The study is devoted to both static and earthquake response analysis of retaining structures acted upon by lateral earth pressure. Two main approaches were implemented in the analysis, namely, the Mononobe-Okabe analytical method and the numerical Finite element procedure as provided in the ready software ABAQUS with explicit dynamic method. A basic case study considered in the present work is the bridge approach retaining walls as a part of AL-Jadiriya bridge intersection to obtain the effects of the backfill and the ground water on the retaining wall response including displacement of the retaining structure in addition to the behavior of the fill material. Parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effects of several factors such as vertical and horizontal components of the earthquake, maximum peak acceleration, angle of friction, damping ratio, height of the wall and groundwater level within the medium of fill. Three heights of retaining walls were considered for those above mentioned factors, these are (2.9m, 4.7m and6.7m). A comparison is made between the responses obtained on the basis of finite element analysis with those obtained using the Mononobe-Okabe method. It is found that the lateral wall responses obtained using the FE were larger than those calculated by the Mononobe-Okabe method for all heights of the retaining wall, it was also found that pore pressure of the ground water depends on the water flow through the backfill during the earthquake. The distribution of the dynamic earth pressure on the wall is nonlinear and depends on the earthquake ground acceleration in addition to the wall height and soil properties. Based on the numerical analysis and the results obtained from the parametric studies carried out, two expressions are proposed to evaluate the maximum lateral wall response in terms of wall height, soil properties and earthquake base excitation acceleration, and hence the dynamic earth pressure acting on the retaining structure.
A field experiment is conducted to study the effect of different levels of peat (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 Mg ha-1 to uncropped and cropped soil to wheat. Soil samples are taken in different period of time (0, 3, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 days after cultivation to determine (NaHCO3-Exteractable P at 3 different depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm). Field Experiment is conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates. Wheat, Al-Rasheed variety, is cultivated as a testing crop. The entire field is equally dived in two divisions. One of the two divisions is cultivated to wheat and the second is left uncropped. The effect of five levels of peat namely 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 Mg ha-1 is investigated. Soils are fully analyzed
... Show MoreNaturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated sites at Al-Rumaila Iraqi oil fields have been characterized as a part of soil remediation project. Activity of radium isotopes in contaminated soil have been determined using gamma spectrometer High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) and found to be very high for Al-Markezia, Al-Qurainat degassing stations and storage area at Khadhir Almay region. The activity concentration of samples ranges from 6474.11±563.8 Bq/kg to 1232.5±60.9 Bq/kg with mean value of 3853.3 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 843.59±8.39 Bq/kg to 302.2±9.2 Bq/kg with mean value of 572.9 Bq/kg for 232Th and 294.31±18.56 Bq/kg to 156.64±18.1 Bq/kg with mean value of 225.5 for 40K. S
... Show MoreGypseous soils are spread in several regions in the world including Iraq, where it covers more than 28.6% [1] of the surface region of the country. This soil, with high gypsum content causes different problems in construction and strategic projects. As a result of water flow through the soil mass, permeability and chemical arrangement of these soils vary over time due to the solubility and leaching of gypsum. In this study the soil of 36% gypsum content, is taken from one location about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Baghdad, where the sample is taken from depth (0.5 - 1) m below the natural ground surface and mixed with (3%, 6%, 9%) of Copolymer and Styrene-butadiene Rubber to improve t
When the depth of stressed soil is rather small, Plate Load Test (PLT) becomes the most efficient test to estimate the soil properties for design purposes. Among these properties, modulus of subgrade reaction is the most important one that usually employed in roads and concrete pavement design. Two methods are available to perform PLT: static and dynamic methods. Static PLT is usually adopted due to its simplicity and time saving to be performs in comparison with cyclic (dynamic) method. The two methods are described in ASTM standard.
In this paper the effect of the test method used in PLT in estimation of some mechanical soil properties was distinguished via a series of both test methods applied in a same site. The comparison of
... Show MoreA study of taxonomic quality of soil algae was conducted with some environmental variables in three sites of local gardens (Kadhimiya, Adhamiya and Dora) within the governorate of Baghdad for the period from October 2016 to March 2017. The study identified 28 species belonging to 16 species in which the predominance of blue green algae (18 species) Followed by Bacillarophyta algae (7 species) and three types of Chlorophyta. The study showed an increase in species of Oscillatoria. The results showed no significant differences between sites in temperature, pH and relative humidity, while there were clear differences between sites for salinity and nutrient The study showed a difference of irrigation water quality and use of different fertilize
... Show MoreUranium concentrations in soil were determined for ten locations in Salahdin governorate using CR-39 track detector, fission fragments track technique was used, the nuclear reaction of nuclear fission fragments obtained by the bombardment of 235U with thermal neutrons from (Am-Be) neutron source with flux (5000n.cm-2.s-1), the concentration values were calculated by a comparison with standard samples. The results of the measurements show that the uranium concentration in soil samples various from 0.42±0.018ppm in Beji province to 0.2±0.014 ppm in Tooz province with an average (0.31±0.08ppm), the values of uranium concentration in all samples are within the permissible limits universally.
The aim of this paper is to estimate the concentrations of some heavy metals in Mohammed AL-Qassim Highway in Baghdad city for different distances by using the polynomial interpolation method for functions passing from the data, which is proposed by using the MATLAB software. The sample soil in this paper was taken from the surface layer (0-25 cm depth) at the two sides of the road with four distances (1.5, 10, 25 and 60 m) in each side of the road. Using this method, we can find the concentrations of heavy metals in the soil at any depth and time without using the laboratory, so this method reduces the time, effort and costs of conducting laboratory analyzes.