The investigation of earth dams under significant earthquake loads, such as catastrophic earthquakes, is a critical subject in dynamic evaluation. Damage mitigation and structural performance during an earthquake are crucial considerations for an earthen dam. However, Iraq and its neighbors have experienced frequent earthquake activity, including the 2017 Halabja Earthquake, which may have damaged some existing earth dams, posing a higher risk of severe earthquake-induced damage than a cyclic shock. Therefore, assessing the dam’s safety is crucial for protecting downstream communities and determining the best strategies to prevent slope stability failure in the face of frequent seismic activity. Nevertheless, the seismicity map of Iraq is being adjusted to reflect the high magnitude of earthquakes, hence; highlighting the need for urgent action to prevent further consequences of seismic activity. Stone columns are a ground improvement technique that utilizes compacted stone columns to improve soil strength by increasing shear strength and reducing excess pore water pressure in non-cohesive soil. It is worth mentioning that prop stone columns on the upstream and downstream slope under the influence of static and dynamic load were not yet well addressed. Thus, the aim includes the study of the impact of stone columns on the stability of the slopes of the Al-Adhaim Earth Dam in Diyala governorate in Iraq, subjected to static and dynamic loads influenced by four earthquakes with a peak ground acceleration of 0.15g for 30 seconds and for different cases, utilizing the Geo Studio program (Seep/w, Slope/w, Quake/w). The results showed that the stone column led to a marginal enhancement in the safety factor of both the upstream and downstream slopes under static load. However, the inclusion of the stone column led to a clear improvement in the safety factor during all earthquakes relative to its exclusion.
For two years, from January 1995 till December 1996, a survey on helminth parasites of aquatic birds of Bahr Al-Najaf depression, mid Iraq, was achieved. A total of 663 birds, belonging to 11 species, were captured and examined for helminth parasites. These birds were infected with seven trematodes (Notocotylus gibbus, Cyclocoelum mutabile, Echinostoma chloropodis, Patagifer parvispinosus, Psilochasmus oxyurus, Diplostomum spathaceum and Apharyngostrigea cornu), seven cestodes (Paricterotaenia porosa, Dicranotaenia tsengi, Diorchis brevis, D. inflatus, Tatria acanthorhyncha, T. decacantha and Diplophallus polymorphus) and four nematodes (Capillaria sp., Eustrongylides tubifex, Con
... Show MoreThe earth's surface comprises different kinds of land cover, water resources, and soil, which create environmental factors for varied animals, plants, and humans. Knowing the significant effects of land cover is crucial for long-term development, climate change modeling, and preserving ecosystems. In this research, the Google Earth Engine platform and freely available Landsat imagery were used to investigate the impact of the expansion and degradation in urbanized areas, watersheds, and vegetative cover on the land surface temperature in Baghdad from 2004 to 2021. Land cover indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Water Index, and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDVI, NDWI, an
... Show MoreThe general assumption of linear variation of earth pressures with depth on retaining structures is still controversial; investigations are yet required to determine those distributions of the passive earth pressure (PEP) accurately and deduce the corresponding centroid location. In particular, for rigid retaining walls, the calculation of PEP is strongly dependent on the type of wall movement. This paper presents a numerical analysis for studying the influence of wall movement on the PEP distribution on a rigid retaining wall and the passive earth thrust location. The numerical predictions are remarkably similar to existing experimental works as recorded on scaled test models and ful
Due to the easily access to the satellite images, Google Earth (GE) images have become more popular than other online virtual globes. However, the popularity of GE is not an indication of its accuracy. A considerable amount of literature has been published on evaluating the positional accuracy of GE data; however there are few studies which have investigated the subject of improving the GE accuracy. In this paper, a practical method for enhancing the horizontal positional accuracy of GE is suggested by establishing ten reference points, in University of Baghdad main campus, using different Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observation techniques: Rapid Static, Post-Processing Kinematic, and Network. Then, the GE image for the study
... Show MoreThe study is carried out by using personal dosimeters (film badge). The films are irradiated to absorbed dose of range (0.01-10000 rad). The calibration curves are drawn by using the ordinary method taking into account the filtration effects in three regions (D (Pb/Sn),D(Du),D(300). The calibration films are stored in ambient condition. It is found that the optical density increases, which is attributed to the photodegradation of the films may induce localized states in the energy gap causing increasing in optical absorption, but optical density decreases, which attributed to the photodegradation of the films may cause some cracks at the film surface during the first month, whereas at the rest months we see clear stability in optical d
... Show MoreSome auditors may think that the audit process ends with discovering misstatements and informing management about them, while the discovery of misstatements may be classified by some as the first step in the phase of separating these distortions, as the auditor should collect these misstatements, evaluate them and detail them into misstatements involving errors or misstatements involving fraud Then evaluating it to material or immaterial according to what was stated in the international auditing standards and directing management to amend the essential ones. The importance of this research lies in identifying the concept of distortions and their types, identifying the method of evaluating distortions into substantial and non-essent
... Show MoreDiverting river flow during construction of a main dam involves the construction of cofferdams, and tunnels, channels or other temporary passages. Diversion channels are commonly used in wide valleys where the high flow makes tunnels or culverts uneconomic. The diversion works must form part of the overall project design since it will have a major impact on its cost, as well as on the design, construction program and overall cost of the permanent works. Construction costs contain of excavation, lining of the channel, and construction of upstream and downstream cofferdams. The optimization model was applied to obtain optimalchannel cross section, height of upstream cofferdam, and height of downstream cofferdamwith minimum construction cost
... Show MoreVarious simple and complicated models have been utilized to simulate the stress-strain behavior of the soil. These models are used in Finite Element Modeling (FEM) for geotechnical engineering applications and analysis of dynamic soil-structure interaction problems. These models either can't adequately describe some features, such as the strain-softening of dense sand, or they require several parameters that are difficult to gather by conventional laboratory testing. Furthermore, soils are not completely linearly elastic and perfectly plastic for the whole range of loads. Soil behavior is quite difficult to comprehend and exhibits a variety of behaviors under various circumstances. As a result, a more realistic constitutive model is
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