Key Engineering Materials Vol. 857

Abstract: The present investigation focuses on the response of simply supported reinforced concrete rectangular-section beams with multiple openings of different sizes, numbers, and geometrical configurations. The advantages of the reinforcement concrete beams with multiple opening are mainly, practical benefit including decreasing the floor heights due to passage of the utilities through the beam rather than the passage beneath it, and constructional benefit that includes the reduction of the self-weight of structure resulting due to the reduction of the dead load that achieves economic design. To optimize beam self-weight with its ultimate resistance capacity, ten reinforced concrete beams having a length, width, and depth of 2700, 100, and 400 mm, respectively were fabricated and tested as simply supported beams under one incremental concentrated load at mid-span until failure. The design parameters were the configuration and size of openings. Three main groups categorized experimental beams comprise the same area of openings and steel reinforcement details but differ in configurations. Three different shapes of openings were considered, mainly, rectangular, parallelogram, and circular. The experimental results indicate that, the beams with circular openings more efficient than the other configurations in ultimate load capacity and beams stiffness whereas, the beams with parallelogram openings were better than the beams with rectangular openings. Commonly, it was observed that the reduction in ultimate load capacity, for beams of group I, II, and III compared to the reference solid beam ranged between (75 to 93%), (65 to 93%), and (70 to 79%) respectively.

Abstract: Six I-section steel beams had been fabricated and tested to understand the influence of prestressing strand on the load deflection behavior of steel beam. All tested beams are simply supported having the same gross sectional area with clear span (2850) mm, five beams strengthened by two low relaxation seven wire strands, while sixth beam is the reference one. The strengthening beams were subjected jacking stress equal to (1120MPa) and subdivided according to prestressing strand positions (eccentricity). From the experimental tests, it can be noted that, the load deflection curves for strengthened beams are stiffer as compared with reference beam and the percentage of ductility for strengthened beams were decreased when the eccentricity positions change form (0 to 96)mm respectively, on the other hand, the percentage of increasing in maximum applied load for strengthened beams were increased with increasing of strands eccentricity and the maximum applied load reaches to 61.74% as compared with reference, also, the percentage increasing in maximum deflection at middle span for strengthened beams decreases with increasing of strands eccentricity and the minimum percentage of decreasing at middle span of strengthened specimens reaches to 36.31% as compared with the reference beam.

Abstract: Gypseous considered as problematic soils also gypseous soils are distributed all over the world, as well as in large areas of Iraq, including Al- Najaf city. Gypseous soils are characterized by high strength in dry conditions, but they collapse due to water infiltration process under constant head conditions. In this research, a field study investigates gypseous soils and the effect of soaked state on the bearing capacity and settlement of the gypseous soils are investigated. A site with a high percentage of gypsum (about 25%) was selected to perform plate load tests. The test was carried out in a natural and soaked state on the gypseous soils by plate load test with time-dependent. The results show the ultimate bearing capacity of gypseous soil from plate load test are decrease under the soaking condition and maximum settlement increase. The angle of internal friction (ø) of gypseous soil we obtained from the direct shear test is 47.62⁰ for natural soil. The ultimate bearing capacity of gypseous soil was calculated from the Terzaqhi’s equation and the high difference between field tests and theoretical results.

Abstract: Cracking, shrinkage, and curling of soils, in general, take place due to drying. These deformations lead to many problems include the development of main paths for water flow and pollutant transport, reduction of soil strength (and impact on other mechanical properties of soils), erosion in slopes, landslides, increase infiltration capacity of the soil and the differential settlement problems. Few studies have investigated the effect of wetting-drying (W-D) cycles on desiccation cracks of soils. The effect of multiple wetting-drying cycles in the cracking behavior was investigated in this research by performing several wetting-drying (W-D) cycles on the initially saturated samples (of pure kaolinite and a mixture of kaolinite with bentonite) under the lab atmosphere (24 ± 1 °C, and 52 ± 2% of RH). The weight of each sample was monitored using a computerized scale (with an accuracy of 0.01 g) connected to the computer. During the test, the water evaporation path with the development of surface cracks and volume shrinkage was monitored by means of digital images. It was observed that the crack patterns changed during the initial cycles, but there was an equilibrium state in the third and fourth W-D cycles. Additionally, it was observed that the main cracks formed in the first dry path were virtually closed after 10 minutes of the second wetting path; in the meantime, small cracks (fissures) were initiated after this wetting process. It was, also, detected that soils with high plasticity required more W-D cycles to reach the equilibrium condition than soils with low plasticity. The results of these experiments are useful for understanding the effect of different seasons on soil behavior.

Abstract: In this paper, the Reliability Analysis with utilizing a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) process was conducted on the equation of the collapse potential predicted by ANN to study its reliability when utilized in a situation of soil that has uncertainty in its properties. The prediction equation utilized in this study was developed previously by the authors. The probabilities of failure were then plotted against a range of uncertainties expressed in terms of coefficient of variation. As a result of reliability analysis, it was found that the collapse potential equation showed a high degree of reliability in case of uncertainty in gypseous sandy soil properties within the specified coefficient of variation (COV) for each property. When the COV ranges (0-100) for each soil properties under study, it was found also that the collapse potential equation is very well in predicting the collapse potential of gypseous sandy soils for all values of the COV lies between (0-100) % for initial water content and degree of saturation, and for values of the COV not exceed 11%, 19% for the initial dry unit weight and specific gravity respectively, as well as for the values of the COV not exceed 80%, 97% for the initial voids ratio and gypsum content respectively.

Abstract: This study was undertaken to investigate some specific problems that limit a safe design and construction of structures on problematic soils. An experimental study was carried out to examine the influence of loading rate and moisture content on shear strength of organic soil. Influece of moisture content on interface friction between organic soil and structural materials was also attempted. A commonly used soil in Iraq was prepared at varying moisture contents of 39%, 57% and 75%. The experimental results showed that the increase in water content will decrease the shear stress and the internal friction angle. An increase of the shearing rate was found to decrease the shear stress and internal friction angle for all percetanges of water contents. Further, direct shear tests were carried out to detect the interface shear stress behavior between organic soil and structural materials. The results revealed that the increase in water content was shown to have significant negetavie effects on the interface internal friction and angle shear strength.

Abstract: Accurate prediction of the soil shear strength parameters is essential in the reliable geotechnical design of civil engineering structures. This recent paper investigates the effect of the dry testing condition on the shear strength parameters of the sandy soil using the direct shear apparatus and compared with the saturated condition tests in previous researches on the same soil. The dry soil, usually above the water table, is the principal condition of the Al-Najaf city soil in Iraq. Samples are selected from the site of the University of Kufa, which represents the sandy soil of the city. For reliability purposes, the soil is exposed to different pre-soaking durations (one, two, and four weeks) then air-dried for shear tests. The main results revealed that the angle of internal friction (Φ) tested as a dry sample decreases about -6% up to two-weeks soaking then recovered upon four-week soaking about +6%. Compared to the saturated testing, there are increases in F between 6%-17% from saturated tests. Finally, it is recommended to aware in the selection of testing conditions for calculations of the angle of internal friction.

Abstract: This study deals with cavities under square footing which resulted from gypsum dissolving due to water flow in gypseous soil. This process leads to collapse of soil structure and progressive compression. A model was developed for governing the mass-transport to assess the variation of gypsum content of the soil during dissolution by ground water flow then cavity formation was adopted. A general three-dimensional finite element program (PLAXIS 3D) was selected for numerical analysis method to generate the solution. The study included a number of variables and their effect on bearing capacity of gypseous soil such as (gypsum content, cavity volume and location). The cavity was represented as axis and plane cavity which has square section. The results show that the most dangerous case is found when the cavity locates at the center of footing base (Z/B = 0), where the bearing capacity decreased by (14, 37, and 69%) for (20, 30, and 40%) gypsum dissolving ratio respectively. Also, the bearing capacity decreased when the cavity volume increases due to increasing dissolution ratio. The effect of cavity became disappear after (Z/B = 4). While, when using plane cavity, there was no cavity at center of footing base (Z/B = 0) because it considered as a hole not cavity. When using plane cavity, the bearing capacity decreased by (28, 43, and 53%) for (20, 30, and 40%) dissolving ratio respectively when (Z/B=1). The effect of cavity on the bearing capacity would be disappear as the distance from footing center increase until it became disappear at (Z/B = 6 m). The plane cavity is more dangerous than axis cavity.

Abstract: The paper briefly describes the methods for testing soils by triaxial compression. Among the many mechanical characteristics of the soil, deformation and strength properties remain as the main and widely used ones, the determination of which is an important experimental task. In recent years, new test schemes, more advanced designs of instruments and equipment for the study of various soils have been proposed. Like any material, the soil has limited strength, and under certain external influences the soil massifs collapse, as a result of which their individual parts get unlimitedly large displacements. Triaxial soil compression is becoming more widespread in the production of engineering and geological studies to justify the construction projects of various engineering structures. Based on the results of this work, recommendations for the practical application of the obtained soil characteristics for the geotechnical geoinformational database of the city of Nur-Sultan are made.

Abstract: This study focuses on studying the impacts of residues oil on the geotechnical properties of soil and the performance of raft footing rested on oil contaminated soil and subjected to vertical loads. The contaminant used in the present study is residues oil, which is by product disposed of diesel engine oils. The soil samples are contaminated artificially by soaking with two percentage of disposed engine oil of contaminant consist of (disposed engine oil and gasoline) of 20% weight of dried of intact soil samples to obtain different concentrations of contaminant absorbed by soil samples for 30 days to complete the saturation. The mechanical model manufactured to investigate the behavior of raft footing under vertical static loading rested on intact and contaminated soils. The obtained results detected contaminant content have notable impacts on the physical soil characteristics such as the fine particles, specific gravity, plasticity index, and maximum dry unit weight decreased with the increase of contaminant content than that of intact soil. The mechanical soil properties of soil indicated the increase of the compressibility of soil with increase of residues oil percentage, but the soil strength and stiffness are decreased notably. In addition, the total and permanent settlement of raft footing constructed in contaminated soil samples increased by (27-43) % and by (41-58) % than that of an intact soil sample, respectively.