Blumenstein, M & Verma, B 1998, 'A Neural Network for Real-World Postal Address Recognition' in Soft Computing in Engineering Design and Manufacturing, Springer London, pp. 79-83.
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Indraratna, B & Redana, IW 1998, 'Development of the smear zone around vertical band drains', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 165-178.
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This study describes the effect of smear on the settlements of soft clay foundations which have been improved by installation of vertical drains. The smear zone propagation around a band-shaped drain was monitored using a large, radial drainage consolidometer. The test results reveal that a significant reduction in the horizontal permeability takes place towards the central drain, whereas the vertical permeability remains relatively unchanged. The estimated smear zone was about 3–4 times the cross-section area of the band-shaped drain (mandrel). In the analysis, the classical axisymmetric solution for consolidation by vertical drain has been converted into an equivalent 2D plane strain analysis. The plain strain model is subsequently applied to a number of embankments stabilized with vertical drains. It is revealed that the inclusion of smear effects improves the settlement prediction significantly.
Indraratna, B & Redana, IW 1998, 'Laboratory Determination of Smear Zone due to Vertical Drain Installation', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 124, no. 2, pp. 180-184.
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INDRARATNA, B, HAQUE, A & AZIZ, N 1998, 'Laboratory modelling of shear behaviour of soft joints under constant normal stiffness conditions', Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 17-44.
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Shear behaviour of regular sawtooth rock joints produced from casting plaster are investigated under constant normal stiffness (CNS) conditions. Test results obtained in this investigation are also compared with the constant normal load (CNL) tests. It is observed that the peak shear stress obtained under CNL conditions always underestimates the peak shear stress corresponding to the CNS condition. Plots of shear stress against normal stress show that a nonlinear (curved) strength envelope is acceptable for soft rock joints subjected to a CNS condition, in comparison with the linear or bilinear envelopes often proposed for a CNL condition. Models proposed by Patton (1966) and Barton (1973) have also been considered for the predictions of peak shear stress of soft joints under CNS conditions. Although Patton's model is appropriate for low asperity angles, it overestimates the shear strength in the low to medium normal stress range at higher asperity angles. In contrast, while Barton's model is realistic for the CNL condition, it seems to be inappropriate for modelling the shear behaviour of soft joints under CNS conditions. The effect of infill material on the shear behaviour of the model joints is also investigated, and it is found that a small thickness of bentonite infill reduces the peak stress significantly. The peak shear stress almost approached that of the shear strength of infill when the infill thickness to asperity height ratio (t/a) reached 1.40. This paper also introduces an original, empirical shear strength envelope to account for the change in normal stress and surface degradation during CNS shearing.
Indraratna, B, Ionescu, D & Christie, HD 1998, 'Shear Behavior of Railway Ballast Based on Large-Scale Triaxial Tests', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 124, no. 5, pp. 439-449.
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Kenney, TC, Reddi, LN & Indraratna, B 1998, 'Discussions and Closure: Analytical Model for Particle Migration within Base Soil-Filter System', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 124, no. 10, pp. 1044-1047.
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Khalili, N & Khabbaz, MH 1998, 'A unique relationship for χ for the determination of the shear strength of unsaturated soils', Géotechnique, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 681-687.
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Blumenstein, M & Verma, B 1970, 'A neural based segmentation and recognition technique for handwritten words', 1998 IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks Proceedings. IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (Cat. No.98CH36227), ICNN '98 - International Conference on Neural Networks, IEEE, pp. 1738-1742.
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Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been successfully applied to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) yielding excellent results. In this paper a technique is presented that segments difficult printed and cursive handwriting, and then classifies the segmented characters. A conventional algorithm is used for the initial segmentation of the words, while an ANN is used to verify whether an accurate segmentation point has been found. After all segmentation points have been detected another NN is used to identify the characters which remain following the segmentation process. The C programming language, the SP2 supercomputer and a SUN workstation were used for the experiments. The technique has been tested on real-world handwriting scanned from various staff at Griffith University, Gold Coast. Some preliminary experimental results are presented in this paper.
