◽  
Mountainous Region

As a constructed wetland ecosystem, paddy field plays an irreplaceable role in flood storage and detention, groundwater replenishment, environmental protection, and ecological balance maintenance. New paddy field construction can give full play to the production and ecological functions of paddy field and can adjust the development structure of the agricultural industry effectively. The soil properties of shear strength and permeability, which provide a theoretical basis for engineering design, construction, and post-operation, are important indexes in the site selection of new paddy field. The shear strength and permeability properties of soils from different land use types (vegetable field, gentle slope dryland, corn field, grapery, and abandoned dryland) for engineering new paddy field construction were investigated in this study. The results showed that the soil water content had a significant effect on the soil shear strength, internal friction angle, and cohesion. The total pressure required for soil destruction decreased with increasing water content under the same vertical pressure, resulting in easier destruction of soils. The internal friction angle decreased with increasing soil water content, and the soil cohesion first increased and then decreased with increasing soil water content. Considering that paddy fields were flooded for a long time, the soil strength properties had certain water sensitivity. Effective measures must be taken to reduce the change in soil water content, so as to ensure the stability of the embankment foundation, roadside ditch foundation, and cutting slope. In addition, the influence of changing soil water content on the strength properties of paddy soils should be fully considered in engineering design and construction, and the soil bulk density at the plough pan should reach at least 1.5 g cm−3 or more to ensure better water retention and the anti-seepage function of paddy field. The study can provide construction technology for engineering new paddy field construction in a hilly mountainous region of southwestern China.

scholarly journals Shear Mechanical Behaviours and Multistrength Parameter Characteristics of Fault Gouge

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Bao ◽  
Qun Qi ◽  
Hengxing Lan ◽  
Changgen Yan ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Normal Stress ◽  
Clay Minerals ◽  
Residual Strength ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Strength Properties ◽  
Fault Gouge ◽  
Normal Stresses ◽  
Fault Gouges

Fault gouge has special mechanical properties and remarkable engineering effects. Using a ring shear test, the strength properties of the differently colored remolded fault gouges of the Shendaogou Fault in Yan’an were studied by changing moisture contents and normal stresses. Chlorite and illite are the main clay minerals in fault gouges; differences in mineral composition make fault gouges appear in different colors. Besides clay minerals, the dried fault gouges disintegration in water is also due to the transformation of gypsum. The gradation of green fault gouge and multicolor fault gouge is better than that of the red fault gouge, while the fault gouges’ strain softening properties become weaker as the coarse grain content increases. Affected by water content and normal stress, the shear planes can be divided into three failure modes: peeling failure, grooved failure, and sliding failure. With the increase of water content, there will be a significant weakening on cohesion and friction angle. A new parameter, the “Normal Stress Threshold (NST),” is introduced as a critical value for the emergence of the strain hardening phenomenon, and the NSTs of different fault gouges are significantly different. The functions obtained from the relation of residual strength, peak strength, and normal stress can be used to calculate shear strength parameters under any normal stresses. In addition, the residual strength of fault gouge is obviously different from clay and loess, which can be qualitatively explained by clay particle contents.

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