This study presents new developments for the performance-based assessment of seismically-induced slope displacements (D). Performance-based procedures enable a hazard-consistent and rational seismic design of slope systems; hence, their use in practice is appealing. However, they are not the standard in engineering practice because their use is considered too complex to be used for non-critical projects

This study proposed a hybrid method combining finite element method (FEM) and a wave function based on the Lamb series in conjunction with modified transfinite interpolation for use in examining surface accelerations on a semi-elliptical hill subjected to shear horizontal (SH) waves of various dimensionless frequencies (η) at various incident angles (θ). The case topography included a semi-elliptical

Soil thermal properties are essential for investigating the thermal performance of many kinds of underground thermal engineering structure. To investigate the influences of microstructure alteration on soil thermal properties, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat capacity were measured for both undisturbed and compacted lateritic clay specimens subjected to drying and wetting

Soil-rock mixtures (SRMs) are the main unfavorable geologic bodies in Southwest China. This paper presents a novel mesoscale computational modeling study of SRMs with concave aggregates. An efficient 3D mesoscale SRM generation method is proposed by combining the Gilbert–Johnson–Keerthi (GJK)-based collision detection technique, the border placement algorithm and the particle position selection method

The anti-dip rock slopes are common geological features in Taiwan, and the failure of this type of rock slope is prone to be triggered by seismic loads. Thus, it is important to investigate its dynamic behavior for further mitigation and prevention. The response of an anti-dip slope to an earthquake was modeled in this study by conducting a series of shaking table tests to determine the stability and

The 15 February 2010 Maierato landslide has become the symbol of the hydrogeological instability of the Calabria region (Southern Italy). It occurred after a long period of rain in an area prone to landslides. Some videos filmed during the event documented the high velocity and the flow-like character of this landslide after the slope failure. Several studies focused on the pre-failure and failure

Peat deposits are widely encountered in many parts of the world and present various challenges for the geotechnical engineering community because of their low bearing capacity and very high compressibility and creep potential. This paper describes extensive index and oedometer testing to investigate the compressibility behaviour/properties of deep, strongly to completely humified peat and highly organic

The assessment of landslide hazards and design of strategies for managing the related risk have been widely studied topics in the scientific community due to the settlements, infrastructures and tourist and cultural heritage sites that may be threatened by deformations involving unstable slopes. Engineering geological and geophysical techniques have been recently integrated in multidisciplinary approaches

The upper Minjiang catchment is frequently affected by a significant number of large to giant landslides. In one such massive older landslide, approximately 2 million m3 of sediment was reactivated, threatening the safety of a pylon on the landslide and the safety of the only route that allows high-speed travel from Wenchuan to Maoxian. To trace the deformation evolution history and analyze the current

High-level waste (HLW), one of the most poisonous materials known to science, includes spent fuel from nuclear power plants. Therefore, nuclear engineers seek to isolate HLW from the Earth's biosphere by using multibarrier systems, including engineered and natural barriers deep below the surface of the earth. Typically, disposal holes are drilled into intact rocks. Canisters and buffer materials are

Cultural heritage is the foundation upon which global and historical values are based on. It connects us to the legacy left by our ancestors and identifies who we are as part of the modern society. Globally and specifically in the northeastern Romania, the landscape where cultural heritage sites were built on is constantly evolving due to mass wasting processes. Among these processes, landslide and

A numerical model was developed to simulate heat extraction and flow behaviour of fractures under deep geological conditions by incorporating a real fracture morphology induced by supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) injection. 3-D scanning technology was used to generate the geometry of the fracture in the model in order to provide a realistic reflection of the tortuous and rough fractures induced

Based on nanoindentation experiments and numerical simulations, an approach is developed to investigate the softening of weak interlayers, which might trigger landslides. The components of weak interlayers in natural slopes are mainly rock fragments and clay, which lead to the difficulty of preparing intact samples for traditional rock mechanical experiments. Additionally, most rock slopes are microsensitive

Investigation of the effect of salt solution on the swelling properties of compacted bentonite is of great importance for evaluation of the properties of behavior of engineering barrier in deep geological repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste. In the present work, a multitude of swelling deformation tests were performed on sodic bentonite using NaCl, KCl, and CaCl2 solutions. It is

Slopes should be regarded as stochastic dynamic systems when investigating the uncertainty of ground motions. In engineering, this involves the propagation and spatial evolution of physical quantities (e.g., acceleration) that can be assessed with some probability. More specifically, stochastic stability and amplification effects are important issues under random seismic inputs. In studying the above

As increasing amounts of civil engineering work are carried out on mudstone-derived residual soils, it has become important to systematically assess their geological engineering properties. Thus, the properties of mudstone-derived residual soils were evaluated in this study via a series of comprehensive laboratory tests to assess physical, mechanical, mineralogical, and microstructural variations.

The shear mechanical behaviour of slip zone soil is of great significance for the stability analysis of landslides. Based on the shear deformation-failure characteristics of slip zone soil and the statistical damage theory, a shear constitutive model is proposed to describe the shear stress - displacement relation of slip zone soil. Parameters in the proposed model have clear physical-mechanical meaning

A series of natural landslide dams commonly form in a river valley in mountainous areas. Their failures are frequently triggered by intense rainfall, which may result in severe flash flooding or debris flow in a short period. It is important for risk mitigation to develop greater evidence-based understanding of flood dynamics due to cascading dam failures. Based on detailed hydro-morphodynamic modeling

Dredged sludge has poor mechanical properties and its safe disposal is highly risky. Fiber has been considered as an effective additive for soil reinforcement because of its cost effectiveness, easy adaptability, and reproducibility. The main objective of this research is to investigate the effects of polypropylene fiber on hydro-mechanical behavior of dredged sludge. A series of compression and direct

Subaerial landslides can generate impulse waves in reservoirs, fjords, and other water bodies and cause severe damage to the shipping industry, infrastructure, and human communities along the shorelines. Compared with deterministic hazard models, probabilistic hazard analysis is an important tool for assessing the intensity and exceedance probability of impulse waves generated by multiple landslide

Rational evaluation of the long-term performance of large-scale foundations, tunnels and natural slopes located in seismically active areas necessitates accurate assessment of the strength and deformation characteristics of bounded geomaterials, such as natural rocks and cemented soils, under creep and cyclic loading conditions. In the present study, a unique approach for examining the induced instantaneous

River embankments are linear earth structures, worldwide diffused, commonly used for flood protection. Their integrity and stability are fundamental prerequisites for the protection efficiency they can offer to the increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme flood events associated to changes in climate. Proper characterization and monitoring are essential to verify the construction requirements

Equivalent continuum models estimating the deformability of complexly fractured rock masses may incur significant discrepancies. This paper proposes an equivalent discrete fracture network (E-DFN) method to proficiently capture the non-continuous characteristics of rock masses while significantly reducing computational cost compared with traditional discrete fracture network (DFN) models. A significance

Since the 1980s, ground fissures in the Taiyuan Basin have experienced blowouts, resulting in a significant but hidden danger to cities in the Basin. This paper describes the plane and damage characteristics of the ground fissures based on the findings of field investigations and mapping. Most ground fissures in the Basin were determined as linear with pinch-out reappearances on the surface. They were

Collapse is one of the main hazards during tunnel construction by the drill-and-blast method. In order to evaluate the collapse risk and provide a basis for risk control, a failure probability evaluation method for collapse of drill-and-blast tunnels based on the multistate fuzzy Bayesian network is proposed in this paper. First, the typical tunnel collapse cases are analyzed statistically based on

In a centrifuged model, the centrifugal acceleration increases radially outward from the axis of rotation. The variations in the magnitude and direction of the centrifugal acceleration will inevitably result in a distortion of the stress field of the model compared with its desired prototype counterpart. This distortion alone is generally considered to be slight and negligible, but the extent of its

Large earth slides and rocks lides evolving into earth flows are quite widespread in the Northern Italian Apennines. Despite being simply referred to as landslides, many of them are, in fact, large complexes of landslides. They evolved through multiple and/or successive movements, undergoing partial and/or total reactivations. The reactivation of pre-existing landslide bodies is the prevalent mechanism

Previous studies on faulting were performed on horizontal grounds, which were hypothesized implicitly. As an increasing number of infrastructures are being built on topographically complex sites such as mountainous areas, investigations into fault rupture propagation through soil with an inclined surface have become significant. In this study, a series of 1 g physical model tests of reverse faulting

Thermomechanical behaviour of clay has been widely investigated by well-controlled laboratory experiments, while in-situ test of thermal effects on soil is rare. The piezocone penetration test (CPTU) is first used in this study to directly evaluate the temperature effects under in-situ stress condition. A full-scale precast high strength concrete (PHC) pile was utilized as the heat source and a series

Calcareous sand has been used as the main filling material in numerous reef constructions. Therefore, understanding its long-term dynamic engineering geological characteristics under cyclic applications of traffic or wave loading is crucial to the design and prediction of the serviceability of reef infrastructures. Considering this, seven monotonic triaxial tests and 33 high-cycle (25,000 cycles) drained

Permanent sliding displacement analysis is commonly used to evaluate the seismic performance of slopes. Specifically, the fully probabilistic seismic slope displacement hazard analysis (PSSDHA) has attracted increasing attention recently, since it appropriately accounts for various sources of uncertainties associated with the estimation of sliding displacement. Within this analysis, the uncertainty

For decades, coal mining in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) in Poland has been inducing annually more than 150 seismic events with local magnitude M > 2. Two sets of sensors were installed in the USCB in Poland to measure angular velocities and translational accelerations from seismic events induced by underground coal mining. In the period from December 2015 to November 2016, 503 seismic events

South-to-North Water Diversion Project Central Route (SNWDP-CR) is one of the largest human engineering projects aimed at redistributing water resources, receiving a worldwide attention. It conveys water from southern China to the Beijing Plain northward through a 1300-km long canal system and operated since December 2014. Before this date, water supply to Beijing was mainly provided by means of aquifer

Previous prediction models for soil compaction parameters were developed using limited data of specific soils and their accuracy also needs to be improved. This study presents the development of a new prediction model for the soil compaction parameters (i.e. optimum water content and maximum dry density) using the multi expression programming (MEP). Numerous soil compaction tests with a wide range

Underground rock structures are frequently subjected to water erosion and dynamic disturbance simultaneously. Herein, in order to study the coupled effects of water and high strain rate on the mechanical behavior and microstructures of sandstone, we conducted a series of dynamic unconfined compressive tests on oven-dried and water-saturated sandstone core samples using a split Hopkinson pressure bar

This study aimed to establish a simple approach to evaluate the performance of an intercept dam during a debris-flow event. We applied the two-phase debris-flow model proposed by Pudasaini (2012) and combined it with the dam moment-balance equation, to describe the state of the debris flow and the structural integrity and functions of such dams. To delineate dam performance, we introduced two new variables

Road base is usually subjected to cyclic traffic loadings as well as environment loads. Evidence shows that excessive permanent deformation of the road base may occur under the action of traffic loads and the complicated suction history induced by climate change. Currently, how the suction history of road base affects its long-term deformation remains unclear. To gain a deep understanding of the long-term

Soil settlement is one of the most common and critical issues in geologic and geotechnical engineering. Due to various sources of uncertainties, it is hard to predict soil settlement accurately. An inverse analysis using the information provided by field measurements is desirable for prediction with higher confidence. In this study, an inverse framework based on ensemble Kalman filtering (EnKF) is

For the stability and deformation analysis of open-cut mines using numerical methods, one critical step is to identify and simulate the elastoplasticity of geomaterials comprising the open-cut batters. The Victorian Brown Coal (VBC) in Australia is a non-textbook geotechnical material with a hardening feature in compression leading to brittle failure while showing a sharp post-peak softening behaviour

On July 4, 2013, a substantial disastrous debris flow occurred in the Hou Gully in Shimian County, China. The Hou gully belongs to mine waste debris flow, which seriously threatens a large number of traffic facilities, factories, farmland, and residents located in the accumulation area. This paper took the Hou gully as an example and aimed to describe a typical mine waste debris flow, analyze the formation

High-velocity runoff generated in hillslopes during heavy rainfall caused by typhoon increases chances of instability of the embankment slopes at the exit of the gully. Such effects of high-velocity runoff are usually neglected in conventional rainfall-induced slope failure analysis. In order to consider the effects of runoff on the slope instability, this study attempts to simulate the runoff, infiltration

In this study, an inventory of landslides induced by the 2011 Lorca earthquake (Mw 5.1) has been used in order to develop a new procedure to obtain objective logic-tree weights for a probabilistic earthquake-induced landslide hazard analysis. The 2011 Lorca earthquake triggered more than 250 landslides, mainly of disrupted type. The logic-tree was designed having regard to variability of relevant geotechnical

Structural countermeasures such as slit dams and check dams are widely installed in mountainous regions to mitigate debris-flow hazards. However, current approaches adopted to estimate debris-flow impact load only depend on the flow properties without considering the effect of structural geometry. To better understand the effect of slit size on the impact load experienced by debris-flow mitigation

Rock burst is one of the major geological hazards in coal mines and is difficult to prevent. Faced with this problem, the low-frequency electromagnetic radiation (EMR) test experiments of coal and rock were conducted to explore the characteristics of low-frequency EMR (1 kHz) signals induced form fractures. The relation between EMR signals and paroxysmal fractures was analyzed theoretically. Time-series

A deep-seated flexural toppling fracture situated on the left bank of the Lancang River, Southwest China, was used as a case study of the fracture mechanism and relations with the rapid and continuous downcutting of the Lancang River. The toppling fracture body has a maximum horizontal distance to the slope surface exceeding 150 m and a volume of approximately 6 × 106 m3. Based on surface and adit

A horizontal permeable retaining structure (i.e., the sloping roof grill barrier) boasts a good ability to separate water from sediment. However, the separation efficiency is influenced by the structural parameters and lateral deposit area, and these influences have not been investigated. Taking Yanmen gully as an example, this paper first expands the lateral deposit area of the structure, and then

Rock-filled gabions are widely used to attenuate concentrated impact loads exerted by boulders entrained in debris flows. However, rock fragments used to construct gabion may not always be available and the performance of rock-filled gabion can be highly variable, depending on size and angularity of the rock fragments used. In this study, light-weight concrete foam is proposed as an alternative cushioning

The swelling behavior of clayey materials has been studied for many years, and the influence of pore size distribution and suction has been found to be significant. Swelling tests with suction control have been commonly and successfully performed on highly expansive clayey materials, but such work has not always included materials with small percentages of expansive clay minerals. In this study, compacted

Many geological hazards such as landslide, liquefaction, slope failure and rockfall occur in mixed gravelly alluvium or colluvium deposits, highlighting the importance of studying gravel–sand–silt mixtures. Although many natural strata are built using these mixtures, they are not entirely understood. A fundamental experimental study was designed to explore the influence of non-plastic fine content

An accurate description of the morphology of a joint surface is necessary to interpret its shear behavior. Accurately distinguishing the shear behavior differences may be difficult if the defined morphology parameter ignores the micro-slope distribution of the joint surface. The initial climbing angle was therefore defined and used to characterize the micro-slope distribution of the ascent section

In this study, we derive a large-scale Vs30 map for Italy starting from the global terrain geomorphological classification based on normalized slope, local convexity, and surface texture (after Iwahashi et al., 2018). The novelty of the present work is the integration of a large amount of data from the Italian seismic microzonation dataset, consisting in about 35,000 borehole logs and 11,300 Vs profiles

The impact angle is an important but understudied factor that exerts a significant control on the propagation of granular flows. To investigate the influence of the impact angle on the motion and deposition of granular flows, flume experiments and numerical simulations were performed using impact angles ranging from 0° to 70°. Three-dimensional laser scanning and image analysis were employed to collect

Stabilizing piles are widely used for reinforcing landslides in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China. Due to reservoir operations, long-term water-level fluctuations (WLFs) may cause instability or failure of the reservoir landslide and piles system (RLPS). This study experimentally investigated the deformation characteristics and mechanisms of the RLPS under long-term WLFs. The results showed that

Toppling failure is one main failure types of anti-dip slate slopes, and is strongly affected by the mechanical properties of foliation. This study conducted a series of pull-off tests and direct shear tests on slate foliation to obtain its failure envelope, and an innovative failure criterion was accordingly proposed. The proposed failure criterion exhibits a nonlinear trend in the low normal stress

Subsurface water processes are principle triggering and driving factors during slope movements. However, the hydraulic properties that drive groundwater flow along the slope remain poorly understood. Moreover, landslide deposits are often characterized by layering and fissures that cause high heterogeneity in the distribution of hydraulic properties. This heterogeneity leads to great uncertainty in

We have investigated the damage evolution and crack propagation of tuff rocks under axially cyclic tension–compression (T–C) loading with different amplitudes. The field of axial strains in the rock surface was obtained by three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) method. The apparent strains were used to analyze the damage evolution along with the nucleation and propagation of microcracks

Variations of the mechanical properties and the pore structures of rocks after high-temperature treatment play a significant role in ensuring the operation of underground coal gasification and prevent the pollution of groundwater. In this study, to quantitatively analyse the pore structure and mechanical properties of sandstone after treatment at different temperatures (25 °C, 100 °C, 200 °C, 300 °C

A constant-head step injection test using a conventional straddle-packer system was performed for a normal fault in siliceous mudstone. The test applied a new method whereby axial displacements of isolated test sections in a borehole during injection are monitored by measuring the pressures of sliding packers and the pore pressure in the test section. The measured pressures and axial displacement,