Minmin Luo’s research while affiliated with Zhejiang University and other places

At present, the engineering properties of unsaturated soil have been studied intensively in the soil mechanics community. The shear strength of unsaturated soil is particularly important for the engineering properties of soil. In this study, GDS unsaturated back pressure shear apparatus (UBPS) is employed to control the matrix suction to 50 kPa to conduct the direct shear test of consolidation and drainage on the unsaturated soil and the unsaturated fiber soil. Through the analysis of the test data, the fiber material is found to be able to improve the shear strength of unsaturated soil when controlling the matrix suction, but the improvement effect is not as good as in the case without considering the matrix suction. It can be concluded that the matrix suction is an important factor that must be taken into account in soil improvement engineering since most soils are unsaturated under natural condition.

According to current research, the small-strain soil hardening model (HSS model) is being used more and more widely because it can consider the small-strain characteristics of soil, making the corresponding numerical analysis results more accurate. At present, research into the test value of HSS model parameters of soil mass is mainly concentrated in Shanghai. Given the limits of the test conditions, there has been notably insufficient research into the value of small-strain parameters. Considering the regional differences of soil parameters, this paper, based on an actual project, conducts the HSS model parameter test value study on the main soil layers in the west of Hangzhou, focusing on the value study of small-strain parameters. The corresponding results are used for numerical analysis. The research shows that, compared with the Mohr–Coulomb model, the numerical analysis results using the HSS model are obviously closer to the measured data, and the prediction of the lateral deformation and its change law of the diaphragm wall is obviously more accurate. At the same time, when other HSS model parameters are unchanged, the numerical results using in situ small-strain parameters are closer to the measured results than using indoor small-strain parameters, and the corresponding deformation prediction accuracy is higher. The research results provide valuable references for determining HSS model parameters and engineering applications in the western area of Hangzhou.

A scaled plane-strain shaking table test was conducted in this study to investigate the seismic performance of a Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil-Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS) with a full-length bridge beam resting on two GRS abutments at opposite ends subjected to earthquake motions in the longitudinal direction. This study examined the effects of different combinations of reinforcement stiffness J and spacing Sv on the seismic performance of the GRS-IBS. Test results show that reducing the reinforcement spacing was more beneficial to minimize the seismic effect on the GRS abutment as compared to increasing the reinforcement stiffness. The seismic inertial forces acted on the top of two side GRS abutments interacted with each other through the bridge beam, which led to close peak acceleration amplitudes at the locations near the bridge beam. Overall, the GRS-IBS did not experience obvious structure failure and significant displacements during and after shaking. Shaking in the longitudinal direction of the bridge beam increased the vertical stress in the reinforced soil zone. The maximum tensile forces in the upper and lower geogrid layers due to shaking happened under the center of the beam seat and at the abutment facing respectively.