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.

Caisson or pier foundations are encountered as part of the foundation system of tall structures such as bridges, transmission towers, heliostats, etc, and correspond to rigid blocks of length-to-diameter (D/B) ratio on the order of D/B = 2-6. As a result of their geometry and stiffness characteristics, the mechanisms of load transfer from the superstructure to the surrounding soil and their kinematic response to seismic wave propagation are governed by a complex stress distribution at the pier-soil interface, which cannot be adequately represented by means of simplified Winkler models for shallow foundations or flexible piles. Continuum model solutions, such as 3D finite elements (FE) cannot be employed frequently in practice for the design of non-critical facilities due to the cost and effort associated with these analyses. The objective of this work is to develop a Winkler-type model for the analysis of transversely-loaded caissons, which approximately accounts for all the main soil resistance mechanisms mobilized, while retaining the advantages of simplified methodologies for design at intermediate levels of target accuracy. Investigation of the governing load-transfer mechanisms and development of complex spring functions is formulated on the basis of 3D FE simulations. Initially, the soil-structure stiffness matrix is computed by subjecting the pier to transverse static and dynamic loading at the top, and numerically estimating the response. Complex frequency-dependent functions are next developed for the spring constants by equating the stiffness matrix terms to the analytical expressions developed for the four-spring model. Sensitivity analyses are conducted for optimization of the truncated numerical domain size, finite element size and far-field dynamic boundary conditions to avoid spurious wave reflections. Simulations are next conducted to evaluate the transient response of the foundation subjected to vertically propagating shear waves, and results are compared to the response predicted by means of the 4-spring model. Finally, the applicability of the method is assessed for soil profiles with depth-varying properties. While the methodology developed is applicable for linear elastic media with no material damping, the expressions of complex spring functions may be extended to include hysteretic damping, nonlinear soil behavior and soil-foundation interface separation, as shown in the conclusions.

Ballastfria spår har på senare tid börjat byggas i allt större utsträckning. En anledning till detta är höjda krav på järnvägstransporter. Ett ballastfritt spår är ofta utformat som en långsträckt betongplatta på mark som för ned lasten från rälerna till underbyggnaden. I nuläget saknar Sverige dimensioneringsprinciper för ballastfria spår. Principerna är redan etablerade i andra länder men behöver inordnas för svenska förhållanden. År 2012 gjorde regeringen bedömningen att en ny stambana för snabbtåg bör byggas. För detta ändamål har Trafikverket utarbetat en ny teknisk systemstandard för höghastighetsbanor. De traditionella ballasterade spåren är inte optimerade för höga hastigheter. Trafikverkets nya systemstandard förutsätter därför att stora delar av den nya stambanan utförs med ballastfritt spår. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att studera dimensionering med hänsyn till det statiska beteendet hos ballastfria spår och skapa en grundläggande förståelse för spårreaktioner. Med hjälp av handberäkningar och datorstödda metoder undersöks elementärfall av belastningar samt sambandet mellan plattans erforderliga böjstyvhet och underbyggnadens styvhet. Handberäkningsmodeller som antas i detta arbete är bland annat Winklerbäddmodellen och diverse vedertagna tvärsnittsmodeller. De datorstödda metoderna som används är FEM-programmet BRIGADE/Plus och BEM-programmet BE-platte. I BRIGADE/Plus används en tvådimensionell modell där marken modelleras som ett elastiskt underlag. I BE-platte används en tredimensionell modell med en markmodell enligt Winklerbäddmodellen. Resultaten från de olika metoderna kontrolleras mot varandra för att verifiera erhållna resultat. Sambandet mellan elasticitetsmodul i plattornas underlag, plattjocklek och lastreaktioner åskådliggörs i diagram samt tvärkraftstabell i kapitel 4. Beräkningsmodellernas beteende diskuteras och jämförs i kapitel 5. / Recently slab tracks have been built more frequently, among other things due to an increasing demand on rail transport. A slab track is often designed as a continuous concrete slab on grade that carries down the load from the rails to the substructure. At present, Sweden lacks design principles for slab tracks. Principles are established in other countries but must be adapted to Swedish conditions. In 2012 the Swedish government made the assessment that a new mainline for high-speed trains should be built. For this purpose, the Swedish Transport Administration prepared a new technical standard for high-speed tracks. Traditional ballasted tracks are not optimized for high speed trains and therefore the new standard requires large parts of the new mainline to be built with slab track. The aim of this thesis is to study the design of slab tracks with respect to their static behavior and create a fundamental understanding of force reactions acting on them. For elementary load cases the relation between required slab bending stiffness and the stiffness of the substructure will be investigated using hand calculations and computer-assisted methods. Models for hand calculation adopted in this work include the Winkler-bed model and various conventional cross-sectional models. The computer-assisted methods used are FEM software BRIGADE/Plus and BEM software BE-Platte. In BRIGADE/Plus the models are two-dimensional and the soil is modeled as an elastic base. In BE-Platte the models are three-dimensional and the soil is modeled according to Winkler-bed model. The results of the various methods are cross-checked against each other to verify the results obtained. The relationship between the modulus of elasticity of the subsoil, plate thickness and load reactions is illustrated in charts and a shear force table in Chapter 4. The behavior of the calculation models is discussed and compared in Chapter 5.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-01-31 20:52:11.162 / One of the most severe hazards for buried pipelines, which are sometimes referred to as lifelines due to their essential role in delivering vital resources, is the hazard due to Permanent Ground Deformation (PGD). Earthquake induced PGD can be caused by surface faulting, landslides and seismic settlement. In this thesis, the behaviour of buried pipelines subject to normal faulting has been experimentally investigated through a series of centrifuge tests performed on both continuous and jointed pipelines. Both pipe and soil displacements were measured using image analysis. Signal processing techniques were then developed to filter this data so as to enable the calculation of curvature and other aspects of the response from the observed pipe deformations. First, a series of centrifuge tests was conducted on continuous pipelines of varying materials, representing a wide range of pipe stiffness relative to the soil and investigating the effect of pipe stiffness relative to the soil on soil-pipe interaction. The experimentally derived p-y curves at different locations along the pipe were compared to the recommended soil-pipe interaction models in the relevant guidelines. These p-y curves showed that the central shearing region was not captured well with independent soil springs. The response of the pipelines predicted by the ALA (2001) guideline, however, was shown to match the experimental data within 50%. Two new simplified design approaches were then developed. The first features calculations based on simplified pressure distributions. The second featured peak curvature normalized using a characteristic length, ipipe, the distance from peak to zero moment. A series of centrifuge tests using brittle pipes was also performed. The pipes were buried at three different depths, and the post-failure fracture angle of the pipe was measured to be used as an input for design of liners. Based on the experimental data, a computationally efficient approach was developed to estimate the initial fracture angle which occurs immediately after the pipe breaks. The last series of centrifuge tests was conducted on jointed pipelines with five different joint stiffnesses to investigate the flexural behaviour of jointed pipelines under normal faulting. Based on the observed pipe response, a simplified kinematic model was proposed to estimate the maximum joint rotation for a given geometry, pipe segment length, and the magnitude of the imposed ground displacement. / Ph.D

The diploma thesis deals with analytical description of vehicle - track dynamic interface. There are described basic analytical models which are subsequently extended in order to get a more precise description of dynamic phenomena. The aim is to compile a model that faithfully describes the dynamic phenomena in the track. These new compiled models are qualitatively compared with data obtained by measuring in the track.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In this study, Janis Edwards and Carol Winkler’s method, based on Michael McGee’s ideograph, is applied to non-discursive forms in order to understand the extent to which these images can be understood as a representative form functioning ideographically. Artifacts for analysis include the 2008 Shepard Fairey Obama “PROGRESS” and “HOPE” images, related campaign graphics, and parodies, political and non-political, humorous and serious. Literature on visual rhetoric, the ideograph, and extensions of McGee’s ideograph to visual forms was reviewed. When the method was applied to the artifacts, the Obama “HOPE” image was found to be an example of a representative form. Additionally, the representative form was demonstrated to function ideographically in the parodied examples analyzed in this thesis. Opportunities for further study on the visual ideograph and additional artifacts were proposed.