In certain field conditions such as offshore projects under wave loads or embankments under traffic loads, both the vertical and horizontal stresses are variable. However, previous investigations rarely considered the variation in horizontal stress. To better understand the characteristics of natural saturated soft clay, a series of monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests with a K0-consolidation state were carried out under a variable confining pressure (VCP) stress path. The development of axial strain, pore water pressure and effective stress path is analysed. The results show that with the increase in η (the ratio of the variation in the mean effective principal stress to that of the deviatoric stress), the undrained shear strength (qf) decreases continuously. The pore water pressure generation is slightly improved under a stress path with increasing confining pressure. Based on the test results, a unified formula was established to predict the pore water pressure under VCP stress paths. The unique p–q–e relationship of normally consolidated clay in monotonic VCP triaxial tests was also demonstrated. Under VCP stress paths, the amplitude of the pore pressure increases, and the effective stress path tilts more sharply to the right. Moreover, a unified formula was established that can provide a good reference for predicting effective stress paths under cyclic VCP triaxial tests.
The Himalayan mountains are a product of the collision between India and Eurasia which began in the Eocene. In the early stage
of continental collision the development of a suture zone between two colliding plates took place. The continued convergence
is accommodated along the suture zone and in the back-arc region. Further convergence results in intracrustal megathrust within
the leading edge of the advancing Indian plate. In the Himalaya this stage is characterized by the intense uplift of the High
Himalaya, the development of the Tibetan Plateau and the breaking-up of the central and eastern Asian continent. Although
numerous models for the evolution of the Himalaya have been proposed, the available geological and geophysical data are consistent
with an underthrusting model in which the Indian continental lithosphere underthrusts beneath the Himalaya and southern Tibet.
Reflection profiles across the entire Himalaya and Tibet are needed to prove the existence of such underthrusting. Geodetic
surveys across the High Himalaya are needed to determine the present state of the MCT as well as the rate of uplift and shortening
within the Himalaya. Paleoseismicity studies are necessary to resolve the temporal and spatial patterns of major earthquake
faulting along the segmented Himalayan mountains. 相似文献
