Transportation infrastructure, such as highway embankment slopes and retaining walls, are often constructed using locally available fill materials. Slopes constructed with such fills can pose problems as those fills can be expansive and experience surficial failures due to significant strength reductions over the years from cyclic moisture ingress and egress. Repeated wetting and drying cycles often result in the formation of desiccation cracks, which, when compounded by rainfall events, lead to moisture infiltration in the cracks and cause surficial slope failures. This paper provides a forensic investigation conducted on one such collapsed highway embankment slope in Houston, Texas, employing exhaustive timeseries optical image analysis, site characterization, laboratory studies, and numerical modeling. In-situ investigations included determining the site properties using the Texas cone penetration test and retrieving augered soil specimens. Site characterization indicated that the embankment soil was expansive in nature and susceptible to moisture-induced distress. Subsequently, laboratory shear strength studies were performed, and it was determined that the loss in cohesion in the problematic clay during the fully softening stage was responsible for initiating slope failure. Shallow slope failure was often attributed to surficial cracking due to moisture migration and reduction in shear strength from peak to fullysoftened, and further aggravated by insufficient drainage along the slope and vegetation removal. Surficial soil treatment with a calcium-based stabilizer was determined as a potential mitigation method. Engineering studies and numerical analyses showed that soil stabilization using calcium-based stabilizers notably enhanced the mechanical strength properties and overall stability of the slope under future extreme precipitation conditions. Overall, the study emphasized the importance of moisture regulation and the inclusion of anticipated rainfall projections within numerical models along with suitable chemical stabilizers to stabilize problematic embankment subgrade conditions in order to ensure an adequate performance of transportation infrastructure for long-term serviceability.

With increasing demand for nuclear power generation, nuclear structures are being planned and constructed worldwide. A grave safety concern is that these structures are sensitive to large-magnitude shaking, e.g., during earthquakes. Seismic response analysis, which requires P- and S-wave velocities, is a key element in nuclear structure design. Accordingly, it is important to determine the P- and S-wave velocities in the Gyeongju and Pohang regions of South Korea, which are home to nuclear power plants and have a history of seismic activity. P- and S-wave velocities can be obtained indirectly through a correlation with physical properties (e.g., N values, Young's modulus, and uniaxial compressive strength), and researchers worldwide have proposed regression equations. However, the Gyeongju and Pohang regions of Korea have not been considered in previous studies. Therefore, a database was constructed for these regions. The database includes physical properties such as N values and P- and S-wave velocities of the soil layer, as well as the uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, and P- and S-wave velocities of the bedrock layer. Using the constructed database, the geological characteristics and distribution of physical properties of the study region were analyzed. Furthermore, models for predicting P- and S-wave velocities were developed for soil and bedrock layers in the Gyeongju and Pohang regions. In particular, the model for predicting the S-wave velocity for the soil layers was compared with models from previous studies, and the results indicated its effectiveness in predicting the S-wave velocity for the soil layers in the Gyeongju and Pohang regions using the N values. The proposed models for predicting P- and S-wave velocities will contribute to predicting the damage caused by earthquakes.

Seismic movements have varying effects on structures based on characteristics of local site. During an earthquake, weak soils are susceptible to damage due to amplified wave amplitudes. Soil -structure interaction issue has garnered increased attention in T & uuml;rkiye, after devastating earthquakes in Kocaeli G & ouml;lc & uuml;k (1999), Izmir (2020), Kahramanmara Pazarc & imath;k and Elbistan (2023). Consequently, liquefaction potential has been investigated in detail for different regions of T & uuml;rkiye, mainly with available field test results. & Ccedil;ank & imath;r & imath;, a city located close to North Anatolian Fault, is mainly built on alluvium, which is prone to liquefaction. However, no study on liquefaction hazard has been conducted thus far. In this study, groundwater level map, SPT map, and liquefaction risk map have been generated using Geographical Information System (GIS) for the Bu & gbreve;day Pazar & imath; District of & Ccedil;ank & imath;r & imath; province. Site investigations studies previously performed for 47 parcels (76 boreholes) were used within the scope of this study. The liquefaction assessment was conducted using Seed and Idriss's (1971) simplified method and the visualization of areas susceptible to liquefaction risk has been accomplished. The results of this study have been compared with the City Council's precautionary map which is currently in use. As a result of this study, it is recommended that minimum depth of boreholes in the region should be at least 30m and adequate number of laboratory tests particularly in liquefiable areas should be performed. Another important recommendation for the region is that detailed investigation should be performed by local authorities since findings of this study differ from currently used precautionary map.

A 3D high-resolution subsurface characteristic (HSC) numerical model to assess migration and distribution of subsurface DNAPLs was developed. Diverse field data, including lithologic, hydrogeologic, petrophysical, and fracture information from both in situ observations and laboratory experiments were utilized for realistic model representation. For the first time, the model integrates hydrogeologic characteristics of both porous (unconsolidated soil (US) and weathered rock (WR)) and fractured rock (FR) media distinctly affecting DNAPLs migration. This allowed for capturing DNAPLs behavior within US, WR, and FR as well as at the boundary between the media, simultaneously. In the 3D HSC model, hypothetical 100-year DNAPLs contamination was simulated, quantitatively analyzing its spatiotemporal distributions by momentum analyses. Twelve sensitivity scenarios examined the impact of WR and FR characteristics on DNAPLs migration, delineating significant roles of WR. DNAPLs primarily resided in WR due to low permeability and limited penetration into FR through sparse inlet fractures. The permeability anisotropy in WR was most influential to determine the DNAPLs fate, surpassing the impacts of FR characteristics, including rock matrix permeability, fracture aperture size, and fracture + rock mean porosity. This study first attempted to apply the field-data-based multiple geological media concept in the DNAPLs prediction model. Consequently, the field-scale effects of WR and media transitions, which have been often overlooked in evaluating DNAPLs contamination, were underscored.