Frequent road collapses caused by water leakages from pipelines pose a severe threat to urban safety and the wellbeing of city residents. Limited research has been conducted on the relationship between pipeline leakage and soil settlement, thus resulting in a lack of mathematical models that accurately describe the soil settlement process resulting from water erosion. In this study, we developed an equation for pipeline leakage, conducted physical model experiments on road collapses induced by drainage pipeline leakage, investigated the functional relationship between drainage pipeline leakage and soil settlement, and validated this relationship through physical experiments with pipelines of various sizes. The results indicated that drainage pipeline leakage triggered internal erosion and damaged the soil layers in four stages: soil particle detachment, seepage channel formation, void development, and road collapse. When the pipeline size was increased by a factor of 1.14, the total duration of road collapse induced by pipeline leakage increased by 20.78%, and the total leakage water volume increased by 33.5%. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the theoretical and actual settlement exceeded 0.9, thus demonstrating the reasonableness and effectiveness of the proposed settlement calculation method. The findings of this study serve as a basis for monitoring soil settlement and issuing early road collapse warnings.

Assessing the potential damage to unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings under soil subsidence is a complex task, due to several factors associated with URM mechanical behaviour and soil-structure interaction. The remarkable variability in material properties of masonry may be further exacerbated by degradation processes, with repercussions on the overall structural response. Furthermore, both in-situ surveys and laboratory tests point out a major role being played by bond pattern effects and strength ratios between masonry constituents on crack formation, distribution and progression. Advanced numerical methods such as those based on masonry micro-modelling might be employed to realistically account for such factors, explicitly incorporating material discontinuities, fragmentation, and collision. In this paper, the Applied Element Method (AEM) is used to simulate the nonlinear structural response and damage of two tuff stone masonry walls with opening, which were experimentally tested under soil settlement in intact and deteriorated conditions. A satisfactory numerical-experimental agreement is found, allowing damage propagation phenomena as well as load redistributions between structural elements to be captured. Such results can then be used as a basis to perform further investigation considering more complex scenarios at structural scale.

Accurate prediction of soil settlements induced by open caisson construction in sand is essential for safe and reliable delivery of critical underground urban infrastructure. This paper presents a novel prescriptive design approach using a neural network (NN) constrained by empirical relationships, referred to as an 'empiricism-constrained neural network'. The proposed approach is benchmarked using a traditional closed-form empirical expression. Both methods are calibrated using experimental data from reduced-scale laboratory testing for the prediction of surface and subsurface settlement trough shape and magnitude. The outcomes demonstrate that while both methods accurately capture the primary effect of caisson depth on surface and subsurface soil settlements, the NN approach exhibits superior prediction accuracy. These methods are developed in a form amenable for routine design use in industry and have the potential for broader applicability in other design scenarios, such as building damage assessment and risk-assessment exercises.

The paper aims to contribute to the preservation of high valuable historic masonry structures and historic urban landscapes through the combination of geotechnical, structural engineering. The main objective of the study is to conduct finite element analysis (FEA) of bearing saturated soft clay soil problems and induced structural failure mechanisms. This analysis is based on experimental and numerical studies using coupled PLAXIS 3D FE models. The paper presents a geotechnical analytical model for the measurement of stresses, deformations, and differential settlement of saturated clay soils under colossal stone/brick masonry structures. The study also discusses the behavior of soft clay soils under Qasr Yashbak through numerical analysis, which helps in understanding the studied behavior and the loss of soil-bearing capacity due to moisture content or ground water table (G.W.T) changes. The paper presents valuable insights into the behavior of soft clay soils under colossal stone/ brick masonry structures. The present study summarized specific details about the limitations and potential sources of error in Finite Element Modeling (FEM). Further field research and experimental analysis may be required to address these limitations and enhance the understanding of the studied soft clay soil behavior. The geotechnical problems in historic monuments and structures such as differential settlement are indeed important issues for their conservation since it may induce serious damages. It deserves more in-depth researches.