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.
Iraq within the ranks of the fledgling communities characterized by a broad base of the population pyramid, because they pose the age group (under 15 years) of a large proportion of the community, as it exceeded the proportion (40%) during the years of research extended (1986-2010) Despite the relative decline in the rates fertility during that period, but the proportion of young people remained high, especially for groups of at least five years, amounting to about 14% in 2012, a little more than the proportion of what constitutes age group (5-9 above) years, where it was (13%) and this naturally predicts continuing population increases in coming decades, due to the entry of those numbers of individuals in the reproductive stage,
... Show MoreDate palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is one of the world’s oldest cultivated fruit crops and belongs to the Arecaceae family. It originated in Mesopotamia (Iraq) in 4000 BC. Large areas of palm groves in Iraq produce various types of dates for internal consumption and export. Their cultivation has spread and has become a significant crop in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and the Middle East. Date fruits are widely consumed in Iraq, and radiological monitoring of this crop is necessary as activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs were measured in 12 soil samples and 12 date samples from
A comparison between the resistance capacity of a single pile excited by two opposite rotary machines embedded in dry and saturated sandy soil was considered experimentally. A small-scale physical model was manufactured to accomplish the experimental work in the laboratory. The physical model consists of: two small motors supplied with eccentric mass 0·012 kg and eccentric distance 20 mm representing the two opposite rotary machines, an aluminum shaft with 20 mm in diameter as the pile, and a steel plate with dimensions of (160 × 160 × 20 mm) as a pile cap. The experimental work was achieved taking the following parameters into consideration, pile embedment depth ratio (L/d; length to diameter) and operating freq
... Show MoreTrickle irrigation is a system for supplying filtered water and fertilizer directly into the soil and water and it is allowed to dissipate under low pressure in an exact predetermined pattern. An equation to estimate the wetted area of unsaturated soil with water uptake by roots is simulated numerically using the HYDRUS-2D/3D software. In this paper, two soil types, which were different in saturated hydraulic conductivity were used with two types of crops tomato and corn, different values of emitter discharge and initial volumetric soil moisture content were assumed. It was assumed that the water uptake by roots was presented as a continuous sink function and it was introduced into Richard's equation in the unsaturated z
... Show MoreThe loose sand is subject to large settlement when it is exposed to high stresses. This settlement is due to the nature of the high drainage of sand, which displays foundations and constructions to a large danger. The densification of loose sandy soils is required to provide sufficient bearing capacity for the structures. Thus soil stabilization is used to avoid failure in the facilities. Traditional methods of stabilized sandy soil such as fly ash, bituminous, and cement often require an extended curing period. The use of polymers to stabilize sandy soils is more extensive nowadays because it does not require a long curing time in addition to being chemically stable. In this study, the effect of adding different percent
... Show MoreThe main objective of this study is to examine the impact of moisture concrete of clayey soil on the concrete slabs placed directly over it. This experimental study presents the mechanical properties of the concrete slab when placed on different clayey soil moisture content ranging from 0% to the optimum moisture content of 35%. The tests were performed on soil concrete specimens of 25*30*50 mm exposed to sprayed water curing conditions for 28 days. Tests of compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, crack depth and crack width were investigated through this paper. An ejection relationship between compressive strength of concrete and water content in the soil was observed, with a 26% increase with water increasing from 0% to 35%. T
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