The variability in strata of foundation soil in marine environments makes it tedious to design foundations for offshore structures. Hence, it is essential to investigate and evaluate the strength properties of this type of soil. This study investigates the variability of the soil strata (which is quantified by the index of the mixing degree between coarse and fine particles) and its influence on the stability of the soil by mixing coarse and fine particles at varying proportions. A series of discrete element method triaxial shear tests were conducted on binary geotechnical mixtures with a varying proportion of coarse content (25%, 50% and 75%) and different mixing degrees (ranging from 0.0 to 1.0). The macroscopic results show that the peak shear strength increases with an increase in mixing degree, and the increase is more obvious with increasing coarse content, while the critical shear strength is independent of the mixing degree. The main evaluation of the number, mean normal force and distribution of the coarse–fine (cf) contact helps to clarify the meso-mechanisms that result in the variations in peak shear strength and critical shear strength with mixing degree. The increase in the peak strength may primarily be due to the increased number and globalized distribution of coarse–fine contact. However, the decreased contact force of coarse–fine contact counterbalances the strength gain due to the increased number and globalized distribution, which maintain the stability of the critical strength.

Granular materials are widespread in nature and human production, and their macro-mechanical behavior is significantly affected by granule movement. The development of computer vision has brought some new ideas for measuring the numerical information (including the amount of translation, the rotation angle, velocity, acceleration, etc.) of dynamic granular materials. In this paper, we propose a numerical measurement method for dynamic granular materials based on computer vision. Firstly, an improved video instance segmentation (VIS) network is introduced to perform end-to-end multi-task learning, and its temporal feature fusion module and tracking head with long-sequence external memory can improve the problems of poor video data quality and high similarity in appearance of granular materials, respectively. Secondly, the numerical information can be extracted through a series of post-processing steps. Finally, the effectiveness of the measurement method is verified by comparing the numerical measurement results with the real values. The experimental results indicate that our improved VIS obtains an average precision (AP) of 76.6, the relative errors and standard deviations are maintained at a low level, and this method can effectively be used to measure the numerical information of dynamic granular materials. This study provides an intelligent proposal for the task of measuring numerical information of dynamic granular materials, which is of great significance for studying the spatial distribution, motion mode and macro-mechanical behavior of granular materials.

Prolonged drought can induce shrinkage cracking in near-surface clay foundations, leaving persistent defects that may affect the uplift safety of underground structures before subsequent rainfall events. This study investigates how burial depth regulates the influence of two pre-existing surface cracks on the uplift bearing capacity and failure mechanism of a horizontal strip anchor plate in red clay. A two-dimensional plane-strain model was established in Optum G2 and validated against laboratory pull-out tests under crack-free conditions. Two burial-depth ratios, H/B = 3 and 8, were examined, and 360 cases were generated by varying normalized crack depth (h/B = 0.25–3), spacing (s/B = 0.25–3), and horizontal offset (d/B = 0–6). Under shallow burial, cracks readily intersect the potential sliding zone and the maximum capacity reduction reaches 81.6%, with pronounced transitions around s/B = 1 and d/B = 1. Under deep burial, the principal failure surface remains predominantly a deep elliptical arc and capacity reduction is generally below 15%. Burial depth therefore controls the spatial overlap between the environmentally damaged zone and the anchor-bearing zone. The results provide a mechanical basis for post-drought crack inspection, uplift-safety reassessment, and burial-depth selection. Hydraulic infiltration, suction, moisture evolution, and rainfall intensity are outside the present model.

The dramatic increase in the volume of postconsumer textile waste poses not only a major environmental problem but also an untapped opportunity for the development of sustainable infrastructure through the use of synthetic and composite textile waste-derived materials (SCTWDMs) in the field of asphalt pavement engineering, contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 9, 11, 12, and 13). This systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. A systematic search of the literature in the field of SCTWDMs in asphalt pavement engineering was performed between 2010 and 2025 using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. A total of 65 studies were identified and analysed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the current review. The quality of the studies and the risk of bias were assessed according to the transparency of the methods and the reporting of the results. The triangulated methodological framework consisted of bibliometric analysis, systematic review, and SWOT analysis. The bibliometric analysis was carried out via VOSviewer software version 1.6.20. The results of this study indicate an increase in the number of publications in SCTWDMs; however, there is fragmentation in the field. This denotes poor interrelationships among themes, insufficient collaboration across research streams, and scattered networks of keyword associations, suggesting a lack of a coherent research framework for SCTWDM research. The results of this study indicate that SCTWDMs generally improve the rheological properties, cracking resistance, and mechanical characteristics of asphalt mixtures. However, variability in fibre properties, optimisation of dosage, and limited field validation remain major challenges in SCTWDMs. The SWOT analysis also highlights important technical, institutional, and standardisation barriers, as well as opportunities for further development in sustainable pavement technologies. Despite this, the body of evidence is limited by heterogeneity in study design and a lack of long-term results. The review is not preregistered, but all the methodological procedures are transparently described. In conclusion, this body of evidence offers a strategic direction for further research, policy development, and industry practice, highlighting the importance of linking laboratory results to applications to position SCTWDMs as a viable option within the global sustainability agenda.