A major instrumented geosynthetic reinforced approach embankment was constructed to 5.5 m elevation above ground, with prefabricated vertical drains, over a soft compressible clay deposit at Leneghan, Newcastle, Australia in May 1995. The field monitoring of settlements for over six years shows that the embankment manifests significant creep. The instrumentation, field performance and the finite element analyses for predicting the long-term performance of this embankment are described in this thesis. The maximum settlement of 1.1 m was observed one year after the completion of construction. However, the embankment continued to settle at a rate of 0.4 mm/day for the next 5 years. The horizontal displacements of 0.09-0.14 m at various locations and the maximum reinforcement strains of 0.67% were recorded. A numerical model was developed to perform a fully coupled large deformation elasto-viscoplastic finite element analysis for this performance prediction based on creep model proposed by Kutter and Sathialingam (1992). The foundation soil was modelled with creep material behaviour using six noded linear strain triangular elements. A well-documented case history ??? Sackville embankment, New Brunswick, Canada was analysed using this model as a benchmark problem and the model was found to predict all the behaviour characteristics reasonably well. The results obtained from finite element analysis using this model are shown to be in reasonable agreement with the observed performance of Leneghans embankment in terms of settlements, horizontal displacements, excess pore pressures and geosynthetic strains. But, the prediction of settlements was less than satisfactory beyond April 1999. Finite element analyses were performed to study the sensitivity of this embankment behaviour on the variation of hydraulic conductivity values and geosynthetic reinforcement properties. This sensitivity study indicated that the kv variation, the kh/kv ratio and the nominal values of geosynthetic properties adopted in the benchmark analysis are reasonable enough for the long-term behaviour prediction.

Cette thèse présente une étude expérimentale de l'impact de gouttes de fluides à seuil. Au-delà des applications (impression à jet d’encre solide, modélisation d’impact solide à grandes vitesses), cette étude permet de sonder le rôle de l'élasticité sur le comportement à temps court de ces fluides complexes. D'abord, nous nous sommes intéressés aux impacts sur une surface rigide. L'utilisation de fluides à seuil modèles (solutions concentrées d’argiles, micro-gel de Carbopol) et de surfaces d'impact variées (partiellement mouillante ou super-hydrophobe), révèle une grande variété de comportements, allant de l'étalement viscoplastique irréversible jusqu'à des déformations élastiques géantes. Un modèle minimal d'étalement inertiel, incluant une rhéologie élasto/viscoplastique, permet de décrire dans un cadre unique les principaux régimes observés. Au cours de cette étude, nous avons mis en évidence un phénomène spécifique avec le Carbopol : pour des grandes vitesses d'impact, on observe un étalement beaucoup plus grand sur des surfaces rugueuses hydrophobes que sur des surfaces lisses. Cette réduction apparente du frottement basal est discutée en termes de longueur de glissement et d'instabilité de « splash ». Enfin, nous avons étudié l’impact d'une goutte de fluide sur un sol constitué du même fluide, en utilisant un fluide à seuil transparent (Carbopol). La combinaison de lois d'échelle, d’expériences en « micro-gravité » et de mesures locales du champ de déformation montre que la dynamique du cratère transitoire est dominée par l’élasticité, même au-delà du seuil d’écoulement. Ces résultats pourraient avoir des implications dans le contexte des impacts de météorites en astrophysique. / This thesis presents an experimental study on the drop impact of yield-stress fluids. Beyond applications (solid ink-jet printing, lab modelling of high-speed collision of solids), this study offers a mean to probe the role of the elasticity on the short-time behaviour of these complex fluids. We have first studied drop impacts on solid rigid surfaces. Using different model yield-stress fluids (clay suspensions, Carbopol micro-gel) and impacted surfaces (partially wettable, super-hydrophobic), we have observed a rich variety of behaviours ranging from irreversible viscoplastic coating to giant elastic spreading and recoil. A minimal model of inertial spreading, including an elasto/viscoplastic rheology, allows explaining in a single framework the different regimes and scaling laws. In this study, we identified a specific phenomenon with Carbopol: for large impact velocities, the drop spreads much more on rough hydrophobic surfaces than on smooth surfaces. This apparent reduction of the basal friction is discussed in terms of slip length and splash instability. Endly, we investigated the impact of a drop onto a pool of the same fluid, using a transparent yield-stress fluid (Carbopol). The combination of scaling laws, micro-gravity experiments and local deformation measurements shows that the transient crater is dominated by elasticity, even beyond the flow threshold. These results could have implications for impact cratering in Planetary Sciences.

[pt] É uma prática usual em reologia medir o tensão limite de escoamento. Nessas medidas, a tensão limite de escoamento é definida como o máximo valor absoluto de tensão ao qual abaixo não ocorrem escoamentos irreversíveis. Sendo assim, tensão limite de escoamento aparente estimada é usada em conjunto com o critério de von Mises em qualquer escoamento complexo. Este critério compara esta medida a intensidade do segundo invariante do tensor deviatórico das tensões. Acontece que, para escoamento simples de cisalhamento, o mesmo é composto por tensões cisalhantes e diferenças de tensão normais, mas a contribuição do último nunca foi considerada na determinação experimental da tensão limite de escoamento. Em vista de avaliar a importância da contribuição das diferenças de tensões normais na tensão limite de escoamento aparente, foram realizadas uma sequência de testes de creep para cada material, estimando a tensão crítica que representa o valor médio obtido entre os valores das curvas de tensão nas quais o material escoa e não escoa com uma tolerância considerável. Depois disso, foram propostos testes para avaliar os valores de N1 − N2 e apenas N1 no nível de tensão crítica. E em seguida avaliando-se adequadamente a tensão limite de escoamento. Observou-se que, para alguns materiais, a contribuição das diferenças de tensões normais é muito maior do que a contribuiçõ da tensão cisalhante. Por fim, a validade do critério de von Mises para materiais elasto-viscoplásticos foi avaliada. Para este fim, com o intuito de generalizar o estudo, ensaios de compressão a volume constante e de tração foram realizados avaliando-se as correspondentes tensões limites de escoamento. Como conclusão mais importante, o critério de von Mises não foi considerado adequado como critério de falha para os materiais elasto-viscoplásticos analisados. / [en] It is usual practice in rheology to measure the yield stress in a simple shear flow. In these measurements, the yield stress is identified as the maximum value of the shear stress below which no irreversible flow occurs. Then, the thus determined yield stress is used in conjunction with the von Mises criterion in any complex flow. The latter compares it with the intensity of the deviatoric stress tensor. It happens that for simple shear flow the intensity of the deviatoric stress is composed of both the shear stress and the normal stress differences, but the contribution of the latter is never considered in the experimental determination of the yield stress. In view of assess the importance of the contribution of the normal stresses to the yield stress, a sequence o standard constant shear stress tests were performed for each material, estimating the critical stress which represents the mean value obtained between the stress values of the curves in which the material flows and does not flow with an accurate tolerance. After that, proposed tests were performed in order to obtain the values of N1 − N2 and solely N1 at the critical stresses. Following the appropriate yield stress evaluation. It was observed that for some materials the normal stress contribution is much larger than the shear stress contribution. Furthermore, the validity of the von Mises yielding criterion for elasto-viscoplastic materials was evaluated. For this purpose, in order to generalize the study for different flow conditions, constant volume squeeze flow and traction tests were performed evaluating the corresponding yield stresses. As the most important conclusion, the von Mises yielding criterion was considered not to be accurate representing yielding for the elastoviscoplastic materials analyzed.