A non-Brownian suspension of micron scale rods exhibits reversible shear-driven formation of disordered aggregates resulting in dramatic viscosity enhancement at low shear rates. Aggregate formation is imaged using a combined rheometer and fluorescence microscope. The size and structure of these aggregates are found to be a function of shear rate and concentration, with larger aggregates presen...

Soft clays are defined as cohesive soil whose water content is higher than its liquid limits. Thus, soil-cement mixing is adopted to improve the ground conditions by enhancing the strength and deformation characteristics of the soft clays. For the above mentioned reasons, a series of laboratory tests were carried out to study some fundamental mechanical properties of cement stabilized soft clay...

Lightweight steel framing is a method in housing and construction that have been widely used in lightweight steel construction. In this method, the structure is built by cold formed steel elements. They are cost-effective, light, and easy to assemble. However, the performance of lateral load resisting systems in cold-formed steel structures specially the behavior of cold-formed steel shear wall...

The rockfill structures are widely constructed throughout the world and rockfills are largely used in these structures as main materials or filler materials. In the crust of earth dams, the rockfill materials role is to stabilize the body of the dam, however, the behavior of these materials in Particular their shear strength is not fully understood. In order to investigate the possible effects ...

Adsorption of asphaltenes at the water-oil interface contributes to the stability of petroleum emulsions by forming a networked film that can hinder drop-drop coalescence. The interfacial microstructure can either be liquid-like or solid-like, depending on (i) initial bulk concentration of asphaltenes, (ii) interfacial aging time, and (iii) solvent aromaticity. Two techniques--interfacial shear...

In order to design civil structures that are supported by soils, the shear strength parameters of soils are required. Due to the large particle size of coarse-grained soils, large direct shear tests should be performed. In this study, large direct shear tests on three types of coarse grained soils (4.5 mm, 7.9 mm, and 15.9 mm) were performed to evaluate the effects of particle size on the shear...

Subgrade soil stabilization is one of the primary and major processes in the construction of any highway; also environmental authorities are concerned about the growing amount of polyethylene (PET) bottles produced by household sectors. This research in order to study effect of adding recycled polyester fiber on soil engineering properties, especially shear strength and California Bearing Ratio...

We provide a brief overview of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for modeling large frictional contact problems in granular flow dynamics and quasi-static geomechanics applications. In terms of contact, DEM can be divided into two approaches: the Constraint Method (CM) or rigid-body approach, and the Penalty Method (PM) or soft-body approach. We give a detailed presentation of a DEM-PM contact ...

The Direct Simple Shear (DSS) test is one of the laboratory element testing devices that has been widely used to assess soil behavior. Although the DSS test is considered to simulate the cyclic shear loading mode from the earthquakes in an effective manner, the most commonly used versions of the test device (such as the NGI-type DSS device) do not provide means of measuring the lateral stresses...