Over the last few years or so, the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) has increased in many areas of engineering. In particular, ANNs have been applied to many geotechnical engineering problems such as to predict pile capacity, settlement, liquefaction etc. The correlations between shear strength parameters and other soil properties individually are common among Geotechnical engineers. Bu...

1. A plant that causes specific changes to soil biota may either positively or negatively affect the performance of the plant that subsequently grows in that location. These effects, known as plant–soil feedback, can affect plant species diversity at multiple spatial scales. 2. It has been hypothesized that positive plant–soil feedback reduces alpha (local) diversity by allowing dominance by ea...

The impact of forwarder traffic on soil physical properties was evaluated on a Gwinnett sandy loam, a commonly found soil of the Piedmont. Soil strength and saturated hydraulic conductivity were significantly altered by forwarder traffic, but reductions in air-filled porosity also occurred. Bulk density did not increase significantly in trafficked treatments. The greatest impacts to soil physic...

among the most common types of problematic soils, are probably the expansive ones. one of the modern methods of strengthening and improving the soil in place is the use of electro-osmotic improving treatment. this paper presents the design of an apparatus suitable for electro-osmotic treatment. a soil sample of a high expansive potential was compacted and the effect of electro-osmotic treatment...

Crop rotations that include tap-rooted species of cover crops may help alleviate the deleterious effects of soil compaction on plant growth by modifying soil physical properties. We studied the effects of compaction and cover crops on the least limiting water range (LLWR) and air permeability in the surface layers of a loamy (Exp. 1) and a sandy soil (Exp. 2). There were three compaction treatm...

In steep soil-mantled landscapes, the initiation of shallow landslides is strongly controlled by the distribution of vegetation, whose roots reinforce the soil. The magnitude of root reinforcement depends on the number, diameter distribution, orientation and the mechanical properties of roots that cross potential failure planes. Understanding how these properties vary in space and time in fores...

*Correspondence: Vimala D. Nair, Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, PO Box 110290, 2181 McCarty Hall A, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA e-mail: [email protected] The risk of phosphorus loss from agricultural soils can have serious implications for water quality. This problem has been noted particularly in sandy soils in several parts of the world including Europe (e.g., the Netherla...

An artiˆcial lightweight soil has been developed as a backˆll to reduce the earth pressure behind port and harbor structures. To reduce the unit weight lightening ingredient such as air foam or EPS beads is mixed within slurry of dredged soft clay, while cement is used as stabilizer to warrant compressive strength. This experimental study aims to characterize the strength and deformation proper...

Analyzing piles subjected to lateral loads significantly depends on soil resistance at any point along the pile as a function of pile deflection, known as p-y curve. On the other hand, the deformation characteristics of soil defined as “the soil strain at 50% of maximum deviatoric stress (ε50)” has considerable effect on the generated p-y curve. In this research, several models are proposed to ...