Yes / Wave-induced seabed instability caused by the residual liquefaction of seabed may threaten the safety of an offshore foundation. Most previous studies have focused on the structure that sits on the seabed surface (e.g., breakwater and pipeline), a few studies investigate the structure embedded into the seabed (e.g. a mono-pile). In this study, by considering the inertial terms of pore fluid and soil skeleton, a three-dimensional (3D) integrated model for the wave-induced seabed residual response around a mono-pile is developed. The model is validated with five experimental tests available in the literature. The proposed model is then applied to investigate the spatial and temporal pattern of pore pressure accumulation as well as the 3D liquefaction zone around a mono-pile. The numerical simulation shows that the residual pore pressure in front of a pile is larger than that at the rear, and the seabed residual response would be underestimated if the inertial terms of pore fluid and soil skeleton are neglected. The result also shows that the maximum residual liquefaction depth will increase with the increase of the embedded depth of the pile. / This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2017B15814], the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program [20170014], National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars [Grant No. 51425901], Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2017B21514), Key Laboratory of Water-Sediment Sciences and Water Disaster Prevention of Hunan Province (2018SS02), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [Grant No. BK20161509] and Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University [Project No: 2016491011].

Researchers performed 35 full-scale lateral load tests on piles driven within the reinforcement zone of a mechanically stabilized earth wall (MSE wall). Data defining the induced tensile force on the reinforcements during lateral pile loading was used to develop multi-linear regression equations to predict the induced tensile force. Equations were developed by previous researchers that did not consider the diameter of the pile, the fixed head condition, relative compaction, or cyclic loading. The purpose of this research was to include this tensile force data and develop prediction equations that considered these variables. Additionally, a full-scale lateral load test was performed for a 24-inch diameter pipe pile loaded against a 20-inch width square pile. The test piles were instrumented using load cells, string potentiometers, LVDTs, strain gauges and hybrid pressure sensors. The lateral load tests were used to evaluate the ability of finite difference (LPILE) and finite element (PLAXIS3D) models to compute results comparable to the measured results. The results of this analysis showed that the diameter of the pile is a statistically significant variable for the prediction of induced tensile force, and the induced tensile force is lower for piles with larger diameter. Fixed head conditions have no effect on the prediction of induced tensile force. Cyclic loading had minimal impact on the prediction of induced tensile force, but relative compaction did have an important statistical significance. Therefore, prediction equations for induced tensile force in welded wire were developed for relative compaction less than 95 percent and relative compaction greater or equal than 95 percent. A general prediction equation (Eq. 3-4) was developed for ribbed-strip reinforcements that included the effect of pile diameter and larger head loads. With 1058 data points, this equation has an R2 value of 0.72. A general prediction equation (Eq. 3-9) was also developed for welded-wire reinforcements that included data from cyclic and static loading, fixed and free head conditions, and relative compaction for 12-inch wide piles with a higher range of pile head loads. This equation based on 2070 data points has an R2 value of 0.72. The prediction equations developed based on all the available data are superior to equations developed based on the original set of field tests. The finite element models produced results with good agreement with pipe pile measurements while the finite difference model showed better agreement with the square pile measurements. However, for the denser backfills involved, back-calculated soil properties were much higher than would be predicted based on API correlations. The API equations are not well-calibrated for dense granular backfills.

Pile-supported ports allow seawater to run below the deck, and thus may suffer structural damages during extreme coastal events such as hurricanes. These structural damages, in turn, may result to port closures that can cause significant economic losses. Risk analysis can predict the post-hazard functionality of ports though the structural damage assessment of these structures prior to coastal events. However, assumptions on the selected demand estimates may affect the estimated probability of structural damage. This research aims to shed light on the sensitivity of the wave model selection for the risk assessment of pile-supported ports when subjected to storm surge and waves. The examined structural damage is the uplift of the deck, and the risk assessment is conducted through the development of fragility curves for a typical deck-pile connection, for which fragility curves are developed for different wave models. Uncertainties are also considered in parameters affecting the demand and capacity of the examined deck-pile connection and are propagated through the Monte Carlo simulation using the Latin Hypercube Sampling. The results indicate changes to the uplift probability as a result of the selected wave model. Thus, wave model selection can alter the uplift failure probability. In addition, the study proposes parameterized fragility models to enable the uplift risk assessment across a region. The presented results aim to throw light on the proper model selection to produce more realistic risk assessment estimates towards the resilience of coastal infrastructure. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

There has been an increasing interest in fundamental and applied research on emerging geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering applications that pose multi-physics problems involving non-isothermal processes in unsaturated soils. Properly studying these problems requires the development of analytical models to describe the constitutive behavior of unsaturated soils under non-isothermal conditions. However, major gaps remain in the development of unified models that can properly represent the temperature dependency of unsaturated soil behavior. The effects of temperature on the stability of slopes, lateral earth pressure, and pile resistance in unsaturated soils are also not well understood. The main objective of this study is to provide new insight and robust tools to characterize and model the temperature-dependent behavior of unsaturated soils. For this purpose, novel unified models are developed for soil water retention curve, effective stress, thermal conductivity function, and small-strain shear modulus for unsaturated soils at elevated temperatures. The models are proposed by establishing or extending the unified model at isothermal conditions to nonisothermal conditions. The fundamental and main variable in all unified models is capillary pressure (also referred to as matric suction). The effect of temperature is considered on adsorption and capillarity as a function of water-air surface tension, soil-water contact angle, and enthalpy of immersion. The proposed models are verified by comparing them with experimental data reported in the literature and measurements made in this study. Overall results of the proposed models show an excellent predictive capability. Furthermore, the parametric study is conducted to understand the effect of different parameters such as soil type, temperature, drainage conditions, and among others on hydraulic and mechanical properties of unsaturated soil. Finally, the proposed models are incorporated into geotechnical applications such as slope stability, lateral earth pressure, and pile resistance involving unsaturated conditions and elevated temperatures. The variation of temperature in unsaturated soils for these applications can be notable and cannot be ignored in the design and analysis. The proposed formulations can also be readily incorporated into analytical solutions and numerical simulations of thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in unsaturated soils. The findings of the study can facilitate using numerical models to simulate various non-isothermal applications including geo-energy systems and soil-atmospheric interaction problems.

Site investigations are often performed prior to the design of pile foundations with the aim to collect data regarding soil properties including boulder content. The obtained data is typically limited due to non-homogeneous characteristic of the soil. The geological conditions of the Mälardalen region are characterized by glacial and post glacial clay overlaying on the layer of moraine containing boulders on a bedrock. Thus, pile refusal in results of encountering boulders is a common issue during pile driving in this region. The current methods to assess the pile refusal risk are mostly qualitative and relies on the expertise gained from experience.This thesis aims to develop a numerical model to quantify the boulder content in a soil strata with a confidence interval based on the site investigation results. Furthermore, this study estimates the probability and the consequences of hitting boulders while installing piles.The model simulations show that an increase in the boulder content raises the probability of hitting a boulder, but it is not proportional to the diameter of piles. It means that even in low rate of boulder content with small piles there is a high probability to hit a boulder. Results from simulations using simplified quantitative method show that slender piles have substantial consequences in case they encounter boulders. Thus, these piles are more prone to pile refusal or breakage. It is suggested that in projects where small piles are preferred due to the superstructure design, enough tests be performed to have an estimate of boulder content with tighter interval and more precise design. On the other hand, in projects with low pile counts, it is recommended to have a conservative design with large diameter piles instead of performing numerous in-situ tests. This is because the price for piling becomes relatively low compared to site investigations’ cost.

Yes / Stability and safety of offshore wind turbines with mono-pile foundations, affected by nonlinear wave effect and dynamic seabed response, are the primary concerns in offshore foundation design. In order to address these problems, the nonlinear wave effect on dynamic seabed response in the vicinity of mono-pile foundation is investigated using an integrated model, developed using OpenFOAM, which incorporates both wave model (waves2Foam) and Biot’s poro-elastic model. The present model was validated against several laboratory experiments and promising agreements were obtained. Special attention was paid to the systematic analysis of pore water pressure as well as the momentary liquefaction in the proximity of mono-pile induced by nonlinear wave effects. Various embedment depths of mono-pile relevant for practical engineering design were studied in order to attain the insights into nonlinear wave effect around and underneath the mono-pile foundation. By comparing time-series of water surface elevation, inline force, and wave-induced pore water pressure at the front, lateral, and lee side of mono-pile, the distinct nonlinear wave effect on pore water pressure was shown. Simulated results confirmed that the presence of mono-pile foundation in a porous seabed had evident blocking effect on the vertical and horizontal development of pore water pressure. Increasing embedment depth enhances the blockage of vertical pore pressure development and hence results in somewhat reduced momentary liquefaction depth of the soil around the mono-pile foundation. / Energy Technology Partnership (ETP), Wood Group Kenny, and University of Aberdeen; the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (51425901) and the 111 project (B12032).

Yes / This study aims to evaluate the impacts of using thermally enhanced concrete on the thermal performance of geoenergy structures and interaction between the thermo-active-structures and adjacent dry and partly saturated soils. Experiments using a fully instrumented testing rig were carried out on prototypes of energy pile and diaphragm wall made from normal concrete and thermally enhanced concrete by the addition of graphTHERM powder. Results illustrated that adding 36% of graphTHERM powder to the concrete by weight of cement was found to double the thermal conductivity of concrete and improve the stiffness by 15% without detrimental effects on the compressive strength. The heat transfer efficiency of energy pile and energy diaphragm wall made from thermally enhanced concrete was significantly improved by 50% and 66% respectively, in comparison with the efficiency of the same type of energy structure that was made from a typical normal concrete.

Ce travail décrit le développement de membranes réticulées et de membranes composites inorganique-organique basées sur des polymères perfluorosulfoniques (PFSA) à chaîne longue (LSC) et courte (SSC) et à faible masse équivalente, pour application dans une pile à combustible fonctionnant à moyenne température et à faible humidité relative. Des membranes (LSC-PFSA) réticulées par des groupements sulfonimide ont été préparées à partir de membranes fonctionnalisées par des groupements fluorure de sulfonyle. Les membranes réticulées de type SSC-PFSA ont été préparées à partir d'un polymère à chaînes 2-bromo-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroéthoxy pendantes et réticulables, par traitement thermique pour former des ponts perfluoro. Les membranes préparées ont été caractérisées par spectroscopies IR, Raman, RMN et XPS, par MEB-EDX et ATG. Les membranes de LSC-PFSA et SSC-PFSA réticulées présentent une stabilité dimensionnelle accrue et une meilleure performance en pile à combustible hydrogène-oxygène jusqu'à 110°C que celles des membranes de PFSA non modifiées. Une procédure d'échange ionique/précipitation a été utilisée pour la préparation de systèmes composites à partir de membranes de LSC-PFSA et SSC-PFSA. Plusieurs techniques ont été utilisées pour caractériser les matériaux préparés. Les membranes de type SSC-PFSA-ZrP présentent une morphologie distincte, et différente de celle des membranes LSC-PFSA-ZrP. En pile à combustible, ces membranes composites autorisent une température de fonctionnement plus élevée et une humidité relative plus faible, que les membranes non modifiées. / The objective of this research was to develop cross-linked and composite inorganic-organic membranes based on long and short side chain (LSC, SSC) perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) polymers with low equivalent weight/high ion exchange capacity for operation at medium temperature and low relative humidity in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Covalently cross-linked LSC-PFSA membranes were prepared from sulfonyl fluoride form membranes by reaction with an ammonium base followed by thermal processing to give cross-linking through sulfonimide groups. Covalently cross-linked SSC-PFSA membranes were prepared by formation of perfluoro-cross-links under thermal treatment of solution cast polymers containing cross-linkable 2-bromo-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethoxy side chains. Evidence for cross-linking was provided by IR, Raman, NMR and XPS spectroscopies, SEM-EDX, tensile testing and TGA. Cross-linked LSC and SSC-PFSA membranes have increased dimensional stability and improved performance in a single hydrogen-oxygen cell fuel up to 110°C compared with the corresponding non-cross-linked membranes. Composite PFSA-zirconium phosphate membranes, based on LSC and SSC PFSA (or cross-linked PFSA) membranes were prepared using an ion exchange/precipitation procedure. The physical properties of LSC-PFSA-ZrP and SSC-PFSA-ZrP have been compared and the morphology of the composite membranes shown to differ in SSC and LSC membranes. Composite membranes enabled fuel cell operation at higher temperature/lower RH than non-composite PFSA. Preliminary results indicated that association of cross-linking and composite membrane formation is a clear future perspective of this work.

L’indentation instrumentée (nanoindentation) est une technique d’analyse des données expérimentales utilisées pour atteindre les propriétés mécaniques de matériaux (dureté H, module de Young E) pour lesquels les techniques classiques sont difficilement applicables voire non envisageables. Ces paramètres mécaniques sont issus de l’exploitation de la seule courbe expérimentale charge-décharge. L’analyse de cette dernière repose sur des nombreux modèles reportés dans la littérature (Oliver et pharr, Field et Swain, Doener et Nix, Loubet et al.) qui considèrent la décharge purement élastique. De nombreuses expériences que nous avons menées, sur divers types de matériaux massifs (aciers inoxydables AISI304, AISI316, AISI430; aciers rapides HSS652; verre de silice SiO2) et revêtus de films minces de TiN et TiO2 ont montré que les propriétés mécaniques (E et H), déduites de la méthode de Oliver et Pharr, dépendent du pourcentage de la courbe de décharge considéré, de la charge appliquée et du rayon de la pointe. De plus, pour un système film-substrat, la technique est en général utilisée pour atteindre les propriétés in-situ du film ou du substrat, alors que la méthode de dépouillement fournit des paramètres composites qu’il faut ensuite déconvoluer. Dans la recherche d’une stratégie simple, permettant d’accéder au module élastique d’un film « dur » pour les applications mécaniques, nous avons fait appel à la simulation numérique. Le code de simulation numérique utilisé, est basé sur la méthode des éléments de frontière. Nos investigations numériques utilisant l’indentation sphérique nous ont permis de mettre en évidence un certain nombre de résultats utiles pour l’analyse des données expérimentales. Nous avons commencé par montrer que aussi bien pour un matériau massif homogène élastoplastique que pour un système film dur – substrat élastoplastique, la relation [delta]=a2/R demeure valable (R étant le rayon de l’indenteur, a le rayon de l’aire projetée de contact). Cela permet de représenter les résultats de l’essai d’indentation sphérique par la courbe pression moyenne F/[pi]a2- déformation a/R . Au début du chargement, la pente cette courbe est proportionnelle au module de Young du film tandis que la pente initiale de la courbe de décharge est proportionnelle au module d’élasticité du substrat. Une relation entre le déplacement de l’indenteur et [delta] , puis une méthode d’analyse d’indentation ont été établies. Enfin, la procédure a été validée numériquement et expérimentalement sur les données issues de l’indentation de divers combinaisons film-substrat (TiN/AISI430, TiN/HSS652 et TiO2/HSS652) avec succès / Depth sensing Indentation (nanoindentation) is an experimental technique increasing retained for the assessment of the mechanical properties of materials (hardness H, Young's modulus E) for which common homogeneous mechanical tests can not be performed or are extremely difficult to perform. The mechanical parameters are obtained from the indentation curve (the plot of the load vs penetration depth during both load and unload). Usually, some methodology reported in the literature (Oliver and pharr, Field and Swain, Doener and Nix, Loubet and al.) are used in order to assess E and H. We have performed a number of experiments on homogeneous materials (stainless steel AISI304, AISI316, AISI430; high-speed steel HSS652; glass SiO2) as well as a film-substrate system (TiN/AISI430, TiN/HSS652, TiO2/HSS652). Applying the Oliver and Pharr methodology, E end H vary with the applied load as well as the percentage of used unload curve retained for the analysis, as reported in the literature. Besides, in the case of the film-substrate system, only composite parameters are obtained instead of the in-situ films properties. In order to establish a simple strategy for the determination of the elastic modulus of a hard coating, we have carried out many simulations using a boundary element based numerical tool. Then a number of useful results have been identified. The well known elastic relation [delta]=a2/R between the relative approach [delta], the projected contact radius a and the punch radius R, remain valid in the plastic range for homogeneous as well as film-substrate specimens. This allows data indentation to be represented in term of mean pressure F/[pi]a2 vs indentation strain a/R . The initial slope of the loading part of the latter curve is proportional to the elastic modulus of the film, while the slope of the initial part of the unloading curve is proportional to the substrate elastic modulus. Our indentation procedure anlysis has been validated experimentally on a number of samples (TiN/AISI430, TiN/HSS652, TiO2/HSS652) after having established a relation between the punch displacement and the relative approach [delta]

This thesis will present results on the measurement of Z boson production in the electron channel associated with b-jets in proton-proton collision at 13 TeV, a measurement of fundamental interest in precision measurements and physics searches. This measurement represents important precision tests of perturbative QCD and provides information related to the b-quark inside of the proton. This measurement also represents one of the main sources of background in top quark production studies, Higgs precision measurements and the search for supersymmetric particles. The results on cross section measurements and kinematic distributions presented in this work have been unfolded to particle level and are compared to the four and five flavor schemes in Monte Carlo generators, showing that the predictions are consistent within the experimental uncertainties. In this thesis it will be also shown results of the development of the new event selection system proposed for high luminosity measurements. This system will be implemented during the second LHC long shutdown (2019-2020), which involves studies on the reconstruction of electrons using the concept of supercells, where the fine granularity of the cells of the ATLAS Liquid Argon detector is exploited to mitigate the problems to be found in high luminosity conditions. One of the problems is the increase of pile-up, caused by secondary collisions of protons in the same event, generating a large number of low pT jets that can be erroneously identified as electrons. The studies in this work introduce new discriminants based on the electromagnetic shower shape, showing that is possible to further reduce the rate of low pT jets maintaining a good performance on electron reconstruction. / Esta tese apresentará resultados da medida da produção de bósons Z no canal de elétrons associado com jatos b em colisões próton-próton a 13 TeV, uma medida de fundamental interesse em medidas de precisão e buscas por nova física. Essa medida representa importantes testes de precisão da QCD perturbativa e prove informações relacionadas ao quark b dentro do próton. Essa medida também representa uma das principais fontes de background na produção do quark top, medidas de precisão do Higgs e na busca de partículas supersimétricas. Os resultados na medida da seção de choque e distribuições cinemáticas apresentadas neste trabalho são comparados com os esquemas de quatro e cinco sabores nos geradores Monte Carlo, mostrando que as predições são consistentes dentro das incertezas experimentais. Nesta tese também serão apresentados estudos do desenvolvimento de um sistema de seleção de eventos proposto para medidas em alta luminosidade. Esse sistema será implementado durante o segundo LHC long shutdown (2019-2020), envolvendo estudos na reconstrução de elétrons usando o conceito de supercélulas, onde a fina granularidade das células do detector de Argônio Líquido do ATLAS será aproveitada para mitigar as dificuldades que se terão em condições de alta luminosidade. Um dos problemas é o aumento do empilhamento (pile-up), causado por colisões secundárias de prótons no mesmo evento, gerando uma grande quantidade de jatos de baixo pT que podem ser erroneamente identificados como elétrons. Os estudos neste trabalho apresentam novos discriminantes com base na forma da cascata eletromagnética, mostrando que é possível reduzir ainda mais a taxa de jatos de baixo pT mantendo uma boa reconstrução de elétrons.