The paper deals with the process of environmental risk assessment from exposure to noise from tram traffic. As part of the monitoring of the acoustic situation, measurements of sound pressure levels A were made and evaluated. The survey confirmed the existence of an acoustic risk in the form of a disturbing wailing sound when a tram vehicle passes through a directional curve with a radius of less than 50m. In addition to causing annoyance, the tonal variation of sound above 65 dB causes frostiness, cardiovascular, psychological and auditory problems, thereby damaging the health of people living and moving around the transport routes.

The impact of seismicity on stability of earthen dam slopes is discussed in the article. The analysis of the slope stability of the Domaša Dam was carried out. Petterson, Bishop and Sarma methods were employed for the calculations while taking into account the seismic actions according to EN1998-1.

Aquatic vegetation can influence hydraulic performance in channels, rivers, and floodplains. Most previous studies used cylindrical stems to simulate vegetation, while few studies used shrub-like or sedge structures that exhibited a maximum width near the top of the vegetation. In contrast, this research focuses on shrub-like structures that show a maximum width near the bottom of the vegetation. To understand the effects of aquatic vegetation on velocity distribution, water surface profile, and energy loss, experiments have been conducted in an open channel with a rectangular cross-section. The results indicated that the streamwise velocity within the lower layer remains nearly constant with depth where z/y is less than 0.20. However, once z/y exceeds 0.20, the streamwise velocity increases rapidly as the depth increases toward the water surface. Additionally, the shape of the vegetation influences the position of the inflection point. Moreover, the water level rises upstream of the vegetated area, decreases within it, and gradually returns to the normal depth downstream. The bed slope has little effect on relative energy loss, with maximum values reaching 6.61%, while the presence of vegetation leads to a significant increase, reaching up to 22.51%. The relative energy loss increases with a higher submerged ratio. A new empirical equation is proposed to estimate the relative energy loss in vegetated channels.

When designing the foundations of any building structure, it is important to know not only the load of the structure, but also the deformation characteristics of the subsoil. Their underestimation leads to incorrect design of the foundations or even to failures, the reparation of which requires considerable financial costs. The real values of the deformation soil properties gained from the geotechnical investigation often do not match the tabulated values used in the design. In this contribution, actual and tabular values of selected soil properties in the bedrock in the locality of Kosicka kotlina are compared. Simple buildings designed according to the 1st geotechnical category are in the described location predominantly based on Neogene clay of intermediate plasticity class F6 and less on clays class F8. These are soils sensitive to changes in their natural moisture – they swell when exposed to water, thus become unstable. It is therefore important to use the most accurate values in the calculation of the foundations. The analysis of 130 measured values confirmed that 52% of the all measured values are outside the indicative table data. The use of inaccurate input values can bring a risk and threat to safety, reliability and proper use of any construction. It is therefore necessary to carry out the appropriate geotechnical investigation of soils for all types of buildings.

MATEC Web of Conferences, open access proceedings in Materials science, Engineering and Chemistry

The strength of soil is a key design parameter in designing foundations and other earth structures. In shallow foundation design, the capacity of the foundation to support footing load is given by the soil’s bearing capacity, which is a function of its strength parameters. Bearing capacity is the maximum pressure that the soil can support at foundation level without failure. It is a key design parameter for foundation design. Proper interpretation of shear strength parameters and the application to bearing capacity problems are presented and reviewed in this paper.