Electro-location, tomography and porosity measurements in geotechnical centrifuge models based on electrical resistivity concepts

This research was focused on the development of electrical techniques for soil characterization and soil dynamic behavior assessment. The research carried out mainly includes (1) development of a needle probe tool for assessment of soil spatial variability in terms of porosity with high-resolution in the centrifuge testing; (2) development of an electro-location technique to accurately detect buried objects' movements inside the soil during dynamic events; (3) collaborative development of a new electrode switching system to implement electrical resistivity tomography, and electro-location with high speed and high resolution.; To assess soil spatial variability with high-resolution, electrical needle probes with different tip shapes were developed to measure soil electrical resistivity. After normalizing soil resistivity by pore fluid resistivity, this information can be correlated to soil porosity. Calibrations in laboratory prepared soils were conducted. Loosening due to insertion of needle probes was evaluated. A special needle probe tool, along with data acquisition and data processing tools were developed to be operated by the new NEES robot on the centrifuge. The needle probes have great potential to resolve interfaces between soil layers and small local porosity variations with a spatial resolution approximately equal to the spacing between electrodes (about half of the probe diameter).; A new electrode switching system was developed to accurately detect buried objects' movements using a new electro-location scheme. The idea was to establish an electromagnetic field in a centrifuge model by injecting low-frequency alternating currents through pairs of boundary electrodes. The locations of buried objects are related to the potentials measured on them. A closed form expression for the electric field in a rectangular specimen with insulated boundaries was obtained based on the method of images. Effects of sampling parameters on spatial resolution and tradeoffs between spatial and temporal resolution were investigated. Application of the electro-location method in detection of liquefaction-induced settlements of heavy objects in the centrifuge test was performed, and the obtained positions agreed remarkably with independent measurements. The electro-location method is considered to be a useful tool for measurement of buried objects' movements in the physical centrifuge models and it is potentially useful for field applications.