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.
High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minne
... Show MoreSoil pH is one of the main factors to consider before undertaking any agricultural operation. Methods for measuring soil pH vary, but all traditional methods require time, effort, and expertise. This study aimed to determine, predict, and map the spatial distribution of soil pH based on data taken from 50 sites using the Kriging geostatistical tool in ArcGIS as a first step. In the second step, the Support Vector Machines (SVM) machine learning algorithm was used to predict the soil pH based on the CIE-L*a*b values taken from the optical fiber sensor. The standard deviation of the soil pH values was 0.42, which indicates a more reliable measurement and the data distribution is normal.
The clayey soils have the capability to swell and shrink with the variation in moisture content. Soil stabilization is a well-known technique, which is implemented to improve the geotechnical properties of soils. The massive quantities of waste materials are resulting from modern industry methods create disposal hazards in addition to environmental problems. The steel industry has a waste that can be used with low strength and weak engineering properties soils. This study is carried out to evaluate the effect of steel slag (SS) as a by-product of the geotechnical properties of clayey soil. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on natural and stabilized soils. SS was added by 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20% to the soil.
... Show MoreSoil defilement with "raw petroleum" is a standout amongst the most across the board and genuine ecological issues going up against both the industrialized and oil country like Iraq. Along these lines, the impact of "raw petroleum" on soil contamination is one of most critical subjects that review these days. The present examination expects to research "unrefined oil"effectson the mechanical and physical properties of clayey soils. The dirt examples were acquired from Al-Doura area in Baghdad city and arranged by the "Brought together Soil Grouping Framework (USCS)" as silty mud of low pliancy (CL). Research center tests were done on contaminated and unpolluted soil tests with same thickness. The dirtied tests are set up by blending
... Show MoreIn order to evaluate the performance of introduced varieties of maize and test them under different levels of plant density, and to determine which of the introduced varieties give a high yield and at what plant density, a field experiment was carried out at Station A in the Department of Field Crops- College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - University of Baghdad- Jadiriyah, for the fall season 2021, the RCBD design was used with four replications, in a split plot arrangement, the three plant densities (50.000, 70.000, and 90.000 Plant s ha-1) were the main plates, while the varieties represented the secondary factor, which is six varieties of maize, class 2 = 5783 DKC, Class 3 = 6315 DKC, Class 4= 6590 DKC, whic
... Show MoreThe Skyrme–Hartree–Fock (SHF) method with the Skyrme
parameters; SKxtb, SGII, SKO, SKxs15, SKxs20 and SKxs25 have
been used to investigate the ground state properties of some 2s-1d
shell nuclei with Z=N (namely; 20Ne, 24Mg, 28Si and 32S) such as, the
charge, proton and matter densities, the corresponding root mean
square (rms) radii, neutron skin thickness, elastic electron scattering
form factors and the binding energy per nucleon. The calculated
results have been discussed and compared with the available
experimental data.
The radial wave functions of the cosh potential within the three-body model of (Core+ 2n) have been employed to investigate the ground state properties such as the proton, neutron and matter densities and the associated rms radii of neutron-rich 6He, 11Li, 14Be, and 17B exotic nuclei. The density distributions of the core and two valence (halo) neutrons are described by the radial wave functions of the cosh potential. The obtained results provide the halo structure of the above exotic nuclei. Elastic electron scattering form factors of these halo nuclei are studied by the plane-wave Born approximation.