Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geotechnical Engineering
The role of glauconite content in controlling sand crushing and compressibility
Published: 2026-06-16
Subjects: Geotechnical Engineering
Glauconite-rich sands are increasingly posing engineering challenges in offshore and nearshore developments, since their mechanical behaviour remains poorly understood owing to the extreme crushability of glauconite grains. Particle crushing in these sediments alters stiffness, compressibility, grading, particle morphology and, consequently, engineering performance. This study presents a [...]
A Fibonacci-Like Propagation Graph for Infiltration and Internal Erosion in Heterogeneous Layered Soils
Published: 2026-06-06
Subjects: Geotechnical Engineering, Hydrology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Soil Science
Infiltration and internal erosion in heterogeneous layered soils involve coupled flow, pressure build-up, and material degradation across preferential subsurface pathways. High-fidelity Richards-type simulators are physically detailed but can be too expensive for rapid scenario screening and Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation when hydraulic parameters are poorly constrained. We introduce a [...]
A Bayesian ground-motion model for volcano-tectonic earthquakes in southwest Iceland
Published: 2026-06-04
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Tectonics and Structure
Volcano-tectonic earthquakes in Iceland and other volcanic regions produce ground motions that differ systematically from those of ordinary shallow crustal tectonic earthquakes. The recent unrest on the Reykjanes Peninsula has provided an exceptional opportunity to quantify these differences, with multiple intense swarms preceding and accompanying eruptive episodes. Building on Hernández-Aguirre [...]
SPATIAL SPARSITY AWARE EXPLAINABLE DEEP LEARNING-BASED LANDSLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY MAPPING: APPLICATION TO A HILL DISTRICT, BANGLADESH
Published: 2026-03-27
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering
Landslide susceptibility mapping is a critical disaster risk management tool in mountainous regions, particularly in developing countries and in regions where development is ongoing or planned. This research introduces a novel approach to landslide susceptibility mapping that addresses the persistent challenge of spatial sparsity in landslide datasets, particularly in developing countries where [...]
Frictional weakening in the highly mobile 2025 Blatten (Switzerland) rock–ice avalanche
Published: 2026-03-17
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Dynamics and Dynamical Systems, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Multivariate Analysis, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Risk Analysis
Cascading slope failures in alpine environments are intensifying as glaciers retreat and slope stability adjusts to a warming climate. Yet, the mechanisms governing such large, rapidly evolving events remain poorly understood. The 28 May 2025 rock–ice avalanche from Birch Glacier, Switzerland ($\approx9.3\times10^{6}~\mathrm{m^3}$), which devastated part of the village of Blatten, provides a [...]
Implementation of Hybrid Genetic-Ant Colony Algorithm (GACA) for Solving Highly Nonlinear Cuttings Transport Models in Directional Foam Drilling
Published: 2026-02-25
Subjects: Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
Directional foam drilling is widely applied in the development of complex oil and gas resources due to its advantages of low formation damage and high drilling efficiency, but the highly nonlinear cuttings transport model in this process poses great challenges to parameter optimization. To solve this problem, a hybrid genetic-ant colony algorithm (GACA) is proposed, which integrates the global [...]
Spontaneous liquefaction in saturated granular deposits: State controlled boundary and surface reconfiguration
Published: 2026-01-26
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Engineering Science and Materials, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Mechanics of Materials, Mining Engineering, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis
In the case of water-saturated, granular deposits that are at risk of liquefaction, engineers need reliable information about the spatial extent of soil deformation in the event of liquefaction. It is not so important for them to know the exact location of the first failure. However, existing anal-yses primarily deal with the triggering of liquefaction and offer only limited information on how [...]
Liquefaction as an energetic instability of saturated granular systems – Density control and static enthalpy equilibrium
Published: 2025-12-27
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Materials Science and Engineering, Mining Engineering, Other Materials Science and Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Liquefaction of saturated granular materials is commonly interpreted within stress-based frameworks that rely on the existence of an intact grain skeleton. At the onset of liquefaction, however, the contact network collapses and effective stress ceases to be a meaningful state variable. This work reformulates liquefaction as an enthalpy-driven instability of the coupled grain–water system and [...]
Spatial Clustering and Reservoir Analysis: An Expert-Guided Synergy Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) Machine Learning Technique on Volve and Norne Fields
Published: 2025-12-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
This study introduces an expert-guided application for clustering production wells using Machine Learning (ML), focusing on the Volve and Norne Field datasets to optimise reservoir analysis and decision-making. The Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm was employed for clustering and further enhanced by spatial visualisation through Voronoi polygons on topographic maps. The study presents a [...]
A Static Enthalpy Equilibrium Approach to the Stability of Saturated Sands (Version 2)
Published: 2025-10-25
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Engineering and Management, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
This preprint presents a physical formulaton for the stability of saturated granular systems based on a static enthalpy equilibrium. The approach definnes equilibrium as the balance between the gravitationel potential of the granular framework and the hydraulic work of the pore water. From this energetic condition, the limit state and the transition between stable, metastable, and liquefied [...]
Managing Squeezing Rock Mass with TBM Data Analysis: Rail Link Rishikesh – Karnaprayag (India)
Published: 2025-10-25
Subjects: Geotechnical Engineering
The 125.2 km rail link Rishikesh–Karnaprayag in the Lesser Himalayas of India represents a benchmark in mechanized tunnelling through complex geology. This paper focuses on Tunnel 8, a 14.58 km section excavated primarily using two single-shield hard rock tunnel boring machines (TBM) under challenging conditions characterized by tectonically deformed, partly water-bearing phyllites and high [...]
Seismicity Migration from Fluid Injection: Laboratory Experiments and Numerical Models Illuminate Volume-Driven versus Pressure-Diffusion-Driven Migration
Published: 2025-10-10
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Mining Engineering
Fluid injection into the subsurface can induce seismicity by reactivating shear rupture, which typically produces larger earthquake magnitudes than tensile rupture. In laboratory shear rupture experiments, pressurization of the entire fault is often limited because large unconfined samples allow fluid to leak at free surfaces. In this study, we investigated shear fault reactivation by directly [...]
Assessing inversion uncertainty from initial-model variability in 3-D magnetotelluric inversion: Application to a geothermal field
Published: 2025-08-19
Subjects: Computational Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Power and Energy
Magnetotelluric (MT) inversion is widely used to image subsurface electrical resistivity structures, but three-dimensional (3-D) MT inversion is inherently non-unique, and the resulting models can depend strongly on the choice of the initial model. Despite this well-known sensitivity, systematic evaluation of initial-model-induced variability remains uncommon in practical 3-D MT studies due to [...]
A SCALABLE MACHINE LEARNING MODELLING TOOL FOR MAPPING LANDSLIDE RUNOUT USING A CASE STUDY IN HAWKES BAY, NEW ZEALAND
Published: 2025-05-02
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Other Statistics and Probability
Understanding landslide runout is crucial for land use planning, utility networks, and assessing infrastructure resilience on slopes. Recent guidance recommends incorporating landslide runout models along with climate change implications when assessing land for development. The advancement of machine learning (ML) techniques can offer new insights and a tool to be used alongside current methods. [...]
Reliability of Contrast-Based Automated Fracture Detection from Decimeter Resolution Aerial Imagery
Published: 2025-04-30
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Other Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Aerial imagery that captures outcrop exposures of rocks enables the characterization of structural discontinuities such as faults and fractures across large and difficult-to-access areas. These datasets provide an opportunity to analyze the characteristics of fault and fracture networks as analogues for the subsurface. The application of automated interpretation methods to imagery has the [...]