ALBERT

Description: In many cases of monitoring or load testing of hydrotechnical structures, the measurement results obtained from dial gauges may be affected by random or systematic errors resulting from the instability of the reference beam. For example, the measurement of wall displacement or pile settlement may be increased (or decreased) by displacements of the reference beam due to ground movement. The application of surveying methods such as high-precision levelling, motorized tacheometry or even terrestrial laser scanning makes it possible to provide an independent reference measurement free from systematic errors. It is very important in the case of walls and piles embedded in the rivers, where the construction of reference structure is even more difficult than usually. Construction of an independent reference system is also complicated when horizontal testing of sheet piles or diaphragm walls are considered. In this case, any underestimation of the horizontal displacement of an anchored or strutted construction leads to an understated value of the strut’s load. These measurements are even more important during modernization works and repairs of the hydrotechnical structures. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possibilities of using modern measurement methods for monitoring of horizontal displacements of an excavation wall. The methods under scrutiny (motorized tacheometry and terrestrial laser scanning) have been compared to classical techniques and described in the context of their practical use on the example hydrotechnical structure. This structure was a temporary cofferdam made from sheet pile wall. The research continuously conducted at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology made it possible to collect and summarize measurement results and practical experience. This paper identifies advantages and disadvantages of both analysed methods and presents a comparison of obtained measurement results of horizontal displacements. In conclusion, some recommendations have been formulated, which are relevant from the point of view of engineering practice.

Description: The design process in geotechnical engineering requires the most accurate mapping of soil. The difficulty lies in the spatial variability of soil parameters, which has been a site of investigation of many researches for many years. This study analyses the soil-modeling problem by suggesting two effective methods of acquiring information for modeling that consists of variability from cone penetration test (CPT). The first method has been used in geotechnical engineering, but the second one has not been associated with geotechnics so far. Both methods are applied to a case study in which the parameters of changes are estimated. The knowledge of the variability of parameters allows in a long term more effective estimation, for example, bearing capacity probability of failure.

Description: The aim of the study was to assess the applicability of asymptotic functions for determining the value of CN parameter as a function of precipitation depth in mountain and upland catchments. The analyses were carried out in two catchments: the Rudawa, left tributary of the Vistula, and the Kamienica, right tributary of the Dunajec. The input material included data on precipitation and flows for a multi-year period 1980–2012, obtained from IMGW PIB in Warsaw. Two models were used to determine empirical values of CNobs parameter as a function of precipitation depth: standard Hawkins model and 2-CN model allowing for a heterogeneous nature of a catchment area. The study analyses confirmed that asymptotic functions properly described P-CNobs relationship for the entire range of precipitation variability. In the case of high rainfalls, CNobs remained above or below the commonly accepted average antecedent moisture conditions AMCII. The study calculations indicated that the runoff amount calculated according to the original SCS-CN method might be underestimated, and this could adversely affect the values of design flows required for the design of hydraulic engineering projects. In catchments with heterogeneous land cover, the results of CNobs were more accurate when 2-CN model was used instead of the standard Hawkins model. 2-CN model is more precise in accounting for differences in runoff formation depending on retention capacity of the substrate. It was also demonstrated that the commonly accepted initial abstraction coefficient λ = 0.20 yielded too big initial loss of precipitation in the analyzed catchments and, therefore, the computed direct runoff was underestimated. The best results were obtained for λ = 0.05.

Description: This paper presents a procedure of conducting Stochastic Finite Element Analysis using Polynomial Chaos. It eliminates the need for a large number of Monte Carlo simulations thus reducing computational time and making stochastic analysis of practical problems feasible. This is achieved by polynomial chaos expansion of the displacement field. An example of a plane-strain strip load on a semi-infinite elastic foundation is presented and results of settlement are compared to those obtained from Random Finite Element Analysis. A close matching of the two is observed.

Description: This paper analyzes the distribution of internal forces and displacements of embedded retaining wall in Quaternary deposits and Tertiary clays. Calculations have been based on the Subgrade Reaction Method (SRM) for two different types of earth pressure behind the wall (active, at-rest) in order to show the differences resulting from adopting the limit values. An algorithm for calculation of “cantilever wall” using the Mathematica program was proposed.

Description: The paper deals with reliability analysis of square footing on soil with strength anisotropy. The strength of the soil has been described with identified anisotropic strength criterion dedicated to geomaterials with layered microstructure. The analysis assumes dip angle α and azimuth angle β which define direction of lamination of the structure to be random variables with given probability density functions. Bearing capacity being a function of these variables is approximated based on results of deterministic simulations obtained for variety of orientations. The weighted regression method by Kaymaz and McMahon within the framework of Response Surface Method is used for the approximation. As a result of analysis, global factor of safety that corresponds to assumed value of probability of failure is determined. The value of the safety factor denotes the ratio between the value of the design load and the mean value of bearing capacity which is needed to reduce the probability of failure to the acceptable level. The procedure of calculating the factor has been presented for two different cases. In the first case, no information about lamination direction of the soil has been provided and thus all the orientations are assumed to be equally probable (uniform distribution). In the second case, statistical information including mean, variance and assumed probability distribution for both α and β angle is known. For the latter case, using results obtained for few different values of mean of angle α, also the influence of strength anisotropy on the value of global factor of safety is shown.

Description: The article presents problem of non-uniform foundation of structures in weak wet subsoil. The problem is illustrated with the case study of two-chamber-reinforced concrete water tank constructed in 1920s of 20th century, which cracked during construction. Under part of foundation, where the peat was found, the concrete piles were introduced.The results of five-year measurement of crack widths with crack gauges and geodesic measurements of vertical displacement of tank were presented. These results indicate that the tank is not stable and part of broken tank supported on piles is movable.On the basis of the presented data, the general conclusions concerning the non-uniform founding of tanks are formulated.

Description: The inclusions of geosynthetic materials (fibers, geomembranes and geotextiles) is a new improvement technique that ensures uniformity in the soil during construction. The use of tension resisting discreet inclusions like polypropylene fibers has attracted a significant amount of attention these past years in the improvement of soil performance in a cost-efficient manner. A series of direct shear box tests were conducted on unreinforced and reinforced Chlef sand with different contents of fibers (0, 0.25, 0.5 and0.75%) in order to study the mechanical behavior of sand reinforced with polypropylene fibers. Samples were prepared at three different relative densities 30%, 50% and 80% representing loose, medium dense and dense states,respectively, and performed at normal stresses of 50, 100 and 200 kPa. The experimental results show that the mechanical characteristics are improved with the addition of polypropylene fibers. The inclusion of randomly distributed fibers has a significant effect on the shear strength and dilation of sandy soil. The increase in strength is a function of fiber content, where it has been shown that the mechanical characteristics improve with the increase in fiber content up to 0.75%, this improvement is more significant at a higher normal stress and relative density.

Description: A theoretical base of SPH method, including the governing equations, discussion of importance of the smoothing function length, contact formulation, boundary treatment and finally utilization in hydrocode simulations are presented. An application of SPH to a real case of large penetrations (crater creating) into the soil caused by falling mass in Dynamic Replacement Method is discussed. An influence of particles spacing on method accuracy is presented. An example calculated by LS-DYNA software is discussed. Chronological development of Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics is presented. Theoretical basics of SPH method stability and consistency in SPH formulation, artificial viscosity and boundary treatment are discussed. Time integration techniques with stability conditions, SPH+FEM coupling, constitutive equation and equation of state (EOS) are presented as well.

Description: The present article examines the problem related to the axisymmetric torsion of an elastic layer by a circular rigid disc at the symmetry plane. The layer is sandwiched between two similar elastic half-spaces with two penny-shaped cracks symmetrically located at the interfaces between the two bonded dissimilar media. The mixed boundary-value problem is transformed, by means of the Hankel integral transformation, to dual integral equations, that are reduced, to a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. The numerical methods are used to convert the resulting system to a system of infinite algebraic equations. Some physical quantities such as the stress intensity factor and the moment are calculated and presented numerically according to some relevant parameters. The numerical results show that the discontinuities around the crack and the inclusion cause a large increase in the stresses that decay with distance from the disc-loaded. Furthermore, the dependence of the stress intensity factor on the disc size, the distance between the crack and the disc, and the shear parameter is also observerd.

Description: A characteristic feature of soil-steel structures is that, unlike in typical bridges, the backfill and the carriageway pavement with its foundation play a major role in bearing loads. In the soil-steel structure model, one can distinguish two structural subsystems: the shell made of corrugated plates and the backfill with the pavement layers. The interactions between the subsystems are modelled as interfacial interactions, that is, forces normal and tangent to the surface of the shell. This is a static condition of the consistency of mutual interactions between the surrounding earth and the shell, considering that slip can arise at the interface between the subsystems. This paper presents an algorithm for determining the internal forces in the shell on the basis of the unit strains in the corrugated plates, and subsequently, the interfacial interactions. The effects of loads arising during the construction of a soil-steel bridge when, for example, construction machines drive over the structure, are taken into account in the analysis of the internal forces in the shell and in the surrounding earth. During construction, the forces in the shell are usually many times greater than the ones generated by service loads. Thus, the analytical results presented in this paper provide the basis for predicting the behaviour of the soil medium under operational loads.

Description: This article presents the results of laboratory tests on soft, normally consolidated soils from the Vistula Marshlands. Samples of high-plasticity organic soils (muds) taken from 3.2–4.0 m and 9.5–10.0 m depth, as well as peat deposit at 14.0 m, are analysed. Presented case study confirms the applicability of the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) method based on Cone Penetration Tests (CPTU) and allows for a conservative estimation of effective friction angle for muds. The plastification angle equal to 14.5° for organic silt, applied in the modified NTH method, fits well the triaxial test (TX) results. Moreover, the dilative-contractive behaviour according to the CPTU soil classification based on the Robertson’s proposal from 2016 corresponds well with volumetric changes observed in the consolidated drained triaxial compression tests. The internal friction angles of the Vistula Marshlands’ muds and peats are lower in comparison with the database of similar soft soils.

Description: Based on the response of small-scale model square footing, the present paper shows the results of an experimental bearing capacity of eccentrically loaded square footing, near a slope sand bed. To reach this aim, a steel model square footing of (150 mm × 150 mm) and a varied sand relative density of 30%, 50% and 70% are used. The bearing capacity-settlement relationship of footing located at the edge of a slope and the effect of various parameters such as eccentricity (e) and dimensions report (b/B) were studied. Test results indicate that ultimate bearing capacity decreases with increasing load eccentricity to the core boundary of footing and that as far as the footing is distant from the crest, the bearing capacity increases. Furthermore, the results also prove that there is a clear proportional relation between relative densities –bearing capacity. The model test provides qualitative information on parameters influencing the bearing capacity of square footing. These tests can be used to check the bearing capacity estimated by the conventional methods.

Description: Tunnel construction below or adjacent to piles will affect the performance and eventually the stability of piles due to ground deformation resulting in the movement of piles and changes in the axial force distribution along the piles. A three dimensional finite element analysis using PLAXIS 3D (2013) was performed to study the behaviour of a single pile and 3 x 3 piles group during the advancement of shield tunnelling in ground. The 10-node tetrahedral elements were used to model both the soil and the tunnel lining. The Hardening Soil (HS) model was used to simulate the soil structure interaction at the tunnel-soil interface. An isotropic elastic model was used for the pile, piles cap, tunnel lining and tunnel boring machine shield (TBM). Several parametric studies were attempted including the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical tunnel location relative to pile embedded in different types of soil (clay or sand). The results showed that the pile head settlement increases during the tunnelling advancement in larger values than that for ground surface settlement. A zone of influence was determined in the range of twice the tunnel diameter in the longitudinal direction (forward and backward of the pile), and transverse direction (left and right of the tunnel centreline). If the tunnel boring is kept off this zone then there is no fear of pile collapse.

Description: The paper evaluates the effectiveness of reinforcing a damaged earth structure with making counterfort drains in its slope. The system of counterfort drains changed the soil properties significantly over a long-term use. The evaluation was based on many years of field and laboratory tests and stability analysis. The field tests concerned the observation of N WST probing resistance change, and the laboratory tests concerned the change in soil consistency and water content. The paper presents the results of tests that were conducted over 13 years.

Description: The paper presents tests set-ups for experiments on sorption kinetics and gas filtration kinetics in a porous medium. It was observed that two phenomena occur in these processes: transportation of gas into the porous solid and settling of gas molecules on the walls of the solid or within its volume. An experiment was carried out in which a thin resistance thermometer was quickly taken out of an argon stream and placed in carbon dioxide or the other way round. The measurement made it possible to determine the sorption time constant. It was demonstrated that the sorption rate is much higher than the filtration rate. Thus, filtration is the process describing the rate at which gas molecules penetrating the porous substance are adsorbed or desorbed. The sorption time constant is not 〉50 m.In the second experiment, the author determined the rate at which gas is liberated from coal grains. The measurement method was based on measurement of the pressure of desorbing gas in constant volume. The experiment involved measurement of the pressure of the gas liberated from the coal grains in a closed chamber. The kinetic curves obtained in this way were used to determine the carbon dioxide coefficient in coal grains. During the experiment, particular focus was put on the initial stage of gas liberation (up to 0.4 s).The slower process of gas transporting in the porous structure of coal is the transporting of gas through a coal briquette. Experimentally implemented variety of boundary conditions allowed for a more complete verification of the assumed theoretical model and possibly for the exact determination of filtration parameters. The experimental set-up built for this purpose, allows for pressure and temperature measurement on the briquette side surface.

Description: In this work, the input-output method of dynamic parameters' identification is experimentally tested. A method based on the transformation of a dynamic problem into a static problem by means of integration of the input and output signal was presented. The problem discussed in this article is the identification of the coefficients of stiffness matrices and eigenfrequencies of a discrete dynamic system subjected to kinematic input. The experimental analysis was carried out on a three-storey slab-and-column structure, which constitutes a physical model of a building. The vibrations of the model were excited kinematically by an earthquake simulator. The device has a computer-controlled, movable table top, which can move independently in three directions, that is, horizontally, vertically, and rotationally around the vertical axis.The aim of the experimental studies presented in this work was to determine the dynamic parameters of the model (stiffness, natural frequencies) using the input-output method in the time domain. Moreover, the results obtained with this method were compared with the results of experimental modal analysis (EMA) in order to verify their correctness. It was assumed that the movement of the base is horizontal and occurs in one direction. Two short-term, irregular kinematic excitations of the construction were considered, and the selected results and conclusions from experimental analyses were presented in this work.

Description: The article presents the analysis of complex stress states in the concrete structure of grain silos, caused by non-centric emptying. The authors present a combination of loads from the pressure of bulk solid on the silo chamber according to Eurocode 1, Part 4 [11], which should be taken into account when emptying on large eccentricities in action assessment class 3 (AAC3) silos. For the example of a cylindrical wheat silo with a height of 25 m and a diameter of 10 m, the researchers carried out an analysis regarding the impact of the size of the eccentric discharge outlet on the distributions of forces and bending moments in a reinforced concrete wall.

Description: This paper analyses the effects of loads that change their location, i.e. moving but quasi-static loads. Displacements defining the deformation of the soil–steel structure’s shell buried in soil are calculated from the results of measurements performed using a dense grid of points located on the circumferential section of the corrugated plate. In this way, all the components of the structure, namely the corrugated plate, the backfill and the pavement with its foundation, as well as the natural (real) principles of their interaction, are taken into account in the solution. In the proposed algorithm, unit strains are converted into displacements, whereby results as accurate as the ones obtained by direct experimental measurements are obtained. The algorithm’s main advantages are that the number of points is limitless, they are regularly distributed on the circumferential section of the shell and any displacement directions can be obtained. Consequently, the deformations of the shell can be faithfully reproduced. The algorithm’s convenient feature is that one can use a simplified computational diagram of the shell in the form of a beam having the shape of the shell in 2D space (without the other components of the soil–steel structure). The advantage of this measuring method (electric resistance tensometry) is that there is no need to build the solid scaffold used for displacement measurements. The research focuses on the analysis of the displacements and the unit strains arising during the primary and secondary (return) travel of the load.

Description: In this article, the stress–dilatancy relationship for crushed latite basalt is analysed by using Frictional State Theory. The relationship is bilinear, and the parameters α and β determine these two straight lines. At the initial stage of shearing, the mean normal stress increment mainly influences breakage, but at the advanced stage, it is shear deformation that influences breakage. At the advanced stage of shearing, the parameter αpt represents energy consumption because of breakage and βpt mainly represents changes in volume caused by breakage during shear. It is also shown that breakage effect is significant at small stress levels and the η-Dp plane is important to fully understand the stress–strain behaviour of crushed latite basalt in triaxial compression tests.

Description: The article describes a computer analysis of the pull-out test used to calculate the force needed to pull out a rock fragment and determine the shape of this broken fragment. The analyzed material is sandstone and porphyry. The analysis included the first approach to using own subroutine in the Simulia Abaqus system, that is, which task is undertaken to accurately determine the crack path of the Finite Element Method model. The work also contains a description of laboratory tests and analytical considerations.

Description: A three-dimensional finite element technique was used to analyse single pile lateral response subjected to pure lateral load. The main objective of this study is to assess the influence of the pile slenderness ratio on the lateral behaviour of single pile. The lateral single pile response in this assessment considered both lateral pile displacement and lateral soil resistance. As a result, modified p-y curves for lateral single pile response were improved when taking into account the influence lateral load magnitudes, pile cross sectional shape and flexural rigidity of the pile. The finite element method includes linear elastic, Mohr-Coulomb and 16-nodes interface models to represent the pile behaviour, soil performance and interface element, respectively. It can be concluded that the lateral pile deformation and lateral soil resistance because of the lateral load are always influenced by lateral load intensity and soil type as well as a pile slenderness ratio (L/D). The pile under an intermediate and large amount of loading (in case of cohesionless soil) has more resistance (low lateral displacement) than the pile embedded on the cohesion soil. In addition, it can be observed that the square-shaped pile is able to resist the load by about 30% more than the circular pile. On the other hand, pile in cohesionless soil was less affected by the change in EI compared with that in cohesive soil.

Description: Back in the early 1980s, coal deposits occurring at depths of ~700 m below surface were already regarded as large-depth deposits. Meanwhile, today the borderline depth of large-depth mining has extended to 〉1,000 m. Design, excavation and maintenance of mining roadways at the depth of 〉1,000 m have, therefore, become crucial issues in a practical perspective in recent years. Hence, it is now extremely important to intensify research studies on the influence of large depths on the behaviour of rock mass and deformation of support in underground excavations. The paper presents the results of the study carried out in five mining excavations at depths ranging from 950 to 1,290 m, where monitoring stations with measurement equipment were built. The analysis of data from laboratory and coal mine tests, as well as in situ monitoring, helped to formulate a set of criteria for stability assessment of underground excavations situated at large depths. The proposed methodology of load and deformation prediction in support systems of the excavations unaffected by exploitation is based on the criteria referring to the depth of excavation and the quality of rock mass. The depth parameter is determined by checking whether the analysed excavation lies below the critical depth, whereas the rock mass quality is determined on the basis of the roof lithology index (WL) and the crack intensity factor (n)

Description: In the study described here model calibration was performed employing the inverse analysis using genetic algorithms (GA). The objective of analysis is to determine value of the coefficient of hydraulic conductivity, k. The commonly used method for the determination of coefficient of hydraulic conductivity based on Terzaghi consolidation leads to an underestimation of the value of k as the Terzaghi model does not take into account the deformation of soil skeleton. Here, an alternative methodology based on genetic algorithms is presented for the determination of the basic parameters of Biot consolidation model. It has been demonstrated that genetic algorithms are a highly effective tool enabling automatic calibration based on simple rules. The values of the coefficient of hydraulic conductivity obtained with GA are of at least one order smaller than values obtained with the Terzaghi model.

Description: At present, the suspended monorail systems constitute a very common means of transportation in the Polish hard coal mines. The main advantages of the suspended monorail include the independence of the route from the working floor surface irregularities and the possibility to transport cargo of significant mass and size.The masses and dimensions of machines and devices transported via monorail have increased considerably in recent times. This particularly concerns the transport of longwall system elements. In Poland, the maximum speed of suspended monorail travel is 2 m/s. Due to the fact that preparations are currently underway to increase the maximum speed above 2 m/s, it is necessary to inspect what influence it will have on work safety and mining support stability.Current operational experience and tests have shown that dynamic loads induced by the suspended monorail transportation have a significant influence on the roadway support stability, working protection durability and on the monorail operators. This is particularly true during the emergency braking of a suspended monorail by means of a braking trolley, where the overloads reach 3g.Bench tests of the selected steel arch and rock bolt support elements utilised in the Polish hard coal mines were conducted in order to determine the resistance of steel arch and rock bolt supports to static and dynamic loads.The article presents the results of the tests conducted on a steel arch support in the form of the sliding joints of an ŁP/V29 yielding roadway support, which is commonly employed in the Polish hard coal mines. Tests of elements of the threaded bolts with trapezoidal threads over the entire rod length were conducted as well.The conducted strength tests of steel arch and rock bolt support elements under static and dynamic loading have shown that dynamic loading has decisive influence on the support’s retaining of its stability. Support element stability decreases along with the increase of the impact velocity. This concerns both the steel arch support and the rock bolt support.

Description: Road embankments, especially their slopes’ surfaces, must fulfil all the requirements concerning the exploitation criteria after the completion of construction works. This is very important while constructing or modernizing the embankments, based on the substrate including low-strength soils as well as in simple ground conditions (most convenient). The last dozen or so years of intensive construction of transport infrastructure have shown how big is the problem of ensuring the required volumes of qualified soil material for the construction of road embankments or the modernization of railway embankments. The depleting deposits of natural and easily accessible soils for the construction of embankments result in the need to use anthropogenic soils, for example, in the form of aggregates from the recycling of construction waste and other locally available waste materials, usually in the form of slag and ashes from the combined heat and power plants. In such cases, there’s a need to treat transportation earth structures individually in the scope of designing and quality control, because there are no applicable standard provisions in this scope.This work indicates some of these important contemporary problems of transport engineering, occurring in newly built and modernized road objects, such as the stability of road embankments based on a low-strength substrate, use of anthropogenic soils and materials originating from the recycling of concrete surfaces for the construction of road embankments.

Description: The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of adding thermally treated clay on some engineering properties of the untreated expansive clayey soil. Three expansive clayey soil samples obtained from three different sites in the south of Syria have been investigated. They were thermally treated up to three different levels (450°C, 650°C and 850°C) for 3 hours. Three replacement levels of thermally treated clay were used, i.e. 0%, 10% and 20%. The X-ray diffractometer (XRD) technique has been used to detect the crystalline and glassy phase in the clayey samples before and after the thermal treatment. Pozzolanic activity of the thermally treated clayey soil has been studied using the modified Chapelle test and the mechanical strength test at each of the temperature levels. Atterberg limits, compaction, free swell, swelling pressure and linear shrinkage have particularly been investigated. Test results revealed the positive effect of thermally treated clay when added to the natural soil. Plasticity index (PI) was reduced by about 60% when 20% thermally treated clay was added to the natural soil. In addition, 6% lime was added to further investigate the combined effect of lime and calcined clay on the properties of the clayey expansive soil. All investigated properties were significantly improved when 20% thermally treated soil and 6% lime were added together. For instance, swelling pressure and linear shrinkage values were reduced to less than 15% or even much less when compared with those of the natural soil. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis were employed as well.

Description: In the method of steel tank erection, consisting in assembling the roof and the next courses (segments) of the shell at the ground level, starting from the top one (the so-called hydraulic jacking-up method), the assembled part of the tank is lifted using assembly supports (towers, trestles), hydraulic jacks and ropes. Supports are located inside or outside the tank, and their bases are usually not anchored. During the assembly work, numerous contaminations can appear under the bases of the supports; therefore, boundary conditions of the system consisting of the elevated tank and assembly supports may change, influencing the field of displacements and stresses in the elements of this system. This article presents the results of numerical tests of an exemplary mounted tank – mounting support system – at various possible coefficients of friction between the bases of the supports and the ground. The influence of the support conditions on the effort of the essential elements of the system was assessed. Calculation difficulty was noted to determine the directions of horizontal responses of the supports. It was assumed that these directions did not change after exceeding the values of the friction forces. The analysed tank collapsed during its erection.

Description: Some important modern problems of the transport engineering, which occur in the newly built and modernised road objects, have been indicated in the work. A discussion was conducted regarding the methods of assessing the stability of slopes of the road embankments, the obtained stability margins and the interpretation of obtained results in the specific cases of foundations of the road earth structures. Presented observations result from analysing the stability assessments of slopes of the road embankments, which was conducted on many communication objects, characterised by high variability of foundation conditions.

Description: This paper discusses the issues associated with the influence of underground mining operations on sewage pipelines built using the pipe jacking method. At present, to build sewage pipelines, especially in urban areas and deep embedment, trenchless technologies are employed. Mainly in these technologies, pipes are jacked into a bored tunnel using hydraulic jacks. These methods are also applied in mining areas.The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of ground deformation, caused by mining operations, on sewage pipelines built using the pipe jacking method. The type of pipelines discussed here is built with butted sections, which cannot compensate the influences of mining operations in pipe joints if horizontal compression occurs in the near-surface layer of soil. Pipelines embedded in trenches in the mining areas are secured against the influence of mining operations with expansion joints, which compensate for ground deformation. Hence, in the analysis of the influence of soil deformation caused by mining on sewage pipelines built using jacking method, special attention was paid to the performance of pipe joints. Pipelines of the type are subjected to additional loads and displacements, caused by soil deformations like horizontal strains, horizontal soil displacements and surface curvatures. We propose a way to consider the influence of mining operations on sewage pipelines built using the pipe jacking method.

Description: Diaphragm walls are deep embedded earth retaining structures. They also act as a part of the foundation. Geotechnical codes of practice from various countries provide procedures for the analysis of deep foundations. Not many standards are available that directly regulate the analysis of diaphragm walls. This paper compares the analysis of diaphragm walls performed using the foundation codes of different countries. Codes including EN 1997-1, BS 8002, BS 8004, BS EN 1538, AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, AS 4678, AS 5100.3, Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual, CAN/CSA S6, IS 9556 and IS 4651 are chosen for the study. Numerical studies and calculations are done using the finite element software Plaxis 2d. Comparative study is performed based on the values of displacements and the forces developed. Study also evaluates the effect of differences in partial safety factors. The outcome of research emphasises the need for development of comprehensive analysis procedures.

Description: In the paper, the influence of different types of bedding and backfill soil surrounding underground sewage duct on its deformation was analysed. Impact of increased soil lateral pressure was examined by considering the construction of an embankment nearby the underground pipeline. Numerical computations of three different variants of bedding and backfill soil surrounding the pipe were carried out. Displacements and deformation of the pipe were calculated using the finite element method with adoption of elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive model of soil. Subsequent stages of the construction were taken into account. Shear strength reduction method was applied to evaluate the factor of safety of the entire system. Finally, the results and conclusions were depicted.

Description: Nonlinear soil–linear structure computational strategy is commonly accepted in the community of geotechnical engineers using advanced finite element software for solving complex soil–structure interaction problems. However, further design procedure of the structural elements is carried out using increased values of the computed elastic stress resultants. It is absolutely not clear whether this method is conservative and, therefore, whether safe or not. To tackle this problem, a fully consistent nonlinear analysis of a deep excavation protected by the diaphragm wall is analysed here. The subsoil is modelled using the Hardening Soil model, while reinforced concrete is modelled using the modified Lee–Fenves model enhanced by the Eurocode 2 (EC2)-compatible creep module, developed by the author. It is shown that the commonly used nonlinear soil–linear structure computational strategy may yield insufficient amount of reinforcement from the ultimate limit state (ULS) and serviceability limit state (SLS) points of view. A consistent and conservative method of combining fully nonlinear analysis and the rules imposed by the EC2 is proposed.

Description: We show that the global non-linear stability threshold for convection in a double-diffusive couple-stress fluid saturating a porous medium is exactly the same as the linear instability boundary. The optimal result is important because it shows that linearized instability theory has captured completely the physics of the onset of convection. It is also found that couple-stress fluid saturating a porous medium is thermally more stable than the ordinary viscous fluid, and the effects of couple-stress parameter (F ) , solute gradient ( S f ) and Brinkman number ( D a ) on the onset of convection is also analyzed.

Description: Ground improvement with granular piles increases the load-carrying capacity, reduces the settlement of foundations built on the reinforced ground and is also a good alternative to concrete pile. Granular piles or stone columns are composed of granular material, such as crushed stone or coarse dense sand. An analytical approach based on the continuum approach is presented for the non-linear behaviour of the granular pile. The formulation for pile element displacement is done considering the non-homogeneity of the granular pile as it reflects the true behaviour and also accounts for the changes in the state of the granular pile due to installation, stiffening and improvement effects. The present study shows that the settlement influence factor for an end-bearing granular pile decreases with increase in the relative stiffness of the bearing stratum. The settlement influence factor decreases with increase in linear and non-linear non-homogeneity parameters for all values of relative length. For a shorter pile, the rate of decrease of the settlement influence factor is greater in comparison to that for a longer pile. Shear stress at the soil–granular pile interface reduces in the upper compressible portion of the granular pile and increases in the lower stiffer portion of the granular pile due to the non-homogeneity of an end-bearing granular pile.

Description: This paper shows an example of the grouping of piezocone penetration test (CPTU) characteristics using functional data analysis, together with the results of clustering, in the form of a subsoil rigidity model. The subsoil rigidity model was constructed based on layer separation using the proposed method, as well as the k-means method. In the construction of the subsoil rigidity model, the constrained modulus M was applied. These moduli were determined from empirical relationships for overconsolidated and normally consolidated soils from Poland based on cone tip resistance.

Description: The most important piece of road infrastructure is bridges. Wooden bridges have advanced constantly during the past decades. The trend began in Scandinavian countries but has also now gained significant ground in Russia. This research studies experimental endurance potential of the joints of the wooden beam while considering the coefficient of asymmetry of the cycle, which corresponds to the actual operating conditions. Performance analysis of the composite bars is carried out based on the experiment; the development of a special methodology for calculating the joints of wooden elements with the dowel plates for their better endurance is also introduced in this paper. The results of experimental studies on the performance of bending composite wooden bridge bars based on dowel plates operating under cyclic influences thus determine the endurance limit of wood for composite wooden bridge beams based on dowel plates. The calculation technique and interdependence of the endurance coefficient affecting the asymmetry coefficient of the bent composite wooden bridge bars on the dowel plates under cyclic loading are considered. The experimental data on the endurance of composite wooden bridge beams have been obtained, and separate analysis has been made of the compounds under cyclic loading performance; a method has been developed for calculating the bent composite wooden bridge bars reinforced by the dowel plates under cyclic influences.

Description: Knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of ballast is very important for designing a railway track, especially for high-speed lines. The monotonic drained triaxial tests of scaled and fouled ballast presented in literature were analysed using the Frictional State Theory. The stress–plastic dilatancy relationship shows that four characteristic stages of shearing may be specified. The influence of stress level and water content may be quantified by the use of the Frictional State Theory.

Description: A systematic approach to measure the differences between Mohr-Coulomb (MC) and Drucker-Prager (DP) shear strength criteria used commonly in soil and rock mechanics is presented. It is shown that the DP criterion generates a shear strength between 0.6 and 3 times the MC strength, for the same friction angle and cohesion parameters. The appropriate conditions for obtaining equal shear strengths are given. Moreover, some new DP failure surfaces are proposed which minimize the differences relative to the MC predictions. The equivalence of the DP and MC criteria under plane strain conditions is also examined.

Description: The article presents a comparison of the roadway supports currently used in mines in the Soma basin in Turkey with new one proposed by Huta Łabędy and Central Mining Institute (GIG) in terms of resistance parameters and work in conditions of specific loads. The strength analysis of the frame was carried out using the finite element method, using the COSMOS/M program, based on the methodology developed and applied in GIG. The frame models were built corresponding to their geometry and cross-sectional parameters of the sections used. Beam elements (BEAM3D) were used for building models, which were given cross-sectional parameters of the V36 section. This resulted in three frame models that were loaded in three ways (three load variants). The first option included roof load, acting on the roof bar in a uniform manner, at a length of about 3.0 m. In the second variant, the same load was adopted but the resistance of the side wall was omitted. However, in the third variant, the same roof load was assumed in addition to a side load, acting on the sliding arch, at a length of about 3.0 m, a value corresponding to half the load of the roof. As a result of the calculations carried out, the distribution of reduced stresses in the analysed frames and the maximum load values were obtained. The proposed roadway supports retain the functionality of the previously used frames in terms of width, height, cross-sectional area of the support and the number of elements. They are characterised by the same weight and at the same time, they have up to 24% more load capacity because of the replacement of straight sections of curved side sections. This treatment was possible by forming individual elements of the arch with two bending radii. The additional load increase was obtained by using S550W steel.

Description: The basic type of rock mass reinforcement method for both preparatory and operational workings in underground metal ore mines, both in Poland and in different countries across the world, is the expansion shell or adhesive-bonded rock bolt. The article discusses results of static loading test of the expansion shell rock bolts equipped with originally developed deformable component. This component consists of two profiled rock bolt washers, two disk springs, and three guide bars. The disk spring and disk washer material differs in stiffness. The construction materials ensure that at first the springs under loading are partially compressed, and then the rock bolt washer is plastically deformed. The rock bolts tested were installed in blocks simulating a rock mass with rock compressive strength of 80 MPa. The rock bolt was loaded statically until its ultimate loading capacity was exceeded. The study presents the results obtained under laboratory conditions in the test rig allowing testing of the rock bolts at their natural size, as used in underground metal ore mines. The stress-strain/displacement characteristics of the expansion shell rock bolt with the deformable component were determined experimentally. The relationships between the geometric parameters and specific strains or displacements of the bolt rod were described, and the percentage contribution of those values in total displacements, resulting from the deformation of rock bolt support components (washer, thread) and the expansion shell head displacements, were estimated. The stiffness of the yielded and stiff bolts was empirically determined, including stiffness parameters of every individual part (deformable component, steel rod). There were two phases of displacement observed during the static tension of the rock bolt which differed in their intensity.

Description: This paper discusses the pull-out laboratory tests and the monitoring of expansion-shell bolts with a length of 1.82 m. The bolts comprised the KE-3W expansion shell, a rod with a diameter of 0.0183 m and a profiled, circular plate with a diameter of 0.14 m, and a gauge of 0.006 m. The bolts were installed in a concrete block with a compressive strength of 75 MPa. The tests were conducted on a state-of-the-art test stand owned by the Department of Underground Mining of the AGH University of Science and Technology. The test stand can be used to test roof bolts on a geometric scale of 1:1 under static and rapidly varying loads. Also, the stand is suitable for testing rods measuring 5.5 m in length. The stand has a special feature of providing the ongoing monitoring of bolt load, displacement and deformation. The primary aim of the study was to compare the results recorded by two different measurement systems with the innovative Self-Excited Acoustic System (SAS) for measuring stress variations in roof bolts. In order to use the SAS, a special handle equipped with an accelerometer and exciter mounted to the nut or the upset end of the rod was designed at the Faculties of Mining and Geoengineering and Mechanical Engineering and Robotics of the AGH University of Science and Technology. The SAS can be used for nondestructive evaluation of performance of bolts around mining workings and in tunnels. Through laboratory calibration tests, roof bolt loads can be assessed using the in-situ non-destructive method.

Description: The paper deals with the diffusion equation for pore water pressures with the source term, which is widely promoted in the marine engineering literature. It is shown that such an equation cannot be derived in a consistent way from the mass balance and the Darcy law. The shortcomings of the artificial source term are pointed out, including inconsistencies with experimental data. It is concluded that liquefaction and the preceding process of pore pressure generation and the weakening of the soil skeleton should be described by constitutive equations within the well-known framework of applied mechanics. Relevant references are provided

Description: In this work, the complex microstructure of the soil solid, at the microscale, is modeled by prescribing the spatial variability of thermal conductivity coefficient to distinct soil separates. We postulate that the variation of thermal conductivity coefficient of each soil separate can be characterized by some probability density functions: fCl(λ), fSi(λ), fSa(λ), for clay, silt and sand separates, respectively. The main goal of the work is to recover/identify these functions with the use of back analysis based on both computational micromechanics and simulated annealing approaches. In other words, the following inverse problem is solved: given the measured overall thermal conductivities of composite soil find the probability density function f(λ) for each soil separate. For that purpose, measured thermal conductivities of 32 soils (of various fabric compositions) at saturation are used. Recovered functions f(λ) are then applied to the computational micromechanics approach; predicted conductivities are in a good agreement with laboratory results.

Description: Although rock strength anisotropy is a well-known phenomenon in rock mechanics, its impact on geotechnical design is often ignored or underestimated. This paper explores the concept of anisotropy in a high stress environment using an improved unified constitutive model (IUCM), which can account for more complex failure mechanisms. The IUCM is used to better understand the typical responses of anisotropic rocks to underground mining. This study applies the IUCM to a proposed rock shaft located in high stress/anisotropic conditions. Results suggest that the effect of rock strength anisotropy must be taken into consideration when assessing the rock mass response to mining in high stress and anisotropic rock conditions.

Description: This article presents the results of numerical simulations of seepage through the body of the dam and the reservoir bed. The purpose of this study was to analyse the seepage stability during a flood as well as the impact on seepage stability of the diaphragm wall and gravel columns, on which the dam body is founded in selected segments. Simulations were conducted for three different locations, and the following 3D models of the dum were prepared: – a model containing the front and right-bank part of the dam, for which no diaphragm wall, gravel columns and drainage ditch were provided for – a model of a segment of the right-bank dam including a diaphragm wall, drainage ditch and gravel columns under the dam (two variants with differing diaphragm wall lengths) – a model of the water dam segment accounting for gravel columns and a drainage ditch, but without a diaphragm wall. In the case of founding on gravel columns, the base was modelled as an anisotropic medium in terms of seepage properties, macroscopically equivalent to the actual soil medium. The numerical model utilises the finite element method. The geometry of the dam and geological substrate was defined in the GIS tools in the form of a 3D model of the terrain and geology of the substrate.

Description: The aim of this paper is to present an example of the material microstructure characterization with the use of X-ray micro-CT and nanoindentation measurements. Firstly, the current scope of application of the aforementioned techniques is provided within different fields of science. Then, background of each of the methods is presented. The methodology of X-ray micro-CT is described with the emphasis on the Beer’s law formulation. In addition, the basics of the nanoindentation technique are outlined and major formulas for the hardness and Young’s modulus calculation are given. Finally, example results for a concrete sample are presented. The microstructure of the selected material is firstly characterized in terms of geometry using the results from the microtomograhy measurements, e.g., porosity and attenuation profiles, pore and aggregate size distribution, shape factor of pores, etc. Next, the results of the nanoindentation tests are provided, namely the hardness and Young’s modulus versus the height of the sample. The influence of the number of tests and statistical analysis on the final results is underlined.

Description: This paper presents the authors’ personal views on current research being conducted by various research groups around the world in the broad area of mechanics of unsaturated geomaterials in general and soils in particular. The topic is of interest to a wide spectrum of scientists and engineers working in diverse areas such as geology and geophysics, powder technology, agricultural, petroleum, chemical, geotechnical, civil, environmental and nuclear engineering. Even if we restrict ourselves to civil, geotechnical and environmental engineering, it is noted that a plethora of hypotheses as well as a number of empirical and semi-empirical relations have been introduced for describing the mechanics of unsaturated porous media. However, many of these proposed advances as well as methods of testing may lack sound theoretical basis.

Description: Acoustic inversion is useful to extract information from seismic data. Inhomogeneities of salt deposits should be predicted before the decision of underground storage location is made. The work concerns the possibility of detecting anhydrite intercalation in the rock salt from seismic dataset. The resolution strongly depends on signal to noise ratio. The synthetic pseudoacoustic impedance sections are generated for efficiency test of predictive and minimum entropy deconvolution process, when random noise distorts the seismic traces.

Description: The analysis of an important drawback of the well known Hardening Soil model (HSM) is the main purpose of this paper. A special emphasis is put on modifying the HSM to enable an appropriate prediction of the undrained shear strength using a nonzero dilatancy angle. In this light, the paper demonstrates an advanced numerical finite element modeling addressed to practical geotechnical problems. The main focus is put on serviceability limit state analysis of a twin-tunnel excavation in London clay. The two-phase formulation for partially saturated medium, after Aubry and Ozanam, is used to describe interaction between soil skeleton and pore water pressure.

Description: The article presents the results of inclinometric measurements and numerical analyses of soldier-pile wall displacements. The excavation under investigation was made in cohesive soils. The measurements were conducted at points located at the edge of the cantilever excavation support system. The displacements of the excavation support observed over the period of three years demonstrated the pattern of steady growth over the first two months, followed by a gradual levelling out to a final plateau. The numerical analyses were conducted based on 3D FEM models. The numerical analysis of the problem comprise calculations of the global structural safety factor depending on the displacement of the chosen points in the lagging and conducted by means of the φ/c reduction procedure. The adopted graphical method of safety estimation is very conservative in the sense that it recognizes stability loss quite early, when one could further load the medium or weaken it by further strength reduction. The values of the Msf factor are relatively high. This is caused by the fact that the structure was designed for excavation twice as deep. Nevertheless, the structure is treated as a temporary one.

Description: The paper demonstrates how the reliability methods can be utilised in order to evaluate safety in geotechnics. Special attention is paid to the so-called reliability based design that can play a useful and complementary role to Eurocode 7. In the first part, a brief review of first- and second-order reliability methods is given. Next, two examples of reliability-based design are demonstrated. The first one is focussed on bearing capacity calculation and is dedicated to comparison with EC7 requirements. The second one analyses a rigid pile subjected to lateral load and is oriented towards working stress design method. In the second part, applications of random field to safety evaluations in geotechnics are addressed. After a short review of the theory a Random Finite Element algorithm to reliability based design of shallow strip foundation is given. Finally, two illustrative examples for cohesive and cohesionless soils are demonstrated.

Description: The paper presents numerical analysis of harmonically excited vibration of a cable-stayed footbridge caused by a load function simulating crouching (squats) while changing the static tension in chosen cables. The intentional synchronized motion (e.g., squats) of a single person or group of persons on the footbridge with a frequency close to the natural frequency of the structure may lead to the resonant vibrations with large amplitudes. The appropriate tension changes in some cables cause detuning of resonance on account of stiffness changes of structures and hence detuning in the natural frequency that is close to the excitation frequency. The research was carried out on a 3D computer model of a real structure - a cable-stayed steel footbridge in Leśnica, a quarter of Wrocław, Poland, with the help of standard computer software based on FEM COSMOS/M System.

Description: The development of industry and application of new production techniques could bring about extraordinary problems that have been neglected. One of these challenges in terms of soil mechanics is high frequency cyclic loading. Well constructed foundation may reduce this troublesome phenomenon but excluding it is usually uneconomic. In this paper, shakedown theory assumptions were studied. Cyclically loaded soils behave in various ways depending on the applied stress rate. Common cohesive soils in Poland, i.e., sandy-silty clays are problematic and understanding of their behaviour in various conditions is desired. In order to study repeated loading of this material, cyclic triaxial test were carried out. Cyclic loading tests were conducted also in one way compression. These methods in small strain regime allow permanent strain increment analysis with resilient response after numerous cycles. This behaviour was subsequently exploited in the study of shakedown theory. This paper contains some conclusions concerning the above-mentioned theory.

Description: The article presents a comparison of shear strength values in silty soils from the area of Poznań, determined based on selected Nkt values recommended in literature, with values of shear strength established on the basis of Nkt values recommended by the author. Analysed silty soils are characterized by the carbonate cementation zone, which made it possible to compare selected empirical coefficients both in normally consolidated and overconsolidated soils

Description: The paper deals with evaluation of bearing capacity of strip foundation on random purely cohesive soil. The approach proposed combines random field theory in the form of random layers with classical limit analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. For given realization of random the bearing capacity of strip footing is evaluated by employing the kinematic approach of yield design theory. The results in the form of histograms for both bearing capacity of footing as well as optimal depth of failure mechanism are obtained for different thickness of random layers. For zero and infinite thickness of random layer the values of depth of failure mechanism as well as bearing capacity assessment are derived in a closed form. Finally based on a sequence of Monte Carlo simulations the bearing capacity of strip footing corresponding to a certain probability of failure is estimated. While the mean value of the foundation bearing capacity increases with the thickness of the random layers, the ultimate load corresponding to a certain probability of failure appears to be a decreasing function of random layers thickness.

Description: The paper concerns the evaluation of the initial stiffness of selected cohesive soils based on laboratory tests. The research materials used in this study were clayey soils taken from the area of the road embankment No. WD-18, on the 464th km of the S2 express-way, Konotopa-Airport route, Warsaw. The initial stiffness is represented here by the shear modulus (Gmax) determined during resonant column tests. In the article, a number of literature empirical formulas for defining initial value of the shear modulus of soils being examined were adopted from the literature in order to analyze the data set. However, a large discrepancy between laboratory test results and the values of Gmax calculated from empirical relationships resulted in the rejection of these proposals. They are inaccurate and do not allow for an exact evaluation of soil stiffness for selected cohesive soils. Hence, the authors proposed their own empirical formula that enables the evaluation of the test soils’ Gmax in an easy and uncomplicated way. This unique formula describes mathematically the effect of certain soil parameters, namely mean effective stress ( p′) and void ratio (e), on the initial soil stiffness.

Description: The depletion of natural resources is forcing researchers to explore the possibilities of new aggregates, such as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). In this article, the mechanical properties and the influence of the size of the direct shear box on the obtained parameters were examined. The study was conducted in two apparatus: medium (120 × 120 mm) and large (250 × 250 mm). In each of these devices, a total of 6 tests were performed: 3 for dry sample and 3 at optimum moisture content. From the results, the conclusions described below have been drawn

Description: Statistic load test is the most commonly used method for estimation of the bearing capacity of piles. From the test we obtain the series a values: load-settlement, Q–s curve. In practice, it is extremely difficult to reach the critical load of the pile when the settlement turns out of control. The existing methods that allow bearing capacity to be calculated give the value which is very often 1/10 of the critical load. The question arises if it is possible based upon short series of load, i.e., 0–0.4 critical load, to predict the critical value of the load, with accuracy which is sufficient for practical calculation. The paper presents a method how to calculate the critical load based upon short series of load in the static load tests.

Description: Vibroflotation, vibratory compaction, micro-blasting or heavy tamping are typical improvement methods for the cohesionless deposits of high thickness. The complex mechanism of deep soil compaction is related to void ratio decrease with grain rearrangements, lateral stress increase, prestressing effect of certain number of load cycles, water pressure dissipation, aging and other effects. Calibration chamber based interpretation of CPTU/DMT can be used to take into account vertical and horizontal stress and void ratio effects. Some examples of interpretation of soundings in pre-treated and compacted sands are given. Some acceptance criteria for compaction control are discussed. The improvement factors are analysed including the normalised approach based on the soil behaviour type index.

Description: The constant development of geotechnical technologies imposes the necessity of monitoring techniques to provide a proper quality and the safe execution of geotechnical works. Several monitoring methods enable the preliminary design of work process and current control of hydrotechnical works (pile driving, sheet piling, ground improvement methods). Wave parameter measurements and/or continuous histogram recording of shocks and vibrations and its dynamic impact on engineering structures in the close vicinity of the building site enable the modification of the technology parameters, such as vibrator frequency or hammer drop height. Many examples of practical applications have already been published and provide a basis for the formulation of guidelines, for work on the following sites. In the current work the author’s experience gained during sheet piling works for the reconstruction of City Channel in Wrocław (Poland) was presented. The examples chosen describe ways of proceedings in the case of new and old residential buildings where the concrete or masonry walls were exposed to vibrations and in the case of the hydrotechnical structures (sluices, bridges).

Description: Landslides are major natural hazards occurring in opencast mining. The problem of slope stability failure in the existing open pit mines as well as in those which are at a stage of technical closure is current issue in Poland and all over the world. This problem requires conducting in-depth and meaningful analysis which will identify the causes of processes characterized by a very rapid course and large extent. The paper presents the analysis of the landslide causes, which took place on May 11, 2011 on the western slope of the internal dump in “Piaseczno” sulphur mine (at a stage of technical closure). It was the first native sulphur open pit mine in Poland in which the exploitation was carried out from 1958 untill 1971. Reclamation works have been ongoing since 2005. The aim of these works is to create water body which will be used for recreational purposes. During the reclamation works on the western slope of “Piaseczno” reservoir the landslide processes were activated. A detailed description of geology and preliminary analyses of landslide processes are given in [1]. The development of landslide took place in a very violent manner. Moreover, the occurrence of the landslide caused the movement of the reservoir shoreline by about 350 meters and created a bay with the area of approximately 6 hectares. Displacement of 600 000 m3 of soil masses under the water resulted in its level rising by 56 cm. The total volume of ground masses was over 1 million m3. The analysis of the landslide process activation was carried out for two representative cross-sections of the internal dump. Numerical calculations were performed using the Limit Equilibrium Method (SLOPE/W GeoStudio) and the Finite Difference Method using the Shear Strength Reduction Method (FLAC Slope). They were aimed at determining the shape and extent of potential slip surface, which would correspond to the observed landslide. The purpose of the analysis, the results of which are presented in the article, was to define how the process proceeded and what factors contributed to its activation.

Description: Different forms of the stress-dilatancy relations obtained based on the frictional theory for the triaxial condition are presented. The analysed test data show that the shear resistance of many soils is purely frictional. The angle Φ0 represents the resistance of the soil as a combined effect of sliding and particle rolling on the macro-scale during shear at the critical frictional state. The stress-plastic dilatancy relations differ not only for triaxial compression and extension but also for drained and undrained conditions. The experiment investigated shows the correctness of the frictional state theory in the triaxial condition.

Description: This paper presents results of a series of undrained monotonic compression tests on loose sand reinforced with geotextile mainly to study the effect of confining stress on the mechanical behaviour of geotextile reinforced sand. The triaxial tests were performed on reconstituted specimens of dry natural sand prepared at loose relative density (Dr = 30%) with and without geotextile layers and consolidated to three levels of confining pressures 50, 100 and 200 kPa, where different numbers and different arrangements of reinforcement layers were placed at different heights of the specimens (0, 1 and 2 layers). The behaviour of test specimens was presented and discussed. Test results showed that geotextile inclusion improves the mechanical behaviour of sand, a significant increase in the shear strength and cohesion value is obtained by adding up layers of reinforcement. Also, the results indicate that the strength ratio is more pronounced for samples which were subjected to low value of confining pressure. The obtained results reveal that high value of confining pressure can restrict the sand shear dilatancy and the more effect of reinforcement efficiently.

Description: This paper presents an experimental investigation of the discharge flow pressure in the vertical silo and the hopper due to the use of insert (top cone with trunk cone bottom). Using the Insert inside the silos is one of the proposed solutions to avoid the problems of having funnel flow pattern, which has a significant effect on the distribution of flow pressure exerted on the silo wall and the hopper. The experiments were performed on a metal cylinder prototype; corn was used as a granular material, and the wall and hopper pressure distribution was measured by a special pressure transducer. The experiments revealed an important result in the flow pressure due to the change in the location of the insert. The experiments were conducted in Damascus University laboratories.

Description: The article presents the concept of a computer system for interpreting unconventional oil and gas deposits with the use of X-ray computed tomography results. The functional principles of the solution proposed are presented in the article. The main goal is to design a product which is a complex and useful tool in a form of a specialist computer software for qualitative and quantitative interpretation of images obtained from X-ray computed tomography. It is devoted to the issues of prospecting and identification of unconventional hydrocarbon deposits. The article focuses on the idea of X-ray computed tomography use as a basis for the analysis of tight rocks, considering especially functional principles of the system, which will be developed by the authors. The functional principles include the issues of graphical visualization of rock structure, qualitative and quantitative interpretation of model for visualizing rock samples, interpretation and a description of the parameters within realizing the module of quantitative interpretation.

Description: The instantaneous tangential rigidity (corresponding to the applied horizontal load) of a triguy support with unequal ropes is determined. The differences between the ropes can be due to the different location, both horizontal and vertical, of their anchoring foundations and to the different types of ropes used. The horizontal rigidity of such a support has no general axis of symmetry. Therefore a formula for this rigidity in any direction and a formula for extreme rigidity angles are given in this paper. A notion of the guy’s eigenvalue, standing for the initial tension force above which the guy participates effectively in the support’s rigidity, is introduced. A numerical example is provided.

Description: A study was undertaken to investigate the shear strength parameters of treated sands reinforced with randomly distributed glass fibers by carrying out direct shear test after seven days curing periods. Firstly, we studied the fiber content and fiber length effect on the peak shear strength on samples. The second part gives a parametric analysis on the effect of glass fiber and clinker residue content on the shear strength parameters for two types of uniform Algerian sands having different particle sizes (Chlef sand and Rass sand) with an average relative density Dr = 50%. Finally, the test results show that the combination of glass fiber and clinker residue content can effectively improve the shear strength parameters of soil in comparison with unreinforced soil. For instance, there is a significant gain for the cohesion and friction angle of reinforced sand of Chlef. Compared to unreinforced sand, the cohesion for sand reinforced with different ratios of clinker residue increased by 4.36 to 43.08 kPa for Chlef sand and by 3.1 to 28.64 kPa for Rass sand. The feature friction angles increased from 38.73° to 43.01° (+4.28°), and after the treatment, clinker residue content of soil evaluated to 5% (WRC = 5%).

Description: Water seepage is one of the most important features of embankment dams. To prevent and reduce seepage, it is necessary to seal the dam. Plastic concrete cutoff walls are one of the most efficient methods in waterproofing the foundation of embankment dams on permeable alluvial substrates. Sufficient resistance to loads, low permeability to maintain dam sealing, high ductility compatible with the foundation and deformation under load without cracking are the main requirements in plastic concrete cutoff walls. In this paper, the construction and implementation of the cutoff wall of Karkheh Dam, which is one the world’s largest water sealing projects, was studied. In addition, a numerical model using Seep-3D software was developed to evaluate the efficiency of the cut-off wall to decrease the seepage over the dam’s foundation. The numerical results validated by instrumentation statistics resulted from 17-years dam operation. According to the results, after the drainage of the reservoir, the cutoff wall optimally reduced the hydraulic gradient by 0.08 from 2.35 and the water leakage by 3.1 m/s from 18.3 m/s.

Description: In this paper, the whole process of pile construction and performance during loading is modelled via large deformation finite element methods such as Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) and Updated Lagrangian (UL). Numerical study consists of installation process, consolidation phase and following pile static load test (SLT). The Poznań site is chosen as the reference location for the numerical analysis, where series of pile SLTs have been performed in highly overconsolidated clay (OCR ≈ 12). The results of numerical analysis are compared with corresponding field tests and with so-called “wish-in-place” numerical model of pile, where no installation effects are taken into account. The advantages of using large deformation numerical analysis are presented and its application to the pile designing is shown.

Description: The main issue of the paper is the estimation of soil hydraulic permeability based on the DMT test. DMTA, DMTC and SASK methods performed in the Nielisz dam, Stegny and the SGGW Campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences sites are described. The article presents the implementation of the dilatometer Marchetti test (DMT) in the determination of soil fraction and effects of its occurrence in the subsoil, tested in the Nielisz dam located in the Wieprz river valley in the Lublin province, and in various sites in Warsaw (Stegny site and SGGW Campus of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences). In order to acquire the needed data, the flat dilatometer test (DMT) method was used. A direct and indirect pressure methodology of interpreting soil swelling was characterized in the article. The paper shows the possibilities of determining sand, silt and clay soil fractions based on po and p1 pressures from dilatometer tests (DMT) and the effective (σ’vo) and total (σvo) vertical in situ overburden stress. Additionally, the main advantage of this paper is the proposal of use of a new chart to determine hydraulic permeability and soil fraction, based on DMT tests.

Description: The paper presents the identification methodology of anisotropic criteria based on triaxial test results. The considered material is varved clay – a sedimentary soil occurring in central Poland which is characterized by the so-called “layered microstructure”. The strength examination outcomes were identified by standard triaxial tests. The results include the estimated peak strength obtained for a wide range of orientations and confining pressures. Two models were chosen as potentially adequate for the description of the tested material, namely Pariseau and its conjunction with the Jaeger weakness plane. Material constants were obtained by fitting the model to the experimental results. The identification procedure is based on the least squares method. The optimal values of parameters are searched for between specified bounds by sequentially decreasing the distance between points and reducing the length of the searched range. For both considered models the optimal parameters have been obtained. The comparison of theoretical and experimental results as well as the assessment of the suitability of selected criteria for the specified range of confining pressures are presented.

Description: The effect of magnetic field dependent (MFD) viscosity on thermal convection in a horizontal ferromagnetic fluid layer has been investigated numerically. A correction is applied to Sunil et al. [24] which is very important in order to predict the correct behavior of MFD viscosity. Linear stability analysis has been carried out for stationary convection. The MFD viscosity parameter δ as well as the measure of nonlinearity of magnetization M3, both have a stabilizing effect on the system. Numerical results are also obtained for large values of magnetic parameter M1 and predicted graphically.

Description: Determination of the global uniaxial compressive strength of rock mass on the basis of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion requires knowledge of the strength parameters: cohesion and the angle of internal friction. In the conventional method for the determination of these parameters given by Balmer, they are expressed by the minimum principal stress. Thus, this method does not allow for the assessment of an impact of hydrostatic pressure and stress path on the value of cohesion, friction angle and global uniaxial compression of rock mass. This problem can be eliminated by using the Hoek-Brown criterion expressed by the invariants of the stress state. The influence of hydrostatic pressure and the Lode angle on the strength parameters of the rock mass was analysed.

Description: Steel structures for a conveyance guiding system are subjected to prolonged, intense corrosion during their operation leading to a considerable loss of material and structure capacity reduction. Shaft guides are made of closed profiles welded from hot-rolled channel sections. These profiles are categorized as class 1 cross-sections according to Eurocode 3, which means that they are resistant to local instability upon bending [1]. With an increase in the corrosion loss of the guides, the inertia moment of the cross-section is reduced. The resistance of profiles to local buckling is also reduced. However, calculations for local stability in guides upon bending are not required by the local Polish regulations on the operation of conveyance in shafts [2]. The question is whether this constitutes a shortcoming and risk for safe operation. Calculations according to steel construction standards [1] supported by numerical simulation were used to evaluate shaft steelwork guides resistance to buckling and their sensitivity to corrosion loss. It was shown that the guides of corrosion loss of 52–63%, depending on profile size, are prone to local buckling.

Description: The aim of this paper was to find an answer to the question about the possibility of using steel welded mesh in building the retaining walls of gabion baskets. In light of the currently used gabion structure solutions, among which double-woven mesh is much more popular, the focus was put on the possibility of using welded mesh. A numerical analysis was conducted to examine the behavior of welded and woven mesh subjected to various loads and the results obtained for both types of mesh were directly compared. The maximal displacement in mesh nodes was admitted as the measurement of the system behavior (in the case of both undamaged and damaged mesh).

Description: This article deals with the vibrations of a nonprismatic thin-walled beam with an open cross section and any geometrical parameters. The thin-walled beam model presented in this article was described using the membrane shell theory, whilst the equations were derived based on the Vlasov theory assumptions. The model is a generalisation of the model presented by Wilde (1968) in ‘The torsion of thin-walled bars with variable cross-section’, Archives of Mechanics, 4, 20, pp. 431–443. The Hamilton principle was used to derive equations describing the vibrations of the beam. The equations were derived relative to an arbitrary rectilinear reference axis, taking into account the curving of the beam axis and the axis formed by the shear centres of the beam cross sections. In most works known to the present authors, the equations describing the nonprismatic thin-walled beam vibration problem do not take into account the effects stemming from the curving (the inclination of the walls of the thin-walledcross section towards to the beam axis) of the analysed systems. The recurrence algorithm described in Lewanowicz’s work (1976) ‘Construction of a recurrence relation of the lowest order for coefficients of the Gegenbauer series’, Applicationes Mathematicae, XV(3), pp. 345–396, was used to solve the derived equations with variable coefficients. The obtained solutions of the equations have the form of series relative to Legendre polynomials. A numerical example dealing with the free vibrations of the beam was solved to verify the model and the effectiveness of the presented solution method. The results were compared with the results yielded by finite elements method (FEM).

Description: This paper presents the results obtained from an experimental programme and numerical investigations conducted on model tests of strip footing resting on reinforced and unreinforced sand slopes. The study focused on the determination of ultimate bearing capacity of strip footing subjected to eccentric load located either towards or opposite to the slope facing. Strip footing models were tested under different eccentricities of vertical load. The obtained results from tests conducted on unreinforced sand slope showed that the increase in eccentricity of applied load towards the slope facing decreases the ultimate bearing capacity of footing. Predictions of the ultimate bearing capacity obtained by the effective width rule are in good agreement with those proposed from the consideration of total width of footing subjected to eccentric load. The ultimate bearing capacity of an eccentrically loaded footing on a reinforced sand slope can be derived from that of axially loaded footing resting on horizontal sand ground when adopting the effective width rule and the coefficient of reduction due to the slope. When increasing the distance between the footing border to the slope crest, for unreinforced and reinforced ground slope by geogrids, the ultimate bearing capacity of footing is no more affected by the slope ground.

Description: One of the most important elements of road construction is its substructure, which constitutes the base on which the next layers of road are placed. Mixture of crushed-stone aggregate is very often used as material for substructure. The most frequently used type of aggregate is magma rocks, due to its good physical-mechanical properties. However, it is not always available, so it is substituted by sandstone or even concrete rubble aggregates. The bearing ratio CBR is a parameter determining the suitability of a certain aggregate for road substructure. It is also one of the most popular quality tests of aggregate as it does not require complex apparatus. This paper analyses the results of physical and geotechnical tests with particular focus on CBR bearing ratio of crushed aggregates and their application as substructure for road construction. There has also been an attempt to find the correlation between CBR bearing ratio and other physical and geometrical properties.

Description: Dynamically developing terrestrial laser scanning technology (TLS)provides modern surveying tools, that is, scanning total stations and laser scanners. Owing to these instruments, periodic control surveys of concrete dams were performed as a part of geodetic monitoring yield point models characterised by quasicontinuity. Using the results of such measurements as a base, one can carry out a number of geometric analyses as well as acquire information for detailed analytical and calculative considerations.The scanner, similar to total station, by determining distances and angles, identifies spatial coordinates (X, Y, Z) of the surveyed points. Registration of the reflected laser beam’s intensity value (Intensity) emitted by the scanner provides additional information on the surveyed object. Owing to high working speed and the large amount of the collected data, the scanners became an indispensable tool for geodesists.The article assesses the possibility of application of terrestrial laser scanning in surveying changes in the surface of a concrete dam based on the experimental measurements. The condition of the dam’s downstream concrete wall was evaluated. The evaluation included changes in the surface’s roughness, cracks, seepage points, erosion caused by plant overgrowth and the degressive durability parameter of the used material (concrete).The article presents an example of the application of the results of a laser scan in the assessment of the condition of a water dam’s external concrete surfaces. The results of experimental measurements were analysed – the results of a scan of the downstream concrete wall of a dam in Ecker (Germany) using two laser scanners characterised by different technical parameters, that is, laser wavelength (laser’s colour), range, definable point density, method of distance measurement – Leica C10, Z+F Imager 5006h. The measurement was carried out in the same weather conditions from the same sites of the test base.The results of the measurements were analysed using, inter alia, statistical methods by defining template fields and supervised and unsupervised classification methods in reference to the selected fragments of the surface characterised by known concrete surface properties. Various classification algorithms were used. The obtained results make it possible to assess the suitability of the proposed methodology of evaluating the concrete surface’s condition and establish tool selection principles to match the practical application requirements.

Description: In urban areas, the control of ground surface settlement is an important issue during shield tunnel-boring machine (TBM) tunneling. These ground movements are affected by many machine control parameters. In this article, a finite difference (FD) model is developed using Itasca FLAC-3D to numerically simulate the whole process of shield TBM tunneling. The model simulates important components of the mechanized excavation process including slurry pressure on the excavation face, shield conicity, installation of segmental lining, grout injection in the annular void, and grout consolidation. The analysis results from the proposed method are compared and discussed in terms of ground movements (both vertical and horizontal) with field measurements data. The results reveal that the proposed 3D simulation is sufficient and can reasonably reproduce all the operations achieved by the TBM. In fact, the results show that the TBM parameters can be controlled to have acceptable levels of surface settlement. In particular, it seems that moderate face pressure can reduce ground movement significantly and, most importantly, can prevent the occurrence of face-expected instability when the shield crosses very weak soil layers. The shield conicity has also an important effect on ground surface settlement, which can be partly compensated by the grout pressure during tail grouting. Finally, the injection pressure at the rear of the shield significantly reduces the vertical displacements at the crown of the tunnel and, therefore, reduces the settlement at the ground surface.

Description: The following study presents numerical calculations for establishing the impact of temperature changes on the process of distortion of bi-phase medium represented using Biot consolidation equations with Kelvin–Voigt rheological skeleton presented, on the example of thermo-consolidation of a pavement of expressway S17. We analyzed the behavior of the expressway under the action of its own weight, dynamic load caused by traffic and temperature gradient. This paper presents the application of the Biot consolidation model with the Kelvin–Voigt skeleton rheological characteristics and the influence of temperature on the deformation process is taken into account. A three-dimensional model of the medium was created describing the thermal consolidation of a porous medium. The 3D geometrical model of the area under investigation was based on data obtained from the land surveying and soil investigation of a 200 m long section of the expressway and its shoulders.

Description: Results of investigations of shearing resistance and compressibility of fine-grained cohesive soil from the southern part of the wielkopolskie voivodeship in relation to the increasing moisture content are presented. The analysis of two series of samples, using soil paste for the consistency index of 0.9 and 0.4–0.3 was carried out. The results imply that the increasing moisture content causes a decrease in the angle of shearing resistance and cohesion and is also reflected in the higher compressibility of the soil. It was observed that regardless of the soil consistency, the angle of shearing resistance decreases and the cohesion value and the oedometric modulus of primary (consolidation) and secondary compressibility grows with the increase in the clay fraction.

Description: Steel sheet piles are often used to support excavations for bridge foundations. When they are left in place in the permanent works, they have the potential to increase foundation bearing capacity and reduce displacements; but their presence is not usually taken into account in foundation design. In this article, the results of finite element analysis of a typical abutment foundation, with and without cover of sheet piles, are presented to demonstrate these effects. The structure described is located over the Więceminka river in the town of Kołobrzeg, Poland. It is a single-span road bridge with reinforced concrete slab.

Description: The paper presents results of numerical calculations and modeling of mining-induced surface deformation based on Finite Element Method (FEM). Applying the numerical method discussed to calculations allows us to assume a larger number of factors, such as rock mass structure, fracture network, rock properties, etc., which essentially affect the results obtained. On the basis of an elastic transversely isotropic model, an analysis of horizontal displacement distribution and surface subsidence was carried out for two sample regions of mines. The results of numerical calculations were later compared with the measured values. Such an analysis proved that the applied numerical model properly described distribution and values of subsidence and slope of subsidence trough, though there were serious differences in the values of calculated horizontal displacement, especially in areas of far influence range. In order to improve the matching, the influence of boundary conditions of the model on the value of calculated horizontal displacement was analyzed. The results are presented in graphs.

Description: This paper analyzes two approaches to serviceability limit state (SLS) verification for the deep excavation boundary value problem. The verification is carried out by means of the finite element (FE) method with the aid of the commercial program ZSoil v2014. In numerical simulations, deep excavation in non-cohesive soil is supported with a diaphragm wall. In the first approach, the diaphragm wall is modeled with the Hookean material assuming reduced average stiffness and possible concrete cracking. The second approach is divided into two stages. In the first stage, the wall is modeled by defining its stiffness with the highest nominal Young’s modulus. The modulus makes it possible to find design bending moments which are used to compute the minimal design cross-section reinforcement for the retaining structure. The computed reinforcement is then used in a non-linear structural analysis which is viewed as the “actual” SLS verification. In the second part, the paper examines the same boundary value problem assuming that the excavation takes place in quasi-impermeable cohesive soils, which are modeled with the Hardening Soil model. This example demonstrates the consequences of applying the steady-state type analysis for an intrinsically time-dependent problem. The results of this analysis are compared to the results from the consolidation-type analysis, which are considered as a reference. For both analysis types, the two-phase formulation for partially- saturated medium, after Aubry and Ozanam, is used to describe the interaction between the soil skeleton and pore water pressure.

Description: The research topic relates to the subject of deep foundations supported on continuous flight auger (CFA) piles and screw displacement piles (SDP). The authors have decided to conduct model tests of foundations supported on the group of piles mentioned above and also the tests of the same piles working as a single. The tests are ongoing in Geotechnical Laboratory of Gdaňsk University of Technology. The description of test procedure, interpretation and analysis of the preliminary testing series results are presented in the paper.

Description: The purpose of the present study was to compare the prediction performances of three statistical methods, namely, information value (IV), weight of evidence (WoE) and frequency ratio (FR), for landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) at the east of Constantine region. A detailed landslide inventory of the study area with a total of 81 landslide locations was compiled from aerial photographs, satellite images and field surveys. This landslide inventory was randomly split into a testing dataset (70%) for training the models, and the remaining (30%) was used for validation purpose. Nine landslide-related factors such as slope gradient, slope aspect, elevation, distance to streams, lithology, distance to lineaments, precipitation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and stream density were used in the landslide susceptibility analyses. The inventory was adopted to analyse the spatial relationship between these landslide factors and landslide occurrences. Based on IV, WoE and FR approaches, three landslide susceptibility zonation maps were categorized, namely, “very high, high, moderate, low, and very low”. The results were compared and validated by computing area under Road the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). From the statistics, it is noted that prediction scores of the FR, IV and WoE models are relatively similar with 73.32%, 73.95% and 79.07%, respectively. However, the map, obtained using the WoE technique, was experienced to be more suitable for the study area. Based on the results, the produced LSM can serve as a reference for planning and decision-making regarding the general use of the land.

Description: The article is a review of the current problems of the foundation pile capacity calculations. The article considers the main principles of pile capacity calculations presented in Eurocode 7 and other methods with adequate explanations. Two main methods are presented: α – method used to calculate the short-term load capacity of piles in cohesive soils and β – method used to calculate the long-term load capacity of piles in both cohesive and cohesionless soils. Moreover, methods based on cone CPTu result are presented as well as the pile capacity problem based on static tests.

Description: Mining-induced deformations of the ground surface and within the rock mass may pose danger not only for surface constructions but also for underground objects (e.g., tunnels, underground storages, garages), diverse types of pipelines, electric cables, etc. For a proper evaluation of hazard for surface and underground objects, such parameters as horizontal displacement and horizontal deformations, especially their maximum values, are of crucial importance. The paper is an attempt at a critical review of hitherto accomplished studies and state of the art of predicting horizontal displacementu, in particular the coefficientB, whose value allows determination of the value of maximum displacement if the value of maximum slope is known, or the value of maximum deformation if the value of maximum trough slope is recognized. Since the geodesic observations of fully developed subsidence troughs suggest that the value of the coefficient depends on the depthH, radius of main influences rangerand properties of overburden rock, in particular the occurrence of sub-eras Paleogene and Neogene layers (old name: Quaternary and Tertiary) with low strength parameters, therefore a formula is provided in the present paper allowing for the estimation of the influence of those factors on the value of coefficientB.

Description: In this paper, a numerical undrained analysis of pile jacking into the subsoil using Abaqus software suit has been presented. Two different approaches, including traditional Finite Element Method (FEM) and Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) formulation, were tested. In the first method, the soil was modelled as a two-phase medium and effective stress analysis was performed. In the second one (ALE), a single-phase medium was assumed and total stress analysis was carried out. The fitting between effective stress parameters and total stress parameters has been presented and both solutions have been compared. The results, discussion and verification of numerical analyzes have been introduced. Possible applications and limitations of large deformation modelling techniques have been explained.

Description: Ensuring roadways stability in hard coal mines is one of the main challenges faced by engineers. A changeable geological structure have caused the roadway’s conditions to vary, thus influencing its stability. One of the causes of those changes is the presence of a previously undiscovered fault zone (small faults crossed the roadway) within which a significant convergence or support deformation may occur. The paper presents the impact of low throw faults on the degree of convergence of roadways. Convergence is determined for two roadways in the hard coal mine. A special measuring stations have been installed in one of the roadways, and they have carried out constant measurements for 15 months. In the other roadway, the degree of convergence has been determined on the basis of an on-site verification and comparison of the measurements obtained and the initial values, based on the roadway’s records. On the basis of the obtained convergence results, the impact of a single fault and the entire fault zone on the roadway stability has been determined. The impact of a single, low throw fault results in a 30% higher vertical convergence than in the case of roadways free of geological disturbance. In the roadway section located in the fault zone, vertical convergence is 4 times higher than in the case of sections free of disturbance impact. The floor heaving constitutes ca. 90% of vertical convergence both for roadway sections situated within the faulted zones and for sections free of the influence of any additional factors.

Description: The paper provides a description of analytical model of a longwall scraper conveyor, including its electrical, mechanical, measurement and control actuating systems, as well as presentation of its implementation in the form of computer simulator in the Matlab®/Simulink®environment. Using this simulator eight scenarios typical of usual operational conditions of an underground scraper conveyor can be generated. Moreover, the simulator provides a possibility of modeling various operational faults and taking into consideration a measurement noise generated by transducers. The analysis of various combinations of scenarios of operation and faults with description is presented. The simulator developed may find potential application in benchmarking of diagnostic systems, testing of algorithms of operational control or can be used for supporting the modeling of real processes occurring in similar systems.

Description: Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) is commonly used in modern design of the various types of structures. There are two main issues/aspects that should be consider while using CAE in Geotechnics: the basic theory and material model. The paper deals with a problem of choosing the proper constitutive relationships which according to the authors are equally important in obtaining correct and reasonable results. This problem is illustrated by an example of dynamic calculations of fully saturated non-cohesive soils where liquefaction phenomenon is most likely to occur.

Description: The idea of strengthening the foundation using injection piles lies in transferring loads from the foundation to the piles anchorage in existing structure and formed in the soil. Such a system has to be able to transfer loads from the foundation to the pile and from the pile onto the soil. Pile structure often reinforced with steel element has to also be able to transfer such a loading. According to the rules of continuum mechanics, the bearing capacity of such a system and a deformation of its individual elements can be determined by way of an analysis of the contact problem of three interfaces. Each of these surfaces is determined by different couples of materials. Those surfaces create: pile-foundation anchorage, bonding between reinforcement and material from which the pile is formed and pilesoil interface. What is essential is that on the contact surfaces the deformation of materials which adhere to each other can vary and depends on the mechanical properties and geometry of these surfaces. Engineering practice and experimental research point out that the failure in such structures occurs at interfaces. The paper is concentrating on presenting the experiments on interaction between cement grout and various types of steel reinforcement. The tests were conducted on the special low pressure injection piles widely used to strengthen foundations of already existing structures of historical buildings due to the technology of formation and injection pressure.

Description: Adits played an important role in the hydrotechnical infrastructure for centuries. Initially, they were used mainly to drain wetland and supply water to the population. There were also inherent in the conduct of mining activities. They were used as exploratory, development and supply headings. Their usual function was to drain, ventilate and transport, and after the cessation of mining they became important elements of the hydrotechnical infrastructure in the transformed mining areas. The article presents issues related to the revitalization of the Main Key Hereditary Adit and Friedrich Adit as essential for the areas in which they are located. Both are hydraulic structures with the possibility of adaptation for tourism purposes. The need to consider some technical activities to be undertaken in this type of objects was pointed out, not only including aspects related to their proper protection so that they can continue to safely perform their function, but also to the preservation of their historical values. Due to their age and the method of drilling used in them, those headings are often included in the list of monuments and protected by law.

Description: The paper presents the dynamic response of annular three-layered plate subjected to loads variable in time. The plate is loaded in the plane of outer layers. The plate core has the electrorheological properties expressed by the Bingham body model. The dynamic stability loss of plate with elastic core is determined by the critical state parameters, particularly by the critical stresses. Numerous numerical observations show the influence of the values of viscosity constant and critical shear stresses, being the Bingham body parameters, on the supercritical viscous fluid plate behaviour. The problem has been solved analytically and numerically using the orthogonalization method and finite difference method. The solution includes both axisymmetric and asymmetric plate dynamic modes.