Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Michel D. Ransom / Soil is a dynamic resource that can undergo many changes due to altering conditions (Tugel et al., 2005). With that, humans can have a great effect on the conditions of a landscape and contribute to soil change. As soils change, the function of soils can be altered which would affect the ability of soils to support ecosystem services. The objective of this thesis is to access how management affects dynamic and inherent soil properties in western Kansas soils. Eight sites in Sheridan County, KS mapped as Keith 1-3% slopes (fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Aridic Argiustolls) were described and sampled. Of the eight sites, four are in ST (ST) management and four are in no-till (NT) management. All sites have been irrigated under center pivot irrigation systems since the 1970s. Soil samples of the A horizon were taken at each site to analyze total carbon, aggregate stability, bulk density, pH and microbial respiration to assess the impacts of tillage management on dynamic soil properties. Additionally, pedons were described from the ST sites in the irrigated areas as well as outside the pivot track to represent dryland conditions. Particle size data, field descriptions, and the micromorphology of thin sections were analyzed to determine if the classification of Keith soils are affected by irrigation. Significant differences between NT and ST management were seen in microbial respiration, select water stable aggregate sizes, and pH and bulk density at certain depths. It was also found that irrigation did not affect clay illuviation nor carbonate leaching. Overall, it was concluded that inherent soil properties such as soil map unit composition and parent material can have a greater impact on soil change and prevent the recognition of changes in soil properties over a human time scale.

Seismic safety of underground structures (culvert, subway, natural gas and water sewage systems) plays a major role in sustainable public safety and urban development. Very few experimental data are currently available and there is not generally accepted procedure to estimate the dynamic pressures acting on underground structures. This study aims to enhance the state of prevalent information necessary in understanding the dynamic behavior of box culverts and the stresses acting under dynamic excitations through experimental analyses. For this purpose, a series of shaking table tests were conducted on box-type culverts buried in dry sand. To simulate the free-field boundary conditions, a laminar box was designed and manufactured for use in a 1-g shake table. Four culvert models having different rigidities were tested under various harmonic motions in order to examine the effect of flexibility ratio on dynamic lateral soil pressures. Based on the tests results, a simplified dynamic pressure distribution acting on sidewalls of the culvert model was suggested. Then, a dynamic lateral coefficient was defined for the proposed peak pressure value in the distribution. The values of this coefficient were obtained as a function of shear strain and relative stiffness between the soil and underground structure. Finally, a simplified frame analysis approach was suggested for the assessment of the forces on the structure, to help to carry out a preliminary design of box-type culverts. In this approach, it was assumed that the culvert was fixed at bottom and subjected to lateral stresses on sidewalls and shear stresses on the upper face. For the confirmation of the method, centrifuge tests were conducted on a box-type culvert model under the Seventh Framework Programme of European Union with Grant Agreement No.227887. Results show that the proposed simplified procedure can be used in reasonable accuracy as a practical approach for the preliminary assessment of box-type culverts buried in dry sand under seismic action.

The dynamic properties of soil are normally inferred from laboratory tests on collected samples or from empirical relations. The soil properties measured in the field can be very different from those predicted from laboratory tests. It is very difficult to determine directly in the field the variation of the shear modulus and damping with the level of excitation (level of strains). This remains today a major gap in our knowledge and our ability to conduct reliable seismic analyses. The main objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of determining reliably in situ the shear modulus and damping of the soil as functions of the level of strains, developing a method to compute these properties from the measured data and providing practical recommendations for the use of the procedure. To achieve this objective, extensive and comprehensive sets of experimental and analytical studies were conducted in parallel. Some numerical analyses were performed to provide a better understanding for performing in situ tests with the newly developed vibroseis loading systems. In addition, the dynamic response of a surface foundation in vertical vibration were studied. This dissertation mostly focuses on the numerical aspects of the problem while some experimental data are also studied and utilized. Field tests were conducted to estimate shear moduli of silty sands at two sites, the Capital Aggregate Quarry and the Texas A&M University sites. Estimated nonlinear shear moduli presented very consistent trends regardless of the analysis methods and test sites. They showed larger elastic threshold shear strains, 1.5 × 10−3 % for the Capital Aggregate Quarry site and 2 × 10−3 % for the Texas A&M University site, than the mean of shear modulus curve for cohesionless soils proposed by Seed and Idriss (1970). Estimated moduli closely followed the mean of Seed and Idriss (1970) at strains larger than 6 × 10−3 % for both sites. Internal damping ratio can also be estimated if additional data are gathered from in situ tests in the future.

Research performed on the subject of dynamic soil-structure interaction (SS) concerning railway bridges is presented in this thesis with the focus on simply supported railway bridges supported by shallow foundations in soil strata on bedrock. The research aims to obtain insight into the SSI of high-speed railway bridges and to provide recommendations on how to model the soil-bridge system from a design perspective. A three-dimensional (3D) simply supported soil-bridge model was first developed and the effects from model assumptions made on the soil-foundation system was evaluated in a 3D setting (paper I). The soil-foundation system was then refined and a model assumptions study was performed in order to evaluate the effects of model assumptions on impedance functions, including the influence of the permanent load acting on the soil-foundation system (paper II). Finally, a study of the assembled soil-bridge system was performed in an extensive parametric study including a set of 2D bridge models in combination with a set of shallow foundations in soil strata on bedrock (paper III). A supplementary section related to paper III was also added in this thesis, showing the effects of the substructure mass. The model assumptions made when creating the soil-foundation model and the soil-bridge model can be very important and must be made with care. The permanent load acting on the soil-foundation systems of shallow foundations may alter the impedance functions significantly. The substructure mass may alter the behavior of the soil-bridge system depending on its magnitude, and neglecting it gives inaccurate results. The 3D effects of SSI do not cause high vibrations due to modes other than the first bending mode, and assuming a 2D bridge model is generally acceptable. The effects of SSI on the soil-bridge systems with shallow soil strata are largely dependent on the ratio between the natural frequency of the bridge and the fundamental frequency of the soil. Depending on the value of this ratio, the effect of including SSI in bridge models may contribute to the bridge obtaining a negligible, conservative, or non-conservative response, as compared to the bridge with the assumption of non-flexible supports. / Forskning i syfte att utröna effekten av dynamisk jord–struktur-interaktion (SSI)på järnvägsbroar presenteras i denna avhandling med huvudfokus på fritt upplagdabroar med stöd av plattgrundlagda fundament i jordar på fast berggrund. Forsknin-gen syftar till att ge förståelse för interaktionen mellan jord och järnvägsbroar samtatt ge rekommendationer på hur systemet kan modelleras ur ett designperspektiv.En tredimensionell (3D) fritt upplagd jord–bromodell utvecklades först och effek-terna av modellantaganden gjorda på jord–grundläggningssystemet utvärderadesi en 3D miljö (artikel I). Jord–grundläggningssystemet förfinades och en studiegenomfördes för att utvärdera effekterna av modellantaganden på impedansfunk-tioner, inklusive påverkan av den permanenta belastningen som verkar på jord–grundläggningssystemet (artikel II). Slutligen utfördes en omfattande parametriskstudie av det sammansatta jord–brosystemet där en uppsättning tvådimensionella(2D) bromodeller kombinerades med en uppsättning jordar (artikel III). Ett kom-pletterande avsnitt relaterat till artikel III lades till i denna avhandling som visareffekterna av massan av underbyggnaden på jord–brosystemet.De modellantaganden som görs vid skapandet av jord–grundläggningsmodeller ochjord–bromodeller kan vara mycket viktiga och bör utföras med varsamhet. Den per-manenta belastningen som verkar på jord–grundläggningssystemet kan väsentligtförändra impedansfunktionerna. Massan av underbyggnaden kan vidare ändra re-sponsen i jord–brosystemet, beroende på dess storlek, och att försumma den kan gefelaktiga resultat. De 3D effekterna av SSI orsakar inte höga vibrationer på grundav andra moder än den första böjmoden, och att anta en 2D bromodell är såledesgenerellt sett motiverat.Effekterna av SSI på jord–brosystemet i grunda jordar beror till stor del av kvotenmellan brons naturliga frekvens och jordens fundamentala frekvens. Beroende påvärdet på denna kvot kan effekten av att inkludera SSI i bromodeller bidra till attbron får en försumbar, konservativ, eller icke-konservativ respons, i jämförelse medbron med antagandet om fasta upplag. / <p>QC 20200903</p>

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In this dissertation, the framework is being developed for a new method to predict the settlements of shallow foundations on granular soil based on field seismic and laboratory dynamic tests. The new method combines small-strain seismic measurements in the field with nonlinear measurements in the field and/or in the laboratory. The small-strain shear modulus (Gmax ) of granular soil and the stress dependency of Gmax is determined from the shear wave velocity measurements in the field. Normalized shear modulus (G/Gmax ) versus log shear strain(log [gamma]) curves are determined from field or laboratory measurements or from empirical relationships. The G/Gmax -- log [gamma] curves and Gmax values are combined to determine the shear stress-shear strain response of granular soil starting from strains of 0.0001% up to 0.2-0.5%. The shear stress-shear strain responses at strains beyond 1.0-2.0 % are evaluated by adjusting the normalized shear modulus curves to larger-strain triaxial test data. A user defined soil model (MoDaMP) combines these relationships and incorporates the effect of increasing confining pressure during foundation loading. The MoDaMP is implemented in a finite element program, PLAXIS, via a subroutine. Measured settlements from load-settlement tests at three different sites where field seismic and laboratory dynamic measurements are available, are compared with the predicted settlements using MoDaMP. Predictions with MoDaMP are also compared with predictions with two commonly used methods based on Standard Penetration and Cone Penetration tests. The comparison of the predicted settlements with the measured settlements show that the new method developed in this research works well in working stress ranges. The capability of the new method has significant benefits in hard-to-sample soils such as in large-grained soils with cobbles and cemented soils where conventional penetration test methods fail to capture the behavior of the soil. The new method is an effective-stress analysis which has applicability to slower-draining soils such as plastic silts and clays. / text

[pt] Esta dissertação apresenta uma comparação dos métodos utilizados para análise da estabilidade dinâmica de taludes de solo através de métodos pseudoestáticos (equilíbrio limite) e dinâmicos (método dos elementos finitos). Com ambos os métodos foram estudadas as características de estabilidade de 47 perfis de taludes da Costa Verde, faixa litorânea na cidade de Lima, Peru, abrigando importante rodovia ladeada por 8,25 km de taludes íngremes e de grande altura. Nesta região a ocorrência de sismos é freqüente, devido ao fenômeno da subducção da placa de Nazca sob a placa Continental Sul-Americana. O sismo de projeto foi estabelecido em relação a estudos regionais de risco sísmico e o acelerograma utilizado corresponde ao registrado no terremoto de Lima de 03 de outubro de 1974, normalizado para uma aceleração máxima de projeto de 0,33g. Os resultado obtidos pelos métodos pseudo-estáticos e pelo método dos elementos finitos apresentam diferenças em alguns dos perfis analisados, provavelmente porque os métodos pseudo-estáticos geralmente consideram as forças de inércia constantes na fatia e sem mudança de sentido durante o período da excitação sísmica. / [en] This thesis presents a comparison between the methods generally used for dynamic stability analysis of earth slopes, based either on a pseudo-static approach (limit equilibrium method) or on a dynamic approach (finite element method). Forty-seven profiles from the Costa Verde slopes located in Lima, Peru, were analyzed with both classes of methods. In this region seismic activity is quite common, caused by subduction of the Nazca plate into the South American Plate. The design seism was established from regional studies of seismic risks and the accelerogram used in this research corresponds to the seismic records from a major earthquake that hit Lima on October 3rd, 1974, herein normalized with respect to the maximum design acceleration of 0,33g. The results obtained with pseudo-static and the finite element methods presented differences in some specific soil profiles, probably because the pseudostatic methods admit that the inertial forces are constants through a soil slice and there are no changes in direction of the dynamic forces during the period of seismic excitation.

L’interaction dynamique entre le sol et les structures (IDSS) a fait l’objet de nombreuses études sous l’hypothèse de l’élasticité linéaire, bien que les effets de l’IDSS puissent être différents entre un système élastique et un système inélastique. De fait, les méthodologies usuelles développées à partir des études élastiques peuvent ne pas être adaptées aux bâtiments conçus pour dissiper de l’énergie par de l’endommagement lors de séismes sévères. De plus, il est bien connu que la limite d’élasticité du sol est normalement atteinte même pour de séismes relativement faibles. En conséquence, si les effets inélastiques de l’IDSS sont négligés, les études d’endommagement sismique des bâtiments peuvent être très inexactes. L’objectif de ce travail est de développer une stratégie générale pour l’étude du problème de l’IDSS non-linéaire dans le contexte de l’analyse de la vulnérabilité sismique des bâtiments. Ainsi, des modèles d’éléments finis réalistes sont développées et appliquées à des problèmes d’IDSS non-linéaires. Les modèles couvrent une large gamme des conditions pour le sol et des typologies de bâtiments soumis à plusieurs bases de données sismiques. Une stratégie de modélisation a été développée et validée afin de réduire significativement le coût numérique. Pour cela, un modèle 2D équivalent a été développé, implanté dans GEFDyn et utilisé pour effectuer une importante étude paramétrique. De nombreux indicateurs de comportement non-linéaire de la structure et du sol ont été proposés pour synthétiser leur fonctionnement lors du chargement sismique. De surcroît, une stratégie d’évaluation de la vulnérabilité sismique basée sur l’information apportée par une base des données sismiques a été développée. De façon, générale, les résultats ont mis en évidence une réduction de la demande sismique lorsque les effets inélastiques de l’IDSS sont pris en compte. Cette réduction est liée fondamentalement à deux phénomènes : l’amortissement par radiation et l’amortissement hystérétique du sol. Ces deux effets ont lieu simultanément pendant le mouvement sismique. Il est alors très difficile d’isoler l’influence de ces deux phénomènes. En effet, le mouvement effectif transmis à la structure n’est pas le même que celui en champs libre du aux effets d’interaction, ainsi qu’à la modification locale du comportement du sol fortement lié aux poids du bâtiment. Une série de mesures de sévérité sismique et des mécanismes de dissipation d’énergie au niveau du sol et du bâtiment a été introduite dans le but d’analyser ces effets. Cependant, ces résultats sont en général très irréguliers et leur généralisation a été très difficile. Néanmoins, ces résultats mettent en évidence l’importance de la prise en compte des effets du comportement inélastique du sol. La plupart des cas étudiés ont montré un effet favorable de l’IDSS non-linéaire. Mais, en général, l’IDSS peut augmenter ou diminuer la demande sismique en fonction de la typologie de la structure, des caractéristiques du mouvement sismique et des propriétés du sol. Tout de même, il y a une justification économique pour étudier les effets du comportement non-linéaire du sol sur la réponse sismique. / The dynamic interaction of the soil with a superstructure (DSSI) has been the subject of numerous investigations assuming elasticity of both, superstructure and soil foundation behavior. Nevertheless, the effect of DSSI may differ between elastic and inelastic systems. Thus, the current interaction methodologies based on elastic response studies could not be directly applicable to structures expected to behave inelastically during severe earthquakes. Additionally, the soil is known to exhibit inelastic behavior even for relatively weak to moderate ground motions. Consequently, ignoring these characteristics in studying DSSI could lead to erroneous predictions of structural damage. The main purpose of this work is to develop a general strategy to address the full DSSI problem in the context of the seismic vulnerability analysis of structures. Thus, realistic Finite Elements models are constructed and applied in a practical way to deal with these issues. These models cover a large range of soil conditions and structural typologies under several earthquake databases. Some modelling strategies are introduced and validated in order to reduce the computational cost. Therefore, an equivalent 2D model is developed, implemented in GEFDyn and used in the large parametric study conducted. Several indicators for both structural and soil responses are developed in order to synthesize their behavior under seismic loading. Additionally, a vulnerability assessment strategy is presented in terms of measures of information provided by a ground motion selection. According to the investigation conducted in this work, there is in general a reduction of seismic demand or structural damage when non-linear DSSI phenomenon is included. This reduction can be associated fundamentally to two phenomena: radiative damping and hysteretic damping due to non-linear soil behavior. Both effects take place simultaneously during the dynamic load and it is extremely difficult to separate the contribution of each part in reducing seismic demand. Indeed, effective motion transmitted to the superstructure does not correspond to the free field motion because of the geometrical and inertial interactions as well as the local modification of soil behavior, specially due to the supplementary confinement imposed by the superstructure’s weight. A series of strong-motion severity measures, structural damage measures and energy dissipation indicators have been introduced and studied for this purpose. Nevertheless, results are erratic and consequently, generalization was extremely difficult. Despite these difficulties, the results illustrate the importance of accounting for the inelastic soil behavior. The major part of the studied cases show beneficial effects such as the decrease of the maximum seismic structural demand. However, the non-linear DSSI could increase or decrease the expected structural damage depending on the type of the structure, the input motion, and the dynamic soil properties. Furthermore, there is an economic justification to take into account the modification effects due to inelastic soil behavior.

The recent 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami served as a stark reminder of the destructive capabilities of such combined events. Civil Engineers are increasingly tasked with protecting coastal populations and infrastructure against more severe multi-hazard events. Whilst the protective measures must be robust, their deployment over long stretches of coastline necessitates an economical and environmentally friendly design. The dual row retaining wall concept, which features two parallel sheet pile walls with a sand infill between them and tie rods connecting the wall heads, is potentially an efficient and resilient system in the face of both earthquake and tsunami loading. Optimal use of the soil's strength and stiffness as part of the structural system is an elegant geotechnical solution which could also be applied to harbours or elevated roads. However, both the static equilibrium and dynamic response of these types of constructions are not well understood and raise many academic and practical challenges. A combination of centrifuge and numerical modelling was utilised to investigate the problem. Studying the mechanics of the walls in dry sand from the soil stresses to the system displacements revealed the complex nature of the soil structure interaction. Increased wall flexibility can allow more utilisation of the soil's plastic capacity without necessarily increasing the total displacements. Recognising the dynamically varying vertical effective stresses promotes a purer understanding of the earth pressures mobilised around the walls and may encourage a move away from historically used dynamic earth pressure coefficients. In a similar vein, the proposed modified Winkler method can form the basis of an efficient preliminary design tool for practice with a reduced disconnect between the wall movements and mobilised soil stresses. When founded in liquefiable soil and subjected to harmonic base motion, the dual row walls were resilient to catastrophic collapse and only accrued deformation in a ratcheting fashion. The experiments and numerical simulations highlighted the importance of relative suction between the walls, shear-induced dilation and regained strength outside the walls and partial drainage in the co-seismic period. The use of surrogate modelling to automatically optimise parameter selection for the advanced constitutive model was successfully explored. Ultimately, focussing on the mechanics of the dual row walls has helped further the academic and practical understanding of these complex but life-saving systems.