Estimation of fracture initiation pressure is one of the most difficult technical challenges in hydraulic fracturing treatment of vertical or horizontal oil wells. In this study, the influence of in-situ stresses and pore pressure values on fracture initiation pressure and its profile in vertical and horizontal oil wells in a normal stress regime have been investigated. Cohesive elements with traction-separation law (XFEM-based cohesive law) are used for simulating the fracturing process in a fluid-solid coupling finite element model. The maximum nominal stress criterion is selected for initiation of damage in the cohesive elements. The stress intensity factors are verified for both XFEM-based cohesive law and analytical solution to show the validation of the cohesive law in fracture modeling where the compared results are in a very good agreement with less than 1% error. The results showed that, generally by increasing the difference between the maximum and minimum horizontal stress, the fracture pressure and its profile has been strongly changed in the vertical wells. Also, it's been clearly observed that in a horizontal well drilled in the direction of minimum horizontal stress, the values of fracture pressure have been significantly affected by the difference between overburden pressure and maximum horizontal stress. Additionally, increasing pore pressure from under-pressure regime to over-pressure state has made a considerable fall on fracture pressure in both vertical and horizontal oil wells.

Analytical and numerical modeling of soft or problematic soils stabilized with lime and cement require a number of soil parameters which are usually obtained from expensive and time-consuming laboratory experiments. The high shear strength of lime and cement stabilized soils make it extremely difficult to obtain high quality laboratory data in some cases. In this study, an alternative method is proposed, which uses the unconfined compressive strength and estimating functions available in literature to evaluate the shear strength parameters of the treated materials. The estimated properties were applied in finite element model to determine which estimating function is more appropriate for lime and cement treated granular soils. The results show that at the mid-range strength of the stabilized soils, most of applied functions have a good compatibility with laboratory conditions. However, application of some functions at lower or higher strengths would lead to underestimation or overestimation of the unconfined compressive strength.

In the conventional design of retaining structures in a seismic zone, seismic inertia forces are commonly assumed to act upwards and towards the wall facing to cause a maximum active thrust or act upwards and towards the backfill to cause a minimum passive resistance. However, under certain circumstances this design approach might underestimate the dynamic active thrust or overestimate the dynamic passive resistance acting on a rigid retaining structure. In this study, a new analytical method for dynamic active and passive forces in c-${\phi}$ soils with an infinite slope was proposed based on the Rankine earth pressure theory and the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion, to investigate the influence of seismic inertia force directions on the total active and passive forces. Four combinations of seismic acceleration with both vertical (upwards or downwards) and horizontal (towards the wall or backfill) directions, were considered. A series of dimensionless dynamic active and passive force charts were developed to evaluate the key influence factors, such as backfill inclination ${\beta}$, dimensionless cohesion $c/{\gamma}H$, friction angle ${\phi}$, horizontal and vertical seismic coefficients, $k _h$ and $k_v$. A comparative study shows that a combination of downward and towards-the-wall seismic inertia forces causes a maximum active thrust while a combination of upward and towards-the-wall seismic inertia forces causes a minimum passive resistance. This finding is recommended for use in the design of retaining structures in a seismic zone.

A series of one-dimensional consolidation tests and triaxial creep tests were performed on Nansha clays, which are interactive marine and terrestrial deposits, to investigate their time-dependent behaviour. Based on experimental observations of oedometer tests, normally consolidated soils exhibit larger secondary compression than overconsolidated soils; the secondary consolidation coefficient ($C_{\alpha}$) generally gets the maximum value as load approaches the preconsolidation pressure. The postsurcharge secondary consolidation coefficient ($C_{\alpha}$') is significantly less than $C_{\alpha}$. The observed secondary compression behaviour is consistent with the $C_{\alpha}/C_c$ concept, regardless of surcharging. The $C_{\alpha}/C_c$ ratio is a constant that is applicable to the recompression and compression ranges. Compared with the stage-loading test, the single-loading oedometer test can evaluate the entire process of secondary compression; $C_{\alpha}$ varies significantly with time and is larger than the $C_{\alpha}$ obtained from the stage-loading test. Based on experimental observations of triaxial creep tests, the creep for the drained state differs from the creep for the undrained state. The behaviour can be predicted by a characteristic relationship among axial strain rate, deviator stress level and time.

This paper presents a detailed study focused on investigating the effects of silt content on the static and dynamic properties of sand-silt mixtures. Specimens with a low-plastic silt content of 0, 15, 30 and 50% by weight were tested in static triaxial, cyclic triaxial, and resonant columns in addition to consolidation tests to determine such parameters as compression index, internal friction angle, cohesion, cyclic stress ratio, maximum shear modulus, normalized shear modulus and damping ratio. The test procedures were performed on specimens of three cases: constant void ratio index, e = 0.582; same peak deviator stress of 290 kPa; and constant relative density, $D_r$ = 30%. The test results obtained for both the constant-void-ratio-index and constant-relative-density specimens showed that as silt content increased, the internal friction angle, cyclic stress ratio and maximum shear modulus decreased, but cohesion increased. In testing of the same deviator stress specimens, both cohesion and internal friction angle were insignificantly altered with the increase in silt content. In addition, as silt content increased, the maximum shear modulus increased. The cyclic stress ratio first decreased as silt content increased to reach the threshold silt content and increased thereafter with further increases in silt content. Furthermore, the damping ratio was investigated based on different silt contents in three types of specimens.

The study of the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials under three-dimensional loading conditions is a current research focus area. This paper presents a microscale numerical study of rockfill deformation and strength characteristics using the Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method (FDEM). Two features unique to this study are the consideration of irregular particle shapes and particle crushability. A polydisperse assembly of irregular polyhedra was prepared to reproduce the mechanical behavior of rockfill materials subjected to axial compression at a constant mean stress for a range of intermediate principal stress ratios in the interval [0, 1]. The simulation results, including the stress-strain characteristics, relationship between principal strains, and principal deviator strains are discussed. The stress-dilatancy behavior is described using a linear dilatancy equation with its material constants varying with the intermediate principal stress ratio. The failure surface in the principal stress space and its traces in the deviatoric and meridian plane are also presented. The modified Lade-Duncan criterion most closely describes the stress points at failure.