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The abandoned carbonaceous mudstone has caused severe environmental problems such as land occupation and landslides. For the consideration of economic and ecological factors, carbonaceous mudstone soil-rock mixture (CMSRM) is used as an embankment material assessed by California bearing ratio (CBR) and unconfined compression strength (UCS). A series of experiments were conducted to measure the CBR and UCS of the CMSRM with different wet-dry cycles (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8) and different rock contents (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80%). The experimental results were predicted and analysed by a convolutional neural network (CNN). The experiment results show that the CBR and UCS of CMSRM increased at first and then decreased with the increase of rock content and were negatively correlated with wet-dry cycles. The CNN predicted values were highly correlated with the measured values. The CNN model enables variable parameter analysis of the experiment results via deep learning, which provides a new method to the CMSRM embankment road performance prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how participatory science helps address water supply challenges in developing countries suffering from water shortages. In the absence of technical capacity to monitor the water supply system, this participation constitutes an excellent alternative to involve citizens in data collection and evaluation of the quality of the water service. The paper presents the design and implementation of a participatory science platform that enables data about the quality of the water supply in the city of Kharas in Palestine to be collected. Thanks to significant citizen participation, the study demonstrates that participatory science enhances the management of the water supply system and public awareness and engagement. Temporal and spatial analysis of collected data helped us to better understand the water supply system and identify the causes of the water service degradation. The study shows that the success of citizen participation requires cooperation between the water staff and citizens, including continuous dialogue and training and the construction of a friendly citizen participation platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete shrinkage and creep significantly affect the serviceability of bridges, especially long-span bridges. To investigate the long-term shrinkage and creep behaviors of low-shrinkage and low-creep C60 high-performance concrete (hereinafter referred to as LSLC HPC C60), 76 LSLC HPC C60 specimens are designed and subjected to shrinkage and creep tests for 270 days. The results indicate that the LSLC HPC C60 exhibits a similar trend in shrinkage and creep development as ordinary C60 concrete but with smaller creep and shrinkage values. New parameters for the two commonly used creep models are recommended based on experimental data. By comparing the measured data, it is determined that the parameter-recommended creep models are more suitable for predicting the creep performance of the LSLC HPC C60. A finite-element model of a long-span bridge is established, and the recommended models are imported into the bridge model. The multidecade deflections of the main span of the bridge are analyzed considering different creep models. The calculated results indicate that the parameter-recommended creep models can be used to predict the long-term deflections of long-span bridges with the LSLC HPC C60. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a simplified analytical solution for longitudinal seismic responses of a circular tunnel crossing a fault zone under longitudinally propagating shear waves. The transmissions and reflections of shear waves at two geological interfaces between the fault zone and intact rock are considered when calculating the free‐field displacement. An improved elastic foundation beam model considering different tangential contact conditions at the tunnel‒rock interface is also adopted. According to the continuous conditions at the two geological interfaces, explicit expressions for the tunnel displacement, bending moment, and shearing force are given. The effectiveness of the proposed analytical solution is validated via numerical simulations, and the importance of accounting for tangential contact conditions at the tunnel‒rock interface is emphasized. Moreover, parametric studies are performed to investigate the effects of the fault zone width, rock conditions, tunnel lining stiffness, tangential contact conditions, and earthquake frequency on the deformation and internal forces of tunnels subjected to seismic waves. This novel analytical solution can be utilized to quickly estimate the longitudinal seismic responses of circular tunnels crossing fault zones subjected to longitudinally propagating shear waves, particularly in the preliminary engineering design, and can be extended to geological conditions with multiple interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]