This study was conducted to examine certain soil and hydrologic
properties of two major cohesionless soils Occupying 55% of the central
portion of the Oregon Coast Range. Knowledge of these properties was
desired to determine the role each played in the stability of slopes in
this region. Bohannon and Klickitat...
The cyclic resistance of predominantly fine-grained soils has received considerable attention following ground and foundation failures at sites underlain by silt-rich soils during recent earthquakes. In several cases substantial ground deformation and reduced bearing capacity of silt soils has been attributed to excess pore pressure generation during cyclic loading. These...
Tsunami loading can cause sediment instability, which can compromise the structural integrity of coastal buildings and infrastructure. To understand the process by which a tsunami can cause sediment instability, it is necessary to understand how the pore water pressure in the soil changes during tsunami loading. Tsunami run-up causes the...
One of many important physical properties that must be known
to understand transport phenomena in soils is pore size distribution.
Presently the pore size distributions of soils are most commonly
obtained from soil water characteristic curves. The soil water characteristic
curves are usually obtained by the pressure plate technique.
It...
Pile supported bridges are typically constructed near or in a natural or man-made
slope and are subjected to lateral loading. The current design method for laterally loaded
piles involves the use of Winkler's spring concept with the standard nonlinear p-y curves.
The available p-y curves were developed based on results...
A hypothesis used to explain the relationship between timber harvesting
and landslides is that tree roots add mechanical support to soil, thus increasing
soil strength. Upon harvest, the tree roots decay which reduces soil strength and
increases the risk of management -induced landslides. The technical literature
does not adequately support...
Two hilislope sites in the central Oregon Coast Range were instrumented and monitored for winter precipitation and saturated and unsaturated subsurface conditions. The study sites were near-ridge depressions typically known as headwalls. Based on results of the monitoring, two existing mathematical models
were adapted to predict piezometric levels in headwalls...
This dissertation re-examines the now standard perceptual model of hillslope
hydrological response to rainfall, which includes the growth of a saturated wedge at the soil-bedrock interface or impeding layer. It also challenges the notion of bedrock impermeability and the assumption that the pattern of subsurface stormflow is determined by the...
