Journal of Engineering Geology

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With regard to the increase of computing power in the past decades, finite element methods have been used to obtain the graphs of rotational moment curves which reflect non-linear effect in connections response. Several common semi-rigid connections are modeled and their behavioral properties are briefly reviewed, then the details related to a new semi-fixed connection have been provided. The behavioral properties like hardness, ultimate capacity and ductility are investigated and compared to other simulated connections. To perform non-linear analyses of connection, finite element software ABAQUS is used. In this simulation, it has been tried to have inter-component interactions according to reality as much as possible. Bolted connections are modeled exactly and the interaction among the bolt surface and hole is modeled as a hard friction with friction coefficient 0.3 with the ability of separating after loading. Also, fillet welds are modeled as a prism with triangular section. Where a groove weld is applied, since the strength in this type of welding is like base metal, two connection parts are stuck together. To mesh the element, C3D8R element is used. The proposed connection n1 has the most rigidity values among semi-rigid connections. Reducing the number of connection bolts has more reducing impact on connection rigidity value, so that with the half thickness of upper and lower sheets, rigidity rate is reduced only 9%, but with the half number of bolts, rigidity rate is reduced about 64%. Also the connection n3 have lowest rigidity rate and its rigidity amount is in the class of bolted connection in seat angle to web angle.

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Previous earthquakes have shown that topographic irregularities have significant impacts on the site seismic response and increasing structural damage by amplifying seismic responses. Studies on seismic behavior of slope topographic have shown that dynamic response of free field and soil-structure system is severely on the influence of topography shape and soil properties. Angle and height of slope, frequency of excitation, nonlinear behavior of soil and depth of bedrock are other parameters that affect on the response of the entire system. Furthermore the studies have shown that presence of structure adjacent to slope is very effective on variation of seismic behavior pattern of this topography but these studies are very limited. In this study the effect of existing structure adjacent to slope to seismic behavior pattern of slope topography have been investigated. The parameters that have studied in this article comprise slope angle and frequency content of excitation. The results show that the presence of structure adjacent to the slope, causes an increase to the response of free field and transmitting maximum response to distance away from structure position.

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Consecutive impacts of pile driver hammer on a precast pile head for pile installation in the ground is called impact pile driving. Nowadays, the widespread use of impact pile driving in pile foundations construction is undeniable; As a result, pile driving is the most common source of construction vibrations among the sources of producing ground vibrations. The ground vibrations during pile driving is the most important factor of limiting the use of this method. Thus, to avoid structural damages, acceptable prediction of ground vibration before any project implementation is necessary. For this purpose, numerical modeling is undoubtedly the most accurate, economical and fastest way; but up to now, correct modeling of pile installation process has been the main problem in numerical modeling of pile driving. This study aims to achieve better match of ground vibrations with field results compared to the previous numerical results in terms of peak particle velocity by modeling impact pile driving operation through ABAQUS finite element software from ground surface to a desired depth without considering previous researchers assumptions and considering the details of practical works.

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Due to increasing speed and mass of trains and vehicles, the errors arising from utilizing moving force method to obtain dynamic response of bridges cannot be neglected. In this paper, dynamic response of bridges under moving loads is studied. The bridge is modeled as simply-supported Euler-Bernoulli beam. Since in modeling moving loads by moving force method, inertial forces are neglected, this method is valid for a limited range of influential parameters (speed and mass). By considering inertial forces between the moving load and supporting structure, moving mass method can be utilized to extract dynamic governing equations. Numerical results reveal that by increasing speed and mass of the moving load, midpoint dynamic deflection of bridge obtained by two distinct methods differ considerably.  For example, for mass ratio of 0.15 and speed ratio of 0.8, 11 percent difference is observed in midpoint dynamic deflection calculated by two aforementioned methods.

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This research is focused on an analytical approach to investigate the seismic performance of tall building under scaled near-field earthquake records. To achieve this objective, it is employs medium to high rise steel bundled-tube rigid frames. The examined structures are designed according to the Iranian seismic code 2800 (4th edition). To study the seismic response, groups of near field earthquake records with their associated properties are selected to perform non-linear time history analyses. The most important characteristic of the chosen near-field earthquake records is the presence of powerful long-term velocity pulses which distinguishes them from far-field earthquake records. The first part of the mentioned ensemble includes two recorded strong ground motions in Iran i.e. Tabas 1978 and Bam 2003, respectively and two powerful records of the Northridge 1994 earthquake. The second part contains one far-field record of the Northridge 1994 earthquake. The selected records are scaled based on the Iranian seismic code 2800 (3rd and 4th editions). The characteristics of seismic performance of each structural model, including maximum relative displacement of each story, seismic base shear and the formation of plastic hinges in the resistant skeleton have been carefully evaluated. The results indicate that using the 4th edition of the Iranian seismic code 2800 produces noticeably lower values of scale factor and their associated seismic responses in the studied structures as well as the nonlinear demand of the main load bearing members under scaled records with those factors, compared to the corresponding analytical cases based on the 3rd edition of the Iranian seismic code 2800. According to the results of this study, the rate of the drift parameter variations of structures that have been evaluated on the basis of seismic code 4th edition in comparison with the seismic code 2800 are experiencing a relative reduction about 30%.

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./files/site1/files/6Extended_Abstract.pdfExtended Abstract
(Paper pages 115-134)
Introduction
Different factors should be considered in investigating soil- structure interaction for which we can refer to underground layers material properties, site shape and topography and entry motion. It has been showed that seismic waves will be reflected and makes more strange seismic waves in comparison with the state of without slope. To investigate the topography effects the various assumptions such as considering the rigid and compliant bedrock, half space, stimulations with different frequencies, slopes with different angles, different heights of slopes, and soil type were evaluated.  In this study topography effects on interstory drift of three structures with steel moment resistant frame system is considered, for this aim 6 combined model of soil- structure and topography is investigated. Three structures of 6, 9 and 12 story placed in near and far from of crest of a slope and 10 earthquake on bedrock has been applied to models. Interstory drift is considered as a criteria for investigating topography effect.
Material and Methods
This paper examines 3 planar steel moment resistant frame (SMRF) which have been previously designed by Karavasilis et al (2007) according to EC3 and EC8. These structures have 3 bays, and 6, 9, 12 stories. The length of each bay and the height of each story are 5 and 3 m, respectively. Furthermore, the amount of dead and live loads are considered in accordance with the current study (Minasidis et al 2014). The study frames were modeled in ABAQUS software in the form of two-dimensional (Figure 2). A36 steel is used in the models and the yield strength of steel is 235 MPa. Modeling of the behavior of steel was implemented using the yield criterion of VON MISES and taking into account the non-linear behavior of materials and Poisson's ratio of 0.3. A kinematic material hardening of 3% is assumed for the nonlinear elements and a Rayleigh damping of 5% is assumed for the first two modes of each frame.
In this study,   a slope with α=20 is considered. The characteristics of the slope and the soil of the region are obtained by borehole in different point based on Ghanbari et al 2011 study.




Figure1. Growth percentage in average amount of interstory drift
The desired slope has a height of 30 m. The depth of the bedrock is considered equal to 60 m. The numerical analyses were performed with the Finite element method, for nonlinear soil with VS=238 m/s, Poisson’s ratio v=0.35 and mass density ρ=1800 kg/m3. Moreover, to estimate the distribution of response, 10 records located on the bedrock (shear wave velocity is more than 650 m/s) have been used. To reduce the near source effect records are selected in such a way that they have no pulse in velocity time history and Distance from source to site greater than 10 km considered
Result
Result showed that interstory drift of structures increases due to topography effects, but this increase varies for different structures and earthquakes. Growth percentage in average amount of interstory drift are 25, 15 and 6 percent for structures with 6, 9 and 12 story respectively. Also for structure 9 and 12 story, interstory drift was decrease in some stories.
 

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In the narrow geosynthetic-reinforced retaining walls a stable rear wall exists in a short distance and so there is no enough space to extend appropriate length of reinforcements. In this case, the probability of overturning of retaining wall increases especially when subjected to earthquake loading. To increase the stability of the wall, reinforcements may be connected to the stable rear surface. Alternative solution is the utilization of full-height cast in-place concrete facing in order to resist the earth pressure by combined actions of reinforcements pullout capacity and facing flexural rigidity. One of the main questions about this type of walls is the portion of earth pressure resisted by the facing. In this study, the seismic earth pressure of narrow geosynthetic-reinforced backfill on rigid facing was evaluated using limit equilibrium approach and horizontal slices method. The critical failure surface was assumed to extend linearly from the wall toe to the rear surface and then moves along the interface of the backfill and rear surface up to the backfill surface. The effects of various parameters such as wall aspect ratio have been investigated. The obtained results show that the applied soil pressure on wall facing will be increased with depth in the upper part of the wall according to the Mononobe-Okabe equation, but its pattern is inversed in the lower part of the wall and it decreases until it reaches to zero at the wall toe. The results of analyses indicate that the attracted soil thrust by the facing increases with lessening of backfill width.

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In recent decades many researchers have studied on the damage assessment of structures after a seismic event. To assess the damage of structures under an earthquake, it is so important to study the correlations between earthquake parameters and damages of the structures. A lot of seismic parameters have been defined by researchers to characterize an earthquake. Spectral parameters of an earthquake convey a variety of information about ground motion, so they can properly characterize an earthquake. Also a lot of damage indices were proposed by researchers to quantify the damage of the structures or to rank their vulnerability relative to each other. Park-Ang index is one of the best indices to describe the damage of a structure. In this paper, the correlations between spectral parameters of earthquakes and Park-Ang indices are studied. Three RC frames with different height are analyzed under far-fault earthquake records by nonlinear dynamic analyses. The correlations between spectral parameters and Park-Ang indices of the frames are calculated. The results show that in all the frames most of spectral parameters have strong correlations with damage intensity. In order to estimate the damage potential of an earthquake, some spectral parameters which have high correlations with damage intensity can be proper indices. Housner intensity, acceleration spectrum intensity and velocity spectrum intensity are shown to have strong correlations with damage intensity. In this paper, a new spectral parameter which has high correlation with damage intensity is achieved. 

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Carbonate soils are different from silicate soils respect to their origination and engineering behavior. Particles of these soils are mainly residual or debris of sea animals or plants with large amount of calcium carbonate. They also may be chemical sedimentation of calcium carbonate over other soil particles in specific region of seas and oceans. The most important characteristic of these soils is the crushability of their aggregates under loading which is mainly due their shape and also small voids inside of them.  Crushability and subsequent volume changes in carbonate soils have caused many engineering problems in some geotechnical structures such as ...../files/site1/files/0Extended_Abstract5.pdf

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Introduction
One of the most important 1-ring aromatic organic pollutants is phenol and its related compounds. These compounds are classified as hazardous wastes base on U.S.EPA primary contaminates list. The phenolic compounds are very poisonous and these are harmful for human health and also for other biota.
To control the movement of such hazardous organic waste in a contaminated soil, solidification/stabilization (S/S) process can be an effective alternative.  Due to the negative impact of organic compounds on the cement hydration, the cement-based S/S may be not effective for controlling the movement of such pollutants. To avoid these effects, using some additives during solidification period has been recommended. One of the proposed of such compounds is organophilic clay that is the modified montmorillonite by quaternary ammonium salts (QAS). There are several researches to evaluate the organophilic clay effect on adsorption and stabilization of organic compounds during S/S process. The effectivity of S/S process can be examined by several tests such as leaching test, durability, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), etc.
In this study, efficiency of ordinary and organophilic clay was evaluated in the solidification and stabilization process based on unconfined compressive strength of a phenol-contaminated soil.
Material and methods
In this study, an artificially phenol contaminated sand was considered to evaluate the effectivity of the white cement based S/S process by using two different additives of ordinary and organophilic clay.
The contaminated sand contains 2000 ppm of phenol. S/S process was conducted on 14 samples with different amounts of white cement (15 and 30 wt%) as binder and ordinary/organophilic clay (0, 8, 15, and 30 wt % for each of them) as the additives. Two zero percent additive samples are considered as control samples.
All samples were cured for 28 days and then UCS test was conducted for all of them.
Results and discussion
Unconfined compressive strength of all examined samples were ranged from 2226 to 6999 KPa. In the samples with equal amount of cement, th higher UCS values can be observed in blank samples (without any additives and phenol). By adding phenol in the examined sand, UCS of the solidified sample reduces 3 -3.5%.Moreover, results showed that UCS was reduced by increasing the amount of clays. The reduction of the samples containing organophilic clay was higher than samples containing ordinary clay. Unconfined compressive strength values of all samples met the minimum standards indicated by France, Netherlands, Britain and America for disposal in a sanitary landfill. The sample with 30% white cement and 8% bentonite was the maximum amount of UCS (4856 KPa) and the sample with 15% white cement and 30% organophilic clay was the minimum one (2226 KPa). In this study, the average cost of organophilic clay-based solidified samples was 2.3 to 2.8 times more than the average cost of the bentonite-based solidified samples.
Conclusion
In this study, the strength of the cement-based solidified samples contaminated by phenol was investigated. The summary of the findings of the research is as follows:
1. By adding the phenol to pure sand, the UCS of the samples can be reduced 3-3.5 %.
2. Addition of organophilic clay reduces the UCS of the samples more than the ordinary clay (bentonite) in the same amount.
3. All samples met the recommended UCS level for the S/S process. The minimum UCS level is for the sample with 15% of cement and 30% of organophilic clay.
The cost of S/S process is between 23 and 650 $/ton of contaminated soil depending on the amount of used additives and binder. The samples containing organophilic clay has a higher cost than the similar sample containing ordinary clay.
4. To evaluate the S/S process effectivity, a leaching test of phenol (such as TCLP) is recommended  ./files/site1/files/0Extended_Abstract2.pdf

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Extended Abstract
Summary
In this research seismic, electrical sounding and geoelectrical tomography methods are used to assess the distribution of strength of foundations, the earth's natural period (T₀), layering conditions and petrophysical characteristics of the underlying soil. The bridge is built on alluvial sediments of the Haraz river in Mazandaran province. The bridge consists of two lateral and three intermediate bases. The Haraz river passes through the eastern and adjacent intermediate base. This research indicates that: 1- based on seismic studies, the average shear wave velocity to a depth of 30 meters at the eastern base of the bridge is significantly more than that of the western base. Therefore, the stiffness and loading capability in both bases of the bridge are different, 2- geoelectrical sounding shows that the eastern side of the bridge, most likely composed of silt and clay and there is a possibility of subsidence at the east side of the bridge, 3- electrical resistivity tomography maps in E-W section is asymmetric and shows lateral changes of soil structures along bridge. In other words, distribution of stress on eastern and middle basis of the bridge with considering mentioned reasons is stirred with probably subsidence in the last few decades utilization and appearing of defects in the body of the bridge.
 Introduction
Many factors such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, improper exploitation conditions and other factors have threatened historic buildings and urban infrastructure. Iran is one of the active seismic areas of the world and unfortunately many of the historical monuments have been damaged or completely destroyed during different earthquakes. Bam citadel, the largest mud structure in the world, is an example of a cultural heritage which was completely destroyed in deadly earthquake of January 2003. In many large cities of the world such as Tehran, more than hundred bridges have been constructed to solve the traffic jam. Insecure and improper utilization may threat the strength of bridges and decrease their longevity. Today, the soil behavior under loading cycles and dynamic condition is very important in urban active seismic areas. In most cases the physical properties of soil are obtained by laboratory tests and in situ methods including refraction seismic method, reflection seismic method, SASW method, well logging, cross-hole and also geo-electrical and other geophysical methods. The relation between seismic wave velocities and stress in soils and mineral materials are to the interest of seismologist and seismic specialists. Today in exploration seismic the relation between stress and velocity of seismic waves can be used in AVO analysis and also to predicting and monitoring the hydrocarbon and thermal fields of reservoirs in 4D exploration seismic. There are many researches in this subject and established some experimental relationships between stress and elastic modulus of rocks with wave velocities. The aim of this research was to identify the seismic characteristics and geological conditions of soil beneath foundations of bridge in north of Iran mainly for investigating possibilities for strengthening the city historical oldest bridge. In this study we used simultaneously refraction seismic, electrical sounding and geoelectrical tomography methods. Seismic method used to estimate the stiffness of soil, average shear wave velocity of upper 30 m and determination of site classes. Electrical sounding and geoelectrical tomography have used to identify subsurface geology, differentiation and identifying electrical resistivity of soil profile and distribution of electrical resistivity in tomography section for understanding distribution of stress in soil. The bridge is built on alluvial sediments of the Haraz River. Mazandaran-Khazar fault is located 7 km south of study area in east-west direction. The bridge consists of two lateral and three intermediate bases. The Haraz River passes through the eastern and adjacent intermediate base.
Field surveying
Several seismic profiles surveyed in this are and five of them used in current research. Linear array are employed with P-wave and S-wave. Distance between geophones is 2 m respectively. The lengths of profiles were different due to space constrains. Length of profiles considering offsets was up to 86 m. Impulse impact is transmitted to the soil by sledge hammer equipped with a trigger element. For P- wave profiles, vertical hit on steel plate and for S-eave profiles, horizontal hit on special I-beam steel were used. In order to improve the signal to noise ratio (S/N), an average of ten hammer blows were stacked for each record. Length of records is one second with sampling interval one millisecond. The first arrival times of refraction seismic data were interpreted with considering characteristic of first arrivals in layered condition and continuous medium. The results of average shear wave velocities to the depth of 30 m in the five profiles (S1 to S5) were 774 m/s, 629 m/s, 540 m/s, 581m/s, and 563 m/s consequently.
The average shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m was globally adopted after the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHPR) classification in the USA. Profile S1 is located near the western base of the bridge, profile S3 near the eastern base of the bridge, profiles S2 and S6 at the middle of bridge and profile S5 about 200 m of eastern base. The average sheer wave velocity in the upper 30 m of soil in western base (Vs30=774) is more than eastern base (Vs30=540). According to the average shear wave velocities, the type of underlying soil in western base falls to B class  (760<<1500) and in eastern base falls to C class (360<<760). It means that the natural periods of soil and reflection coefficient of bridge in both sides are different.
Vertical electrical sounding is another geophysical method that used to separate the layers, thicknesses and electrical resistivities of underlying sediments at the eastern base of the bridge. The resistivity measurements carried out by injecting electrical current into the ground through the two current electrodes, and measuring the resulting voltage difference at two potential electrodes. We used symmetrical four electrode schlumberger array. The type of experimental sounding curve is AH. It means that soil profile under the eastern base of the bridge consists of 4 layers with interbedded low resistivity layer. Interpretation of geoelectrical curve shows that the first layer has a thickness of 4 m with resistivity of 800 ohm-m. Surface evidence indicates that this layer is composition of sand, gravel and conglomerate. The second layer has a thickness of 16 m with the resistivity of 334 ohm-m. This layer most probably is composition of saturated sand and conglomerate. The third layer has a thickness of 14 m with resistivity of 43 ohm-m. Low electrical resistivity shows that the grain size is fine and matches with silt and clay. The last layer as a basement starts from the depth of 34 m with electrical resistivity of more than 1000 ohm-m.
Geoelectrical tomography is another method that used to determine the lateral changes of electrical resistivity and identifying the pattern of distribution of stress in underlying soil at the middle of the bridge. Geoelectrical tomography profiles were in east-west direction. The distance between measuring points was 1 m. Electrical resistivity of sedimentary rocks and soils generally depends on porosity, mineral type, depth, stress, moisture content, structure and texture and temperature. Variation of electrical resistivity verses depth shows that the distribution of electrical resistivity of the subsurface material is not uniform and increase with depth. It also shows that the distribution of electrical resistivity in soil under the base is asymmetric in E-W direction.
Conclusions and result
Integrated geophysical studies were conducted in three stages with three different methods. The following conclusions are extracted based on study: According to seismic data the average shear wave velocity at the western side of the bridge (m/s, m/s) is more than the East (m/s, m/s) and middle of the bridge (m/s, m/s). The high velocity of S waves in the western side of the bridge shows that the stiffness of soil materials in the west side of the bridge is more than of the east side. According to NEHPR site classes, the type of underlying soil in western base falls to B class and in eastern base falls to C class. It means that the natural periods of soil and reflection coefficient of bridge in both sides are different. In other word the response of bridge respect to vibration of soil generating by traffic in both sides is different. The Haraz River passes through the eastern and adjacent intermediate base about 4 m under ground level of the middle bases. Geoelectrical sounding show that the eastern side of the bridge most likely composed of silt and clay. Therefore there is a possibility of subsidence at the east side of the bridge. This bridge connects the eastern side of the river to the western side and asphalted road passes through western base and intermediate base. It means that the vehicle traffics continuously compacts underlying soil in western base respect to eastern base. Electrical resistivity tomography map in E-W section is asymmetric and shows lateral changes of soil structures along bridge. In other words distribution of stress on eastern and middle basis of the bridge with considering mentioned reasons is stirred with probably subsidence in the last few decades of utilization and generation of lateral stress due to truck traffic impacts in eastern bases and underlying soil. The change of lateral or transverse stress changes the porosity of soil profile and change of porosity changes the electrical resistivity. Existing cracks in the beam of studied bridge agrees with the available results of research.
 

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Extended Abstract
Introduction
The presence of potentially toxic elements in the environment and especially in soil has been one of the greatest concerns due to their health implications. Potentially toxic elements from anthropogenic sources tend to be more mobile than those from lithogenic or pedogenic sources.  Generally, the distribution of potentially toxic elements is influenced by the nature of parent materials, climatic conditions, and their relative mobility depending on soil parameters, such as mineralogy, texture and class of soil. In the inhabited, and industrial areas, vicinity to the un-engineered landfills, excess accumulation of toxic elements in surface soils can directly threaten wellbeing of exposed inhabitants via ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact routes. A few studies conducted on risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in soils of Kermanshah province, west of Iran. Soil in the study area is susceptible to contamination by anthropogenic activities in the form of industrial wastewater, agricultural activities, solid waste, runoff, atmospheric deposition and especially un-engineered landfills. The presence of toxic elements in soil around of un-engineered landfills without proper consideration to the environmental protection measures, will certainly lead to a significant environmental hazard in Kermanshah province. Therefore, the main purposes of this study are to evaluate the contamination levels, health risk assessment, and source identification of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in the Gasre Shirin, Gilane Gharb, Paveh, Javanrood, Eslamshahr, Ravansar, Kermanshah and Sanghar un-engineered landfills.
 
Material and methods
     A total of 30 topsoil samples were collected (0-20 cm depth) from the eight un-engineered landfills of the Kermanshah province. In order to achieve a representative sample, composite samples were prepared by mixing the four subsamples taken at each corners of 2×2 m square cell because composite sampling yields homogenized samples for analyses. The subsamples were mixed and a final sample of 1 kg was taken by repeated coning and quartering. To determine background concentration of heavy metals, eight soil samples were collected from areas far from known sources of contamination (40-60 cm depth).
The collected samples were immediately stored in polyethylene bags and air-dried in the laboratory at room temperature. Then, samples passed through a 2mm stainless steel sieve. The <2mm fraction was ground in an agate mortar and pestle and passed through a 63 micron sieve. In order to determine the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn complete dissolution of soil samples (approximately 1 g of each) was carried out using a mixture of HF, HNO₃, HClO₄ and H₂O₂ in a Teflon beaker on sand bath at atmospheric pressure. The concentrations of the selected elements were measured by an accredited commercial laboratory (Zar Azma Laboratory, Iran) using ICP-MS methods. Data quality was ensured through the use of internal duplicates, blanks, and HRM. The precision and accuracy of measurements are 95% and +/-5% respectively.
The assessment of soil contamination was carried out using geochemical indices including contamination factor (CF), modified degree of contamination (mC_d) and enrichment factor (EF). The methodology used for the health risk assessment was based on the guidelines and Exposure Factors Handbook of US Environmental Protection Agency. The average daily doses (ADDs) of heavy metals received through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact for both adults and children were calculated. In this study, hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (RI) methods were used to estimate non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects of heavy metals. The HQ was calculated by subdividing ADD of a heavy metal to its reference dose (RfD) for the same exposure pathway(s). If the ADD exceeds the RfD, HQ>1, it is likely that there will be adverse health effects, whereas if the ADD is less than the RfD, HQ<1, it is considered that there will be no adverse health effects. A hazard index (HI), the sum of HQs, which means the total risk of non- carcinogenic element via three exposure pathways for single element of <1 indicates no adverse health effects, while HI values >1 show possible adverse health effects. Carcinogenic risk is regarded as the probability of an individual developing any type of cancer in the whole life time due to exposure to carcinogenic hazards and was calculated for As and Cd as follows:
                                                                   ⁽¹⁾
The value of SF represents the probability of developing cancer per unit exposure level of mg/kg day. The acceptable risk range for carcinogens is set to 10^-6 to by the USEPA, so that RI values below 10^-6 do not require further action, while risks greater than 10^-4 are considered to be of concern and require additional action to reduce the exposure and resulting risk.
Results and discussion
The soil pH ranges from 7.01 to 8.06, with an average value of 7.51 suggesting neutral conditions. Organic carbon (OC) contents of soil samples ranged from 0.06% to 4.91% (average 1.59%). In this study, based on the USDA textural triangle the main soil textures are loamy, clay loam and sandy loam, respectively.
The average abundance order of selected elements content is: Zn>Ni>Pb>Cr>Cu>As>Cd. Comparison of mean concentration of the potentially toxic elements in the soil samples with mean worldwide values reveals higher Zn, Pb and Ni contents in this area.
The results of contamination factor indicate very high contamination for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. Modified Degree of Contamination (mCd) calculated based on background values proves very high degrees of contamination for selected trace elements in Gasre Shirin and Eslamshahr landfills soil samples The results of enrichment factor evaluation similarity to contamination factor indicate that Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu and Zn have more influence from anthropogenic sources. The maximum EF of Pb, Zn and Cd and Cu is 346.7,124 and 51.9 respectively, which means very high enrichment in Ghasre Shirin landfill soil samples.
Exposure doses of 7 heavy metals in soil samples of un-enggenerd landfills for children and adults were calculated. The total exposure HQs calculated based on adults from ingestion, dermal contact, and inhalation for Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn, As and Pb was less than 1(except Ghasreshirin landfill). The hazard quotient values based on the adult risk for Cr were greater than 1.0. The results show that HQ for Pb and As in children by dermal and ingestion pathway is exceeded 1.0 in soil samples of Paveh, Javanrood, Ravansar, Kermanshah and Sangher landfills and Ghasreshirin and Eslamshahr landfills, respectively.
Conclusion
The concentration, pollution level, potential sources and health risk of potentially toxic elements in eight landfills top soil of Kermanshah province were investigated in this study. The following conclusions were drawn from this research.
- Compared with the background values of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in soils of Kermanshah Province, landfills soil have elevated metal concentrations as a whole.
- According to high contamination level and health risk of some studied potentially toxic elements, and also due to the proximity of contamination sources to residential district of the study area, more attention should be paid to manage and reduce contamination.
- These results provide basic information of toxic elements pollution control and environment management in the area../files/site1/files/121/Shakerii_Abstract.pdf

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 IExtended Abstract
 Introduction
The Iranian plateau is situated in the Alpine-Himalayan orogeny between the Eurasian plate in the north and the Arabian plate in the south. It is being shortened by the northward movement of the Arabian plate, which causes the most parts of Iran to be active and dynamic in terms of tectonic movements. The recent tectonic activity in the southern edge of central Alborz causes both development and deformation of the tectonically active landforms. Seismic records indicate a high frequency of earthquakes of relatively small magnitude (<4) and infrequent large earthquakes (>5.1) in the Alborz. The studied area is located in the southern central Alborz and at the edge of northwestern central Iran between seismic faults of Ipak (with approximately E-W trend) and Avaj (with NW-SE trend) that includes significant earthquakes. Generally, the dominant tectonic structures of the study area involve thrust faults. The Ipak fault is one of the major fault systems in the area, located about 120 km west of Tehran, and caused the 1962 Buin Zahra earthquake of Ms 7.2 (Mw 7.0). The earthquake was associated with 95 km surface rupture along the Ipak reverse fault with average throw of 140 cm and left-lateral displacement of 60 cm. This investigation has evaluated the active tectonics and the acceleration zoning of the region in order to analyze and measure the recent tectonic activities.
Material and methods
To assess the acceleration zoning of this region, seismic data, Kijko software, PSHA software and reduction equations were used; consequently, minimum and maximum acceleration for useful life of 75-year and 475-year building were estimated. In order to assess the relative tectonic activity through the study area, sub-basins and stream network were extracted by using Arc Hydro Tools software based on the DEM and in turn, 134 sub-basins have been resulted. The six geomorphologic indices were used as follow: Stream length–gradient index (SL), mountain front Sinuosity (Smf), Ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Vf), Asymmetric factor (Af), Hypsometric integral (Hi) and drainage Basin shape (Bs). Eventually, after calculating the relative tectonic activity index (Iat), the studied area was classified into four tectonic activity classes in ArcGIS10.1 as very high, high, medium and low.
Stream Length–Gradient Index (SL): The SL index indicates an equation between erosive processing as streams and rivers flow and active tectonics. The SL is defined by Eq. (1) 
SL= (∆H/∆Lr) Lsc                                        (1)
where ΔH is change in altitude, ΔLr is the length of a reach, and Lsc is the horizontal length from the watershed divide to midpoint of the reach. The SL index can be used to evaluate relative tectonic activity.  The quantities of the SL index were computed along the streams for all sub-basins.
Index of Mountain Front Sinuosity (Smf):  Index of mountain front sinuosity is defined by Equation (2). 
Smf = Lmf ⁄ Ls                                             (2)
where Lmf is the length of the mountain front along the foot of the mountain in which a change in slope from the mountain to the piedmont occurs; and Ls is the straight line length of the mountain front. Smf represents a balance between erosive processes tending to erode a mountain front, making it more sinuous through streams that cut laterally and into the front and active vertical tectonics that tends to produce straight mountain fronts, often coincidental with active faults or folds.
Ratio of Valley Floor Width to Valley Height (Vf): Vf is defined as the ratio of the width of the valley floor to its average height and is computed by Equation (3).
Vf = Vfw/ [(Ald-Asc) + (Ard-Asc) /2)]                            (3)
where Vfw is the width of the valley floor, and A_ld, A_rd, and A_sc are the altitudes of the left and right divides (looking downstream) and the stream channel, respectively. A significant relationship exists between the rate of mountain front activity and the Vf index. Consequently, the high Vf values conform to low uplift rates (Keller and Pinter 2002). The shape of a valley can also represent the Vf amount and uplift rate. Therefore, U-shaped valleys accommodate low Vf and high uplift.
Asymmetric Factor (Af): The asymmetric factor (Af) is a way to evaluate the existence of tectonic tilting at the scale of a drainage basin. The method may be applied over a relatively large area. Af is defined by Equation (4).
Af= 100(Ar/At)                                                   (4)
where Ar is the area of the basin to the right (facing downstream) of the trunk stream and At is the total area of the drainage basin. If the value of this factor is close to 50, the basin has a stable condition with little or tilting; while values above or below 50 may result from basin tilting, resulting from tectonic activity or other geological conditions such as lithological structure.
Hypsometric integral (Hi): The hypsometric integral is an index that describes the distribution of the elevation of a given area or a landscape. The Hi is independent of basin area. This index is defined as the area below the hypsometric curve and thus expresses the volume of a basin that has not been eroded. A simple equation that may be used to calculate the index is defined by Equation (5).
Hi = (average elevation - min. elev.) / (max. elev. - min. elev.)  (5)
Then Hi values were grouped into three classes with respect to the convexity or concavity of the hypsometric curve: Class 1 with convex hypsometric curves (Hi≥0.5); Class 3 with concave hypsometric curves (Hi<0.4); and Class 2 with concave–convex hypsometric curves (0.4≤Hi<0.5).
Index of Drainage Basin Shape (Bs): Horizontal projection of basin shape may be described by the elongation ratio, Bs, expressed by Eqation (6):
Bs = Bl/Bw                                        (6)
where Bl is the length of the basin measured from the headwaters to the mouth, and Bw is the width of the basin measured at its widest point. High values of Bs are associated with elongated basins, generally related to relatively higher tectonic activity. Low values of Bs indicate a more circular-shaped basin, generally associated with low tectonic activity.
Evaluation of Relative Tectonic Activity (Iat): The average of the six measured geomorphic indices (Iat) was used to evaluate the distribution of relative tectonic activity in the study area. The values of the index were divided into four classes to define the degree of active tectonics.
Results and discussions
Results of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis have shown that the minimum and the maximum acceleration for useful life of 75-year building is estimated as 0.33g and 0.45g and for 475-year one are 0.46g and 0.60g, respectively. These values are indicative of high risk in the studied area. Acquired values from geomorphologic indices and also acceleration zoning of the realm are indicative of high recent tectonic activities near Ipak, Hasanabad, Soltaniyeh and Avaj faults; they are extremely concordant with the obtained evidences and geomorphologic characteristics of the field samples. In this study, considering the diversity of the morphotectonic features, six morphometric indices relevant to the river channels, drainage basins, and mountain fronts were computed for every catchment, and consequently, a single index (Iat) was calculated from the these indices for each of 134 subbasins to define the degree of active tectonics. Finally, the Index of the Active Tectonic (Iat) was calculated through which the study area is classified into four tectonic activity classes, from very high to low; 1—very high (1.0≤Iat<1.5); 2—high (1.5≤Iat<2.0); 3—moderate (2.0≤Iat<2.5); and 4—low (2.5≤Iat). The distribution of the four classes of Iat has been presented in a well classified map. The indices have represented a quantitative approach to differential geomorphic analysis related to erosion and depositional processes which include the river channel and valley morphology as well as tectonically derived features, such as fault scarps. We also evaluated the outputs of the morphometric analyses based on field-based geomorphological observations. Thus, these results are proved to be extremely beneficial to evaluate relative rates of active tectonics of this region.
The values of Af show widespread drainage basin asymmetry related to tectonic tilting, particularly associated with Ipak fault. The values of Smf suggest that mountain fronts are tectonically active, and the values of Vf show that some valleys are narrow and deep, suggesting a high rate of incision. The parts with class 1 and 2 of the relative tectonic activity are located along the main faults of the region, such as Soltaniyeh, Avaj, Hasanabad and Ipak faults and show high correlation with observed landforms during the field investigations such as the direct mountain fronts, fault gorges, fault scarps, and deep v-shaped valleys. Besides, the high amount of the relative active tectonic index shows a good consistency with the recent tectonic activity, namely tilting and deformation of the Quaternary units, which is the indicative of the effect of compressive stresses, affecting the region.
Conclusion
In this study, according to the current tectonic activity using the Iat index, it was found that the study region represents a high current tectonic activity along the fault zones. The values of SL, Hi, and Bs were found to be high along Soltaniyeh, Avaj, Hasanabad and Ipak faults segments.
According to the earthquakes and probabilistic seismic hazard analysis in the study area, it can be said is worthy to note that some basins which are located among active faults, are seismically dangerous.  However, they show low relative active tectonic index (Iat)../files/site1/files/121/AleeiAbstract(1).pdf

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Introduction
The general failure mechanism of soil element in geotechnical structures is shear failure under static and dynamic loads. Therefore, assessment of soils’ shear strength parameters is very crucial in the performance of geotechnical structures, especially in slope stability. Tavakoli Mehrjardi et al. (2016) showed that by increasing soil grain size in unreinforced soil masses, bearing capacity of foundation increases due to increasing shear strength parameters of soil mass. Furthermore, Tavakoli Mehrjardi and Khazaei (2017) found out that generally, for all reinforced and unreinforced conditions, cyclic bearing capacity was enhanced by increasing the medium grains size of backfills. Taking into account the deficiency of studies on the shear characteristics of soil, a series of large direct shear test have been carried out to investigate and to compare effects of the soil’s physical properties such as aggregate size and relative density, besides of normal stress, on the shear characteristics of the backfills.
Material and Test Program
In this study, three types of uniformly graded soils as fill materials with the medium grain size (D₅₀) of 3, 6 and 12 mm were considered. These soils are classified as SP and GP in the Unified Soil Classification System. It should be mentioned that these materials can be used in railroad as ballast and in retaining walls as fill materials. The current study aims to investigate strength characteristics of the backfills, influenced by different parameters such as relative density of the fill materials, normal stress on the shear plane and aggregate size of the fill materials. To cover all the matters, 18 large-scale direct shear tests have been scheduled. These tests encompass two relative densities of fill materials (50% and 70% which represent medium dense and dense backfill, respectively), three aggregate sizes of fill materials (3, 6 and 12 mm- selected based on the scaling criteria on size of shear box) and three normal stresses (100, 200 and 300 kPa- these values cover rather low to high vertical stress in a soil element of common geotechnical projects) have been examined. It should be mentioned that, prior to shearing, the normal stress was applied to the specimens for a period of 1 h, in order to stabilize the soil particles from any possible creep. As all materials used in this research are of coarse-grained type and the experiments were performed under dry conditions, the displacement rate of 0.5 mm/min was selected. During the tests, the applied normal stress, displacement of the lower box, shear force mobilized at the interface and vertical displacements of the cap were continuously recorded.
Results and discussion
The curves of shear stress as a function of shear displacement and also shear displacement-vertical displacement for samples show that shear stress dropped down to a specific amount of residual shear strength after reaching maximum amount of shear stress . It was observed that increasing the particle size and relative density of the fill materials mostly fortify interlocking of the grains which in turn, resulted in increasing the tendency to expansion through the shear plane. On the other hand, the initial compression has decreased and dilation was started from a smaller shear displacement. This may be interpreted that as the soil particles size increases, more expansion is required to reach the maximum shear strength. Moreover, comparing the observed behavior, it is found out that unlike the effect of grain size and density, increasing the normal stress caused the materials to be more compressed, resulted in reducing expansion and increasing the initial compression of the soil mass. This conceivably means that increasing normal stress, transferred on shear plane, can change the failure mechanism of materials, from dilatancy failure to bulging failure under shearing. From the results, it was found out that increasing medium grains size of soil from 3 mm to 12 mm ended to improvement in the maximum friction angle at relative density 50 and 70% by the value up to 4.4 and 5.8 degree, respectively. In fact, due to increasing grain size, the grains interlocking have been fortified. In order to have a comparison, the maximum dilation angles of all fill materials, mobilized at the shear plane, have been derived. Accordingly, the maximum dilation angle was increased with the increment of the fill grains size and relative density of the material. Nevertheless, by considering variation of peak dilation angle with normal stress, it is found out that the normal stress had a negative influence on the advancement of interface’s dilation angle. These findings can be directly interpreted by considering the compression/expansion of the materials during the increment of shear displacements.
Conclusion
The current study, consists of 18 large-scale direct shear tests, aims to investigate shear characteristics of soil which influenced by different parameters such as relative density of the fill materials, normal stress at the shear plane and aggregate size of the fill materials. Eventually, the following conclusions are presented:

• Increasing relative density, soil particle size and normal stress have beneficial effect in shear strength improvement. But, the mechanisms of each parameter in this enhancement is different.
• The dilation rate of shear interfaces directly complies with changes in the ratio of applied shear stress to vertical stress. So, the maximum dilation angle and the maximum ratio  mobilized at the shear plane have occurred around the same shear displacement.
• Maximum values of friction and dilation angels have been occurred around the same shear displacement. Moreover, compaction effort leads to increase the required shear displacements to approach the maximum shear characteristics.

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Introduction
Local site conditions considerably influence all characteristics of the ground strong motion including the domain, frequency content, and duration. The level of such an effect could be considered as a function of geometry, properties of the materials embedded in the underlying layers, the site topography, and properties of excitement. Site effect fall into two categories: a) the effect of the surface soft layers triggered by the shear velocity differences between the soil layers and b) the surface and subsurface topography effects that lead to the wave reflection and refraction based on the site geometry, and subsequently enhance the level of amplification.
Since most cities have been constructed in the vicinity of or on sedimentary basins, geotechnical earthquake engineering devotes particular attention to effects of the sedimentary basins. Basin edge curvature deposited with soft soils are capable to trap the body waves and generated surface waves within the deposit layers. Such waves could create stronger and lengthier vibrations than those estimated in a 1D analysis that assumes the shear waves to be vertically propagated.
Although critically important, the 2D effect of the site has not been included in seismic codes and standards of the world. This might be due to the fact that the site effect depends on a number of parameters such as the site geometry, the type of wave excitement, properties of the materials, etc. that in return make it almost out of the question to make predictions about the effect. This study was an effort to compare the responses of four sedimentary basins with hypothetical geometries of rectangular, trapezoidal, elliptical, and triangular shapes in order to examine the effect of the geometrical shape of the basin on its responses and the extent of the response sensitivity to the excitation frequency of the wave. The study assumed the edge to depth proportion to be both constant and equal in all four basins so that the effect of the geometrical shape could be equally examined and compared in all four basins.      
Material and methods
In order to validate the results of the sedimentary basin modeling, firstly, ABAQUS finite element software was used to create a free field motion of a semi-circular alluvium valley in accordance with Kamalian et al. (2006) and Moassesian and Darvinsky (1987).  Then, the results from the model were compared with those from the above mentioned studies. The following descriptions are to present the model in details.
To evaluate the geometrical effect of the sedimentary basin on its response, the authors relied on the software to examine four sedimentary basins with the fundamental frequency (2.04 Hz). The basins enjoyed rectangular, trapezoidal, elliptical, and triangular geometrical shapes with a constant edge to depth proportion (49m to 300m respectively). The implicit method was also applied to perform the dynamic analysis. The materials were all viscoelastic and homogeneous. The soil behavior/treatment model was considered to be of a linear nature.  The Rayleigh damping model was used to specify the damping level. The soil element was a plane strain and SV waves (the Ricker wavelet) were used for seismic loadings in a vertical dispersion. The side boundaries (right and left) of the model were of a combinational type (viscous and free field boundaries); the down side boundary was composed of viscous. To achieve higher levels of wave absorptions, heavy columns were used as the free filed columns.
Next, it was the time to conduct the 1D analysis of the site. Three waves were in use in order to examine the effect of the frequency content of the excitation load on the basin response: 1) a wave with the dominant frequency of 1Hz that was out of the frequency range of all basins (2.04 Hz), a second wave with the dominant frequency of 2Hz that was close to the fundamental frequency of all basins, and a third wave with the dominant frequency of 4Hz. The waves were applied to a 2Dmodel. The results were compared with those obtained from a 1Dmodel in terms of the timing.
Then, the basin responses to all three waves (1, 2, and 4 Hz) were subjected to an individual analysis in order to examine the sensitivity of each basin response to its geometrical shape. Results indicated that while the responses of the rectangular and trapezoidal basins were significantly more sensitive to the excitation frequencies, the elliptical and triangular basins showed more stable behaviors to such frequencies. The final stage of the study was dedicated to examine the site 2D effect during the ground motion.
Results and Conclusions
According to the results of the present study, it could be suggested that the geometrical shape of the sedimentary basin has a significant effect on the responses of the field of seismic waves and that it could result in so different responses from the ones attained after a 1D analysis of the site. In addition, the pattern of the seismic waves’ responses is highly dependent on the geometrical shape and the frequency content of the seismic load. Also, the location where the maximum horizontal acceleration occurs along with the sedimentary basin depends on the excitation wave and varies accordingly. Further, it could be suggested that the site 2D effect results in both considerable amplification and an increase in the length of ground motion.
The results of the 2D analysis showed remarkable differences with their 1D counterparts: a 1.45 larger response for the rectangular basin, a 1.28 larger response for the trapezoidal basin, a 1.22 larger response for the elliptical basin, and a 1.19 larger response for the triangular basin.
With the frequency of 1 Hz where the excitation frequency is out of the basin range (i.e. the excitation frequency is below the lowest frequency of basin), the sedimentary basin did not show any signs of amplification and chaos (unlike two other frequencies); instead, it was a cause for de-amplification.
The frequency of 2 Hz that is subject to resonance resulted in amplifications (absent in 1D analysis) and there are traces of a reduction in the acceleration responses near to the edges of the basins. The proportion of the amplification (in the center of the basins) in 2D to 1D analysis was 1.4 for the rectangular basin, 1.28 for the trapezoidal basin, 1.22 for the elliptical basin, and 1.15 for the triangular basin.
 

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Introduction
The design engineers usually follow a specific decision-making process for optimal selection of the type of required foundation and its design. In this state, in case the surface foundation is not appropriate for the project conditions, before making any decisions about the use of deep foundations, the proper methods for optimization of the liquefied soil should be evaluated in order to compare the advantages and disadvantages of each of them with those of deep foundation, in terms of efficiency, implementation problems, costs, and finally to select the best choice. One of the best methods of soil improvement is the use of stone columns. The rationale behind the use of stone columns is the high shear strength of materials and the provision of lateral grip by surrounding soil. Therefore, the stone column can receive the load from the structure, and transfer it to the resistant layers. In the soils with low shear resistance, the lateral constraint crated by the surrounding soils is not enough for preventing the sideway buckling of the column under which is subjected to the loads. Thus, special measures should be considered for the use of stone columns in these soils. One of these methods is the use of reinforcement shelves such as geogrid and geotextile. Investigating the previous studies, the lack of evaluation of the design parameters such as the settlement ratio of the soil improved by the reinforced stone column to the geogrid, and provision of design graphs in this regard, has been revealed. Therefore, by extension of the studies conducted by Chub Basti et al. in 2011, the design graphs were provided in this regard.
Material and methods
The PLAXIS V8 Software was used for modelling the soft soil improved by the stone column. For increasing the precision of the results, the 15-knot element was used in the current study. The fine mesh was used in the models made for the analysis of the problem. For simulation of the improved soft soil with the stone column in a single cell, the modelling was implemented in a two-dimensional environment in axial symmetry conditions. In the current study, it was assumed the rigid foundation is on the improved bed. Thus, for analysis of the simulated model, a vertical strain up to 2% of the soft soil height has been applied on the ground. Also, for simulation of the soil behavior, an appropriate model of soil and parameters proportional to the materials should be allocated to the construct geometry. The non-linear stress-strain of the soil in different levels of the problem can be simulated. The number of model parameters increases with the level of problem rupture. For precise simulation, we need the proper parameters of the materials. For modeling of soft soils and stone columns, elastic-plastic model with Mohr-Coulomb rupture criterion was used. In the current study, it was assumed the soft bed is located on a very hard layer of soil. Therefore, the vertical deformation was prevented on this horizontal boundary. Also, the horizontal deformation in two vertical edges was prevented and only deformation in vertical direction was allowed. The soft bed close to saturation was considered without the determined free water level. For models with stone columns, the element of interface between the stone column and soft soil, has been used. The reason behind using this element is that the stone column rupture is of shear form and due to this, a significant shear stress is created on the common surface between the stone column and soft soil. The percentage of the replacement area is defined as the ratio of the total area of the stone columns to the total area of the non-improved area. In the current study, the percentage of the replacement area is utilized between 10 to 30%, which is used in implementation. Also, the diameter of the stone columns is from 0.6 to 1.2, in the analyses.
Results and discussion
The results of the numerical study were compared with the existing theoretical relationships provided by Poorooshasb and Meyerhof (1997), and Pulko et al. (2011). Figure 1 shows the comparison of the replacement percentage (RP) and settlement ratio (SR) in the non-reinforced state in the current study as well as theoretical relationships proposed by the previous researchers. Based on this figure, there is a difference between the results of the current study and those of Poorooshasb and Meyerhof (1997), and Pulko et al (2011). Poorooshasb and Meyerhof (1997) calculated the settlement ratio in their proposed material with the assumption of linear elasticity of the materials without consideration for plastic settlement. Therefore, the settlement of the improved soft soil with stone column, calculated by Poorooshasb and Meyerhof, would not show the real amount. However, Pulko et al. (2011), with consideration for the elastoplastic behavior of the materials, the lateral expansion of the stone column, and the primary stress of the soil around the column, provided more realistic results that correspond closely with the present study. Also, for designing the stone column, the results of its reinforcement have been also provided in the graph presented in Figure 2. Thus, by the use of these graphs, the ratio of settlement reduction can be obtained for each distance between columns and with different percentages of alternatives../files/site1/files/124/2jalili%DA%86%DA%A9%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%87.pdf

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Introduction
Study on the main characteristics of strong ground motions, has relatively long history. The observations and investigations on the structural damages after strong earthquakes such as Northridge 1994 in California, Kobe 1995 in Japan, Tabas 1978 and Bam 2003 in Iran, are representatives of the destructive effects of strong near-field records. The most important specification of the near-field records which distinguish them from far-field records, is their ability to generate energized and relatively short-duration acceleration spikes as well as high amplitude and long-domain velocity pulses. Moreover, according to the lack of accurate statistical profiles as well as many deficiencies, processing the spectral existent data is not able enough to fully explain the seismic tremors. Based on the fact that the great earthquakes have long recurrence interval and also many high seismic zones of Iran do not possess strong tremors, hence generating and simulating feasible great events is required by applying closed form models and analysis of available data. In this study, in order to simulate the existent pulses in the time history of near-field records, the developed mathematical configuration is presented by analytical comprehensive attitude on the closed form model by Mavroeidis and Papageorgiou (2003).
Material and methods
Simulation of strong ground shakings, especially in areas where there is limited recorded data, plays a key role in assessing dynamic behavior of structures. Owing to unique characteristics of strong near-field ground motions, it is not possible to determine exact effects of these strong records on structures using simplified mathematical models. It is feasible to develop more complicated models which represent much more characteristics of near-field ground motions. Mavroeidis and Papageorgiou (2003) studied the parameters affecting near-fault ground motions. Their studies resulted in introducing a mathematical model capable of interpolating velocity pulses of near-field earthquake records (MP model). This closed-form MP model interpolates long duration pulses using a set of input spectral parameters.
 The pulse period, the pulse amplitude, the number and phase of half cycles are the key parameters that define the shape of velocity pulse. Thus, a four-parameter model has been developed to describe velocity pulses which contain forward directivity effects. In this research, it was observed that by using a combination of cubic and exponential terms, an enhanced model for interpolating the pulses presented in near-field earthquake records could be achieved (EMP model). Figure 1 shows the analytical interpolation of acceleration and velocity time histories using MP and EMP models.
 
Figure 1. Fitting of acceleration time histories with MP and EMP models
 
Results and discussion
Based on the obtained results, it is observed that there is a striking similarity between analytical characteristics obtained by actual earthquake records and mathematical pulses. Moreover, using the enhanced closed-form model (EMP model) reduces discrepancy between the results obtained under actual and the synthetic earthquake records.
Conclusion
Findings of this research reveal that equivalent pulses could be a good representative of actual earthquake records analytically, in order to assess the seismological characteristics of these tremors. It is worth mentioning that modelization of forward directivity pulses displayed in time history of strong ground shakings, is an efficient measure in evaluating seismic response of structures. In addition, due to stochastic nature of earthquakes, computational uncertainties and descriptive limitations of analytical parameters, using closed-form models require a high level of accuracy../files/site1/files/124/8nazari%DA%86%DA%A9%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%87.pdf
 

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Introduction
In some ports, the dredging and accumulation of a large amount of sedimentary material turned to a serious challenge, because of their sequent environmental and economic effects. These problems clarify the necessity of reusing dredged materials. Often, owing to their poor mechanical properties, they are not applied directly in technically engineering uses, so they require to be improved. Geocell application is one of the methods used for the improvement of soil behavior, which confines the sand mass through itself in the three-dimensional structure. These methods ease the speed of applying emerged it into a perfect option for stabilizing of the granular soil.
 In Shahid Rajaee port, by the dredging process for developing new phases, a large amount of calcareous sand is being accumulated near the Persian Gulf coastline. Therefore, in order to provide a solution to reuse these materials, this study attempts to investigate the beneficial influence of reinforcing sand by geocell on its load-beneficial behavior experimented by the plat loading test. For this purpose, a large scale model including circular foundation on reinforced and unreinforced sand has been employed under cyclic loading process.
Material and Methods
Soils
Two types of soils were used in this study. The first type was the sand derived from the dredging process of Shahid Rajaee port which has been used in different layers of the models. The second type of soil was well-graded gravel which has been used only in the cover layer.
Geocell
The geocell in this study were made of heat-bonded non-woven polypropylene geotextiles. Single cells were 110 mm long, 100 mm wide and 100 mm height.
Plate load test
In order to determine the bearing capacity of backfills, repeating plate load test was used with 150 mm diameter. Loading process included four stress levels (250, 500, 750 and 1000 kPa) consisting of 10 cycles each.
Test backfills
Four backfills was made by manually compacting the dredged sand, with tamper up to 350 mm in reinforced cases and 450 mm in unreinforced cases. Then geocells placed and dredged sand filled with accuracy in cells. Finally, a 50 mm thick sand or gravel cover layer, was placed. All lifts were compacted to 70% of relative density with 4% moisture content.
Results and Discussion
PLT results are summarized in Table 1. According to the results, only geocell reinforcement backfills can carry standard truck wheel load (550 kPa). Geocell can increase the ultimate strength of backfills with a sand cover layer by 70% (from 416 kPa to 725 kPa) while in backfill with a gravel cover layer showed 80% increase (from 520 kPa to 960 kPa) in ultimate strength. The gravel cover layer in unreinforced backfills increases the ultimate strength by 25 percent (from 416 kPa to 520 kPa).
Table 1. Results of PLT and performance ratings

Backfill name	UR-S	GR-S	UR-W	GR-W
Maximum stress (kPa)	416	725	520	960
Settlement at failure (mm)	4.6	9.0	15.5	14.9
Plastic settlement (mm)	3.5	7.0	12.5	12.0
Number of load cycles	10	20	20	30
Bearing capacity ratio (BCR)	1	1.74	1.25	2.32
Performance rating	4	2	3	1

Base on Table 1, bearing capacity ratio (BCR) has been increased up to 2.3 and has best when geocell reinforcement and gravel cover layer were used together. Geocell utilization as reinforcement for sand backfills, improves the stress-settlement behavior. Dredged sand can be used as backfill material for yards and access roads when reinforced with geocell and covered with a layer of well-graded gravel../files/site1/files/132/3Extended_Abstracts.pdf

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Aggregates are one of the high demand building materials in construction of structures and their characteristics have important effects on durability and permanence of projects. Abrasion resistance is one of the important features of aggregates that their utilization in concrete and asphalt are affected by texture and lithology of them. As rock consisted of harder minerals have higher abrasion resistance like igneous rocks, due to more siliceous minerals. More varieties in mineralogy compound usually lead to increase in aggregate abrasion. Aggregates that are contained of different minerals usually have less abrasion resistance. Porosity usually decreases the resistance abrasion. In addition to lithological properties, the environment where aggregates are deposited is important in determining resistance-related parameters of aggregates.
Rivers, alluvial fans, and taluses are the main environments where aggregates are deposited. Geological processes, such as weathering and particle movement may cause changes in natural aggregates, hence affecting their abrasion and impact resistance. Rock weathering can results in increasing porosity, producing minerals that are weaker in comparison to their original rock.
In the process of particles transport by stream water, weak parts of aggregates will be omitted. The present study is focused on the relationship between geology medium and the weight loss of aggregate in Los Angeles test. 
Methodology
Considering that lithology features in aggregates resistance against abrasion have an important role, in order to examine the effect of various geology environments in abrasion resistance of aggregates, the medium should be chosen having similar lithology. Therefore, the north of Damavand and the south of Daneh Khoshk anticline (north of Dire plain) were firstly chosen by using geology map, satellites images and field study. Damavand zone consists of trachyte and trachy-andesite volcanic rocks. These rocks cover the whole area around the Damavand peak. Also, Daneh Khoshk anticline is covered by thick Asmari formation. The selected environment are in the length of each other. Such that taluses feed alluvial fan and alluvial fans feed rivers. Samples were collected from different area of southern part of anticline. 10 river area, 12 alluvial fan and 6 taluses in the south-west area of Daneh Khoshk anticline (north of Dire plain) were chosen. Los Angeles test has been done according to standard A method ASTM D2216-10, 1990 on samples and the results were analyzed by analogous analyzer.
Results and discussion
Results show that porosity and micro-crack percentage increase, respectively in accumulated aggregate in river, alluvial fans and taluses areas. Also, porosity and micro-crack in various alluvial fans is different and is influenced by the area and length of main channel of alluvial fans’ catchment. The porosity decreases by the increase in the length of channel and area of alluvial fans’ catchment.
The percentages of aggregate weight loss in talus, alluvial fan and river areas decreases, respectively. Based on the obtained results, the lowest rates of weight loss belong to river environments (23.7 % in Daneh Khoshk and 42% in Damavand) whereas the highest rates of weight loss belong to taluses (49.3% in Daneh Khoshk and 48% in Damavand). The alluvial fans have an average state. Another noticeable point is the high weight loss in Los Angeles test in Damavand aggregate. Due to having harder mineral, igneous aggregate have more abrasion resistance, but this research illustrates that the weight loss resulting from Los Angeles test in these aggregates is high. This is because of virtues texture that weakness against the impact as well as their high porosity.
Conclusion
The result of this research indicates that the volume of aggregate weight loss in Los Angeles test is related to aggregate accumulation environment. The extent of aggregate abrasion resistance is lowest in talus medium and increases in alluvial fan and river environment, respectively. The difference in aggregate abrasion resistance in various areas result from geology process differences that applies to aggregates in various environment. The extent of caring particles in talus environment is very low and the type of movement is mass or sliding type in these media, micro-crack and weak parts remains within aggregates. The surface of micro crack is weak such that breaks easily in Los Angeles test due to the pressure results from the impact of aggregate, as well as the impact of steel ball on aggregate leading to aggregate breakages. Aggregates move more distances in alluvial fan and river. Aggregate strike together in riverbed and alluvial fan yielding to aggregates breakages from micro-cracks. As the movement distance increases, aggregates approach more to intact rock. During the particles move, the weathered and weak parts are damaged by aggregate abrasion to riverbeds and alluvial fan, and more resistant and harder aggregates remain. As the water current increases, the aggregates impact each other harder, more resistant micro-crack breakages and this change leads to decrease the weight loss in Los Angeles test.
./files/site1/files/132/1Extended_Abstracts.pdf

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Introduction
The nature of near-field earthquake records is very complicated and uncertain. Due to this complexity, the prediction of the real structural responses has become very difficult. Based on the analysis of the physical characteristics of near-field records, it is possible to use the simplified mathematical models. Near-field ground motions which are often associated with a progressive directional phenomenon due to their particular type of the causative fault, have much more destructive effects on the structures than the other quake tremors. The related research results show that under the influence of a strong near-field ground motion which contains forward directivity effects, the structural responses would be entered to a great nonlinear domain. On the other hand, due to the limited number of available near-field records, it is needed to prepare artificial acclerograms which can simulate the characteristics of the strong ground motions. Thus, it is possible to achieve a vast data base corresponding to wide range of powerful ground motions using mathematical wavelets. As a result, it provides a general overview of these types of artificial quake tremors and prepares an extended knowledge on the performance of structures in confronting these destructive movements.
Material and methods
The results obtained from the seismological studies on strong near-field records indicate that the most of these tremors contain large amounts of kinetic energy corresponding to the content of low frequency band. Additionally, by ignoring the high-frequency band the coherent velocity pulses can be detected with acceptable accuracy. In order to separate the high and low frequency bands, the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method is used based on programming in MATLAB software. Various methods have been proposed for simulation of near-field records which most of them is based on using harmonic functions and the spectral assessment of the low frequency band of earthquake records.
In this regards, one of the best closed form evaluation has been performed by Mavroeidis and Papageorgiou (2003) which is to be formulated by making parametric changes to the so-called Gabor wavelet and replacing a simpler function instead of the Gaussian curve with a more efficient algebraic statement. Ghodrati Amiri et al. (2012) proposed another efficient formulation matched either of the benefits of Mavroeidis’s and Gabor wavelets. Both of the aforementioned models are based on the preparing of an efficient multi-statement parametric configuration of harmonic wavelets as noted above. In this study, in addition to calibrate the desired closed-formulations on the velocity pulses of the selected strong records, the accuracy of the notified simulation has also been investigated from the spectral and energy point of views.

Results and discussion
The band of high frequencies corresponding to the spectral content of strong near-field records can be ignored appropriately. This is because the major amount of the related kinetic energy is usually transmitted in the form of a low frequency pulse along with a number of high frequency spikes. Generally, these features are displayed over a relatively short time domain. In this study, the analytical attention to this subject is concentrated on the simulation of coherent multiple pulses via EMD method. The purpose of such simulation is to create a wide range of powerful and high-energy artificial motions. Moreover, due to the limited availability of natural near-field earthquake records, the proposed pulses can be used to evaluate the structural seismic performance.
Conclusion
Generally, strong near-field records contain a few consecutive pulses with different periods and spectral configurations. The essential effects of these pulses must not be ignored in conducting of nonlinear dynamic time history analyses. Obviously, the effects of these type of earthquake records on the seismic response of mid-to-high rise structures (with a large periodic range) will be significant. Furthermore, the probable occurrence of the resonant mode, may cause destructive effects on the seismic response of structural skeletons. The proposed pulses in this study were formulated through the EMD method as well as performing an analytical calibration process related to both bands of high and low frequencies. The spectral evaluations of the fitted mathematical closed-form pulses were accomplished for the selected earthquake records. The obtained results indicate a good analytical convergence and correlation with the physical parameters of the natural ground motions.


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