An investigation into the transient impacts of flood loadings on earthen embankments was conducted. Two embankments were instrumented and monitored over a period of four years. One of these embankments was a levee located along the Mississippi River just north of Cairo, Illinois. The other embankment was part of a catchment basin at the Engineer Research and Development Center located in Vicksburg, MS. Tensiometer and porous block sensors were used to monitor the pore water pressures in the embankments. It was found that when measuring the field soil water retention, tensiometers were more responsive than porous block sensors at low suctions; although, at shallower depths, the tensiometer performance was limited during periods of extended drying. It was shown that during the start of flooding, pore water pressures in the embankment soils were near −10 kPa at depths less than 2 m, which was greater than the normally assumed hydrostatic conditions. An investigation into flood hydrographs collected from across the United States showed that flood durations could be hundreds of days long. These hydrographs were collected over a period of 10 years. It was found that the recorded peak flood stage exceeded the major flood stage 11% of the time. An uncouple transient seepage model of a 2015 Mississippi River flood event that occurred at the Cairo levee showed that an uncoupled model could simulate the field measurements; however, the material properties that resulted in the most accurate simulation differed from those measured in the laboratory. Soil water retention characteristics of the embankment soils were assessed, and it was found that laboratory measured soil water retention curves could be used to bracket field measurements. Slope stability analyses were performed as a proxy to assessing the progression of the wetting front in the levees. Accounting for the increase in shear strength due to the presence of matric suction resulted in minimal impacts to stability factors of safety for levee embankments during flood loadings. The results of this investigation will help to improve the reliability of transient seepage analyses and provides guidance for future embankment monitoring investigations. / Doctor of Philosophy / An investigation into the movement of flood water through flood control embankments was conducted. Typically, analysis of this phenomenon is performed independent of the effects of time. For this investigation, the impacts of time were considered. When considering the effects of time dependent loadings, an initial distribution of water pressures must be considered. Typical assumptions regarding these distributions were investigated using four years of sensor measurements from two embankments. These measurements were also used to investigate appropriate material properties when considering saturated and unsaturated soil properties necessary for these analyses. Results show that typical assumptions may not be appropriate regarding initial water pressure distributions. Additionally, recommendations for assigning material properties were provided and it was found that these types of analyses can simulate flood loadings, but a range of material properties must be explored to understand the full range of performance. The impact of these results will lead to better predictions of embankment performance during flood loadings.

Soil improvement methods are used to minimize the consequences of liquefaction by changing the characteristics and/or response of a liquefiable soil deposit. When considering sites with previous development, the options for soil improvement are limited. Traditional methods, such as compaction and vibratory techniques, are difficult to employ because of adverse effects on adjacent structures. One potential method for soil improvement against soil liquefaction in developed sites is accelerated drainage through in situ vertical drains. Vertical drains expedite the dissipation of excess pore water pressures by reducing the length of the pore water drainage path. For more than thirty years, vertical gravel drains or stone columns have been employed to ensure the excess pore water pressure ratio remains below a prescribed maximum value. In recent years, the use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) has increased because the drains can be installed with less site disruption than with traditional soil improvement methods. To date, little-to-no field or experimental verification is available regarding the seismic performance of sites treated with PVDs. The effectiveness of PVDs for liquefaction remediation was evaluated via small-scale centrifuge testing and full-scale field testing. A small-scale centrifuge test was performed on an untreated soil deposit and on a soil deposit treated with small-scale vertical drains. Compared to the untreated condition, the presence of the small-scale vertical drains provided numerous benefits including smaller magnitudes of excess pore water pressure generation and buildup, smaller induced cyclic shear strains, reduced times for pore pressure dissipation, and smaller permanent horizontal and vertical displacements. In addition, full-scale in situ field experiments were performed in an untreated soil deposit and in a soil deposit treated with full-scale PVDs using a vibrating mandrel as the dynamic source. In the untreated test area, the maximum induced excess pore pressure ratio reached about 0.95. In the treated test area, the vibratory installation of the first few drains generated significant excess pore pressures; however, significant excess pore pressures were not generated during the vibratory installation of additional drains because of the presence of the adjacent drains. Additionally, the vibratory installation of the drains caused significant settlement and significantly altered the shear wave velocity of the sand. Dynamic shaking after installation of all of the drains induced small accelerations, small cyclic shear strains, and negligible excess pore water pressures in the soil. The results of the field experiment indicate that the prefabricated vertical drains were effective at dissipating excess pore water pressures during shaking and densifying the site. / text

Based upon the upper bound limit analysis, the stability numbers have been developed for a two-layered soil slope both for an associated flow rule material and for a homogeneous slope with non-associated flow rule material. The failure surface was assumed to be an arc of logarithmic spiral and it automatically ensures the kinematics admissibility of the failure mechanism with respect to the rigid rotation of the soil mass about the focus of the logarithmic spiral. The effect of the pore water pressure and horizontal earthquake body forces was also included m the analysis. For a non-associated flow rule material, the stress distribution along the failure surface was developed with the assumption of interslice forces given by Fellenius and Bishop. The stability numbers have been found to reduce appreciably with increases m the (i) horizontal inclination (β) of slope, (ii) pore water pressure coefficient, ru and (iii) horizontal earthquake acceleration coefficient (kh). The values of the stability numbers for a non-associated co-axial flow rule, with dilatancy angle ψ =0, have been found to be considerably lower as compared to the associated flow rule material. For a given height of the slope, with associated flow rule, the values of the stability numbers have been found to increase with increase in the thickness of a layer with greater value of the friction angle Φ. The results have been given in the form of non-dimensional stability charts, which can be used for readily obtaining either the value of the critical height or the factor of safety The methodology can be easily extended even for multi-layered soil slopes with different values of cohesion (c), bulk unit weight (γ) and friction angle (Φ). An attempt has also been made in this thesis to study experimentally the effect of the frequency of the excitation and the addition of non-plastic fines on the liquefaction resistance of the material Shake table studies, generating uni-axial sinusoidal horizontal vibrations, were earned out for this purpose. During the period of excitation of the material, the settlement at the surface of the sample increases continuously with time up to a certain peak value and thereafter, it becomes almost constant. For the excitation of the material with higher frequency, more number of cycles was seen to reach the final settlement. With the continuous excitation of the material, the magnitude of the pore water pressures increases up to a certain peak value and there after, its magnitude decreases till it again becomes the hydrostatic pressure as it was before the excitation of the material. The peak magnitude of the pore water pressure tends to be higher for the excitation with smaller frequency especially at greater depths from the ground surface. The addition of non-plastic fines tends to increase the magnitude of the settlement as well as the increase in the pore water pressure.

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is one of the major factors responsible for distresses in concrete pavements and structures. Continuously reinforced concrete pavements (CRCPs) in particular are highly susceptible to distresses caused by high CTE in concrete. CRCP is a popular choice across the U.S. and around the world for its long service life and minimal maintenance requirements. CRCP has been built in more than 35 states in the U.S., including Texas. In order to prevent CRCP distresses, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has limited the CTE of CRCP concrete to a maximum of 5.5 x10-6 strain/oF (9.9 x10-6 strain/oC). Coarse aggregate sources that produce concrete with CTE higher than the allowable limit are no longer accepted in the TxDOT CRCP projects. Moreover, CTE is an important input in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). Small deviations in input CTE can affect the pavement thickness significantly in MEPDG designs. Therefore, accurate determination of concrete CTE is important, as it allows for enhanced concrete structure and pavement design as well as accurate screening of CRCP coarse aggregates. Moreover, optimizing the CTE of concrete according to a structure’s needs can reduce that structure’s cracking potential. This will result in significant savings in repair and rehabilitation costs and will improve the durability and longevity of concrete structures. This study found that the CTEs determined from saturated concrete samples were affected by the internal water pressure. As a result, the TxDOT method yielded higher values than did the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) method. To further investigate the effect of internal water pressure, an analytical model was developed based on the poroelastic phenomenon of concrete. According to the model, porosity, permeability, and the rate of temperature change are the major factors that influence the internal water pressure development. Increasing the permeability of concrete can reduce the internal water pressure development and can thus improve the consistency of measured CTE values. Preconditioning concrete samples by subjecting them to several heating and cooling cycles prior to CTE testing and reducing the rate of temperature change improved the consistency of the CTE test results. Concrete CTE can be reduced by blending low-CTE aggregates with high-CTE aggregates and reducing the cement paste volume. Based on these findings, a concrete CTE optimization technique was developed that provides guidelines for the selection of concrete constituents to achieve target concrete CTE. A concrete proportioning technique was also developed to meet the need for CTE optimization. This concrete proportioning technique can use aggregate from any sources, irrespective of gradation, shape, and texture. The proposed technique has the potential to reduce the cement requirement without sacrificing performance and provides guidelines for multiple coarse and fine aggregate blends. / text

The use of geosynthetics in landfill construction introduces potential planes of weakness. As a result, there is a requirement to assess the stability along the soil/geosynthetic and geosynthetic/geosynthetic interfaces. Stability is governed by the shear strength along the weakest interface in the system. Repeatability interface shear strength testing of a geomembrane/geotextile interface at low normal stresses suitable for capping systems showed considerable variability of measured geosynthetic interface shear strengths, suggesting that minor factors can have a significant influence on the measured shear strength. This study demonstrates that more than one test per normal stress is necessary if a more accurate and reliable interface shear strength value is to be obtained. Carefully controlled inter-laboratory geosynthetic interface shear strength comparison tests undertaken on large direct shear devices that differ in the kinematic degrees of freedom of the top box, showed the fixed top box design to consistently over estimate the available interface shear strength compared to the vertically movable top box design. Results obtained from measurement of the normal stress on the interface during shear with use of load cells in the lower box of the fixed top box design, raise key questions on the accuracy, reliability and proper interpretation of the interface shear strength data used in landfill design calculations. Tests on the geocomposite/sand interface have shown the interface friction angle to vary with the orientation of the geocomposite's main core, in relation to the direction of shearing. Close attention needs to be paid to the onsite geocomposite placement in confined spaces and capping slope corners, as grid orientation on the slope becomes particularly important when sliding is initiated. Attempts to measure the pore water pressure during staged consolidation and shear along a clay/geomembrane interface in the large direct shear device suggest that this interface is a partial drainage path.

This thesis deals with dependence of heat transfer coefficient on rate of air concentration in the water. Main idea appears from gas dissolvability in water depending on pressure, Henry's law and Newton's law of cooling. There had been an experiment made to verify the hypothesis.

The main goal of master’s thesis is a propsal of the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is double way of water side with the integrated air-vapor mixture cooler. Another aims are heat computation, heat loss computation, solidity dimensioning and selection of a material for a major selection. The last task is about detection of a vapor pressure trought the tube bundle.

Hydrothermal fluids are important mass and heat transfer agents in the Earth's crust and mantle. Aside from their transport role, the aqueous fluids act as reactants or products in rock environment during diverse processes ranging from partial melting, magmatic and metamorphic devolatilization. This study evaluates the effect of equations of state and thermodynamic data for aqueous species on prediction of mineral solubility in aqueous fluids at high temperatures and pressures employing the Helgeson-Kirkham-Flowers model (HKF). These calculations require: (i) volumetric properties of water; (ii) dielectric properties of water; (iii) aqueous species thermodynamic properties. A comparison of ten equations of state against the IAPWS scientific standard reveals that volumetric properties of water up to 1200 řC and 50 kbar are predicted within 5 %, except at low pressure (below 2 kbar), temperatures higher than 1000 řC, and the liquid-vapor equilibrium curve, particularly in the proximity of the critical point of water. The deviations of volumetric and electrostatic properties of water propagate into the mineral solubility calculations. For quartz and corundum these deviations lead to discrepancy in mineral solubility of up to half an order of magnitude for molal concentrations. These discrepancies...

Concrete structures are in general expected to be subjected to cracking during its service life. This is the reason why concrete is reinforced, where the reinforcement is only activated after cracks occur. However, cracks may be a concern in large concrete structures, such as dams, since it may result in reduced service life. The underlying mechanisms behind crack formations are well known at present day. On the other hand, information concerning the crack condition over time and its influence on the structure is limited, such as the influence of water pressure within the cracks. The aim of this project is to study crack propagation influenced by water pressure and to define an experimental test setup that allows for crack propagation due to this load. Numerical analyses have been performed on an initial cracked specimen to study the pressure along the crack propagation. The finite element method has been used as the numerical analysis tool, through the use of the software ABAQUS. The finite element models included in these studies are based on linear or nonlinear material behavior to analyze the behavior during a successively increasing load. The numerical results show that a crack propagates faster if the water is keeping up with the crack extension, i.e. lower water pressure is required to open up a new crack. When the water does not have time to develop within the crack propagation, more pressure is required to open up a new crack. The experimental results show that the connection between the water inlet and the specimen is heavily affected by the bonding material. In addition, concrete quality and crack geometry affects the propagation behavior.

This thesis analyses the governing equation of elastic wave propagation by the finite difference method , and considered absorbing boundary condition and the material damping to simulate behavior of wave propagation. Otherwise, we combined with the mechanics of the soil pore water pressure raised by shear stress effected repeatedly and the soil property is changed by water pressure effected to simulate physical phenomenon in half-space, and probe into the soil liquefaction process during different force types. Using the developed numerical wave propagation model probe into reducing vibration by dug trench and filler trench, and analyzed data by 1/3 octave band method. This thesis discuss with reducing vibration effect by different trench disposed¡Bdifferent filler material property, complex filler, and extending the force source pile length.