Research projects in earthquake engineering yield a very large amount of complex data from experiments and computer simulations. Understanding and exchanging these complicated and voluminous data sets prompted the development of metadata models that document the processes of data generation, and facilitate the collaboration and exchange of information between researchers. The present metadata model was designed to document and exchange a large number of large data files in earthquake engineering, but is applicable to other fields of engineering and science. The model was conceived based on a series of former data models, which were unduly complicated and limited to few types of experiments. Simpler than its predecessors, the present metadata model applies to all kinds of earthquake engineering experiments. It was developed in the object-oriented framework using Protégé. Its applications are illustrated with examples from centrifuge experiments.

The hydro-mechanical behaviour of compacted expansive Romainville clay was investigated. The soil was air-dried, crushed, and passed through a 2 mm sieve before being statically compacted to a dry density of 1.35 Mg/m³. The mechanical behaviour was investigated by tests in oedometer with controlled suction using the vapor equilibrium technique (suction s = 0, 9, 39, and 110 MPa). The vertical stress was applied in the range of 0–800 kPa. The experimental results are shown as follows: 1) wetting-induced swelling was higher at lower vertical stresses; 2) the vertical stress under which no swelling occurred during water flooding was estimated at 60 kPa, which can be considered as the swelling pressure of the soil tested; 3) the soil compressibility (changes of volume upon stress increases) was strongly influenced by the soil suction: the lower the suction, the higher the compressibility. The hydraulic behaviour was investigated using a large-scale infiltration chamber (800 mm × 1000 mm in section and 1000 mm high). The large size of the soil column allowed burying the volumetric water content sensors (ThetaProbe) without significantly affecting the water transfer and the soil swelling during infiltration. The soil suction was monitored along the soil height (every 100 mm) using various relative humidity sensors and psychrometers. In the infiltration test, water was kept on the soil surface and changes in suction and volumetric water content were monitored for 338 d. The wetting front has reached the bottom of the soil column at the end of the test. The data from the simultaneous monitoring of suction and water content were used to determine the water retention curve and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using the instantaneous profile method. It has been observed that the soil water retention curve depends on the soil depth; that is to be related to the soil depth-dependent swelling. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was found to be quite low, comprised between 3 × 10^−11 m/s (at saturated state) and 10^−14 m/s (at about 100 MPa suction).

Five complete caverns were discovered in Longyou in 1992. They were manually caved in argillaceous siltstone at shallow depths more than 2000 years ago. When they were un-watered, their integrity was maintained completely, and their interior rock surfaces were free of old cracks. Since then, however, the rock’s interior faces have initiated and propagated more and more cracks. This paper attempts to address the question of why the rock interior faces were free of old cracks once they were unearthed. To address this question, this paper proposes a hypothesis that the argillaceous siltstone has the ability of self-healing its cracks over a short period of time under weak acid water environment. Data and evidence are presented herewith to prove the hypothesis. They include observations and measurements in the field and test results in the laboratory. Specifically, a three-point bending test is used to form a tensile crack in a rectangular rock specimen and a dead load test for the specimen immersed in initially weak acid water is used for self-healing its crack. The results have shown that the argillaceous siltstone is in a state of weak alkalinity and the rain water at the site is in a state of weak acidity. Therefore, when it is immersed in weak acid water for some time, the argillaceous siltstone would be able to make chemical reactions to generate new minerals such as calcite. The new minerals would be able to infill the cracks and then heal the crack within a few years. Once the crack is self-healed, the rock can regain its strength and integrity. Consequently, the rock interior surfaces could be free of old cracks when the water was pumped out of the caverns.

The simplified procedure using shear wave velocity measurements is increasingly used to evaluate the seismic liquefaction potential of soils. This procedure is based on finding the boundary separating the liquefaction and non-liquefaction cases through the analysis of liquefaction case histories, following the general format of the Seed-Idriss simplified procedure based on standard penetration test (SPT) data. It is noted that many assumptions have been made in the simplified procedure. This paper develops a simple method for evaluating the liquefaction potential of soils from shear wave velocity by using the optimum seeking method to directly analyze the liquefaction history data and quantify the influence of major factors affecting the liquefactions potential of soils. The factors considered are the earthquake magnitude, the vertical effective overburden stress, the shear wave velocity, the peak acceleration at the ground surface of the site, and the fines content of the soil. The most important factor has been identified as the shear wave velocity. The developed method uses the measured data directly and in a very simple way. Neither stress-correction of shear wave velocity nor calculation of cyclic shear stress as in the simplified procedure is required. Comparisons indicate that the developed simple method has a higher success rate for evaluating liquefaction potential of soils than the simplified procedure. A case study is presented to illustrate the application of the developed simple method and further confirms its accuracy.

In this paper, three-dimensional (3D) finite element analyses of a real-scale group-pile foundation subjected to horizontal cyclic loading are conducted using a program named DBLEAVES. In the simulations, nonlinear behaviors of ground and piles are described by subloading t_ij model and the axial-force dependent model (AFD model) which considered the axial-force dependency in the nonlinear moment-curvature relations. In order to consider the influence of an effective stress path on the prediction of the group-pile foundation, the analyses are conducted within the framework of the soil-water coupling method with finite-difference and finite-element regime. The material parameters of soils are determined based on conventional triaxial drained compression tests on undisturbed and remolded specimens. The applicability of the proposed numerical method is encouraging, and therefore, it is quite confident to say that the method can be used to predict the mechanical behaviors of group-pile foundation to a satisfactory accuracy, particularly with the effective stress analysis.

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the strain localization of an idealized sand in biaxial compression tests using the distinct element method (DEM). In addition to the dilatancy and material frictional angle, the principal stress field, and distributions of void ratio, particle velocity, and the averaged pure rotation rate (APR) in the DEM specimen are examined to illustrate the link between microscopic and macroscopic variables in the case of strain localization. The study shows that strain localization of the granular material in the tests proceeds with localizations of void ratio, strain and APR, and distortions of stress field and force chains. In addition, both thickness and inclination of the shear band change with the increasing of axial strain, with the former valued around 10–14 times of mean grain diameter and the later overall described by the Mohr-Coulomb theory.

Rock blasting is a dynamic process accompanied with the propagations of shock waves and the dispersion of the explosion gas. This paper adopts the discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) method to simulate the rock blasting process. A dynamic parameter adjustment and the non-reflecting boundary condition are implemented in the DDA method. The sub-block DDA method to simulate fracture problems is used. The blasting process in jointed rock mass is simulated by application of the explosion gas pressure on the expanding borehole walls and induced connected fracture surfaces around the boreholes. The blast craters with different overburdens are derived. The whole process including the explosion gas dispersion, borehole expansion, rock mass failure and cast, and the formation of the final blasting piles in rock blasting are well reproduced numerically. Parametric study for different overburdens is carried out, and the results are analyzed and discussed.

This paper summarizes the development of a three-dimensional numerical model for analyzing single geocell-reinforced soil. In this model, the infill soil was modeled using the Duncan-Chang model, which can simulate non-linearity and stress-dependency of soil. Geocell was modeled using linearly elastic plate elements, which can carry both bending and membrane stresses. A linear interface stress-strain relationship with a Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion was adopted to model the interface friction between the geocell wall and the soil. By modeling the geocell and the soil separately, the interaction between the soil and the geocell can be accurately simulated. To verify this model, a plate load test was conducted in the laboratory, in which a 12-cm-thick sand layer reinforced by a single geocell was subjected to a vertical load from a circular steel plate. The load-displacement curves and the horizontal tensile strain of the geocell were recorded during the test. A numerical model was created according to the setup of the load test. The numerical results compared reasonably well with the test data.

A method of predicting the consolidation settlement-time curve of floating soil-cement column on improved soft clayey subsoil has been proposed. The degree of the consolidation (U(t)) of the system is calculated by the double soil-layer consolidation theory, and the methods for evaluating the equivalent hydraulic conductivity (k) and the coefficient of volume compressibility (m_v) of the part of the column improved layer have been proposed. The effectiveness of the method was verified by comparing predictions with the results of finite element analysis (FEA) using a unit cell model. The consolidation settlement (s(t)) can be calculated by the method of treating a part of the column improved layer as an unimproved layer and using the corresponding average U(t) value. By comparing the predicted results with the measurements of laboratory model tests and three case histories in Fukuoka, Japan, the effectiveness of the proposed methods has been verified. It is suggested that the method can be used for designing the soft clayey subsoil improvement using floating soil-cement columns.

Pile-type selection is a very important stage of foundation design, and there are many field factors influencing the decision of pile-type selection. Since there is a limitation of traditional “major factors method” to satisfy the requirement of modern foundation construction, this study presents an efficient approach, in which analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is employed. AHP is a multiple criteria decision-making tool that has been applied in many fields related to the decision-making, e.g., in the field of economics, marketing, sociology, etc. However, it is rarely reported that AHP is applied in the field of civil engineering for decision making. In this study, AHP combined with fuzzy synthetic evaluation method is employed to select the type of pile used as the foundation of a residential building in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. The results show that fuzzy AHP approach is an easy and efficient way for pile-type selection.

Reasonable seismic response analysis of a high rockfill dam is of great engineering significance in guiding its design and ensuring its seismic safety during operation, especially of a concrete-faced rockfill dam (CFRD) on overburden layers. The three-dimensional seismic behavior of the Miaojiaba CFRD is simulated and analyzed by the finite element method (FEM). The results indicate that: 1) the amplification coefficient along the dam axis gradually increases with the altitude, and reaches maximum at the dam crest; 2) the vertical residual deformation mainly exhibits downwards and reaches maximum near the dam crest; 3) the earthquake significantly aggravates the deformation of peripheral joints; 4) the impounding condition and overburden characteristics have great effects on the dam’s seismic response.

Discrete element method (DEM) was developed to simulate the corn-shaped particles flow in the hopper. The corn-shaped particle was described by four overlapping spheres. Contact force and gravity force were considered when establishing the model. In addition, flowing characteristic of particles in the hopper was studied. The effect of friction coefficient on the wall pressure, voidage and velocity distribution was analyzed. The results show that the discharge rate decreases with the friction coefficient increasing; and the “over-pressure” phenomenon occurs in the discharging process for two different friction coefficients. The voidage also increases as the friction coefficient increasing. And the velocity distribution is more uniformity and is closer to the mass flow with the friction coefficient deceasing.