The mitigation of seismic soil liquefaction in sand with fine content presents a challenge, demanding efficient strategies. This research explores the efficacy of Microbial-Induced Partial Saturation (MIPS) as a biogeotechnical technique to improve the liquefaction resistance of sandy soils with plastic fines. By leveraging the natural metabolic processes of indigenous microorganisms, this method introduces biogenic gas production within the soil matrix, effectively reducing its degree of saturation. This partial desaturation alters the soil's response to cyclic loading, aiming to mitigate the risk of liquefaction under dynamic loading conditions. Experimental results from a series of undrained strain-controlled cyclic shear tests reveal that even a modest reduction in saturation significantly enhances the soil's stability against seismic-induced liquefaction. The investigation extends to analyzing the effectiveness of the MIPS treatment in sands with low-plasticity clay content, offering insights into the interaction between microbial activity, soil texture, and liquefaction potential. Results show that while plasticity plays a key role in improving the cyclic response of soils, the influence of MIPS treatment remains noteworthy, even in sand with plastic fines. Additionally, a modified predictive formulation is introduced, incorporating a calibrated parameter to account for the influence of fines' plasticity on excess pore pressure generation.

Landslides commonly evolve from slow, progressive movements to sudden catastrophic failures, with saturation and displacement rates playing significant roles in this transition. In this paper, we investigate the influence of saturation, displacement rate, and normal stress on the residual shear strength and creep behaviour of shear-zone soils from a reactivated slow-moving landslide in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, China. Results reveal a critical transition from rate-strengthening to rate-weakening behaviour with increasing displacement rates, significantly influenced by the degree of saturation. This transition governs the observed patterns of slow movement punctuated by periods of accelerated creep, highlighting the potential for exceeding critical displacement rates to trigger catastrophic failure. Furthermore, partially saturated soils exhibited higher residual strength and greater resistance to creep failure compared to nearly and fully saturated soils, underscoring the contribution of matric suction to shear strength.

Slow-moving landslides are typically characterised by pre-existing shear zones composed of thick, clay-rich, and mechanically weak soil layers that exhibit heightened sensitivity to changes in moisture content and hydrological conditions. These zones, often governed by variations in suction and degree of saturation, play a critical role in the stability and long-term behaviour of slow-moving landslides. In this study, we investigate the influence of the degree of saturation on the mechanical properties of shear-zone soils from a reactivated slow-moving landslide in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China. A series of laboratory experiments, including consolidation, reversal direct shear, and ring-shear tests, were conducted on reconstituted shear-zone soil samples at varying degrees of saturation. The test results indicate that increasing the degree of saturation has a marked impact on the compressibility of the soils, with saturated samples exhibiting greater compressibility and unsaturated samples demonstrating reduced compressibility. Both shear tests indicate that higher saturation leads to a reduction in peak and residual shear strength, likely due to elevated pore water pressures and a decrease in inter-particle bonding forces. These insights emphasise the need to account for varying degrees of saturation when analysing the mechanical behaviour of slow-moving landslides, contributing to an improved understanding of their deformation patterns and failure mechanisms.

Soil liquefaction caused by earthquakes is a devastating occurrence that can compromise the foundations of buildings and other structures, leading to considerable economic losses. Among the new remedies against liquefaction, Induced Partial Saturation (IPS) is regarded as one of the most promising technologies. In order to improve liquefaction resistance and the fluid phase's compressibility, gas or air bubbles are introduced into the pore water of sandy soils. This article deals with the general laboratory evaluation of a sand under partially saturated conditions and under cyclic loading to assess if this technology is applicable for a ground improvement of the examined soil. The use of the Axis Translation Technique for sample desaturation and diffusion-stable butyl membranes significantly influences the laboratory results. Additionally, it is found that the trapped air bubbles of the partially saturated samples act like a damping mechanism, which are reflected in the stress paths of the deviator stress q over the mean pressure p with an inclination of 1 : 3. Zum Verfl & uuml;ssigungsverhalten von teilges & auml;ttigtem SandDie durch Erdbeben verursachte Bodenverfl & uuml;ssigung ist ein verheerendes Ereignis, das die Fundamente von Geb & auml;uden und anderen Bauwerken gef & auml;hrden und zu erheblichen wirtschaftlichen Verlusten f & uuml;hren kann. Die induzierte partielle S & auml;ttigung (Induced Partial Saturation, IPS) gilt als eine der vielversprechendsten Technologien unter den neuartigen Baugrundverbesserungen gegen Verfl & uuml;ssigung. Um den Verfl & uuml;ssigungswiderstand und die Kompressibilit & auml;t der fl & uuml;ssigen Phase zu verbessern, werden dabei Gas- oder Luftblasen in das Porenwasser sandiger B & ouml;den eingebracht. Dieser Beitrag besch & auml;ftigt sich mit der generellen labortechnischen Evaluierung eines Sandes unter teilges & auml;ttigten Verh & auml;ltnissen und unter zyklischer Beanspruchung zur Beurteilung, inwiefern sich diese Baugrundverbesserung f & uuml;r den untersuchten Boden eignet. Die Verwendung der Axis Translation Technique zur Probenentw & auml;sserung und die Verwendung von diffusionsstabilen Butylmembranen haben einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die Laborergebnisse. Au ss erdem ist festzustellen, dass die eingeschlossenen Luftblasen der teilges & auml;ttigten Proben wie eine D & auml;mpfung wirken und sich in den Spannungspfaden der Deviatorspannung q & uuml;ber dem mittleren Druck p mit einer Neigung 1 : 3 widerspiegeln.

Loose fill slopes are prevalent worldwide, and their failure during rainstorms is frequently documented. While existing studies have primarily focused on the initiation of such failures, the post-failure motion of rainfallinduced loose fill slope failures has rarely been explored. This study addresses this knowledge gap by investigating both the initiation and subsequent motion of rainfall-induced loose fill slope failures. To achieve this goal, a hydro-mechanical coupled MPM model was utilized to back-analyze the catastrophic 1976 Sau Mau Ping landslide in Hong Kong and conduct parametric studies. From an engineering perspective, the contractive behaviour of loose coarse-grained soil, which induces positive excess pore water pressure and leads to Bishop's stress reduction and a drop in strength, is a major factor contributing to this landslide. The entire failure process can be classified into three phases with different failure modes: local slide, global slide, and flow-like slide, closely related to the soil stress path. The computed results closely match the field measurements on various aspects, including the landslide zone, mobilized volume, and runout distance. The parametric studies reveal that the landslide zone, mobilized soil volume, and final runout distance decrease with a lower value of dilation angle and a smaller critical state plastic deviatoric strain. Conversely, in the case of a constant SWRC, there tends to be an overestimation of these parameters. It is therefore important to consider soil contraction and its influence on hydro-mechanical behaviour.

Tunnels located in liquefiable soils are prone to flotation following earthquakes. When the shaking-induced pore water pressure buildup continues, saturated soil surrounding the tunnels liquefies, flotation occurs and the soil loses its shear resistance against the uplift force from the buoyancy of the tunnel. Mitigation of liquefaction-induced uplift of tunnels is one of the concerns of geotechnical engineers. This article aims to investigate the efficacy of the available mitigation techniques using a finite element program with an emphasis on the prediction of excess pore water pressures in the surrounding soil and the uplift of the tunnel. In addition to the conventional techniques, a newly developed technique Partial Saturation was modeled to examine its effect on the reduction of the tunnel uplift. A parametric study was done to compare the effectiveness of partial saturation with other mitigation techniques. Results showed that the partial saturation technique would effectively dissipate the excess pore water pressure in the soil around the tunnels. It also performs well in the reduction of the uplift of the tunnel. The most appealing advantage of this technique against the other available mitigation techniques is that it can be employed easily without disturbing the soil around the tunnels. A new methodology to numerically simulate the partially saturated sands was described in this paper.

Principal stress rotation (PSR) significantly affects the cyclic behaviour of subgrade soil. Previous studies on PSR have been generally limited to saturated and isothermal conditions despite subgrade soil experiencing daily and seasonal variations in temperature and suction. This study incorporated temperature- and suction-controlled units into existing hollow cylinder apparatus to conduct cyclic shear tests, both with and without PSR, while maintaining identical cyclic deviatoric stress. The study considered different temperatures (5 degrees C, 20 degrees C, and 40 degrees C) and suctions (0, 10, and 30 kPa). The permanent strain increases and resilient modulus decreases as temperature rises and suction decreases. Furthermore, the incorporation of PSR results in increased permanent strain and decreased resilient modulus, with these changes being influenced by temperature and suction. At zero suction, the permanent strain increases by 130% and 230% at 5 degrees C and 40 degrees C when PSR is incorporated. As suction increases to 10 kPa, these values are 50% and 80%. These coupled effects are likely due to the decrease in the overconsolidation ratio (OCR) with increasing temperature and decreasing suction, with PSR effects being more pronounced at lower OCRs. Furthermore, a new semi-empirical equation was proposed to model these coupled effects on resilient modulus, a critical parameter in pavement design.

Liquefaction, a significant hazard triggered by earthquakes, is characterized by a sudden loss of shear strength due to a rise in pore pressure and the corresponding reduction in effective stresses, leading to structural damage and substantial economic losses. Numerous studies have investigated various mitigation measures for liquefaction. Recently, the focus has shifted toward developing environmentally friendly, cost-effective technologies to enhance liquefaction resistance. One such promising technique is induced partial saturation (IPS), which has the potential to serve as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and practical solution for both new and existing structures. The IPS mechanism was examined and discussed extensively in the first part of this review. The effectiveness and usability of this approach in the soil are reviewed in the next section, using small, large-scale laboratory and field-scale testing. Following that, microbubble and pore-scale studies are used to quantify durability and stability. The review has provided several key recommendations to address the current challenges and limitations of the technique, aiming to enhance its effectiveness and stability. Given the ongoing research and the need to ascertain their suitability for practical applications, the existence of a comprehensive literature review becomes essential. This review will provide researchers with valuable insights into the current state of knowledge in this field and serve as a foundation for future studies.

The soil water retention curve (SWRC) strongly influences the hydro-mechanical properties of unsaturated soils. It plays a decisive role in geotechnical and geo-environmental applications in the vadose zone. This paper advances a novel framework to derive the water retention behavior of multimodal deformable soils based on the pore size distribution (PSD) measurements. The multiple effects of suction on the soil pore structure and total volume during SWRC tests are considered. The complete picture of soil microstructure is quantitatively described by the void ratio (for the pore volume) and a newly defined microstructural state parameter (for pore size distribution) from a probabilistic multimodal PSD model. Assuming a reversible microstructure evolution, a unique PSD surface for wetting and drying links the SWRC and PSD curves in the pore radius-suction-probability space. A closed-form water retention expression is obtained, facilitating the model's implementation in particle applications. The model is validated using the water retention data of four different soil types, showing a strong consistency between the measurement and the reproduced curve. The proposed method provides new insights into the pore structure evolution, the water retention behavior and the relationship between them for multimodal deformable soils.

Linear geotechnical infrastructure undergoes seasonal volumetric changes due to climatic and hydrological cycles, leading to progressive failure of the soil mass and performance deterioration. The magnitude of the seasonal cycles of pore water pressure is expected to be increased by more extreme and frequent wet and dry events, leading to an accelerated deterioration process. Advanced constitutive models for unsaturated soils able to reproduce the observed behaviour are therefore required. A new advanced constitutive model for the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils is formulated and implemented within the framework of elasto-plasticity with internal variables. The effect of recent suction history is incorporated using a kinematic hardening constitutive model augmented by elements of bounding surface plasticity, initially developed for saturated soils, which is further extended to the unsaturated range through the inclusion of a loading collapse curve. The model permits the retention of information on recent stress history, allows prediction of irrecoverable stiffness and strength loss, and replicates the hysteretic response during cyclic loading. The model has been implemented in a constitutive driver using an implicit numerical scheme and its predictive capabilities are demonstrated by performing numerical simulations of a series of laboratory experiments involving complex sequences of isotropic loading, wetting, drying and shearing stages.