Geotextile sand container shoreline protection systems: Design and application

The use geotextile sand containers (GSCs) as shoreline protection systems, has grown moderately since the first applications in the 1970s. This slow growth can be attributed to two factors; firstly, the lack of understanding of coastal processes and design fundamentals by the larger geosyntheticcommunity in order to provide coastal engineers with suitable solutions, and secondly; there has been very little rigorous scientific wave flume testing with which to analyse the wave stability of geotextile sand containers.The application of geotextile containers in coastal protection works can be traced back to early works carried out in 1970s. The application of these types of structures was somewhat haphazard as very little was understood about the wave stability and durability of the structures. Early wave stability work was carried out Ray (1977) and Jacobs (1983) with small containers, however, the testing programs were limited and did not provide sufficient confidence in the product to carry out exhaustive engineering design. As a result, the technology until recently has relied on manufacturers’ design suggestions based on monitoring of actual structures. Over the past five years, coastal population pressure, extreme events and concerns over climate change and sea level rise have resulted in more emphasis being placed on shoreline protection systems. Geotextile manufacturers have responded to the challenges put forward by design engineers and intensive research has been carried out in the field.This paper outlines the current “state of the art” in terms of the design and specification of geotextile sand containers (GSC). This paper covers the key issues which will ensure the long term integrity of a geotextile shoreline protection system is maintained, these issues include: • Container stability; • Detailed analysis of recent large scale wave flume testing which assess filling capacity, size of container, structure slope and scour protection etc.; • Container/geotextile durability; • Methods and specifications used to limit the effects of the fundamental factors affecting the life span of geotextile containers such as vandal resistance, UV degradation and abrasion resistance etc.     

Effect of deformations on the hydraulic stability of coastal structures made of geotextile sand containers

The hydraulic stability of geotextile sand containers (GSCs) for dune reinforcement, seawalls, revetments and artificial reefs for shore protection against storm waves has been studied within an ongoing extensive research program at Leichtweiß Institute. Although the effect of the deformation of the sand containers on the hydraulic stability is significant, no stability formula is available to account for this effect and the associated processes which have led to the observed failures. To achieve a better understanding of these processes and to analyze the influence of the deformations on the stability of coastal structures made of GSCs, different types of scale model tests have been performed. Results from a variety of scale model tests on: (i) wave-induced forces on the sand containers, (ii) internal movement of sand in the containers and (iii) underlying processes leading to the deformations and displacement of the containers have clarified many of the hydrodynamic processes involved, showing that indeed the deformations of the geotextile sand containers substantially affect their stability.     

Physical model studies on damage and stability analysis of breakwaters armoured with geotextile sand containers

Harnessing the advantages of geotextile sand containers (GSCs), numerous submerged breakwaters and shoreline protection structures have been constructed worldwide. But an emerged breakwater structure with geotextile armour units, capable of replacing the conventional structures, is rarely discussed. A 1:30 scaled physical experimentation is chosen as a preliminary investigation to test the feasibility of using GSCs as breakwater armour units. Structural design is evolved based on a comprehensive literature survey. The paper focuses on the stability parameters and damage characteristics of the proposed structure. Four different configurations are subjected to waves, confining to Mangaluru's wave parameters. Effect of armour unit size and sand fill ratio on the stability of the structure is analysed and it is concluded that changing sand fill ratio from 80% to 100% shot up the structural stability to a maximum of 14%. Increasing bag size also resulted in the increased stability up to 8%. Experiments revealed that the best performing configuration could withstand wave heights up to 2.7 m. Stability curves for all tested configurations are discussed and can serve as an effective guideline for designing GSC breakwaters.     

砂土液化及液化后流动特性试验研究

根据流体力学中的绕球定常黏性流动理论,在振动台试验的基础上,设计了一套砂土液化及液化后流动特性的试验装置。在振动台模型箱的砂土中埋入可以水平滑动的钢球,当砂土发生液化时使钢球发生水平运动,通过测量钢球所受的阻力来反算液化及液化后砂土的表观动力黏度,进而研究液化及液化后砂土的流动特性。试验中考虑了砂土的初始相对密度、钢球的运动速率、液化后砂土的超孔压比等因素的影响。试验结果表明,液化及液化后状态下砂土的表观动力黏度随着应变率的增大而减小,液化砂土呈现出剪切稀化的非牛顿流体特性。随着液化后超孔压比的降低,表观动力黏度也逐渐增大,通常随着应变率的增大,表观动力黏度–超孔压比曲线逐渐变缓。     

Performance of mortar and concrete made with a fine aggregate of desert sand

At this moment there is no national specification concerning the application of desert sand with very fine grain. To be able to apply desert sand to mortar and concrete in civil engineering, mortar and concrete made of Tenggeli desert sand and Maowusu sandy land sand have been tested in order to clarify their engineering characteristics. Based on the determined chemical composition and the physical characteristics of desert sand, the mechanical properties of mortar and concrete made of two types of desert sand as fine aggregate were investigated. The results of the tests indicate that desert sand can be used as a fine aggregate in mortar and concrete for general civil engineering.     

Shear banding in drained and undrained triaxial tests on a saturated sandstone: Porosity and permeability evolution

Detailed analysis of shear band formation and shear band microstructure formed in drained and undrained triaxial tests on Fontainebleau sandstone is presented. It is shown that under globally undrained conditions, local fluid exchanges inside the sample occur at shear banding resulting into a heterogeneous damage pattern along the shear band. At high confinement, pore pressure generation inside the band leads locally to fluidisation of the crushed material, which results into the formation of connected channels in the heart of the band. Image processing analysis is used for evaluation of porosity inside the shear band and estimation of the permeability is performed using the Walsh and Brace [The effect of pressure on porosity and the transport properties of rock. J Geophys Res 1984; 89 (B11): 9425–31] model. It is shown that, porosity increase as observed in the band at low confining pressure and porosity decrease as observed at high confining pressure are both accompanied by a reduction of permeability inside the shear band due to the increase of tortuosity and specific surface. However, this permeability reduction is much more important at high confining pressure and can reach values three orders of magnitude smaller than the permeability of the intact material.     

Comparison of bearing capacity of a strip footing on sand with geocell and with planar forms of geotextile reinforcement

Comprehensive results from laboratory model tests on strip footings supported on the geocell and planar reinforced sand beds with the same characteristics of geotextile are presented. The various parameters studied in this testing program include the reinforcement width, the number of planar layers of geotextile and height of the geocell below the footing base. Contrary to other researches, the performance of the geocell and planar reinforcement is investigated at the range of low to medium settlement level, similar to those of interest in practice. The results show that the efficiency of reinforcement was decreased by increasing the number of the planar reinforcement layers, the height of the geocell reinforcement and the reinforcement width. For the same mass of geotextile material used in the tests at the settlement level of 4%, the maximum improvement in bearing capacity (IF) and percentage reduction in footing settlement (PRS) were obtained as 2.73 and 63% with the provision of geocell, respectively, while these values compare with 1.88 and 47% for the equivalent planar reinforcement. On the whole, the results indicate that, for the same quantity of geotextile material, the geocell reinforcement system behaves much stiffer and carries greater loading and settles less than does the equivalent planar reinforcement system. Therefore, a specified improvement in bearing pressure and footing settlement can be achieved using a lesser quantity of geocell material compared to planar geotextile.     

黄河特细砂瓷砖粘结砂浆的配制及影响因素研究

以黄河特细砂为集料制备水泥基瓷砖粘结砂浆,研究胶粉和纤维素醚用量对砂浆流动度、砂浆力学性能以及抗冻性能的影响.结果表明:砂浆稠度随着胶粉用量的增加而增大,当胶粉用量为胶凝材料质量的0.7％时,砂浆的抗压、抗折强度及抗冻性能最佳;随着纤维素醚用量的增加,砂浆稠度逐渐增大,黄河特细砂瓷砖粘结砂浆的强度逐渐降低,拉伸粘结强度逐渐增大.利用黄河特细砂制备的粘结砂浆性能符合JC/T 547-2005《陶瓷墙地砖胶粘剂》标准要求.为黄河特细砂资源的有效利用提出了一条经济可行的途径.     

干砂最大剪切模量的共振柱与弯曲元试验

对德国 4 种干砂试样进行了共振柱与弯曲元对比试验,旨在分析弯曲元法测定砂土最大剪切模量时存在问题和解决方法。研究表明：时域初达法判定的剪切波传播时间较其他方法具有更好的稳定性;弯曲元试验测定最大剪切模量输入电压脉冲频率的减小而减小,衰减程度因砂土类型而异,该影响随围压的增大而减弱;对比分析表明,弯曲元与共振柱试验测定的最大剪切模量具有良好的线性关系,对柏林砂和不伦瑞克砂,存在一个临界最大剪切模量,小于该临界值时,弯曲元测值大于共振柱测值,而大于该临界值时,前者小于后者,两者差值随土样刚度增大而增大。对比研究指出,弯曲元试验尽可能采用合适高频脉冲电压作为激发电压,实践中应事先与共振柱试验进行对比。     

Constitutive model for monotonic and cyclic responses of loosely cemented sand formations

This paper presents a model to simulate the monotonic and cyclic behaviours of weakly cemented sands. An elastoplastic constitutive model within the framework of bounding surface plasticity theory is adopted to predict the mechanical behaviour of soft sandstone under monotonic and cyclic loadings. In this model, the loading surface always passes through the current stress state regardless of the type of loading. Destruction of the cementation bonds by plastic deformation in the model is considered as the primary mechanism responsible for the mechanical degradation of loosely cemented sands/weak rock. To model cyclic response, the unloading plastic and elastic moduli are formulated based on the loading/reloading plastic and elastic moduli. The proposed model was implemented in FLAC2D and evaluated against laboratory triaxial tests under monotonic and cyclic loadings, and the model results agreed well with the experimental observations. For cyclic tests, hysteresis loops are captured with reasonable accuracy.     

砂土地基中静压桩沉桩及其承载特性室内试验研究

静压沉桩过程中沉桩阻力计算是桩机选型的关键,而目前对沉桩阻力计算方法尚未统一,且沉桩过程中引起的桩周侧压应力分布规律尚不明确。为此,通过室内模型试验模拟砂土地基中静压沉桩,研究沉桩速率和桩长对静压沉桩过程中沉桩阻力、沉桩端阻力、桩周侧压应力和桩体极限承载力的影响。结果表明：沉桩阻力、沉桩端阻力、桩周侧压应力和桩体极限承载力主要与桩长有关,沉桩端阻力与沉桩阻力之比随着沉桩深度增加而减小,但在沉桩深度为12倍桩径位置的沉桩端阻力占沉桩阻力的比例仍高达75%;桩周侧压应力随着埋深增加逐渐趋近于被动土压力,其主要与沉桩对土体挤密作用有关,且增加桩长和降低沉桩速率均可改善沉桩挤密作用;桩周侧压应力存在显著的“退化”现象,并与沉桩过程和桩体回弹有关。此外,基于太沙基极限承载力理论建立了沉桩阻力拟合计算式,并结合朗肯被动土压力理论,提出了桩周侧压应力计算的朗肯被动土压力修正计算公式,可用于静压桩沉桩完成后的桩周侧压应力计算。     

Experimental investigation on resistance and response of jacked model piles in sand

静压沉桩过程中沉桩阻力计算是桩机选型的关键，而目前对沉桩阻力计算方法尚未统一，且沉桩过程中引起的桩周侧压应力分布规律尚不明确。为此，通过室内模型试验模拟砂土地基中静压沉桩，研究沉桩速率和桩长对静压沉桩过程中沉桩阻力、沉桩端阻力、桩周侧压应力和桩体极限承载力的影响。结果表明：沉桩阻力、沉桩端阻力、桩周侧压应力和桩体极限承载力主要与桩长有关，沉桩端阻力与沉桩阻力之比随着沉桩深度增加而减小，但在沉桩深度为12倍桩径位置的沉桩端阻力占沉桩阻力的比例仍高达75%；桩周侧压应力随着埋深增加逐渐趋近于被动土压力，其主要与沉桩对土体挤密作用有关，且增加桩长和降低沉桩速率均可改善沉桩挤密作用；桩周侧压应力存在显著的“退化”现象，并与沉桩过程和桩体回弹有关。此外，基于太沙基极限承载力理论建立了沉桩阻力拟合计算式，并结合朗肯被动土压力理论，提出了桩周侧压应力计算的朗肯被动土压力修正计算公式，可用于静压桩沉桩完成后的桩周侧压应力计算。     

Steady state strength of sand:concepts and experiment

残余强度或稳态强度的确定是砂土液化研究中的重要课题。饱和砂土有３种典型的不排水剪切特征：稳态性状、准稳态性状、和加工硬化性状。在三轴不排水剪切中,大部分松砂表现出准稳态性状。新近的研究表明,“准稳态性状”不是砂土的固有性状,而是三轴试验中的边界条件所导致。本文通过试验研究发现,饱和砂土在三轴不排水剪切中通常表现出４个明显不同的阶段：初始阶段、坍塌阶段、临界状态应力阶段、和后破坏阶段。稳态强度只有在坍塌阶段中才会较好地表现出来。文中还对变形稳态的定义作了修正和补充,并根据修正的变形稳态定义给出了Ｕｎｉｍｉｎ砂的稳态强度及其它的一些试验性质。     

Vibratory pile driving in water-saturated sand: Back-analysis of model tests using a hydro-mechanically coupled CEL method

The development of a hydro-mechanically coupled Coupled-Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) method and its application to the back-analysis of vibratory pile driving model tests in water-saturated sand is presented. The predicted pile penetration using this approach is in good agreement with the results of the model tests as well as with fully Lagrangian simulations. In terms of pore water pressure, however, the results of the CEL simulation show a slightly worse accordance with the model tests compared to the Lagrangian simulation. Some shortcomings of the hydro-mechanically coupled CEL method in case of frictional contact problems and pore fluids with high bulk modulus are discussed. Lastly, the CEL method is applied to the simulation of vibratory driving of open-profile piles under partially drained conditions to study installation-induced changes in the soil state. It is concluded that the proposed method is capable of realistically reproducing the most important mechanisms in the soil during the driving process despite its addressed shortcomings.     

密肋复合板结构非线性数值分析模型研究与验证

综合考虑密肋复合墙体的外框、肋格和填充砌块三部分构成特性,基于通用有限元分析软件,运用分层壳理论及纤维模型理论并结合自定义材料子程序模型,建立了不仅能反映密肋复合板结构整体受力特性还能反映构件开裂、挤压等局部受力特性的密肋复合板结构非线性数值分析模型。通过对3个构件试验和1个结构试验进行数值模拟计算,模拟结果与试验数据吻合较好,验证了本文数值分析模型可用于密肋复合板结构的滞回性能模拟,并具有较高的计算精度。     

人工砂石粉含量及MB值对自密实混凝土性能的影响及模型研究

以胶凝材料、人工砂石粉含量、人工砂的MB值为主要影响因素,通过验证试验以及采用Design-Expert 7.0软件建立石粉、MB值与自密实混凝土性能关系模型,研究人工砂MB值、石粉含最及胶凝材料用量对自密实混凝土自密实性能的影响.研究结果表明以MB值、石粉含量作为人工砂技术要求,可有效控制人工砂自密实混凝土质量;人工...     

Influence of thermal damage on physical properties of a granite rock: Porosity, permeability and ultrasonic wave evolutions

In this paper, parameters for characterization of connected porosity and overall damage in the thermally-cracked rock of granite in order to assess, respectively, its transport properties and its mechanical strength are identified and quantified. Samples were heated to a range of peak temperatures up to 600 °C at ambient pressure. Characterizations were made by measurement of porosity, gas permeability, velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic waves. Our study confirms the strong influence of thermal damage on physical properties, and shows clearly the potential of the above techniques in connection with this type of damage. Typically, we show that the porosity measurement only informs about open porosity, which is distributed and available at rock surface, whereas the gas permeability measurement characterizes the connected porosity. As for the ultrasonic wave propagation, it is sensitive to overall damage in the material. Nevertheless, we observed that the three techniques are complementary and similarly describe the rock behavior in each stage of heat treatment; they show a good consistency between them.     

Laboratory model tests and field investigations of EPB shield machine tunnelling in soft ground in Shanghai

In the last decades, many studies have been presented by different scholars on the environmental problems induced by the shield tunnelling in soft ground. But it mainly concentrated on ground surface settlement, tunnel surface stability and the influence to existing structures. Among them, little attention was paid to soil disturbance caused by the mismatch of machine’s operation parameters. In order to reveal this inherent relation, a series of laboratory model tests were carried out in the 1/16 scale for a field tunnel in practice where the tunnel had 6.4 m diameter. The tests to simulate earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunnelling in soft ground were conducted with a microshield machine (0.4 m diameter). Measurements were carried out simultaneously in each test for total jack thrust force, cutting torque, chamber pressure, mucking ratio, ground surface displacement, and earth pressure. Based on the analysis of test results under different overburden ratio, cutterhead aperture ratio and screw rotation speed, the relationships between machine’s operation parameters themselves and its influence on disturbance to surrounding soil mass were discovered. Such discoveries were also verified by the field investigations. These results are useful for engineers and technicians to select suitable and serviceable machine operation parameters and reduce environmental influence at all stages of tunnel construction.     

Stability assessment of the Three-Gorges Dam foundation, China, using physical and numerical modeling—Part I: physical model tests

Foundation stability is one of the most important factors influencing the safety of a concrete dam and has been one of the key technical problems in the design of the Three-Gorges Project. The major difficulties lie in two facts. The first one is that the dam foundation consists of rock blocks, with joints and so-called ‘rock bridges’ and the gently dipping joints play a critical role in the foundation stability against sliding. The second one is that, even in the regions where the gently dipping fractures are most developed, there are no through-going sliding paths in the rock mass due to the existence of the rock bridges; so the dam could slide only if some of the rock bridges fail, so as to create at least one through-going sliding path. To date, due to unavoidable shortcomings in physical and numerical modeling techniques, there is not a single satisfactory method to solve the problem completely. For this reason, the integration of multiple methods was adopted in this study and proved to be an effective and reliable approach.This Part I paper describes work based on the results of geological investigations and mechanical tests, relating to the geological and geomechanical models of the Three-Gorges Dam, and then a systematic study procedure was developed to carry out the stability assessment project. Then, 2D and 3D physical model tests for some critical dam sections were performed. In the physical tests, based on similarity theory, various testing materials were selected to simulate the rock, concrete, fracture and rock bridge. The loading and boundary conditions were also modeled to meet the similarity requirements. The failure mechanism was derived through a progressive overloading that simulated the upstream hydrostatic pressure applied to the dam, and the factor of safety was defined as the ratio between the maximum external load inducing the start of sliding instability of the dam foundation and the upstream hydrostatic load. The experimental results indicated that the stability of the Three-Gorges Dam foundation satisfies the safety requirements. Nevertheless, further discussions demonstrated that because of the incomplete definition of factor of safety adopted in the physical model tests, it is also essential to study the stability of the Three-Gorges Dam foundation using numerical modeling, which will be presented in the companion Part II paper.