• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.479-489
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• 2014

In the present study a parametric analysis is conducted to study the effect of pile dimension and soil properties on the nonlinear dynamic response of pile subjected to lateral sinusoidal load at the pile head. The study is conducted on soil-pile model of different pile diameter, pile length and soil modulus, and results are compared to get the effect. The soil-pile system is modelled using Finite element method. The programming is done in MATLAB. Time history analysis of model is done for varying non-dimensional frequency of load and the results are compared to get the non-dimensional frequency at which pile head displacement is maximum in each case. Maximum possible bending moment and soil-pile interacting forces for the dynamic excitation of the pile is also compared. When results are compared with the linear response, it is observed that non-dimensional frequency is reduced in nonlinear response on account of reduction in the soil stiffness due to yielding. Nonlinear response curve shows high amplitude as compared to linear response curve.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.1406-1416
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• 2008

Soil nailing is used as a method of slope stabilization and excavation support. The design method of soil nail are based on experience or assumption of interaction between soil and reinforcement. Most design methods simply considers the tension of reinforcement for analysis of slope stabilization. Soil nails interact with soils under combined loading of shear and tension. Jewell & Pedley(1990) suggested a design equation of shear force with bending stiffness and discussed that the magnitude of the maximum shear force is small in comparison with the maximum axal force. However, they have used a very conservative limiting bearing stress on nails. This paper discusses that the shear strength of soil nails should not be disregarded with proper bearing stresses on nails. The modified FHWA design method was proposed by considering shear forces on nails with bending stiffness.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1021-1046
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• 2017

The assessment of slope stability is an essential task in geotechnical engineering. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) was employed to investigate the performance of different shear pin arrangements to increase the stability of a soil block resting on an inclined plane with a low-interface friction plane. In the numerical models, the soil block was modeled by volume elements with linear elastic perfectly plastic material in a drained condition, while the shear pins were modeled by volume elements with linear elastic material. Interface elements were used along the bedding plane (bedding interface element) and around the shear pins (shear pin interface element) to simulate the soil-structure interaction. Bedding interface elements were used to capture the shear sliding of the soil on the low-interface friction plane while shear pin interface elements were used to model the shear bonding of the soil around the pins. A failure analysis was performed by means of the gravity loading method. The results of the 3D FEA with the numerical models were compared to those with the physical models for all cases. The effects of the number of shear pins, the shear pin locations, the different shear pin arrangements, the thickness and the width of the soil block and the associated failure mechanisms were discussed.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.107-120
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• 2017

Spud-can is used for fixing jack-up rig on seabed. It needs to be inserted up to the required depth during the installation process to secure enough soil reaction and prevent overturning accidents. On the other hand, it should be extracted from seabed soils as fast as possible during the extraction process to minimize the corresponding operational cost. To achieve such goals, spud-can may be equipped with water-jetting system including monitoring and control. To develop such a smart spud-can, a reliable numerical simulation tool is essential and it has also to be validated against physical model tests. In this regard, authors developed a numerical simulation tool by using a commercial program ANSYS with extended Drucker-Prager (EDP) formula. Authors also conducted small-scale (1/100) physical model tests for verification and calibration purpose. By using the numerical model, a systematic parametric study is conducted both for sand and K(kaolin)-clay with varying important soil parameters and the best estimated soil properties of the physical test are deduced. Then, by using the selected soil properties, the numerical and experimental results for a sand/K-clay multi-layer case are cross-checked to show reasonably good agreement. The validated numerical model will be useful in the next-stage study which includes controllable water-jetting.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.37-55
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• 2013

An important issue in the design of soil-nailing systems, as long-term retaining walls, is to assess their stability during seismic events. As such, this study is aimed at simulating the dynamic behavior and failure pattern of nailed structures using two series of numerical analyses, namely dynamic time history and pseudo-static. These numerical simulations are performed using the Finite Difference Method (FDM). In order to consider the actual response of a soil-nailed structure, nonlinear soil behaviour, soil-structure interaction effects, bending resistance of structural elements and construction sequences have been considered in the analyses. The obtained results revealed the efficiency of both analysis methods in simulating the seismic failure mechanism. The predicted failure pattern consists of two sliding blocks enclosed by three slip surfaces, whereby the bottom nails act as anchors and the other nails hold a semi-rigid soil mass. Moreover, it was realized that an increase in the length of the lowest nails is the most effective method to improve seismic stability of soil-nailed structures. Therefore, it is recommended to first estimate the nails pattern for static condition with the minimum required static safety factor. Then, the required seismic stability can be obtained through an increase in the length of the lowest nails. Moreover, placement of additional long nails among lowest nails in existing nailed structures can be considered as a simple retrofitting technique in seismic prone areas.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.349-365
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• 2014

The dynamic response of structures under extremely short duration dynamic loads is of great concern nowadays. This paper investigates structures' response as well as the associated structural damage to explosive loads considering and ignoring the supporting soil flexibility effect. In the analysis, buildings are modeled by two alternate approaches namely, (1) building with fixed supports, (2) building with supports accounting for soil-flexibility. A lumped parameter model with spring-dashpot elements is incorporated at the base of the building model to simulate the horizontal and rotational movements of supporting soil. The soil flexibility for various shear wave velocities has been considered in the investigation. In addition, the influence of variation of lateral natural periods of building models on the obtained response and peak response time-histories besides damage indices has also been investigated under blast loads with different peak over static pressures. The Dynamic response is obtained by solving the governing equations of motion of the considered building model using a developed Matlab code based on the finite element toolbox CALFEM. The predicted results expressed in time-domain by the building model incorporating SSI effect are compared with the corresponding model results ignoring soil flexibility effect. The results show that the effect of surrounding soil medium leads to significant changes in the obtained dynamic response of the considered systems and hence cannot be simply ignored in damage assessment and response time-histories of structures where it increases response and amplifies damage of structures subjected to blast loads. Moreover, the numerical results provide an understanding of level of damage of structure through the computed damage indices.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.559-567
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• 2018

Technological innovations in sustainable materials for soil improvement have attracted considerable interest due to energy crisis and environmental concerns in recent years. This study presents results of a comprehensive investigation on utilization of nanocarbons in reinforcement of a residual soil mixed with 0, 10 and 20% bentonite. Effects of adding proportionate quantities (0, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1 and 0.2%) of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers to soil samples of different plasticities were evaluated. The investigation revealed that the inclusion of nanocarbons into the soil samples significantly improved unconfined compressive strength, Young's modulus and indirect tensile strength. It was observed that carbon nanofibers showed better performance as compared to carbon nanotubes. The nanosized diameter and high aspect ratio of nanocarbons make it possible to distribute the reinforcing materials on a much smaller scale and bridge the inter-particles voids. As a result, a better 'soil-reinforcing material' interaction is achieved and desired properties of the soil are improved at nanolevel.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.445-458
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• 2019

This study mainly aims to assess the performance of soil-structure systems designed by direct displacement-based method coupled with strong column-weak beam design concept through various system identification techniques under strong ground motions. To this end, various system identification methods are employed to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of a structure (i.e., modal frequency, system damping, mode shapes, and plastic hinge formation pattern) under a strong seismic excitation considering soil-structure interaction for different site conditions as specified by ASCE 7-10. The scope of the study narrowed down to the code-complying low- to high-rise steel moment resisting frames with various heights (4, 8, 12, 16-story). The comparison of the result of soil-structure systems with fix-based support condition indicates that the modal frequencies of these systems are highly influenced by the structure heights, specifically for the softer soils. This trend is more significant for higher modes of the system which can considerably dominate the response of structures in which the higher modes have more contribution in dynamic response. Amongst all studied modes of the vibration, the damping ratio estimated for the first mode is relatively the closet to the initial assumed damping ratios. Moreover, it was found that fewer plastic hinges are developed in the structure of soil-structure systems with a softer soil which contradicts the general expectation of higher damageability of such structural systems.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2021

This work presents a safety assessment of an underground tunnel subjected to a ballistic missile attack employing the numerical approach. For the impact simulation, a box shaped reinforced concrete (RC) structure with a cross section dimension of 8.0×10.0 m under a soil layer that was attacked by a SCUD missile was modeled using finite element (FE) software LS-DYNA. SCUD missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by Soviet Union during the Cold War, which is adopted for a short-range ballistic missile. The developed FE simulation for the penetration depth of the missile impacting into the soil structure was verified from the well-known formula of the penetration prediction. The soil-structure interaction, the soil type, and the impact missile velocity effects on the penetration depth of the missile into the different soil types were investigated. The safety assessment of the underground tunnel was performed with regard to the different depths of the underground tunnel. For each missile velocity and soil type, a specific depth called the unsafe depth was obtained from the analysis results. The structure beneath the soil beyond this depth remains safe. The unsafe depth was found to be increased with the increasing missile velocity.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.223-234
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• 2016

The main purpose of current study is to find the soil effects on natural period of elevated tank. The coupled analytical method is used to assess in this study. The current study presented models which are capable to consider the soil dynamic stiffness changes and fluid- structure interaction effects on natural period of elevated tanks. The basic of mentioned models is extracted from elastic beam and lumped mass theory. The finite element is used to verify the results. It is observed that, external excitation can change the natural period of elevated tanks. Considering the increase of excitation frequency, the natural period will be decreased. The concluded values of natural period in case of soft and very soft soil are more affected from excitation frequency values. The high range of excitation frequency may reduce the natural period values. In addition it is observed that the excitation frequency has no significant effect on convective period compare with impulsive period.