Gypseous soil is prevalent in arid and semi-arid areas, is from collapsible soil, which contains the mineral gypsum, and has variable properties, including moisture-induced volume changes and solubility. Construction on these soils necessitates meticulous assessment and unique designs due to the possibility of foundation damage from soil collapse. The stability and durability of structures situated on gypseous soils necessitate close collaboration with specialists and careful, methodical preparation. It had not been done to find the pattern of failure in the micromechanical behavior of gypseous sandy soil through particle image velocity (PIV) analysis. This adopted recently in geotechnical engineering to track the motion of soil grains and using tracer particles by applying digital particle image analysis. It has also been used to study the displacement distribution in some cases of granular materials. Therefore, the goal of this study is to find out how gypseous sand medium moves when in contact with a rigid strip foundation that is under static stress and plane strain conditions. The experimental model would focus on two common types of wetting, namely water table rise and dry conditions. The PIV showed that the collapse pattern under the footing is of the type of punching shear failure. The predominant mechanism of soil deformation was the vertical compression of the gypseous granular soil. The results showed that understanding gypseous sandy grain displacement and failure patterns at the local scale is crucial for enhancing the design of foundations under static stress conditions.
Unsaturated soil can raise many geotechnical problems upon wetting and drying resulting in swelling upon wetting and collapsing (shrinkage) in drying and changing in the soil shear strength. The classical principles of saturated soil are often not suitable in explaining these phenomena. In this study, expansive soil (bentonite and sand) were tested in different water contents and dry unit weight chosen from the compaction curve to examine the effect of water content change on soil properties (swelling pressure, expansion index, shear strength (soil cohesion) and soil suction by the filter paper method). The physical properties of these soils were studied by conducting series of tests in laboratory. Fitting methods
... Show MoreA laboratory investigation of six different tests were conducted on silty clay soil spiked with lead in concentrations of 1500 mg/kg. A constant DC voltage gradient of 1 V/cm was applied for all these tests with duration of 7 days remediation process for each test. Different purging solutions and addition configurations, i.e. injection wells, were investigated experimentally to enhance the removal of lead from Iraqi soil during electro-kinetic remediation process. The experimental results showed that the overall removal efficiency of lead for tests conducted with distilled water, 0.1 M acetic acid, 0.2 M EDTA and 1 M ammonium citrate as the purging solutions were equal to 18 %, 37 %, 42 %, and 29 %, respectively. H
... Show MoreNaturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) contaminated sites at Al-Rumaila Iraqi oil fields have been characterized as a part of soil remediation project. Activity of radium isotopes in contaminated soil have been determined using gamma spectrometer High Purity Germanium detector (HPGe) and found to be very high for Al-Markezia, Al-Qurainat degassing stations and storage area at Khadhir Almay region. The activity concentration of samples ranges from 6474.11±563.8 Bq/kg to 1232.5±60.9 Bq/kg with mean value of 3853.3 Bq/kg for 226Ra, 843.59±8.39 Bq/kg to 302.2±9.2 Bq/kg with mean value of 572.9 Bq/kg for 232Th and 294.31±18.56 Bq/kg to 156.64±18.1 Bq/kg with mean value of 225.5 for 40K. S
... Show MoreWhen the depth of stressed soil is rather small, Plate Load Test (PLT) becomes the most efficient test to estimate the soil properties for design purposes. Among these properties, modulus of subgrade reaction is the most important one that usually employed in roads and concrete pavement design. Two methods are available to perform PLT: static and dynamic methods. Static PLT is usually adopted due to its simplicity and time saving to be performs in comparison with cyclic (dynamic) method. The two methods are described in ASTM standard.
In this paper the effect of the test method used in PLT in estimation of some mechanical soil properties was distinguished via a series of both test methods applied in a same site. The comparison of
... Show MoreA field trial was conducted in Experimental Station of The Field Crops Department – College Of Agriculture In Abu Ghraib, University of Baghdad to assess the effect of sulphur applications and the time after application on pH and EC of soil sample solutions ,and on the growth and yield of rape seed (Brassica napus L.)A split plot design was used with four replications , The main plot included four sulphur applications levels (0,2000,3000,4000Kg S/ha) the sub plot were the time after application (0,1,2,and 3 moths) .Sulphur application significantly decreased soil pH value ,although that decrease reached minimum parameter after two months from application date .Rather increment of sulphur application level significantly raised soil EC val
... Show MoreExperimental tests were conducted to study the behavior of skirted foundations rested on dry medium sandy soil subjected to vertical and inclined loads. To achieve this goal, a small-scale physical model was designed and performed which contained an aluminum circular footing (100 mm) in diameter and (10 mm) in thickness and skirts with different heights, local medium poorly graded dry sand is placed in a steel soil container (2 mm) thick with internal dimensions (1000 mm x 1000 mm in cross section and 800 mm in height). The main objective of this study was to evaluate the response of skirt attached to the foundation at different skirt (L/D) ratios (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5) and is subjected to point load at different angles of inclinat
... Show MoreThis review discusses precision agriculture techniques that help reduce the effects of soil degradation and improve soil health, based on an analysis of studies published in scientific databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect, with an emphasis on recent field research. The methodology included a qualitative analysis of case studies and application experiments in different areas to evaluate the impact of technologies such as controlled traffic farming (CTF), mechanized guidance (MG), precision fertilization (PF), precision irrigation (PI), conservation tillage (CT), and precision tillage (PT). Research results showed, CT to maintain soil structure and reduce organic matter loss increases soil f
... Show MoreBackground: Body image is one of the most important psychological factors that affects adolescents’ personality and behavior. Body image can be defined as the person’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about his or her body.
Objectives: to identify the prevalence of body image concerns among secondary school students and its relation to different factors.
Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in which 796 secondary school students participated and body shape concerns was investigated using the body shape questionnaire (BSQ-34).
Results: The prevalence of moderate/marked concern was (21.6%). Moderate/ marked body shape concern was significantly associated
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