• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.827-836
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• 2016

The rate of softening is an important factor to determine whether the failure occurs along localized shear band or in a more diffused manner. In this paper, strength loss and softening rate effect depending on sensitivity are investigated for weakly cemented clays, for both artificially cemented high plasticity San Francisco Bay Mud and low plasticity Yolo Loam. Destructuration and softening behavior for weakly cemented sensitive clays are demonstrated and discussed through multiple vane shear tests. Artificial sensitive clays are prepared in the laboratory for physical modeling or constitutive modeling using a small amount of cement (2 to 5%) with controlled initial water content and curing period. Through test results, shear band thickness is theoretically computed and the rate of softening is represented as a newly introduced parameter, ${\omega}_{80%}$. Consequently, it is found that the softening rate increases with sensitivity for weakly cemented sensitive clays. Increased softening rate represents faster strength loss to residual state and faster minimizing of shear band thickness. Uncemented clay has very low softening rate to 80% strength drop. Also, it is found that higher brittleness index ($I_b$) relatively shows faster softening rate. The result would be beneficial to study of physical modeling for sensitive clays in that artificially constructed high sensitivity (up to $S_t=23$) clay exhibits faster strain softening, which results in localized shear band failure once it is remolded.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2023

Knowledge of minimum horizontal stress (S_hmin) is a significant step in determining full stress tensor. It provides crucial information for the production of sand, hydraulic fracturing, determination of safe mud weight window, reservoir production behavior, and wellbore stability. Calculating the S_hmin using indirect methods has been proved to be awkward because a lot of data are required in all of these models. Also, direct techniques such as hydraulic fracturing are costly and time-consuming. To figure these problems out, this work aims to apply the long-short-term memory (LSTM) algorithm to S_hmin time-series prediction. 13956 datasets obtained from an oil well logging operation were applied in the models. 80% of the data were used for training, and 20% of the data were used for testing. In order to achieve the maximum accuracy of the LSTM model, its hyper-parameters were optimized significantly. Through different statistical indices, the LSTM model's performance was compared with with other machine learning methods. Finally, the optimized LSTM model was recommended for S_hmin prediction in the well logging operation.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.313-324
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• 2023

The vertical distribution of suspended sediments in the mangrove-mud coast is complicated due to the characterization of cohesive sediment properties, and the influence of hydrodynamic factors. In this study, the time-evolution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in water depth is simulated by a one-dimensional model. The model applies in-situ data measured in October 2014 at the outer station in Cu Lao Dung coastal areas, Soc Trang, Vietnam. In the model, parameters which have influence on vertical distribution of SSC include the settling velocity Ws and the diffusion coefficient Kz. The settling velocity depends on the cohesive sediment properties, and the diffusion coefficient depends on the wave-current dynamics. The settling velocity is determined by the settling column experiment in the laboratory, which is a constant of 1.8 × 10^-4 ms^-1. Two hydrodynamic conditions are simulated including a strong current condition and a strong wave condition. Both simulations show that the SSC near the bottom is much higher than ones at the surface due to higher turbulence at the bottom. At the bottom layer, the SSC is strongly influenced by the current.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.859-872
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• 2015

Pebble matrix filtration (PMF) is a water treatment technology that can remove suspended solids in highly turbid surface water during heavy storms. PMF typically uses sand and natural pebbles as filter media. Hand-made clay pebbles (balls) can be used as alternatives to natural pebbles in PMF treatment plants, where natural pebbles are not readily available. Since the high turbidity is a seasonal problem that occurs during heavy rains, the use of newly developed composite clay balls instead of pure clay balls have the advantage of removing other pollutants such as natural organic matter (NOM) during other times. Only the strength properties of composite clay balls are described here as the pollutant removal is beyond the scope of this paper. These new composite clay balls must be able to withstand dead and live loads under dry and saturated conditions in a filter assembly. Absence of a standard ball preparation process and expected strength properties of composite clay balls were the main reasons behind the present study. Five different raw materials from industry wastes: Red Mud (RM), Water Treatment Alum Sludge (S), Shredded Paper (SP), Saw Dust (SD), and Sugar Mulch (SM) were added to common clay brick mix (BM) in different proportions. In an effort to minimize costs, in this study clay balls were fired to $1100^{\circ}C$ at a local brick factory together with their bricks. A comprehensive experimental program was performed to evaluate crushing strength of composite hand-made clay balls, using uniaxial compression test to establish the best material combination on the basis of strength properties for designing sustainable filter media for water treatment plants. Performance at both construction and operating stages were considered by analyzing both strength properties under fully dry conditions and strength degradation after saturation in a water bath. The BM-75% as the main component produced optimum combination in terms of workability and strength. With the material combination of BM-75% and additives-25%, the use of Red Mud and water treatment sludge as additives produced the highest and lowest strength of composite clay balls, with a failure load of 5.4 kN and 1.4 kN respectively. However, this lower value of 1.4 kN is much higher than the effective load on each clay ball of 0.04 kN in a typical filter assembly (safety factor of 35), therefore, can still be used as a suitable filter material for enhanced pollutant removal.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.441-454
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• 2020

The tunnel collapse, large deformation of surrounding rock, water and mud inrush are the major geological disasters in soft rock tunnel construction. Among them, tunnel collapse has the most serious impact on tunnel construction. Current research backed theories have certain limitations in identifying the collapse risk of soft rock tunnels. Examining the Zhengwan high-speed railway tunnel, eight soft rock tunnel collapse influencing factors were selected, and the combination of indicator weights based on the analytic hierarchy process and entropy weighting methods was obtained. The results show that the groundwater condition and the integrity of the rock mass are the main influencing factors leading to a soft rock tunnel collapse. A comprehensive fuzzy evaluation model for the collapse risk of soft rock tunnels is being proposed, and the real-time collapse risk assessment of the Zhengwan tunnel is being carried out. The results obtained via the fuzzy evaluation model agree well with the actual situation. A tunnel section evaluated to have an extremely high collapse risk and experienced a local collapse during excavation, verifying the feasibility of the collapse risk evaluation model. The collapse risk evaluation model proposed in this paper has been demonstrated to be a promising and innovative method for the evaluation of the collapse risk of soft rock tunnels, leading to safer construction.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.93-97
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• 2012

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of various inorganic and organic materials to improve physical properties of soil. Saline sodic soil (saturation percentage = 40.36%, $EC_e=5.15dS\;m^{-1}$, $pH_s=8.70$, $SAR=18.84(m\;mol\;L^{-1})^{1/2}$, bulk density =$1.49Mg\;m^{-3}$) was collected, brought to wire house and filled in pots after laboratory analysis for various parameters. Different sources of organic nutrients like farm manure (FM), press mud, compost, poultry manure and sesbania green manure were analyzed for their chemical composition. The experiment comprised of 12 treatments replicated thrice; $T_1$: control (recommended NPK), $T_2:{\frac{1}{2}}$ recommended NPK, $T_3$: FM at 1.5% by soil weight, $T_4$: pressmud at 1.5% by soil weight, $T_5$: compost at 1.5% by soil weight, $T_6$: poultry manure at 1.5% by soil weight, $T_7$: sesbania green manure at 1.5% by soil weight, $T_8:T_2$ + FM at 0.75% by soil weight, $T_9:T_2$ + pressmud at 0.75% by soil weight, $T_{10}:T_2$ + compost at 0.75% by soil weight, $T_{11}:T_2$ + poultry manure at 0.75% by soil weight, $T_{12}:T_2$ + sesbania green manure at 0.75% by soil weight. These treatments were applied using completely randomized (CR) design and appropriate time was given to decompose these organic nutritional sources. Seeds of wheat cultivar Sahar-2006 were sown. After harvesting the wheat, soil samples were collected from each pot and analyzed for various physical properties like bulk density, porosity and saturation percentage. An improvement in physical properties (bulk density, porosity and saturation percentage) of soil was noticed with the application of various organic nutritional sources but role of compost alone ($T_5$) remained prominent.