Journal of Geotechnical Geology
Volume:15 Issue: 1, Winter and Spring 2019

This study is present the comprehensive work on groundwater quality estimation for Bonab Plain located in East-Azerbaijan, northwest of Iran. In this regard, experimental procedure concluded electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and united states salinity laboratory diagram (USSL) to provide the empirical classification of groundwater quality in the Bonab region. In experimental stage, the 25 sample of the Bonab Plain groundwater was taken and conducted the laboratory tests to preparing USSL requirements then in classification stage, used the USSL diagram to preparing the irrigation waters classes as well as qualities. As results it has been determined that the water samples of Bonab plain is in located on C2S1 and C3S1 classes based on USSL classification which is indicated the low to moderate salinity.

Swelling potential is one of the most important effect of fine-grained clay soils which causes damage to the soil texture and structures built with/or on it. The ability to absorb water and swelling in clay soils is directly related to the clay types and properties where this increases with increasing clay complexity. Presented article attempted to provide the empirical relation between physicochemical properties of the clayey soils and swelling potential of Malekan city’s soils. For this purpose, a laboratory tests series including physical properties, XRD, chemical ratio, atterberg limits and fine-grained particles and hydrometery analysis was conducted on 25 clayey soils samples. The tests results are classified by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) systems and swelling activity charts to provide the clay minerals activities in Malekan. According to the results, the swelling potential of clays is medium to high and very high which must be considered as high risk for soil inflation.

Application of artificial intelligence in concrete technology is expanded significantly especially identify the crack location and propagation mechanism which it has a direct role in damaging concrete. Structural health monitoring techniques are used to image based automatic crack detection where successfully applied on crack detection in concrete. Presented study attempted to use the image processing technique to identify the crack status in concrete bodies which is used as alternative procedures for conventional crack detection methods where provide the accurate detection method by Python programming languages.

Landslide zoning is one of the tools that can be used to identify unstable slopes and use them in sustainable development programs. In this study, to assess the relative risk of slopes and estimate the experimental probability of landslides in the Bababozorg Basin, we used nine factors affecting the slope, including slope degree, slope direction, height, lithology, land use type, precipitation, and distances from faults, communication lines and water supply network. Then we made a map for each factor. We also identified and recorded the landslides in the basin and prepared a map of the landslides. By plotting the factors influencing the slope, with the landslide distribution map, and using the LNRF (Landslide Nominical Risk Factor) model in the ArcMap software environment, the effect of each factor on the slope status was estimated. Accordingly, 6.42%, 17.87, 27.13, 27.45 and 21.11% of the area were classified as very low, low, medium, high and very high, respectively.

The presented article is attempted to use the nanoclay filter to provide the natural restrictor to prevent the spread of industrial effluents transmission channels related to Kaveh Soda company in Maragheh, northwest of Iran. For this purpose, a laboratory model has been designed to evaluate the performance ability of nanoclay filters to reduce soil permeability. In the experiment used 0%, 3%, 6% and 9% nanocaly contents specimens to create the filter columns which are performed by permeability test. In this test, the inlet fluid was the factory industrial effluent instead of water. According to the results, it can specified to the permeability coefficient was 3.18×10-4 cm/s (0% nanoclays) which decreased to 7.71×10-7 (9% nanoclays). This indicates the ability of the nano-filter to significantly reduce the permeability coefficient.

Marls are among the problematic soils that threaten developmental projects. As moisture increases, the resistance of these types of soil decreases and their deformability increases. During an earthquake, its parameters and properties are likely to alter. The effect of moist Marl quality is considerable on both static behavior and dynamic properties of soil. These parameters include shear and pressure wave velocity, natural frequency, shear modulus, and damping ratio. The mechanical properties of soil might be specified through both laboratory experiments and field experiments. This research study was carried out on Marls of the north of Shiraz city to identify their dynamic behavior. To achieve this, in addition to field and laboratory static tests, cyclic triaxial test was also done on the samples. The obtained results revealed that in these Marly Soils, as the confined pressure increased (increase in soil depth), the shear modulus also increased. It was also understood that the damping ratio behaved slightly different for less than 1% and more than 1% strains. However, in general, for strains more than 1%, increasing confined pressure led to reduction of damping ratio. The study also showed that as the percentage of moisture increased, the shear and compression resistance decreased which, in turn, led to an increase of soil consolidation. Comparing the static and dynamic behavior of soil indicates that the cyclic shear modulus in 100 kPa stresses and 1% strain is roughly 60%; and in 10% strain, it is less than static modulus by almost 48%. This difference reduces as the enclosing pressure increases.

This study attempts to present the artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic methodology to investigate the stability of jointed rock slopes based on slope mass rating (SMR) in open-pit mining projects in Khoy, West Azerbaijan, Iran. As methodology, the coupled procedure based on SMR and fuzzy logic (named FSMR) was used to quantification and classification of 25 excavated mine slopes where applied on 6 openpit mines in Khoy region. For this purpose, the slopes conditions have been evaluated during field surveys and provide the input information for initial SMR model. The fuzzy model has been used to improve the results as well as reduced errors in field evaluations so that it can produce results with higher accuracy. As a result of the presented article, the modified method provides high accurate results in lower evaluating time.