Hypoplastic constitutive modeling of wetting deformation of weathered rockfill materials

The wetting deformation of weathered rockfill materials has been attracting growing attention from both engineers and scientists. The importance of realistic predictions of wetting deformations for high earth and rockfill dams is a strong motivation to establish a suitable constitutive model. Recently, the hypoplastic constitutive model by Gudehus and Bauer was extended by introducing solid hardness depending on the state of weathering. The extended model takes into account the influence of the current density, the effective stress state, the rate of deformation, and the time dependent process of degradation of the solid hardness. In the present paper, the performance of this model is evaluated by comparing numerical simulations with experiments obtained from a water sensitive rockfill material. In particular, triaxial compression paths and creep deformation under deviatoric stress states are considered. Finally, the constitutive model proposed is used to study the influence of a degradation of the solid hardness on the long term behavior of a hypothetical fill dam.     

堆石料动力变形特性试验研究

采用大型静动力简单剪切仪,对某面板堆石坝灰岩堆石料进行了动剪切模量阻尼比试验和动残余变形试验。试验资料表明,堆石料的模量阻尼特性采用修正等价黏弹性模型描述可取得较好效果。考虑到在围压和动应力比较高时,残余应变与振次的关系和半对数规律偏差较大,采用幂函数描述残余应变的发展,建立了以平均主应力、固结应力比和动剪应变为自变量的残余变形计算模型。通过拟合不同堆石料的试验结果,表明该模型具有较好的适用性。     

张峰水库堆石料开采爆破技术浅析

介绍了龙王沟采石场堆石料开采爆破的基本方法,对爆破参数的选择及其药量计算进行了探讨,并对高台阶深孔爆破关键技术进行了研究,最后通过工程实例证明了爆破技术具有一定的推广应用价值。     

孔隙率对堆石料强度与变形的影响规律

针对拟建某300m级高土石心墙堆石坝所用堆石料,开展了不同孔隙率的大型静力三轴试验,分析了孔隙率对堆石料的强度和变形的影响。试验结果表明:随着孔隙率的增加,堆石料的峰值强度会减小,体积变形逐渐增大,剪切至峰值点时的剪切位移增大,剪切至出现最大体积变形的剪切位移也会增加,随着围压的升高,颗粒出现一定量的破碎;在邓肯–张和南水模型中表现为参数K,dn值的减小和n,dc,dR值的增大等趋势。分析其原因主要是:随着孔隙率的增加,颗粒内部空隙增多,颗粒间间距增大,颗粒间的接触点减少,在相同围压及剪应力作用下,体积变形增大,最大减缩体应变对应的偏应力也会增加;孔隙率的增加,颗粒间的间距增大,颗粒间的咬合作用减弱,导致堆石料的初始切线模量减小,颗粒抵抗外力的作用减弱,颗粒间内摩擦角与抗剪强度的减小。此外,5P(27)的含量对堆石料的强度和变形作用较为明显,孔隙率相同的情况下,峰值强度、最大体积变量、剪切至峰值强度点对应的剪切位移以及最大体积应变对应的剪切位移均会随5P(27)含量的增加会而增大。孔隙率的变化对堆石料强度和变形影响非常明显,建议堆石坝施工现场碾压时严格控制压实度以满足设计要求,确保大坝安全。     

Behavior of materials for earth and rockfill dams: Perspective from unsaturated soil mechanics

The basis of the design of earth and rockfill dams is focused on ensuring the stability of the structure under a set of conditions expected to occur during its life. Combined mechanical and hydraulic conditions must be considered since pore pressures develop during construction, after impoundment and in drawdown. Other instability phenomena caused by transient flow and internal erosion must be considered. The prediction of the hydro-mechanical behavior of traditional and non-traditional materials used in the construction of dams is therefore fundamental. The materials used for dam’s construction cover a wide range from clayey materials to rockfill. In a broad sense they are compacted materials and therefore unsaturated materials. A summary of the current level of knowledge on the behavior of traditional materials used in the construction of dams is presented in the paper. Regular compacted materials (with a significant clay fraction), rockfill and compacted soft rocks are studied with more detail. The latter are non-traditional materials. They are analysed because their use, as well as the use of mixtures of soil and rock, is becoming more necessary for sustainability reasons.     

Unified modeling behavior of rockfill materials along different loading stress paths

Rockfill materials used for dam construction show obvious stress path dependency during construction process. The constitutive model for rockfill materials are mainly established based on conventional triaxial test. This brings some deviation to the numerical calculation for earth rockfill dam engineering, and it is necessary to develop a constitutive model considering stress paths effect. In the framework of generalized plasticity, plastic modulus can be expressed as the function of dilatancy equation and tangent modulus, hence the influence of stress paths on model can be transfer to the dilatancy equation and tangent modulus. This leads to a new method to describe stress-strain response of rockfill under various loading stress paths. Based on the analysis of large-scale triaxial experiments of rockfill materials with various stress paths, we proposed new dilatancy equation and tangent modulus to better describe stress paths effect and corresponding modified generalized plasticity model is established. Through the prediction and comparison of three groups of rockfill materials triaxial tests, the model established in this paper can simulate behaviors of rockfill materials under various stress paths, using only a set of parameters.     

Viscoelastic constitutive relations of polytetrafluoroethylenecoated fabrics

为研究聚四氟乙烯（PTFE）膜材的黏弹性本构关系,进行了蠕变试验和应力松弛试验,考虑了初始拉伸速率、初始应力对于PTFE膜材黏弹性性能的影响,并采用常用的黏弹性本构关系模型对试验数据进行了拟合,分析了应力松弛和蠕变之间的相互转化关系。研究表明：PTFE膜材具有明显的黏弹性性能,在设计中应予以考虑;初始应力对膜材料的黏弹性性能影响明显,初始应力越大,黏弹性越明显,而初始拉伸速率的影响相对较小;五元件广义Kelvin模型、Burgers模型、分指数模型能够较好地预测膜材料的蠕变黏弹性性能,而基于金属材料的蠕变-应力松弛转化关系不能直接用于分析PTFE膜材的黏弹性转化关系。     

堆石料微侧壁摩擦力固结仪的研制与应用

固结仪是研究堆石料长期变形特性最常用的仪器之一,但其应用受到侧壁摩擦力的限制。针对此问题,研制了一种加载稳定、可测量侧壁摩擦力的新型固结仪,介绍了该仪器的结构和工作原理。采用由互不接触的尼龙片组成衬垫贴于固结仪内壁的方法减小侧壁摩擦力。对风干堆石料进行固结试验,系统研究比较了衬垫层数为1～3层和厚度分别为0.3和0.5 mm时该方法的效果。试验结果表明,3层0.5 mm衬垫的效果最优;与无衬垫时相比,该方法下试样侧壁摩擦力平均下降91%,竖向应变是无衬垫时的1.2～1.8倍。将容器内壁覆盖3层0.5 mm衬垫作为减小侧壁摩擦力方法,对风干堆石料分别进行了使用该方法和无衬垫条件下的流变试验。结果表明,微侧壁摩擦力条件下试验结束时试样的竖向应变和次固结系数分别是无衬垫时的2.0和2.2倍。该仪器有效解决了侧壁摩擦力问题,提高了长期变形试验结果的可信性。     

筑坝材料缩尺效应及其对阿尔塔什面板坝变形及应力计算的影响

针对阿尔塔什混凝土面板坝工程,基于超大型三轴仪(试样直径800 mm,最大粒径为160 mm)和传统大型三轴仪(试样直径300 mm,最大粒径为60 mm)固结排水剪切试验结果,研究了筑坝材料缩尺效应及其对阿尔塔什面板坝竣工期坝体变形及应力计算的影响。主要结论有:阿尔塔什筑坝砂砾料与人工开采的灰岩爆破料变形特性的缩尺效应规律相反,砂砾料超大型三轴试验的邓肯张E-B模型模量参数k和k_b约为大型三轴的1.3~1.4倍;灰岩爆破料大型三轴试验的模量参数k和kb约为超大型三轴的1.2~1.4倍。大型三轴试验的邓肯张E-B模型参数无法反映上游砂砾料与下游灰岩爆破料的变形模量差异,导致沉降计算规律与实际不符,超大型三轴试验的模型参数可以很好地反映由于上游砂砾料变形模量高于下游灰岩爆破料而产生的不均匀沉降,计算结果在分布规律及量值上相比大型三轴试验的参数更接近于实测值。     

基于原生节理统计和爆破裂纹模拟的堆石料块度分布预测

 水电工程堆石料爆破级配要求高、块度预测难,以岩体原生节理统计和爆破裂纹模拟为切入点,采用现场调查、室内试验、数值仿真和工程检验等方式,开展堆石料爆破块度分布研究,尝试建立一套堆石料爆破块度预测方法。通过现场调查,绘制研究区域的天然节理分布网络图,建立基于原生节理统计的三维节理岩体模型;通过SHPB试验装置获取岩石在冲击荷载作用下的动力学参数,利用Ansys/Ls-Dyna模拟了爆破裂纹的扩展范围;综合原生节理调查信息和爆破裂纹模拟成果,建立调查区域爆后三维节理岩体模型;利用ANSYS输出模型所有岩块的线–面–体数据并编制Matlab块度计算程序,采用基于爆破岩块第5条最长边的块度预测指标,得到调查岩体的预测级配曲线。工程应用表明,综合考虑原生节理和爆破次生裂纹联合切割作用的堆石料级配预测方法基本符合工程实际,且基于爆破岩块第5条最长边指标的级配预测结果要优于等体积球直径指标的级配预测结果,其在江咀料场级配预测中的整体误差为5.5%。研究可为类似工程的堆石料爆破开采提供可借鉴的级配预测手段。     

Neural network-based model for prediction of permanent deformation of unbound granular materials

Several available mechanistic-empirical pavement design methods fail to include predictive model for permanent deformation (PD) of unbound granular materials (UGMs), which make these methods more conservative. In addition, there are limited regression models capable of predicting the PD under multi-stress levels, and these models have regression limitations and generally fail to cover the complexity of UGM behaviour. Recent researches are focused on using new methods of computational intelligence systems to address the problems, such as artificial neural network (ANN). In this context, we aim to develop an artificial neural model to predict the PD of UGMs exposed to repeated loads. Extensive repeated load triaxial tests (RLTTs) were conducted on base and subbase materials locally available in Victoria, Australia to investigate the PD properties of the tested materials and to prepare the database of the neural networks. Specimens were prepared over different moisture contents and gradations to cover a wide testing matrix. The ANN model consists of one input layer with five neurons, one hidden layer with twelve neurons, and one output layer with one neuron. The five inputs were the number of load cycles, deviatoric stress, moisture content, coefficient of uniformity, and coefficient of curvature. The sensitivity analysis showed that the most important indicator that impacts PD is the number of load cycles with influence factor of 41%. It shows that the ANN method is rapid and efficient to predict the PD, which could be implemented in the Austroads pavement design method.     

Effect of vertical stress rest period on deformation behaviour of unbound granular materials: Experimental and numerical investigations

Repeated load triaxial test is used to assess the deformation behaviour of unbound granular materials (UGMs) in flexible road pavements. Repeated load pulse characteristics (i.e. shape, loading period and rest period) are the stress configurations used in the experimental set-up to simulate the passing axle loads. Some researchers and standard testing protocols suggest a rest period of varying durations after a loading phase. A thorough review of existing literature and practises has revealed that there is no agreement about the effect of the rest period of vertical stress pulse on the deformation behaviour of the UGMs. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of repeated stress rest period on the deformation behaviour of UGMs experimentally. Experiments are conducted, both with and without rest period, using basalt and granite crushed rocks from Victoria, Australia. Furthermore, in order to gain insight into the effect of the rest period, finite element modelling is also developed. Both the experimental and modelling results show that the rest period has a noticeable effect on both resilient and permanent deformation behaviours of UGMs. It is, therefore, recommended to take extra precautions while adopting a particular standard testing protocol and to supplement the results by additional tests with different loading configurations.