Title:
Long-term response of soils subjected to repetitive geoenvironmental loads

dc.contributor.advisor Santamarina, J. Carlos
dc.contributor.advisor Burns, Susan E.
dc.contributor.author Shen, Yuanjie
dc.contributor.committeeMember Frost, David J.
dc.contributor.committeeMember Dai, Sheng
dc.contributor.committeeMember Goldsztein, Guillermo
dc.contributor.department Civil and Environmental Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2019-01-16T17:24:53Z
dc.date.available 2019-01-16T17:24:53Z
dc.date.created 2018-12
dc.date.issued 2018-11-08
dc.date.submitted December 2018
dc.date.updated 2019-01-16T17:24:53Z
dc.description.abstract Repetitive loading cycles originate from a variety of natural and industrial processes, affect soil properties and the long-term performance of geotechnical systems. This thesis provides unprecedented experimental data and physical analyses of repetitive environmental loading cycles on geomaterials. Research tools adopted in this study include long-term experiments in multi-physics cells, microfluidics, seismic and NMR monitoring, and analytical solutions. The void ratio evolves towards the terminal void ratio as the number of wet-dry cycles increases. Shear wave velocity data indicate that the soil fabric becomes less sensitive to stress changes after repetitive wet-dry cycles. Changes in the soil-water characteristic curve demonstrate that fine-grained soil fabric evolves towards a new stable fabric as the number of wet-dry cycles increases. Precipitation within dual-porosity microfluidic chips provides new insight into salt crystallization phenomena in geomaterials, such as fractured rocks. Deformable PDMS captures the effect of the crystallization force. Pore network topology and surface wetting characteristics govern crystal growth patterns. Pore fluid chemistry cycles in fine-grained soils alter particle level electrical forces and particle-particle associations. The soil fabric evolves with cycles of pore fluid chemistry and leads to chemical-mechanical coupled response. Atmospheric pressure cycles accelerate water transport in unsaturated soils and promote moisture homogenization. The amount of water loss due to pressure cycles is inversely proportional to the number of cycles, and efficiency is frequency dependent. This study highlights the behavior of sands and fines subjected to repetitive geoenvironmental loads under various boundary conditions. The physics-inspired and data-driven approaches applied in this research can be used to enhance the existing design guidelines of geo-structures for long-term performance, serviceability, and safety.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/60793
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Climate change
dc.subject Repetitive loading
dc.subject Wet-dry cycles
dc.subject Atmospheric pressure
dc.subject Pore fluid chemistry
dc.subject Unsaturated soil
dc.subject Salt precipitation
dc.subject Electrical conductivity
dc.subject Shear wave velocity
dc.subject Microfluidic chip
dc.subject Bender elements
dc.subject Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
dc.title Long-term response of soils subjected to repetitive geoenvironmental loads
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Santamarina, J. Carlos
local.contributor.advisor Burns, Susan E.
local.contributor.corporatename School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication b2384ae5-0372-4d9a-ac49-9eaf26604d75
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication dccac938-385f-44df-99db-ddb90b68a0ec
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 88639fad-d3ae-4867-9e7a-7c9e6d2ecc7c
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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