Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geotechnical Engineering
Unlocking DAS amplitude information through coherency coupling quantification
Published: 2024-10-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering
Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) allows one to measure strain at metre-resolution along a fibreoptic cable, increasing spatial sampling of a seismic wavefield compared to conventional instrumentation. However, the challenge of measuring DAS-derived strain amplitude currently limits applications of this technology. Absolute amplitude measurements are required for estimating earthquake [...]
Challenges and Opportunities of Data Driven Advance Classification of Hard Rock TBMs
Published: 2024-09-21
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering
Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) have revolutionized tunneling industry and are currently the dominant method of tunneling in all ground types including soil and rock. Traditional approaches to TBM advance classification, however, rely heavily on subjective assessments by onsite personnel, which are often hampered by limited access to the excavation face and discontinuous observation intervals. [...]
B3AM: A beamforming toolbox for three-component ambient seismic noise analysis
Published: 2024-09-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geotechnical Engineering
We introduce the code package B3AM for beamforming of three-component ambient noise array data, which is available for MATLAB and Python. We explain the theory behind three-component beamforming and polarisation analysis in particular, provide an overview of the workflow, and discuss the output using a worked example based on the MATLAB implementation. The strength of the presented code package [...]
How much is enough? Uncertainty aware sample mass determination of coarse-grained soils for particle size analyses
Published: 2024-08-23
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Geomorphology, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Other Earth Sciences, Probability, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy
Determining particle size distributions (PSD) of soils is a basic first step in many geotechnical analyses and guidance is given in different national standards. For ambiguous reasons, the recommended required minimum sample mass (m_min) for the PSD-analyses of soils with a main component of gravel or greater is always based on equations including the soil's maximum grain diameter (D_max). We [...]
Influence of temperature on the residual shear strength of landslide soil: role of the clay fraction
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Geology, Geotechnical Engineering
The shear strength is a fundamental parameter of soil that controls the occurrence and propagation of landslides. In pure clays, it depends on temperature according to the mineralogy, stress history, and hydro-mechanical boundary conditions. Landslide soils, however, are typically very heterogeneous and have a variable content of fines. The sensitivity of the residual shear strength of [...]
Quantifying relationships between fault parameters and rupture characteristics associated with thrust and reverse fault earthquakes.
Published: 2024-07-12
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Risk Analysis, Tectonics and Structure
We investigate the influence of earthquake source characteristics and geological site parameters on fault scarp morphologies for thrust and reverse fault earthquakes using geomechanical models. We performed a total of 3,434 distinct element method (DEM) model experiments to evaluate the impact of the sediment depth, density, homogeneous and heterogeneous sediment strengths, fault dip, and the [...]
The numerical evaluation of the effect of Geotextile sample size on the behavior of reinforced cohesive soil
Published: 2024-01-20
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering
The effect of sample size is a phenomenon that involves the dependence of resistance on the size of the tested sample, where smaller samples exhibit higher resistance compared to larger ones. Due to the importance and sensitivity of determining the resistances of laboratory samples for use in design, codes, and standards, efforts are made to minimize the effects of sample size. This issue holds [...]
Assessing the Influence of Temperature on Slope Stability in a Temperate Climate: A Nationwide Spatial Probability Analysis in Italy
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Geomorphology, Geotechnical Engineering, Multivariate Analysis
Among the factors controlling the stability of slopes, the role of temperature remains poorly understood, especially in temperate climates. Experiments reveal the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) nature of clay behaviours; however, field evidence of thermally-induced landslides is scarce. The complexity of THM processes hinders the construction of a temperature-related variable, usable in [...]
MultiRS Flood Mapper: A Google Earth Engine Application for Water Extent Mapping with Multimodal Remote Sensing and Quantile-Based Postprocessing
Published: 2023-12-10
Subjects: Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
Remote Sensing (RS) imagery is an important data source in surface water mapping applications thanks to its high spatial and temporal consistency and scalability. The introduction of Google Earth Engine (GEE) has cleared some of the major barriers of fast and large-scale RS-based geospatial analyses by providing easy and open access to most of the commonly used RS image products as well as [...]
Mapping Permafrost Variability and Degradation Using Seismic Surface Waves, Electrical Resistivity, and Temperature Sensing: A Case Study in Arctic Alaska
Published: 2023-07-19
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydrology
Subsurface processes significantly influence surface dynamics in permafrost regions, necessitating utilizing diverse geophysical methods to reliably constrain permafrost characteristics. This research uses multiple geophysical techniques to explore the spatial variability of permafrost in undisturbed tundra and its degradation in disturbed tundra in Utqiaġvik, Alaska. Here, we integrate multiple [...]
Statistical Evaluation of Seismic Velocity Models of Permafrost
Published: 2023-06-30
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering
The warming climate in high-latitude permafrost regions is leading to permafrost degradation. Estimating seismic velocity in permafrost can help predict the geomechanical properties of permafrost and provide information for planning and designing resilient civil infrastructure in cold regions. Seismic velocities of permafrost are mainly influenced by three components in permafrost: soil grains, [...]
Better Localized Predictions with Out-of-Scope Information and Explainable AI: One-Shot SAR Backscatter Nowcast Framework with Data from Neighboring Region
Published: 2023-06-10
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides 10-m weather-independent global Earth surface observations for various tasks such as land cover land use mapping, water body delineation, and vegetation change monitoring. However, the application of SAR imagery has been limited to retrospective tasks by a “first event then observation” rule. Recent studies have proven the feasibility of a one-shot forecast [...]
An interview with ChatGPT: discussing artificial intelligence in teaching, research, and practice
Published: 2023-02-15
Subjects: Engineering Education, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Higher Education
This paper examines the potential of using the AI language model ChatGPT in the field of engineering geology. The authors, an engineering geologist and a university teacher, conduct a series of conversations with ChatGPT to explore its capabilities in assisting with research and learning, and its potential implications for scientific publications. The paper also considers the future of human-AI [...]
Physics-Informed Neural Networks Applied to Catastrophic Creeping Landslides
Published: 2023-02-12
Subjects: Computational Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering
In this study, a new paradigm compared to traditional numerical approaches to solve the partial differential equation (PDE) that governs the thermo-poro-mechanical behavior of the shear band of deep-seated landslides, is presented. In particular, we show projections of the temperature inside the shear band as a proxy to estimate catastrophic failure of deep-seated landslides. A deep neural [...]
Linking thermal and rate behavior with fabric and mineralogy of clayey shear zones: Experimental investigation on the El Forn landslide (Andorra)
Published: 2022-12-16
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering
Thermal triaxial tests were carried out on remolded material of core samples of the shear zone of a deep-seated landslide, the El Forn landslide (Andorra). With the thermal triaxial tests, we have obtained thermal and rate sensitivi- ties of the material outside and inside the shear band. Moreover, micro-scale tests were carried out, such as XRPD, SEM-EDS, MicroCT, and plasticity index. The [...]