Experimental and Numerical Study on the Winged Pile-Soil Interaction under Lateral Loads

Increasing the cross-sectional area of piles leads to an increase in the lateral bearing resistance and reduces displacements near ground level. This increase compensates for the reduction in soil stiffness at the seabed level. Installing wings near the mudline level is one approach for increasing the area of the pile in mudline level. This research paper discusses a number of small-scale laboratory models and FEM models to study the benefit of adding wings on the variation of bearing capacity of laterally pile loaded embedded in sandy soil. To determine the advantages of adding wings to the pile, four embedded ratios (4, 6, 8, 10) were used to model both flexible and rigid pile types with various wing numbers and dimensions. The results revealed that adding wings to the pile improves lateral load resistance and greatly reduces lateral deflection. So, to achieve better resistance, wings must be linked with the pile shaft perpendicular to the lateral load applied nearer the top of the pile head. Increasing the number of wings results in a large increase in lateral pile capacity. The ultimate lateral applied load is proportional to the rise in relative density at the same (L/D) ratio.

Stabilization of Slopes of Sandy Soils by Using Geosynthetics

This paper intended on the interactive performance of geo-synthetics in slope stabilization of non-cohesive soils. Presently, geo-synthetics are performing crucial role in geo-technical uses for reinforcing of soils for slope of stabilization, soil reinforcement for foundations, R E walls for highway and flyover construction etc. Usually, cohesion less soil is ideal for backfills of the embankments as of its exceptional drainage properties, at a low-level hydrostatic pressure built-up on slopes and excessive internal resistance owing to friction and interlocking. To research this property of geo-synthetics, relative density and shear box tests are done on the soil by varying geosynthetics for assessment of the shear parameters of sample. The mosquito reinforcement net as reinforcement on cohesionless soils, improvement in the angle of internal friction of the soil was observed by twenty-two percentage that the shear strength to be improved by 26.5%. So, the soil’s lateral load resistance or load transfer capacity improved to prevent the slope failure thereby saves the entire structure.

Seismic Performance of Steel Frames with Inverted V-Braces for North Cyprus

Cyprus Island is located in a high-risk zone, in which the buildings should have lateral load-resistance systems to resist the lateral imposed loads. Bracings play a vital role in the structural behavior of buildings during an earthquake. There are many bracing systems that can be found thorough searching in the literature. However, there are insufficient studies regarding the inverted-V bracing system in accordance with the Northern Cyprus seismic code of NCSC-2015. In this study, the seismic performance of steel structures equipped with various types of inverted-V bracing systems is investigated for mid-rise and high-rise buildings in accordance with NCSC-2015 code. Several steel structure buildings having different lateral load-resistance systems are analyzed under different loading patterns applying ETABS2016 software. For this purpose, linear static equivalent lateral force method (ELFM), nonlinear static (Pushover) and nonlinear dynamic time-history (TH) analyses were adopted. The obtained results in this research indicate that the inverted-V bracing systems dramatically enhance the performance of the steel structures more particularly when the earthquake is applied perpendicular to the weak axis of the columns. This indicates that the inverted-V bracing system is an effective solution to resist the applied lateral loads while maintaining the functionality of the building. By applying the regression analysis some practical equations were submitted for the stiffness factor to be employed in similar cases as a guideline