bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the involvement of qualified professionals in building supervision in Nigeria: Lagos and Ondo states as case studies
Authors: Ikumapayi Catherine Mayowa  , Arum Chinwuba  , Omale Reuben P.
Published: February 2025

This research evaluates the involvement of qualified building professionals in building construction in Nigeria. Two methods were used in collecting the data used for the analysis. The data were collected by direct visitation to ongoing building sites and obtaining information through direct interaction with them. Secondly, questionnaires were administered to the contractors on different building sites to ascertain their view on the subject. The study revealed that less than 20% of building sites investigated involved qualified professionals (Architects, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Town Planners) in the supervision. Therefore it is recommended that there should be public awareness that qualified professionals on building construction sites are as important as the acquisition of the land for the building. These professionals should also be involved from onset of the construction. Furthermore, strict adherence to best practices in the production of Architectural and Structural drawings as well as Bill of Quantities should be ensured before the approval of building plans in the various relevant ministries.
Effect of temperature on rheological performances of fresh SCC mixture
Authors: Ye Huan  , Gao Xiaojian  , Wang Hui
Published: February 2025

This paper shows the study of effects of different testing temperatures ranging from 10°C ~ 30°C, on the rheological behavior of fresh self-compacting concrete mortars by using RCAD 400 rheometer. To begin with, the temperature of raw materials was firstly regulated before mixing, and then a water bath system linked to rheometer was used to remain the temperature of the mortar within a designated range during the test. The tested rheological parameters included shear stress, viscosity, yield stress, and the evolution of these parameters over time. Material mixing fraction factors considered in this analysis included water-to-binder ratio (w/b) and the fractions of mineral admixtures. The results show that for most of the studied mortar, a higher temperature leads to a lower initial viscosity and a lower growth rate of shear stress with shear rate, and afterwards the yield stress and the evolution rates of these parameters over time are intensified gradually. The effects of temperature on the shear stress and viscosity of the mortar samples are alleviated by the increased w/b ratio and the addition of mineral admixtures. However, an observation of reduced shear stress and viscosity when increasing w/b ratio and adding mineral admixtures seemingly indicated that the rheological properties of the mortars may be also associated with the w/b ratio and mineral admixture.
Effects of polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer on rheological and mechanical properties of concrete
Authors: Al-Martini Samer  , Najim Omar F.  , Al Hawat Waddah
Published: February 2025

Ready mix concrete in hot weather countries, such as United Arab Emirates (UAE), is usually subjected to high temperature during its transportation to construction sites. In some cases, due to traffic and location of construction sites, concrete mixing may be prolonged. As such, concrete under such harsh environments (as high temperature and prolonged mixing) suffers from severe slump loss, which may affect its mechanical properties. In this paper, the effect of polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer on rheology and compressive strength of concrete under hot weather was investigated. Ordinary portland cement and fly ash (FA) were used as cementitious materials. Concrete mixtures were made with a water/binder ratio of 0.36. The concrete mixtures were mixed in a walk-in environmental chamber using a drum mixer. The investigated temperature was 40 °C. The compressive strength of concrete was taken at 3, 7 and 28 days. The results show that both rheological parameters and compressive strength are influenced by variation of superplasticizer dosage. While compressive strength increased when superplasticizer dosage increased, torque resistance and flow resistance decreased.
Polyfurfuryl alcohol – a waste from sugarcane bagasse as a construction material
Authors: Kumar Rakesh
Published: February 2025

Furfuryl alcohol is extracted from the waste of sugarcane bagasse. Polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA), as a matrix, is obtained from the acid catalysed polymerization of furfuryl alcohol. The difficulties encountered in the conversion of furfuryl alcohol as monomers into polyfurfuryl alcohol by homopolymerization are attributed to the exothermic reaction often leading to dangerous explosion, which can be overcome by the approach presented in the South African and World Patents [4,5] filed by the author. The processes provided herein can be used to prepare various shapes and sizes of reinforced or unreinforced molded products that can also be used in construction sectors.
Evolution in physical modeling of structural built-up in polymer concrete and in polymer-cement concrete
Authors: Van Gemert Dionys
Published: February 2025

The evolution of the microstructure models with time shows a growing understanding of the microstructure formation during hydration and hardening, as well as a better knowledge of the morphology and behavior of the polymer phase within the composite material. Development and improvement of SEM analysis techniques supported better understanding of microstructure formation, and further integration of the time scale in the models was enabled by ESEM analysis during hydration and hardening of fresh mixes. Enhancement of SEM resolution and magnification capabilities also enabled to study the effect of very low amounts of polymer on the microstructure.
Characterization of lateritic soils/gravels for their suitability as a pavement material - a review
Authors: Biswal D.R.  , Dash S.R.  , Sahoo U.C.
Published: February 2025

Lateritic soils are formed by intensive weathering and decomposition of rocks in the tropical and subtropical climate. These are secondary oxides of iron, aluminum and silicon with some calcium and/or magnesium and usually formed as a result of leaching of free silica and bases and accumulation of oxides of iron and aluminum due to heavy rains and high temperatures. Therefore the mineralogical, chemical and geotechnical characteristics of lateritic soils are largely dependent on the place of their origin. Shortage of crushed rock aggregates for pavement base and sub-bases along with the scope for using substandard gravels for low volume roads have prompted the need to explore the possibility of using locally available materials for pavement construction. In developing countries like India, Brazil and Nigeria, lateritic gravels are extensively used in road works as a sub-base material. Even though these materials are widely used, in majority of the cases, these do not meet the conventional pavement material specifications. Limited studies related to the engineering characterization of lateritic soils and gravels have been done. This paper critically reviews the studies carried out for mineralogical chemical and geotechnical characteristics of lateritic soils/gravels to present a brief overview of such materials available in different parts of the world. The paper also proposes a rational characterization process of lateritic gravels for use in mechanistic design of pavements.
Comparison of in-situ and lab-measured void contents for a bituminous pavement of a carriageway
Authors: Kizyalla Lewis Kabwe  , Ekolu Stephen
Published: February 2025

In situ air voids are a function of mix design (aggregate type and gradation, and bitumen content), manufacture and the level of compaction achieved during construction and subsequent traffic [1-2]. During the improvement of N12-19 highway construction project between Snake road interchange and Kingsway interchange in Johannesburg, South Africa, the quality control (QC) of a bitumen treated base layer was done according to Committee of Land Transport Officials (COLTO) specifications where compliance is a statistical judgment of three parameters namely, the relative compaction, binder content (lab binder) and voids in the mix (lab air voids).
Phase transitions and microstructural characterization of martensite in copper based shape memory alloys
Authors: Adiguzel O.
Published: February 2025

Shape memory effect is a peculiar property exhibited by certain alloy system, and shape memory behaviour is evaluated by the structural changes in microscopic scale. Shape-memory effect is based on martensitic transformation, which occurs on cooling from high-temperature parent phase region with the cooperative movements of atoms on {110}-type close-packet planes of parent austenite phase by means of shear-like mechanism. The material changes its internal crystalline structure with martensitic transition, and the ordered structure or super lattice structure is essential for the shape memory quality of the material. Copper based alloys exhibit this property in metastable β-phase field which has bcc-based high symmetric structure at high temperature parent state. These structures turn into non-conventional stacking ordered structure with low symmetry following two ordered reactions on cooling from high temperatures
Influence of the characteristic of input materials on formation and properties of sintered fly ash body
Authors: Cerny Vit  , Drochytka Rostislav
Published: February 2025

Artificial aggregate from sintered fly ash is an example of material, which can be used solely on the basis of fly ash without any additions. However, to ensure optimal progress of firing and high quality aggregate, it is necessary to study influence of the characteristic of fly ash on properties of fly ash body. The aim of the research work is evaluation of influence of characteristic of fly ash on formation, structure and properties of sintered fly ash body using laboratory firings of testing samples and also using the heating microscopy. The main difference as regards behavior is between fly ash originating from high temperature and fluidized bed combustion. While the first type of fly ash contains mainly mullite and other high temperature minerals, fluidized bed combustion fly ash contains mainly anhydrite and free lime. These increase for example manipulation strength of fly ash mix, but they also increase the amount of mixing water, emissions, content of extractable sulphur and weaken the sintered fly ash body.
Properties of self-consolidating concrete containing limestone filler
Authors: Panesar Daman  , Aqel Mohammad
Published: February 2025

Fillers such as limestone filler (LF) can be used to replace the cement and thus reduce the cement content in concrete. However, in applications where early age strength is critical such as precast and prestressed applications increased amount of fillers could cause a challenge due to dilution effect. This paper investigates the influence of LF on early age hydration and strength of steam cured SCC made with CSA general use cement (type GU) and high early strength cement (type HE). The reactivity of LF was also evaluated using thermal analysis. Durability tests including rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT), freeze thaw and salt scaling were conducted on SCC mixtures made with and without LF. The results showed improved early age hydration and strength in SCC mixtures containing LF compared to SCC mixtures without LF. The chloride permeability was lower in SCC mixtures containing LF compared to SCC mixtures without LF. The durability performance of SCC mixes made with and without LF was similar under freeze thaw and salt scaling cycles.
Strength and behaviour of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting rubberised concrete beams under flexure
Authors: Raj Bharati  , Ganesan N.  , Shashikala A.P.
Published: February 2025

Past studies indicate that addition of shredded rubber to concrete improves its ductility significantly. Also, the incorporation of steel fibres enhances the ductile and engineering properties remarkably. Considering these aspects, a sustainable composite having improved ductility has been developed by adding shredded scrap rubber to Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) as a partial replacement of fine aggregate. The flexural behaviour of Self Compacting Rubberised Concrete (SCRC) beams under monotonic loads has been studied. Besides this, the effect of adding steel fibres to SCRC to obtain Steel Fibre Reinforced Self Compacting Rubberised Concrete (SFRSCRC) has also been studied. The experimental investigation consists of casting and testing of 18 beams of 100 x 150 x 1200 mm size under flexure. Three specimens were tested for each mix and the average results were taken for analysis. The results were analysed based on first crack load and ultimate load, load deflection behaviour and energy absorption capacity. The analysis results indicate that the SCRC and SFRSCRC specimens showed better load carrying capacity, crack resistance and ductility than the SCC specimens under monotonic and cyclic loads.
Relationship between the wide-flange steel and the long-term deformation of steel-reinforced concrete columns
Authors: An Gyeong-Hee  , Kim Jin-Keun
Published: February 2025

In high-rise buildings, column shortening due to creep and shrinkage of concrete is an important issue because it can cause serious problem when it does not considered properly. Moisture diffusion is one of the main reasons of this long-term deformation of concrete. In case of steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) columns which have been widely used for high-rise buildings, however, the moisture diffusion process is quite different from the ordinary RC columns because of the wide-flange steel located inside the column. Wide-flange steel hinders the moisture diffusion, and the long-term shortening of the column is delayed due to the slower diffusion. This research is focused on the relationship between the wide-flange steel and the long-term deformation of SRC columns. In order to find the relationship, the analysis method which adopts the moisture diffusion process is suggested and some parametric study is conducted by using the analysis method. Parameters that can affect the moisture diffusion and the long-term deformation are the size of the column, the geometry of the wide-flange steel, and thickness of concrete cover.
Investigation of prestressed hollow core concrete slabs at elevated temperatures
Authors: Ellobody Ehab
Published: February 2025

This paper investigates the behaviour and design of full-scale prestressed hollow core one-way spanning concrete slabs under fire conditions. The hollow core slabs were simply-supported and reinforced with 9.3mm nominal diameter seven-wire mono-strand tendons. Nonlinear 3-D finite element models were developed for the analysis of prestressed hollow core concrete slabs at elevated temperatures. The finite element models were based on a nonlinear finite element modelling approach adopted by the author over the last eight years for the analysis of different structures under fire conditions. The mechanical and thermal material nonlinearities of the concrete and prestressing tendons have been carefully inserted into the model. The interface between the tendon and surrounding concrete was also modelled, allowing the tendon to retain its profile shape during the deformation of the prestressed hollow core slab. In addition, gap elements were used to model the thermal behaviour of the hollow cores, which ensures, for the first time, correct temperature distributions in the regions surrounding the cores. The temperature distribution throughout the prestressed hollow core concrete slab, time-deflection behaviour, time-longitudinal expansion and failure modes of the slabs were predicted by the model and verified against test data. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects on the global structural behaviour due to the change in the prestressed hollow core slab geometries, hollow core shapes, load ratios during fire and different fire curves.
Behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs strengthened by concrete overlays
Authors: Ibrahim Wael  , El-adawy Mohamed  , Ghanem Gouda
Published: February 2025

This paper discusses the influence of three factors, the distribution of shear connectors, the concrete compressive strength, addition of new concrete thickness on the behavior of one-way composite pre-slabs. The experimental program involved nine tests to study flexure and cracking behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs strengthened with cast in- place new concrete layer. Three of them were reference monolithic slabs and the remaining six slabs were composite pre-slabs composed of two layers with different distributions of shear connectors according to shear force distribution. All slabs were tested under two line loads. The strengthening with cast in-place new concrete layer significantly increases the strength capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs.
Social Movement Understanding by Keyword Tracking
Authors: Sornlertlamvanich Virach  , Viriyayudhakorn Kobkrit
Published: February 2025

Text from social media is significant key information to understand social movement. However, the length of the social media text is typically short and concise with a lot of absent words. Our task is to identify the proper keyword representing the message content that we are accounting for. Instead of training the model for keyword extraction directly from the Twitter messages, we propose a new method to fine-tune the model trained from some known documents containing richer context information. We conducted the experiment on Twitter messages and expressed in word cloud timeline. It shows a promising result.
A New Energy-efficient Time Synchronization Algorithm
Authors: Guo Weidong  , Qiu Tie  , Wang Lei  , Liu Jie  , Song Chengdang
Published: February 2025

In recent years, issues of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been widely studied. The energy is limited in WSNs. However, it always takes much energy to achieve highly accurate time synchronization. In this paper, a Spanning Tree-based Energy-efficient Time Synchronization (STETS) strategy for WSNs is proposed. In STETS, only a small number of sensor nodes in the WSN have the privilege to send messages and each of these nodes sends only one broadcast in a single round of time synchronization. By taking advantage of the intersection and difference set of these broadcasts' domains, a spanning tree structure will be created in the WSN. By using the information carried by these broadcasts, time synchronization process will also be completed. We simulate and evaluate the performances of the algorithm on NS2. The experiment results show that our algorithm is efficient in both energy consumption and accuracy of time synchronization.
Automatic Adaptive Locomotion on Partially Breakdown Quadrupedal Biomorphic Robot by Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms
Authors: Chen Hou-Yu  , Wu Shih-Hung
Published: February 2025

Traditional robots locomotion relied on the kinetic analysis to design a set of instructions to control the robot. When the surrounding environment changed, human had to develop a code to deal with the changes in the environment. Using evolutionary algorithm to solve this problem, evolutionary robot can adapt its behavior to fit the current environment immediately, which is the advantage of evolutionary robots in saturations that no human can help.
Biomolecular Docking Sites Selection by Surface Filtration and Refinement
Authors: Hsieh Chen-En  , Chen Grace Shiahuy  , Chen Chun-Jung  , Lin Yaw-Ling
Published: February 2025

In this paper, we propose a two-stage algorithm for biomolecular docking sites selection problem. The proposed method can be easily parallelized in the cloud computing frame work. Given the ligand/receptor docking pair, the algorithm is especially suitable when the ligand size is comparatively much smaller than the receptor. The propsed Probe-dig algorithm first survey the surface of the receptor and evaluate the potentials of these possible candidate locations on the receptor before proceed to further reexamine docking sites with finer grains inquisition in performing the later AutoDock examinations.
A Multi-lingual Management Process for Software Interface Consistency
Authors: Chiang Hsin-Chen  , Hu Kevin
Published: February 2025

Quality and cost of software localization for an organization may vary from software to software due to time and models of developing, target users, applied fields, regional variations, language variations and methods of translation. The software company in this case is an ERP and ERP II vendor that holds a dominant market share in the Greater China. They also expand their business to Southeast Asia. As a 30-year-old company, they are facing software localization issue at all times. The study of this research illustrated a multilingual management process that using string-edit distance metric to suggest appropriate terminology and establishing a terminology repository system to auto-translate terminologies needed in different software. The process helps maintain software interface consistency yet continuously to increase their software development productivity.
Design of Hypervisor-based Integrated Intrusion Detection System in Cloud Computing Environment
Authors: Wang Chih-Hung  , Chen Xuan-Liang
Published: February 2025

Since the cloud computing is very dependent on the Internet connection, a malicious intruder can issue an attack on the cloud services from a remote site through the network to obtain benefits. In the cloud environment, in order to avoid attacks from malicious intruders, the most common solution is to use the firewall. Furthermore, the intrusion detection system is also often used to identify in depth the attack events. Two types of the intrusion detection system, HIDS and NIDS, are popularly used in defending the different kinds of attacks. This paper proposes an integrated intrusion detection system prototype conducted on the virtual machine manager (Hypervisor-Based Integrated Intrusion Detection System, HIIDS) that can keep the advantages of both HIDS and NIDS systems, and also can effectively solve the integration problems. The proposed prototype has two contributions. First, it timely monitors the communications among the virtual machines and Hypervisor to detect the possible inside threats. Second, the proposed system achieves a high practicality. Compared to other Hypervisor-based IDSs, our system can be easier realized and implemented.
Smartphone-based Tele-Rehabilitation Framework for Patient with Frozen Shoulder
Authors: Ongvisatepaiboon Kanmanus  , Vanijja Vajirasak  , Chan Jonathan H.
Published: February 2025

Patients with the frozen shoulder condition that limits their arm movement should seek rehabilitation assistance from a medical facility. The normal process is for the patients to travel from their home to a hospital or a medical center to see a physiotherapist. Such potentially cumbersome effort may reduce their motivation and determination to seek proper treatment. Our approach is to use a single smartphone with accelerometer, magnetic field, and gyroscope sensors to provide the necessary monitoring measurements to enable effective tele-rehabilitation. This work proposes a framework for such a system and has successful developed prototype based on the Android platform. Also, there are many different smartphones in the market. Therefore, we evaluated performance of three different smartphones, which are Samsung Google Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy Note 1, and Sony Xperia Z Ultra. According to the experimentation, we have shown that smartphones with the appropriate sensors are suitable for tele-rehabilitation. Also, a newer generation model would provide more precise measurements, as expected.
Mechanical and thermal activated self healing surfaces made of composite ceramics for mechanical components
Authors: de Rooij M.B.  , Valefi M.  , Song J.
Published: February 2025

Ceramics have important advantages in application due to their high hardness and stiffness, high temperature stability and wear resistance. However, often the coefficient of friction is too high in sliding contacts, resulting in high frictional losses. Therefore ceramic composites containing a soft, self lubricating phase have potential to be used in these applications as the presence of the soft phase as a second phase in the ceramic gives the possibility of gradual supply to the surface and additional control over the thickness of the soft surface layer.
Sodium monofluorophosphate - an inorganic self healing agent for blast furnace slag cement products
Authors: Kempl J.  , Çopuroğlu O.
Published: February 2025

Sodium monofluorophosphate, chemically known as Na2PO3F and from here on referred to as Na-MFP, has long been known as a surface applied corrosion inhibitor in the concrete industry. Over the past decade, Na-MFP has gained large interest as an inorganic self-healing agent, particularly on blast furnace slag cement (BFSC) concrete. BFSC is an important product of the cement industry, especially in Northern European countries. In the Netherlands it holds a market share of more than 50% and besides many technical advantages it is an environmentally friendly product. However, its carbonation rate is a huge drawback compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) performances and requires a large-scale industrial and feasible solution to keep BFSC equally attractive for the building industry.
Self-replenishing polymeric coatings: repairing surface functionalities
Authors: Esteves A.C.C.  , de With G.
Published: February 2025

During the last decade, extensive research has been carried out on functional coatings with easy-to-clean/self-cleaning, anti-bacterial or anti-fouling properties, mainly driven by industrial demand but also by academic interest. Such properties are strongly related to the surface characteristics, in particular chemical composition and topography. Since damage of coatings can never be totally avoided, the introduction of self-replenishing mechanisms is one way to repair the surface properties and maintain a high performance of the coatings' functionality throughout an extended service life-time.
Matrix damage healing in fiber reinforced composite materials containing embedded active and passive wires
Authors: Bor T.C.  , Warnet L.L.  , Akkerman R.
Published: February 2025

Continuous fiber reinforced composite materials are susceptible to matrix cracking and delamination upon impact. Active and passive wires can be embedded within the composite material to support the healing behavior. Upon a local heating stimulus the wires, oriented mostly in the out-of-plane direction, can assist the buildup of compressive stresses to close matrix cracks and delaminations. Shape memory alloy wires, prestrained to contract upon heating, can actively close cracks in a damaged region during the heat treatment. A closing action can also be achieved in a passive sense, based on differences in thermal expansion of the composite material and the wires employed.
Self healing creep steel: copper as healing agent
Authors: He S.M.  , Zhang S.  , van Dijk N.H.
Published: February 2025

This work is a study into the possibilities of self healing of early stage creep damage (i.e. grain boundary pores) in iron based model alloys by site-specific precipitation of substitutionally dissolved Cu atoms. The precipitation of copper is found to occur in the form of (a) spherical nanoscale precipitates within the matrix, (b) decoration of dislocations and/or (sub)grain boundaries and (c) precipitation at free creep cavity surfaces. Due to the comparable atomic size of Cu and Fe the copper precipitation is found to be only weakly site specific and does not have a strong preference for creep cavity surfaces. The addition B and N to the Fe-Cu alloys generally retards the Cu diffusion along dislocations and (sub)grain boundaries. This does not change the overall precipitation mechanism, but modifies the precipitation rate and distribution over the potential precipitation sites. No indications were found for an independent healing mechanism for creep damage by BN precipitation within creep cavities for the studied ferritic Fe-Cu alloys. The defect-induced precipitation of Cu was only weakly affected by the introduction of about 0.1 wt.% C in the alloy.
Influence of Solid Waste Disposal Conditions on Organic Pollutants Discharged from Tropical Landfill
Authors: Weerasekara Ruwini  , Chiemchaisri Chart  , Chiemchaisri Wilai
Published: February 2025

This research was carried out to determine the influence of landfill design and operating conditions on organic loading from leachate of municipal solid waste landfill operating in the tropics. Several factors were investigated including waste composition, compaction density, rainfall intensity, leachate re-circulation and accumulation of leachate in the waste cell. Laboratory scale lysimeters filled with urban wastes in Thailand were used to represent typical landfill conditions in Asian developing countries. Tropical condition was simulated by adding rainwater to the lysimeters where the precipitation rate was varied between 35 and 100% of maximum rainfall intensity. The collected leachate samples were determined for chemical characteristics. Leachate re-circulation was practiced to investigate incremental leaching of pollutants along the waste depth. Other lysimeters were operated with internal storage (saturation) condition. The experimental results revealed that the organic pollutant load increased with increasing rainfall intensity and substantially decreased from low compaction density (220 kg/m3) in open dumping to high compaction density (450 kg/m3) in sanitary landfill condition. Total organic pollutant load in water storage condition was considerably higher than conventional operation, but it was completely retained within the waste cell.
Finding the Law for Sharing Data in Academia
Authors: Hoorn Esther  , Domingus Marlon
Published: February 2025

How can universities provide good advice about the legal aspects of research data management? At the same time, how can universities prevent that perceived legal risks become barriers to: conducting research, sharing research data, valorisation of research data, and control mechanisms for the purpose of scientific integrity? A Dutch expert group developed a creative approach based on some core ideasThe views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen or Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Building a Social Semantic Digital Library
Authors: Nisheva-Pavlova Maria  , Shukerov Dicho  , Pavlov Pavel
Published: February 2025

The paper analyzes some current trends of research and development in the field of digital libraries. The presentation is focused on the main features of two new generations of digital libraries – the so-called semantic digital libraries and social semantic digital libraries. The design characteristics, principles of functioning and some implementation details of a particular academic digital library have been discussed as an illustration of the suggested ideas.
Seismic Risk Management of a Canal System Model
Authors: Hara Takashi  , Kato Tomoo  , Nonoyama Maiko  , Otake Yu  , Honjo Yusuke
Published: February 2025

This paper proposes a seismic risk management scheme for long continuous geotechnical structure, such as road embankment, water canal and so on. In this scheme, the continuous variation of responses, the failure probability and the risk, 50m intervals for instance, of the structure can be estimated with using response surface method. The detail of the proposed scheme and its applicability to the seismic risk management of continuous geotechnical structures are described from an application example to a more complex canal system model in this paper.
Geotechnical Risk Management for Museum “Our Lord in the Attic” Amsterdam
Authors: Balder A.T.
Published: February 2025

The paper describes the geotechnical design and execution challenges in underground construction in the historical center of Amsterdam. The geotechnical design and risk management approach of the total works will be presented in detail, with special attention to the specific geotechnical conditions in Amsterdam and the GeoRM risk document. The design results, using FEM calculations will be mentioned shortly and the risk control during execution of the works will be presented and discussed. The design contains special geotechnical features such as trenching to remove underground obstacles, special retaining walls and measures to prevent instability of the excavation floor. Through a sophisticated geotechnical and structural design, and by applying Geotechnical Risk Management in the design and during execution the Museum was constructed successfully without any significant damage or delay.
Probabilistic Methodology for Seismic Deformation Assessment of Slopes in Regions with Low to Moderate Seismicity
Authors: Zugic Zeljko
Published: February 2025

Earthquake-induced sliding deformations are commonly used to assess the seismic performance of slopes. These deformations are the cumulative, downslope movement of a sliding mass occurred due to earthquake shaking, and represent the valuable indicator of risk and possible damage above slope. Current probabilistic procedures that use seismic slope displacements to evaluate the potential for slope instability typically are developed on basis of significant seismic data. The most common procedures are based on a deterministic approach or a pseudo-probabilistic approach, in which the variability in the expected ground motion, soil properties, water level, geometry and predicted displacement are either ignored or not treated rigorously. Thus, beside all existing methods, the concept of actual hazard ( i.e., the annual probability of exceedance) associated with the computed displacement has so far not been developed in cases of low to moderate seismic excitation when in most cases except the design code there is no valuable seismic data.
Correlation Effect in Probabilistic Design against Piping in Multi-Functional Flood Defences
Authors: Aguilar López J.P.  , Warmink J.J.  , Schielen R.M.J.  , Hulscher S.J.M.H.
Published: February 2025

The multi-functional flood defences are one of the many solutions proposed for climate adaptation in deltaic areas. Similar concepts flood management structures such as Delta-dikes, un-breachable dikes or super-levees can also be found in literature. Yet all of them have two key design requirements in common. The first one is to improve their reliability given the uncertainty in future projections of water level change. The second one is the optimization of their dimensions in order to make them safe enough. In the case of the Netherlands, the failure mechanism of piping is one of the main concerns of the designers and flood risk managers. The large uncertainties that come from the heterogeneity of the soil properties are coped by moving towards a more complete probabilistic design. However correlation between input parameters is one of the sources of uncertainty that must be solved. In the present study, the effect of possible correlation between grain size and hydraulic conductivity is investigated. A straight forward approach is implemented by the inclusion of joint bivariate distributions generated from copulas. This random sampling method allows to induce not only the degree of correlation of two variables but their different tail dependence behavior as well. The generated random samples are propagated with a Monte Carlo algorithm using the piping Sellmeijer limit state function in order to estimate the reliability of the analyzed flood defence. The present study showed that correlation has an important effect in the design of this kind of structures which is even more severe when implemented according to the actual Dutch legislation. Therefore a robust soil investigation can be more cost effective than the actual over dimensioning of the structures.
Reliability Analysis of Near Surface Disposal Facilities using Collocation Based Stochastic Response Surface Method
Authors: Manjari K. Geetha  , Sujitha S.  , Dutta Sampurna  , Babu G.L. Sivakumar
Published: February 2025

The safety assessment and reliability analysis are the two critical factors that affect the design of a complex structured system. In this paper, safety assessment model is used and the radiation dose of radionuclides are evaluated. The model is developed based on single dumping mode of disposal. In the present paper, radioactive carbon (14C) is considered as it delivered the maximum concentration in ground water. To consider variability in the model parameters, a probabilistic methodology is adopted. One of the efficient probabilistic methods, collocation based stochastic response surface methodology (CSRSM) is used. In this method, the complex analytical equations are approximated by a higher order polynomial (using polynomial chaos expansion (PCE)). Groundwater velocity, thickness of unsaturated zone, dispersivity and distribution coefficient are considered as random variables. Third order polynomial gave the best fit for the model and an R2of 0.99 is obtained for a third order polynomial. Reliability analysis was carried out and the probability of failure of annual radiation dose of14C (radioactive carbon) radionuclide exceeding the permissible limits was estimated for different scenarios. The results show that the probability of failure of the system is very low and the multi barrier system is safe.
Reliability Analysis of Near Surface Disposal Facilities Using Collocation Based Stochastic Response Surface Method
Authors: Geetha Manjari K.  , Sujitha S.  , Datta Sampurna  , Sivakumar Babu G.L.
Published: February 2025

The safety assessment and reliability analysis are the two critical factors that affect the design of a complex structured system. In this paper, safety assessment model is used and the radiation dose of radionuclides are evaluated. The model is developed based on single dumping mode of disposal. In the present paper, radioactive carbon (14C) is considered as it delivered the maximum concentration in ground water. To consider variability in the model parameters, a probabilistic methodology is adopted. One of the efficient probabilistic methods, collocation based stochastic response surface methodology (CSRSM) is used. In this method, the complex analytical equations are approximated by a higher order polynomial (using polynomial chaos expansion (PCE)). Groundwater velocity, thickness of unsaturated zone, dispersivity and distribution coefficient are considered as random variables. Third order polynomial gave the best fit for the model and an R2of 0.99 is obtained for a third order polynomial. Reliability analysis was carried out and the probability of failure of annual radiation dose of14C (radioactive carbon) radionuclide exceeding the permissible limits was estimated for different scenarios. The results show that the probability of failure of the system is very low and the multi barrier system is safe.
Probabilistic Analysis at Ultimate Limit State of Strip Footings Resting on a Spatially Varying Soil Using Subset Simulation Approach
Authors: Thajeel Jawad  , Al-Bittar Tamara  , Ahmed Ashraf  , Soubra Abdul-Hamid
Published: February 2025

The failure probability of geotechnical structures with spatially varying soil properties is generally computed using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) methodology. This approach is well known to be very time-consuming when dealing with small failure probabilities. One alternative to MCS is the subset simulation approach. This approach was mainly used in the literature in cases where the uncertain parameters are modelled by random variables. In this paper, it is employed in the case where the uncertain parameters are modelled by random fields because the spatial variability of the soil properties has proven to greatly affect the behavior of geotechnical structures and to induce a significant change in the variability of their responses. This is illustrated through the probabilistic analysis at the ultimate limit state (ULS) of a strip footing resting on a one- and two-layer purely cohesive soil with a spatially varying cohesion. The soil cohesion parameter was modeled as anisotropic non-Gaussian (log-normal) random field using a square exponential autocorrelation function. The Expansion Optimal Linear Estimation (EOLE) method was used to dicretize this random field. The deterministic model was based on numerical simulations using the finite difference software FLAC3D.
A procedure to determine resistance factors for a newly developed rotation steel pile
Authors: Otake Yu  , Honjo Yusuke  , Kusano Tomohiro
Published: February 2025

The aim of this study is to establish a procedure to determine resistance factors for newly developed pile products through an example of the rotational intrusion steel pile (RI pile). RI pile is a newly developed steel pile product which has the vane type tip structure to resist reliably against vertical load and to intrude easily by rotating itself. Moreover, the RI pile is environment-friendly, i.e. reduce waste soil and less construction noise, because of the rotating intrusion method. The construction can be done with the small pile driving equipment and the pile can be reliably founded into the bearing ground by monitoring and controlling the torque value during installation. For these reasons, the RI-pile is expected to have the superior bearing capacity against vertical loads. However, the RI-pile has not been adopted in many construction projects yet because the current design method requires applying the same safety factor neglecting the level of the uncertainty of each pile type. In this study, 64 loading test data are gathered to quantify the model error of the RI-pile assisted by Public Works Research Institute (PWRI). Then, Reliability analysis is conducted based on our proposed reliability analysis scheme (GRASP) to specify the reliability level of the current design. Furthermore, the partial factor updating procedure according to the newly developed the RI pile is formulated based on the design value method. From the results, the partial factor is determined and applied to compare the RI steel pile to the traditional piles, i.e. cast in pile and driven steel pile. The difference in construction cost among the three piles has become less, and the RI pile is less expensive when the rate of the pile tip resistance is high.
Uncertainty in centrifuge test of slope failure and its simulation by MPS method
Authors: Yoshida Ikumasa  , Shuku Takayuki
Published: February 2025

We sometimes encounter a case in which very small change of computation or experiment condition causes the significant difference in response when strong nonlinearity is involved. Slope failure simulation due to gravity by MPS method is performed to examine feature of uncertainty. The simulation results show that the output uncertainty is proportional to input uncertainty in weak nonlinear or linear behavior. In strong nonlinear behavior, the output uncertainty is constant irrespective of uncertainty level of input data when the input uncertainty is less than certain level. The range of the constant uncertainty depends on the strength of nonlinearity in the phenomenon. Comparison of uncertainties in centrifuge slope failure test and its simulation by MPS method is shown and discussed.
Limit State Design of Shallow Foundations
Authors: Kirichek Yuruy  , Tregub Alexandr
Published: February 2025

The paper contains the analysis 86 field tests and calculations conducted by the authors for predicting the safe bearing capacity of shallow foundations. Limit state design of shallow foundation is studied. The allowable plastic shear zones were estimated by elasto-plastic FE analysis.
Detection of Anomalies in Diaphragm Walls
Authors: Spruit Rodriaan  , van Tol Frits  , Broere Wout
Published: February 2025

If a calamity with a retaining wall occurs, the impact on surrounding buildings and infrastructure is at least an order of magnitude more severe than without the calamity. In 2005 and 2006 major leaks in the retaining walls of underground stations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam occurred. After these cases had been thoroughly studied it was concluded that the diaphragm walls had anomalies in the joints between the D-wall panels. These anomalies are hard to locate using regular leakage detection systems and may cause major damage to the surroundings if an erosive leak progresses. Such a risk is hard to handle for a project and may stand in the way of the application of D-walls close to adjacent buildings. Between 2009 and 2014, within the GeoImpuls program, research was done to develop measurements to detect these anomalies. Three techniques have been found to be effective in evaluating the quality of the concrete in the joint area between D-wall panels. During D-wall production the slurry refreshing operation and concrete casting can be verified using Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS). After curing of the concrete the Cross-hole Sonic Logging (CSL) method, applied to the joint area, can be used to assess the concrete quality in the joint. Anomalies can be localized both vertically and horizontally. The size and contents of the anomaly can be estimated based upon laboratory reference tests and site experience of several projects. If verification of anomalies detected with CSL or DTS measurements is required, Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) can be considered to evaluate the hydrological parameters of the anomaly, although the reliability of these results is much lower than with the DTS and CSL measurements. Based upon the information of the tests, it can be decided if mitigating repair works prior to excavation of the building pit are necessary or that reparation of the anomaly can safely take place while excavating the building pit. The paper will give a short description of all three methods and the executed validation measurements. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for implementation of the measurements.
Risk Assessment of Low Level Radioactive Waste In Near Surface Disposal Facilities
Authors: Sujitha S.  , Datta Sampurna  , Babu G.L. Sivakumar
Published: February 2025

In this paper, a radiological model for the risk assessment is developed for the near surface disposal facilities of Cesium, Strontium and Cobalt. In addition to the time-dependent annual release rate and dose rate of the radionuclides, the risk to the critical individual is also estimated. The results show that the highest value of annual dose rate is less than the dose limit to the critical individual. The highest value of dose rate appears at about 200years, and at this time, dominant radionuclides are Cs-137 and Sr-90. The risk obtained is much lower than the specified tolerable risk.
Application of Conditional Random Fields and Sparse Polynomial Chaos Expansions to Geotechnical Problems
Authors: Schöbi Roland  , Sudret Bruno
Published: February 2025

In geotechnical applications, mechanical properties of soil vary spatially within the soil mass and they are often represented by random fields. When data at certain locations of the soil mass are available, conditional random fields may be used to incorporate them. In this paper, we combine conditional random fields with sparse polynomial chaos expansions to analyze response quantities with otherwise too expensive Monte Carlo-based techniques, such as reliability and sensitivity analysis.
Geotechnical Ultimate Limit State Design using Finite Elements
Authors: Brinkgreve Ronald B.J.  , Post Mark
Published: February 2025

Displacement-based finite element calculations are primarily used for serviceability limit state (SLS) analysis, but the finite element method also offers possibilities for ultimate limit state (ULS) design in geotechnical engineering. The combined use of SLS and ULS calculations with partial safety factors according to the different design approaches in the Eurocode 7 can be time-consuming and prone to error. In this paper a Design Approaches facility is presented for an efficient use of partial safety factors in a finite element environment. In addition to a description of the methods used in this facility, an example is elaborated involving the geotechnical design of a sheet-pile wall supported excavation using different design approaches.