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Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2023) | Viewed by 18173

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ning Zhang

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Interests: earthquake engineering; geotechnical engineering; soil dynamics; structural dynamics; tunnel and underground engineering; wave propagation; site effects; topographic effects; soil-structure interaction

Dr. Shuai Li

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Interests: earthquake engineering; bridge engineering; seismic analysis of near-fault or cross-fault bridges; performance-based design; self-centering bridge structures; soil-structure interaction

Dr. Denghui Dai

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Interests: propagation theory of seismic wave; soil-structure dynamic interaction; seismic analysis of underground structure

Dr. Xin Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China
Interests: earthquake engineering; soil dynamics; seismic response of underground structures; analytical and numerical methods for seismic wave propagation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Sustainability will be devoted to soil dynamics and earthquake engineering. The sustainable safety of civil structures in seismic zones such as tunnels, dams, bridges, and buildings is threatened by earthquakes, which has attracted widespread attention. It is of great significance to study the dynamic response of the structures under the seismic loads as well as the effects of the earthquake source, path and local site on the ground motions, in order to improve the performance and sustainability of the engineering. Nowadays, great progress has been made in analytical, numerical and experimental methods in this area. More detailed and accurate studies on idealized or practical problems by using these methods will undoubtedly advance a better understanding of sustainable earthquake engineering.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Seismology relevant to earthquake engineering
Wave propagation and scattering in soils and rocks
Dynamic constitutive behaviour of soils and rocks
Seismic analysis and design of tunnels, dams, slopes, bridges, and buildings
Foundation and soil-structure interactions
Site effects and ground motions
Seismic performance and seismic damage
Slope stability and reinforcement
Pile dynamics
Physical modelling
Numerical and analytical methods

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Ning Zhang
Dr. Shuai Li
Dr. Denghui Dai
Dr. Xin Chen
Guest Editors

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Keywords

earthquake engineering
dynamics
slopes
tunnels
bridges
dams
topographies
site effects
wave motion

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 11282 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation on the Damping Effect of FST System under Moving Load Using the Track–Tunnel-Layered Saturated Ground Model

by Yi-Jun Li, An-Feng Hu, Cong Li, Rong-Tang Zhang, Yu-Xi Ma and Hao Xu

Sustainability 2023, 15(21), 15495; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115495 - 31 Oct 2023

Viewed by 560

Abstract

In this paper, a single-tier beam-spring-damping system and a two-tier beam-spring-damping system are adopted to simulate the FT (fixed track) and FST (floating slab track) system, respectively. The tunnel is modeled as an infinitely long Euler—Bernoulli beam embedded in the layered saturated soil. By solving the governing equations of the saturated soil and employing the TRM (transmission and reflection matrices) method, the frequency response function of the tunnel-layered saturated soil model is obtained. Making use of the interaction between the tunnel and track systems, the track system is coupled with the tunnel-layered saturated ground model. The solutions for the dynamic response of the track system–tunnel-layered saturated ground model under moving loads in the time–space domain are obtained using the inverse Fourier integral transform. To evaluate the damping effect of the FST system on the vibration of tunnel and soil, four damping coefficients are defined and the vibration results of the FT system–tunnel-layered saturated soil model are compared with those of the FST system–tunnel-layered saturated soil under different moving loads and soil conditions. The numerical results show that both the vibration displacement and acceleration amplitude are attenuated after using the FST system, and the damping coefficient of acceleration is about 30% greater than that of the displacement. In addition, the damping effect of the FST system on the ground surface vibration is associated with the embedded depth of the tunnel and the soil stiffness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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18 pages, 4055 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimating Mohr–Coulomb Strength Parameters from the Hoek–Brown Criterion for Rock Slopes Undergoing Earthquake

by Di Wu, Xin Chen, Yongchao Tao and Xiaodong Meng

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5405; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065405 - 18 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1333

Abstract

The direct application of the Hoek–Brown failure criterion to practical slope engineering is still an urgent problem. The slope geometries and earthquake effect need to be considered in the determination of linear Mohr–Coulomb (MC) strength parameters from the Hoek–Brown criteria for slope stability analysis. This study adopted the tangential method to construct a three-dimensional (3D) rotational failure mechanism using the Hoek–Brown failure criterion for homogeneous rock slopes undergoing earthquake. The quasi-static method was employed to treat the seismic action as an external seismic force in the work–energy equation of the limit analysis theory. Based on the numerical optimization, the least upper-bound solutions and equivalent MC strength parameters were derived with respect to different strength parameters and seismic loads. The influences of nonlinear strengths, geometric parameters and earthquake load on the equivalent MC strength parameters were thoroughly investigated. The results suggested that the nonlinear parameters have different influences on the equivalent MC parameters for general steep slopes and vertical slopes. The effects of nonlinear parameters on the equivalent MC parameters become obvious for vertical slopes. The disturbance factor D affects the equivalent MC parameters only for very steep slopes in fractured rock masses. Additionally, the effect of slope inclination on the equivalent MC parameters becomes obvious for slopes in fractured hard rock masses. The 3D effect of the rock slope on the equivalent MC parameters was found to be slight. Moreover, the impact of earthquakes on the approximate MC parameters becomes weaker for steeper rock slopes. The tables of approximate MC strength parameters were given for various slopes with different nonlinear strength parameters. The presented tables can provide certain references for practical slope engineering. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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22 pages, 9239 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Site Characterization and Liquefaction Hazard Assessment for the Erenler Settlement Area (Sakarya Province, Turkey) Based on Integrated SPT-Vs Data

by Ali Silahtar, Hasan Karaaslan and Kadir Kocaman

Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1534; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021534 - 12 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1854

Abstract

The focus of this study is to examine the soil properties and liquefaction potential of the Erenler center district in a critical tectonic zone that can produce large earthquakes, such as the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ). In this sense, 40 surface wave measurements and 52 geotechnical drillings were employed. Accordingly, the liquefaction potential index (LPI), liquefaction severity index (LSI), Ishihara boundary (IB) curve, and Ishihara-inspired index (LPI_ISH) liquefaction approaches from geotechnical and geophysical methods were used as integrated. All liquefaction analyses were examined for two scenarios, Mw: 7.4 1999 Izmit (a_max: 0.41 g) and Mw: 7.0 1967 (a_max: 0.28 g) Mudurnu. According to the analyses, almost all of the study area showed liquefaction risk in the Izmit scenario. In the Mudurnu scenario, liquefaction risk distribution decreased parallel to acceleration. The LPI, LPI_ISH, and IB liquefaction risk results for both scenarios support each other. On the other hand, it was determined that the probability of liquefaction was lower in the LSI evaluation. The spatial distribution of the liquefaction potential of the Vs-based and SPT-based LPI assessments had a similar pattern. These results show that the LPI approach, originally SPT-based, can also be calculated based on Vs. In addition, according to Vs₃₀-based (average shear wave velocity at 30 m depth) soil classification criteria, low-velocity character E and D soil groups dominate the Quaternary alluvial basin. This indicates that deformation-induced failures may occur even in areas with a low probability of liquefaction in similar strong ground motions. In addition, the evaluation of liquefaction with many approaches in two different bases within the scope of the study constitutes a novelty for the study area and liquefaction analyses. While performing diversified liquefaction analyses and approaches will contribute to obtaining more reliable soil liquefaction results, more case studies are needed to elucidate these comparisons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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17 pages, 4752 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sensitivity Analysis of Factors Affecting the Stability of Deep Buried Tunnel

by Yue Jiang and Wendong Zou

Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 381; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010381 - 26 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1238

Abstract

The excavation of deep tunnels has significant spatial and temporal effects on the stress distribution of the surrounding rock. Accurately describing the distribution characteristics of the surrounding rock stress state is a key issue in analyzing the failure mechanism of the surrounding rock. Based on the numerical analysis, a study on the influencing factors of the surrounding rock stress state during the excavation of deep tunnels was conducted. The results show that (i) the surrounding rock was divided into stress mutation, disturbed, and stables zones using the quantitative index: the peak and stable value of the stress triaxiality, which can reflect the influence of the principal stress orientation; (ii) the evolution law of the stress path of the surrounding rocks in different areas was obtained, and the detailed loading method of laboratory test is proposed, which could consider the influence of the principal stress magnitude and orientation during tunnel excavation; and (iii) five variable indices were used to conduct sensitivity analysis on the influencing factors of the surrounding rock stress state. Specifically, the direction of in situ stress and lateral pressure coefficient considerably influences the disturbance range, and the depth the tunnel is buried affects the deformation and failure characteristics of the surrounding rock. This paper provides a modified and quantified test method for tunnel stability analysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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14 pages, 4421 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cyclic True Triaxial Tests on Aeolian Sand Considering Initial Shear Effect

by Wendong Xu, Xuefeng Li, Xilin Lü and Wenwei Yang

Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16730; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416730 - 13 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1339

Abstract

Under traffic loading, the soil elements in subgrade are subjected to a complex 3D stress path. To investigate the cyclic behavior of desert subgrade under initial shear stress conditions, the number of cyclic true triaxial tests were implemented on aeolian sand from the Tengger Desert. A large range of initial shear stress levels and different cyclic stress paths (various combinations of cyclic major and intermediate principal stresses) were designed in the experiments. The results show that the initial shear stress level significantly influences the cyclic response, and the response mode of aeolian sand under initial shear stress is incremental failure and elastic shakedown, while it is critical failure without initial shear stress. With the increase in initial shear stress, the permanent strain increases first and then decreases, with the maximum permanent strain occurring at q₀ = 50 kPa. Moreover, by comparing the test data under different cyclic stress paths, it is found that the cyclic resistance decreases with the increase in the coefficient of cyclic intermediate principal stress b_cyc. Compared to the limiting pore pressure criterion, the conventional 5% axial strain failure criterion may overestimate the cyclic resistance, leading to unsafe evaluation and design. Therefore, by using the pore pressure criterion, the relationship between the limit pore pressure ratio and the initial stress condition was investigated and it was found that the limit pore pressure ratio decreased linearly when the initial shear stress increased. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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11 pages, 4567 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Field Test on Soybean-Urease Induced Calcite Precipitation (SICP) for Desert Sand Stabilization against the Wind-Induced Erosion

by Yaqing Gao, Chen Hua and Tong Ke

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15474; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215474 - 21 Nov 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1220

Abstract

Soybean-urease induced calcite precipitation (SICP) is an effective method for the improvement of sand, which forms a biocemented layer on the desert sand surface to resist erosion induced by the wind. Under this study, field tests were carried out to determine how the SICP approach may enhance the resistance of the desert to wind-induced erosion and the durability of SICP treatment in southeastern margin of Tengger Desert, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. The experimental results demonstrated that the erosion resistance of desert sand was significantly enhanced due to the SICP treatment, and the improvement effect was enhanced with the increase of the biocement solution concentration and dosage and the number of treatment cycles. Furthermore, it was also found that the resistance of SICP-treated sand to erosion induced by the wind reduced as the development of time reduced. Based on the test results in this paper, larger biocement solution concentration and dosage and multiple treatment cycles are proposed in the areas where severe wind-induced erosion takes place in order to improve the ductility of SICP treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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15 pages, 6193 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wave Propagation and Scattering around a Radially Inhomogeneous Cylindrical Inclusion in a Full Space

by Ning Zhang, Yingchun Wei, Jiasuo Pan, Jie Yang, Yu Zhang and Denghui Dai

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14969; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214969 - 12 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1191

Abstract

The geological structure, such as inclusions, may strongly affect the wave propagation and underground motions during earthquakes. Previous studies mainly focus on geological inclusion with the homogeneous medium. In this paper, the propagation and scattering of incident plane SH waves in and around an inhomogeneous cylindrical inclusion with a radially-varying modulus is studied. In terms of a radial wave function expansion, a rigorous analytical approach is formulated for general computation for the elastodynamic problem. A comprehensive set of numerical examples are presented to illustrate the sensitivity of the underground motion to the rigidity profile of the geological inclusion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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25 pages, 8809 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cyclic Behaviour of Uniform Sand in Drained and Undrained Conditions at Low Confining Stress in Small-Scale Landslide Model

by Vedran Jagodnik and Željko Arbanas

Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12797; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912797 - 07 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1623

Abstract

Earthquakes are one of the main landslide-triggering factors. Earthquakes induce cyclic shear stresses and strains in soil and raise pore water pressure, degrading soil strength towards slope failure. Slopes on which shallow landslides can form due to geological conditions are most susceptible to such failures, mainly because of low confining stress. Effective confining stress has a significant role on soil response during static and cyclic loading. Under low confining stress, soil exhibits dilatant behaviour and can degrade rapidly under cyclic loading. This paper presents the results of undrained and drained cyclic triaxial tests on uniform sandy soil material used for modelling small-scale shallow landslides under 1g conditions. Based on the scaling laws for a model in 1g conditions, the frequencies of straining amplitudes for strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests were defined. Undrained and drained cyclic triaxial tests on the type of sand used in small-scale landslide models were performed. The sandy samples had been previously consolidated at low confining stress corresponding to the values present in the shallow landslides used as the prototype. The influences of loading frequency and low confining stress on sand behaviour were investigated, and simple models for pore pressure build-up and volumetric strain on sand behaviour were proposed. These simple models can be used to estimate increasing pore water pressure and volumetric strain due to cyclic loading at low confining stress for frequencies lower than 1 Hz. The proposed models show good correlation with the data obtained in the laboratory test. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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11 pages, 2093 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) for Stabilization of Desert Sand against the Wind-induced Erosion: A Parametric Study

by Lei Hang, Enjie Yang, Yundong Zhou, Wenzhi Song and Jia He

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11409; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811409 - 11 Sep 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1956

Abstract

Biocementation, based on microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP), is a novel soil improvement method, which can form a cemented layer on the surface of desert sand to resist wind-induced erosion. In this work, the surface penetration resistance test and wind tunnel test were conducted to evaluate the various influential factors for the resistance of biocemented desert sand to wind-induced erosion, including the treatment factors, such as treatment temperature and biocement solution concentration, and durability factors such as the development of time, freezing–thawing cycles, and drying–wetting cycles. The test results demonstrated that the erosion resistance of biocemented desert sand was improved by the increase of treatment temperature and the concentration of biocement solution, which was manifested in the increase of surface penetration resistance of biocemented samples. In addition, the resistance of biocemented desert sand to wind-induced erosion decreased with the increased number of drying–wetting cycles, to lesser extents, with the development of time and the increased number of freezing–thawing cycles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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13 pages, 3898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seismic Performance of a Sliding Isolation Bridge System with a New Spring Re-Centering Device

by Pengcheng Yin, Jianguo Wang and Yutao Pang

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10720; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710720 - 29 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1831

Abstract

Residual displacements between the girder and piers were observed in previous strong earthquakes. These are caused by the limited re-centering capacity of sliding isolation bearings. With this concern, a spring re-centering device is proposed to improve the re-centering capacity of sliding isolation systems. The working mechanism is illustrated, and the force–deformation relationship of this device was investigated in theoretical, experimental, and finite element methods. An extra-dosed multi-pylon cable-stayed bridge was introduced to demonstrate the re-centering effect. The results show that this spring re-centering device could slightly mitigate the seismic forces and significantly mitigate the residual displacement between the girder and piers. After that, the parametric analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of critical parameters of re-centering bearings on seismic performances. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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12 pages, 5063 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Propagation of Nonplanar SH Waves Emanating from a Fault Source around a Lined Tunnel

by Ning Zhang, Yunfei Zhang, Denghui Dai, Yu Zhang, Baoyin Sun and Xin Chen

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10127; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610127 - 15 Aug 2022

Viewed by 1231

Abstract

An analytical solution is presented for scattering nonplanar SH waves emanating from a fault source using a lined tunnel. The lined tunnel is assumed to be an annular elastic solid in half-space. A simplified circular arc fault model is employed to represent the wave source. By means of the separation of variables method, all wave fields are given in terms of the wave function series with unknown coefficients. Taking advantage of the method of images, the zero-stress boundary condition on the horizontal ground surface is satisfied automatically. By applying Graf’s addition formula, a system of equations for seeking the unknowns is derived by taking advantage of the boundary conditions. The problem of wave scattering is finally solved after seeking solutions for the system of equations through standard matrix techniques. The effects of fault distance, fault curvature, and fault orientation are revealed with numerical results. It is found that the plane waves provide a good approximation to the fault-induced cylindrical waves when the source-receiver distance or fault radius of curvature is larger enough. Fault-induced topographic effects are strongly affected by source orientation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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15 pages, 3702 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Surface Performance of Mortar Matrix Subjected to Sodium Chloride Solution Modified with Hybrid Nanosilica Cement Paste

by Kai Lyu, Junjie Xu, Yue Gu, Kailun Xia, Lei Wang, Weiwei Liu and Xian Xie

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 9876; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169876 - 10 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1159

Abstract

In order to prolong the service life of cement-based materials subjected to external chloride ion attacks, two kinds of methods, a surface treatment and chloride immobilization, were combined by fabricating a nanosilica-modified cement paste and coating it on mortar samples as a surface treatment material (HSM). The protective effect of the HSM was evaluated according to its surface hardness, and an RCM test was carried out, which indicated that the attached layer could both increase the surface hardness and decrease the chloride diffusion coefficient. Then, the chloride immobilization mechanisms were illustrated in terms of chloride blocking resistance, chemical binding and physical binding X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric/derivative thermogravimetric (TG/DTG) and thermodynamic modeling. The results showed that the hybrid nanomaterials that modified the cementitious surface treatment materials may effectively improve the chloride-resistant property of a matrix with content of no more than 1%. This research outcome could provide evidence that hybrid nanosilica can be applied in surface treatment technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering in Sustainability)

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