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In landslide analysis, reliable prediction of landslide's influence zone is significantly difficult due to the inherent heterogeneity of soils and their spatially varying geological properties. In this paper, a probabilistic framework is proposed to evaluate the landslide hazard zoning through the prediction of their influence zone considering the effects of heterogeneous soil properties. The material point method is used to simulate the large deformations during landslide failure. The spatial variation in the shear strength parameters of soils at undrained conditions is modeled by random fields, which are discretized by the Cholesky matrix decomposition method to incorporate the effects of the soil spatial heterogeneity on the postfailure deformations. Furthermore, a practical landslide hazard zoning is conducted to quantitively evaluate the level of disaster for facilities or structures located in the vicinity of the slope by using the exceedance probability of influence distance and runout distance. Five categories based on different thresholds of exceedance probability are used to visualize the area potentially affected by the landslide. To demonstrate the capability of the stochastic assessment framework, a benchmark example of the heterogeneous clayey slope is simulated, and the associated hazard zone is predicted and discussed; it presents a practical procedure for improving the landslide influence zone prediction and provides new insights for hazard zoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of the soil moisture evaporation rate on the soil water retention curve (SWRC) of clays obtained using the high-capacity tensiometer (HCT) technique and following the continuous drying (dynamic) method. SWRC measurements, with and without soil moisture evaporation rate control, were carried out on reconstituted London clay specimens using 12 performance-improved HCTs recently developed at the University of Warwick. Furthermore, the HCTs' performance in terms of the maximum attainable suction (smax) and maximum measurement duration (tmax) was evaluated. Moreover, the suitability of a curve-fitting-based model, available in the literature, for attaining the entire retention curve (beyond the capacity of HCTs) was evaluated. The SWRCs for the tests with a controlled evaporation rate were found to generally exhibit higher suction at a given water content, hence inducing air-entry values that were on average 16% higher than those obtained from tests without evaporation rate control. It was also found that for suction in excess of 2 MPa, the curve-fitting-based model predictions of data obtained from tests with a controlled evaporation rate exhibited significantly lower suction at a given water content than those without evaporation rate control, suggesting that such curve fitting correlations should be used with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of temperature variations on the creep and stress relaxation behavior of clay samples from London Bank Station. The independent and coupled effects of strain rate and temperature on one-dimensional (1D) stress–strain and stress relaxation responses were investigated based on a series of temperature-controlled constant rate of strain (CRS) compression–relaxation tests carried out at fast, intermediate, and slow displacement rates and over 20°C–55°C. The temperature effect on the creep index (Cα) was investigated based on a series of temperature-controlled multistage loading (MSL) oedometer tests. The results of the CRS compression–relaxation tests showed that with the increase in temperature, the coefficient of stress relaxation (Rα) decreases for samples that were loaded at fast and intermediate prerelaxation displacement rates (υ˙); however, it increases for samples loaded at the slow prerelaxation displacement rate. A decrease in υ˙ by a factor of 10 (i.e., from 0.010 to 0.001 mm/min) causes the Rα values to reduce by 55%–11% with the temperature increase. The increase in temperature caused an increase in Cα that were obtained from the MSL tests. The maximum value of Cα increased by 18% from 35°C to 45°C and by 37% from 45°C to 55°C. The temperature effects on other conventional parameters that included the preconsolidation pressure, and the compression and swelling indexes (Cc and Cs) were comparable with the findings reported in the literature. Comparing Cα that were obtained from the MSL tests and Rα that were obtained from the CRS tests supports the validity of Rα=Cα/Cc correlation for thermally influenced saturated reconstituted clays and that the time-dependent soil parameters could be obtained from relatively fast CRS compression–relaxation tests as an alternative to conventional time-consuming oedometer tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new method of reusing uncalcined coal gangue (UCG) as a mineral admixture in magnesium ammonium phosphate cement (MAPC) blended with fly ash (FA). The effects of UCG on setting time, workability, hydration heat release, mechanical properties, hydration products, and microstructure of MAPC composites were systematically investigated. The results indicate that the addition of UCG decreased the maximum hydration temperature and extended the setting time of MAPC composites. The compressive strength of MAPC was improved by introducing an optimal amount of UCG. The XRD results showed no new crystal phase in UCG-0 (with 20% FA and 0% UCG) and some secondary hydration products, such as berlinite and lizardite, were observed in MAPC with UCG. The addition of UCG was found to inhibit the generation of dittmarite and promote the development of struvite. Results showed that differences in the crystal morphology of struvite and dittmarite influence the compressive strength of MAPC composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a numerical investigation of the behavior of a natural soft clay deposit under the installation of a case study pile. The case study problem included installation of an instrumented close-ended displacement pile in a soft marine clay deposit, known as Bothkennar clay, in Scotland. The site has been used for a number of years as a geotechnical test bed site, and the clay has been comprehensively characterized with both in situ tests and laboratory experiments. The soft soil behavior, both after pile installation and subsequent consolidation, was reproduced by using an advanced critical-state-based constitutive model that accounts for the anisotropy of soil fabric and destructuration effects during plastic straining. Furthermore, a time-dependent extension of the model was used to study soil creep and the significance of its consideration in the overall pile-installation effects. The simulation results were compared against field measurements; furthermore, for comparison, the pile installation was also analyzed using the well-known isotropic modified Cam-clay model to highlight the importance of considering inherent features of natural soil, such as anisotropy and structure, in the simulations. A series of sensitivity analyses was also performed to evaluate the influence of initial anisotropy and bonding values on simulation results and to check the reliability of the numerical analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]