• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.411-426
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• 2023

Soft clay is widely distributed in the southeast coastal areas of China. Many large underground structures, such as subway stations and underground pipe corridors, are shallow buried in the soft clay foundation, so the dynamic characteristics of the soft clay must be considered to the seismic design of underground structures. In this paper, the dynamic characteristics of saturated soft clay in Shanghai under the bidirectional excitation for earthquake loading are studied by dynamic triaxial tests, comparing the backbone curve and hysteretic curve of the saturated soft clay under different confining pressures with those under different vibration frequencies. Considering the coupling effects of the confining pressure and the vibration frequency, a fitting model of the maximum dynamic shear modulus was proposed by the multiple linear regression method. The M-D model was used to fit the variations of the dynamic shear modulus ratio with the shear strain. Based on the Chen model and the Park model, the effects of the consolidation confining pressure and the vibration frequency on the damping ratio were studied. The results can provide a reference to the earthquake prevention and disaster reduction in soft clay area.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.517-532
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• 2023

Tower structures have been widely used in communication and transmission engineering. The failure of joints is the leading cause of structure failure, which make it play a crucial role in tower structure engineering. In this study, the aluminum alloy three tube tower structure is taken as the prototype, and the middle joint of the tower was selected as the research object. Three different stainless steel-aluminum alloy composite joints (SACJs), denoted by TA, TB and TC, were designed. Finite element (FE) modeling analysis was used to compare and determine the TC joint as the best solution. Detail requirements of fasteners in the TC stainless steel-aluminum alloy composite joint (TC-SACJ) were designed and verified. In order to systematically and comprehensively study the mechanical properties of TC-SACJ under multi-directional loading conditions, the full-scale experiments and FE simulation models were all performed for mechanical response analysis. The failure modes, load-carrying capacities, and axial load versus displacement/stain testing curves of all full-scale specimens under tension/compression loading conditions were obtained. The results show that the maximum vertical displacement of aluminum alloy tube is 26.9mm, and the maximum lateral displacement of TC-SACJs is 1.0 mm. In general, the TC-SACJs are in an elastic state under the design load, which meet the design requirements and has a good safety reserve. This work can provide references for the design and engineering application of aluminum alloy tower structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-74
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• 2009

In recent years, several computer-aided pattern recognition and data mining techniques have been developed for modeling of soil behavior. The main idea behind a pattern recognition system is that it learns adaptively from experience and is able to provide predictions for new cases. Artificial neural networks are the most widely used pattern recognition methods that have been utilized to model soil behavior. Recently, the authors have pioneered the application of genetic programming (GP) and evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) techniques for modeling of soils and a number of other geotechnical applications. The paper reviews applications of pattern recognition and data mining systems in geotechnical engineering with particular reference to constitutive modeling of soils. It covers applications of artificial neural network, genetic programming and evolutionary programming approaches for soil modeling. It is suggested that these systems could be developed as efficient tools for modeling of soils and analysis of geotechnical engineering problems, especially for cases where the behavior is too complex and conventional models are unable to effectively describe various aspects of the behavior. It is also recognized that these techniques are complementary to conventional soil models rather than a substitute to them.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.401-420
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• 2016

The stability of deep coal roadways with large sections and thick top coal is a typical challenge in many coal mines in China. The innovative Universal Discrete Element Code (UDEC) trigon block is adopted to create a numerical model based on a case study at the Dongtan coal mine in China to better understand the failure mechanism and stability control mechanism of this kind of roadway. The failure process of an unsupported roadway is simulated, and the results suggest that the deformation of the roof is more serious than that of the sides and floor, especially in the center of the roof. The radial stress that is released is more intense than the tangential stress, while a large zone of relaxation appears around the roadway. The failure process begins from partial failure at roadway corners, and then propagates deeper into the roof and sides, finally resulting in large deformation in the roadway. A combined support system is proposed to support roadways based on an analysis of the simulation results. The numerical simulation and field monitoring suggest that the availability of this support method is feasible both in theory and practice, which can provide helpful references for research on the failure mechanisms and scientific support designing of engineering in deep coal mines.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.417-426
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• 2018

This paper presents the seismic behaviors and restoring force model of ring beam joints of steel tube-reinforced concrete column structure under cyclic loading. First, the main failure mode, ultimate bearing capacity, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity are studied. Then, the effects of concrete grade, steel grade, reinforcement ratio and radius-to-width ratios are discussed. Finally, the restoring force model is proposed. Results show that the ring beam joints of steel tube-reinforced concrete column structure performs good seismic performances. With concrete grade increasing, the ultimate bearing capacity and energy dissipation capacity increase, while the stiffness degradation rates increases slightly. When the radius-width ratio is 2, with reinforcement ratio increasing, the ultimate bearing capacity decreases. However, when the radius-to-width ratios are 3, with reinforcement ratio increasing, the ultimate bearing capacity increases. With radius-to-width ratios increasing, the ultimate bearing capacity decreases slightly and the stiffness degradation rate increases, but the energy dissipation capacity increases slightly.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 2019

The mechanical behavior of rock is essential to estimate the capacity and long-term stability of $CO_2$ storage in deep saline aquifers. As the depth of reservoir increases, the pressure and temperature that applied on the rock increase. To answer the question of how the confining pressure and temperature influence the mechanical behavior of reservoir rock, triaxial compression experiments were carried out on brine-saturated sandstone at elevated temperature. The triaxial compressive strength of brine-saturated sandstone was observed to decrease with increasing testing temperature, and the temperature weakening effect in strength enhanced with the increase of confining pressure. Sandstone specimens showed single fracture failures under triaxial compression. Three typical regions around the main fracture were identified: fracture band, damaged zone and undamaged zone. A function was proposed to describe the evolution of acoustic emission count under loading. Finally, the mechanism of elevated temperature causing the reduction of strength of brine-saturated sandstone was discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2019

This paper presents the numerical simulation of membrane structure under impact load. Firstly, the numerical simulation model is validated by comparing with the test in Hao's research. Then, the effects of the shape of the projectile, the membrane prestress and the initial impact speed, are investigated for studying the dynamic response and failure mechanism, based on the membrane displacement, projectile acceleration and kinetic energy. Finally, the results show that the initial speed and the punch shape are related with the loss of kinetic energy of projectiles. Meanwhile, the membrane prestress is an important factor that affects the energy dissipation capacity and the impact resistance of membrane structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.587-600
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• 2020

Shear-induced instability of jointed rock mass has greatly threatened the safety of underground openings. To better understand the failure mechanism of surrounding rock mass under shear, the flawed specimens containing a circular opening and two open joints are prepared and used to conduct direct shear tests. Both experimental and numerical results show that joint inclination (β) has a significant effect on the shear strength, dilation, cracking behavior and stress distribution around flaws. The maximum shear strength, occurring at β=30°, usually corresponds to a unifrom stress state around joint and an intense energy release. However, a larger joint inclination, such as β=90°~150°, will cause a more uneven stress distribution and a stronger stress concentration, thus a lower shear strength. The stress distribution around opening changes little with joint inclination, while the magnitude varys much. Both compression and tension around opening will be greatly enhanced by the 30°-joints. In addition, a higher normal stress tends to enhance the compression and suppress the tension around flaws, resulting in an earlier generation and a larger proportion of shear cracks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.3-16
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• 2008

The underground construction and mining are facing many geomechanics challenges stemming from, geological complexities and stress-driven rock mass degradation processes. Brittle failing rock at depth poses unique problems as stress-driven failure processes often dominate the tunnel behaviour. Such failure processes can lead to shallow unravelling or strainbursting modes of instability that cause difficult conditions for tunnel contractors. This keynote address focuses on the challenge of anticipating the actual behaviour of brittle rocks in laboratory testing, for empirical rock mass strength estimation, and by back-analysis of field observations. This paper summarizes lessons learned during the construction of deep Alpine tunnels and highlights implications that are of practical importance with respect to constructability. It builds on a recent presentation made at the $1^{st}$ Southern Hemisphere International Rock Mechanics Symposium held in Perth, Australia, in September this year, and includes results from recent developments.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.503-512
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• 2020

Mining activities focus on the production of mineral resources for energy generation and raw material requirements worldwide and it is a known fact that shallow reserves become scarce. For this reason, exploration of new resources proceeds consistently to meet the increasing energy and raw material demand of industrial activities. Rock mechanics has a vital role in underground mining and surface mining. Devices and instruments used in laboratory testing to determine rock mechanics related parameters might have limited sensing capability of the failure behavior. However, methodologies such as, thermal cameras, digital speckle correlation method and acoustic emission might enable to investigate the initial crack formation in detail. Regarding this, in this study, thermographic analysis was performed to analyze the failure behaviors of different types of rock specimens during uniaxial compressive strength experiments. The energy dissipation profiles of different types of rocks were characterized by the temperature difference recorded with an infrared thermal camera during experiments. The temperature increase at the failure moment was detected as 4.45℃ and 9.58℃ for andesite and gneiss-schist specimens, respectively. Higher temperature increase was observed with respect to higher UCS value. Besides, a temperature decreases of about 0.5-0.6℃ was recorded during the experiments of the marble specimens. The temperature change on the specimen is related to release of radiation energy. As a result of the porosity tests, it was observed that increase in the porosity rate from 5.65% to 20.97% can be associated to higher radiation energy released, from 12.68 kJ to 297.18 kJ.