Biopolymer stabilization is a sustainable alternative to traditional techniques that cause a lesser negative impact on the environment during production and application. The study aims to minimize the biopolymer dosages by sizing the bio-additives to the nanoscale. This study combines the advantages of bio and nanomaterials in geotechnical engineering applications and attempts to investigate the behaviour of a low viscous biopolymer, nano sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (nCMC), to treat organic soil. Soil is treated with 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75% and 1.00% of nano-bio additive, and its effect on the plastic behaviour, compaction characteristics, strength, hydraulic conductivity (HC) and compressible nature are investigated. The strength increased by 1.68 times after 90 days of curing at a dosage of 0.5% nCMC through the formation of gel threads connecting the soil particles that stiffened the matrix. The viscosity of 1% nCMC increased exponentially, deterring fluid flow through the voids and reduced the HC by 0.85 times after curing for 90 days. Also, beyond the optimum dosage of 0.50%, the nCMC forms a film around the soil particles that inhibits the inter-particle cohesion causing a reduction in strength. Experimental results show that nCMC can effectively substitute conventional additives to stabilize the soil.

This paper investigates the flexural analysis of isotropic, transversely isotropic, and laminated composite plates using a new higher-order normal and shear deformation theory. In the present theory, only five unknown functions are involved compared to six or more unknowns used in the other similar theories. The developed theory does not need a shear correction factor. It can satisfy the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and the bottom surfaces of the plate as well as account for sufficient distribution of the transverse shear strains. The thickness stretching effect is considered in the computation. A simply supported was considered on all edges of the plate. The plate is subjected to uniform and sinusoidal distributed load in the static analysis. Laminated composite, isotropic, and transversely isotropic plates are considered. The governing equations are obtained utilizing the virtual work principle. The differential equations are solved via Navier's procedure. The results obtained from the developed theory are compared with other higher-order theories considered in the previous studies and 3D elasticity solutions. The results showed that the proposed theory accurately and effectively predicts the bidirectional bending responses of laminated composite plates. Several parametric studies are presented to illustrate the various parameters influencing the static response of the laminated composite plates.

In urban construction projects, it is crucial to evaluate the impacts of excavation-induced ground movements in order to protect surrounding structures. These ground movements resulting in damages to the neighboring structures and facilities (i.e., parking basement) are of main concern for the geotechnical engineers. Even more, the danger exists if the nearby structure is an ancient or masonry brick building. The formations of cracks are indicators of structural damage caused by excavation-induced ground disturbances, which pose issues for excavation-related projects. Although the effects of deep excavations on existing brick masonry walls have been thoroughly researched, the impact of twin excavations on a brick masonry wall is rarely described in the literature. This work presents a 3D parametric analysis using an advanced hypoplastic model to investigate the responses of an existing isolated brick masonry wall to twin perpendicular excavations in dry sand. One after the other, twin perpendicular excavations are simulated. This article also looks at how varying sand relative densities (D_r = 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90%) affect the masonry wall. The cracks at the top of the wall were caused by the hogging deformation profile caused by the twin excavations. By raising the relative density from 30% to 90%, excavation-induced footing settlement is greatly minimized. The crack width at the top of the wall reduces as a result of the second excavation in very loose to loose sand (D_r = 30% and 50%). While the crack width on the top of the wall increases owing to the second excavation in medium to very dense sand (D_r = 70% and 90%).

Landslides are one of the most dangerous phenomena and natural disasters. Landslides cause many human and financial losses in most parts of the world, especially in mountainous areas. Due to the climatic conditions and topography, people in the northern and western regions of Iran live with the risk of landslides. One of the measures that can effectively reduce the possible risks of landslides and their crisis management is to identify potential areas prone to landslides through multi-criteria modeling approach. This research aims to model landslide potential area in the Oshvand watershed using a support vector machine algorithm. For this purpose, evidence maps of seven effective factors in the occurrence of landslides namely slope, slope direction, height, distance from the fault, the density of waterways, rainfall, and geology, were prepared. The maps were generated and weighted using the continuous fuzzification method and logistic functions, resulting values in zero and one range as weights. The weighted maps were then combined using the support vector machine algorithm. For the training and testing of the machine, 81 slippery ground points and 81 non-sliding points were used. Modeling procedure was done using four linear, polynomial, Gaussian, and sigmoid kernels. The efficiency of each model was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; the root means square error, and the correlation coefficient . Finally, the landslide potential model that was obtained using Gaussian's kernel was selected as the best one for susceptibility of landslides in the Oshvand watershed.

During the construction of E75 highway through Grdelica gorge in Serbia, a major failure occurred in the zone of reinforced rock slope. Excavation was performed in highly anisotropic Paleozoic schist rock formation. The reinforcement consisted of the two rows of micropile wall with pre-stressed anchors. Forces in anchors were monitored with load cells while benchmarks were installed for superficial displacement measurements. The aim of the study is to investigate possible causes of instability considering different probability distributions of the strength of discontinuities and anchor bond strength by applying different optimization techniques for finding the critical failure surface. Even though the deterministic safety factor value is close to unity, the probability of failure is governed by variability of shear strength of anisotropic planes and optimization method used for locating the critical sliding surface. The Cuckoo search technique produces higher failure probabilities compared to the others. Depending on the assigned statistical distribution of input parameters, various performance functions of the factor of safety are obtained. The probability of failure is insensitive to the variation of bond strength. Different sampling techniques should yield similar results considering that the sufficient number of safety factor evaluations is chosen to achieve converged solution.

With the development and utilization of urban underground space, the artificial ground freezing technology has been widely used in the construction of underground engineering in soft soil areas. The mechanical properties of soft clay changed greatly after freezing and thawing, which affected the seismic performance of underground structures. In this paper, a series of triaxial tests were carried out to study the dynamic response of the freezing-thawing clay under the seismic load considering different dynamic stress amplitudes and different confining pressures. The reduction factor of dynamic shear stress was determined to correct the amplitude of the seismic load. The deformation development mode, the stress-strain relationship and the energy dissipation behavior of the soft clay under the seismic load were analyzed. An empirical model for predicting accumulative plastic strain was proposed and validated considering the loading times, the confining pressures and the dynamic stress amplitudes. The relevant research results can provide a theoretical reference to the seismic design of underground structures in soft clay areas.

The soil behaviour can be represented by numerical modelling of element testing using diverse constitutive models. However, not all constitutive models allow the simulation of the stress-strain response at the critical state in granular soils with both contractive and dilative behaviour. Moreover, the accuracy of these models depends highly on the quality of the experimental data used for their calibration. This study addresses the modelling of the critical state behaviour of an alluvial natural soil from the Lower Tagus Valley (south of Portugal), known as TP-Lisbon sand, using the NorSand constitutive law. For this purpose, a series of numerical simulations of element testing was carried out using two algorithms performed in Visual Basic (VB) and Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC). Moreover, this study presents the characterisation of of NorSand parameters from an accurate experimental programme based on triaxial and bender element testing. This experimental program allowed defining: (i) the critical state locus, (ii) the stress-dilatancy, and (iii) the soil elasticity of TP-Lisbon sand -all fundamental to calibrate the contractive and dilative behaviour of such alluvial soil. The results revealed a good agreement between experimental data and NorSand simulations using VB and FLAC. Therefore, this study showed that the quality of laboratory testing procedures and its good interpretation enables NorSand constitutive law to capture representatively the non-associated plastic strains, often expressed by the state parameter, allowing a representation of soil behaviour of alluvial soils within the critical state soil mechanics framework for different state parameters.

The objective of this study is to develop a Stability Evaluation System for retaining walls to assess their safety in real-time during excavation. A ground investigation is typically conducted before construction to gather information about the soil properties and predict wall stability. However, these properties may not accurately reflect the actual ground being excavated. To address this issue, the study employed a differential evolution algorithm to estimate the soil parameters of the actual ground. The estimated results were then used as input for an artificial neural network to evaluate the stability of the retaining walls. The study achieved an average accuracy of over 90% in predicting differential settlement, wall displacement, anchor force, and structural stability of the retaining walls. If implemented at actual excavation sites, this approach would enable real-time prediction of wall stability and facilitate effective safety management. Overall, the developed Stability Evaluation System offers a promising solution for ensuring the stability of retaining walls during construction. By incorporating real-time soil parameter analysis, it enhances the accuracy of stability predictions and contributes to proactive safety management in excavation projects.