Journal of Engineering Geology

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Khorasan Razavi province is one of the areas with many chains of Qanat and Mashhad city in the center of this province has developed on areas with Qanat in the west direction. Loads caused by tall buildings and structures that built on old Qanats can make Qanats unstable and consequently Qanat collapse can lead to ground settlement. This paper deals with identifying the exact locations of Qanat chains by aerial photographs and evaluating the main factors that cause Qanat collapsing. Moreover the stability of Qanat was evaluated in numerical modeling by Plaxis software. The geotechnical data, Qanat depth, Qanat lining system and vertical load was used in modeling and after that, the extension of plastic zone around the Qanat underground tunnel was analyzed. The results of this research show that the rate of plastic zone extension and the influence of lining in Qanat stability decreases by increasing in the Qanat depth. As it is estimated while Qanat depth increases as much as one meter, it can tolerate more pressure as much as loads induced by a one-storey building.

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The Minab (Esteghlal) dam site is located in east of Minab city in Hormozgan province. The Minab active fault cross the reservoir of dam and have an important role in leakage from the reservoir. The joint study of area in ten stations around the reservoir of dam display the four main joint sets. For assessment of leakage of reservoir, the permeability of rock masses outcrops in the reservoir is estimated by hydraulic conductivity HC experimental model. For this, the RQD, GSI and other characteristics of rock mass around the reservoir were measured in field studies. The results show that the permeability of embankments changes from 9.14×10-6 up to 2.02×10-5 m/s. Also the water lost for three different condition of minimum, mean and maximum level of water table is about 0.14, 0.20 and 0.29 m3/s. The results indicate that the discontinuities with trend of east-west and northeast-southwest and also shear fault zone of Minab have main effects in leakage of reservoir.

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Determination of Faults activity rate is among the most important parameters of evaluating faulting hazards. In this paper, active faults on region of Shahid Rajai dam of Sari with radius 100 km based on fractal dimension of faulting and earthquake as well as evaluation of slip rate were classified and those Activity rate were assessed. In order to determine of fractal dimension of faulting and earthquake, Box-counting method was used. For estimate of slip rate beginning the seismicity parameters (a&b) of study area was estimation. Then these parameters were normalized for each fault. Based on the existing relationships and having a&b for each fault, the seismic moment of fault was calculated. Finally according to extant relations for evaluation of seismic moment rate, slip rate of each fault was determined and the faults of study area were classified accordingly. By grading based on fractal dimensions, the faults of North- Alborz, Damghan and Garmsar have been the most active faults in the study area during the last 100 years and according to evaluations of active rate of faulting and earthquake based on fractal dimensions, generally set in category BD and their activity approved. The faults with very low slip rate and with long return period of earthquake, are possible causes of occurrence large earthquakes (856 AD) Gomes and inducement fault namely Damghan Fault is an example of these faults. The faults of Astaneh, Rameh and Cheshmeh-ali have been low slip rate and thereupon be able to develop high seismic moment rate. According to earthquake events in privacy of New faults introduced (Khorram-abad, Majid,…), the high activity rate of these faults seem logical

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 The average of shear wave velocity of the upper 30 m has so far been one of the reliable parameters in seismic site classification in different building codes, despite the numerous weaknesses in the exact explanation of site dynamic characteristics. In this study, an empirical relationship is obtained between the average of the shear wave velocity of the upper 30 m and the average of the shear wave velocity of shallower depths, based on 79 shear wave velocity profiles, in Mashhad. This is followed by the recommendation of proper depths for the dynamic analysis of the site effect based on the information of shear wave velocity profiles and resonance period distribution in the investigated area. The depth of the S-wave velocity profile investigation, required for the analysis of deposit effects has been estimated more than 30 m. whith exception of the southern and western parts of Mashhad (adjacent hillsides). Such depth is estimated as about 80 m for central, eastern, and north-eastern areas, where the resonance period is more than 0.7 s. Therefore, investigation depth of 30 m is only adequate for site classification based on the building codes, and for theoretical analysis deeper studies is needed, in Mashhad

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Introduction
Hazardous waste (solid, liquid or contained gases) is a waste with properties that make it potentially dangerous or harmful to human health or the environment. Site selection and suitable conditions for hazardous wastes landfill is considered as the final stage of waste management that they have high sensivity. The purpose of this study is to identify prone areas to hazardous waste landfill for Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province using geographic information systems (GIS) as an important tool for the analysis of potential sites and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and to provide solutions to optimize the positioning is executed. Firstly, criteria and limitations of environmental, economic, social and physical were determined, then layers of the criteria in GIS were prepared. In this study, the inappropriate areas were first removed from the model, and the suitability of remaining regions as a categorize criterion considered. Categorize criteria for paired comparison using AHP as an efficient tool for determining the relative weight parameters are used to measure and rank the expert choice application imposed. Then the implement paired comparison of the relative weights of the criteria and sub-criteria and criteria for each category were determined. After calculating the net weight and normal weight, normal weight based on standard maps in the GIS environment has been classifieds. Finally, by combining maps and applying criteria FA map, the final map was extracted.
Material and methods
The purpose of this research is to identify and prioritize appropriate areas of special waste disposal using multi-criteria decision-making methods. In order to locate using the GIS, first, identifying, evaluating and selecting criteria and constraints for the construction of landfill, in order to reduce the economic, environmental, and health costs. In the multi-criteria evaluation method, criteria are the basis of decision making, so that a set of criteria is combined and combined to achieve a single combination. In this paper, a two-stage process was used to locate the landfill site. In the first stage, which is recognized as the identification stage of prohibited areas according to different criteria, the study area is divided into two appropriate and inappropriate classes that will be eliminated as prohibited areas for the construction of landfills. In the second stage, the various factors are ranked and weighted according to the relative importance and, finally, places that receive the appropriate points are introduced as areas susceptible to the dumping of special wastes. In order to obtain the digital data of the criteria in the GIS environment from the digital elevation map (DEM), the specifications of the piezometric wells information are available from the regional water organization of the province. The available data such as geological map of the province at a scale of 1: 250,000, satellite images of Landsat and map of land suitability of the province, rainfall data of the synoptic stations of the province and the data of the Environmental Protection Agency were used. In general, the following steps have been taken in the process of locating:
- Identification of effective locating factors (limitations and factors)
- Digitizing and providing the required layers of information using the GIS package
- Identify and eliminate prohibited and inappropriate areas for landfill construction
- Classification and weighting of the factors and layers of information sought
- Integration of layers and the provision of a mapped rate and talent to determine the appropriate areas.
Results and discussion
1. Set limits
In this study, in order to select suitable sites for landfill particular, the criteria and limitations were determined. The information layers for each of the criteria were provided in the GIS environment.
2. Classification and weighting criteria
In the second stage, which is the stage of weighting and rating, of 14 effective criteria were used in site selection. AHP is one of the most efficient techniques, multi-criteria decision. This method is based on comparing factors and to study various scenarios to give managers and decision makers. This technique is one of the most comprehensive system designed for decision-making with multiple criteria.
3. Editor hierarchy to locate
Hierarchical structure is a graphical representation of a real complex problem, which mainly target the problem and at the next general criteria, sub-criteria and options are the way in AHP is used to calculate points based on comparison test.
4. Shipping Weight Matrix Binary comparison and decision-making
After compiling a hierarchical structure, the next step is to evaluate the elements by comparing the test. In general, if the number of options and criteria respectively m and n are then paired comparison matrix of options for comparison matrix m × m and n × n matrix will be a couple of criteria.
5. After weighing and preparing the normal weight of the options, the normalized weights in the GIS environment were added to the criteria map and the Raster and Weighted layers of each criterion were prepared. Due to the wide area of the studied area, the size of each pixel was 50 * 50 m. Then, using the Raster Module, the Criterion Map was combined and a zoning map was prepared for the special waste disposal site.
Conclusions
In the present study, according to various criteria influencing the Hierarchical Analysis Process for prioritizing the criteria in decision making, based on the results, the talent map of the area was prepared for special waste dumping, in which according to the final score of the layers, the area was classified into four appropriate, relatively suitable, relatively inappropriate and inappropriate classes. Suitable areas were 12.64%, relatively fairly 32.47%, relatively inappropriate 30.43%, and inappropriate zones 9.58% of the area of the talent map were included.
./files/site1/files/123/5Extended_Abstract.pdf

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Introduction
The problematic collapsible soils are deposits with wind origin that constitute about 10% of the total area of ​​the earth. Several countries, including China, Russia, the United States, France, Germany, New Zealand, and Argentina have vast areas of collapsible soils. These deposits usually form a semi-stable honeycomb structure and are highly susceptible to sudden changes in the volume reduction due to becoming humid. Collapsibility and other related issues such as different subsidences, land cracks and landfalls seriously damage the infrastructures constructed on these soils.
 By the growing rate of urbanization in different parts of the world, the probability of construction on these soils and consequently water availability for these soils will increase; as a result, humidity increases and the collapse of these soils may occur. Therefore, studying the behavior of these types of soils is very important. Over the past six decades, many researchers have studied the collapse mechanism of collapsible soils due to becoming humid. Discussions on this subject are summarized in three categories: traditional methods, soil structure studies, and soil mechanics-based methods. In the present work, collapsibility and its controlling factors in the soils of Kerman city are investigated.
 
Material and methods
To determine engineering properties of Kerman deposits in this research, the geotechnical information was gathered and 50 core samples were extracted from different parts of the city. The sampling points were selected such that they could have a high overlap. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was applied to determine the mineral type and soil structures while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study grain arrangement.
Results and discussion
Geotechnical characteristics of the samples collected from Kerman plain deposits include their physical and mechanical properties. Based on the obtained results, this fine-grained sediment generally includes two CL and CL-ML groups. The mineralogy studies of Kerman city soils show that the minerals in these deposits are mainly illite, chlorite, illite-smectite, calcite, quartz, and gypsum. In order to study the collapsibility level of the soils in Kerman through the field studies, samples were taken from different parts of the city and the tests were carried out to determine the physical properties, collapsibility index, and structural studies. Through the SEM analyses, samples related to Haft Bagh area, Motahhari Town, and Pedar Town revealed an open structure and intergranular pores and thus a high level of collapsibility. On the other hand, in the majority of samples taken from the central part of the city, such as Esteghlal Street, Azadi Square, Bahmaniyar Street, and Hafez Street, the soil aggregates generally have corner-to-corner connectivity, with no specific order in their structure, and the arrangement of the particles is random and irregular. The orientation of the particles mostly shows no sharp pattern. In addition to soil particles, they have shown random and disorientated cavities with small sizes, suggesting the density and compactness of the soil indicating a low to moderate collapsibility. In some areas (e.g., Pedar Township and Motahhari Township), crystalline salt and gypsum crystals are clearly seen. It is expected that by increasing the amount of water, these salts dissolve and their effects can be observed as dissolution cavities.
 The dissolution of soluble crystals can also reduce the strength of the soil structure and ultimately lead to soil degradation. Calcite crystals are also found in some places in the form of calcite cement among the grains, sometimes as single crystals, and sometimes as lime nodules within the soils of Kerman city. Among the stated criteria in this research, Denisov, Holtz, and Hill criteria, the Russian regulations and ASTM standards were employed to assess the potential of the studied soil collapsing. Based on the criterion of the construction regulations of Russia, it was found that the deposits of the city of Kerman are mainly collapsible (L>-0.1).                     
Moreover, based on the Denisov criterion (if e/eL>1.5 the soil is non-collapsible, if it is between 0.75 and 1.5, the soil is prone to collapsing, and if it is between 0.5 and 0.75, the soil is severely collapsible), soils of Kerman are within the range of collapse-prone soils. Finally, based on the ASTM criterion, in some areas of the city like Motahhari Town, Pedar Town, and Haft bagh, soils show a high collapsibility. In comparison, in the central parts of the city, the values of this criterion vary between 0.15 and 11, suggesting the presence of soils with a moderate collapsibility. Comparing the results obtained using these criteria it is seen that areas with a collapsible behavior are relatively similar collapsibility results are obtained.
Conclusion
Based on the achieved results, fine-grained sediments of Kerman city are mainly composed of CL and CL-ML groups. Mineralogy results indicate that the minerals in these deposits are mainly illite, chlorite, illite-smectite, calcite, quartz, and gypsum. SEM results for the central part of Kerman city confirm the compressed and densely compact form of soil particles. The results obtained, using the construction regulations of Russia show that the soils in the study area are collapsible. According to the Denisov criterion, they were found to be prone to collapse. Finally, based on the ASTM results for the central parts of the city, soils exhibit a low to moderate collapsibility. However, in some areas of the city, such as Motahhari and Haft bagh, soils show a complete collapsibility behavior../files/site1/files/131/1Extended_Abstract.pdf
 

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Introduction
Improving the mechanical behavior of clay soil by stabilization agents is a mean of fulfilling geotechnical design criteria. The method of stabilization can be divided into chemical, mechanical, or a combination of both methods. Chemical stabilization is performed by adding chemical agents such as cement, lime or fly ash to the soil (Bahar et al., 2004). Soil reinforcement is one of the mechanical methods that is used for improving the behavior of soils (Tang et al., 2007). Reinforcement of soil achieved by either inclusion of strips, bars, grids and etc. within a soil mass in a preferred direction or mixing discrete fibers randomly with a soil mass.
Mixing of cement with soil is made a production that is called soil-cement and results in chemical reaction between soil, cement, and water. The compressive strength of soil-cement is increased by increasing the cement content and this leads to brittle behavior or sudden failure. On the other hand, by increasing the cement to soil ratio for cohesive soils, shrinkage micro-cracks may develop in the soil as a result of the loss of water content during drying or hydration of cement. Therefore, if the tensile strength of these materials is not sufficient cracks will develop under loading and damage will be resulted (Khattak and Alrashidi, 2006). Consoli et al. (2003) and Tang et al. (2007) indicated that adding the fiber to soil can prevent from occurrence of these cracks and increases the tensile strength of the soil.
The focus of this paper is on the statistical analysis of the results and development of regression models. Regression relationships are developed based on the experimental results that were presented by Estabragh et al. (2017). These relationships relate the compressive and tensile strengths of the soil to percent of used fiber, cement and curing time.
Material and methods of testing
Unconfined compression and tensile strength tests were carried on unreinforced and reinforced soil, soil cement according to ASTM standards. Samples of soil-cement were made by mixing a clay soil and two different weight percent of cement (8 and 10%). Reinforced soil samples were also prepared by mixing 0.5 and 1 weight percent of Polypropylene fibers with 10, 15, 20 and 25 mm lengths. The dry unit weight and water content of prepared samples were the same as optimum water content and maximum dry unit weight that were resulted from standard compaction test. The compressive and tensile strength tests were conducted on the samples by considering the curing time according to ASTM standards until the failure of the sample is achieved.
Results and discussion
The experimental tests showed that reinforcement of the soil and soil cement increase the peak compressive and tensile strength. The peak compressive strength of reinforced soil is increased by increasing the fiber content at a constant length of the fiber. It can be said that by increasing the percent of fiber, the number of fibers in the sample is increased and contact between soil particle and fibers is increased which result in increase in the strength (Maher 1994). However, by increasing the length of the constant fiber inclusion there will be no significant increase in strength because the number of shorter fiber is more than longer fiber in a specific sample (Ahmad et al., 2010). Inclusion of fibers can greatly increase the tensile strength of clay soil. In addition to reinforcement of soil cement showed the same trend. When fiber is added to soil cement, the surface of fiber adheres to the hydration products of cement and some clay particle. Therefore, this combination increases the efficiency of load transfer from the composition to the fibers which increase the peak strength (Tang et al., 2007). In addition, the tensile strength shows the same trend.
Based on the experimental data on the behavior of a randomly reinforced clay soil and soil cement multiple regression models (linear and non-linear) were developed for calculating the peak compressive and tensile strength (dependent variables) based on the value of the coefficient of determination (R²). The proposed regression models were functions of independent variables including weight percent of fiber, length of fiber (length/diameter of fiber), weight percent of cement, and curing time. Finally, the comparison is made between the predicted results from proposed models and experimental results. In order to investigate the model accuracy, the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) are used.
 The Multiple Linear Regression models (MLR) was very suitable for the study of the effect of independent variables on the quantitative analytic dependent variable. The NRSME for peak compressive and tensile strength is was 3.59% and 5.11% respectively for these models. Also, the Multiple Nonlinear Regression models (MNLR) had a much lower error than the linear model because of the quadratic equation, the equation will be able to predict the increase and decrease of the output variable in terms of the increase of the independent input variable. Therefore, The NRMSE for peak compressive and tensile strength was 1.02% and 4.04% for MNLR models respectively.
Conclusion
The following conclusions can be drawn from this study:
- The strength of reinforced soil and soil cement is increased by increasing the fiber content.
- Increasing the length of the fibers in the soil and soil cement has no significant effect on increasing the peak compressive strength, but it will be effective in increasing the tensile strength.
- The Multiple Nonlinear Regression models (MNLR) have more accuracy for prediction of output variable (peak strength) because of lower normalized root mean square error../files/site1/files/131/7Extended_Abstract.pdf


 

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Introduction
CO₂ injection in deep geological formations, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs, in addition to the environmental benefits, is one of the effective method for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as tertiary EOR. Presence of reservoirs with a pressure drop which require injection of gas in the southwest of Iran and having the technical and environmental effects of CO₂ injection have created a huge potential for CO₂ injection to EOR in this region. In the first step, to perform CO₂-EOR, the geomechanical assessment is needed to find out pore pressure, in-situ stress magnitudes and orientations and fractures and faults conditions. In this paper, the initial in-situ pore pressure is predicted using modified Eaton method for 47 wells in the length of the study field and calibrated using repeat formation test and mud pressure data. In-situ stress was obtained by the poroelastic method for 47 wells in the length of the study field and calibrated using leak off test and extended leak off test. Then, the orientation of in-situ stresses is obtained based on image logs. Hydraulical and mechanical activities of fractures and faults were performed by critically-stressed-fault hypothesis
Material and Methods
In this paper, the initial pore pressure is calculated using modified Eaton method and other corrections that are proposed by Azadpour et al. (2015). The estimated initial pore pressure is validated using mud weight pressure (Pmw) and repeat formation tester (RFT) data. In-situ stresses are composed of three orthogonal principal stresses, vertical stress (S_V), maximum horizontal stress (S_H), and minimum horizontal stress (S_h) with specific magnitude and orientations. The magnitude of S_V is calculated by integration of rock densities from the surface to the depth of interest. The poroelastic horizontal strain model is used to determine the magnitudes of the S_H and S_h. Then, the estimated minimum horizontal stress from poroelastic horizontal strain model is validated against direct measurements of LOT and XLOT tests. The orientation of breakouts was determined based on compressively stressed zones observed in the UBI log and using Caliper and Bit Size (BS) logs. The hole elongates perpendicular to the S_H and breakouts develop at the azimuth of S_h. Fractures and faults reactivation analyses are very important, they can potentially propagate upwards into the lower caprock and further through the upper caprock due to CO₂ injection. Fractures and faults identification were performed based on image logs. Based on performed seismic interpretations by NISOC (National Iranian South Oil Company), 15 faults have been detected in the field. Fractures and faults conductivity and activity in the current stress filed affect on fluid flow and mechanical stability or instability of the CO₂ injection site. Critically stressed fault hypothesis, introduced by Barton et al. (1995), states that in a formation with fractures and faults at different angles to the current stress field, the conductivity of fluids through their apertures are controlled by the interplay of principal stress orientations and fracture or fault directions. Hence, conductive and critically stressed fractures and faults in the current stress field were evaluated using critically stressed fault hypothesis. Fractures and faults are plotted in normalized 3D Mohr diagrams (normalized by the vertical stress), therefore conductive and critically stressed fractures and faults were determined.
Results and discussions
The maximum distribution of initial pore pressure was 20-25 MPa in the field and the average of initial pore pressure was 25 MPa in the field. Unlike the World Stress Map, the stress regime is normal in the reservoir. Because the Kazeroon fault and Dezful Embayment act as a strike-slip tensional basin, resulting in the subsidence of Dezful compared with other regions. The frequency distribution of calculated in-situ stress in 47 studied wells in the length of the field has been presented. The maximum frequency distribution of S_V, S_H and S_h were between 60-70, 50-60 and 30-40 MPa, respectively. A large amount of fracturing is observed in 20-25 m below the caprock. Based on the continuity of their low amplitude traces on the acoustic amplitude image of UBI, fractures are classified into 4 classes: discontinuous-open, continuous-open, possible-open and closed fractures. OBMI and UBI image logs processing were performed in 7 wells. As can be seen from the image log, and caliper analysis the most dominant strike of S_H around the well is 27^◦ and S_h strike is 117◦. These have two dominant orientation, some faults are along the strike of the Zagros fold-thrust belt (NW-SE) and the others are perpendicular to the Zagros fold-thrust belt strike (NE-SW).
Based on the normalized 3D Mohr diagrams it is clear that the fractures and faults that are oriented to the S_H will be the most permeable, because the faults and fractures experience the least amount of stresses in the direction of S_H and they have minimum resistance to flow in this direction, therefore will have relatively high permeability. Also, results showed the faults number 15, 6, 10 and 2 will be the most dangerous faults during CO₂ injection.