Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geotechnical Engineering
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: 2023-12-11
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 [...]
Quantification of the impact of acidified brine on fracture-matrix transport in a naturally fractured shale using in situ imaging and modeling
Published: 2022-12-07
Subjects: Geotechnical Engineering, Hydrology
Understanding flow, transport, chemical reactions, and hydro-mechanical processes in fractured geologic materials is key for optimizing a range of subsurface processes including carbon dioxide and hydrogen storage, unconventional energy resource extraction, and geothermal energy recovery. Flow and transport processes in naturally fractured shale rocks have been challenging to characterize due to [...]
python-ags4: A Python library to read, write, and validate AGS4 geodata files
Published: 2022-09-21
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering
Data gathered from geotechnical, geoenvironmental, and geophysical investigations can be broadly described as "geodata". The AGS4 data format is one of the most widely used data transmittal formats for geodata and is used across the world. It is a plain text format consisting of multiple tables of comma-separated values, tied together with a robust data schema and a comprehensive suite of [...]
Kathmandu Basin as a local modulator of seismic waves: 2D modelling of nonlinear site response under obliquely incident waves
Published: 2021-10-15
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering
The 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake is the largest event to have struck the capital city of Kathmandu in recent times. One of its surprising features was the frequency content of the recorded ground motion, exhibiting a notable amplification at low frequencies (< 2 Hz) and a contrasting depletion at higher frequencies. The latter has been partially attributed to the damper behaviour of the [...]
Effects of Cone Penetrometer Testing on Shallow Hydrogeology at a Contaminated Site
Published: 2021-06-07
Subjects: Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Systems Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Penetration testing is a popular and instantaneous technique for subsurface mapping, contaminant tracking, and the determination of soil characteristics. While the small footprint and reproducibly of cone penetrometer testing makes it an ideal method for in-situ subsurface investigations at contaminated sites, the effects to local shallow groundwater wells and measurable influence on monitoring [...]
Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Near Surface Imaging from Submarine Telecommunication Cable: Case Study in the Trondheim Fjord
Published: 2021-05-13
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Signal Processing, Systems and Communications
Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) transforms submarine telecommunication cables into densely sampled seismic receivers. To demonstrate DAS applications for seismic imaging, we use an optical cable on the seafloor in the Trondheim Fjord, Norway, to record seismic data generated by a controlled seismic source. The data are simultaneously recorded by a towed hydrophone array and the fiber optic [...]
Microstructural differences between naturally-deposited and laboratory beach sands
Published: 2021-04-14
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
The orientation of and contacts between grains of sand reflect the processes that deposit the sands. Grain orientation and contact geometry also influence mechanical properties. Quantifying and understanding sand microstructure thus provide an opportunity to understand depositional processes better and connect microstructure and macroscopic properties. We compare naturally-deposited beach sands [...]