Modelling of undrained shearing of soft natural clays

Modelling of Viscous Effects in Natural Clays

Modified Mesri Creep Modelling of Soft Clays in the Coastal Area of Tianjin (china)

Original scientific paper The nonlinear creep characteristics of typical clays in the coastal area of Tianjin were studied by consolidated-undrained triaxial creep tests. The tests were performed via the stepwise loading method, and the creep curves of the soft clays under different stress states were obtained from the raw data processed by Chen and Kang’s method. The experiments showed that th...

Modelling the mechanical behaviour of expansive clays

A simple formalism is presented to model the behaviour of expansive clays. Two levels of structure are considered. The behaviour of the macrostructure follows the model developed for unsaturated materials by Alonso et al. [Géotechnique 40 (3) (1990) 405–430]. The behaviour of the microstructure is adapted from the work of Gens and Alonso [Can. Geotech. J. 29 (1992) 1013–1032] in order to includ...

Improvement of soft clays using vacuum-assisted consolidation method

In this study, the analytical modeling of one-dimensional consolidation by vertical drains with vacuum preloading considering both vertical and horizontal drainage is presented. In this method, the total degree of consolidation based on excess pore water pressure dissipation is related to the time factor (Th), drain configuration and anisotropic soil permeability. The analytical predictions are...

Killer Clays! Natural antibacterial clay minerals

Clay minerals have been used in medicinal applications since Aboriginal times (Carretaro, 2002; Wilson, 2003). Clay poultices are used to heal wounds; people eat clays to coat stomach linings and soothe indigestion; animals eat clay containing trace elements (e.g., As) that can kill worms. The reasons that various clay minerals are effective as medicines may be as variable as the ailment, but b...