Effects of an impermeable layer on pore pressure response to tsunami-like inundation

Tsunami hazards have been observed to cause soil instability resulting in substantial damage to coastal infrastructure. Studying this problem is difficult owing to tsunamis’ transient, non-uniform and large loading characteristics. To create realistic tsunami conditions in a laboratory environment, we control the body force using a centrifuge facility. With an apparatus specifically designed to mimic tsunami inundation in a scaled-down model, we examine the effects of an embedded impermeable layer on soil instability: the impermeable layer represents a man-made pavement, a building foundation, a clay layer and alike. The results reveal that the effective vertical soil stress is substantially reduced at the underside of the impermeable layer. During the sudden runup flow, this instability is caused by a combination of temporal dislocation of soil grains and an increase in pore pressure under the impermeable layer. The instability during the drawdown phase is caused by the development of excess pore-pressure gradients, and the presence of the impermeable layer substantially enhances the pressure gradients leading to greater soil instability. The laboratory results demonstrate that the presence of an impermeable layer plays an important role in weakening the soil resistance under tsunami-like rapid runup and drawdown processes.

Stratigraphic profiling, slip surface detection, and assessment of remolding in sensitive clay landslides using the CPT

A multi-year cone penetration testing program was initiated at a landslide subject to episodic retrogression in Mud Creek, Ottawa, to assess whether a hand-operated mobile CPT could yield new insights into the current degree of remoulding under progressive failure in metastable areas of a landslide where conventional tracked rigs are unable to gain access. The mobile CPT rig permitted tests to be performed through the entire thickness of the Champlain Sea deposit at a penetration rate of 0.5 cm/s, with similar results to tests performed at the standard 2 cm/s. Measurements of pore pressure varied considerably with cone size, with the magnitude of pore pressure response decreasing with cone size. The elevation of the slip surface was identified in the tip resistance as the point of transition between the remolded soil above the slip surface and the intact soil below the slip surface, whereas a further 0.5 m of penetration was required to elevate pore pressures to values indicative of the intact soil behaviour. In-situ measurements of shear strength of corresponding layers between the intact and remolded profiles to be compared indicating that the soil above the slip surface had remolded to 50% of its fully remolded strength.

Spectral boundary integral method for simulating static and dynamic fields from a fault rupture in a poroelastodynamic solid

The spectral boundary integral method is popular for simulating fault, fracture, and frictional processes at a planar interface. However, the method is less commonly used to simulate off-fault dynamic fields. Here we develop a spectral boundary integral method for poroelastodynamic solid. The method has two steps: first, a numerical approximation of a convolution kernel and second, an efficient temporal convolution of slip speed and the appropriate kernel. The first step is computationally expensive but easily parallelizable and scalable such that the computational time is mostly restricted by computational resources. The kernel is independent of the slip history such that the same kernel can be used to explore a wide range of slip scenarios. We apply the method by exploring the short-time dynamic and static responses: first, with a simple source at intermediate and far-field distances and second, with a complex near-field source. We check if similar results can be attained with dynamic elasticity and undrained pore-pressure response and conclude that such an approach works well in the near-field but not necessarily at an intermediate and far-field distance. We analyze the dynamic pore-pressure response and find that the P-wave arrival carries a significant pore pressure peak that may be observed in high sampling rate pore-pressure measurements. We conclude that a spectral boundary integral method may offer a viable alternative to other approaches where the bulk is discretized, providing a better understanding of the near-field dynamics of the bulk in response to finite fault ruptures.

A Deviatoric Softening Model to Simulate Compressibility Properties of Soft Clays

Soft clays are often associated with high compressibility due to their high void ratio, low shear strength, and creep behavior. Structures built on top of it can experience excessive settlement issues over a long period of time. The prediction of these settlements has attracted attentions from many researchers for over a century, but accurately predicting them still remains a difficult issue due to complex properties of soft clays, including plasticity, viscosity, anisotropy, soil structure and so forth. Therefore, studying the compressibility of soft clay is of significant importance. This dissertation aims to investigate the influence of plastic deviatoric strains on the compressibility of soft clays. First of all, the dissertation reviews a number of published incremental anisotropic consolidation tests on Finnish clays. The results demonstrate the dependence of soil compressibility on stress ratios. Based on the result, a modified yield surface size deviatoric softening law has been introduced. This softening law describes yield surface softening to be related to plastic deviatoric strain increments. Secondly, a new model named MEVP-DS, has been incorporated into the framework of Yin’s elaso-viscoplastic model to consider deviatoric softening, destructuration, and yield surface anisotropy of soft clay. Furthermore, the verification of MEVP-DS has been done through three phases. Phase one is the simulation of published incremental anisotropic consolidation tests on intact Finnish clay samples. The model results demonstrate MEVP-DS successfully captures the soil compressibility in response to different stress ratios. Phase two is the application of MEVP-DS in modeling 1-D consolidation tests on sensitive Champlain Sea clay. Model results highlight that using MEVP-DS is beneficial for predicting the compressibility and excess pore pressure response of the clay subject to constant rate of strain loading. Phase three is the application of MEVP-DS in simulating a real embankment dam on Champlain Sea clay. MEVP-DS not only simulates 40-year settlement measurements of the dam reasonably well, but also improves the prediction of lateral spreading of the dam. In summary, the MEVP-DS model proposed in this dissertation has shown to improve the simulation of soil compressibility of soft clays subject to 1-D, anisotropic and more complicated loading conditions.

A Deviatoric Softening Model to Simulate Compressibility Properties of Soft Clays

Soft clays are often associated with high compressibility due to their high void ratio, low shear strength, and creep behavior. Structures built on top of it can experience excessive settlement issues over a long period of time. The prediction of these settlements has attracted attentions from many researchers for over a century, but accurately predicting them still remains a difficult issue due to complex properties of soft clays, including plasticity, viscosity, anisotropy, soil structure and so forth. Therefore, studying the compressibility of soft clay is of significant importance. This dissertation aims to investigate the influence of plastic deviatoric strains on the compressibility of soft clays. First of all, the dissertation reviews a number of published incremental anisotropic consolidation tests on Finnish clays. The results demonstrate the dependence of soil compressibility on stress ratios. Based on the result, a modified yield surface size deviatoric softening law has been introduced. This softening law describes yield surface softening to be related to plastic deviatoric strain increments. Secondly, a new model named MEVP-DS, has been incorporated into the framework of Yin’s elaso-viscoplastic model to consider deviatoric softening, destructuration, and yield surface anisotropy of soft clay. Furthermore, the verification of MEVP-DS has been done through three phases. Phase one is the simulation of published incremental anisotropic consolidation tests on intact Finnish clay samples. The model results demonstrate MEVP-DS successfully captures the soil compressibility in response to different stress ratios. Phase two is the application of MEVP-DS in modeling 1-D consolidation tests on sensitive Champlain Sea clay. Model results highlight that using MEVP-DS is beneficial for predicting the compressibility and excess pore pressure response of the clay subject to constant rate of strain loading. Phase three is the application of MEVP-DS in simulating a real embankment dam on Champlain Sea clay. MEVP-DS not only simulates 40-year settlement measurements of the dam reasonably well, but also improves the prediction of lateral spreading of the dam. In summary, the MEVP-DS model proposed in this dissertation has shown to improve the simulation of soil compressibility of soft clays subject to 1-D, anisotropic and more complicated loading conditions.

Operation of Norwegian Hydropower Plants and Its Effect on Block Fall Events in Unlined Pressure Tunnels and Shafts

The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of hydropower plant operation on the long-term stability of unlined pressure tunnels of hydropower plants in Norway. The authors analyzed the past production data of some hydropower plants to find out the number of starts/stops and the frequency and magnitude of load changes. The study demonstrates that an average of 200–400 start/stop events are occurring per turbine per year for the analyzed period, with an increasing trend. Currently, 150–200 large load changes per turbine smaller than 50 MW are occurring every year, and this is expected to increase by 30–45% between 2025 and 2040 for one of the studied power plants. Most importantly, the monitored pressure transients and pore pressure response in the rock mass during real-time operation at Roskrepp power plant are presented. A new method is proposed to calculate and quantify the hydraulic impact (HI) of pressure transients on rock joints and the effect of duration of shutdown/opening, which is found to be the most dominant parameter affecting the magnitude. The results show that faster shutdown sequences cause unnecessary stress in rock mass surrounding pressure tunnel. The hydraulic impact (HI) can be more than 10 times higher when the shutdown duration is reduced by 50 percent. The study recommends that duration of normal shutdowns/openings in hydropower plants should be slower so that hydraulic impacts on the rock joints are reduced and cyclic hydraulic fatigue is delayed, prolonging the lifetime of unlined pressure tunnels and shafts.