This paper outlines a mathematical description of the stress dilatancy behaviour of granular materials which accounts for stress level and void ratio dependencies. The consideration of these aspects has important implications in the modelling of granular material behaviour. In fact, granular material mechanical response is largely dominated by the evolution of dilatancy, fabric and void ratio histories. The starting point in this study is the well established Rowe's theory which is revisited and ultimately modified by introducing a factor linked to governing state parameters in order to describe the complete behaviour of granular materials during deformation. Numerical simulations of triaxial tests on granular materials at different void ratios and stress levels are herein presented to illustrate the model.

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A new analytical method is proposed for determining the inextensible grid reinforcement pullout resistance and pullout force/pullout displacement curve by using basic backfill soil and grid reinforcement properties. The pullout skin friction resistance/pullout displacement relationship is simulated by linear elastic-perfectly plastic model. A hyperbolic model has been proposed to represent the pullout bearing resistance/pullout displacement relationship in which the maximum bearing resistance of a single bearing member is determined using a new bearing capacity equation proposed in this paper. The influences of the grid bearing member spacing ratio, S/, the bearing member deflection rigidity, and the pullout softening behavior on the mobilization of pullout bearing resistance are explicitly included in the proposed model. Good agreement has been obtained between calculated values and laboratory test results.

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The advantages and disadvantages of using a back analysis of slope failures to evaluate soil shear strength are discussed. A methodology is presented herein that allows the implied level of reliability associated with soil shear strength parameters back calculated from slope failures to be estimated. A reliability approach is also used to estimate the probability of failure for a given limit equilibrium slope stability method, design factor of safety, and combination of back calculated Mohr-Coulomb shear strength parameters, c' and φ'. The methodology is illustrated using 39 landslides in the Orinda Formation in the San Francisco Bay area. The impact of additional case histories in the same geologic setting, i.., a larger data set, on the required design factor of safety for a given probability of failure is also investigated.

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This paper reports deformation and strength characteristics for a geogrid-reinforced granular soil on a large-scale plane strain compression apparatus. The influence of intensity and types of geogrid reinforcement is specifically discussed. It was found that as more reinforcement layers are used, the strength of the reinforced soil increased. In cases where reinforcement is most intensely used, the reinforcement layers in the samples were eventually subject to breakage due to plane strain compression and the reinforced soil failed. In cases where reinforcement is less intensely used, the reinforced soil reached failure without any sign of reinforcement breakage. It was also found that types of reinforcement have a significant influence on the lateral deformation of the reinforced soil, where stiffer reinforcement provides more constraints on lateral deformation of the reinforced soil. It can be superceded, however, by the influence of reinforcement intensity. The small stain measurement by means of LDT observed that the stiffness of non-reinforced soil begins to decrease more rapidly at a strain level of 0.05∼0.15%, compared to the reinforced soil. The experimental results also indicate that the relationship between the apparent angle of internal friction and the geometry of the structure of the reinforced granular soil seems to exist for the geogrid reinforcement used in the tests reported in this paper.

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The present paper aims at developing a simplified model for a stress-strain relationship at small strains up to an initial yielding of homogeneous saturated frozen sand. The modelling of elastic moduli for an ice-sand mixture as a composite geomaterial is first introduced based on previous studies, where a saturated frozen sand is treated as the icesand mixture. The applicability of modelling the elastic moduli under constant temperature is then discussed from the theoretical and experimental points of view. In addition, the hyperbolic stress-strain modelling of saturated frozen sand at small strain is presented. The effect of the volume fraction of sand, stiffness of sand inclusion and temperature changes on the elastic moduli and the stress-strain behaviour up to about 1-2% axial strain, which is defined as an upper yield stress, are investigated through the model, whose applicability is verified in comparison with the experimental data.

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A method for analyzing the uncertainties involving the use of empirical relationships in design is developed. It is applied to evaluate the reliability of the relationship s_u(mobilized)=(measured), whereby the pertinent uncertainties are analyzed using extensive laboratory and field observed data. On the average, the relationship s_u(mobilized)= (measured) is unbiased and the error implicit in the relationship is about 15%. When cone values are used to infer s'_p, additional uncertainties on the mobilized undrained strength will incur resulting mainly from the calibration uncertainty between σ'_p and the cone values. Alternatively, vane tests may be performed to infer the mobilized strength using Bjerrum correction factor. Results show that uncertainty level associated with using the vane tests is smaller than that using the cone values, provided that similar scatter is observed between measured vane and cone values at a given site. However, prediction of the mobilized strength is even more accurate if direct measurements can be made on the preconsolidation pressure. The proposed probabilistic method also assesses the benefit of additional tests besides comparing the accuracy of using various soil parameters for predicting mobilized undrained strength. Such information is essential for planning cost-effective site characterization program.

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Some existing analytical methods which have been used in geotechnical engineering are modified to handle the shear strength reduction with time due to softening in fissured, over-consolidated clays and mudstones. These are limit equilibrium analysis of slope stability, calculation of earth pressure and calculation of stress and displacement around a tunnel. The softening effect is incorporated in these analyses using the failure criterion and the time-dependent strength parameters proposed previously by the authors. Examples are presented which emphasize the importance of appreciating the softening effect in analyses and further illustrate that the effect of shear strength reduction with time due to softening could easily be captured with existing analytical methods.

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A simple method based on theoretical and experimental considerations is presented to predict the pile end bearing capacity and load-settlement curve in sands in relation to soil compressibility. The key to the method is in the assumption of a failure mode with a spherical cavity expansion pressure given as a function of the soil compressibility, shear stiffness and friction angle. The practical prediction of pile end-bearing capacity in sandy ground is discussed in terms of a compressibility factor, friction angle and shear stiffness. Further, the pile tip settlement behaviour is also discussed based on an empirical model incorporating the pile end bearing capacity from a cavity expansion analysis with a Kondner type hyperbolic function. The applicability of the proposed method is verified by comparing the predicted results with the results from a series of model pile load tests and a database for in-situ pile load tests in sands.

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An empirical equation in use for estimating the pseudo-elastic shear modulus, G_f, of subsoil, associated with shear strains less than 0.001% is proposed in this paper. In a series of in-situ seismic cone tests performed nationwide, the profiles of both G_f and the in-situ void ratio, , with depth were successfully characterised at five sites, each comprising a soft clay layer deposited in the Holocene era. The database which comprised the original data from the field and laboratory tests, coupled with similar information on well-documented Holocene clay deposits in Europe, was statistically analyzed in attempts to determine a generalised relationship with which G_f of soft clay may be reasonably estimated only from routinely available borehole data; that is and the current geostatic effective overburden pressure, σ'_v. An empirical relationship, G_f=, 000 -√(σ'_v) (kPa), was derived from the statistical analysis applied to data from seven different clays worldwide, for which extended over a range between 1 and , and the overconsolidation ratio ranged roughly between 1 and 2. The applicability of the proposed relationship was evaluated for two case records, each in which the clay exhibited unusual behavior; i.., the undrained shear strength remained more or less constant with depth due to the existence of artesian pressure at one site, and, at the other, G_f decreased, whereas increased, with depth. It was demonstrated that even in these clay deposits exhibiting exceptional profiles, the proposed relationship was capable of predicting G_f with a reasonable accuracy by determining the profiles of and σ'_v with depth. In addition, the prediction when compared to G_max from carefully performed laboratory cyclic tests, yielded a better estimate of G_f from the in-situ seismic survey. Despite the fact that the empirical relationship was initially designated to estimate G_f of soft clays, it may be equally applicable to sandy deposits. This was verified by comparing it to similar, and well-established, relationships developed for sands. A case record as such is also described for a loose sand deposit at Higashi-Ohgishima in Tokyo Bay which was placed in 1960's by land reclamation.

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By employing an undrained cyclic loading ring-shear apparatus, a series of tests to reproduce the dynamic behavior of the Nikawa landslide induced by the January 17, 1995 Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake, is conducted. The test sample is Osaka-group coarse sandy soil taken from the landslide. The initial stress condition acting on a soil element in the sliding surface is applied to the sample. Based on the seismic records monitored at the JR Takarazuka Station, the input seismic wave is synthesized to reproduce the seismic stress acting on the sliding surface. The test results show that the soil failed due to the dynamic loading of the earthquake. The most important results are the excess pore water pressure generation and the acceleration of shear displacement continuing after the main shock. Combined with the grain crushing at the shear zone and the volume reduction in the drained constant-speed ring-shear test, the mechanism of this landslide is interpreted as, shear displacement causing grain crushing in the shear zone and volume reduction, and then resulting in a localized liquefaction phenomenon, "sliding-surface liquefaction". This geotechnical simulation test provides a reasonable interpretation of this highly mobile landslide.

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The main objective of this paper is to compare safety factors obtained from Morgenstern-Price, Janbu and Spencer methods with the factors calculated from the modified variational approach (Leshchinsky and Huang, 1992a). Such comparison is essential since there is no mathematical proof that the variational analysis indeed yields a minimum and thus, physically produce significant results. The safety factors compared well, indicating the variational analysis is on a par with acceptable existing rigorous methods. Availability of a user-friendly computer code may make the variational analysis useful to practicing engineers. However, its greatest potential at the moment is in 3- applications; i.., unlike other methods, its extension to 3- is straightforward.

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The design implication of stress-confinement effect of nonwoven geotextile is addressed. The unconfined and confined strengths of a selected needle-punched nonwoven geotextile are used to conduct a comparative design of a granular soil retaining wall based on a limit equilibrium approach. A higher wall may be allowed when considering the confined strength as compared to the unconfined strength. For a selected wall height, confined strength allows for fewer geotextile layers when compared to that designed using unconfined strength. It is recommended that stress-confinement test procedure should be standardized so that confinement effect of some nonwoven geotextiles may be incorporated into an individual wall design procedure.

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A procedure for limit equilibrium slope analysis based on a realistic consideration of the mobilized interslice shear forces is presented in this paper. This new approach ensures that solutions are kinematically admissible and the possibility of convergence problems, often associated with numerical solutions, is minimized. The proposed approach recognizes the importance of slip surface geometry in estimating interslice shear forces whether vertical or non-vertical slices are used in a limit equilibrium analysis. Illustrative examples are presented and the results shown to be reasonable. The calculated factors of safety based on the new method compare very well with values based on recognized methods of analysis. Yet the method is more direct and enables a proper visualization of the transfer of mobilized normal and shear forces through a sloping soil mass above a potential slip surface. The method also gives consistent results with non-vertical slices even if the shape of non-vertical slices is varied.

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Two types of consolidation tests using a large consolidometer equipped with Linear Vertical Displacement Trans-ducers (LVDT), pore pressure transducers and total earth pressure cells were carried out. With these instruments, deformation behavior as well as pore pressure responses were monitored throughout the tests. The first type used two-step high pressure loading at 100 and 190 kPa. The second type used incremental step loading starting from an applied pressure of 12 kPa. In the high pressure loading test with 100 and 190 kPa, there was no pore pressure dissipation noted from half a day to more than 10 days, depending on the locations of the pore pressure transducers. However vertical displacement was measured during this period with no pore pressure dissipation. In the low pressure step loading test, the slurry continued to compress without any noticeable dissipation of excess pore pressure. The gain in effective stress was much lower than the applied pressure although large settlement had occurred. The lower bound values of undrained shear strengths measured by laboratory vane and fall cone were in direct proportion to the gain in effective stress. In addition, particle migration was evident from the laboratory measurements.

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The behavior of the self-weight consolidation of suspension has been studied by the Oxford group (Been and Sills, 1981). However the deformation behavior of slurry-like soil upon additional load is not well understood. Due to the high demand for land in coastal areas and surrounding city areas, reclamation or remediation of land on ultra soft soil like waste ponds and mine tailing ponds has become necessary. Materials in such waste ponds and mine tailing ponds are extremely soft, and high water content which is usually above the liquid limit. In addition to this, these materials are in an underconsolidated condition and are still undergoing self-weight consolidation. A laboratory study with a large diameter consolidation cell equipped with pore water pressure transducers was carried out to find out the deformation behavior of slurry-like soil under a one dimensional vertical load. It was noted that before commencing Terzaghi's consolidation process, the slurry was deformed solely due to the expelling of water from the slurry. This deformation was as high as 19% strain and no pore water pressure dissipation was detected during this period. The behavior in the laboratory results was confirmed by a case study carried out with a trail embankment on slurry-like soil contained in the containment bund.

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In this paper, consideration is given as to how to characterize depth-variation for the small-strain shear modulus of natural clay sedimentation, in a state of normal consolidation. A case study was carried out for a relatively uniform clay layer deposited in the Holocene era. Initially, the effects of both strain and in-situ stress levels on secant shear modulus were carefully examined in cyclic torsion shear tests using undisturbed samples, which were recovered at different depths in a test borehole. The range of shear strain examined was between 0.001% and 1%. Similar examination was made for a silty clay using reconstituted samples that were isotropically consolidated at different stress levels. On the basis of the results of these laboratory tests, together with the shear modulus from an in-situ seismic survey, the small-strain shear modulus was formulated in terms of the stress and strain levels, and linked also to undrained shear strength. Interactions of the small strain stiffness between in-situ and laboratory are discussed in depth with an attention paid to the existing aging effect in the original subsurface condition.

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