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As a part of an ongoing research program on the mechanical instability of granular soils in our laboratory, defined contents of sand and silt in soil mixtures are studied through the triaxial apparatus, full range of initial relative density states (loose, medium and dense) are experimented and analyzed. In this work, the investigated soil is collected from different depths of Kharouba coastal region in the province of Mostaganem (Lat: 35.96° N; Long: 0.1° E). It consists mainly of sand with a low percentage fraction of non-plastic silt, below 30%. The coastal region of Mostaganem (Kharouba) is very close to the harbor and it experiences a significant seismic activity, then it would be very susceptible to the phenomenon of liquefaction under static or dynamic loads, hence the importance and relevance of this study which introduces the identification parameters of this instability due to liquefaction. Undrained triaxial tests under monotonic loading are carried out in the laboratory on saturated reconstituted samples. These results are presented and analyzed. New parameters for assessing the influence of fines content and density state on the behavior of heterogeneous soils (sand-silt) will be introduced to the liquefaction. New correlations expressing the undrained critical shear with these new parameters will be deducted for full range of initial relative density (loose, medium and dense) for design purpose.

This paper reports on numerical modeling of heat, air, and moisture transfer through multilayered walls. Building materials are often subjected to temporal climatic variations, which can induce a transfer of heat and moisture through the walls of the building and the foundation soil. These materials are generally considered as porous media. The coupled heat, air and moisture transfer in building materials is of paramount importance in the construction area. In this way, a mathematical model has been elaborated and validated using a benchmark example. Here, we aim to determine the energy losses. The capillary pressure is considered as potential moisture which represents both the transport of vapor and liquid phases of the water. Basing on basic functions of partial differential equations (PDE's), one can convert certain measurable properties of porous media as coefficients depending on the temperature and the capillary pressure. The results obtained compare favourably with other available in the literature.