This paper presents the results of experimental testing of adobe masonry assemblages to study their flexure and bond behaviors. The properties of soil and water absorption of adobe units also were investigated. The plasticity index of the soil was 7.56, which was higher than that reported for the adobe soil in a few regions of the world. The silt and clay contents of the soil also were higher than those of the soil used by researchers elsewhere. High water absorption of the adobe units (27.37%) indicated their low cohesion characteristic, which was evidenced by low bond strength. The flexural strength of the wallettes tested in a direction parallel to the bed joints was less than that of those tested perpendicular to the bed joints. The tensile bond strength determined by the bond wrench method was considerably smaller than the flexural strength of the wallettes. The observed flexural and bond strengths of the adobe masonry also were smaller than those reported in the literature.

The pile capacity is commonly calculated by the engineers as the lesser of its structural capacity and the ultimate resistance of ground supporting it using a generalized equation irrespective of the shaft type, socket diameter, socket length, rock type and grout strength. This equation may be over -simplified and risky if the pile/grout/rock interaction is not considered. Based on the loading tests of 6 instrumented socketed piles with 4-6 m rock socket by others and 35 non -instrumented socketed H -piles with 5-34 m rock socket by the author, the load -transfer mechanism in long rock socket is found dependent not only on the mobilization of shear resistance in soil and rock layers, but also largely on the steel/grout bond behavior. A side resistance distribution factor a s is introduced as a simple and practical index to represent the load -transfer mechanism along the pile shaft and to the socket. It would increase with an increase in loading and pile length in soils, but decrease with an increase in socket length indicating that critical socket length does exist which is likely depending on the grout bond strength. Average bond stress reduces with increased socket length when the critical socket length is exceeded. Residual settlement is largely due to the slip and bond failure at the interface. Creep settlement is largely affected by the properties of grout mix and tends to increase with increased socket length. (c) 2024 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Japanese Geotechnical Society. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC -ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Steel rebars have been used in soil-cement mixtures to increase their flexural capacity in shoring projects. However, the interaction of the reinforcing rebars and soil-cement and their bond strength has been rarely considered. A practical formula for predicting the rebar-soil-cement bond strength considering the strength characteristics of both has not been developed. The current study performed 60 pullout tests of rebars embedded in soil-cement and analyzed the pullout mechanisms as well as the effective parameters on the pullout force. The test parameters were rebar type, size and embedded length. Smooth, ribbed steel and GFRP rebars in diameters of 8 and 12 mm were tested. A pullout frame was added to a universal testing machine and the load-displacement behavior of the rebars and induced cracking were analyzed. The results showed that the prevailing failure mechanism during pullout of the rebars from the soil-cement was slippage and not cone/splitting failure. During slippage, some the soil-cement adhered to the rebar between its ribs because of the low compressive strength of the soil-cement. With a 50 % increase in rebar diameter, the bond strength decreased about 18 % and 30 % for the ribbed and GFRP rebars, respectively. This indicates the importance of the rebar diameter on the bond strength. The steel rebars exhibited greater bond strength with soil-cement in comparison with the GFRP rebars. A new equation has been proposed to calculate the reinforcement-soil-cement bond strength by applying a reduction factor to the ACI equation.

Confining stresses serve as a pivotal determinant in shaping the behavior of grouted rock bolts. Nonetheless, prior investigations have oversimplified the three-dimensional stress state, primarily assuming hydrostatic stress conditions. Under these conditions, it is assumed that the intermediate principal stress ( o 2 ) equals the minimum principal stress ( o 3 ). This assumption overlooks the potential variations in magnitudes of in situ stress conditions along all three directions near an underground opening where a rock bolt is installed. In this study, a series of push tests was meticulously conducted under triaxial conditions. These tests involved applying non -uniform confining stresses ( o 2 s o 3 ) to cubic specimens, aiming to unveil the previously overlooked influence of intermediate principal stresses on the strength properties of rock bolts. The results show that as the confining stresses increase from zero to higher levels, the pre-failure behavior changes from linear to nonlinear forms, resulting in an increase in initial stiffness from 2.08 kN/mm to 32.51 kN/mm. The load-displacement curves further illuminate distinct post-failure behavior at elevated levels of confining stresses, characterized by enhanced stiffness. Notably, the peak load capacity ranged from 27.9 kN to 46.5 kN as confining stresses advanced from o 2 = o 3 = 0 to o 2 = 20 MPa and o 3 = 10 MPa. Additionally, the outcomes highlight an influence of confining stress on the lateral deformation of samples. Lower levels of confinement prompt overall dilation in lateral deformation, while higher confinements maintain a state of shrinkage. Furthermore, diverse failure modes have been identified, intricately tied to the arrangement of confining stresses. Lower confinements tend to induce a splitting mode of failure, whereas higher loads bring about a shift towards a pure interfacial shear-off and shear-crushed failure mechanism. (c) 2024 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

The mechanical properties of the concrete-frozen soil interface play a significant role in the stability and service performance of construction projects in cold regions. Current research mainly focuses on the precast concrete-frozen soil interface, with limited consideration for the more realistic cast-in-place concrete-frozen soil interface. The two construction methods result in completely different contact surface morphologies and exhibit significant differences in mechanical properties. Therefore, this study selects silty clay as the research object and conducts direct shear tests on the concrete-frozen soil interface under conditions of initial water content ranging from 12% to 24%, normal stress from 50 kPa to 300 kPa, and freezing temperature of -3 degrees C. The results indicate that (1) both interface shear stress-displacement curves can be divided into three stages: rapid growth of shear stress, softening of shear stress after peak, and residual stability; (2) the peak strength of both interfaces increases initially and then decreases with an increase in water content, while residual strength is relatively less affected by water content; (3) peak strength and residual strength are linearly positively correlated with normal stress, and the strength of ice bonding is less affected by normal stress; (4) the mechanical properties of the cast-in-place concrete-frozen soil interface are significantly better than those of the precast concrete-frozen soil interface. However, when the water content is high, the former's mechanical performance deteriorates much more than the latter, leading to severe strength loss. Therefore, in practical engineering, cast-in-place concrete construction is preferred in cases of higher negative temperatures and lower water content, while precast concrete construction is considered in cases of lower negative temperatures and higher water content. This study provides reference for the construction of frozen soil-structure interface in cold regions and basic data support for improving the stability and service performance of cold region engineering.