Hussein Mroueh

Numerical Analysis of Elastoplastic Behavior of Stone Column Foundation

This paper deals with the influence of the earth pressure at rest coefficient K0 on stone columns behavior. This parameter is related to the initial stresses caused by the compression of in situ soil and by the installation (expansion of column material). Numerical calculations based on finite element method are compared to analytical methods and conventional engineering methods addressed to the design of stone columns. The presented results led to a better comprehension of previous methods for the design of stone column and highlighted the importance of well defining the initial stress level due to stone columns installation.

Mechanical Improvement of a Fine-Grained Lateritic Soil Treated with Cement for Use in Road Construction

AbstractThe mechanical strength of a fine-grained lateritic soil treated with CEMII/BM 32.5 N cement up to 9% by weight of dry soil and prepared at three different molding water contents was invest...

Comment on “Tank-reservoir drainage as a simulation of the recession limb of karst spring hydrographs”: paper published in Hydrogeology Journal (2011) 19:1009–1019, by Francesco Fiorillo

The subject article (Fiorillo 2011) gives an analytical solution from an analog model to simulate the recession limb of a spring hydrograph. The model is based on the drainage of three cylindrical tank-reservoirs in series with different bases. The process has been simulated using Bernouilli’s law by considering: a Torricelli reservoir, characterized by a linear decrease of discharge; and Darcy’s law and Poiseuille’s law, where discharges are assumed to decrease exponentially with time, giving a straight line in a semi-logarithm plot. The study of this paper may lead readers to consider that an exponential decrease would be only related to a porous cylindrical reservoir or a cylindrical reservoir with a small outlet orifice where friction forces and water viscosity take effect. In fact, an exponential decrease of discharge can also occur in a condition of free-flow discharge, where no energy is lost during the process. Consider a reservoir whose walls are curved as illustrated in Fig. 1: Equation 5 in Fiorillo (2011) is: