Reliability Analysis of Unsaturated Soil Slopes

Many soil slopes are unsaturated in their initial state, and suction contributes to initial stability. Stability of these slopes decreases as suction decreases with time due to rainfall infiltration and water redistribution. Many of the parameters in the assessment of stability are highly variable. In this technical note, sensitivity/reliability analysis of design variables for a typical unsaturated soil slope is conducted. Sensitivity analysis shows that suction parameters have significant influence on the stability. Reliability computations performed for the slope considered show that failure zones are better captured by the reliability index than the conventional factor of safety. The study also shows that variation of saturated hydraulic conductivity significantly influences slope reliability

The stereospecific solvation of non-polar organic solutes in liquid benzene

The molar Cotton-Mouton constants of several non-polar and axially symmetric solutes have been measured in both benzene and carbon tetrachloride. Differences between the Cotton-Mouton constants of the same solute in these two solvents are largely attributable to angular correlations between the solute and the benzene molecules. Hexafluorobenzene and 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene reveal pronounced tendencies towards parallel alignment of solute and neighbouring benzene molecules. </jats:p