The mean squared deviation between acceleration time histories (of soil-system test replicas) is expressed as a unique aggregate of three discrepancy measures associated with shape, phase, and frequency-shift. The shape-measure quantifies the deviations associated with dissimilarities in form and amplitude. The phase-measure estimates the deviations associated with differences in phase angle. The frequency-shift-measure quantifies the deviations associated with differences in frequency components. These measures were used to assess the discrepancies among six replicas of a centrifuge experiment of a liquefiable soil tested at six different facilities. A sensitivity analysis was thereafter used to assess the effects of input motion discrepancies on a liquefiable soil response. The conducted analysis showed that the acceleration response of the analyzed soil is more sensitive to discrepancies in input motion frequency than in phase or amplitude.
This paper proposes an alternative procedure for computing pavement thickness requirements for heavy duty pavements (project roads). Flexible pavement design analysis is mainly based on three factors: (1) subgrade strength; (2) vehicular traffic; (3) pavement serviceability. In India, the CBR (California Bearing Ratio) measure of subgrade strength has been favoured by pavement designers for various reasons. Its advantages and disadvantages are discussed in some detail, and several other methods are compared with it. Allowable subgrade pressure in Gray's formula has been defined as the subgrade's bearing value. The authors suggest the following computation method for obtaining pavement thickness using Gray's formula: (1) carefully study the traffic mix likely to occur at a project site; (2) calculate the total load and radius of the contact area on the basis of the proportions of vehicle types; (3) add an extra impact factor of 20% of the rated rear axle load of each vehicle type; and (4) apply the known graphical relationship between CBR and soil bearing value. Several numerical examples are worked out in detail. The authors conclude that the method agrees well with earlier methods, and should be considered for the practical evaluation of pavement thickness requirements.
A decomposition is used to express the mean squared deviation, quantifying the dissimilarities between time histories of input (or response) quantities of multiple replicas of a soil system centrifuge test, as a unique aggregate of three discrepancy measures associated with shape, phase and frequency-shift. The shape measure quantifies the deviations associated with dissimilarities in form and amplitude. The phase measure estimates the deviations associated with differences in phase angle. The frequency-shift measure quantifies the deviations associated with differences in frequency components. These measures are illustrated using simple synthetic motions and used to assess the discrepancies among six replicas of centrifuge input motion achieved at six different facilities. The conducted analysis shows that the proposed decomposition accurately quantifies the different types of discrepancies between time histories.
Observation and Measurement of displacements at the crown of the tunnel is an integral part of New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) in complex rock masses to verify the construction parameters, support systems and safety requirements. However, the prediction of ground conditions ahead of an advancing tunnel face is also an application, often less explored in the field by site engineers. Literature suggests displacement vector orientation is a good indicator of weak ground or fault/shear zones ahead of the tunnel face. There has been no quantification between the vector orientation and the properties of the weaker ground ahead. An attempt is made to quantify the effect of the properties of the weaker ground on the vector orientation numerically. The model results are initially compared with analytical solutions, followed by benchmarking with the results of other researchers. The factors which affect the vector orientation are the diameter of the tunnel, stiffness ratio of the rocks and in situ stress ratio. The effect of each of these parameters is studied independently. A correlation between the vector orientation and the variation in ground conditions is then established to predict the properties of the weaker ground ahead of the advancing tunnel face.