The use of various slags as by-products of steel industry is well established in civil engineering applications. However, the use

of BOS slag in the area of soil stabilization has not been fully researched and developed despite having similar chemical

composition and mineralogy to that of Portland cement. This paper reports on efforts to extend the use of BOS slag to soil

stabilization by determining possible beneficial effects it may have on compressive strength and durability. Results of laboratory

tests conducted on kaolinite samples stabilized with lime and treated with various percentages of BOS slag are presented. Tests

determined strength development of compacted cylinders, moist cured in a humid environment at 35° C and durability by freezing

and thawing method. Results showed that additions of BOS slag to kaolinite samples singularly or in combination with lime

increased unconfined compressive strength and durability. These characteristics were significantly enhanced by the concurrent

use of lime and BOS slag for stabilization of kaolinite.

The present paper is devoted to a new critical state based plasticity model able to predict drained and undrained behaviour of

granular material. It incorporates a bounding surface plasticity model describing in multilaminate framework to capitalize on

advantages of this mathematical framework. Most of the models developed using stress/strain invariants are not capable of

identifying the parameters depending on directional effects such as principal stress rotation and fabric this is mainly because

stress/strain invariants are scalar quantities. The principal features of this model can be postulated as considering both inherent

and induced anisotropy, principal stress rotation. Since the local instability of saturated sand within post-liquefaction is highly

dependent on the residual inherent/induced anisotropy, bedding plane effects and also the stress/strain path the new mode is

competent to be employed in this regard. The constitutive equations of the model are derived within the context of non-linear

elastic behaviour for the whole medium and plastic sliding of interfaces of predefined planes. As follows, the constitutive

equations are described in detail and then the experimental results and sensitive analysis of key material constants are shown

which all imply the power of the model in predicting of soil behaviour under any condition in soil structures.

When geotechnical engineers are faced with cohesive clayey soils, the engineering properties of those soils may need to be

improved to make them suitable for construction. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of using lime, natural pozzolana or

a combination of both on the geotechnical characteristics of two cohesive soils. Lime or natural pozzolana were added to these

soils at ranges of 0-8% and 0-20%, respectively. In addition, combinations of lime-natural pozzolana were added at the same

ranges. Test specimens were subjected to compaction tests and shear tests. Specimens were cured for 1, 7, 28 and 90 days after

which they were tested for shear strength tests. Based on the experimental results, it was concluded that the combination limenatural

pozzolana showed an appreciable improvement of the cohesion and internal friction angle with curing period and

particularly at later ages for both soils.

Geotextiles are one of the most widely used synthetic materials in filtration and drainage applications. Since in real

applications, geotextiles are subjected to various hydraulic gradients and confining stresses, hydraulic behavior of geotextiles

under different circumstances is of great practical importance. In this study filtration and drainage properties of several

nonwoven needle-punched geotextiles with different properties and unit mass per area of 200g/m2, 400g/m2, 500g/m2 and

800g/m2, under various confining stresses and hydraulic gradients, were studied using standard permittivity

and transmissivity equipments. Prepared samples were subjected to hydraulic heads in the range of 10cm to 60cm and

confining stresses up to 1000kPa and their hydraulic behavior was investigated accordingly. In this study the flow regime

through the geotextile fibers and also the anisotropic behavior of geotextile permeability were investigated. The results show

that transmissivity will decrease exponentially with increasing the normal stress until a residual value is reached, and

permittivity and transmissivity coefficients were seen to decrease with increasing the hydraulic gradient. The flow regime has

found to be non-turbulent in all cases.The Geotextile hydraulic behavior is of great usage in the design of landfill covers,

design of embankments and irrigation structures drainage systems, and in the design of protection systems in river

engineering.

The main task in the design and construction of impermeable liners in landfills is to block the migration of pollutants to the groundwater

systems or to reduce its rate to a reasonable amount. That is why environmental regulations force governments to construct engineered

waste dumps for waste management purposes. These liners are exposed to various types of chemical, biological, and physical processes

and are affected by the leachate which is produced from decomposition of waste materials accompanying methane gas. The leachate

includes a lot of components such as water and different types of salts. For this reason, the geotechnical characteristics of clay liners

which are evaluated in laboratories using distilled water or tap water might be far different from the representative sample of the in-situ

conditions. There are some evidences regarding the effect of these salts on the physical and mechanical properties of clay barriers which

could affect the long-term performance of these liners. Since the main criterion for impermeable bottom liners in landfills is their

hydraulics conductivity, the increase of this parameter could have a considerable environmental impact. This paper embraces the results

of a recent study on the effect of three inorganic salts, NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 on some geotechnical properties of a common used clay

soil in impermeable bottom barrier in Kahrizak landfill, the main waste disposal center of the Tehran Metropolitan. Also the effect of

bentonite content by adding different percentage of this special clay mineral, 10 and 20 percent, on these properties was investigated.

Laboratory tests like liquid limit, compaction, 1D consolidation and free swell tests were performed for this purpose. Results indicated

that all of these salts could have a considerable effect on the geotechnical properties of the mixtures. The main reason of such effects is

the changes which occur in diffuse double layer of clay particles.

The effects of cementation and the physical properties of grains on the shear behavior of grouted sands are investigated in this

paper. The consolidated-undrained triaxial shear behavior of three grouted carbonate sands with different physical properties,

including particle size distribution, particle shape and void ratio, was studied. Two sands were obtained from the north shores

of the Persian Gulf, south of Iran, called Hormoz and Kish islands sands, and one sand was obtained from the south beaches

of England and called Rock beach sand. The selected sands were grouted using a chemical grout of sodium silicate and tested

after one month of curing. Test results showed that the effect of bonding on the shear behavior and strength depends on the bond

strength and confining pressure. In addition, the shear behavior, yield strength and shear strength of grouted sands under

constant conditions, including the initial relative density, bonds strength, confining pressure and loading, were affected by the

physical properties of the sands. Furthermore, the parameters of the Mohr-Coulomb shear strength failure envelope, including

the cohesion and internal friction angle of grouted sands under constant conditions, were affected by the physical properties

and structure of the soils.

In the current study, an effort is made to determine three dimensional bearing capacity of rectangular foundations using Discrete

Element Method. The soil mass is modeled as discrete blocks connected with Winkler springs. Different factors affect the geometry

of failure surface. Six independent angles are used to define the failure surface. By trial and error, the optimum shape of failure

surface beneath the foundation can be found. The paper includes the derivation of the governing equations for this DEM based

formulation in three dimensional state as well as parametric sensitivity analyses and comparison with other methods. Moreover,

using the current method, bearing capacity coefficients are presented for various friction angles and foundation aspect ratios.

Evaluating the rate and maximum height of capillary rise is of prime interest in unsaturated soil mechanics. Antecedent solutions

to this problem have dwelled mostly on determining the maximum capillary rise height, overlooking moisture and suction changes

in the capillary region. A comprehensive improved solution for the capillary rise of water in soils is presented. Salient features of

the formulation including consideration of initial soil suction (if any) prior to capillary rise, and determination of water content

variation in the capillary region are elaborately discussed. Results reveal that suction head variation within the capillary region

is non-linear, where the curvature decreases as water rises to higher elevations. The solution is verified and compared with

existing solutions, by means of two sets of experimental data available in the literature. The comparison suggests that the

improved formulation is more accurate and versatile than previous solutions for capillary rise.

Foundations behavior is affected by soil behavior which can vary from dilative to contractive depending on the stress level,

particularly in dense frictional soils. The Zero Extension Lines (ZEL) method has been generally developed to predict the

foundations behavior. Knowledge of soil behavior enables the ZEL method to predict the general and local shear failure modes.

In this paper, a relatively simple work hardening/softening soil constitutive model is developed to represent dense frictional soils

behavior under different stress levels. This model is based on the accumulation of the plastic work during a simple direct shear

test and its relationship to stress ratio to establish the hardening law. Verifications have been made for the developed soil model.

The model is then implemented into the ZEL method to theoretically investigate the bearing capacity and load-displacement

behavior of foundations over dense frictional soils. Utilization of this model enables the ZEL method to capture different modes

of failure depending on the foundation size. A numerical study on foundations behavior was performed showing the ability of the

presented approach in capturing both failure modes.

The results of laboratory model tests and numerical analysis on circular footings supported on sand bed under incremental

cyclic loads are presented. The incremental values of intensity of cyclic loads (loading, unloading and reloading) were applied

on the footing to evaluate the response of footing and also to obtain the value of elastic rebound of the footing corresponding

to each cycle of load. The effect of sand relative density of 42%, 62%, and 72% and different circular footing area of 25, 50,

and 100cm2 were investigated on the value of coefficient of elastic uniform compression of sand (CEUC). The results show that

the value of coefficient of elastic uniform compression of sand was increased by increasing the sand relative density while with

increase the footing area the value of coefficient of elastic uniform compression of sand was decreases. The responses of footing

and the quantitative variations of CEUC with footing area and soil relative density obtained from experimental results show a

good consistency with the obtained numerical result using “FLAC-3D”.

This paper studies thoroughly and deeply the results of about one hundred triaxial compression tests on thirty types of rockfill
materials. The materials are categorized in accordance with their particles shape (angular / rounded) and gradation
characteristics. The main tool of the study is the Hyperbolic Model developed by Duncan and Chang. The focus of the study is
on the variations of deformation modulus of the materials (Ei and Et) with confining stress (&sigma3). Features of the mechanical
behavior of the rockfill materials, as compared with the general behavior of soils, are highlighted through the exponent
parameter (n) of the Hyperbolic Model. It is shown that high confining stresses may have adverse effects on the deformation
modulus of the rockfill materials and make them softer. The particle breakage phenomenon which happens during compression
and shearing is found as the main factor responsible for the above effects and, in general, responsible for controlling the
behavior of the materials. For the rockfill materials of this study, two correlations for estimating the initial elasticity modulus (Ei)
and the internal friction angle (&phi) in terms of particles shape, confining pressure (&sigma3), and coefficient of uniformity (Cu) are
suggested.

It has been realized that the raft (mat) foundations are capable of bearing very large loads when they are assisted with a pile
group. The contribution of both raft and piles to carry the surcharge loads is taken into account, considering the stiffness and
strength of involved elements in the system, i.e. piles, raft and surrounding soil. The piles are usually required not to ensure the
overall stability of the foundation but to act as settlement reducers. There is an alternative design in which, the piles are nonconnected
from the raft to reduce the settlement, which are then known to be "settlement reducer non-connected piles" to increase
the system stiffness. In this paper, two and three dimensional finite element analysis of connected and non-connected pile-raft
systems are performed on three case studies including a 12-storey residential building in Iran, a 39-storey twin towers in
Indonesia, and the Messeturm tower, 256m high, in Frankfurt, Germany. The analyses include the investigation of the effect of
different parameters, e.g. piles spacing, embedment length, piling configuration and raft thickness to optimize the design. The role
of each parameter is also investigated. The parametric study results and comparison to a few field measurements indicate that
by concentrating the piles in the central area of the raft foundation the optimum design with the minimum total length of piles is
achieved, which is considered as control parameter for optimum design. This can be considered as a criterion for project cost
efficiency. On the other hand, non-connected piled-raft systems can significantly reduce the settlements and raft internal bending
moments by increasing the subsoil stratum stiffness. Finally, the comparison indicates that simple and faster 2D analysis has
almost similar results to the time consuming and complicated 3D analysis.

In the first impounding of rockfill dams, additional settlements occur in upstream side in saturated rockfills due to collapse
phenomenon even high rainy seasons can cause additional deformation in the dumped rockfills. Unfortunately these
displacements are not taken into account in the conventional numerical models which are currently used to predict embankment
dam behavior during impounding. In this paper to estimate these displacements, strain hardening-strain softening model in Flac
is modified based on the laboratory tests, in which same impounding process in such dams is considered. Main feature of the
model is reproduction of nonlinear behavior of rockfill material via mobilized shear strength parameters and using collapse
coefficient to display induced settlement due to inundation. This mobilization of shear strength parameters associated with some
functions for dilatancy behavior of rockfill are used in a finite difference code for both dry and wet condition of material. Collapse
coefficient is defined as a stress dependent function to show stress release in the material owing to saturation. To demonstrate
how the model works, simulation of some large scale triaxial tests of rockfill material in Gotvand embankment dam is presented
and results are compared with those from laboratory tests, which are in good agreement. The technique could be used with any
suitable constitutive law in other coarse-grained material to identify collapse settlements due to saturation

This paper describes a series of laboratory model tests on strip footings supported on unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced sand
with an inside void. The footing is subjected to a combination of static and cyclic loading. The influence of various parameters
including the embedment depth of the void, the number of reinforcement layers, and the amplitude of cyclic load were studied.
The results show that the footing settlement due to repeated loading increased when the void existed in the failure zone of the
footing and decreased with increasing the void vertical distance from the footing bottom and with increasing the reinforcement
layers beneath the footing. For a specified amplitude of repeated load, the footing settlement is comparable for reinforced sand,
thicker soil layer over the void and much improved the settlement of unreinforced sand without void. In general, the results
indicate that, the reinforced soil-footing system with sufficient geogride-reinforcement and void embedment depth behaves much
stiffer and thus carries greater loading with lower settlement compared with unreinforced soil in the absent of void and can
eliminate the adverse effect of the void on the footing behavior. The final footing settlement under repeated cyclic loading becomes
about 4 times with respect to the footing settlement under static loading at the same magnitude of load applied.

Presented is a method of three-dimensional stability analysis of convex slopes in plan view based on the Lower-bound theorem of
the limit analysis approach. The method’s aim is to determine the factor of safety of such slopes using numerical linear finite
element and lower bound limit analysis method to produce some stability charts for three dimensional (3D) homogeneous convex
slopes. Although the conventional two and three dimension limit equilibrium method (LEM) is used more often in practice for
evaluating slope stability, the accuracy of the method is often questioned due to the underlying assumptions that it makes. The
rigorous limit analysis results in this paper together with results of other researchers were found to bracket the slope stability
number to within ±10% or better and therefore can be used to benchmark for solutions from other methods. It was found that using
a two dimensional (2D) analysis to analyze a 3D problem will leads to a significant difference in the factors of safety depending
on the slope geometries. Numerical 3D results of proposed algorithm are presented in the form of some dimensionless graphs which
can be a convenient tool to be used by practicing engineers to estimate the initial stability for excavated or man-made slopes

Bentonite-sand mixture is one of the most important candidates for engineering buffer element in nuclear waste repositoriesso
the analysis of its thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior is important for design purposes.An innovative setup of classic oedometer
was used for swelling and compression study at high temperatures in this research. A fully calibration program was utilized to
include high temperature effects on measurements. This research shows that the elevation of temperature from 25 to 90◦C in
1:1bentonite-sand mixture in distilled water reduces free swelling potential and strain about 20 percent. The required time for
equalization of swelling is less in high temperature due to increasing in permeability. Also, the high temperature causes increasing
in compressibility rate and quantity for this buffer. For detection of this effect, XRD analysis showed that an increase in
temperature causes a decrease in basal spacing. So, the particles can come near to each other more than lower temperatures and
the amount of absorbed water in the microstructure of the clay is smaller.The effect of thermal history on behavior of bentonitesand
mixture has been showed and tried to clarify it. At similar stress-temperature states, thermal history causes different
deformation in samples. The highest temperature that bentonite has been experienced, controls its behavior in the next thermal
cycles.

Soft soil in Hanoi, Vietnam, is mainly originated from lacustrine and shallow-sea sediment. This is the youngest formation with
around 3000 years of age. To serve the research purpose, clayey soil samples at ten areas in Hanoi and some places in the RRD
are prepared. Mineral composition of soils determined by X-ray diffraction analysis shows that clay minerals are predominated
by Illite, Kaolinite, Chlorite, and Montmorillonite respectively. Many previous researches indicated that in saline-saturated
condition, types of cation in saline water and types of clay mineral in soil layers, as well as their predomination decide the
changing process of geotechnical properties in other manner. In this paper, the initial relationship between geotechnical
properties and clay mineral composition of Hanoi soft soils in saline-saturated media is established

Spatial Variation of Earthquake Ground Motion (SVEGM) is clearly indicated in data recorded at dense seismographic arrays

The main purpose of this paper is to study the influence of SVEGM on the seismic response of large embankment dams. To this

end, the Masjed Soleyman embankment dam, constructed in Iran is selected as a numerical example. The spatially varying ground

motion time histories are generated using spectral representation method. According to this methodology, the generated time

histories are compatible with prescribed response spectra and reflect the wave passage and loss of coherence effects. To

investigate the sensitivity of the dam responses to the degree of incoherency, three different coherency models are used to simulate

spatially variable seismic ground motions. Finally, the seismic response of the dam under multi-support excitation is analyzed

and compared to that due to uniform ground motion. Also, the Newmark's method is used to estimate seismic-induced permanent

displacements of the embankment dam. The analysis results reveal that the dam responses can be sensitive to the assumed spatial

variation of ground motion along its base. As a general trend, it is concluded that the use of multi-support excitation, which is

more realistic assumption, results in lower acceleration and displacement responses than those due to uniform excitation.

Owing to the proximity of certain locations to the thermal power stations, it has always been efforts of Engineers to enhance

the flyash utilization rate in various Civil Engineering Constructions adopting suitable strategies. In the present study, a soilflyash

interface mechanism has been evolved using different soil-flyash ratios to upgrade significantly stabilization of supporting

medium based on CBR tests. The study confirms soundness of approach when a particular interface arrangement gives high

flyash utilization rate along with many fold increase CBR values. A study was carried out to investigate the interface effect of

soil-flyash layered system in terms of CBR values so that an optimum arrangement can be achieved by using flyash in

combination with soil. In this study, 18 samples of different ratios of soil and flyash (1:0.5, 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:2.5, 1:3) with three

sets of interfaces N = 2, 4 and 6 were tested to arrive at the most optimized combination of soil and flyash. The results indicate

that the CBR value optimized at soil-flyash ratio 1:2.5 and number of interface N = 4. The present study reveals that soil with

flyash when used in layered system with various numbers of interfaces gives considerable improvement in CBR values. In the

above arrangement about 71 % of flyash and 29 % of soil thus contributing significantly in utilization of flyash in subgrade of

flexible pavements. In the overall study, three equations for number of interfaces N = 2, 4 and 6 have also been developed in

terms of soil-flyash ratio and CBR value, so that CBR value can directly be obtained by substituting the value of soil-flyash ratio

at a particular number of interfaces.

Among the different ways of in-situ soil investigation, cone penetration test data are selected to evaluate the spatial variability

of geomaterials and the scale of fluctuations is chosen to evaluate the correlation structure of CPT data. In this regard six case

studies in sandy materials from Australia, U.S.A. and Iraq are selected. Various techniques for the calculation of the scale of

fluctuation of geotechnical parameters are suggested in literature e.g. VXP, SAI, AMF, BLM and VRF without any preference or

privilege for any specific procedure. In order to isolate the stochastic portion of cone tip resistance, deterministic trend was first

removed by regression analysis. This study suggests that quadratic trend removal is more suitable for selected CPT data

soundings. The closeness of the estimated scale of fluctuation using different approaches is assessed too. Mean value of the scale

of fluctuation by five established methods ranges between 0.44 to 1.52 meter for six different cases and the coefficient of

variation for the scale of fluctuation calculated by these methods varies between 12 to 27 % showing that available established

methods produce almost compatible and comparable results.