Journal of Engineering Geology

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This paper has evaluated the groundwater quality index of Lenjanat aquifer. Water quality index as a unique index is presented to describe overall water quality conditions using multiple water quality variables. Physical and chemical data of 66 water samples were used in this study. The results have been obtained by Comparing the qualitative features with the World Health Organization (WHO) standard and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI) standards. In calculating GQI, 7 parameters, including calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), chlorine (Cl), sulfate (SO4), total dissolved solids (TDS) and nitrate (NO3) have been used. Groundwater quality index shows the medium to relatively high groundwater quality in the study area. Minimum and maximum value of the index is calculated as respectively 55 and 93. Land use map shows that along the Zayanderood River and around the location of rice paddies, water quality reaches to the lowest quantity. Optimum index factor technique allows the selection of the best combination of parameters dictating the variability of groundwater quality.

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Collapsible soils could widely be found in central part of Iran and has caused lots of problems for roads and railroads in that region. Appearance of wide cracks in the collapsible soil near the Tehran-Semnan railroad tracks has caused some worries regarding the safety and performance of the railroad. However, due to the high traffic of the railroad, it is impossible to block the road for remedy. Therefore using injection method was found the most suitable alternative to improve the soil along railroad. The results of field and laboratory tests revealed that the injection of lime has better effects on improving soil characteristics than the other materials. It will significantly decrease the collapsibility potential of soil in saturated condition and will cause an increase in loading capacity of soil. Lime injection was suggested as the most appropriate solution for projects with similar geological condition. 

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In present research, landslide hazard zonation of Latian dam watershed area has been carried out using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Valuing area accumulation, Factor overlay and Information value methods. At first, different maps comprising slope, aspect, altitude, faults, drainage network, access roads, lithology, land use and friction angle maps were prepared digitally using GIS. Afterward affecting factors were evaluated using old landslides. The results of evaluation show that seven parameters are important effective factors on sliding in this area. These parameters were leaded to landslide zonation maps. These maps show that potentially high risk zones point of view landslides are located near the central and western boundaries of the reservoir. Performance of four used classification methods were evaluated and compared. The evaluation results show that Valuing area accumulation and Factor overlay are precise methods for evaluating landslide potential in the study area respectively

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The use of heavy concrete as a protective shield against high-energy gamma rays is very common. It is also an effective, versatile and economical material. The heavy concrete production can use lead slag as raw materials. The use of lead slag in the production of concrete blocks saves natural resources and reduces the environmental problems caused by the accumulation of industrial waste. However, concrete production, due to the presence of heavy metals with high atomic number can be used as an effective shield against gamma radiation. This study examines the use of lead slag produced in the battery recycling process as concrete aggregates. For this purpose, strength and gamma-ray attenuation coefficient for concrete samples prepared by replacing 40 to 60 percent lead slag instead of natural aggregate. The effect of 1 to 5 percent lead powder in setting time of concrete was measured. The results showed that by increasing the amount of lead slag, density, mechanical strength and gamma-ray attenuation coefficient for concrete samples increased significantly, but lead powder delays setting time of cement paste. In general, appropriate lead slag concrete construction with minimal thickness, reduce the cost of protection and provides the highest level of attenuation

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Komrud village of located on the slope is particularly susceptible to landslides. The slope stability analysis is of special importance because of landslides or slope failures can cause major damages life and financial. In studies to determine the factors and parameters affecting the slope is unstable. According to studies, one of the most important factor affecting landslides in this area is the force exerted by the acceleration of the earthquake. With this approach, the maximum possible acceleration of earthquakes in a 50-year period is estimated at the site. On the other hand, based on studies of the geological is determined profile of the slope geometry, physical and resistance parameters to the landslide susceptible. Then using the modeling software in FLAC 2D 5.00 elasto-plastic structural models, with failure criteria Mohr – Coulomb, stress-strain behavior of the soil has been examined to pseudo-dynamic method. A base position at the top of the slope is considered and displacement it horizontally to reach the maximum possible acceleration is calculated and recorded. The results of this study indicate that Horizontal displacement followed the landslide, can be occur below the maximum acceleration estimates.

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./files/site1/files/1Extended_Abstract.pdfExtended Abstract
(Paper pages1-28)
Introduction
The earthquake is one of the most devastating natural disasters that always threats human societies in terms of health and financial issues. Iran is one of the most seismic prone countries of the world due to locating on Alpine- Himalayan Orogenic belt. On the other hand, growing population and increased construction of tall buildings, increases the damages caused by large earthquakes, especially in large cities. Karaj is one of the most populous cities in Iran which there has been considerable industrial and economic development in recent years. When an earthquake occurs, seismic waves radiate away from source and travel rapidly through the earth crust. When these waves reach the ground surface, they produce shaking that may last from several seconds to a few minutes. During earthquakes, different alluviums with different structures show various reactions. It is well-accepted that, besides the earthquake magnitude and fault distance, local geologic conditions, known as site effects, can also exert significant influences on characteristics of the seismic waves such as amplitude, frequency content and duration of strong ground motion at a given location. The seismic ground motion at any site is influenced by the type of soil in that region. Younger and softer soils usually amplify ground motion more than older soils or bedrocks .
There are theoretical and experimental methods to evaluate the site response. In the present study, the Nakamura's H/V spectral ratio method has been used to evaluate the resonance frequency in 37 locations at Karaj site. In addition, a preliminary 1-D site response modelling has been conducted using Deepsoil program according to downhole, array and geology data. Site frequencies obtained from modelling are presented and compared with site frequencies obtained through microtremor measurements.
Materials and Methods
Single station microtremor measurements at the Karaj site were carried out by the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) in 2012 with a three-component broadband seismometer (Guralp CMG-6TD). In the present study, we have used 37 microtremor data along the north-southwest profile because at this profile, geological section was available and these stations contained geotechnical boreholes data. Dynamic range of sensor changes between 0.033 -50 Hz and has a natural period of 1 second. 24-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converter digitized the recorded data. The recording system was operated continuously for about 30 minutes with sampling frequency of 100 Hz. The use of ambient vibrations for analysis of the local site effects has been studied in detail in the framework of the European research project SESAME (Site Effects Assessment Using Ambient Excitations). The recommended guidelines on the H/V spectral ratio technique are the result of the comprehensive and detailed analysis performed by the SESAME participants during three years of investigations (2001-2004).
H/V spectral ratio was carried out by the Geopsy software. The process starts by converting data from binary format to ASCII format. After DC offset removal, eighth order Butterworth band pass filter used within the range of 0.1 Hz to 50 Hz. The Anti-triggering algorithm STA/LTA has been selected to reject energetic transients from ambient vibration recordings, so STA and LTA were considered respectively 1 and 30 second. Minimum and maximum STA/LTA thresholds were selected between 0.2 and 2.5. For each station, the time-series of the record is divided into windows of 40 to 100 seconds in three components with an overlap of 50%. Also, a cosine taper with the length of 5% of the total window length was used at each end.
The amplitude spectra of each selected window is computed with a fast Fourier transform (FFT) and smoothed using the Konno-Ohmachi function (Bandwidth=40). Then, two horizontal components are merged by squared average. Finally, the H/V spectral ratio of Nakamura is applied for each individual window, and the final predominant frequency is obtained by averaging the H/V spectral ratio of all window. The presence of clear peak on H/V spectral ratio curve is indicative of the impedance contrast between the uppermost surface soil and the underlying hard rock, where large peak values are generally associated with sharp velocity contrasts, and is likely to amplify the ground motion. The H/V spectral ratio in some stations shows a clear peak and at the others might show two or multiple peaks which represents the geologically complex areas. Calculated dominant frequency changes between 0.4 and 2 Hz. These low values indicate the existence of basement at greater depths and large thickness of sediments on basement (Parolai et al., 2002).
Site modelling
The results of H/V spectral ratio are affected by the local geologic structure. Based on this assumption, we can produce theoretical H/V curve with knowledge of the geologic structure in the area. One-dimensional modelling is a suitable method to evaluation of the site response due to the local geology which requires geotechnical and geophysical data. In the one-dimensional modelling, it is assumed that all boundaries are horizontal in the infinite media and the response of a soil deposit is predominantly caused by SH-wave propagating vertically from the underlying bedrock. In this present study, one-dimensional modelling was carried out using Deepsoil software. Due to the very small deformations in soils by microtremor and producing a low levels of strain, we applied the linear method to evaluate the ground seismic response during mild earthquake shakes. In this software, homogeneous and isotropic soil profile is considered as N horizontal layers. The site response (transfer function) is evaluated by parameters such as layer thickness (m), density (ρ), shear modulus (G), and damping factor of layers (β), which are obtained from available geotechnical boreholes.
Usually, engineering bedrock is considered for the purpose of numerical modelling. According to TC4 (1994), the seismic bedrock was defined as a layer with a shear wave velocity of more than 600 m/s. Shima (1978) recommended that the upper crust with a shear wave velocity of about 3000 m/s, is adopted as bedrock when large scale structures with longer vibration period are being considered. International building code (ICC2000) has defined the seismic bedrock by a shear wave velocity of more than 760 m/s. According to Unified Building Code (UBC97), bedrock is defined into two groups: A (very hard rock with a speed of more than 1500 m/s) and B (rock with a speed of 760 to 1500 m/s). Therefore, the proposed values of the shear wave velocity are different for considering seismic bedrock. In order to consider the uncertainty of the shear wave velocity in the present one-dimensional modelling, three scenarios for the bedrock, were performed with three speeds of 760 m/s (based on engineering bedrock), 1300 m/s (bedrock geology), and 2500 m/s (corresponding to tuff-andesite of the Karaj basement) at different depths, according to the regional geological map. Then, three scenarios of the numerical modelling were compared with microtremor transfer function.
1. One-dimensional modelling at the Karaj site using downhole data for engineering bedrock (> 760 m/s)
In order to access the shear wave velocity profile for 1-D modelling, downhole data from 21 boreholes were used in nine sites which were available up to the maximum depth of 50 meters at 20 boreholes and 96 meters at A09 borehole. Low thickness of alluvium (about 17-85 meters) was considered with engineering bedrock (>760 m/s) for numerical modelling. The results represent higher frequency range compared with the microtremor data. In some previous studies where engineering bedrock had been defined by shear wave velocity values between 700 to 800 m/s in 1-D modelling, the results of the theoretical model is incompatible with experimental results. Thus, it seems that it is not suitable to consider the engineering bedrock in 1-D modelling.
2. One-dimensional modelling at Karaj site using microtremor array data for geology bedrock (> 1300 m/s)
By considering the seismic bedrock (>760 m/s) at depths of 17 to 85 meters and calculating the one-dimensional transfer function, the peaks in higher frequency compared with the experimental method is observed. According to reliability of experimental H/V results which has been proved by researchers around the world (Haghshenas et al., 2008), the difference between the transfer function results in experimental and theoretical methods indicates that two variables of shear wave velocity or depth of bedrock and alluvium thickness have not been properly modeled. It seems that in order to get better results, it’s necessary to analysis by considering the geology bedrock at greater depth. Tchalenko, et al., (1974) considered lower part of Plio-Quaternary sediments of Hezardareh Formation and Miocene marl-limestone of Upper Red Formation as the bedrock in the Karaj plain. Shafiee and Azadi (2006) computed shear wave velocity characteristics of these geological units throughout Tehran city. Therefore, a mean velocity of 1300 m/s was considered for the geology bedrock during the modelling.
In order to access the shear wave velocity profiles at greater depths, microtremor array stations were designed by seven seismometer with 100 m radius at A09 (site 8) borehole. As it can bee seen, a clear contrast at a depth of about 230 m is observed. Therefore, the modelling was carried out by taking 230 m alluvial thickness on geology bedrock according to lithology of the region. The result of this modelling has shown a peak at frequency range of 0.87 Hz that is compatible with the microtremor peaks at this site. In other site this modelling was performed using array and downhole data. The results indicated that the first effective contrast occurs at depth of 200 to 300 meters.
3. One-dimensional modelling at the Karaj site for basement (> 2500 m/s)
Transfer functions obtained from the previous model, did not cover low frequency peaks in the experimental methods. Therefore, the presence of other low-frequency peaks is either due to the geometry of the sedimentary basin or deep contrast. It seems that due to the geology of the region, tuff- andesite of the Karaj Formation as basement plays an important role in the creation of low-frequency peaks. Therefore, to obtain a better model, deep contrast was considered about 2 kilometers due to differences in the type of bedrock with a shear wave velocity of 2500 m/s. For this purpose, according to the properties of the Upper Red Formation, an average constant speed of 1400 (m/s) was considered in modelling and by changing the thickness of this layer, the modelling was continued in a trial and error manner until the numerical model is consistent with microtremor peaks. The modelling results in nine site indicate that there is basement at the depth of 2000 to 2250 meters.
Two-dimensional model of the Karaj site
Using the one-dimensional analysis and evaluation of the geological map of the area, two dimensional geological structure was rebuilt in studied profiles. Green and gray tuffs and igneous rocks of Karaj Formation outcrops in north of Karaj and constitute the Alborz Mountains. This Mountains eroded by the action of rivers and were deposited in the form of large alluvial fans. Coarse sandy sediments were deposited near mountains wherein energies of rivers and streams were extremely high (site 1 to 4). Furthermore, fine-grained sediments were deposited at far distances by decreasing in the energy of streams (site 5 to 9). Berberian et al (1985) divided B Formation in two parts: heterogeneous deposits of sand, gravel, rock and clay in north of Tehran (Q_bn) and silts and clays of Kahrizak (Q_bs) in south of Tehran. According to 1-D modelling, thickness of this layer is about 200 to 300 m which has been deposited on geology bedrock. As mentioned before, lower parts of Hezardareh Formation at the north of Karaj and Upper red Formation in the south west of Karaj are considered as geology bedrock. Upper Red Formation was deposited with unconformity on tuff-andesite of the Karaj basement at depths of 2000 to 2250 meters.
Conclusions
The use of empirical methods based on microtremor is an efficient way to estimate the site effects in Karaj city, although the use of earthquake records could provide better evidence of the depth and geometry of basement. One-dimensional modelling of shear wave velocity profiles obtained from downhole data and considering the engineering bedrock (> 760 m/s) at depths of 17 to 85 meters, is not a good way to estimate the dominant frequency of alluvium. By considering the greater depth of alluvium and using shear wave velocity profiles obtained from microtremor array, 1-D modelling was carried out for geology bedrock (1300 m/s). Therefore, peak frequency in transfer function at the range of 0.87 Hz has been associated with effective contrast at depths of 200 to 300 meters. It seems that Karaj basement (> 2500 m/s) with about 2 kilometers depth plays an important role in the production of low-frequency peaks in transfer function.
 

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Geotechnical engineers, in many cases face with low strength or high swelling potential of clayey soils. Stabilization methods are used to improve the mechanical properties of this type of soils. Lime and cement are the most popular materials used in chemical stabilization of clayey soils. If sulphate exists in the stabilized clayey soil with lime, or if soil is exposed to sulphates, problems such as strength reduction and swelling increase will occur. Reuse of industrial residual such as Rice Husk Ash (RHA) can be beneficial from the economy point of view. RHA includes a proper amount of silica with high specific surface area which is very suitable for activating the reaction between the soil and lime. In this paper, chemical stabilization of gypsum clays using lime and RHA is addressed Sulphates exist in the constitution of the soil. Unconfined compression strength and swelling potentials of the stabilized soil are evaluated. The results of this study indicate that RHA has positive impacts on improving mechanical properties of the gypsum clays stabilized with lime. From the view point of strength and swelling characteristics, and economy, addition of 6–8% lime and 8-10% RHA as an optimum amount is recommended.

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In many rock engineering projects, accurate identification of rock strength properties is very important. Uniaxial compressive strength is one of the most important features to describe the resistive behavior of rocks which is used as an important parameter in the design of structures especially underground openings. Determination of this parameter using direct methods, including uniaxial compressive strength tests is costly and time-consuming, and also sometimes preparation of standard samples in many rocks is difficult. In such cases, the implementation of some simple and non-destructive tests and using empirical relations can increase the evaluation speed and reduce costs. These relations even regional or local (For example within a geological formation or a single lithology) can help in the estimation of these parameters in order to be used in geotechnical projects. In this study, samples of existing limestones in south west of Tehran (Capital of Iran) were prepared and uniaxial compressive strength, point load, Schmidt hammer and Shear wave velocity tests on which have been performed. Then by the statistical evaluations of the results, the empirical relations between uniaxial compressive strength and the results of other tests are obtained. The comparison between the predicted and observed values of uniaxial compressive strength represents the validity of obtained empirical relations. The application of the proposed relations for limestones in the study area and those with similar geological conditions will provide acceptable results.

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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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Rock anisotropy plays an important role in engineering behavior of rocks. Slates are anisotropic rocks which have long been used for gable roof, floor tiles, borrow materials, and other purposes. The slates studied in this research are calcareous and have a porphyro-lepidoblastic texture. To determine the role of the anisotropy on the tensile strength and fracture pattern, two variables including ψ (the core axis angle to foliation) and β (the angle between the axis of loading and foliation) in the Brazilian tests were used. The angles were selected at 15^° intervals. Thus, for both ψ and β, seven angles of 0˚, 15˚, 30˚, 45˚, 60˚, 75˚, and 90˚ were selected (i.e., there are 43 possible modes). In order to name and examine the failure pattern, 11 models were proposed. The average value of the failure strength for the three stations varies from 3.21 MPa to 20.94 MPa. Based on the obtained results, there is a direct relation between the average tensile strength and density. A comparison between Brazilian test data under dry and saturation conditions shows that the saturated Brazilian tensile strength is 30.8% less than the dry Brazilian tensile strength. Moreover, the changes in fracture length with the changes in ψ and β indicate an inverse relation. Eventually, the average of tensile strength (σt) and strength anisotropy index (Ia) demonstrates that the influence of orientation angle (ψ) is much larger than that of foliation-loading angle (β).
 

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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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Earth-fill dams stability in steady state seepage condition is very important, especially during earthquakes. Numerical software analyses require accurate and realistic modeling of construction stages. Since earth-fill dams are constructed in different layers, so these conditions should be considered in software modeling to achieve a reasonable design. In this study, an earth-fill dam is modeled in PLAXIS software and the effects of the number and shape of layers are studied in dry and steady-state conditions. Obtained results in static and pseudo-static analyses show that modeling of earth-fill dams with different layers has significant effects on shear stresses and horizontal displacements. For example, horizontal displacements and shear stresses, increase at least 50% and 17% respectively, in comparison with single layer models. According to the obtained results, it can be mentioned that modeling of an earth-fill dam in the layered model and rather in inclined layers are more reasonable

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Introduction
Landslides are natural events that one or more factors can effect in its occurrence that each of them plays a special role in this field. The hazard assessments of this phenomenon are a complicated problem due to the interference of the effective factors in its occurrence. The uncertainty that is due to ambiguous conditions of geology characteristics, hydrology, tectonics, land cover, rain, erosion, temperature fluctuations in the slope instability demonstrate the benefit of accurate methods in the study of slope instability. Since the prediction of the landslide occurrence is out of the power of current knowledge, identifying sensitive areas to landslide and ranking it can protect us from landslide dangers. According to preliminary estimates, annually 140 million dollar financial damages inflict by landslides over the country, while the loss of unrecoverable natural resources is not counted. In general, the ultimate goal of studying landslides can be found the ways that to reduce damages caused by them. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the landslide hazard map.
The main goal of this research is landslide hazard zonation of Ziarat watershed using Dempster-Shafer. For this purpose, 13 modeling approach (using all factors and eliminating of individual factors) to prepare the hazard maps have used. Ultimately, the accuracy of the model has been evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The study area is one of the most prone areas to the landslide in the Golestan region. Sensitive lithology units, high diversity of topography and land-use changes have increased landslide susceptibility in this area. Therefore, investigation of effective factors in landslide occurrence and providing zonation maps to take management action in this area is necessary.
Material and methods
The study area is located in northern Iran, Golestan province. The Ziyarat watershed with an area of about 7800 hectares lies between longitudes 54º 10ʹ 13ʺE and 54º 23ʹ 55ʺE, and latitudes of 36º 36ʹ 58ʺN and 36º 46ʹ 11ʺN. At first, extensive field observations of the study area and aerial photos in 1:25000 scales have been used. So, a total of 50 sliding points are recognized and inventory map is produced (dependent variables). Then, 70% of total points (35 points) have considered for hazard zonation maps and 30% (15 points) for model validation.
In this research, twelve factors affecting (independent variables) landslide occurrence to provide hazard maps were applied. These factors include land-use, soil texture, geology, rainfall, slope, aspect, altitude, distance from faults, roads and rivers, stream power index (SPI) and plan curvature (CP). These factors can be divided into three broad categories which are topographical, geological and environmental conditioning parameters. The maps of these 12 factors have been produced using basis maps (DEM and Geology maps) in GIS software. The amount of Landslide density in each factor class have calculated from a combination of independent and dependent variables, and rating of classes have done based on Dempster-Shafer equations. Finally, the Landslide hazard zoning map has drawn from the summation of weighting maps in Arc GIS with 13 approaches. In this map, Value of each pixel is calculated by summing weight of all factors in that pixel. The pixel values are categorized based on natural breaks classifier into very low, low, medium, high and very high hazard zones. Then, an accuracy of zoning map has been evaluated by ROC.
Results and discussion
The result of effecting factors on landslide classification shows that Mobarak formation, forest and agriculture land use, areas with low distance from road and rivers, low altitudes, rainfall buffer of 550-650 mm, northwest aspect, clay-loam soil texture, areas with high stream power index, high slope amplitude and area with fault density lower than 2 km/km2 contain the most susceptibility to landslide. The result of model validation using ROC demonstrates that with eliminating lithology factor Dempster-Shafer model with 92.9% accuracy is located in the great class. Also, the model accuracy shows that with eliminating rain and altitude factors the model accuracy is decreased to 73.8% and 80.4%, respectively. So, these two factors were identified as the most effective factors in the occurrence of the landslide in the studied area. Based on the landslide zoning hazard map of the Ziarat watershed and landslide points (15 points) that are considered for model validation the 20, 40, 26.67, 13.33 and zero percent of landslides is situated in the very high, high, moderate, low and very low hazard classes.
Conclusion
In this research, susceptible areas to landslide in the Ziarat watershed have been mapped with the Dempster-Shafer model. For this purpose, 13 modeling approach to prepare the hazard maps have been used. The following conclusions are obtained from this study.
- The rain and altitude factors were identified as the most effective factors in the occurrence of landslide in the Ziarat watershed.
- Based on the landslide zoning hazard map of the Ziarat watershed 60 percent of landslides is situated in the very high to high hazard classes.
- The produced landslide hazard map is useful for planners and engineers to reorganize the areas which are susceptible for landslide hazard, and offer appropriate methods for hazard reduction and management. ./files/site1/files/0Extended_Abstract4.pdf 

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Introduction
Determination of the mechanical properties of rock materials has been remained as a challenge for engineering geologists. In-situ tests are rarely used to determine the mechanical properties of rocks due to difficulties in sample preparation, performing and interpretation of the results, high costs as well as the required long time for doing the experiments. The common approach to determine the mechanical properties of rock materials is through conducting laboratory experiments and estimation the in-situ properties based on these laboratory results. This approximation, which is called scale effect, has been remained as a challenge for engineering geologists and practical rock engineers for decades. ...../files/site1/files/0Extended_Abstract1.pdf

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Introduction
Hydraulic fracturing is used in the oil industry in order to increase the index of production and processing in wells whose efficiency has been dropped due to long-term harvest or the rocks around the well are low permeable. Since the hydraulic fracturing operation is costly, it is of special importance to determine the pressure required for hydraulic fracturing and the suitable pump for this operation to the project managers.
The hydraulic fracturing technique refers to the process of initiation and extension of fractures in rocks caused by the hydraulic pressure applied by a fluid. This technique was developed by Clark (19). Haimson and Fairhorst (20) continued the research on the initiation and extension of fracture. Hubbert and Willis conducted comprehensive studies on the mechanics of hydraulic fracturing to determine the direction and condition of principal stresses using the hydraulic fracturing process. Since then, numerous studies and modellings have been conducted to investigate the factors effecting the hydraulic fracturing.
The present research is important because experimental and numerical modeling were used to calculate the hydraulic fracturing pressure for different conditions and to select the suitable pump for the operation.
These simulations are aimed to investigate the fracture pressure in Loshan sandstone to determine a relationship between the pressure needed for fracturing and the confining pressure.
Material and methods
The specimen examined in this study is the Loshan sandstone. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock which is formed in all geological periods and is mainly consisted of fine sand particles, different minerals and has various colors. This rock is mainly formed in the shallow seas, deltas, along the coasts, and in hot deserts. Moreover, materials such as clay and silicon oxide contributed to the cementation of its particles.
The rock sample of Loshan sandstone is a calcareous sandstone with a limestone-silica structure whose cement is calcareous (Figure 1). The main and secondary minerals in this rock include calcite, feldspar alkaline, quartz, and opaque minerals. The diagenesis of this rock includes sericitization, chertization, and calcification. The main shapers of this rock are shaped and semi-shaped quartzes with calcite.
The physical and mechanical properties of the specimens are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Physical and mechanical properties of the Loshan sandstone

Effective Porosity (%)	Dry unit weight (KN/m3 )	Tensile strength (MPa)	Poisson’s ratio	Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa)	Elastic modulus (GPa)
7.5	21.60	6	0.21	54.62	12..22

 
 
Figure 1. Loshan sandstone
Results and discussion
Fracture pressures in the developed models are listed in table 2. The Fracture pressures obtained from numerical modeling had a 10% difference with the experimental modeling results.
Table 2. Experimental ant numerical modeling results

Fracture pressures obtained from experimental modeling	Fracture pressures obtained from numerical modeling	Confining pressure (MPa)	Axial stress (MPa)	Model number
14.58	13.8	2	2.26	1
15.7	15	2.5	2.5	2
11.16	9.9	0	5	3
11.39	9.9	0	7	4

Figure 2 shows the relationship between the pressure required to initiate hydraulic fracturing and confining pressure for Loshan sandstone. There was a linear relationship between fracture pressure and confining pressure. Thus, with an increase of the confining pressure, the pressure required to initiate hydraulic fracturing increased. The relationship between the fracture pressure and the confining pressure for Loshan sandstone is in the form of Equation (1).
P_f = 1.7386 σ₃+ 11.242                                   (1)
 
 
Figure 2. Relationship between fracture pressure and confining pressure
Conclusion
The following conclusions were drawn from this research.
1. The increase of lateral stress led to an increase in the fracture pressure.  
2. Changes in the axial stress did not significantly change the fracture pressure.
3. The results of numerical modellings were well consistent with those of the experimental modellings.
4. Unlike other studies conducted in this field, the numerical modellings in this study were performed without any initial pre-determinations for the crack-less models. Results show that in most cases, cracks initiate from the center and are extended toward both ends of the sample. The crack extension direction was parallel to the borehole axis inside the sample and perpendicular to the lateral stress. This is fully consistent with the observations in the experimental models.
./files/site1/files/123/4Extended_Abstract.pdf

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Introduction
In general, landslides, in particular, earthquake-induced landslides, are among the phenomena that have caused great damages in recent years in Iran and the world. Although many studies have been done on the identification and description of landslides in general, the study of landslides caused by the earthquake, especially in Iran, is at the beginning stages. In a few studies, some landslides and some of their characteristics have been introduced. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred in the Guilan Province was occurred on May 31, 1990. This earthquake is one of the most important earthquakes in Iran history due to its magnitude and occurrence of landslides. In various studies, the most important landslides have been listed. The development of quantitative and qualitative studies on earthquakes that have caused many landslides (such as the Manjil, Avaj, Firoozabad, Kojur, Sarein and Ahar and Varzaghan earthquakes) increase our understanding of natural disasters and, consequently, the management of the dangers resulting from them. The purpose of this research is to identify the factors affecting the occurrence of landslides caused by earthquakes, to determine the impact of each on the occurrence of this phenomenon, and also to prepare a map of earthquake hazard zonation hazard by utilizing the methods used in this research. In this study, hierarchical analysis method has been used to prioritize the factors affecting the occurrence of landslide and also the zoning of earthquake landslide hazard in the study area.
Research Methodology
The study area is located between 49˚ 30ꞌ and 49 ꞌ45˚ and latitudes 36º 00 ꞌ 45" and 36º 30ꞌ 52" with a surface area of ​​309.30 km². In this research, in order to zoning the earthquake-induced landslides hazard, in addition to providing a map of landslides, seven factors influencing the occurrence of this phenomenon were identified and examined. These factors included elevation, slope, arias intensity, friction angle, adhesion, curvature of the slope and aspect. In this research, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, one of the multi-criteria decision making models, was used with two approaches to using expert knowledge and data and expert knowledge together to prioritize the factors influencing the occurrence of landslide. Finally, two landslide hazard zonation maps were prepared. In a hierarchical analysis method related to the expert judgment, it was used to determine the priority of different criteria and sub-criteria and convert them into small amounts of oral judgments (expert opinion) based on the pair comparison, in which the decision maker preferred the factor in relation to other factors using the relevant tables, these judgments are converted into small amounts. In the method of using data and expert judgment simultaneously, first, in order to determine the priority of criteria from oral judgments (collection of expert opinions), we used to determine the importance or weight (W_i) of each sub-criterion (R) is also used to link the landslide area to each class and landslide area in the region.
Results
The results obtained from the paired comparison of the effective factors in the occurrence of landslide show that the relative preference of the factors include the factor of arias intensity, friction angle, slope, adhesion, aspect, height and curvature of the amplitude. The greatest influence on the sub-criteria for the sub-criteria is 10-11.54, which is related to the arias factor and also the lowest effect for the sub-standard of the domain curvature factor. Also, according to the zoning maps, in the first model, 73% and in the second model, 57% of the surface area are very high and very high risk areas, which indicates the high sensitivity of the study area to the earthquake-induced earthquake phenomenon.
According to the results obtained from the verification and evaluation of the models and comparison of the mapped data with the hierarchical analysis method (using expert knowledge and data) and a method that uses only expert knowledge, the map is derived from a method where bundles of knowledge and data are used simultaneously, in order to weigh the parameters, it is more in line with the map of the landing list of the region.
Conclusion
According to the results obtained from the review and evaluation of the two models in a method in which knowledge and data were used together, the Q_S value was 0.40 and the accuracy of the method (P) was 0.016. However, in a method in which only the expert judgment used to weigh the criteria and sub-criteria, the sum of the quality and accuracy of the method were calculated to be 0.37 and 0.006, respectively. Hierarchical analysis method, in which the benchmarks and sub-criteria of benchmark knowledge and data are used together, have a better performance than the other model, and the results are closer to reality. In addition, it also works better in distinguishing between high and high risk areas../files/site1/files/124/5rajabi%DA%86%DA%A9%DB%8C%D8%AF%D9%87.pdf

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Maximum surface settlement (MSS) is an important parameter for the design and operation of earth pressure balance (EPB) shields that should determine before operate tunneling. Artificial intelligence (AI) methods are accepted as a technology that offers an alternative way to tackle highly complex problems that can’t be modeled in mathematics. They can learn from examples and they are able to handle incomplete data and noisy. The adaptive network–based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and hybrid artificial neural network (ANN) with biogeography-based optimization algorithm (ANN-BBO) are kinds of AI systems that were used in this study to build a prediction model for the MSS caused by EPB shield tunneling. Two ANFIS models were implemented, ANFIS-subtractive clustering method (ANFIS-SCM) and ANFIS-fuzzy c–means clustering method (ANFIS-FCM). The estimation abilities offered using three models were presented by using field data of achieved from Bangkok Subway Project in Thailand. In these models, depth, distance from shaft, ground water level from tunnel invert, average face pressure, average penetrate rate, pitching angle, tail void grouting pressure and percent tail void grout filling were utilized as the input parameters, while the MSS was the output parameter. To compare the performance of models for MSS prediction, the coefficient of correlation (R²) and mean square error (MSE) of the models were calculated, indicating the good performance of the ANFIS-SCM model.

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Introduction
Microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is one of the environment-friendly soil improvement methods that uses urease activity of the microorganisms to bound soil grains.
This method is based on three following steps:
1. Urea hydrolysis by urease activity of microorganisms and formation of ammonium and carbonate ions:
(2)
2. The reaction between carbonate and calcium ions and formation of calcium carbonate:
(2)
3. Bonding the soil particles by calcium carbonate.
One of the main challenges in use of MICP for soil improvement is the selection of proper injection method. An efficient injection method should lead to the construction of a homogeneous specimen beside of less used materials. In this study, a new method based on the theory of convection of liquids, for injection of bacteria and cementation solution is introduced.
Specimens are made according to the new injection method and their strength and homogeneities are tested. The obtained results are compared with the specimens which are made based on common injection method. Eventually, the success of the proposed injection method is investigated.
 
Material and methods
Gram-positive microorganism Sporosarcina Pasteurii No. 1645 (DSM 33) is provided from Persian type culture collection (PTCC). To make sand columns, Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) tubes were used with an internal diameter of 5cm and length of 12cm. Molds were placed vertically and a scouring pad and approximately 1 cm gravel as a filter are placed at the bottom of the column. Then the column packed with pure silica (Table 1). Finally, a scouring pad and approximately 1 cm gravel as a filter are placed at top of the column and mold were closed with a threaded Polypropylene layer on top and bottom with a hole for injection of bacteria and cementation solutions.
Table 1. Sand properties used in this study

Soil Type	Gs	γd	e	D10	D30	D60
Sw	2.6	1.84	41%	0.11 mm	0.43mm	0.85mm

In this study, a new multi-step method of injecting bacterial and cementation solutions is introduced. Injection of solutions is done after washing the sand column with distilled water. At the first step, 0.25 times of the void volume of soil, the bacterial solution is injected into the sand column. The bacteria allowed resting in the sand for 2 hours before the cementation solution was injected. After 2 hours, cementation solution is injected into the sand column by the amount of 0.25 times of pore volume of soil. The cementation solution consisted of 1.5 M urea and 3 M Calcium chloride. Again after 2 hours delay, bacterial solution and cementation solution are injected into sand column both by the amount of 0.25 times of pore volume of soil, same as aforementioned steps. In order to provide a comparison between the proposed injection methods of this study with conventional injection method, specimens are also made by the conventional method. In these specimens, bacterial solution and cementation solution are injected into the soil both by the amount of 1.5 times of pore volume of soil.
Results and discussion
To evaluate the homogeneity of the biologically improved sand specimens, the specimen is divided into 6 equal parts and the amount of calcium carbonate in each part is measured. It is found that calcium carbonate crystals are formed more homogenous in parts of specimens which are improved by new injection method (Figure 1). While specimens improved with conventional injection method are not homogeneous. The new injection method used in this study is based on the theory of convection in cementation and bacterial solution. Since the specific gravity of used cementation solution (3M urea and 1.5M calcium chloride solution) is 1.120 gr/cm3 and the specific gravity of ammonium chloride (which is the result of reaction between ammonium and chloride ions) is 1.031 gr/cm3, therefore a convection flow occurs in cementation solution after urease reaction (reaction 1) because of difference in specific gravity of two mentioned solutions. This convection flow causes a sustainable contact between cementation and bacterial solution in entire height of specimen.

Figure 1. Amount of calcium carbonate deposition along improved specimens by new and conventional injection method
To examine the efficiency of newly suggested injection method in this study, uniaxial compressive strength test (UCS) is performed on biologically improved sand specimens. Figure 2 shows stress-strain curves of specimens. The peak strength of specimens with conventional injection method is about 0.6 MPa. While the peak strength of biologically improved specimens prepared by new injection method is about 1.6 MPa. The reason for this difference in the obtained results is that when the volume of bacterial solution is more than the pore volume of soil, a part of bacteria solution in the first step of injection is removed. Then with an injection of cementation solution, more amounts of bacteria removes from the specimen before efficient placement of bacteria between soil particles. However, in new injection method the total volume of injection solutions (bacterial and cementation solutions) are equal to the pore volume of soil and this prevents the removal of bacteria from a porous medium.

Figure 2. Uniaxial stress-uniaxial strain curves of biologically improved specimens
Conclusion
In this study, the feasibility of using a new injection method for biological soil improvement is investigated based on the theory of convection with the aim to decrease the volume of bacteria and cementation solution. In this method, the final volume of bacterial and cementation solutions are reached the soil void volume in 4 consecutive injection steps. Specimens are made to investigate the efficiency of the proposed injection method. Also, specimens are made base on conventional injection method to provide the comparing possibility. Studying the precipitated calcium carbonate along the specimens show more homogeneity in ones prepared by proposed injection method in comparison to the specimens made by the conventional method. The obtained results of UCS tests are also showed that specimens made by new injection method have the more uniaxial strength (1.6 MPa) while the conventional method specimens are presented the strength of 0.6 MPa. Eventually, the proposed injection method of this paper implies less amount of bacterial and cementation solutions in a proper and efficient manner to bond the soil particles which leads to specimens with more strength, stiffness and homogeneity../files/site1/files/131/2Extended_Abstract.pdf
 

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Introduction
This work intends to apply ASTER images to discriminate hydrothermal alteration zones in Kerman Cenozoiic Magmatic Belt (KCMB). Band ratio, principal component analysis, Crosta and color composite images are important methods to analyze satellite images. Previous researches showed that these techniques are not able to discriminate hydrothermal alteration zones and they usually detect vegetation covering as alteration zones. The reason is found in the spectral signature of vegetation and alteration minerals. It means that they present the same interaction when face with electromagnetic energy in different wavelengths. Hydroxyl-bearing minerals are the important products of hydrothermal alteration. Clays, which contain Al-OH- and Mg-OH-bearing minerals and hydroxides in alteration zones, are distinguished by absorption bands in the 2.1–2.4 µm range of ASTER data. Solving these problems is difficult when using standard image-processing techniques such as band rationing, principal component analysis, or spectral angle mapper. In recent years, several attempts were made to extract altered regions in the areas covered with vegetation. To overcome this problem, this research uses ASTER data by applying support vector machine (SVM) algorithmn. SVM is a new technique for data classification in remote sensing application. This paper aims to investigate the potential of SVM algorithm in mapping of hydrothermally altered areas. In many applications, SVM has been shown to provide higher performance than traditional learning machines and has been introduced as powerful tools for solving classification problems. The adopted dataset contains three ASTER scenes using SWIR and VNIR bands, covering the Meiduk porphyry copper deposit, Kader, Abdar and Iju occurrences located in Kerman Province, southeast Iran.
Material and methods
This work has been prepared on three ASTER level 1B scenes. Two scenes were acquired on 18^th April 2000 and another scenes on 15^th June 2007. These scenes were georeferenced by using an orthorectified ETM ⁺  image,  in  UTM projection and WGS-84 ellipsoid as a datum.  The first two data sets were corrected for Crosstalk. Atmospheric corrections were also performed by using Fast Line of Sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH). The data sets were then mosaicked.­­ Internal Average Relative Reflectance (IARR) correction was also applied. In this part, the training and test samples of the ASTER data are presented. The adopted image is a multispectral satellite image that contains 2204 training pixels which 516 pixels are related to arjillic zone, 1278 pixels are related to phyllic zone and 500 pixels are pertinent to propylitic zone (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Training pixels for learning SVM algorithm; Red pixels: arjillic; Green pixels: phyllic; Blue pixels: propylitic
Results and discussion
ASTER bands 4, 6, 7 and 8 were applied for determination of phyllic and arjilic zones and 9 bands of ASTER for propylitic alteration. In order to evaluate the developed algorirhm, confusion matrix was used and validation showed that discrimination of phylic and arjilic is not possible but propylitic zone could be identified by SVM. Also, the present research introduced a new error function, so called blind error, which is calculated using confusion matrix. Based on blind error, SVM did not classify 73.6 percent of the alteration pixels. But the remained pixels were classified with accuracy of 66.06%. Honarmand et al. (2011) and Mojedifar et al. (2013) studied the field samples of the present study area. Their studies showed that sericitization is the most widespread form of hydrothermal alteration at the Iju, Serenu, Chahfiroozeh, Meiduk, Parkam, Kader and Abdar porphyry copper deposits. Two types of phyllic alteration could be found in the study area including ferric-iron-rich and iron-oxide poor phyllic alteration. ASTER images were also analyzed by band rationing and principal component analysis (PCA) in order to compare their results with the SVM classified image. A comparison of the field data with altered areas mapped by PCA reveals errors in the classified map. Vegetation cover and sedimentary rocks are enhanced, which are erroneously identified as areas of alteration. The band ratio approach yields similar errors to those produced by the PCA method. These problems are less evident in the classified image obtained by SVM. The qualitative assessment of the accuracy of these methods indicates that SVM algorithm could be a reliable technique for alteration mapping, provided that the nature of the training areas is well known.
Conclusion
A comparison of the results obtained from traditional classification methods and support vector machine algorithm was performed in order to map hydrothermal alteration. Since the known occurrence of mineralization in the study area is consistent with the mapped distribution of hydrothermal alteration using SVM, this method is suggested to apply in exploring for hydrothermal alteration in other parts of the Iranian Cenozoic magmatic belt../files/site1/files/132/6Extended_Abstracts.pdf