A comparative study of the static and dynamic response of a slope is carried out, using the large deformation theory of the updated Lagrangian formulation and the conventional infinitesimal theory. In the static analysis, a strength reduction method proposed by one of the authors is used to evaluate the safety factor of the slope. It is found that by the large deformation theory, the safety factor is larger than that calculated by the infinitesimal theory, and this difference becomes large along with the reduction of elastic modulus. In the dynamic analysis, it is observed that the large deformation theory gives smaller sliding displacement and larger response acceleration than the infinitesimal approach. It is concluded that in many cases the large deformation approach gives more adequate solutions.

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Based on the concept "intermediate soil wedge" which is dependent on mobilized frictional resistance, a new theory has been developed for evaluating the seismic earth pressures against retaining walls under any condition between the active and passive states. For this theory, the seismic earth pressure is separated into four components according to their formation. New equations are proposed to determine the distribution, resultant and point of application for each component. An equivalent seismic coefficient is introduced to take into account non-uniform seismic acceleration distribution with depth. The equations place special emphasis on dependence of the seismic earth pressure on mode and level of wall movement. The equations can be reduced to the Mononobe-Okabe equation for the limiting conditions. Their applicability was confirmed by comparing the predictions with a number of previous model test results.

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During earthquakes, saturated loose sandy soils often liquefy, causing serious damage to buildings and underground structures. Various construction methods have been employed to stabilize these soils against liquefaction. The popular methods are those which increase their density. Vibration and impact methods are commonly employed, but these often pose a problem of noise and vibration in urban areas. Results of previous experiments have shown that Quick Lime Consolidated Briquettes (QCB), a soil stabilizer made of quicklime and cement placed to form cylinders, significantly increases resistance to liquefaction by utilizing the effects of water absorption, swelling, and hardening. In the present study, shaking table tests were performed to evaluate the earthquake resistance of soil treated with QCB. Results of these test showed that the response acceleration and excess pore water pressure in QCB-treated soils were scarcely affected by the excitation of 200 Gals. The soil settlement due to shaking was about one tenth of that for the untreated soil, proving the effectiveness of QCB during earthquakes.

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A finite element model capable of taking into account nonlinear hysteretic soil behavior is presented to study earthquake induced retaining wall movement. The model also accounts for increase in lateral stresses and settlement associated with grain slip caused by cyclic loads. The predictive capability of the proposed method is verified by comparing responses given by the model with those computed by another existing finite element model and also with responses recorded at the Cambridge centrifuge facility. The study reveals that the wall displacement can be substantially affected, among other factors, by the increase in lateral stresses due to grain slip and wall-soil friction. Care should be taken when selecting a constant value of wall-soil friction angle for the entire duration of excitation since structural changes can occur in the soil adjacent to the wall.

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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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It has been shown after mathematical and mechanical investigation that Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM) can be considered as a method to obtain the necessary condition of Slip Line Method (SLM), and that the solution can be obtained under the condition that F_s=1 and ∂F_s/∂θ=O, where F_s is the safety factor and θ is the inclination of the plane on which the safety factor is defined. Next, the generalized LEM (GLEM) is proposed, dealing with the following points : (1) Triangular or quadrangular blocks can be treated; (2) Safety factors are defined also on interblock planes; and () All types of plastic problems, slope stability, bearing capacity, and earth pressure are identically formulated. Two situations regarding treatment of the moment equilibrium condition are discussed. GLEM is applied to well-known problems. The results agree well with those obtained by theoretical methods. GLEM can be used to obtain the distribution of earth pressure or bearing capacity. GLEM, Iike ordinary LEM, is very effective for the practical problems, but GLEM is more theoretical and it can result in more accurate solutions.

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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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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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Leakage of water due to internal erosion through a dam body or foundation is a major problem with fill-type dams. Recent case histories and research suggest that most cases of internal erosion are possibly triggered by hydraulic fracturing. However, the quantitative mechanism of hydraulic fracturing still remains to be solved. Therefore in-situ hydraulic fracture tests were carried out with a cheap, concise apparatus using boreholes dug in the soft clayey volcanic soil foundation of a low earth dam (Oyachi Dam) in Niigata Prefecture. Water was injected into the foundation through a perforated pipe by two methods : one was under a controlled injection pressure and the other was a controlled injection flow rate. In the former method, the relationship between flow rate and injection pressure was observed and it was found that a yield pressure or fracture pressure existed in all the tests. By repeating the injection test it was confirmed that once a crack is developed, it is very easily reopened by a water pressure a little higher than the earth pressure exerted on the crack. In the latter method, the relationship between injection pressure and time was observed and it was found that fracture pressure varied with flow rate. The boreholes were excavated to observe the development of fracture cracks and it was also found that the cracks had developed perpendicular to the borehole periphery, which means that fracture cracks were induced by tensile stress and denies the explanation that fractures are caused by shear failure.

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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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The objective of this article is to propose and evaluate a sliding-block model to deal with very large displacements of slopes when a horizontal earthquake is applied. The slip surface consists of two inclinations on which full shear resistance is mobilized. Internal shearing exists along a sub-plane that intersects the angle between the two sub-planes that form the external slip surface. The ratio of the distance moved along the two external sub-planes depends on the inclination of the internal sub-plane. If there is a water table line, undrained conditions are assumed during motion and total stress analysis is performed. The governing equations of motion are formulated, analytical solutions are obtained for some cases, and back-analysis of four well-documented slides is performed.

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This paper is concerned with an extension of a rotational limit equilibrium method for determining the permanent displacements of slopes under seismic excitation. In the proposed procedure, the sliding mass is treated as a rigid rotating body defined by a log spiral trace. Permanent displacements are obtained by double-integration of the equation of motion in a manner similar to Newmark's translational sliding block method. The seismic slope stability analysis is based on the rotational (variational) limit equilibrium approach. This stability analysis was verified with dynamic experimental results obtained from centrifuge model testing. A series of parametric studies was conducted on"unstable"slopes, investigating the effects of soil properties and characteristics of excitation on the magnitude of permanent displacements. The higher the frictional angle, the smaller the permanent displacement of the slope is. Low excitation frequency yields larger slope displacement if the excitation is extended for the same time period of time. The effect of frequency becomes less distinct when a larger value of yield seismic coefficient is used. The proposed procedures produce a rational criterion to evaluate the seismic performance of simple slopes. This criterion is based on permanent displacement limit rather than factor of safety alone.

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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 behavior of the soft clay grounds subjected to repeated loading is different from that subjected to sustained loading. The difference in settlement between these two loading patterns should be due to secondary compression over a long period of time. Consequently, soft clay grounds subjected to repeated loading tend to be more compressible than those subjected to sustained loading. Therefore, it is necessary for engineers to predict post-construction settlements under repeated loading. In this respect, the preloading is considered to be promising as a countermeasure to reduce the settlement of clay under repeated loading as well as under sustained loading. The effect of preloading on post-construction consolidation settlement of soft clay subjected to repeated loading after removal of a part of preload is investigated in the present paper. It has become clear that the settlement of a clay sample after preconsolidation is mainly affected by the amount of preload, the degree of consolidation due to the preload, the amount of permanent load and the amount of repeated load after removal of preload. The calculated settlement versus time relations using a method to estimate the amount of consolidation settlement of soft clay grounds subjected to repeated loading after removal of preloading were compared with the observed degree of consolidation as parameters of the intensities of preload and repeated load.

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The ability of Climacodon septentrionalis to immobilize and kill a mycophagous nematode (Aphelenchoides sp.) in vitro is described for the first time. Two isolates produced droplets (20–45 μm in diameter) that formed at the apices of tall, stalked, and branching secretory cells (700–1,500 μm tall). On 2% modified malt extract agar, nematodes became enveloped in the droplets, which restricted their ability to move and resulted in complete immobilization and death within several hours of contact. The rate of decomposition of the nematodes varied considerably, with most individuals persisting for weeks whereas others were degraded within several days and appeared to be colonized by dense hyphal growth. This study provides the first documentation of a non-agaricoid fungus producing secretory cells that are able to immobilize nematodes.

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