Plaxis Standard Course on Finite Element Modelling in Geotechnical Engineering

PL LAXIS S STA ANDA ARD COUR C RSE
MU UMBAI, INDIA 18-21 S SEPTEMBER 2012

CONTENTS
Lectures & Exercises on 2D and 3D Modelling CG1 CG2 CG3 CG4 CG5 CG6 CG7 CG8 CG9 CG10 CG11 CG12 CG13 CG14 CG15 CG16 CG17 CG18 CG19 CG20 CG21 CG22 CG23 CG24

Geotechnical Finite Element Modelling and Plaxis 2D Introduction to Mohr-Coulomb Model Exercise 1:Simple Foundation on Mohr-Coulomb Soil Non-linear Computation in Plaxis Hardening Soil Model Exercise 2: Triaxial & Oedometer Test Geometry, Meshing and Element Types in Plaxis Structural Elements in Plaxis Exercise 3: Anchored Excavation Undrained and Drained Analysis in Plaxis Modelling of Groundwater in Plaxis Exercise 4: Excavation and Dewatering Initial Geostatic Stresses Safety Analysis using Phi-C Reduction Technique Exercise 5: Stability Analysis of Slope Stabilised by Soil Nails Overview of Soil Models Consolidation Analysis in Plaxis Exercise 6: Geotextile Reinforced Embankment with Consolidation Introduction to Plaxis 3D Modelling of Deep Foundations in Plaxis 3D Exercise 7: 3D Piled Raft Foundation Analysis Modelling of Tunnels and Tunnelling in Plaxis 3D Modelling of Deep Excavations in Plaxis 3D Exercise 8: 3D Excavation Modelling
5 17 38 69 83 143 188 205 218 246 262 288 300 306 316 329 347 363 382 424 460 477 563 607
DAY1 THEME Time 09:00 10:00 10:00 10:15 10:15 11:15 11:15 12:45 12:45 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 DAY2 THEME Time 09:00 10:00 10:00 10:15 10:15 11:15 11:15 12:45 12:45 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 5:30 CG11 CG12 CG10 CG8 CG9 StructuralElementsinPlaxis Exercise3:AnchoredExcavation Lunch UndrainedandDrainedAnalysisinPlaxis Break ModellingofGroundwaterinPlaxis* Exercise4:ExcavationandDewatering Module CG7 Description Geometry,MeshingandElementTypesinPlaxis* Break 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 5:30 CG5 CG6 HardeningSoilModel Exercise2:Triaxial&OedometerTest CG4 CG2 CG3 Module CG1 GEOTECHNICALFINITEELEMENTMODELLING Description GeotechnicalFiniteElementModellingandPlaxis2D Break IntroductiontoMohrCoulombModel Exercise1:SimpleFoundationonMohrCoulombSoil Lunch NonlinearComputationinPlaxis Break
TUESDAY18.9.12
Lecturer Dr.Juneja/ DrWilliam
Dr.Juneja/ DrWilliam Mr.Siva
Dr.Cheang
Dr.Cheang Dr.Cheang
WEDNESDAY19.9.12
Lecturer Dr.Cheang
Dr.Cheang Mr.Siva
Dr.Cheang
Dr.Cheang Mr.Siva
DAY3 THEME Time 09:00 10:00 10:00 10:15 10:15 11:15 11:15 12:45 12:45 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 DAY4 THEME Time 09:00 10:00 10:00 10:15 10:15 11:15 11:15 12:45 12:45 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 5:30 CG23 CG24 CG22 CG20 CG21 Module CG19 IntroductiontoPlaxis3D Break ModellingofDeepFoundationsinPlaxis3D Exercise7:3DPiledRaftFoundationAnalysis(FleidenCase) Lunch ModellingofTunnelsandTunnellinginPlaxis3D Break ModellingofDeepExcavationsinPlaxis3D Exercise8:3DExcavationAnalysis Description 2:00 3:00 3:15 4:15 5:30 CG17 CG18 ConsolidationAnalysisinPlaxis CG16 CG14 CG15 Module CG13 Description InitialGeostaticStressesinPlaxis Break SafetyAnalysisusingPhiCReductionTechnique Exercise5:StabilityAnalysisofaSlopeStabilisedbySoilNails Lunch OverviewofSoilModelsinPlaxis Break
THURSDAY20.9.12
Lecturer Dr.Cheang
Dr.Cheang Mr.Siva
Dr.Cheang
Dr.Juneja/ DrWilliam
Exercise6:Geotextilereinforcedembankmentwithconsolidation Mr.Siva
Lecturer DrCheang
DrCheang DrCheang
DrCheang
DrCheang DrCheang
Finite element modelling in geotechnical engineering
Ronald Brinkgreve, Plaxis bv / Delft University of Technology

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl
Basic concepts of FEM
Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

Objectives: To explain the basics of the finite element method To show different types of elements and integration To specify the components of the stiffness matrix To formulate how the system of equations is formed To explain how displacements and strains are calculated

The Finite Element Method (FEM) is a numerical technique to find an approximate solution for a (set of) partial differential equation(s). The Finite Element Method for deformations is based on the following principles: Equilibrium (between external forces and internal stresses) Kinematics (displacements and strains) Constitutive relation (material behaviour)

load
equilibrium
stiffness matrix
stress
displacement
constitutive relation
strain
kinematics

Geometry is divided into finite elements (2D triangles or quadrilaterals; 3D tetrahedrals, bricks, other) Elements consist of nodes which contain discrete values of primary quantities (displacement components) Primary quantities are interpolated over the element using polynomials, and are continuous over element boundaries In addition to nodes, elements contain (Gaussian) integration points (or stress points) for numerical integration Integration points contain discrete values of secondary quantities (stress and strain components)

Isoparametric elements with nodes for two-dimensional analysis:
element node
Triangular elements
Quadrilateral elements

2D isoparametric elements with possible stress points:
stress point
Triangular elements
Quadrilateral elements

Isoparametric elements for three-dimensional analysis:
Tetrahedral elements
Brick elements

3D isoparametric elements with possible Gauss points:
Tetrahedral elements
Brick elements
10

Interpolation functions for linear 3-node triangular element:
u x ( x, y ) a0 a1 x a2 y u y ( x, y ) b0 b1 x b2 y
y 3 v1y v1x 1 2 x
a0 v1x a1 v2 x v1x a2 v3 x v1x
b0 v1 y b1 v2 y v1 y b2 v3 y v1 y
u x ( x, y ) N1v1x N 2 v2 x N3v3 x u y ( x, y ) N1v1 y N 2 v2 y N 3v3 y

N1 1 x y N2 x N3 y
N : Shape functions
Basic concepts of FEM 11

Interpolation functions for quadratic 6-node triangular element:
u x ( x, y ) a0 a1 x a2 y a3 x 2 a4 xy a5 y 2 u y ( x, y ) b0 b1 x b2 y b3 x 2 b4 xy b5 y 2
N1 (1 x y )(1 2 x 2 y ) N 2 x(2 x 1)
a0 v1 a1 3v1 v2 4v4 a2 3v1 v3 4v6 a3 2v1 2v2 4v4 a4 4v1 4v4 4v5 4v6 a5 2v1 2v3 4v6
y 3 6 1 5 4
v5y v5x x 2
N 3 y (2 y 1) N 4 4 x(1 x y ) N 5 4 xy N 6 4 y (1 x y )
u x ( x, y ) N1v1x N 2 v2 x ... N 6 v6 x u y ( x, y ) N1v1 y N 2 v2 y ... N 6 v6 y

10

Interpolation functions for quadratic 6-node triangular element:
u x ( x, y ) N1v1x N 2 v2 x ... N 6 v6 x u y ( x, y ) N1v1 y N 2 v2 y ... N 6 v6 y

u x ( x, y ) u u y ( x, y ) N1x N 0 0 N1 y N2x 0 0 N2 y ... ... ... ...
uNv
N6 x 0
0 N6 y
N : Shape functions
v1x v 1y v2 x v2 y e v ... ... v 6x v6 y

13

Strains for 6-node triangular element:
xx ( x, y ) u x x a1 2 a3 x a4 y
yy ( x, y ) u y y b2 b4 x 2 b5 y
xy ( x, y ) u x y u y x (b1 a2 ) (a4 2b3 ) x (2a5 b4 ) y
y 3 6 1 5 4 2 v5y v5x x
xx
yy
du x dN1 dN dN v1x 2 v2 x ... 6 v6 x dx dx dx dx
du y dy dN1 dN dN v1 y 2 v2 y ... 6 v6 y dy dy dy
xy
du x du y dN1 dN dN dN v1x 1 v1 y 2 v2 x ... 6 v6 y dy dx dy dx dy dx

11

Strains for 6-node triangular element:
B ve
xx ( x, y ) yy ( x, y ) xy ( x, y )
0 N1 y N1 x N 2 x 0 N 2 y 0 N 2 y N 2 x ... ... ... ... ... ... N 6 x 0 N 6 y 0 N 6 y N 6 x
N1 x B 0 N 1 y
B : Strain interpolation matrix

v1x v 1y v2 x v2 y e v ... ... v 6x v6 y

15

Nodal forces for 6-node triangular element:
y 3 6 1 5 4
f5y f5x x 2
f1x f 1y f2x f2 y e f ... ... f 6x f6 y

12

Element stiffness matrix:
K B M B dV B M B wk
e T T k
B : Strain interpolation matrix M : Material stiffness matrix wk : Weight factor of integration point k
Hookes law:
1 E M D 1 (1 2 )(1 ) 0 0
0 0 1 2
17

Element stiffness matrix (12x12 for 6-node triangular element):
K1x1x K 1 y1x K 2 x1x K 2 y1 x e K ... ... K 6 x1x K 6 y1 x
K1x1 y K1 y1 y K 2 x1 y K 2 y1 y ... ... K 6 x1 y K 6 y1 y
K1 x 2 x K1 y 2 x K2x2x K2 y2x ... ... K6x2x K6 y2x
K1 x 2 y K1 y 2 y K2x2 y K2 y2 y ... ... K6x2 y K6 y2 y
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
K1x 6 x K1 y 6 x K 2 x6 x K2 y6x ... ... K 6 x6 x K6 y6x
K1x 6 y K1 y 6 y K 2 x6 y K2 y6 y ... ... K 6 x6 y K6 y6 y

18
13

Elements and nodes in a FE mesh (global node numbers are indicated):
19

Global stiffness matrix, displacement vector, force vector:
elements
nodes
nodes
elements
Global system of equations from which vs are to be solved:
Kv f
Or, in non-linear computations:
K v f
v i v i 1 v
20
14
Global stiffness matrix

K
e1 K 11 e1 K 21 e1 K 12 e1 e2 K 22 K 11 e2 K 21 e2 K 12 e2 K 22
elements

21
Strains, stresses
Once vs are known:
B ve
M
Or, in non-linear computations:
B v
i i 1 M
15
Finite element method (deformations)

Read input data Form stiffness matrix New step Form new load vector Form reaction vector Calculate unbalance Reset displacement increment New iteration Solve displacements Update displacement increments Calculate strain increments Calculate trial stresses Calculate constitutive stresses Form reaction vector Calculate unbalance Calculate error Accuracy check Update displacements Write output data (results) If not finished > new step Finish
K B M B dV B M B wi
e T T i
elements
f ex f ex f ex T i 1 T i 1 f in B c dV B c wk i k f in f ex f in
i
i 1
v 0 j j 1 v K 1 f j j 1 v v v B v B v tr ic1 D e tr f ( ) e g i, j tr c D T i d T i f in B c dV B c wk
i
k
Soil model
f in f ex f in i e f f ex if e etolerated new iteration i i 1 v v v
i i 1
23
16
Mohr-Coulomb model and soil stiffness

Objectives: To To To To To To indicate features of soil behaviour formulate Hookes law of isotropic linear elasticity formulate the Mohr-Coulomb criterion in a plasticity framework identify the parameters in the LEPP Mohr-Coulomb model give suggestions on the selection of parameters indicate the possibilities and limitations of the MC model
MC model and soil stiffness
Typical results from soil lab tests

Triaxial test (axial loading)
F P 1-3
strength stiffness
-1
1 1 3 v 3
dilatancy
-1
17

Oedometer test (one-dimensional compression)
Pre-consolidation stress
1 1
reloading primary loading
unloading

Oedometer test (constant load; secondary compression)
1 1
time
creep
18
Typical results for soil stiffness

Stiffness at different levels of strain
Modulus reduction curve after Benz (2007)

Features of soil behaviour

Elasticity (reversible deformation; limited) > stiffness Plasticity (irreversible deformation) > stiffness, strength Failure (ultimate limit state or critical state) > strength Presence and role of pore water Undrained behaviour and consolidation Stress dependency of stiffness Strain dependency stiffness Time dependent behaviour (creep, relaxation) Compaction en dilatancy Memory of pre-consolidation pressure Anisotropy (directional strength and/or stiffness)
19
Concepts of soil modelling

yy
Relationship between stresses (stress rates) and strains (strain rates) Elasticity (reversible deformations) d=f (d)
Example: Hookes law
yz zy
zz
yx xy
xz
zx
xx
Plasticity (irreversible deformations)
d=f (d,,h)
Perfect plasticity, strain hardening, strain softening Yielding, yield function, plastic potential, hardening/softening rule Example: Mohr-Coulomb yielding
Time dependent behaviour (time dependent deformations) Biots (coupled) consolidation d=f (d,,t)
Creep, stress relaxation Visco elasticity, visco plasticity
Types of stress-strain behaviour
Linear-elastic
Non-linear elastic
Elastoplastic
Lin. elast. perfectly-plast.
EP strain-hardening EP strain-softening
MC model and soil stiffness 8
20
Hookes law
1 xx yy zz E (1 )(1 2 ) 0 xy 0 yz zx 0

1 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 2 0 0
0 0 0 2 2 0 0
1 2
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0
0 xx 0 yy 0 zz 0 xy 0 yz 1 zx 2
Inverse:
1 xx yy zz 1 E 0 xy 0 yz 0 zx 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 xx yy zz xy yz zx
9
Hookes law
In principal stress / strain components:
1 1 E 1 2 (1 )(1 2 ) 1 3
1 2 3
In isotropic and deviatoric stress / strain components:
p K q 0
0 v 3G s
p
q
1 3
1 2 3
1 ( 1 2 ) 2 ( 2 3 ) 2 ( 3 1 ) 2 2
21
Model parameters in Hookes law:

Two parameters: - Youngs modulus E - Poissons ratio
d1 - d1 - 1 d3 E 1 3 - 1 1
Meaning (axial compr.):
d1 d1
d 3 d1
11
Alternative parameters in Hookes law:

Shear modulus:
dxy
d xy d xy
E 21
dxy
Bulk modulus:
dp dv - d1
dp E K d v 31 2
Oedometer modulus:
Eoed
E 1 d 1 d1 1 1 2
- d1
12
22
Stress definitions
In general, soil cannot sustain tension, only compression PLAXIS adopts the general mechanics definition of stress and strain: Tension/extension is positive; Pressure/compression is negative yy xx yy xx xx yy yy xx
In general, soil deformation is based on stress changes in the grain skeleton (effective stresses) According to Terzaghis principle: = - pw
13
Hookes law for effective stress rates

The modeling of non-linear soil behaviour requires a relationship between effective stress rates (d ) and strain rates (d)
' 1 ' ' d 'xx ' 1 ' ' d ' yy ' d 'zz ' 1 ' E' 0 0 0 ' d (1 ')(1 2 ') xy 0 d ' yz 0 0 0 0 d 'zx 0
Symbolic:
1 ' 2 1 0 ' 2 1 0 0 ' 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
d xx d yy d zz d xy d yz d zx
d ' D d
e
d D
e 1
d '
14
23
Plasticity
Basic principle of elasto-plasticity:
e ij ij ijp
(total strains)
p ij
d ij d d
e ij
(strain rates)
Elastic strain rates:

e d ij D e ijkl d 'kl 1
15
Plasticity
Basic principle of elasto-plasticity:
e ij ij ijp e d ij d ij d ijp
(total strains) (strain rates)
Plastic strain rates:
d ijp d
g 'ij
d = scalar; magnitude of plastic strains dg/d = vector; direction of plastic strains g = plastic potential function
24
When do plastic strains occur?

Determination based on yield function f = f (,)
If f<0 If f=0 and df<0 If f=0 and df=0 Pure elastic behaviour Unloading from a plastic state (= elastic behaviour) Elastoplastic behaviour
17
When do plastic strains occur?

Yield function f is (a.o.) a function of the stress state f=0 can be represented as a border in the stress space (yield contour) f=0
f<0
Within the yield contour: On the yield contour: Outside the yield contour:
f<0 f=0 f>0
f>0
(impossible stress state)
Condition: Yield contour must be convex

18
25
The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion

Origin: F T n c - n tan A F
Coulomb: T
T A + F tan
c n

In general: n 3
1 The condition c - n tan must hold for arbitrary angle
20
26

c cos t* c -s* sin MC criterion: t* c cos - s* sin
-3 -s*
-1
-n
21

MC criterion: t*c cos - s* sin t* = (3 - 1) s* = (3+1)
1 2
'3 '1 c' cos ' 1 2 '3 '1 sin '

'1 2c' cos ' 1 sin ' '3 1 sin ' 1 sin '
Note: Compression is negative and 1 2 3

22
27
Visualisation of the M-C failure criterion

c n -1 b 1 a - 3
a
b
2c' cos ' 1 sin '

1 sin ' 1 sin '
Full Mohr-Coulomb criterion

'3 '2 c' cos ' 1 2 '3 '2 sin ' 1 1 2 '2 '3 c ' cos ' 2 '2 '3 sin ' 1 1 2 '3 '1 c ' cos ' 2 '3 '1 sin ' 1 1 2 '1 '3 c ' cos ' 2 '1 '3 sin ' 1 1 2 '2 '1 c ' cos ' 2 '2 '1 sin ' 1 1 2 '1 '2 c ' cos ' 2 '1 '2 sin '
1 2
28
Reformulation into yield functions

1 2
'3 '1 c' cos ' 1 2 '3 '1 sin '
1 f 2b 1 2 '3 '1 2 '3 '1 sin 'c ' cos '
25
Reformulation into yield functions

1
1 f1a 1 2 '3 '2 2 '3 '2 sin 'c ' cos ' 1 f1b 1 2 '2 '3 2 '2 '3 sin 'c ' cos ' 1 f 2a 1 2 '1 '3 2 '1 '3 sin 'c ' cos ' 1 f 2b 1 2 '3 '1 2 '3 '1 sin 'c ' cos ' 1 f 3a 1 2 '2 '1 2 '2 '1 sin 'c ' cos ' 1 f 3b 1 2 '1 '2 2 '1 '2 sin 'c ' cos '
Parameters: Effective cohesion (c) and effective friction angle ()

26
29
Plastic potentials of the M-C model

1 g1a 1 2 '3 '2 2 '3 '2 sin c ' cos 1 g1b 1 2 '2 '3 2 '2 '3 sin c ' cos 1 g 2a 1 2 '1 '3 2 '1 '3 sin c ' cos 1 g 2b 1 2 '3 '1 2 '3 '1 sin c ' cos 1 g 3a 1 2 '2 '1 2 '2 '1 sin c ' cos 1 g 3b 1 2 '1 '2 2 '1 '2 sin c ' cos
Dilatancy angle instead of friction angle Motivation based on simple shear test
27
Failure in a simple shear test:

e d ij D e ijkl d 'kl 0 1
xx
t*
yy
d ijp d
g 'ij
0 d sin d cos
d xx 0
p d xx d
' ' yy 1 g d xx 2 sin ' xx 4 t*
p d d yy
' ' xx 1 g d yy 2 sin ' yy 4 t*
p d xy d
' g d xy ' xy t*
p tan d MC dand xy model xy soil stiffness
d yy
p d yy
28
30
Failure in a simple shear test:

d yy d xy
p d yy p d xy
tan
xy
xy yy
dilatancy
xy
29
The LEPP Mohr-Coulomb model

Linear-elastic perfectly-plastic stress-strain relationship - Elasticity: - Plasticity: Hookes law Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion
The LEPP model with Mohr-Coulomb failure contour is in PLAXIS called the Mohr-Coulomb model For this model: Plasticity = Failure This does NOT apply to all models!!!
30
31
The LEPP Mohr-Coulomb model

Model parameters: Youngs modulus (stiffness) Poissons ratio Cohesion Friction angle Dilatancy angle
E c
Model parameters must be determined such that real soil behaviour is approximated in the best possible way
31
Parameter determination
Parameter determination from: Laboratory tests (triaxial test (CD, CU), oedometer test or CRS, simple shear test, ) Field tests (SPT, CPT, pressure meter (Menard, CPM, SBP), dilatometer, ) Correlations with qc , PI , RD and other index parameters Rules-of-thumb, norms, charts, tables Engineering judgement
32
32
MC approximation of a CD triax. test

1-3
E 50
3 = confining pressure
2c 'cos ' 2 '3 sin ' 1 sin '
v
2 sin 1 sin
-1
1-2
-1
MC approximation of a compr. test

-1
Eoed
-1
Eoed
(1 )(1 2 ) E (1 )
33
Stiffness parameter suggestions

Order of magnitude for E50: - Sand:
E50 3' 150..500 ref p ref p

Loose
u E50
Dense
- Clay:
15000 cu I p [%]
or
G50
5000 cu I p [%]
Ip = plasticity index
35

-1
Order of magnitude Eoed (sand):
Eoed 1' 150 .. 500 p ref p ref

pref
Eoed
Loose Dense
Eoed
d 1 1 E d1 1 1 2
- 1
Eoed 1..3 qc
(correlation)
(1 )(1 2 ) Eoed (1 )
This Evalue applies to primary compression

36
34

-1
Order of magnitude Eoed (clay):
Eoed
pref
Eoed
500 '1 Ip
(correlation)
Eoed 3..5 qc
- 1
(correlation)
Eoed
d 1 1 E d1 1 1 2
(1 )(1 2 ) Eoed (1 )
This Evalue applies to primary compression

37

-1
Secant oedometer stiffness:
Eoed
1(1) 1(0)
Eoed
1 1
- 1
38
35
G cu
39

Duncan & Buchignani
40
36
Possibilities and limitations of the LEPP Mohr-Coulomb model

Possibilities and advantages
Simple and clear model First order approach of soil behaviour in general Suitable for many practical applications Limited number and clear parameters Good representation of failure behaviour (drained) Dilatancy can be included
2
3
41
Possibilities and limitations of the LEPP Mohr-Coulomb model

Limitations and disadvantages
Isotropic and homogeneous behaviour Until failure linear elastic behaviour No stress/stress-path/strain-dependent stiffness No distinction between primary loading and 1 unloading or reloading Dilatancy continues for ever (no critical state) Be careful with undrained behaviour No time-dependency (creep)
2
3
42
37
Elastoplastic analysis of a footing
ELASTOPLASTIC ANALYSIS OF A FOOTING
Computational Geotechnics
38
INTRODUCTION
One of the simplest forms of a foundation is the shallow foundation. In this exercise we will model such a shallow foundation with a width of 2 meters and a length that is sufciently long in order to assume the model to be a plane strain model. The foundation is put on top of a 4m thick clay layer. The clay layer has a saturated weight of 18 kN/m3 and an angle of internal friction of 20.
Figure 1: Geometry of the shallow foundation. The foundation carries a small building that is being modelled with a vertical point force. Additionally a horizontal point force is introduced in order to simulate any horizontal loads acting on the building, for instance wind loads. Taking into account that in future additional oors may be added to the building the maximum vertical load (failure load) is assessed. For the determination of the failure load of a strip footing analytical solutions are available from for instance Vesic, Brinch Hansen and Meyerhof:
Qf B
= c Nc + 1 B N 2 tan Nq = e tan2 (45 + 1 ) 2 Nc = ( N 1) cot q 2(Nq + 1) tan N = 1.5(Nq 1) tan (Nq 1) tan(1.4 )
(V esic) (Brinch Hansen) (M eyerhof )
This leads to a failure load of 117 kN/ (Meyerhof) respectively.
m2 (Vesic), 98 kN/m2 (Brinch Hansen) or 97 kN/m2
39
SCHEME OF OPERATIONS
This exercise illustrates the basic idea of a nite element deformation analysis. In order to keep the problem as simple as possible, only elastic perfectly-plastic behaviour is considered. Besides the procedure to generate the nite element mesh, attention is paid to the input of boundary conditions, material properties, the actual calculation and inspection of some output results.
Aims
Geometry input Initial stresses and parameters Calculation of vertical load representing the building weight Calculation of vertical and horizontal load representing building weight and wind force Calculation of vertical failure load. A) Geometry input General settings Input of geometry lines Input of boundary conditions Input of material properties Mesh generation B) Calculations Initial pore pressures and stresses Construct footing Apply vertical force Apply horizontal force Increase vertical force until failure occurs C) Inspect output
40
GEOMETRY INPUT
Start PLAXIS by double-clicking the icon of the PLAXIS Input program. The Quick select dialog box will appear in which you can select to start an new project or open an existing one. Choose Start a new project (see Figure 2). Now the Project properties window appears, consisting of the two tabsheets Project and Model (see Figure 3 and Figure 4).
Figure 2: Quick select dialog
Project properties
The rst step in every analysis is to set the basic parameters of the nite element model. This is done in the Project properties window. These settings include the description of the problem, the type of analysis, the basic type of elements, the basic units and the size of the drawing area. The Project tabsheet
Figure 3: Project tabsheet of the Project Properties window In order to enter the proper settings for the footing project, follow these steps:
41
Elastoplastic analysis of a footing In the Project tabsheet, enter Exercise 1 in the Title box and type Elasto-plastic analysis of drained footing or any other text in the Comments box. In the General options box the type of the analysis (Model ) and the basic element type (Elements) are specied. As this exercise concerns a strip footing, choose Plane strain from the Model combo box. Select 15-node from the Elements combo box. The Acceleration box indicates a xed gravity angle of -90, which is in the vertical direction (downward). Independent acceleration components may be entered for pseudodynamic analyses. Leave these values zero and click on the Next button below the tabsheets or click on the Model tabsheet. The Model tabsheet
Figure 4: Model tabsheet of the Project properties window
In the Model tabsheet, keep the default units in the Units box (Length = m; Force = kN; Time = day). In the Geometry dimensions box the size of the considered geometry must be entered. The values entered here determine the size of the draw area in the Input window. PLAXIS will automatically add a small margin so that the geometry will t well within the draw area. Enter Xmin =0.00, Xmax =14.00, Ymin =0.00 and Ymax =4.25. The Grid box contains values to set the grid spacing. The grid provides a matrix of dots on the screen that can be used as reference points. It may also be used for snapping to regularly spaced points during the creation of the geometry. The distance of the dots is determined by the Spacing value. The spacing of snapping points can further be divided into smaller intervals by the Number of snap intervals value. Enter 1.0 for the spacing and 4 for the intervals. Click on the Ok button to conrm the settings. Now the draw area appears in which the geometry model can be drawn. Computational Geotechnics
42
Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Hint: In the case of a mistake or for any other reason that the project properties should be changed, you can access the Project properties window by selecting the Project properties option from the File menu.
Creating the geometry

Once setting the project properties have been completed, the draw area appears with an indication of the origin and direction of the system of axes. The cursor is automatically switched in the Geometry line drawing mode. If not, the user can change the drawing mode to Geometry line by clicking the geometry line button . In order to construct the contour of the proposed geometry as shown in Figure 5, follow these steps. (Use Figure 5 for orientation, it represents the completed geometry).
Figure 5: Geometry model
Create sub-soil Position the cursor (now appearing as a pen) at the origin (point 0) of the axes (0.0; 0.0). Click the left mouse button once to start the geometry contour. Move along the x-axis to (14.0; 0.0). Click the left mouse button to generate the second point (number 1). At the same time the rst geometry line is created from point 0 to point 1. Move upward to point 2 (14.0; 4.0) and click again. Move to the left to point 3 (0.0; 4.0) and click again. Finally, move back to the origin (0.0; 0.0) and click the left mouse button again. Since the latter point already exists, no new point is created, but only an additional geometry line is created from point 3 to point 0. PLAXIS will also automatically detect a cluster (area that is fully enclosed by geometry lines) and will give it a light colour. 6 Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Click the right mouse button to stop drawing. This action created the sub-soil cluster. The next step is to introduce the footing. Create footing Position the cursor at point 4, (6.0, 4.0) and click the left mouse button once. Move vertical to point 5, (6.0; 4.25). Click the left mouse button to generate a vertical line. Move horizontal to point 6, (8.0; 4.25). Click the left mouse button to generate a horizontal line. Generate a second cluster by clicking the left mouse button on coordinate (8.0; 4.0). Click the right mouse button to stop drawing. This action created the footing. The proposed geometry does not include plates, hinges, geogrids, interfaces, anchors or tunnels. Hence, you can skip the corresponding buttons in the second toolbar. Hints: Mispositioned points and lines can be modied or deleted by rst choosing the Selection button from the toolbar. To move a point of line, select the point or the line and drag it to the desired position. To delete a point or a line, select the point or the line and press the Delete key on the keyboard. Undesired drawing operations can be restored by pressing the Undo button from the toolbar or by selecting the Undo option from the Edit menu or by pressing <Ctrl><Z> on the keyboard. Hint: The full geometry model has to be completed before a nite element mesh can be generated. This means that boundary conditions and model parameters must be entered and applied to the geometry model rst. During the input of geometry lines by mouse, holding down the Shift key will assist the user to create perfect horizontal and vertical lines.
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Hint:
Input of boundary conditions

Boundary conditions can be found in the second block of the toolbar and in the Loads menu. For deformation problems two types of boundary conditions exist: Prescribed displacements and prescribed forces (loads). In principle, all boundaries must have one boundary condition in each direction. That is to say, when no explicit boundary condition is given to a certain boundary (a free boundary), the so-called natural condition applies, which is a prescribed force equal to zero and a free displacement. In order to avoid the situation where the displacements of the geometry are undetermined, some points of the geometry must have prescribed displacements. The simplest form of a prescribed displacement is a xity (zero displacement), but non-zero prescribed displacements may also be given. To create the boundary conditions for this exercise, follow the steps below. Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Prescribed displacements Click on the Standard xities button on the toolbar or choose the Standard xities option from the Loads menu to set the standard boundary conditions. As a result PLAXIS will automatically generate a full xity at the base of the geometry and roller conditions at the vertical sides (ux =0; uy =free). A xity in a certain direction is presented as two parallel lines perpendicular to the xed direction. Hence, the rollers appear as two vertical parallel lines and the full xity appears as cross-hatched lines. Hint: The Standard xities option is suitable for most geotechnical applications. It is a fast and convenient way to input standard boundary conditions. Vertical load Click on the Point load - load system A button on the toolbar or choose the Point load - static load system A option from the Loads menu to enter another point force. Click on the coordinate (7.0, 4.25) to enter a point force. As a result PLAXIS will automatically generate a vertical point force on the indicated point with a unity force (f = 1). Horizontal load (see also next step "Changing direction .....") on the toolbar or choose the Point load Click on the Point load - load system B button static load system B option from the Loads menu to enter a point force. Click on the coordinate (7.0, 4.25) to enter a point force. As a result PLAXIS will automatically generate a vertical point force on the indicated point. As a horizontal force is needed, the direction of load B needs to be changed. Changing direction and magnitude of loads Choose the Selection button from the toolbar. Double click on the geometry point 8 with coordinate (7.0, 4.25) which will display a box as indicated in Figure 6. Select Point Load load system B, click OK and enter 1.0 as x-value and 0.0 as y-value. These values are the input load of point force B. Click OK to close the window.
Input of material properties

In order to simulate the behaviour of the soil, a proper soil model and corresponding parameters must be applied to the geometry. In PLAXIS, soil properties are collected in material data sets and the various data sets are stored in a material database. From the database, a data set can be assigned to one or more clusters. For structures (like walls, plates, anchors, geogrids, etc.) the system is similar, but obviously different types of structures have different parameters and thus different types of data sets. PLAXIS distinguishes between material data sets for Soil 8 Computational Geotechnics
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Figure 6: Select window and Point load window & Interfaces, Plates, Anchors and Geogrids. The creation of material data sets is generally done after the input of boundary conditions. Before the mesh is generated, all material data sets should have been dened and all clusters and structures must have their appropriate data set. Table 1: Material properties of the clay layer and the concrete footing. Parameter Symbol Clay Concrete Unit Material model Model Mohr-Coulomb Linear elastic Type of behaviour Type Drained Non-porous Weight above phreatic level unsat 16.0 24.0 kN/m3 Weight below phreatic level sat 18.0 kN/m3 Youngs modulus Eref 5.0103 2.0107 kN/m2 Poissons ratio 0.35 0.15 Cohesion c 5.0 kN/m2 Friction angle 20 Dilatancy angle 0 The input of material data sets can be selected by means of the Material Sets button the toolbar or from the options available in the Materials menu. Create material data sets To create a material set for the clay layer, follow these steps: Select the Material Sets button on the toolbar. Click on the <New> button at the lower side of the Material Sets window. A new dialog box will appear with ve tabsheets: General, Parameters, Flow parameters, Interfaces and Initial (see gure 7). In the Material Set box of the General tabsheet, write Clay in the Identication box. Select Mohr-Coulomb from the Material model combo box and Drained from the Material type combo box. Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Enter the proper values for the weights in the General properties box according to the material properties listed in table 1 See also gure 8 and gure 9. In these gures the Advanced parameters part has been collapsed.
Figure 7: General tabsheet of the soil and interface data set window for Clay
Click on the Next button or click on the Parameters tabsheet to proceed with the input of model parameters. The parameters appearing on the Parameters tabsheet depend on the selected material model (in this case the Mohr-Coulomb model). Enter the model parameters of table 1 in the corresponding edit boxes of the Parameters tabsheet. The parameters in the Alternatives and Velocities group are automatically calculated from the parameters entered earlier. Since the geometry model does not include groundwater ow or interfaces, the third and fourth tabsheet can be skipped. Click on the OK button to conrm the input of the current material data set. Now the created data set will appear in the tree view of the Material Sets window.
For the concrete of the footing repeat the former procedure, but choose a Linear Elastic material behaviour and enter the properties for concrete as shown in table 1 (see also gures 9 and 10). 10 Computational Geotechnics
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Figure 8: Parameters tabsheet of the soil and interface data set window for Clay
Figure 9: General tabsheet of the soil and interface data set window for Concrete
Figure 10: Parameters tabsheet of the soil and interface data set window for Concrete Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Assigning material data sets to soil clusters Drag the data set Clay from the Material Sets window (select it and keep the left mouse button down while moving) to the soil cluster in the draw area and drop it there (release the left mouse button). Notice that the cursor changes shape to indicate whether or not it is possible to drop the data set. When a data set is properly assigned to a cluster, the cluster gets the corresponding colour. Drag the concrete material set to the footing and drop it there. Click on the OK button in the Material Sets window to close the database. Hint: PLAXIS distinguishes between a project database and a global database of material sets. Data sets may be exchanged from one project to another using the global database. In order to copy such an existing data set, click on the Show global button of the Material Sets window. Drag the appropriate data set (in this case Clay) from the tree view of the global database to the project database and drop it there. Now the global data set is available for the current project. Similarly, data sets created in the project database may be dragged and dropped in the global database. Existing data sets may be changed by opening the material sets window, selecting the data set to be changed from the tree view and clicking on the Edit button. As an alternative, the material sets window can be opened by double clicking a cluster and clicking on the Change button behind the Material set box in the properties window. A data set can now be assigned to the corresponding cluster by selecting it from the project database tree view and clicking on the OK button. The program performs a consistency check on the material parameters and will give a warning message in the case of a detected inconsistency in the data
Hints:
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Mesh generation When the geometry model is complete, the nite element model (mesh) can be generated. PLAXIS includes a fully automatic mesh generation procedure, in which the geometry is automatically divided into elements of the basic element type and compatible structural elements, if applicable. The mesh generation takes full account of the position of points and lines in the geometry model, so that the exact position of layers, loads and structures is reected by the nite element mesh. The generation process is based on a robust triangulation principle that searches for optimised triangles, which results in an unstructured mesh. This may look disorderly, but the numerical performance of such a mesh is usually better than for regular (structured) meshes. In addition to the mesh generation itself, a transformation of input data (properties, boundary conditions, material sets, etc.) from the geometry model (points, lines and clusters) to the nite element mesh (elements, nodes and stress points) is made. In order to generate the mesh, follow these steps: in the toolbar or select the Generate option from Click on the Generate mesh button the Mesh menu. After the generation of the mesh a new window is opened (PLAXIS Output window) in which the generated mesh is presented (see Figure 11). 12 Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Click on the Close button to return to the geometry input mode.
Figure 11: Generated nite element mesh of the geometry around the footing If necessary, the mesh can be optimised by performing global or local renements. Mesh renements are considered in some of the other exercises. Here it is suggested to accept the current nite element mesh. Hints: By default, the Global coarseness of the mesh is set to M edium, which is adequate as a rst approach in most cases. The Global coarseness setting can be changed in the M esh menu. In addition, there are options available to rene the mesh globally or locally. > At this stage of input it is still possible to modify parts of the geometry or to add geometry objects. In that case, obviously, the nite element mesh has to be regenerated.
Press the close button to close the output program and return to PLAXIS input. Creating the input for this project now nished. Press the green Calculation button on the toolbar to continue with the denition of the calculation phases.
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CALCULATION
After the nite element model has been created, the calculation phases need to be dened. This analysis consists of four phases. In the initial phase the initial pore pressures and stresses are generated, in the rst phase the footing is constructed, during the second phase the vertical load is applied and in the third phase the horizontal load is applied. When starting the PLAXIS Calculation program the Calculation mode window appears. In this window the user can choose how he wants PLAXIS to handle pore pressures during the calculation. This is important when calculating with undrained behaviour and/or groundwater ow. In this rst exercise this is not important and so the default setting of Classical mode is chosen. Press <OK> to close the Calculation mode window. PLAXIS now shows the General tabsheet of the initial phase (see Figure 12).
Figure 12: General tabsheet of the initial calculation phase
Initial phase (generation of initial conditions)

Before starting the construction of the footing the initial conditions must be generated. In general, the initial conditions comprise the initial groundwater conditions, the initial geometry conguration and the initial effective stress state. The clay layer in the current footing project is fully saturated with water, so groundwater conditions must be specied. On the other hand, the situation requires the generation of initial effective stresses. As we want to include the footing construction in the simulation process, the footing should not be present in the initial situation (prior to construction). In PLAXIS it is possible to switch off clusters in order to calculate correct initial effective stresses. The initial stresses in this example case are generated using the K0 -procedure. The initial conditions are entered in separate modes of the Input program. In order to generate the initial conditions properly, follow these steps: In the phase list select the initial phase 14 Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Make sure the Calculation type is set to K0 -procedure on the General tabsheet. This is the default setting. Go to the Parameters tabsheet by clicking the Parameters button or by directly selecting the tabsheet. On the Parameters tabsheet press the Dene button located in the Loading input box. This will start a window presenting the problem in Staged construction mode. In Staged construction mode it is possible to switch on and off various parts of the geometry, change loads, apply strains etc. In the initial condition of this exercise, that is the situation before we start constructing our project, the footing is not present. Therefore the footing has to be deactivated. In order to do so, click on the area that represents the footing so that it will change color from the material set color to white. The footing is now disabled. Click on Water conditions in the button bar in order to move to the Water conditions mode of the program. Select the Phreatic level button .
Position the cursor (appearing as a pen) at coordinate (0.0, 4.0) and click the left mouse button to start the phreatic level. Move along the x-axis to position (14.0, 4.0). Click the left mouse button to enter the second point of the phreatic level. Click the right mouse button to stop drawing. Press the Water pressures button to view the pore pressures.
The pore pressures are generated from the specied phreatic level and the water weight. Directly after the generation, a PLAXIS Output window is opened, showing the pore pressure as presented in Figure 13. The colors indicate the magnitude of pore pressure. The pore pressures vary hydrostatically, ranging from 0 kN/m2 at the top to -40 kN/m2 at the bottom. Close the output program in order to return to the input program. Click on Update in order to save the changes made and return to the PLAXIS Calculations program. This completes the denition of the initial conditions. Hints: For the generation of initial stresses based on the K0 procedure it is necessary to specify the coefcient of lateral earth pressure, K0 . This K0 value is dened per material set and therefore has to be set when entering material set data. If the K0 value is not explicitly set PLAXIS uses a value according to Jakys formula (K0 = 1-sin()). The K0 procedure may only be used for horizontally layered geometries with a horizontal ground surface and, if applicable, a horizontal phreatic level. 15
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Figure 13: Initial pore pressures
First calculation phase (construction of footing)

Click on the Next button . This will introduce a new calculation phase and present the corresponding tabsheets for the rst calculation stage. Enter a suitable name in the Number/ ID box (e.g. Construction of footing). Select the second tabsheet called Parameters. On this sheet Staged construction is selected by default in the Loading input combo box. Click the Dene button. This will open the window presenting the problem in Staged construction mode. Click on the cluster that represents the strip footing, in order to switch on the footing (original colour should reappear). Click on Update to conclude the denition of the rst calculation phase. Updating will automatically present the calculation window.
Second calculation phase (apply vertical load)

Click on the Next button . This will introduce a new calculation phase and present the corresponding tabsheets for the second calculation stage. Enter a suitable name in the Number/ ID box (e.g. apply vertical load). Select the Parameters tabsheet. On this tabsheet accept the selection Staged construction in the Loading input combo box. Click on the Dene button. This will open the window presenting the problem in Staged construction mode. Click on the point forces in the middle of the footing, a Select items window comes up. Select the Point load - Load System A to activate point load A and press the Change button to change the load value. Change the y-value to -50 kN/m and press the Ok button. 16 Computational Geotechnics
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Figure 14: Parameters tabsheet of the rst calculation phase The point load A is now active (blue) and has a load value of 50 kN/m. Press Update.
Figure 15: Select items window
Third calculation phase (add horizontal load)

Click on the Next button to add another phase. This will present the tabsheets for the third calculation stage. Enter a suitable name in the Number/ID box (e.g. apply horizontal load). Select the second tabsheet called Parameters. On this sheet accept the selection Staged construction in the Loading input combo box. Click on the Dene button. Click on the point forces in the middle of the footing, select the Point load - load system B to activate point load B and press the Change button to change the load value. Change the load x-value to 20 kN/m2 and press the Ok button. Press the Ok button to closed the Select items window. Press Update. Computational Geotechnics
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Fourth calculation phase (vertical load to failure)

Click on the Next button . This will present the tabsheets for the fourth calculation stage. Enter a suitable name in the Number/ID box (e.g. vertical load failure). Directly below the Number/ID box select from the Start from phase dropdown list the second calculation phase. By selecting this the 4th phase will be a continuation of the 2nd phase, hence we will continue to apply the vertical load without having the additional horizontal load that was applied in phase 3. Select the second tabsheet called Parameters. On this sheet choose the selection Total multipliers in the Loading input group box. Select the third tabsheet called Multipliers by either clicking on the Dene button or directly selecting the tabsheet. Enter a MloadA of 10. In this way the working force is increased to a maximum load of 10 x 50 = 500 kN/m. In PLAXIS two methods exist to increase an active load. The magnitude of the activated load is the input load multiplied by the total load multiplier. Hence, in this excersise MloadA x (input load of point load A) = Active load A The value of the input load A can be changed using Staged construction as Loading input while using Total multipliers as Loading input may be used to change the load multiplier.
Dene load displacement points

After the calculation it is possible to create load-displacement curves. These can be used to inspect the behaviour in a node during the calculation steps. In order to create loaddisplacement curves it is rst necessary to indicate for which node(s) the displacements should be traced. in the toolbar. This will result in a plot of Click on the Select points for curves button the mesh, showing all generated nodes. Click on the node, located in the centre directly underneath the footing. For a correct selection of this node it may be necessary to use the zoom option . After selection of the node it will be indicated as point A. Press the Update button to proceed to calculations.
Start the calculation

After denition of the last calculation phase, the calculation process is started by clicking the Calculation button . This will start the calculation. During the calculation a calculation window appears showing the status and some parameters of the current calculation phase.
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INSPECT OUTPUT
After each successful execution of a calculation phase PLAXIS will indicate the phase with a green check mark ( ). This indicates a successful calculation phase. If during execution either failure or an error occurs, PLAXIS marks the stage with a red cross ( ).
Figure 16: Calculation window with all phases calculated
that will start While phase 3 is highlighted, press the View calculation results button the output program, showing the deformed mesh for the situation with both horizontal and vertical load applied, as presented in gure 17.
Figure 17: Deformed mesh at the end of phase 3
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Check the various types of output, such as the deformed mesh, displacement contours, effective (principal) stresses etc. These can be found from the Deformations and Stresses menus. Still in the Output program, select from the dropdown list at the right of the toolbar the output step belonging to phase 4. From the Displacements menu in the Output program now select Incremental displacements and then the option |u|. Display the incremental displacements as contours or shadings. The plot clearly shows a failure mechanism (see Figure 18).
Figure 18: Shadings of displacement increments after phase 4
Load displacement curves

In the Output program, select the Curves manager from the Tools menu. The Curves manager has 2 tabsheets, one for the curves dened in this project (currently none) and one for the points selected to make load-displacement curves (currently 1 node that was pre-selected, that is before the calculation). In the Curves manager select the button New to dene a new curve. Now the Curve generation window opens. On the x-axis we want to plot the settlement of our chosen point in the middle of the footing. In the x-axis box choose point A from the dropdown list and then below in Deformations and then Total displacements choose |u|. On the y-axis we want to plot the force applied on the footing, which is a global value not connected to a specic node or stress point. In y-axis box choose Project from the dropdown list to indicate we want to plot a global value, and then in Multipliers choose MLoadA. 20 Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing Figure 19 shows the Curve generation window after applying the steps mentioned. Press OK to show the resulting curve. See also gure 20.
Figure 19: Curves generation window
Figure 20: Load displacement curve for the footing The input value of point load A is 50 kN/m and the load multiplier MloadA reaches approximately 4.6. Therefore the failure load is equal to 50 kN/m x 4.6 = 230 kN/m. You can inspect the load multiplier by moving the mouse cursor over the plotted line. A tooltip box will show up with the data of the current location.
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RESULTS DRAINED BEHAVIOUR

In addition to the mesh used in this exercise calculations were performed using a very coarse mesh with a local renement at the bottom of the footing and a very ne mesh. Fine meshes will normally give more accurate results than coarse meshes. In stead of rening the whole mesh, it is generally better to rene the most important parts of the mesh, in order to reduce computing time. Here we see that the differences are small (when considering 15-noded elements), which means that we are close to the exact solution. The accuracy of the 15noded element is superior to the 6-noded element, especially for the calculation of failure loads. Hint: In plane strain calculations, but even more signicant in axi-symmetric calculations, for failure loads, the use of 15-noded elements is recommended. The 6-noded elements are known to overestimate the failure load, but are ok for deformations at serviceability states. The results of ne/coarse and 6-noded/15-noded analyses are given below. Table 2: Results for the maximum load reached on a strip footing on the drained sub-soil for different 2D and 3D meshes Mesh size Element type 6-noded 6-noded 6-noded 15-noded 15-noded 15-noded Nr. of elements 79 121 1090 79 121 1090 Max. load [kN/m] 281 270 229 236 248 220 Failure load [kN/m2 ] 146 141 121 124 130 116 117 98 97
very coarse mesh with local renements under footing coarse mesh very ne mesh very coarse mesh with local renements under footing coarse mesh very ne mesh Analytical solutions of: - Vesic - Brinch Hansen - Meyerhof
In this table the failure load has been calculated as:

Qu B
M aximum f orce B
+ concrete d =
M aximum f orce 2
+6
From the above results it is clear that ne FE meshes give more accurate results. On the other hand the performance of the 15-noded elements is superior over the performance of the lower order 6-noded elements. Needless to say that computation times are also inuenced by the number and type of elements.
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ADDITIONAL EXERCISE: UNDRAINED FOOTING
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INTRODUCTION
When saturated soils are loaded rapidly, the soil body will behave in an undrained manner, i.e. excess pore pressures are being generated. In this exercise the special PLAXIS feature for the treatment of undrained soils is demonstrated.
In PLAXIS, one generally enters effective soil properties and this is retained in an undrained analysis. In order to make the behaviour undrained one has to select undrained as the Type of drainage. Please note that this is a special PLAXIS option as most other FE-codes require the input of undrained parameters e.g. Eu and u .
Aims
The understanding and application of undrained soil behaviour How to deal with excess pore pressures. A) Geometry input Use previous input le Save as new data le Change material properties, undrained behaviour for clay Mesh generation, global mesh renement B) Calculations Re-run existing calculation phases Construct footing Apply vertical force Apply horizontal force C) Inspect output Inspect excess pore pressures
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GEOMETRY INPUT
Use previous input le
Start PLAXIS by clicking on the icon of the Input program. Select the existing project le from the last exercise (drained footing). From the File menu select Save As and save the existing project under a new le name (e.g. exercise 1b)
Change material properties

Change material properties by selecting the item Soils & Interfaces from the Materials menu or click on the Material sets button . Select the clay from the Material sets tree view and click on the Edit button. On the rst tab sheet, General, change the Drainage type to "Undrained A" and close the data set.
Figure 21: Set drainage type to "Undrained A"
Mesh generation
The mesh generator in PLAXIS allows for several degrees of renement. In this example we use the Rene global option from the Mesh menu, which will re-generate the mesh, resulting in an increased number of nite elements to be distributed along the geometry lines. Notice the message that appears about staged being reconstructed: the program will take into account the newly generated mesh for the previously generated initial conditions and staged construction phases. From the output window, in which the mesh is shown, press the continue button to return to the Input program. Hint: After generation of a ner mesh, the geometry may be rened until a satisfactory result appears. Besides the option Rene global several other methods of renement can be used. 26 Computational Geotechnics
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Elastoplastic analysis of a footing After re-generation of the nite element mesh new nodes and stress points exists. Therefore PLAXIS has to regenerate pore water pressures and initial stresses. This is done automatically in the background when regenerating the mesh. Also, the new mesh is taken into account for any change to calculation phases with the exception of ground water ow analysis. After generating the mesh one can now continue to the calculation program. Click on the Caculations button to proceed to the calculations program. Click yes to save the data. Hint:
CALCULATIONS
Re-run existing calculation list
The calculation list from example 1 appears, as indicated below. All phases are indicated by (blue arrows). After mesh (re)generation, staged construction settings remain and phase information has been rewritten automatically for the newly generated mesh. However, this is not the case for points for load displacement curves due to the new numbering of the mesh nodes. Click on the Select points for curves button in the centre directly underneath in the toolbar. Reselect the node located
Click on the Calculate button to recalculate the analysis. Due to undrained behaviour of the soil there will be failure in the 3rd and 4th calculation phase.
INSPECT OUTPUT
As mentioned in the introduction of this example, the compressibility of water is taken into account by assigning undrained behaviour to the clay layer. This results normally, after loading, in excess pore pressures. The excess pore pressures may be viewed in the output window by selecting: Select in the calculation program the phase for which you would like to see output results. Start the output program from the calculation program by clicking the View output button Select from the Stresses menu the option Pore pressures and then pexcess , this results in Figure 22 . The excess pore pressures may be viewed as stress crosses ( ), contour lines ( ), .
) or as tabulated output ( ). If, in general, stresses are tensile stresses shadings ( the principal directions are drawn with arrow points. It can be seen that after phase 3 on the left side of the footing there are excess pore tensions due to the horizontal movement of the footing. The total pore pressures are visualised using the option of active pore pressures. These are the sum of the steady state pore pressures as generated from the phreatic level and the excess pore pressures as generated from undrained loading. Computational Geotechnics
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Figure 22: Excess pore pressures at the end of the 3rd phase Select from the Stresses menu the option Pore pressures and then pactive . The results are given in Figure 23. From the load displacement curve it can be seen that the failure load in the last phase is considerably lower for this undrained case compared to the drained situation, as expected. For the undrained case the failure load is approx. 70 kPa.
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Figure 23: Active pore pressures at the end of phase 3
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APPENDIX A: BEARING CAPACITY CALCULATION

Given the formula for bearing capacity of a strip footing:
Qf B
= c Nc + 1 B N 2 tan tan2 (45 + 1 Nq = e ) 2 Nc = ( N 1) cot q 2(Nq + 1) tan N = 1.5(Nq 1) tan (Nq 1) tan(1.4 )
Filling in given soil data: Nq = e tan(20) tan2 (55) = 6.4 Nc = (6 .4 1) cot(20) = 14.84 2(6.4 + 1) tan(20) = 5.39 N = 1.5(6.4 1) tan(20) = 2.95 (6.4 1) tan(28) = 2.97 The effective weight of the soil: = w 10 kN/m3 = 18 10 = 8 kN/m3 For a strip foundation this gives: 1 2 5 14.83 + 2 8 2 5.39 117 kN/m Qf = c Nc + 1 B N = 5 14.83 + 1 8 2 2.95 98 kN/m2 B 2 2 1 5 14.83 + 2 8 2 2.87 97 kN/m2
Qf L= B
III I II
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Non-linear calculations in PLAXIS
Non-linear calculations
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Content
Learning objectives Introduction Multipliers Iteration process Plastic points Recommendations
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Learningobjectives
To recognize the items in the calculation progress window To be able to evaluate the progress of a calculation To use the calculation control parameters appropriately To understand and explain the calculation procedure
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Introduction
Load multipliers
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Introduction
Load multipliers Miscellaneous parms
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Introduction
Load multipliers Miscellaneous parms Load-displ. curve
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Introduction
Load multipliers Miscellaneous parms Load-displ. curve Iteration process
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Introduction
Load multipliers Miscellaneous parms Load-displ. curve Iteration process Plastic points
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Loadmultipliers
Applied load = Load multiplier x Input load Defaults: Load multiplier = 1 Input load = 1 unit Loading input: Staged construction: Total multipliers: Incremental multipliers:
Change Input load Change Load multiplier (M) Change Load multiplier (M)
Total multiplier (phase) = Sum of incremental multipliers (step)

Non-linear calculations 9 / 27
Loadmultipliers
MdispX MdispY MloadA MloadB Maccel Msf Mstage : : : : : : : Tot. mult. prescribed x-displacements Tot. mult. prescribed y-displacements Tot. mult. loads system A Tot. mult. loads system B Tot. mult. soil & structural weights Tot. mult. pseudo-static acceleration Tot. mult. Phi-c reduction process Tot. mult. staged-construction process
Mweight :
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Loadmultipliers Incrementalmultipliersinput
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Loadmultipliers Totalmultipliersinput
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Miscellaneousparameters
PMax Marea Force-X Force-Y Stiffness Time Dynamic time : Maximum (excess) pore pressure in the model : Relative part of the mesh area currently active : Reaction force due to horizontal prescr. displ. : Reaction force due to vertical prescribed displ. : Current (relative) Stiffness Parameter : Elapsed model time (usually in days) : Elapsed model time for dynamics (s)
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Loaddisplacementcurve
Evaluation of calculation progress: Multipliers Stiffness (CSP) Pmax Load-displacement curve Iterations Global error Plastic points
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Iterationprocess
Calculation phase Load steps (q) Equilibrium iterations
constitutive model q displacement strain stress reaction Equilibrium?
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Iterationprocess
Load q Elastic stiffness (K)
qex
iterations
Non-linear behaviour
Unbalance Load step q qin
Settlement of Node A
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Iterationprocess
Current step Iteration Max. step Additional steps Maximum iterat. Tolerated error Control parameters Max. iterations
Unbalance Global error Tolerance
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Iterationprocess Controlparameters
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Iterationprocess Overrelaxation
Standard setting: Absolute maximum: Low s (<20): Recommendation: 1.2 q0+q 2.0 1.5 acceptable Do not change
q0
A B
Overrelaxation
A B A
u
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uo
Iterationprocess Arclengthcontrol
Standard setting: Active Purpose: ULS situations Problems: Sometimes spontaneous unloading Solution: Switch off (before ULS)
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Iterationprocess Arclengthcontrol
q P P q ++ 00
1 Pq 0 P0 0 K
Arc length control
P = I Pe Pc I = const.
uo
u
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Iterationprocess Desiredminimum/maximum
Standard setting: Des. min = 6 Des. max = 15 Purpose: Automatic load advancement
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Iterationprocess Desiredminimum/maximum
Converged within desired minimum number of iterations: Scaling up load step by a factor 2 Not converged within desired maximum number of iterations: Scaling down load step by a factor 2
Scaling up q Scaling up
Scaling down
u
Plasticpoints
- 1 Cap (HS, SS and SS-Creep model) Cap point Mohr-Coulomb failure surface Mohr-Coulomb point f<0 Shear hardening yield surface (HS model) Cap & Hardening point Hardening point -3 Apex point Tension point -1 -3
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Tension cut-off: Principal tensile stress is set to zero

80
Plasticpoints
Local error criterion:
Constitutive stress c: Stress that follows from the constitute model (Mohr- Coulomb) Equilibrium stress eq: Stress that is in equilibrium with the external load || c eq || Local Error || c ||
eq
Inaccurate point: Local error > Tolerated error
Convergence requirement: Inaccurate stress points 3 + (plastic soil points) /10 3 + (plastic interface points) /10 Inaccurate interface points
Recommendations
Use mostly defaults Monitor and evaluate calculation progress In case of bad convergence or numerical failure, check input Use output facilities to trace input errors In case input is right, consider control parameters Dont change control parameters without understanding consequences! Dont increase tolerated error to speed up convergence!
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Hardening Soil Model

William Cheang Notes by: Professor Helmut Schweiger ( TU Graz) Professor Pieter Vermeer A/Professor Tan Siew Ann (NUS)
83
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
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89
LINES OF EQUAL SHEAR STRAINS (Tatsuoka & Ishihara, 1974)
90
Do you need plasticity when unloading (back into the yield locus)? Yes..if the accumulation plastic volumetric strains are important in cyclically loaded soils..dynamic liquefaction related boundary value problems
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Surface Heave in Initial Exc./Cantilever Wall

3 m deep excavation with cantilever wall 20kPa 5m 3m 7m Dry sandy material FSP III sheetpile
3 analyses with Mohr Coulomb, Hardening Soil & Hardening Soil-Small models using equivalent soil input parameters Compare ground movements, wall displacements & wall stability
Soil Input Parameters for 3 Analyses

Parameters for soil strength & initial stress state
Analyses Material Model 1 2 3 MC HS HSsmall
3
c'
' (Deg) 35 35 35
(kN/m ) (kPa) 20 5 20 5 20 5
(or ur) [-] 0.3 0.2 0.2
[-] 0.426 0.426 0.426
Rinter
0.67 0.67 0.67
Parameters for soil stiffness prior to failure

Analyses Material Model 1 2 3 MC HS HSsmall Eref (or E50ref or Eoedref) (MPa) 30 30 30 Eurref (MPa) 90 90 pref (kPa) 100 100 m [-] 0.5 0.5 G0 (MPa) 150 0.7 [-] 210-5
For derivation of soil stiffness parameters, - HS model from standard drained triaxial compression tests - HSsmall model from small-strain triaxial tests or field tests (e.g. downhole / crosshole seismic survey)
112
Pre-failure Stress-strain Behaviour

1: Mohr Coulomb
1: Linear elastic, perfectly plastic 2: Hyperbolic stress-strain curve (stiffness degradation for > 1E-4) 3: Non-linear stiffness from very small strains (1E-6)
3:Hardening Soil + Small Strain Overlay
2: Hardening Soil
1e-6
1e-5
1e-4
1e-3
1e-2
1e-1
Predicted Surface Settlement Behind Wall

Distance behind wall (m) 0 0.006 0.004 0.002 Settlement (m) 0.000 -0.002 -0.004 -0.006 -0.008 -0.010 5 10 15 20 25 30
Heave
Settlement
MC HS HSsmall
MC predicts unrealistic surface heave 4 mm HS & HSsmall predict max. surface settlement 9 mm
113
Predicted Heave at Exc. Level in Cofferdam

Distance in front of wall (m) -5 0.025 0.020 0.015 Heave (m) 0.010 0.005 0.000 -0.005 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2
MC
Wall
HS HSsmall
MC predicts 20 mm heave at cofferdam centreline HS & HSsmall predict 11 mm & 8 mm respectively
Predicted Wall Resultant Displacement

MC
Ux=6mm
HS
Ux=11mm
HSsmall
Ux=10mm
Ux: wall horizontal displacement
114
Predicted Stability of Wall

3 2.5 2 1.5 FOS=2.8
MC
Rotation mechanism with FOS 2.8
3 2.5 2 1.5
FOS=2.8
HS Phi-c' reduction for predicting FOS

FOS=2.8
3 2.5 2 1.5
FSP III sheetpile properties: EI=34440 kNm2/m; EA=3.92106kN/m Mp=369 kNm/m; Np=3575 kN/m
HSsmall
Summary of Predictions
Analyses MC HS HSsmall Surface settlement behind wall Heave 4 mm (not OK) Settle 9 mm Settle 9 mm Heave at excavation level Heave 20 mm Heave 11 mm Heave 8 mm Wall horizontal displacement 6 mm 11 mm 10 mm FOS for wall stability 2.8 2.8 2.8
MC predicts incorrect surface heave behind wall - related to soil stiffness (E) prior to failure different ways of modelling E in 3 constitutive models Stability of wall has FOS = 2.8 for 3 analyses - related to soil shear strength all 3 constitutive models use Mohr Coulomb failure criterion with c'=5 kPa & '=35
115
Variation of Soil Stiffness in Excavation

A. Soil stiffness is not constant and varies with 1. stress-level. Higher stress, higher stiffness 2. strain-level. Higher strain (or displacement), lower stiffness 3. stress-path (recent soil stress history). Rotation of stress path, higher soil stiffness 4. anisotropy, destructuration B. During excavation, soil elements at different locations experience different changes in 1. stress, 2. strain 3. stress-path direction
Soil Stress Paths Near Excavation

GCO No.1/90
A: unloading compression; B: unloading extension Rotation of stress paths at A & B
116
Soil Stress Paths Near Excavation

20kPa
25
20kPa Failure line
3m
20 15
K0 Exc. Exc.
A B
B
t (kPa)
10
7m
5 0
K0
20kPa
5m
-5 -10 -15 0 10 20 30 s' (kPa) 40 50 60
A: unloading compression B: unloading extension
Failure line
Rotation of stress path at A, A 90 w.r.t. K0 direction Rotation of stress path at B, B 160 w.r.t. K0 direction
Stress Path Dependent Soil Stiffness

Shear modulus, 3G (MPa) Stress path rotation, t =0 =180 K0 =90 s'
Atkinson et al. (1990) Triaxial tests on London Clay
Shear strain (%) -1 -0.1 -0.01 0.01 0.1 1 =0, no change in stress path direction =180, full reversal of stress path direction
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Stress Path Dependent CDG Stiffness

Stress-level Test series
Extension
Compress
Compression
Extension
=90 Wang & Ng (2005) At s 0.01%, shear stiffness in extension 60% higher than in compression
Why MC Predicts Incorrect Surface Heave?

MC models a constant soil stiffness prior to failure not realistic In reality, stiffness of soil elements near excavation varies according to
1. stress-level 2. strain-level 3. direction of stress-path Realistic prediction of wall deflections & ground settlements in all excavation stages requires a constitutive model that considers above factors, e.g. HS & HSsmall models HS & HSsmall consider the interplay between factors (1), (2) & (3) in determining the operational soil stiffness (E), i.e. E is changing during excavation
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APPENDIX
73
Hardening Soil (HS)

Characteristics: 1. Stress-dependent stiffness behaviour according to a power law 2. Hyperbolic Stress-strain relationship 3. Deviatoric hardening 4. Volumetric hardening 5. Elastic unloading / reloading 6. Failure behaviour according to the Mohr-Coulomb criterion 7. Small-strain stiffness (HS-small model only)
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1.Hardening Soil model

Hyperbolic stress-strain relationship in (tri)axial loading: (Duncan-Chang model)
1 1 / E0 1 / qult q / E0 1 q / qult
q qult E0 Eur Rf qult
E0 = initial stiffness qult = asymptotic value of q (related to strength) Rf = failure ratio (standard value 0.9)
2.Hardening Soil model

Hyperbolic stress-strain relationship in (tri)axial loading:
R f qult
2c cos 2 '3 sin 1 sin

ref 0
'3 E0 E p ref ref '3 Eur Eur ref p
pref = 100 kPa (1 bar)

Unloading / reloading
120
3.Shear hardening in the HS model

Elastoplastic formulation of hyperbolic q-1 relationship: Yield function:
f fric f * p
(non-associated)
f*
1 q 2q E50 1 q qa Eur
2 1p vp
ref ur
E50 E
ref 50
c cot ' '3 c cot ' p ref
Eur E
c cot ' '3 c cot ' p ref

(MC failure)
1 ff 1 2 ( 3 1 ) 2 ( 3 1 ) sin 'c cos '

Elastoplastic formulation of hyperbolic q-1 relationship: Yield function:
f fric f * p
(non-associated)
f*
1 q 2q E50 1 q qa Eur
2 1p vp
E50 E
ref 50
c cos ' '3 sin ' c cos ' p ref sin '
Eur E
ref ur
c cos ' ' 3 sin ' c cos ' p ref sin '
(MC failure)
1 ff 1 2 ( 3 1 ) 2 ( 3 1 ) sin 'c cos '
121

Elastoplastic formulation of hyperbolic q-1 relationship:
Elastic
MC failure line 3p,fric 2p,fric 1p,fric
MC failure line
plastic

Flow rule:
d vp , fric d
p , fric
sin m with:
sin m sin m sin cv 1 sin m sin cv
MC failure line 3p,fric 2p,fric 1

p,fric
sin cv
sin m
sin ' sin 1 sin ' sin
'1 '3 '1 '3 2c cot '
122

Flow rule:
d vp , fric d
p , fric
sin m with:
sin m sin m sin cv 1 sin m sin cv
MC failure line m>0 cv
sin cv
Note:
m<0 (in principle)
sin ' sin 1 sin ' sin
m < 0 is not taken into account
8.Compaction hardening in the HS model q

MC failure line Yield function (associated):
f cap
q2
p 2 pc2
Hardening rule:
vp ,cap
ref 1 m p
nc
pc
1 m
pc
Cap
fc = 0
is determined by K0
c
m
pc
is determined by Eoed
c cot ' '1 ref Eoed Eoed ref c cot ' p
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9.Compaction and Shear hardening in the HS model

Cap
Cone
10.Compaction and Shear hardening in the HS model-Summary

Relevance of Compaction hardening: Plastic compaction in primary loading Distinction between primary loading and unloading/reloading Relevance of Shear Hardening: Decreasing stiffness (increasing plastic shear strains) in deviatoric stress paths (principal stress differences, shearing)
124
11.Small-strain stiffness in the HS model (HSsmall)

Strain(path)-dependent elastic overlay model:
Gs G0 1 0.385 / 0.7
Gt
1 0.385 / 0.7 2
G0
Gur
Gur
G starts again at G0
after full strain reversal

Gt Gs +c G0 G0
Cyclic loading leads to Hysteresis Energy dissipation Damping
G0 -c
125
G0
0.7
Gt
Gs
Gur

Relevance of small-strain stiffness: Very stiff behaviour at very small strains (vibrations) Reduction of stiffness with increasing strain; restart after load reversal Hysteresis in cyclic loading: Energy dissipation Damping Also relevant for applications like: Excavations (settlement trough behind retaining wall) Tunnels (settlement trough above tunnel)
126
Parameters of the HS(small) model

Parameters:
0.7 ur c
E50ref Eoedref Eurref G0ref m pref
Rf K0nc
Secant stiffness from triaxial test at reference pressure Tangent stiffness from oedometer test at pref Reference stiffness in unloading / reloading Reference shear stiffness at small strains (HSsmall only) Shear strain at which G has reduced to 70% (HSsmall only) Rate of stress dependency in stiffness behaviour Reference pressure (100 kPa) Poissons ratio in unloading / reloading Cohesion Friction angle Dilatancy angle Failure ratio qf /qa like in Duncan-Chang model (0.9) Stress ratio xx/yy in 1D primary compression
Parameters of the HS model

Parameters:
q qult
(, c)
3=pref
E50ref Eurref qf=Rf qult 0.5 qf
c 1=pref
1 Eoedref
Triaxial test
Oedometer test
127

Eoed [MPa] for NC-soils and = 100 kPa
105
rock
After Janbu (1963)
104
Janbu :
103
sandy gravel sand Norwegian clays Mexico City Clay

0 50 100
102
Eoed Eref oed pref

more general:
10
Eoed E
ref oed
a p a ref
0.1
with a = c cot
porosity n [%]
For normally consolidated clays (m=1):

ref Eoed 1 2 ref E50
Order of magnitude (very rough) Correlation with Ip for pref=100 kPa Correlation by Vermeer
ref Eoed
50000 kPa Ip
ref Eoed
500 kPa wL 0.1
ref Eoed p ref *
Relationship with Soft Soil model
128
For sands (m0.5):

ref ref Eoed E50
Order of magnitude by Schanz Correlation by Lengkeek for pref=100 kPa
ref Eoed RD 60 MPa
For sands (m0.5):
Schanz (1998)
129
Eur , G0 and 0.7

ref ref Eur (3 to 5) E50
ref 0
(2.5 to10)G
ref ur
where
ref ur
ref Eur 2(1 ur )
0.7 (1 to 2) 10 4
Vucevic & Dobry, 1991
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Initial conditions for the HS model
Initial pre-consolidation stress pc based on c:
yy0 c
Over-Consolidation Ratio: OCR = c /yy0
yy0 c
Pre-Overburden Pressure: POP = c -yy0
Initial stresses:
yy c Prestress
yy0 follows from soil weight and pore pressure

Initial CAP
POP
yy0
xx0 = K0 yy0
K 0nc '0 yy POP K0
1 ur Initial stress 1
K0nc
ur
ur POP 1 ur
'0 yy
1 ur
xx0
xx
K 0 OCR K 0nc
ur
OCR 1
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Initial stresses: q MC failure line K0nc line
pc
Cap p0, q0
peq0 pc,0 p
Output:
' OCR ' OCRiso

p eq
pc p eq
p'
q2 / 2
Comparison HS model and MC model

Stress-strain development in different stress paths: Hardening-Soil model: E50ref 25000 kPa Eoedref 25000 kPa Eurref 75000 kPa pref 100 kPa m 0.5 ur 0.2 c 0.1 kPa 35 5 Rf 0.9 K0nc 0.426 Mohr-Coulomb model:
25000 kPa 0.30 0.1 kPa 35 5
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Isotropic compression test:
Custom 1000 900 800 700
MC HS.vlt
p' [kN/m]
600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06

Drained triaxial test at 3=100 kPa :
E1DS
MC HS.vlt
200
| 1 - | [kN/m] 3
100
0 0 -0.01 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04
-0.05
-0.06
-0.07
-0.08
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Drained triaxial test at 3=100 kPa :
Custom 0.009 0.006 0.003 0 -0.003 0 -0.01 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04 -0.05 -0.06 -0.07 -0.08
MC HS.vlt

Undrained triaxial test at 3=100 kPa :
E1DS 500
MC HS.vlt
400
| 1 - | [kN/m] 3
300
200
100
0 0 -0.01 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04
-0.05
-0.06
-0.07
-0.08
134

Drained / undrained triaxial test at 3=100 kPa :
E1DS 500
400
MC(u) HS(u).vlt MC.vlt HS.vlt
| 1 - | [kN/m] 3
300
200
100
0 0 -0.01 -0.02 -0.03 -0.04
-0.05
-0.06
-0.07
-0.08

Drained / undrained triaxial test at 3=100 kPa :
PQ 500
400
MC(u) HS(u).vlt MC.vlt HS.vlt
q [kN/m]
300
200
100
0 0 -100 -200 -300
p' [kN/m]
135

One-dimensional compression test (oedometer):
Custom 1000 900 800 700
MC HS.vlt
' 1 [kN/m]
600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 0.005 0.01 0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03

S3S1 -1100
One-dimensional compression test (oedometer):
-1000
MC HS.vlt
-900
-800
-700
' 1 [kN/m]
-600
-500
-400
-300
-200
-100
0 0
' 3 [kN/m]
-200
-400
136

One-dimensional compression test (oedometer): Stress state after unloading HS MC
Hardening Soil model

Possibilities and advantages compared to Mohr-Coulomb:
Better non-linear formulation of soil behaviour in general (both soft soils and harder types of soil) Distinction between primary loading and unloading / reloading Memory of preconsolidation stress Different stiffnesses for different stress paths based on standard tests Well suited for unloading situations with simultaneous deviatoric loading (excavations) Large stiffness at small strain levels (vibrations) (HSsmall only)
137

Limitations and disadvantages:
No peak strength and softening (immediate residual strength) No secondary compression (Creep) No anisotropy E50 / Eoed > 2 difficult to input
Which model in which situation?

Soft soil (NC-clay, peat) Hard soils (OC-clay, sand, gravel) HS HSsmall HS HSsmall Primary load Soft Soil (Crp), HS HSsmall HS HSsmall
Unloading + deviatoric load (excavation)
Deviatoric loading
Soft Soil (Crp) HS HSsmall Soft Soil Creep
HS HSsmall n/a
Secondary compression
138
Examples of parameter selection

ESTIMATING INPUT PARAMETERS, HS MODEL Triaxial test results, Shaoli (2004) Dense Hokksund sand at 40 kPa, n = 35.9% (initial) 39.6% (end of test)
dense 40
D e v ia t o r ic s t r e s s , q [ k P a ]
200 150
dense 40
100 50
ref E50 E50
pref a
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 Axial strain [%]
'x a
100kPa 32MPa 40kPa
20000kPa

ESTIMATING INPUT PARAMETERS, HS MODEL Triaxial test results, Shaoli (2004) Dense Hokksund sand at 40 kPa, n = 35.9% (initial) 39.6% (end of test)
Dense 40
Axial strain [%] -4 Volumetric strain, [%] -3 -2 -1 0 1 0 1
1-sin 2sin
2 3 4 5
Dense 40
1 sin 5 1.2 2 sin 4.2

sin 0.29
17
139

ESTIMATING INPUT PARAMETERS, HS MODEL Oedometer test dense Hokksund sand, n = 39% , (Moen, 1975) Loading:
Test data
0 -0,2 Vertical strain [%] -0,4 -0,6 -0,8 -1 -1,2 -1,4 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Vertical effective stress [kPa]
Test data
ref Eoed Eoed
1 ' a
pa ' a
ref Eoed Eoed
1 ' a
pa ' a
850kPa 100kPa 53MPa 0.008 400kPa

850kPa 100 215MPa 0.0028 200
Unloading: Eur oed
ref Eur Eur
3 ' a
pa ' a
ref Eur Eur oed
3 ' a
pa ' a

HS Material parameters for dense Hokksund sand from fitting PLAXIS results to experimental data:
=0 pw = 0
E50ref = 35 MPa (estimated 32 MPa) Eoedref = 45 MPa (estimated 53 MPa) Eurref = 180 MPa (estimated 215 MPa) m = 0.6 c = 1 kPa = 430 = 180 Triaxial tests by Shaoli (2004) K0NC = 0.4 ur = 0.2
Axial symmetry
140

Triaxial test results and PLAXIS simulation, Dense Hokksund sand at 40 kPa, n = 35.9% (initial) 39.6% (end of test)
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Axial strain [%]
Plaxis 40 dense 40

Triaxial test results and PLAXIS simulation, Dense Hokksund sand at 40 kPa, n = 35.9% (initial) 39.6% (end of test)
Axial strain [%] -4 Volumetric strain, [%] -3,5 -3 -2,5 -2 -1,5 -1 -0,50,00 0 0,5 1 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00
from PLAXIS 40 Dense 40
Deviatoric stress, q [kPa]
141

Oedometer test and PLAXIS simulation dense Hokksund sand, n = 39% , (Tore Ingar Moen, 1975)
0 Vertical strain [%] -0,2 -0,4 -0,6 -0,8 -1 -1,2 -1,4 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Vertical effective stress [kPa]
Test data Plaxis
142
Simulation of laboratory tests
SIMULATION OF LABORATORY TESTS
143
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INTRODUCTION
In daily engineering practice soil parameters are obtained from one or more laboratory tests. In order to perform the best possible Plaxis calculation these soil parameters have to be translated into input parameters for the constitutive model used, taking into account the possibilities and limitations of the constitutive model. Most parameters for the constitutive models used in Plaxis can be determined directly from standard laboratory tests as triaxial tests and oedometer tests. However, due to the complexity of the models it is recommended to not simply accept the parameters determined from those tests, but to actually model the tests and see if the parameters found actually give a proper representation of the real laboratory test results within the limits of the constitutive models. For this purpose the SoilTest module is available in Plaxis with which in a simple manner laboratory tests can be simulated without the need for making a nite element model. In this exercise the SoilTest tool will be used for the simulation of both oedometer and triaxial tests on sand and clay.
CONTENT
Simulation of laboratory tests Laboratory tests on Sand Laboratory tests on Clay Appendix A: Parameter determination Appendix B: Introduction to the SoilTest tool How to model an oedometer test How to model a triaxial test
SIMULATION OF LABORATORY TESTS

In this exercise results from oedometer and triaxial tests are presented for two different materials and the aim is to determine the parameters for the Hardening Soil model such that a simulation of the tests within Plaxis gives the best possible results compared to the original laboratory tests. In short: 1. Determine soil parameters based on given real laboratory tests results 2. Perform the laboratory tests using SoilTest with the parameters found 3. Match SoilTest results with the original laboratory results to nd the best matching model parameters for the Hardening Soil model.
Exercise 1: Laboratory tests on sand

Parameter determination On a sample of dense sand both oedometer tests and triaxial tests have been performed. The results of those tests are given in the gures below. Use these gures to determine the parameters for the Hardening Soil model and collect the parameters in Table 1 (see below the gures). Note that it is possible that some parameters cannot be determined with the given laboratory results, in which case these parameters have to be estimated. Computational Geotechnics
145
Figure 1: Oedometer test results on sand
Figure 2: Development of horizontal and vertical stress in oedometer test 4 Computational Geotechnics
146
Figure 3: Triaxial test unloading-reloading (cell pressure = 100 kPa)
Figure 4: Axial vs. volume strain in drained triaxial test
147
Simulation of laboratory tests Collect the soil parameters in table 1: Table 1: Hardening Soil Parameters of the sand Parameter Unit Value
ref E50 ref Eoed ref Eur pref ur c m NC K0
[kPa] [kPa] [kPa] [kPa] [-] [kPa] [o ] [o ] [-] [-]
With these data perform a triaxial test in the SoilTest program.
148
Exercise 2: Laboratory tests on clay
Figure 5: Oedometer test on Clay
Figure 6: Undrained triaxial (CU) tests at cell pressures of 100 kPa and 400 kPa Computational Geotechnics
149
Figure 7: Undrained triaxial (CU) test at cell pressure of 100 kPa Collect the soil parameters in table 2: Table 2: Hardening Soil Parameters of the clay Parameter Unit Value
With these data perform an oedeometer test in the SoilTest program.
150
APPENDIX A: PARAMETER DETERMINATION

SAND
First we determine parameters from the triaxial test data.
Figure 8: Determine stiffness parameters from drained triaxial test Cohesion and friction angle For a cell pressure 3 = 100 kPa a maximum value of approximately |1 3 | = 400 kPa is reached at failure. The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterium is:
1 2 |1
3 | + 1 2 (1 + 3 ) sin c cos = 0
Considering it is sand we assume that the cohesion is zero and so the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterium reduces to:
|1 3 | (1 +3 )
= sin
Filling in 3 = 100 kPa and 1 = 500 kPa as obtained from the test we nd for the friction angle = 420 Reference stiffness from triaxial test The triaxial test stiffness E50 is the secant stiffness over the rst 50% of the failure value for | 1 3 |. This is indicated in red in the triaxial test graph of gure 8.
3 E50
=100 kP a
400 0.013
= 30800 kP a
151
Simulation of laboratory tests The triaxial test stiffness ,E 50 , is within the Hardening Soil model dened as:
ref E50 = E50 c cos3 sin c cos+pref sin m ref 3 pref , c = 0 E50 = E50 m
The reference stress pref is chosen equal to the cell pressure of this triaxial test then
ref 3 = E50 E50 =100 kP a
30000 kPa
Reference unloading-reloading stiffness Similar to the determination of the reference stiffness for triaxial testing the reference unloading-reloading stiffness can be determined. In the triaxial test results an unloading-reloading cycle is done for this. The Hardening Soil model does not have unloading-reloading behaviour with hysteresis but simple non-linear elastic unloadingreloading behaviour. Therefore a secant value is taken for the unloading-reloading behaviour, as given with the green line in the triaxial test results.
=100 kP a 400 0.0260.021
3 Eur
= 80000 kPa
Under the same assumptions as for the stiffness in triaxial testing counts:
ref 3 Eur = Eur =100 kP a
But this is a bit low value for the unloading reloading stiffness and so
ref = 90000 kPa Eur
is chosen
Dilatancy angle From the plot of axial strain versus volume strain the dilatancy angle can be determined according to
v 21 +v
sin =
See gure 9 for details. With v = 0.048-0.004 = 0.044 and 1 = -0.09-(-0.03) = -0.06 the dilatancy can be calculated as =16o Note: The Poissons ratio needed for the Hardening Soil model cannot be determined from this graph as this graph represents an oedometer test in primary loading and the Poissons ratio needed is an unloading-reloading Poissons ratio. An acceptable value for the unloading-reloading Poissons ratio is ur = 0.2. 10 Computational Geotechnics
152
Figure 9: Determination of diltancy angle from drained triaxial test
Oedometer stiffness and power of stress dependent stiffness From the oedeometer test results we determine the stiffness Eoed for vertical stresses y = 100 kPa en y = 200 kPa, see gure 10. Note that Eoed is a tangent stiffness. Make sure to use the primary loading part of the oedometer test results.
=100 kP a
y Eoed y Eoed
= =
3200 1.4%0.33% = 4000 1.4%0.47% =
29900 kPa 43000 kPa
=200 kP a
Within the Hardening Soil model the stress dependent oedometer stiffness is dened as:
c cosy sin c cos+pref sin m m
ref Eoed = Eoed
ref y , c = 0 Eoed = Eoed pref
Choosing the reference pressure pref = 100 kPa gives

ref 3 Eoed = Eoed =100 kP a
30000 kPa
The power m for stress dependent stiffness can now be determined as:
=200 kP a
y Eoed ref Eoed
y pref
43000 30000
200 m 100
m = 0.5
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11
Figure 10: Determination of oedometer stiffness and power of stress dependency
K0 value for normal consolidation
NC The K0 value for normal consolidation (K0 )can only be obtained if measurements for horizontal stresses have been performed during the oedometer test. If so, results as given in gure 11 may be obtained. From the primary loading line can be obtained that
NC K0 =
x y
3 1
100 300
= 0.33
Alternatively one can use Jakis formula
NC K0 1 sin = 1 sin(42o ) = 0.33
12
154
Figure 11: Horizontal/vertical stress ratio during oedometer test
Note on unloading-reloading stiffness If no triaxial test with unloading-reloading is available the unloading-reloading stiffness can also be determined from an oedometer test with unloading. However, the unloading-reloading stiffness required for the Hardening Soil model is stress dependent on 3 while the oedometer test results presented in gure 10 give the strain vs the vertical stress y (= 1 voor oedometer testing).
=100 kP a
NC =100/K0 kP a
3 Eur
1 = Eur
1 = Eur
=300 kP a
400 1.28%0.91%
= 108000 kPa
With pref = 100 kPa (pref refers to 3 !) it follows that

ref 3 Eur = Eur =100 kP a
110000 kPa
This is a bit high and so a value of
ref = 90000 Eur
kPa is chosen.
Table 3: Summary of Hardening Soil Parameters for the sand Parameter Unit Value
30,000 30,000 90,000 100 0.2 0 42 16 0.5 0.33 13

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CLAY
Cohesion and friction angle We start with the determination of the strength parameters based on the CU triaxial tests.
Figure 12: Determination of soil strength parameters for clay The black dotted lines is the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterium in the p-q plane. In principal stresses the MohrCoulomb failure criterium is dened as:
|1 3 | 2
1 +3 2
sin c cos = 0
With p = (1 + 23 )/3 and q = 1 3 under triaxial test conditions this can be rewritten as:
q 2
2p + 1 3q 2
sin c cos = 0 q =
6sin 3sin p
6c cos 3sin
Hence, the slope M of the Mohr-Coulomb line in p-q plane is dened as: M=
6sin 3sin
195 200
= 250
From the intersection between Mohr-Coulomb line and the vertical axis where p=0 the cohesion can be determined: q=
6c cos 3sin
= 0 c = 0 kPa
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Simulation of laboratory tests Reference oedometer and unloading-reloading stiffness From the results of the oedometer test the oedometer stiffness as well as the unloading-reloading stiffness can be determined. As the graph is given on logarithmic scale one cannot simply draw a tangent line as was done for the oedometer test on sand.
Figure 13: Determination of oedometer and unloading/reloading stiffness Considering that both primary loading and unloading/reloading paths are straight lines in the log(p)-v graph, hence they have a relation of the form: y = v = A log (y ) A=
2 1 0.3700.270 log (2 )log (1 ) = log (120)log (30)
=0.166
In order to determine the stiffness we calculate the derivative of the strain over the stress and change to natural logarithm: y = v = A
dy dy ln(y ) ln(10)
=A
1 ln(10)
1 y
E=
dy dy
ln(10) A
The E modulus found is the oedometer stiffness can be rewrittens as: E = Eoed =
ln(10) A
y pref pref
In the Hardening Soil model the oedometer stiffness is dened as (assuming c = 0) :

ref Eoed = Eoed y pref m
Hence:
ref Eoed = ln(10) A
pref and m=1
If we choose pref = 100 kPa and with the previously determined A = 0.166 we get: Computational Geotechnics
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15
ref Eoed =
ln(10) A
pref =
2.3 0.166
100 = 1.4 MPa.
The determination of the unloading-reloading stiffness follows the same method: y = v = B log (y ) B=
2 1 0.4270418 log (2 )log (1 ) = log (120)log (30) dy dy
=0.0149
Eur =
ln(10) B
However, the Eur in the Hardening Soil model is dependent on the smallest principal stress, which is x in an oedeometer test and not y . During the unloading process there is no linear relation between horizontal and vertical stress, as in the beginning of unloading y > x where as after much unloading y < x . Therefore the assumption is made that during unloading on average x = y . Eur =
ln(10) B
y =
ln(10) B
x =
ln(10) B
pref
x pref
With the denition of Eur in the Hardening Soil model of

ref x Eur = Eur pref m
ref Follows, in a similar way as for the Eoed , that ln(10) B 2.3 0.0149
ref Eur =
pref =
100 =15 MPa and m = 1
Stiffness from triaxial test As only undrained triaxial test data is available it is only possible to determine an undrained E50 and not an effective E50 . Therefore the only solution is to estimate the E50 with several runs of the SoilTest program using different input values for the reference E50 until the best t for the undrained triaxial test data is found. Typically for normally consolidated clays the effective reference E50 is in the range of 2-5 times the effective reference ref Eoed , hence this can be used as a start value for the estimation procedure. By doing so a value E50 3.5 MPa of is found. K0 value for normal consolidation The K0-value for normal consolidation can only be obtained if measurements for horizontal stresses have been performed during the oedometer test. As this is not the case here we can only use the estimation according to Jakys rule:
NC 1 sin = 1 sin(250 ) =0.58 K0
Poissons ratio The Poissons ratio for unloading and reloading is again estimated as ur = 0.2 16 Computational Geotechnics
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Table 4: Summary of Hardening Soil Parameters for the clay Parameter Unit Value
3,500 1,400 15,000 100 0.2 0 25 0 1.0 0.58
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APPENDIX B: INTRODUCTION TO THE SOILTEST TOOL

For the simulation of laboratory tests Plaxis offers the SoilTest tool based on a single stress point calculation that makes it possible to do fast simulations without the need for a nite element mesh. The SoilTest tool can be called from within the material sets database or from within the denition of a material set. (see gure ).
Figure 14: The SoilTest tool In the following paragraphs a step-by-step description is given on how to model both an oedometer test and a triaxial test with the help of many screen shots of the SoilTest tool. Please note that any parameters given on those screen shots have no relation with the actual exercise and are solely for illustrating the possibilities of the SoilTest tool.
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How to model an oedometer test

In order to model an oedometer test rst the material data set has to be created. After doing so, press the <SoilTest> button to start the SoilTest tool. The window that opens is show in gure .
Figure 15: Main window of the SoilTest tool
In the main window select the Oedometer tabsheet and set the parameters as indicated in Figure .
Figure 16: Setting the oedometer test parameters
After the the oedometer test has been calculating graphs with results appear at the bottom of the SoilTest window. The user can double-click these graphs to view them in separate windows. Furthermore, custom charts can be added, see gure 4. 20 Computational Geotechnics
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Figure 17: Inspect oedometer test results
How to model a triaxial test

From the material database or the material set denition window press the <SoilTest> button to start the SoilTest tool. In the main window choose the tabsheet Triaxial and set the type of test as well as the test parameters as shown in gure
Figure 18: Dening a triaxial test After the triaxial test has been calculated graphs with results appear at the bottom of the SoilTest window. As described above for the oedometer test, the user can double-click this graphs to view them in separate windows as well as add custom charts. Computational Geotechnics
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21
Simulation of laboratory tests Modelling a triaxial test with unloading/reloading The standard functionality in SoilTest for simulation of a triaxial test does not allow for an intermediate unloadingreloading path. However, the SoilTest functionality contains a General option with which soil test can be dened in terms of boundary stresses or strains on all sides of a soil test cube. Hereafter it will be shown how this can be used for the simulation of a triaxial test with unloading/reloading path. After opening the SoilTest option from the material set denition window the tabsheet General should be chosen. On this tabsheet a list of calculation phases can be dened where stress or strain increments can be applied. Initial phase First of all we have to specify whether stresses or strains will be applied on the boundaries during the test. For this exercise stresses will be applied. Now the values of the initial stresses on the soil sample have to specied. For a triaxial test the initial stresses are the cell pressures acting on the soil, hence for xx , yy and zz the cell pressure has to entered. The cell pressure is a water pressure and so there will be no shear stress acting on the soil: xy = 0. See gure for details.
Figure 19: General option for simulation of laboratory tests used for triaxial test Phase 1 Apply a stress increment in vertical direction (yy ) until the stress level where the unloading path should start. Note that the horizontal stresses (xx and zz ) remain the same as they represent the cell pressure. Hence, the horizontal stress increments are zero in this phase. Phase 2 Press the Add button to add another phase to the phase list. This phase represents the unloading phase. See gure for details. Phase 3 Press the Add button once more in order to add the 3rd phase. This phase represents the reloading of the soil as well as the continuation of primary loading until either failure or a higher stress level from where for instance 22 Computational Geotechnics
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Simulation of laboratory tests another unloading/reloading cycle is going to be made.
Figure 20: Unloading/reloading cycle in a triaxial test using the General option
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DerivationofSoilParametersfrom LabTestResults&Verificationin PlaxisSoilTest

by RFShen 23Nov2011
While engineers will use the c, , or Cu from SI report, how many of them make use of the massive stress-strain test data (which the client has spent a lot of money for the lab to obtain such data) to derive the soil stiffness parameters? Correlation with SPT N values are too commonly used instead.
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In this exercise, we are going to fully utilize the test data to derive soil parameters for Hardening Soil Parameters from most common stress-strain data provided in a typical SI report, and subsequently use Plaxis SoilTest to verify the derived parameters
Part 1: Sand
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For sand, one of the most common lab tests is Triaxial Isotropically Consolidated Drained (CID)Test
A Triaxial setup in NUS Geotechnical Lab
For sand, one of the most common lab tests is Triaxial Isotropically Consolidated Drained (CID)Test
Fa/A = q (deviatoric stress) Typical sample size 38 mm x 76 mm a = q + r
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450 400 350
Deviatorstress(kPa)
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
3 = 100 kPa
Testdata
Axialstrain
Test data: Deviator stress ~ axial strain curve (Triaxial)
0.06
0.05
Volumetric strain
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
Testdata
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
0.01
Axialstrain
Test data: Volumetric strain ~ axial strain curve (Triaxial)
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Another common lab test is Oedometer Test
Oedometer setups in NUS Geotechnical Lab

Settlementdialgauge OedometerCell Protruded leverarm Sample:dia.=75mm Height=20mm
Heavydeadweights
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Typical sample size 75 mm x 20 mm
Boundary conditions
0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Verticalstrain (%)
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 0 100 200 300 400
Testdata
Verticalpressure(kPa)
Vertical stress ~ vertical strain curve (Oedometer)
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400
300
200
100
Testdata
0 0 50 100 150 200
Lateralstress (kPa)
Vertical stress ~ lateral stress curve (Oedometer)
Hardening Soil Parameters to be derived based on the above typical lab test data
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Part 1: Strength parameters
C=0 for sand

450 400 350
Since c = 0 for sand, it can be simplified to:
Deviatorstress(kPa)
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07
3 = 100 kPa
Testdata
Axialstrain
sin '
500 100 0.67 500 100
' 42
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0.06
0.05
0.048
Volumetric strain
0.04
So,
0.03
1-sin 2sin
Testdata
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
0.02
1 sin 0.09 0.03 1.36 2 sin 0.048 0.004
0.01
0.004
0
sin 0.27
16
0.01
0.03
0.09
Axialstrain
BTW, why there is an initial contraction before the soil sample to dilate prominently ??
BTW, why there is an initial contraction before the soil sample to dilate prominently ?? What contributes to the sample contraction? e dp ' (1) dp >0 elastic volumetric contraction! v K (2) Isotropic hardening plastic volumetric contraction!
vp ,cap
What contributes to the sample dilation? (1) As the stress path cut through series of shear yield line, plastic p shear strain d was generated. (2) the plastic shear strain will be accompanied by plastic volumetric strain by d vp , fric d p , fric sin m , and it is dilative!
ref 1 m p
pc
1 m
MC line
pc
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Part 2: Stiffness parameters

450
400
400 350
Deviatorstress(kPa)
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 0.01
3 = 100 kPa
Testdata
0.013
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
Axialstrain
ref E50
400 30800 kPa 30000 kPa 0.013
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450
400400
350
Deviatorstress(kPa)
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 0.01
3 = 100 kPa
Testdata
0.021 0.026
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
Axialstrain
ref Eur
400 80000 kPa 0.026 0.021
As sand unload-reloading stiffness Eurref is generally about 3~5 times of E50ref, we may set Eurref = 90000kPa
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0 0.1 0.2
0.33
Verticalstrain (%)
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 0 100 200 300
Testdata
320
400
ref Eoed
320 29900kPa 30000kPa 1.4% 0.33%

E50 E
ref 50
c cos ' ' 3 sin ' c cos ' p ref sin '
c cot ' '1 ref c cot ' p
m
Eoed
ref Eoed
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0 0.1 0.2 0.3
ref Eoed
Verticalstrain (%)
0.47
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 0 100 200 300
320 29900kPa 30000kPa 1.4% 0.33%
400 200 kPa Eoed 43000kPa Testdata 1.4% 0.47%
400
400
200 kPa c cot ' '1 Eoed ref c cot ' p ref Eoed
200 43000 100 30000

m
m = 0.5
Part 3: Other parameters

Jakis formula:
K 0NC 1 sin ' 1 sin 42 0.33
400
300
200
100
Testdata
0 0 50 100 150 200
Lateralstress (kPa)
K 0NC
x ' 100 0.33 y ' 300
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Summary of Hardening Soil Parameters
FEM simulation using Plaxis SoilTest Facility
(1) Change of dilation angle and see its effects (2) How to simulate unload-reload step? (3) Oedometer test simulation
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Part 2: Clay
For Clay, one of the most common lab tests is Triaxial Isotropically Consolidated UnDrained (CIU) Test
A Triaxial setup in NUS Geotechnical Lab
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For Clay, one of the most common lab tests is Triaxial Isotropically Consolidated UnDrained (CIU)Test
Close the valve = Undrained test = Excess will accumulate with shearing
Fa/A = q (deviatoric stress) a = q + r
350
Testdata
300
250
q(kPa)
200 195 150
100
50
0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
p'(kPa)
Test data: stress path p~q
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CIU stress path

350
Testdata
300
Gradient:
6 sin ' 195 3 sin ' 200
250
q(kPa)
200 195 150
100
= 25
Intercept:
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
50
p'(kPa)
6c ' cos ' 0 3 sin '
c = 0
Oedometer setups in NUS Geotechnical Lab
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Typically less test points are available due to long consolidation period for each loading stage Boundary conditions
Testdata
0.1
Verticalstrain (%)
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5 1 10 100 1000
Typically oedometer test results are presented in SI report as logv ~ yy which is linear (unlike sand) which must be dealt with cautions!
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Oedometer test for clay

0
Testdata
0.1
Eoed
d y ' d y d (log y ' ) d y
Verticalstrain (%)
0.2
0.3
Gradient _ k
0.4
Obviously, Eoed Gradient _ k

1 10 100 1000
0.5
Verticalpressure (kPa)
Gradient _ k
d (log y ' ) d yy
d(
ln y ' d yy 2.3
1 y' 2.3
d ( y ' )
d yy
1 d ( y ' ) 1 Eoed 2.3 y ' d yy 2.3 y '
So,
Eoed 2.3 y ' gradient _ k

0
Testdata
0.1
ref Eoed 2.3 100 6.02 1350 kPa
Verticalstrain (%)
0.2
0.27
0.3
Eoed y ' ref Eoed pref

ref c cot ' '1 Eoed Eoed ref c cot ' p
1 10
0.37
0.4
0.5
30
100
120
1000
Eoed 2.3 y ' gradient _ k gradient _ k log(120) log(30) 6.02 0.37 0.27
Eoed '1 ref p ref Eoed
m=0
So,
Eoed 2.3 y '6.02
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0
Testdata
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4 0.418
0.427
0.5 1 10
30
100
120
1000
gradient _ k
log(120) log(30) 66.9 0.427 0.418
Eur refers to when 3 = 100kPa During oedometer loading, when y =100kPa, x<100kPa; When y loaded to about 300kPa and unload to 100kPa, x is expected to be closer to 100kPa. As such, we can approximately accept the derived Eur.
Eur 2.3 100 66.9 15000 kPa
Verticalstrain (%)
Eur 2.3 y '66.9
Jakis formula: K 1 sin ' 1 sin 25 .58 Poissons ratio ur = 0.2

NC 0
80 70 60
Deviatorstress(kPa)
50 40 30 20 10 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
3 = 100kPa for consolidation, During shearing, 3 = 0 Excess pore pressure accumulates during shearing 3 100kPa 3 = 100 kPa Typically for NC clay, E50ref Testdata may be about 2~5 times
Eoedref or about 2800kPa~7000kPa. Trial runs to fit the test data gives 3500kPa E50ref =0.06 0.04 0.05 0.07
Axialstrain
Can we use the CIU test 1 ~ q test data to derive the E50ref ??
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Summary of Hardening Soil Parameters
FEM simulation using Plaxis SoilTest Facility
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Lets call it a day! See you tomorrow... Thank you!
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Mesh & Geometry Selection
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Contents
Plane strain, Axi-symmetry, 3D Model boundaries
General considerations Excavations Shallow foundations Embankments Tunnels
Conclusions References
188
Plane strain
Considerations: One dimension is relatively long Similar geometry and stress or loading conditions in any cross section long dimension Consequences: No strain long dimension (stress can change!) No shear stress and arching long dimension Model represents 1 length unit long dimension
y x
Plane strain
Examples:
189
Plane strain
NOT a plane-strain situation:
30 m 8m
45 m 45 m
Axi-symmetry
Considerations: Geometry is circular Similar geometry and stress or loading conditions in any cross section that includes the central axis Consequences: Stress and strain central axis are radial Model represents 1 radian around central axis
y x
190
Axi-symmetry
Examples:
NOT possible with gravity!
Axi-symmetry
NOT an axi-symmetric situation:
Gravity!
191
3D models
Considerations: Do I really need a 3D model? If yes, but still I use a 2D model: What are the consequences? Would this give conservative or optimistic results? How large is the error? Consequences of moving to 3D: More difficult modelling and interpretation of results Longer calculation times Generally less accurate results (due to coarser meshes) Nevertheless, 3D calculations are quite feasible
3D models
192
3D models
3D models
193
3D models
Model boundaries
General considerations Type of analysis: Deformation, stability, dynamics, flow, . Type of behaviour: Drained or undrained. Is the situation (fully) symmetric? Can we model only half the problem? Boundaries should not influence results. Changes in stress and strain at boundaries should be low (except for symmetry boundaries). What is the consequence of taking boundaries closer or further away?
194
Model boundaries
Stability analysis: Mechanism must fit in model Only plastic deformation is relevant Stress state may not be disturbed by boundaries (arching!) Model can generally be smaller than for deformation analysis
Model boundaries
Deformation analysis: Deformations may still occur at a large distance from the action, especially for undrained analysis (preservation of volume!). Both elastic and plastic displacements are of influence. Model should generally be larger than for stability analysis
drained
undrained
195
Model boundaries
Dynamic analysis: Vibrations may occur at very large distance from the action. Even very small displacements (vibrations) are of influence. Even if measures are taken to avoid spurious reflections at boundaries, it is better to take boundaries far away (considering wave speed and duration of analysis). Model should generally be larger than for deformation analysis
~
~
Model boundaries
Stability analysis
Drained deformation analysis
Undrained deformation analysis
~
~
Dynamic analysis
196
Model boundaries Shallow foundations

a w initial stress distribution a w limit depth after loading a
(0.1 to 0.2) accepted
Suggestions:
Stability analysis: Deformation analysis:
a 2w a 3w
Model boundaries Shallow foundations

Take account of the following: For deformation analysis: When using Mohr-Coulomb, use different layers with increasing stiffness; bottom layer with height w should have large smallstrain stiffness. When using Hardening-Soil, use bottom layer with height w with large small-strain stiffness for Eurref. Best results using HSsmall model. For horizontal loading components: Increased width in loading direction.
197
Model boundaries Embankments

a w h a
Similarity with shallow footings Suggestions: Stability analysis: Deformation analysis: a 2w a 3w
Model boundaries Embankments

Take account of the following: Embankments are considered to follow similar rules as shallow foundations with the same base width w For stability analysis, a can be smaller if mechanism is purely in embankment itself
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Model boundaries Excavations

a l w d a
a a
Suggestions: Stability or structural analysis: a l and a 2d Deformation analysis: a 1.5 l and a 3d
Use HSsmall or bottom layer with small-strain stiffness for Eurref (height a)

Take account of the following: 1. 2. 3. Suggested model depth requires that large small-strain stiffness is used below the excavation. HSsmall takes care of this. When using Hardening-Soil, use bottom layer with height a with large small-strain stiffness for Eurref. Ignoring small-strain stiffness will result in unrealistic heave of excavation bottom (and wall) and a too wide settlement trough behind the wall. For a < 3d significant settlements may be expected at the upper model corners. This is even more pronounced for undrained behaviour.
4.
199

Considering the wall: 1. 2. 3. Unrealistic heave of excavation bottom gives unrealistic heave of wall > use large stiffness below excavation For a < 2d vertical model boundaries influence wall displacements Model depth and width seem to have little influence on the wall forces (bending moments)
Model boundaries Tunnels

w D w w w
w D a
Suggestions:
TBM or NATM excavation
D a a
Face stability: a D ; w 2D Structural analysis: a D ; w 2D Deformation analysis: a D ; w 3D Use HSsmall or bottom layer with small-strain stiffness for Eurref (height a)
200
Model boundaries Tunnels

Take account of the following:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Large unloading and small-strain stiffness below the tunnel Suggested model depth requires that large small-strain stiffness is used below the tunnel. HSsmall is preferred. When using Hardening-Soil: use bottom layer with height a with a large small-strain stiffness for Eurref. Ignoring small-strain stiffness will result in unrealistic heave of tunnel; a lower model depth should then be considered (but 2 or 3 is preferred). Ignoring small-strain stiffness will generally result in a too wide settlement trough above the tunnel, regardless the model width. For w < 3D significant settlements may be expected at the upper model corners. This is even more pronounced for undrained behaviour. For deep tunnels the overburden may be modelled as load, provided that at least a height w above the tunnel is included in the model.
Meshing
Type of element: Two types of volume elements are available in Plaxis 2D:
node (ux, uy)
x
y-axis
stress point (, )
x x x x x x x x x
x
x-axis
x x
6-node triangle
15-node triangle
(quadratic interpolation)
(4th order interpolation)
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Meshing
Type of element (2D): Which type of element in which situation?
6-node elements Plane strain analysis Working load conditions (SLS) 15-node elements Plane strain Axi-symmetry Working load conditions (SLS) Failure conditions (ULS) Phi-c reduction Updated Mesh analysis
Updated Mesh analysis
Note: 15-node elements sometimes fail in Updated Mesh analysis due to high distortion
Meshing
Type of element 3D: 3
12 9 6 4 15 10 5 4 13 5 14 6 1 8 1 7 2 3 2
11
3DT, 3DF: 15-node wedge (quadratic interpolation)
New Plaxis 3D: 10-node tetrahedral (quadratic interpolation)
Do not confuse 15-node wedge in 3D (quadratic) with 15-node triangle in 2D (4th order)!
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Meshing
General considerations: Fine meshes required near stress concentrations or sharp deformation gradients (near structures, loads, tunnel faces, etc.). Coarser meshes may be used towards the model boundaries. Better to use larger models with relatively large elements (coarse mesh) near the boundary than to use smaller models.
Hint: Use local element size factors to make meshes fine near loads and structures and coarse at model boundaries (local element size factor may be larger than 1.0!).
Meshing
Using local refinement !
203
Conclusions
Conclusions: Model size and boundaries depend, a.o., on type of analysis and type of behaviour (stability analysis, drained deformation undrained deformation, dynamic analysis). Small-strain stiffness and relatively large models are needed to accurately predict deformations. Make use of local refinement or local element size factors to optimise mesh!
References
Potts D.M., Zdravkovic L. (2001). Finite element analysis in geotechnical engineering Application. Thomas Telford, London. Meiner H. (2002). Baugruben Empfehlungen des Arbeitskreises 1.6 Numerik in der Geotechnik, Abschnitt 3, Geotechnik 25, 44-46. Schweiger H.F. (2002). Musterlsung und Parameterstudie fr dreifach verankerte Baugrube, Geotechnik 25, 101-109. Ruse N.M. (2003). Rumliche Betrachtung der Standsicherheit der Ortsbrust beim Tunnelvortrieb. PhD thesis. Institut fr Geotechnik. Universitt Stuttgart. Vermeer P.A., Wehnert M. (2005). Beispiele von FE-Anwendungen Man lernt nie aus. In: FEM in der Geotechnik (ed. Grabe et.al.). Technische Universitt Hamburg-Harburg. Brinkgreve R.B.J, Bakker K.J., Bonnier P.G. (2006). The relevance of small-strain stiffness in numerical simulation of excavation and tunnelling projects. In: NUMGE 2006 (ed. Schweiger). Taylor & Francis, London. 133-139.
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STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS & IN PLAXIS 2D
Presentation by
Dr William Cheang
Principal Geotechnical Consultant Plaxis AsiaPac Pte Ltd
Some course notes: Dr Ronald Brinkgreve, Plaxis B.V. Dr Shen Rui Fu, NUS
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Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. StructuralelementsavailableinPlaxis UsageofstructuralelementsinFEmodelling Plate elements(BeamandShellelement) Anchor elements(Springelement) Geotextile elements(Membraneelement) Interface elements(Zerothicknesselement)
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1.Structural elements in Plaxis

1. Plateelement 2. Anchorelement 3. Geogridselement 4. Interfaceelement
Section 3.42 & 14.5
Section 3.45, 3.46 & 14.1 Section 3.43 & 14.3 Section 3.44 & 14.1
2. Application of structural elements
wall
strip footing
tunnel
geotextile wall
ground anchor
cofferdam
strut
anchored wall
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3.1 Plate Element
Overview:
1. 3or5nodedlineelements(for6nodedor15nodedelementmesh) 2. 3degreesoffreedompernode 3. Plateshave: o Axialforces o Shearforces o Bendingmoments o Hoopforces(axisymmetry) 4. Elasticorelastoplasticbehaviour 5. Formodellingwalls,floors,tunnels
3.2 Plate Element
Plates elasticparameters
EI E h3 b 12
(b = 1 m) (b = 1 m)
EA E h b
d h 12
EI (Equivalent rectangular EA plate thickness)
h b b = 1 m in plane strain b = 1 meter in axisymmetry b

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3.3 Plate Element
Plates elastoplasticbehaviour
Np
M Mp
3.4 Plate Element

(Illustration:MpNp.P2D):
1200
Envelope
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0
1000 800
Elastoplastic plate Elastic plate
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Elastoplastic plate
600 400 200 0
10
Elasticplate
15
20
200
200
400 M
600
800
1000
1200
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3.5 Plate Element
EffectonGlobalFOSbyc/phiReduction
CBPElastic,Failure withnoPlastic Hinge,
CBP Elasto-Plastic Failure with Plastic Hinge, FOS=1.40
FOS=1.75
1. 2.
Elastic wall excludes possibility of wall plastic hinge; and over-estimate FOS=1.75 Allowing for wall plastic hinge (Elasto-plastic wall) gave lower FOS=1.40 and smaller soil yielded zone behind the wall
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3.6 Plate Element
Plates weight,insoil
Actual problem In the model
dreal
wreal = concrete d real
wmodel = soil d real wplate
Below GT soil sat Above GT soil 10 unsat
wmodel = wreal wplate = ( concrete - soil ) d real
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3.7 Plate Element
Plates weight,excavation
Actual problem In the model
dreal
wreal = concrete d real
1 wmodel = soil d real wplate 2
1 wmodel = wreal wplate = ( concrete soil ) d real 2
Below GT soil sat Above GT soil 11 unsat
3.8 Plate Element
Plates connections
6 8
Spring data: Stiffness Min/Max moment Rotation spring
Hinged connection Rigid connection (default)
Illustration: Connection.P2D
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3.9 Plate Element
Walls thinwallvs.thickwall
Thinwall Wallthickness<<walllength Nomuchendbearing,onlyfriction Plateelementsuffices Thickwall Wallthicknesssignificant Endbearingcapacityneeded Usesoilelementswithmaterialsetrepresen ngwallmaterial Inordertoobtainstructuralforcesaplatewithfictitiousproperties maybeinserted
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3.10 Plate Element

Walls thick wall
1. Soilelementswithmaterialsetrepresentingwallmaterial 2. Difficulttoobtainstructuralforcesfromsoilelements, therefore introduceveryflexibleplatewithinthesolidwall elements: Noinfluenceondeformation:lowstiffness,noweight Locatedinontheneutralline(usuallythemiddle) Tightbondingtotheconcreteelements:nointerfaces
(Illustration: Beam.P2D):
Solid elements: Esoil=Ewall, I = 1/12*d3 , d = wall thickness Plate element: EI = EsoilI / x, choose x large (e.g. 106) uplate = usoil Mwall = x*Mplate, Qwall = x*Qplate
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2. Anchor Element
Anchors fixedend
a) Tomodelsupports,anchorsandstruts a) Elastoplasticspringelement b) Oneendfixedtopointinthegeometry,otherendisfully fixedfordisplacement c) Positioningatanyangle d) Prestressingoption
Anchors nodetonode
a) Tomodelanchors,columns,strutsandrods a) Elastoplasticspringelement b) Connectstwogeometrypointsinthegeometry c) Nointeractionwiththemeshalongtheanchorrod d) Prestressingoption
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4.1Anchor Element
Anchors materialproperties
Axialstiffness,EA (foroneanchor) Spacing,Ls (outofplanedistancebetweenanchors) Maximumanchorforceforcompressionandtension, |Fmax,comp|and|Fmax,tens| [kN] [m] [kN]
Ls
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4.2 Anchor Element
Anchors prestressing
DefinedinStagedconstructionphase Bothtension(groutanchor)orcompression(strut) possible
Tension = positive
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5.1.Geogrid Element
Geogrids
1. 2. 3. 4. 3or5nodedlineelement Elasticorelastoplasticbehaviour Noflexuralrigidity(EI),onlyaxialstiffness(EA) Onlyallowsfortension,notforcompression
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5.2 Anchor Element

Groundanchors
Geogrid Element
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Combinationofnodetonodeanchorandgeogrid Nodetonodeanchorrepresentsanchorrod(freelength) (nointeractionwithsurroundingsoil) Geogridrepresentsgroutedpart(fullinteractionwithsurroundingsoil) Nointerfacearoundgroutedpart;interfacewouldcreateunrealisticfailuresurface Workingloadconditionsonly nopullout Ifpulloutforceisknownthiscanbeusedbylimitinganchorrodforce
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5.3Groundanchors
Axial force distribution along fixed length (modelled using geogrid)
Nrod <>Ngrout duetosharednode betweenanchor,geotextile andsoil
axialforcesingeotextileelement
Probableactualdistributionofaxial forcesingroundanchor
Input geometry
Generated mesh
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5.4GroundAnchors:Influenceofnodenumbers alongstructuralelements
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6.1InterfaceElement
Interfaces materialproperties
1. Soilstructureinteraction 1. Wallfriction 2. Slipandgappingbetweensoilandstructure 2. Soilmaterialproperties A. TakenfromsoilusingreductionfactorRinter 3. Individualmaterialsetforinterfacepossible
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6.2 Interface Element
Interfaces reductionfactor
SuggestionsforRinter:
Interactionsand/steel Interactionclay/steel Interactionsand/concrete Interactionclay/concrete Interactionsoil/geogrid(groutedbody) (interfacemaynotberequired) Interactionsoil/geotextile =Rinter 0.6 0.7 =Rinter 0.5 =Rinter 1.0 0.8 =Rinter 1.0 0.7 =Rinter1.0 =Rinter0.9 0.5(foil,textile)
With reference to BS8002:
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References
1. Brinkgreve, R., Engin, E, & Swolf, W. (2010), Plaxis 2d 2010
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E3: Excavation Exercise
Tied-back excavation using secant bored piles (SBP) and 2 layers of ground anchors
BriefingoftheProject
(forillustrationonly)
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Proposed secant bored pile wall (SBP)
Dia.=1mwith200mmoverlapping
Secantwall d= I= E= A= c/cspacing= so, EA/m= EI/m= weight= 1 0.049 2.70E+07 0.79 0.80 2.65E+07 8.28E+05 19 m m^4/m kPa m^2/m m kN/m kNm^2/m kN/m/m
Take c/c spacing of 0.8m Take c/c spacing of 1.6m
Proposed ground anchors
Thegroundanchorsaremadeof32mmdia.Steelbars atc/cspacingof1m.Thesteelbarhaveastiffnessof Es=2.1*10^8kPaandwithultimatestrengthof605kN peranchor. Theanchorswillbeprestressedto60%ofthe ultimateestrength,namely363kN/anchor. Thepropertiesofthegroutbodycanbeignored.

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Proposed ground anchors

Anchorfreelength(nodetonodeelementwithElastoplasticity ): d= 0.032 m E= 2.10E+08 kPa A = 8.04E04 m^2/m c/cspacing= 1.00 m so, EA/m= 1.7E+05 kN/m Maxaxialforce= 605 kN/m
Anchorgroutbody(geogridelementwithElastoplasticity): d= 0.032 m E= 2.10E+08 kPa A = 8.04E04 m^2/m c/cspacing= 1.00 m so, EA/m= 1.7E+05 kN/m Maxaxialforce= 605 kN/m
Soil & ground water condition
Theupper40mofthesubsoilconsistsofamoreor lesshomogeneouslayerofmediumdensesand. Typicalsoilparametersbasedontriaxialtestsare presentedinthenextslide. Underneaththislayerthereisaverystifflayerof gravelwhichcanbeactedasthebottomboundary ofthe2DFEMmesh. Thegroundwatertableisverydeepanddoesnot playaroleinthisanalysis.

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Soilparameters
Soilparameters
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SimulationinPlaxis2Dversion 2011
SimulationinPlaxis2D
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Tied-back excavation using HSsmall
TIED-BACK EXCAVATION
Using the HSsmall model
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INTRODUCTION
A building pit was constructed in the south of the Netherlands. The pit is 15 m deep and 30 m wide. A diaphragm wall is constructed using 100 cm diameter bored piles; the wall is anchored by two rows of pre-stressed ground anchors. In this exercise the construction of this building pit is simulated and the deformation and bending moments of the wall are evaluated. The upper 40 m of the subsoil consists of a more or less homogeneous layer of medium dense ne sand with a unit weight of 18 kN/m3 . Triaxial test data of a representative soil sample is given in gure 2. Underneath this layer there is very stiff layer of gravel, which is not to be included in the model. The groundwater table is very deep and does not play a role in this analysis.
AIMS
Using interface elements Using ground anchors Pre-stressing of anchors Combination of structural elements
y
0 11 13 7
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
4 12 14 8 15
Secant wall Anchor rods Grout bodies

16 17 18 10
5 6
Figure 1: Geometry for tied-back excavation
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MATERIAL PARAMETERS
Determination of stiffness & strength properties (sand)
In this exercise the HSsmall model is used and the model parameters for the sand layer have been extracted from the triaxial test data (see gure 2). The HSsmall model takes into account the stress-dependency of soil stiffness, elasto-plastic behaviour under both compression loading and shear loading and increased stiffness in areas with very low strain levels. The soil parameters can be found in table 1, while the determination of the soil parameters can be found in appendix A.
Figure 2: Triaxial test data for the sand layer
Secant wall
The secant wall consists of 100cm diameter bored piles with an intermediate distance of 80cm, hence there is a 20cm overlap of the piles. This conguration is taken this into account for the determination of the cross sectional area (A) and moment of inertia (I) per meter out-of-plane (see Appendix B). The concrete stiffness is Ec =2.7107 kN/m2 with a specic weight =16 kN/m3, which leads to the material parameters as given in Table 2. The determination of the stiffness parameters can be found in Appendix A. Computational Geotechnics
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Tied-back excavation using HSsmall Table 1: Soil parameters for the HSsmall model Parameter Symbol Sand(Rinter =0.6) Sand(Rinter =1.0) Material model Model HSsmall HSsmall Type of behaviour Type Drained Drained Unsaturated weight unsat 18.0 18.0 Saturated weight sat 18.0 18.0 ref 4 Drained triaxial test stiffness E50 2.010 2.0104 Drained primary oedometer Eref 2.0104 2.0104 oed stiffness Unloading/reloading stiffness Eref 8.0104 8.0104 ur Power for stress-dependent m 0.5 0.5 stiffness Cohesion c 1.0 1.0 Friction angle 35 35 Dilatancy angle 5 5 ref 4 Small-strain shear modulus G0 10.010 10.0104 Threshold shear strain 0.7 1.5104 1.5104 Unloading/reloading Poissons ur default default ratio Reference stress pref default default NC Coefcient for lateral stress K0 default default under primary loading Interface strength reduction Rinter 0.6 rigid Coefcient for lateral initial K0 automatic automatic stress
Unit kN/m3 kN/m3 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2
Ground anchors
The anchors are made of 32mm diameter steel bars at an intermediate distance of 1m. The steel bars have a stiffness of Es =2.1*108 kN/m2 . The anchors have an ultimate strength of 605 kN per anchor. In combination with a secant wall the anchors may be prestressed to a maximum level of 60% of the ultimate strength, hence up to 363 kN per anchor. The maximum compression force of the anchor is not important as the anchors will not be loaded under compression. The grout body that forms the bonded length of the anchor behaves relatively weak under tension compared to the steel bar inside. Therefore it is assumed that both stiffness and strength of the bonded part of the anchor are fully determined by the steel bar. This leads to the material properties for both the anchor rod (free length) and grout body (bonded length) as given in tables 3 and 4.
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Table 2: Properties of the secant wall (plate) Parameter Symbol Secant wall Unit Material behaviour Material type Elastic 7 Axial stiffness EA 2*10 kN/m 6 Flexural stiffness EI 1.67*10 kN/m2 /m Weight w 15.0 kN/m/m Poissons ratio 0.15
Table 3: Properties of the anchor rods (node-to-node anchors) Parameter Symbol Anchor rod Unit Material behaviour Material type Elastoplastic Axial stiffness EA 1.7*105 kN Spacing Lspacing 1.0 m Max. tension force |Fmax,tens | 605 kN Max. compression force |Fmax,comp | 605 kN
Table 4: Properties of the grout bodies (geotextiles) Parameter Symbol Grout body Unit Material behaviour Material type Elastoplastic 5 Axial stiffness EA 1.7*10 kN/m Max. tension force Np 605 kN/m
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GEOMETRY INPUT
Start a new project
Project properties
Accept the default values in the Project tab sheet of the Project properties (15-node elements). For the dimensions see gure 3.
Figure 3: Project propeties, tabsheet Model
Geometry
y
(0,0) (0,-5) (0,-10) (0,-15)
(15,0)
0 11 13 7 x 4 12 14 8 1
(70,0)
(30,-15)
15
(30,-20) (0,-25)
9
16
17 18
(37.5,-20) (37.5,-25)
10
(15,-27)
5 6
(70,-25)
(0,-60)
(70,-60)
Figure 4: Geometry of the model Click the Geometry line button specied in gure 4. Computational Geotechnics
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and draw the geometry contour and soil layers as
Tied-back excavation using HSsmall Click the Plate button and draw the secant wall from (15, 0) to (15, -25).
and draw the interface from (15,0) to (15, -27) and back to Click the Interface button (15,0). This creates an interface on both sides of the secant wall. Click the Geotextile button and insert both grout bodies.
and insert both anchor rods. These anchors Click the Node-to-node anchor button connect the beginning of the grout bodies to the wall. Finally, click the Geometry line button again to introduce the two levels of excavation. Hints: As interfaces can be introduced on both sides of a geometry line, one should pay attention to the arrows on the cursor. These arrows indicate where the program will locate the interfaces. Please note that the interface is extended for a short distance underneath the beam. This is done to overcome a singular point at the bottom of the wall. It is not necessary to create a geometry line before creating plates, geogrids or anchors. When drawing a plate or geogrid, a geometry line is automatically added. Anchors do not create corresponding geometry lines. This is not necessary since anchors do not interact with the underlying soil.
>
Hint:
Fixities
Click the Standard xities button to apply standard boundary conditions.
Material properties
Enter the material properties for the four soil data sets, as determined in table 1of this exercise. After entering all properties for the three soil types, drag and drop the properties to the appropriate clusters. Enter material properties for the plates, anchors and geogrids as indicated in tables 2, 3and 4.
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Mesh generation
From the Mesh menu, set the Global coarseness to Medium and press the Generate button. This will result in a mesh as shown in gure 5.
Figure 5: Medium nite element mesh Select the geogrid and plate elements and press Rene line from the Mesh menu. This will result in a renement around the selected lines as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Rened nite element mesh
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CALCULATION
When starting the calculation program choose the Classical mode. The entire construction process consists of ve phases. Dene the phases, as shown graphically below. For each phase, use the Plastic calculation, Staged construction.
Initial phase
For the initial phase choose the K0 procedure for calculating the initial stresses. As the phreatic line is located below the geometry the generation of initial pore pressures can be skipped and since its not necessary to switch off any soil for the initial situation it is not needed to dene the initial phase.
Phase 1
In the rst phase, the diaphragm wall is activated and the rst excavation takes place. Note that though the the interfaces along the wall are activated automatically with the activation of the wall, the extensions below the diaphragm wall have to be activated manually.
Figure 7: Phase 1: activation of the wall and 1st excavation
Figure 8: Phase 2: activation and presstressing of the 1st anchor
Phase 2
In the second phase, a new option is used, namely the prestressing of anchors. First the grout-body (the geogrid) is switched on by clicking on the geogrid element. The element will appear in yellow as soon as it is switched on. The light grey colour indicates non-active elements. Computational Geotechnics
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Tied-back excavation using HSsmall Now that the grout-body is active, the anchor element needs to be prestressed. By double clicking on a node-to-node anchor a window will appear as shown in gure 9. Select the option Adjust prestress, ll in a prestress force of 300 kN/m (tension) and press OK. In the geometry a black node-to-node anchor indicates that the anchor is activated. The letter P indicates that a prestress force will be active in the anchor.
Figure 9: Node-to-node anchor properties
Phase 3, 4 and 5
Now dene the remaining phases according to gures 10, 11 and 12. In phase 3 excavate the second part of the excavation In phase 4 activate the lower anchor and prestress it to 300 kN/m In phase 5 excavate the remaining 3rd part. Hint: When processing an anchor in a certain calculation phase the anchor force will exactly match the prestress force at the end of that phase. In following calculation phases without prestressing, the anchor force will be inuenced by the excavation process
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Figure 10: Phase 3: Second excavation
Figure 11: Phase 4: Activation and prestressing of 2nd anchor
Figure 12: Phase 5: Final excavation
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INSPECT OUTPUT
The results of fase 5 is presented in Figure 13. After this nal stage the excavation bottom heave calculated is about 5 cm.
Figure 13: Deformed mesh (phase 5)
By double clicking on the node-to-node anchors, Plaxis will present a table, in which the stress in all anchors may be inspected. Anchor forces are approximately 340 kN where the lower anchor has a slightly higher anchor force than the upper anchor. When double-clicking on one of the geogrids the change of axial forces within the grout body can be investigated. What is immediately noticeable is that the axial force at the connection with the anchor rod is signicantly lower than the force in the anchor rod itself. This is due the fact that the end of the anchor rod is not only connected to the grout body, but also to several soil elements surrounding the end of the anchor rod. Therefore part of the anchor force is transferred directly to those soil elements while part of the anchor force is transferred to the geotextile representing the grout body. The amount of force transferred to the soil depends on the stiffness of the soil; in this exercise it is 25-35% of the anchor force. However, this effect has very little inuence on other calculation results. That is, it is not so important for other calculation results how the anchor rod transfers its force; directly to the soil or by means of the grout body. By double-clicking on the wall the structural forces in the wall can be inspected. The maximum bending moment should be in the order of 350 kNm/m (gure 14) When double-clicking on an interface only the results of part of the interface can be seen. In order to see the results for the whole interface chain, keep Ctrl + Shift pressed on the keyboard while double-clicking on the interface. In gure 15the left side are the passive earth pressures and the right side are the active earth pressures. It can be seen that only a small part of the maximum passive earth pressures has been mobilized at this stage.
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Figure 14: Bending moments in the secant wall
Figure 15: Effective normal stresses in the interface
Geometry size
For any project the geometry has to be made sufciently large so that the boudary conditions have no inuence on the calculation results. This means in practice that close to the boundaries (with exception of a axis of symmetry) displacements should be small and stresses should be undisturbed. When using the HSsmall model there is an interesting plot that can be used to check this.
From the Stresses menu choose the option State parameters and then G/Gur .
This plot shows the actual shear stiffness divided by the unloading/reloading shear stiffnes at engineering strain level. For areas with very small deformations the stiffness will be high (small strain stiffness) and so the value of G/Gur > 1. Hence, the geometry is sufciently large if next to the boundaries, with exception of the axis of symmetry, G/Gur > 1, which indeed is the case. Hint: State parameters are additional quantities that relate to the state of the material in the current calculation step, taking into account the stress history. Examples of state parameters are the isotropic overconsolidation pressure (pp ) and the hardening parameter p that species the maximum shear strain level reach in the stress history. Computational Geotechnics
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Surface settlements
In Plaxis Output it is possible to see calculation results in a user-dened cross section. This feature will be used to check the surface settlements behind the secant wall. Click the Cross section button 16. . The Cross section points window appears, see gure
It is possible to draw a cross section by hand and check in the Cross section points window what the coordinates are of the start and end point of the cross section. However, it is also possible to position the cross section at a specic location by dening the coordinates of the start and end point manually. Move the mouse to the Cross section points window and ll in the coordinates (15, -0.1) for the rst point and (70, -0.1) for the second point and press OK. This will create a cross section from the secant wall until the right boundary of the model just below the soil surface. The cross section will open in a new window. From the Deformations menu select Total displacements and then u y to see the vertical displacements of the soil surface. The maximum settlement is 12-13 mm, see gure 17.
Figure 16: Cross section points window
Figure 17: Vertical displacements behind the secant wall
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APPENDIX A: DETERMINATION OF SOIL PARAMETERS FROM TRIAXIAL TEST
Figure 18: Triaxial test for sand layer
Strength parameters
Fill in 1 and 3 in the Mohr-Coulomb criteria: 1 3 = (1 + 3 ) sin + 2c cos Since the cohesion will be small, assume c = 0:
1 3 1 +3
= sin = sin
370100 370+100
= 35o = 30 = 5o For reasons of numerical stability, use c = 1 kPa Computational Geotechnics

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Stiffness parameters
Since excavation is considered in this exercise, the input of Youngs modulus E should be based on unloading, rather than on primary loading. For the same reason, Poissons ratio should also be based on unloading, which results in a somewhat lower value. The triaxial test has a cell pressure 3 = 100 kPa. This corresponds with reference pressure, so E50 = Eref 50 .
ref E50 = v v
135 0.675%
= 2.0 104 kP a
For Sand it can be assumed that ref ref = 2.0 104 kP a Eoed = E50 ref ref Eur 4 E50 = 8.0 104 kP a m = 0.5 Additionally it is assumed that: ref = 1.25 Eur = 1 105 kP a Gref 0 0.7 = 1.5 104
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APPENDIX B: MATERIAL PROPERTIES SECANT WALL

For a plane strain model material properties for the secant wall have to specied per meter length of the wall. In order to do so we rst recognize the secant wall as consisting of repetitive parts at a certain intermediate distance, as shown in Figure 19.
Figure 19: Secant wall as repetitive equal sections Compared to the original bored piles the repetitive sections have a reduced cross sectional area. Though it can be analytically derived how much the reduction is, the fastest way to determine this is to draw the repetitive section on paper with a ne grid based on the original bored piles with a diameter of 1000mm and an overlap of 200mm and count squares. Using this method the cross sectional area of the repetitive section is determined as As = 0.74 m2 . Since the sections are at a distance D apart where D is given as 800mm, the cross sectional area of the wall per meter is given as: s = 00..74 = 0.93 m2 /m Awall = A D 8 For the moment of inertia is assumed that the inuence of the reduced cross sectional area is negligble as the reduction is close to the axis of bending and symmetric. Therefore the moment of inertia per meter wall is determined as: Iwall =
Ipile D
= r = 4D
(0.5)4 40.8
= 61.3 103 m4 /m
With Econcrete = 2.7 107 kN/m2 this gives EA = (2.7107 )(0.93) = 2.5107 kN/m EI = (2.7107 )(61.3103 ) = 1.67106 kNm2 /m And for the weight: w = A = 16 0.93 = 15 kN/m/m
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Undrained Soil Behaviour

Some of the used material was originally created by: Prof. Helmut Schweiger, Technical University of Graz, Austria
Contents
Drained / undrained (conditions and analysis) Drained / undrained soil behaviour Typical results from drained and undrained triaxial tests Strength parameters What is the critical case: drained or undrained? Modeling undrained behaviour with Plaxis Three methods Effective stress analysis: how does it actually work Undrained shear strength Undrained behaviour with Mohr-Coulomb Model Undrained behaviour with Hardening Soil Model Influence of dilatancy Summary
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Drained / undrained (conditions and analysis)

In drained analysis water is assumed to immediately flow out upon loading and therefore no pore pressures are built up. This is appropriate when Permeability is high Rate of loading is low Short term behaviour is not of interest for problem considered In undrained analysis no water movement takes place and therefore pore pressures are built up. This is appropriate when Permeability is low and rate of loading is high Short term behaviour has to be assessed
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Drained / undrained (conditions and analysis)

Suggestion by Vermeer & Meier (1998) for deep excavations: T < 0.10 (U < 10%) use undrained conditions T > 0.40 (U > 70%) use drained conditions
k E oed T t w D2
k = Eoed = w = D = t = T = U =
Permeability Oedometer modulus Unit weight of water Drainage length Construction time Dimensionless time factor Degree of consolidation
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Contents
Triaxial test (NC) drained / undrained

Typical results from drained (left) and undrained (right) triaxial tests on normally consolidated soils (from Atkinson & Bransby, 1978)
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Triaxial test (OC) drained / undrained

Typical results from drained (left) and undrained (right) triaxial tests on overconsolidated soils
Triaxial test stress paths (NC/OC)
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Strength parameters
Mohr-Coulomb parameters in terms of effective stress (real soil behaviour)
c tan
c
1 3 2
3 '
;
1 '
3 c sin 1 tan 2
c sin t s tan
Strength parameters
MC parameters in terms of total stresses (only undrained conditions!)
Cu
c tan
1 3 2 F 1 3 2 F
total stresses
cu
-Cu
Effective stresses
Soil behaves as if it was purely cohesive (zero friction) Cu : undrained shear strength 10 Cu only changes if drainage occurs (no change if undrained conditions prevail)
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What is the critical case: drained or undrained?

t
1. short 2. short
ESP
long
long
s, s
Note that for soils in general: 1. factor of safety against failure is lower for short term (undrained) conditions for loading problems (e.g. embankment) 2. factor of safety against failure is lower for long term (drained) conditions for unloading problems (e.g. excavations)
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What is the critical case: drained or undrained?

t
2.
1.
ESP
s, s
excavations) For very stiff OC soil, factor of safety against failure may be lower for short term (undrained) conditions for loading problems (e.g. 12 embankment)
For very soft NC soil, factor of safety against failure may be lower for short term (undrained) conditions for unloading problems (e.g.
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Contents
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Undrained behaviour with PLAXIS

Method A (analysis in terms of effective stresses): type of material behaviour: undrained effective strength parameters c, , effective stiffness parameters E50, Method B (analysis in terms of effective stresses): type of material behaviour: undrained undrained strength parameters c = cu, = 0, = 0 effective stiffness parameters E50, Method C (analysis in terms of total stresses): type of material behaviour: drained total strength parameters c = cu, = 0, = 0 undrained stiffness parameters Eu, u = 0.495
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PLAXIS automatically adds stiffness of water when undrained material type is chosen using the following approximation:
K total K'
K total
Kw Eu 2 G 1 u n 31 2 u 31 2 u
E ' 1 u 3 ' B (1 2 ') u 3 1 2 u 1 ' 3 B (1 2 ')
Notes: Skempton B-value can be entered explicitely for undrained materials in order to simulate effect of partially saturated soil on the effective and excess pore pressures. This procedure gives reasonable relation between u and B only for < 0.35 ! Real value of Kw/n ~ 1.106 kPa (for n = 0.5) 15
FE modeling of undrained behaviour (method A)

t
uf u
cu
ESP
TSP
s, s
single set of parameters in terms of effective stress (consistent) realistic prediction of pore pressures (if model is appropriate) the undrained analysis can be followed by a consolidation analysis Cu is a consequence of the model, not an input parameter!!
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FE modeling of undrained behaviour (method C)

t
cu
TSP=ESP
s, s
parameters in terms of total stress no prediction of pore pressures (only total stresses are obtained) the undrained analysis can not be followed by a consolidation analysis Cu is an input parameter!!
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FE modeling of undrained behaviour (method B)

t
cu
ESP
TSP
s, s
parameters in terms of total stress and effective stress prediction of pore pressures (generally unrealistic) the undrained analysis should not be followed by a consolidation analysis (pore pressures unrealistic) Cu is an input parameter!!
18
254

Notes on different methods:
Method A:
Recommended, but be careful with MC model Soil behaviour is always governed by effective stresses Increase of shear strength during consolidation included Essential for exploiting features of advanced models such as the Hardening Soil model, the Soft Soil model and the Soft Soil Creep model
Method B:
Only when no information on effective strength parameters is available May be a safer choice than Method A when using MC-model Cannot be used with the Soft Soil model and the Soft Soil Creep model
Method C:
NOT recommended No information on excess pore pressure distribution (total stress analysis)
19
Contents
Drained / undrained (conditions and analysis) Drained / undrained soil behaviour Typical results from drained and undrained triaxial tests Skempton's parameters A and B Strength parameters What is the critical case: drained or undrained? Modeling undrained behaviour with Plaxis Three methods Effective stress analysis: how does it actually work Undrained shear strength Undrained behaviour with Mohr-Coulomb Model Undrained behaviour with Hardening Soil Model Influence of dilatancy Summary
20
255
Undrained behaviour of Mohr-Coulomb

t cu,MC cu,real Mohr-Coulomb Real soil s tan()
cu c ' cos ' s 'sin ' c ' cos '
1 ho sin ' vo 2
21
1 cu c ' cos ' 'v 0 1 K 0 sin ' 2
Undrained behaviour of Hardening Soil

t cu,HS
tan()
Hardening Soil
cu is a result of the analysis depending on c, , Eur/Eoed and other parameters Its important to simulate triaxial tests and compare them with real soil tests Not all cu values can be achieved with a particular model
22
256
Influence of constitutive model

Parameter sets for Hardening Soil model
Model Number
E50
ref
Eur
ref
Eoed
ref
c kN/m 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

2
ur 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
ref
m
2
K0 -
nc
Rf -
kN/m HS_1 HS_2 HS_3 HS_4 HS_5 HS_6
kN/m
kN/m
kN/m 100 100 100 100 100 100
30 000 90 000 30 000 35 0 / 10 50 000 150 000 50 000 35 15 000 45 000 15 000 35 30 000 90 000 40 000 35 30 000 90 000 15 000 35 50 000 150 000 30 000 35 0 0 0 0 0
0.75 0.426 0.9 0.75 0.426 0.9 0.75 0.426 0.9 0.75 0.426 0.9 0.75 0.426 0.9 0.75 0.426 0.9
Parameters for MC Model E = 30 000 kN/m , = 0.2, = 35, = 0 and 10

2
see also Schweiger (2002)

23
Parameter variation Hardening Soil

Simulation of undrained triaxial compression test HS model - q vs p
150 HS_1 HS_2 HS_3 HS_4 HS_5 HS_6 total stress path
125
100
q [kN/m ]
75
50
25
0 0.00
25.00
50.00
75.00
100.00
125.00
150.00
p' [kN/m2]
24
257

Simulation of undrained triaxial compression test HS model - q vs 1
150
125
100
q [kN/m ]
75
50
25
HS_1 HS_2 HS_3 HS_4 HS_5 HS_6 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
0 0.00
1 [%]
25

Simulation of undrained triaxial compression test HS model - pw vs 1
80 70
excess pore pressure [kN/m ]
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.00 HS_1 HS_2 HS_3 HS_4 HS_5 HS_6 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
1 [%]
26
258
Influence of dilatancy
if we set 0 then, negative volumetric plastic deformations occur at failure:
v ve vp v 0
(elastic-plastic behavior) (undrained conditions)
vp 0 ve 0 p ' K ve 0 At failure: q M p ' q 0

result: unlimited increase of q, i.e. infinite strength!!
27
Simulation of undrained triaxial compression test MC / HS model - q vs 1
300 275 250 225 200
q [kN/m ]
175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 MC non dil MC dil HS_1 non dil HS_1 dil 2.50 2.75 3.00
1 [%]
28
259
Simulation of undrained triaxial compression test MC / HS model - q vs p
300 275 250 225 200 MC non dil MC dil HS_1 non dil HS_1 dil total stress path
q [kN/m ]
175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 0.00 25.00 50.00 75.00 100.00 125.00 150.00 175.00 200.00 225.00 250.00
p' [kN/m2]
29
Simulation of undrained triaxial compression test MC / HS model - pw vs 1
100 90 80 MC non dil MC dil HS_1 non dil HS_1 dil
excess pore pressure [kN/m ]
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
1 [%]
30
260
Summary
Undrained analysis should be performed in effective stresses and with effective stiffness and strength parameters (Method A) Undrained shear strength is result of the constitutive model The Mohr-Coulomb model generally overestimates the undrained shear strength in a Method A calculation. This can be solved by doing a Method B analysis, but this is a trick that generally generates incorrect excess pore pressures One should not use dilatancy in an undrained analysis
31
References
Atkinson, J.H., Bransby, P.L. (1978) The Mechanics of Soils, An Introduction to Critical State Soil Mechanics. McGraw Hill Ortigao, J.A.R. (1995) Soil Mechanics in the Light of Critical State Theories An Introduction. Balkema Schweiger, H.F. (2002) Some remarks on pore pressure parameters A and B in undrained analyses with the Hardening Soil Model. Plaxis Bulletin No.12 Skempton, A.W. (1954) The Pore-Pressure Coefficients A and B. Geotechnique, 4, 143-147 Vermeer, P.A., Meier, C.-P. (1998) Proceedings Int. Conf. on Soil-Structure Interaction in Urban Civil Engineering, Darmstadt, 177191
32
261
Modelling of Groundwater in PLAXIS

PLAXIS STANDARD COURSE ON COMPUTATIONAL GEOTECHNICS
William WL Cheang PhD (Geotech) MSc PgDip BEng (Hons)(Civil)

PRINCIPAL GEOTECHNICAL PLAXIS CONSULTANT PLAXIS ASIAPAC PTE.LTD
CONTENTS
A. Introduction
1. 2. Groundwater in Geotechnical Engineering Plaxis Active Steady-state Excess Porewater Pressure due to Hydrostatic Condition Pore Pressures due to Groundwater Flow (Steady or Transient States) Fully Saturated Soils Partially Saturated Soils Excavations Embankments and Dams Slopes
B.
Definitions Porewater Pressures in Plaxis

1. 2. 3.
C.
Generation of Porewater Pressures in Plaxis

1. 2.
D.
Hydraulic models
1. 2.
E.
Case Histories
1. 2. 3.
F.
References
262
Modelling of Groundwater in Plaxis
A. INTRODUCTION
Groundwater Analysis
A. B. Geotechnical problems are related to groundwater Two extreme conditions of porewater response are normally considered, they are:
1. 2. Drained Undrained (Method A, B & C)
C.
Real soil behaviour is related to time , i.e. transient, with the porewater pressure being dependent on imposed:
1. 2. 3. Permeability Rate of loading Hydraulic boundary
D. E.
The interstitial voids of the soil skeleton can be fully or partially filled with pore fluid and therefore effective stresses are influenced by this action This lecture will look into the following issues:
1. 2. 3. The setup of pore pressures in Plaxis Input parameters Some examples of groundwater regimes
263
B. DEFINITIONS OF POREWATER PRESSURES IN PLAXIS
A. DEFINITIONS AND MODES

A. Definition of Porewater Pressure Terms in Plaxis
1. 2. 3. Active State Porewater Pressures Steady State Porewater Pressures (Background) Excess Porewater Pressures
B.
Calculation Modes (since 2010)

1. 2. 3. Classical (same with previous versions prior 2010) Advanced Flow
264
A1.ACTIVE POREWATER PRESSURE

A. B. In Classical model there three porewater pressure terms Active (Total) = Steady-state + Excess
1. ACTIVE porewater pressures is combination of STEADY-STATE and EXCESS porewater pressures (see Reference Manual 5.9). 2. Steady-state pre pressures are generated due to water conditions (hydraulic boundaries) assigned to soil clusters (layers) 3. Excess pore pressures are calculated as a result of undrained or consolidation analysis
A2.STEADY-STATE POREWATER PRESSURE

A. Steady-state porewater pressures (Background PWP)
1. 2. 3. Represent a stable groundwater condition that remain constant over time Situation 1 : Standing, stable or static water-table Situation 2 : Permanent Groundwater flow or seepage in stable state General Phreatic line Local Phreatic line Cluster Interpolated between clusters Groundwater Flow :Steady-State Seepage Groundwater Flow: Transient Seepage taking into account of changing hydraulic boundary. Porewater pressures calculated from Transient Seepage is taken as a Steady-state.
B.
Steady-state pore pressures in situation 1(see SECTION C):

1. 2. 3. 4.
C.
Steady-state pore pressures in situation 2 (see SECTION C):

1. 2.
265
A3.EXCESS POREWATER PRESSURE

A. Excess pore pressures are generated during calculation:
1. 2. Plastic Calculation (Elastoplastic time-independent analysis) Consolidation Calculation (Elastoplastic time-dependent analysis) Classical mode Excess porewater pressure generated due to undrained drainage type (Undrained A or B) Constitutive soil model dependent Time independent Classical mode Time dependent Can increase or decrease with time Constitutive soil model dependent Influence permeability
B.
Plastic Calculation (Reference Manual 5.5.2)

1. 2. 3. 4.
C.
Consolidation (EPP) Calculation (Reference Manual 5.5.4)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
B. CALCULATION MODES
266
B1.CLASSICAL MODE
A.
Steady-state pore pressures

1. 2. 3.
Phreatic lines Steady-state groundwater flow analysis Transient-state groundwater flow analysis = Steady-state background pore pressure Undrained material type in combination with Plastic calculation Consolidation analysis
B.
Excess pore pressures

1.
2.
INPUT Steady State

Note: 1. Hydrostatic 2. GWF calculation
KERNEL Excess Porewater Deformation

Note: 1. Undrained Analysis 2. Consolidation Analysis 3. Excess (Soil Model)
Active Porewater = Steady-state + Excess
B2.ADVANCED MODE
A. B.
Consolidation analysis Transient groundwater flow analysis
KERNEL Active Porewater

Note: 1. Undrained Analysis 2. Consolidation Analysis 3. Excess (Soil Model)
Deformation
267
B3.FLOW MODE
Flow mode:
Similar to PlaxFlow but with huge improvements in the kernel (see Galavi, 2010) All functionalities of PlaxFlow rewritten in PLAXIS code (new) Steady state groundwater flow Transient groundwater flow All types of boundary conditions New features in wells and drains Faster calculation (new)
B. GENERATION OF POREWATER PRESSURES
268
GENERATION OF STEADY-STATE PORE PRESSURES
Steady-state (Background) pore pressures can be generated by:
1. 2.
Phreatic and Cluster Approach (Hydrostatic) Groundwater Flow Analysis
PHREATIC AND CLUSTER APPROACH
A.
Phreatic Level (Reference 5.9.2) 1. 2. General Phreatic Level Cluster Phreatic Level Interpolation (Adjacent to clusters or phreatic lines) Cluster Dry User-defined Pore Pressure Distribution
B.
Cluster Pore Pressure Distribution (Reference 5.9.5) 1. 2. 3.
269
C1. PHREATIC LINE
a) b) c) d) e)
Porewater pressures are hydrostatic Calculated based on gamma-water * height of the water column Simple situations (water-table is horizontal) No flow For cases, i.e. simple excavations, foundations or embankments
Hydrostatic steady-state pressure along interface
GENERAL PHREATIC LINE
270
GENERAL & CLUSTER PHREATIC LINES
Cluster: Dry
271
Cluster: User-defined Pore Pressure Distribution
Combination: Phreatic and Cluster Options
272
COMBINATION: PHREATIC & CLUSTER OPTIONS
CLUSTER DRY + INTERPOLATION COMBO
Cluster Dry
Interpolated Case Histories
273
GROUNDWATER FLOW ANALYSIS

A. B. Steady-state Pore Pressure Generation based on Groundwater Flow Calculation Influence by:
1. 2. Soil Permeability Boundary Conditions (External or Internal) Confined flow problems Unconfined flow problems No change in flow field with time Position of phreatic is fixed (influence by k and geometry of hydraulic passage) Long-term flow field condition
C.
Phreatic line is calculated for

1. 2.
D.
Steady-state groundwater flow:

1. 2. 3.
E.
Transient-state groundwater flow :

1. 2. 3. Flow field influence by time Position of phreatic line changing with time Applicable to problems where pore pressure and hydraulic boundaries are changing with time.
274
GROUNDWATER FLOW: STEADY STATE

Calculation based on setup of: 1. Boundary conditions: a) Prescribed water levels (constant) b) Closed flow boundaries (bottom, axis of symmetry) c) Wells and drains (constant) d) Interface elements (on=impermeable, off=permeable) e) Inflow / outflow (constant) 2. 3. Soil permeabilities Phreatic level in the soil is being calculated for t=
GROUNDWATER FLOW: TRANSIENT-STATE

Transient groundwater flow:
1. Boundary conditions a) Prescribed water levels (changing with time) b) Closed flow boundaries (bottom, axis of symmetry) c) Wells and drains (changing with time) d) Interface elements (on=impermeable, off=permeable) e) Inflow / outflow (changing with time) 2. Flow field changes in time: a) b) Constantly changing natural water conditions Relatively fast building process, pumping, wells
3. Embankments with river changes, tidal change 4. Reservoir impoundment and drawdown 5. Precipitation problems
275
Pore pressures steady-state Steady-state flow

3 4 28 29 6 8 General 16 21 20 22 15 23 19 17 18 26 24 25 27 9 11 30 31 2 5 General General
13 7
14 10
12
SOME POINTS: FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

1. 2. 3. GWF calculation generally needs finer mesh than deformation analysis GWF calculation generally needs large number of steps than deformation analysis GWF calculation usually converges, but can be problematic when: a) b) c) Mesh is too coarseness Elements are distorted Large differences in permeabilities
276
SOME POINTS- FINITE ELEMENT MODELING
1.
Qualitative evaluation: Flow field Location of phreatic line Heads, pore pressures compared to hydrostatic, Compare with measurements or field experience
2.
Quantitative evaluation:
D. HYDRAULIC MODELS IN PLAXIS
277
Groundwater flow flow in unsaturated soil

Water content and permeability in unsaturated zone
k k rel k sat , k rel f h p , S S (h )
(h p )
n
hp= => pressure head
Groundwater flow flow in unsaturated soil A. Linear Model
krel
1
h p = - hp = 0
hp
1 k rel 1 m h p
hp 0 0 hp hp
Saturated Partially saturated Dry
For numerical stability
1 Ae 3 N int
278

Soil Water Characteristic Curve (SWRC or RC)
Groundwater flow flow in unsaturated soil van Genuchten model
S ( h p ) S res ( Ssat S res ) 1 g a h p

g n 1 g n gn gl g 1 krel S S e 1 1 S e n
1 g n gn ( g ) n
with
Se
S Sres Ssat Sres
Ssat,Sres: saturated and residual saturation ga, gn and gl: curve fitting parameters
279

Approximate van Genuchten model
1 hp 1 hps 0 if if if
if if if
hp 0 hps h p 0 hp h ps
hp 0
S hp
Linear in Saturation
1 4h p h krel h p 10 pk 4 10
Log-linear in Permeability
h pk h p 0 h p h pk
hps: length of partially saturated zone under hydrostatic conditions hpk: pressure head at krel=10-4
Groundwater flow - material data sets

A. Parameters: 1. Permeabilities (kx, ky) 2. Void ratio (to calculate storage) 3. Elastic storage coefficient (The volume of water that a unit volume of saturated soil loses due to a unit reduction in the applied water head) 4. Maximum unsaturated zone height Soil classification 1. Particle fractions 2. Predefined series (Staring, Hypres, USDA) with Van Genuchten and Approx. van Genuchten parameters. 3. User-defined
B.
280
Soil classification - Staring Dutch soil classification system 18 upper soils data sets 18 lower soil data sets Upper soils: < 1m below soil surface Lower soils: all deeper soils

Soil classification: Hypres Hydraulic Properties of European Soils Particle distribution: < 2m 2m - 50m 50m 2mm 5 upper soils data sets 5 lower soil data sets 1 organic soil data set
281

Soil classification: USDA United States Department of Agriculture Particle distribution: < 2m 2m - 50m 50m 2mm 12 soils data sets No difference between upper and lower soils

Soil classification and Van Genuchten parameters
Relative permeability
Degree of saturation
282
E. EXAMPLES
283
284
285
286
REFERENCES
A. Galavi, V. (2010), Groundwater flow, fully coupled flow deformation and undrained analyses in Plaxis 2D and 3D. Technical Report, Plaxis B.V.
287
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GENERATION OF INITIAL STRESSES & PHI-C REDUCTION ANALYSIS

William Cheang Plaxis AsiaPac
Research and Numerical Experiments
Cheang, Lee & Tan some of the slides were originally created by Dr Ronald Brinkgreve Dr Thomas Benz Mr Dennis Waterman
CONTENTS
1. Part 1 : Initial Stresses a. Ko-Procedure b. Gravity Switch On 2. Part 2 : Phi-C reduction (Shear Strength Reduction Analysis) a. Using Phi-C reduction b. Some Examples c. Pointers d. Appendix e. References
300
Ko and Gravity Switch-On Procedure
PART 1: INITIAL STRESSES
INITIAL STRESSES
1. Initial stresses represent the equilibrium state of the undisturbed soil and consist of: a) Soil weight b) Loading history 2. In Plaxis two possibilities exist: a) K0 procedure b) Gravity loading
301
K0-PROCEDURE
1. Generation of initial stresses during Initial Phase 2. Require coefficient of earth pressure at rest Ko Default automatically calculated using 1-sin phi, or Manual
Material Set
3. Disadvantage: No equilibrium for inclined surface 4. Advantage: No displacements are generated, only stresses (with reference to Gravity method)
' h 'v K
0
Effective Principle Stress (Gravity Switch On)
GRAVITY LOADING
1. Calculation of initial stresses by weight loading. 2. Disadvantage: Non-physical displacements are created. 3. Advantage: Equilibrium satisfied in all cases.
For 1D compression:
'n 'v
Non-physical displacements reset in subsequent phase)
so
K0
302
GRAVITY LOADING
1. Procedure a. Initial phase a. Skip K0 procedure, Mweight remains zero b. Phase 1 a. Choose Plastic calculation, Total multipliers b. Set weight multiplier Mweight = 1 c. Phase 2 a. Select Reset displacements to zero to discard all displacements from raising the gravity
GRAVITY LOADING
Points 1. Undrained material a. Select Ignore undrained behaviour in Phase 1 to prevent the generation of unrealistic excess pore pressures 2. K0 procedure has been used first 1. In the Initial phase redo the K0 procedure, but with Mweight = 0; this will reset all initial stresses to zero.
303
Since Plaxis 2D version 2010 1. We have streamlined the procedure 2. By using Gravity Loading reset displacement is automatically used in subsequent phase 3. Also some statements are given in the remarks window
GRAVITY LOADING
Cases where gravity loading should be used instead of K0-procedure:
304
SPECIAL CASES
Gravity loading needed due to geometry, but
K0
Gravity loading needed due to geometry, but initial OCR or POP required
K0 procedure using desired K0, OCR, POP
Phase 1: Excavate excess soil
Phase 2: Reset displacements
Check K0, OCR !
Initial stresses
SPECIAL CASES
1. For complex initial situations like inner city building projects it may be needed to use several calculation phases to model the current situation before starting the actual project.
existing buildings
our project initial phase 1 phase 2
our project our project
reset displacements
305
Phi-C Reduction in Plaxis
PART 2-SAFETY FACTOR ANALYSIS
PHI-C REDUCTION IN PLAXIS (STRENGTH REDUCTION METHOD1,2,3,4,5&6)

Main advantages: 1. 2. Requires no a-priori assumptions on the failure mechanism Critical surface is found automatically as slope failure occurs naturally through the zones due to insufficient shear strength to resist shear stresses. 3. 4. 5. No requirement of assumptions on the inter-slice shear force distribution Applicable to complex conditions Information such as stresses, movements and pore-pressures and numerical tool as for deformation analysis 6. Powerful alternative approach
306
Safety factor
Many possible definitions
a v a ila b le s o il r e s is ta n c e 1 .8 m o b iliz e d s o il r e s is ta n c e fa ilu r e lo a d w o r k in g lo a d 5 .9
PLAXIS: safety factor on soil resistance
SAFETY FACTOR ANALYSIS

Phi/c reduction: a. Reduction of strength parameters c and tan() until failure is reached. b. The factor of safety is the ratio of initial and reduced strength
Lowered incrementally
tan reduced
Msf
c creduced
tan tan reduced
307

Calculation procedure: 1. Create a phi/c reduction phase (in version 2010 select Safety) 2. Accept the default increment for MSF=0.1 from the multiplier tab-sheet. 3. Calculate 4. Carefully examine Msf vs. displacement curve in Plaxis Curves Notes: a. b. c. d. Select control point within (expected) failing body Use sufficient number of load steps (250-500?) Use a sufficiently fine mesh (Check for mesh sensitivity) Limit the maximum structural forces by choosing elastoplastic behaviour for walls, anchors and geotextiles.
Safety factor analysis

Number of load steps
1.16 1.12 1.08 1.04 1.0 0.0
Sum-Msf
1.16 1.12 1.08 1.04 1.0 0.0
Sum-Msf
0.3
0.6 0.9 displacement
1.2
1.5
0.3
0.6 displacement
0.9
1.2
Insufficient steps!!! (no steady line)
308

Use different plots to check failure mechanism
1. Arrows of incremental displacements
2. Shadings of incremental displacements
3. Shadings of incremental shear strains
EXAMPLE 1: UNDRAINED STABILITY OF A SLOPE:
H = 12m
cu = 50 kPa cu = 100 kPa
Plaxis: F = 1,35
Stability charts:
F N0
cu 50 D 6.6 1.38 , N 0 f ( , ) Pd 12 20 H
(Taylor,1948)
309
EXAMPLE 2: HOMOGENOUS SLOPE WITH AND WITHOUT FOUNDATION LAYER
Model Slope G1 (753 elements-15n) : FOS= 1.347 (1.4001, 1.3802)
Model Slope G2 (757 elements-15n) : FOS= 1.323 (1.4001, 1.7522,1.2794,1.3795, 1,3756)
Note: 1 Griffiths & Lane (1999) 2 Bishop & Morgenstern (1960) 3.Taylor (1937) 4.Janbu 5.Bishop 6.Morgenstern-Price
EXAMPLE 3: UNDRAINED STABILITY OF A SLOPE WITH A WEAK UNDERLAYER

Automatic detection of most critical shear surface: Cu1 Cu2 Cu2/Cu1 = 2
Toe becomes critical when lower soil layer is much stronger
Mixed mechanisms toe or deep-seated?
Cu1 Cu2
Plaxis FOS = 1.34
Cu2/Cu1 = 1.5
Deep seated becomes critical when lower soil layer has
Cu1 Cu2
same strength with upper soil cu = 50 the kPa
Plaxis FOS = 1.19 Cu2/Cu1 = 1.0
cu = 60 kPa
310
EXAMPLE 4: UNDRAINED CLAY SLOPE WITH A THIN LAYER
2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4
Factor of safety)
1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Model Slope G3A cu2/cu1=1 (3436 elements15n) FOS= 1.428 (1.471, 1.473)
Model Slope G3D cu2/cu1=0.8 (3436 elements15n) FOS= 1.384 (1.451)
Cu2 /Cu1)
Model Slope G3B cu2/cu1=0.6 (3436 elements15n) FOS= 1.319(1.401, 1.404)
Model Slope G3F cu2/cu1=0.5 (3436 elements15n) FOS= 1.112(1.251)
Note: 1 Griffiths & Lane (1999) 2 Bishop & Morgenstern (1960) 3.Taylor (1937) (green line) 4.Janbu
Model Slope G3E cu2/cu1=0.4 (3436 elements15n) FOS= 0.903(1.051)
Model Slope G3c cu2/cu1=0.2 (3436 elements15n) : FOS= 0.470 (0.591, 1.304)
Effect on Global FOS by c/phi Reduction

CBPElastic,Failure withnoPlastic Hinge, CBP Elasto-Plastic Failure with Plastic Hinge, FOS=1.40
FOS=1.75
1. Elastic wall excludes possibility of wall plastic hinge; and over-estimate FOS=1.75 2. Allowing for wall plastic hinge (Elasto-plastic wall) gave lower FOS=1.40 and smaller soil yielded zone behind the wall
24
311
SOME POINTS
1. Always inspect the incremental displacements or strains as computed in the last load step to make sure that failure is reached. 2. The mesh used in the calculation needs to be sufficiently fine. 3. Mesh: Refine and redo the phi-c analysis until the factor of safety remains constant upon further refinement of the mesh. 4. Always use the arc-length time stepping procedure within the Phi-C reduction (default) 5. Use a small tolerated error (maximum should be the default error of 1% )
Appendix : 2D vs. 3D (Benz)

1. 3D analysis may yield substantially different results from 2D analysis 2. The advantage of FEM over classical design tools is obvious. I 3. n the example: stability of a bentonite slurry trench.
Plane strain (14 m) FOS = 1.17
3D (40 m) FOS = 1.90
Axis symmetric (40 m) FOS= 2.69
312
The Case of Griffith and Marquez 2007 (Case 1)
27
Case 1(Griffith and Marquez, 2007)- A simple 2:1 slope stability verification
Incremental disp
Incremental shear strains
313
Slip Surface : Spoon under iso-surfaces

L/H=1 L/H=2 L/H=4
L/H=8
L/H=12
Case :Influence of Slope Length/Height ratio on FOS in 3D
314
Case 2: Inclined Side Face (to be continued)
31
REFERENCES
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Matsui, T. & San, K.C. (1992) Finite element slope stability analysis by shear strength reduction technique. Soils and Foundation, Vol.32 (1),pp.59-70 Zienkiewicz, O.C., Humpheson, C. & Lewis, R.(1975) Associated and non-associated visco-plasticity and plasticity in soil mechanics. Geotechnique 25(4).pp. 671-689. Ugai, K.(1989). A method of calculation of total safety factor of slope by elastoplastic FEM. Soils and Foundation 29(2). pp.190-195. Farias, M.M., Naylor, D.J.(1998). Safety analysis using finite elements. Computer and Geotechnics, Vol 22(2) p.p. 165-181. Griffiths, D.V., Lane, P.A. (1999). Slope stability analysis by finite elements. Geotechnique 49 (3), pp.387-403. Griffith, D.V. & Marquez, R,M (2007). Three-dimensional slope stability analysis by elastoplastic nite elements, Geotechnique 57, No. 6, 537546.
315
Slope stability for a road construction project
SLOPE STABILITY FOR A ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
316
317
INTRODUCTION
On the North Island of New Zealand a new road section has to be constructed along the shore line of a tidal bay, see gure 1.
Figure 1: Situation overview for the newly constructed road
Though the easiest solution would have been to construct the road at a larger distance from the bay as the slope gradients are easier there, this is not possible as the upper land is privately owned which for historic reasons cannot be changed. The new road therefore had to be constructed along the steeper gradient just next to the shore line of the tidal bay. The hillside is mainly siltstone, weathered at the surface but intact at certain depth. Construction will take place in summer when the ground water level is low. However, in winter the hillside side almost fully saturates due to heavy rainfall, which has a signicant inuence on the stability. For the construction of the new road part of the slope was excavated. The excavated material is crushed and mixed with sand and gravel to make ll material to support the road. During the rst winter after the road construction the road started to tilt towards the tidal bay and after assessing the winter situation the factor of safety was considered too low. The decision was taken to stabilize the ll and hillside below the road using so-called launched soil nails: long steel reinforcement bars that are shot with high speed into the ground.
MAIN GOAL OF THE ANALYSIS

Determine the factor of safety of the original hillside Construct the new road under dry (summer) conditions and calculate its factor of safety Simulate wet (winter) conditions and calculate its factor of safety Apply stabilising soil nails and calculate the factor of safety in wet conditions
INPUT
Start a new project and select appropriate General settings according to the size of the geometry (see gure 2) and make sure to use a snap distance of 0.25m. Use 15-node elements as basic element type since in this exercise we will deal with failure behaviour. Computational Geotechnics 3
318
Figure 2: Geometry model (a) and position of the road surface and soil nails (b)
Geometry

Enter the geometry as indicated in gure 2a. The order in which geometry points are created is arbitrary.
Introduce the 3 soil nails by using geogrids according to the coordinates given in gure 2b.
Introduce the road surface by using a plate element from (22,16) to (28,16)
Introduce the trac load by applying a vertical distributed load of -10 kN/m2 on the road surface.
Apply default boundary conditions.
Material properties
Soil and interfaces

Enter the material properties for the three soil data sets specied in table 1. After entering all properties for the three soil types, drag and drop the properties to the appropriate clusters, as indicated in gure 3.
319
Table 1: Soil material set parameters

Parameter Symbol Intact siltstone Weathered siltstone
Reinforced ll Mohr-Coulomb Drained 19.0 21.0 20000 0.3 8 30 0 0.1 0.1 Enabled
Units
Material model Type of behaviour Dry weight Wet weight Young's modulus Poisson's ratio Cohesion Friction angle Dilatancy angle Permeability x-dir. Permeability y-dir. Tension cut-o
Model Type
Mohr-Coulomb Drained 16.0 17.0 12000 0.3 8 35 0 110 110
Mohr-Coulomb Drained 16.0 17.0 12000 0.3 8 19 0 0.01 0.01 Enabled
unsat sat
Eref
kN/m kN/m kN/m kN/m
3 3 2

kx ky Tension cut-o

m/d m/d -
3 3
Disabled
Weath
ered s iltston e
A A A
Intact siltstone
Figure 3: Geometry model showing the soil material sets
Road surface
The road surface is modelled with a plate element. Therefore, create a new plate material set using the parameters as specied in table 2 and assign it to the plate representing the road surface. Table 2: Properties of the road surface (plate)
Parameter Symbol Road surface Unit
Material model Axial stiness Flexural stiness Weight Poisson's ratio
Model EA EI w
Elastic 2.510 500 3.0 0.0
kN/m kNm /m kN/m/m
Soil nails
The 3 soil nails are modelled using geogrid elements. Hence, create a new geogrid material set with parameters as specied in table 3 and assign the material to all 3 soil nails. Computational Geotechnics 5
320
Table 3: Properties of the soil nails (geogrids)

Parameter Symbol Soil nail Unit
Material model Axial stiness Max. tension force
Model EA
Elastoplastic 5275 150
kN/m kN/m
Np
Mesh generation

Set the Global coarseness to Medium. Select all clusters that fall within the boxed area (12 clusters in total) while keeping the <Shift> button pressed and then select the option Rene cluster from the Mesh menu in order to rene the mesh in the selected area. This will give a mesh as given in gure 4.
Figure 4: Medium coarse generated mesh with renement
321
CALCULATION
The calculation consists of the initial phase and 12 calculation phases more in order to model the proper construction sequence and the determination of the factors of safety at key moments in the construction process. When starting the Calculations program select dation.
Classical mode
for calculating undrained behaviour and consoli-
Initial phase
The initial situation consists of the intact hill side and a phreatic level representing typical summer conditions as construction starts in summer. In order to dene the initial situation, follow these steps:
Calculation type
Dene the
The geometry has a non-horizontal soil layering, hence the to
Gravity loading.
K0 -procedure cannot be used.
Therefore, set the
Staged construction
settings and make sure only the clusters representing the original hillside are
activated. Also make sure all structural elements (road surface and soil nails) are switched o.
In
Water conditions Update
mode, eEnter a phreatic level by two coordinates (-1, 10) and (56, 10).
Click the
button to return to the Calculations program.
Phase 1 - Stability prior to the construction

Before the construction is started the factor of safety is determined of the initial situation
One the
General
tabsheet make sure this calculation phase is
Safety.
Accept all default settings
Phase 2 - Road excavation
The road excavation should continue from the initial situation and not from the results of the safety factor determination. Therefore, on the
General
tabsheet, set the eld
Start from phase
on Initial phase .
Set the
Calculation type
to
Plastic
of loading type
Staged construction. Reset displacements to
In order to discard the displacements during gravity loading make sure the option
zero
is selected on the
Parameters
tabsheet.
On the
Parameters
tabsheet press the
Dene
button to dene the phase
Switch o the upper part of the road excavations, see gure 5.
Press the
Update
to return to the Calculations program.
322
Figure 5: Phase 2, road excavation
Phase 3 - Construction of the ll

This calculation phase is again a
Plastic
calculation, loading type
Staged construction.
For all the other settings the defaults should be used. Switch on the additional ll Open the material set database and assign the reinforced ll material set to the 4 clusters of the ll area, see gure 6. Close the material sets database and press the
Update
to return to the Calculations program.
Figure 6: Phase 3, Construction of the ll
Phase 4 - Construction of the road

8 This calculation phase again is a settings. Switch on the plate representing the road by clicking on it. Make sure the distributed load representing the trac load remains switched o. Return to the Calculations program.
Plastic
calculation, loading type
Keep all default
323
Phase 5 - Apply the trac load

Again a
Plastic
calculation, topmost level of loading type
Keep all default settings.
Switch on both parts (left nd right) of the distributed load representing the trac load. The plate representing the road surface remains switched on. Return to the Calculations program.
We are now nished with the road construction.
Phase 6 - Factor of safety of the road in summer conditions
In order to determine the factor of safety directly after constructing the road use a default settings.
Safety
phase. Keep all
Phase 7 - Winter conditions
The increase of water level should occur after nishing the road construction and not after determination of the factor of safety of this situation. Therefore, on the
General
tabsheet, set the
Start from phase
parameter
to Phase 5 Apply the trac load . Keep all other settings to their default.
Set the
Calculation
type to
Plastic, loading type Staged construction.

denition and from there to the
Go to the Select the
Staged construction Phreatic level
Water conditions
mode.
button and draw a new phreatic line from (-1,20) to (5,20) and further to (20,10)
and (56,10). If there is no closed ow boundary yet on the bottom of the geometry (indicated with a thick black line) then select the Select
Closed boundary
button and draw a closed ow boundary at the full bottom of the geometry.
Steady state
as groundwater analysis type and press the
Update
button to return to the Calculations
program.
Phase 8 - Factor of safety of the road in winter conditions
In order to determine the factor of safety directly in winter conditions create a settings.
Safety
phase. Keep all default
In winter conditions the factor of safety appears to be rather low and therefore it is decided to improve stability by applying launched soil nails.
Phase 9 - Apply top level soil nails
The application of the rst level of soil nails should occur after calculating winter conditions and not after
from phase

Set the
determination of the factor of safety of this situation.
Therefore, on the
General
tabsheet, set the
Start
parameter to Phase 7 Winter conditions . Keep all other settings to their default. to
Calculation type
Plastic, loading type Staged construcion.
Switch on the topmost soil nail, see gure 7. Return to the Calculations program
324
Figure 7: Phase 9, Road construction with trac load and topmost level of soil nails
Phase 10 - Factor of safety in winter conditions with top level soil nails
In order to determine the factor of safety directly in winter conditions with the topmost level of soil nails installed create a
Safety
phase. Keep all default settings
Phase 11 - Apply additional soil nails
The application of the rst level of soil nails should occur after installing the top level of soil nails and not after determination of the factor of safety of this situation. Therefore, on the
from phase

Set the
General
tabsheet, set the
Start
parameter to Phase 9 Apply top level soil nails . Keep all other settings to their default. to
Calculation type
Plastic, loading type Staged construction.
Switch on the 2 other soil nails Return to the Calculations program
Phase 12 - Factor of safety in winter conditions with all soil nails installed
In order to determine the factor of safety directly in winter conditions with the all soil nails installed create a
Safety
phase. Keep all default settings
Load-displacement curves
Before starting the calculation choose some points for node-displacement curves. In order to check failure for the phi/c reduction phases the chosen points should be in the expected failure zone. As there are several possible slope instabilities, chose at least points at (15,20), (25,16), (28,16) and (33,11).
Now start the calculation by pressing the
Calculate
button.
10
325
INSPECT OUTPUT
Factors of safety
Check the factors of safety in the Curves program. Create a new curve of displacements vs. Sum-Msf for the point at coordinates (25,16). See gure 8.
1.70
1.60
FoS 1.6 (all nails installed)
1.50 FoS 1.4 (top nails installed) 1.40 Msf
1.30
1.20
FoS 1.2 (summer conditions, no nails) FoS 1.15 (before construction)
1.10
FoS 1.15 (winter conditions, no nails)
1.00 0.00
0.50
1.00 |U| [m]
1.50
2.00
Figure 8: Factors of safety for key moments in the project.
Critical failure mechanisms

For all situations check the failure mechanism. This can be done by for instance with the graph of incremental shear strains (s ) of every
Safety
phase. This will show the change in shear strains in the last calculation step,
hence when failure occurred, and will show any shear bands that may have occurred. See gures 9-13. It becomes clear that installing the top nails disturbs the failure mechanism. However, it is only after having installed the lower nails as well that the sliding of the road ll no longer is the most critical mechanism. Both failure of the slope above the road and a very large hillside sliding mechanism with considerably higher factor of safety (almost 1.6) are now the critical mechanisms.
11
326
Figure 9: Most critical failure mechanisme prior to construction
Figure 10: Most critical failure mechanisme after construction, summer conditions.
Figure 11: Most critical failure mechanisme after construction, winter conditions.
12
327
Figure 12: Most critical failure mechanisme after installing top soil nails
Figure 13: Most critical failure mechanisme after installing all soil nails
13
328
Overview of Soil Models, Parameters, Possibilities & Limitations
Content
Overview of soil models, parameters, possibilities & limitations in PLAXIS 3D Mohr-Coulomb model Hardening Soil model (HS + HSsmall) Soft Soil model Soft Soil Creep model Hoek-Brown model Standard soil tests with different models Which model in which situation?
329
Overview of soil models in PLAXIS 3D
Mohr-Coulomb model
Linear-elastic perfectly-plastic behaviour
Hookes law:
1 d xx d yy d zz E d xy (1 )(1 2 ) 0 0 d yz d zx 0

1 0 0 0
1 2
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0
1 2
0 0 0
0 0
1 2
0 d xx 0 d yy 0 d zz 0 d xy 0 d yz d zx
330
Mohr-Coulomb model
Linear-elastic perfectly-plastic behaviour
Yield function:
1 f 1 2 '3 '1 2 '3 '1 sin ' c 'cos '
Plastic potential function:

1 g1 2 '3 '1 2 '3 '1 sin c 'cos
Mohr-Coulomb model
Parameters: E Youngs modulus Poissons ratio c Cohesion Friction angle Dilatancy angle
331
Mohr-Coulomb model
Possibilities: First order approach of soil behaviour in general (Drained) failure behaviour quite well described Limitations: Linear elastic behaviour until failure (no strain- or stress- or stress pathdependent stiffness behaviour) Be careful with efffective strength in undrained behaviour

Characteristics: Stress-dependent stiffness behaviour according to a power law Hyperbolic stress-strain relationship in axial compression Plastic strain by mobilising friction (shear hardening) Plastic strain by primary compression (compaction hardening) Elastic unloading / reloading Failure behaviour according to the Mohr-Coulomb criterion Small-strain stiffness (HSsmall model only)
332

Shear hardening: Elastoplastic formulation of hyperbolic q-1 relationship
MC failure line 3p,fric 2p,fric 1p,fric
Elastic
MC failure line
plastic

Compaction hardening: Elastoplastic formulation of p - v relationship in primary compression
MC failure line
pc
Cap
fc = 0
pc
333

Small-strain stiffness:
Strain-dependent stiffness Hysteresis Energy dissipation Damping

Parameters:
E50ref Eoedref Eurref G0ref 0.7 m pref ur c Rf K0nc Secant stiffness from triaxial test at reference pressure Tangent stiffness from oedometer test at pref Reference stiffness in unloading / reloading Reference shear stiffness at small strains (HSsmall) Shear strain at which G has reduced to 70% (HSsmall) Rate of stress dependency in stiffness behaviour Reference pressure (100 kPa) Poissons ratio in unloading / reloading Effective cohesion Effective friction angle Dilatancy angle Failure ratio qf /qa like in Duncan-Chang model (0.9) Stress ratio xx/yy in 1D primary compression
334

Possibilities:
Better non-linear formulation of soil behaviour in general Distinction between primary loading and unload./reloading Memory of pre-consolidation stress Different stiffness in different stress paths Well suited for unloading situations with simultaneous deviatoric loading (excavations) Strain-dependent stiffness (hysteresis, damping) (HSsmall only) No peak strength and softening No secondary compression (Creep); No anisotropy E50 / Eoed > 2 difficult to input
Limitations:
Soft Soil model

Characteristics: Based on Cam-Clay theory Logarithmic stress-strain relationship (stiffness linearly dependent on p) Plastic strain in primary compression (compaction hardening) Elastic unloading / reloading M based on K0nc in 1D compression instead of on Failure behaviour according to the Mohr-Coulomb criterion
335
Soft Soil model
Soft Soil model

Parameters: * Modified compression index * Modified swelling index ur Poissons ratio for unloading / reloading c Effective cohesion Effective friction angle Dilatancy angle nc K0 Horiz./vertical stress ratio in normally consolidated 1D compression (determines M)
336
Soft Soil model

Possibilities: Reasonable model for primary loading of normally consolidated clay and soft soils Failure behaviour better than (modified) Cam-Clay Limitations: Less suitable for over-consolidated clay and in certain unloading stress paths; not suitable for sand No time-dependent behaviour (secondary compression)
Soft Soil Creep model

Characteristics: Apparently comparable behaviour with Soft Soil model: Logarithmic stress-strain relationship Elastic unloading / reloading Memory of preloading (pre-consolidation stress) Irreversible volume strain upon primary loading Failure behaviour according to the Mohr-Coulomb criterion Time-dependent deformations (secondary compression) Irreversible strains by means of visco-plasticity (creep strain) instead of plasticity
337
338

Parameters: * Modified compression index * Modified swelling index * Modified creep index ur Poissons ratio for unloading / reloading c Effective cohesion Effective friction angle Dilatancy angle nc K0 Horiz./vertical stress ratio in normally consolidated 1D compression (determines M)

Possibilities: Reasonable model for primary loading of normally consolidated clay and soft soils Time-dependent behaviour (secondary compression; creep) Limitations: Side role of over-consolidation ratio OCR Influence of K0nc-parameter (M) No softening
339
Hoek-Brown model
Hoek-Brown failure criterion (2002):
'3 '1 '3 ci mb s ci

GSI 100 mb mi exp 28 14 D
1 1 GSI 20 a exp exp 2 6 15 3
GSI 100 s exp 9 3D
= Intact uniaxial compressive strength GSI = Geological Strength Index mi = Intact rock parameter D = Disturbance Factor
ci
Hoek-Brown model
Uni-axial compressive strength:
-1
c ci s a
Tensile strength:
s ci mb
-c t - 3
340
Hoek-Brown model
Parameters: ci GSI mi D Intact uniaxial compressive strength Geological Strength Index Intact rock parameter Disturbance factor
Hoek-Brown model
Possibilities: Continuum approach of rock strength Limitations: Only applicable to rock No anisotropy
341
Standard soil tests with different models

Model 1 (Mohr-Coulomb) Model 2 (Hardening-Soil) Model 3 (Soft Soil) E = 20000 kN/m2 = 0.3 c = 0 kN/m2 = 30 = 0 E50 = 20000 kN/m2 Eoed = 20000 m = 1.0 pref = 100 kN/m2 = 0.2 c=0 kN/m2 = 30 = 0 K0nc = 0.5 kN/m2 Eur = 60000 kN/m2 * = 0.012 * = 0.0024 = 0.2 c = 0 kN/m2 = 30 = 0 K0nc = 0.5

Standard drained triaxial test at 3 = 100 kPa
342

Undrained triaxial test at 3 = 100 kPa

Undrained triaxial test at 3 = 100 kPa
343

Oedometer test with unloading

Direct Simple Shear test at xx = yy = 100 kPa
344

Direct Simple Shear test at xx = yy = 100 kPa
Which model in which situation?

Soft soil (NC-clay, Hard soils (OCpeat) clay, sand, gravel) Primary load. (surcharge) Unloading + deviatoric load (excavation) Deviatoric loading Secundary compression Soft Soil (Crp), HS / HSsmall HS / HSsmall HS / HSsmall HS / HSsmall
Soft Soil (Crp), HS / HSsmall Soft Soil Creep
HS / HSsmall n/a
345
346
Consolidation analysis using finite elements

Ronald Brinkgreve
Plaxis BV, The Netherlands
(with input from Vahid Galavi)
Content
Theory of consolidation FEM for consolidation analysis Validation: One-dimensional consolidation New features in PLAXIS 2D 2010 Conclusions
347
Theory of consolidation
Considering: Homogeneous, fully saturated, isotropic linear elastic soil Incompressible particles
Volumetric strain of saturated soil is caused by: 1. Pore pressure change:
v1
n pw Kw
2. Storage of pore water:
v 2 q t
v = volumetric strain pw = (excess) pore pressure n = porosity Kw = bulk stiffness of water q = pore water flow t = time increment
Pore water flow: Darcys law:
k pw v 2 pw t w w k
k = permeability w = unit weight of water
Total change of volumetric strain in time, considering homogeneous permeability:
v ( v1 v 2 ) n pw k 2 pw t t K w t w
348
General 3D case:
v 1 p ' 1 ( p pw ) 1 p 1 pw t K ' t K ' t K ' t K ' t
1 p 1 n pw k 2 pw K ' t K ' K w t w
K' E' 3 1 2 '
where
= bulk stiffness of soil skeleton and p = mean total stress
Considering incompressible water:
kK'
2 pw
pw p t t
1D consolidation:
v 1 ' 1 ( pw ) t t Eoed t Eoed

n pw k 1 1 2 pw Eoed t Eoed K w t w
Eoed (1 ') E ' (1 ')(1 2 ')
2H
where
= constrained modulus of soil skeleton
Considering incompressible water:
k Eoed
2 pw
pw t t
349
1D consolidation, considering a constant total stress :
cv 2 pw
T cv t H2
pw t
0 t k Eoed where cv = consolidation coefficient =
FEM for consolidation analysis

Consolidation analysis based on excess pore pressure (EPP):
pactive psteady pexcess

Assumptions: Steady state pore pressure is constant in time (horizontal phreatic level or steady state pore pressure from groundwater flow calculation) Excess pore pressure can change in time Fully saturated soil (above and below phreatic level) Limitation: Time dependent hydraulic boundary is not possible (variable phreatic level)
350

Consolidation analysis based on Biots theory of consolidation: Coupling between deformation and flow of pore water (excess pore pressures) Differences with Terzaghis uncoupled or one-dimensional consolidation: Instantaneous settlement in undrained loading Spreading of load and therefore smaller excess pore pressures Complex flow of excess pore pressures Mandell-Cryer effect: Pore pressure may not immediately reduce

Instantaneous settlement:
axisymmetry
after consolidation
351

Mandell-Cryer effect: A C B F D
axisymmetry B
C A E

Geometry creation: Soil layers Structures Drains pw=0 in consolidation analysis
352

Soil properties: Unit weight (sat,unsat) Stiffness (E,) Strength (,c) Material type (drained, undrained, non-porous), Permeability (k) Drained behaviour is appropriate when Permeability is high Rate of loading is low Short term behaviour not relevant No excess pore pressures
T = hydrodynamic period
T>2.0 (U>99%)
cv t H2
Cv
k Eoed
Cv = consolidation coefficient

Soil properties: Unit weight (sat,unsat) Stiffness (E,) Strength (,c) Material type (drained, undrained, non-porous), Permeability (k) Undrained analysis appropriate when Permeability is low and rate of loading is high Short term behaviour has to be assessed Calculation of excess pore pressures
T<10-4 (U<1%)
cv t H2
Cv
k Eoed
353

Soil properties: Unit weight (sat,unsat) Stiffness (E,) Strength (,c) Material type (drained, undrained, non-porous), Permeability (k) Consolidation analysis appropriate when 10-4<T<2.0 (1%<U<99%) Permeability is relatively low Time-dependent behaviour has to be assessed kE Note: In consolidation analysis, drainage is ruled by Permeability rather than Material type
cv t H2
Cv
oed

Soil properties: Unit weight (sat,unsat) Stiffness (E,) Strength (,c) Material type (drained, undrained, non-porous), Permeability (k) k e Change of permeability (Ck) log k 0 Ck Note: Consolidation coefficient is more or less constant But: k decreases with load (compaction of soil) kE Cv oed Eoed increases with load (stress level) w Use realistic Ck only with advanced models
354

Soil properties: Unit weight (sat,unsat) Stiffness (E,) Strength (,c) Material type (drained, undrained, non-porous), Permeability (k) Change of permeability (Ck) Creep Note: Adding creep leads to extra generation of pore pressures, which is perceived as delayed consolidation

settlement
pexcess
no creep
creep
no creep
creep time (log-scale)
time (log-scale)
355

Boundary conditions: Fixities Loads Closed consolidation boundaries (no outflow; otherwise draining boundaries: pw=0)
Node
Element
Mesh: Stress point Elements: Interpolation of primary variables Nodes: Primary variables (displacements, pore pressures) Stress points: Derived variables (strains, stresses, Darcy velocities) Same order of interpolation in PLAXIS
356

Calculations: Consolidation Staged construction > Time interval t Consolidation Minimum pore pressure > |p-stop| Consolidation Incremental multipliers > Time increment Typical: Plastic calculation (staged construction) with undrained materials, followed by consolidation analysis Advanced: All phases consolidation: SC > t > SC > t > > SC > |p-stop| Rate loading: Time increment and load increment give loading rate

Calculations: Consolidation Staged construction > Time interval t Consolidation Minimum pore pressure > |p-stop| Consolidation Incremental multipliers > Time increment tcritical Note: l2 Cv smaller steps may give stress oscillations
= 80 for 15-node triangles = 40 for 6-node triangles
l = element length
357

Calculations:
K v L p f
H pL
K LT
T
Equilibrium Continuity
dp dv S q dt dt
L v 0 0 v0 f * * S p 0 t H p 0 t q
System of equations
Solution: Displacements and (excess) pore pressures

Calculations:
K v L p f H pL
K LT
T
Stiffness matrix Coupling matrix
dp dv S q dt dt
Forces Pore pressures Flow matrix Transposed coupling matrix Displacements Net flow Compressibility of water
Equilibrium Continuity
L v 0 0 v0 f * * S p 0 t H p 0 t q
S t H S
*
*
System of equations
q q0 q
Solution: Displacements and (excess) pore pressures
358

Output: Deformations Stresses Excess pore pressure History curves (e.g. pore pressure as function of time)
Validation: One-dimensional consolidation
359
Validation: One-dimensional consolidation
New features of PLAXIS 2D 2010

New types of calculations:
Fully coupled flow-deformation analysis

Consolidation based on total pore pressure (groundwater flow + deformation) Bishop stress (unsaturated behaviour) Possibility to model unsaturated soil behaviour Various boundary conditions for flow (seepage, infiltration, drain, well,)
New groundwater flow code (steady state + transient) New K0 procedure (Bishop stress + Terzaghi stress)
360
New features of PLAXIS 2D 2010

Unsaturated soil modelling:

Bishop stress Suction (a new variable) Retention curves (Mualem-Van Genuchten + user defined models) Existing Plaxis soil models (Bishop stress) User defined soil models (Bishop stress and suction)
Calculation modes in PLAXIS 2D 2010

Classical mode
Terzaghi stress Semi-coupled analysis (pore pressure is independent of deformation) Advanced mode Bishop stress Unsaturated soil modelling Fully coupled analysis Flow mode Steady state groundwater flow Transient groundwater flow

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Conclusions
FEM is quite suitable for 2D and 3D consolidation analysis 2D or 3D coupled consolidation is different from 1D or uncoupled consolidation PLAXIS has several options for consolidation based on excess pore pressure Adding creep gives more realistic time-dependent behavour and leads to delayed consolidation Recent development: Fully coupled flow-deformation analysis and unsaturated soil behaviour
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Geotextile reinforced embankment
GEOTEXTILE REINFORCED EMBANKMENT WITH CONSOLIDATION
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Computational Geotecnics
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INTRODUCTION
In 1979 a test embankment was constructed in the Netherlands near the town of Almere. The objective of this test was to measure the inuence of geotextile reinforcement on the short term stability of an embankment on soft soil. Two test embankments were constructed on top of a layer, one with and one without geotextile. The construction procedure was such that a ditch was excavated in the clay layer while at the same time a retaining bank was made with the excavated clay. A cross-section of the reinforced test embankment is given in gure 1.
line of symmetry
geotextile retaining bank sand fill soft clay strong sand layer 1 3.5 3.5 1 3 14 model width approx. 33 m 7 1 2 2 1,5
Figure 1: Cross-section of the reinforced embankment
Cone penetration tests gave an average cone resistance of qc = 150 kPa for the clay. The clay is considered to be normally consolidated. The behaviour is assumed to be undrained (the retaining bank should be drained, however). The saturated weight of the clay is 13.5 kN/m3. A plasticity index of Ip = 50% is assumed. Due to the limited soil data, parameters should be selected using engineering judgement and by using the correlations given in the lecture "Evaluation of soil stiffness parameters". To obtain an undrained shear strength for the clay layer it is suggested to use the correlation su qc /15. Having no data for the effective cohesion and the effective friction angle, they have to be estimated from the undrained shear strength in order to do a consolidation analysis. For the determination of a stiffness parameter for the clay layer it is suggested to use the correlation Eu 15000 su /Ip (%). The shear modulus G is one third of the undrained Youngs modulus Eu . The effective Poissons ratio should be chosen nc nc such that a realistic K0 is obtained in one-dimensional compression (K0 = /(1 ) 0.5). The effective Youngs modulus is calculated from the shear modulus E = 2G(1 + ). The ll was reported to be fully saturated loose sand with a saturated weight of 18 kN/m3 . The behaviour is considered to be drained. The effective strength properties are estimated at = nc 30 and c = 3 kPa. K0 is assumed at 0.5. For the stiffness one should take E = 4000 kPa and =0.33. Computational Geotechnics
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AIMS
Calculation of two alternatives within one project. Simulation of embankment construction in stages. Application of geogrid elements Review of undrained behaviour and pore pressures. Perform consolidation analysis. Determination of the factor of safety using phi/c reduction
1. Determination of stiffness & strength properties (clay) 2. Geometry input (a) Start a new project (b) Enter general settings (c) Enter geometry (d) Enter xities (e) Enter material properties for soil and geotextile (f) Mesh generation + rene line 3. Calculation (a) Initial conditions (Pore pressure generation, Initial geometry conguration, Generation of initial stresses) (b) Switch on geotextile, excavate ditch + raise retaining embankment (c) Apply rst hydraulic ll (d) Apply second hydraulic ll (e) Determine factor of safety (f) Repeat this using consolidation phases instead of plastic phases. 4. Inspect output 5. Suggestion for extra exercise: non-reinforced embankment 4 Computational Geotecnics
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Geotextile reinforced embankment Note: The main purpose of the exercise is to assess the failure mechanism and the factor of safety, which has the following consequences for the model: There is no need to use an advanced soil model as the main advantage of advanced models is a better prediction of displacements. The geometry size is chosen such that the failure mechanism ts within the model boundaries. This means the geometry can be fairly small. If a deformation analysis has to be performed for this case it is recommended to use an advanced soil model, for instance the Hardening Soil or HSsmall model, and to choose the geometry considerably larger to avoid inuence from the boundary conditions on the results.
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GEOMETRY INPUT
General settings
Start a new project and select appropriate General settings. Use 15-node elements as basic element type since in this exercise we will deal with failure behaviour.
Geometry and boundary conditions

(9.5,7.5) (8,7.5)
7 9
(12,8.5)
10 8
11
(33,8.5) (33,7.5) (33,5.5)
(0,5.5) (0,3.5) (0,2)

y
(4.5,5.5)
1 6
(12,5.5)
12
(26,5.5)
13 2
(1,3.5)
15
14
(33,2) (33,0)
(0,0)
Figure 2: Geometry model with coordinates
Enter the geometry as indicated in the previous graph. The order in which geometry points are created is arbitrary. Click the Geogrid button to introduce the geotextile (from (4.5, 5.5) to (26.0, 5.5)).
Click the Standard xities button for the standard boundary conditions.
Material properties (clay)

Determine the Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters ( and c) as well as the elastic parameters (E and ) for the clay layer from the data as given in the introduction of this exercise. The procedure on how to determine the parameters for clay are provided at the end of this exercise. For this exercise, we will continue with the parameters as given in table 1.
Soil and interfaces

Enter the material properties for the three soil data sets, as indicated in table 1. After entering all properties for the three soil types, drag and drop the properties to the appropriate clusters, as indicated in gure 3.
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Geotextile reinforced embankment Table 1: Soil parameters Parameter Material model Type of behaviour Unsaturated weight Saturated weight Youngs modulus Poissons ratio Cohesion Friction angle Dilatancy angle Permeability x-dir Permeability y-dir K0 Symbol Model Type unsat sat E c kx ky Clay MohrCoulomb Undrained A 13.5 13.5 2667 0.33 8.0 20.0 0.0 1.0103 1.0103 Automatic
3 2 1 1 4 3
Retaining Fill Stiff layer bank MohrMohrMohrCoulomb Coulomb Coulomb Drained Drained Drained 13.5 18.0 18.0 13.5 18.0 18.0 2667 4000 40000 0.33 0.33 0.33 8.0 3.0 3.0 20.0 30.0 32.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Automatic Automatic Automatic
Unit kN/m3 kN/m3 kN/m2 kN/m2

m/day m/day
Figure 3: Geometry model with soil material sets (1) Clay, (2) Retaining bank, (3) Fill and (4) Stiff layer
Geotextile
In the project database select the data type Geogrids and create a new material set. In this material set, enter 2500 kN/m as stiffness. Note that this is the stiffness in extension. In compression no stiffness is used. Drag the geogrid data set to the geotextile in the geometry and drop it there. The geotextile should ash red once, indicating the properties have been set.
Mesh generation
From the Mesh menu select the option Global coarseness. In the window that appears, set the mesh coarseness to Medium and click on the Generate button, which will present the following FE mesh composed of 15-node elements.
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Figure 4: Medium coarse generated mesh Select the clay layer (this consists of two clusters, see also hint) and press Rene cluster from the Mesh menu. This will result in a renement in the clay layer that will be needed for the consolidation analysis. See gure 5. Close the window showing the generated mesh and continue to the Calculations program.
Figure 5: Mesh with cluster renement
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CALCULATION
The calculation consists of two alternatives for the construction of the embankment: without and with consolidation taken into account. After both alternatives the factor of safety is determined. In the calculations list 8 phases are needed, 4 phases for each alternative. First start with the fully undrained construction, that is without taking consolidation into account. When starting Plaxis Calculations, choose Classical mode.
Initial conditions
Select the initial phase in the phase list and then press the Dene button on the Parameters tabsheet in order to dene the initial phase. The input window now opens in Staged Construction mode. Deselect all material clusters and geotextile elements that are not present at the start of the analysis. As we want to model the entire construction sequence from the beginning, switch off: Geotextile elements Material clusters for the ll Material cluster for retaining bank Now continue to the Water conditions mode by clicking the equally named button. Enter a phreatic level at ground level by two coordinates (0, 5.5) and (33, 5.5). Click on the Water pressures button to generate the pore pressures.
Phase 1: Excavation of the ditch and construction of the retaining bank

This calculation phase is a Plastic analysis, with loading type Staged construction. For all the other settings the defaults should be used. In this phase: Activate the full geotextile Construct the retaining bank Excavate the ditch (left of the embankment)
Phase 2: First ll
This calculation phase is also a Plastic analysis with the Staged construction loading type. For all the other settings the defaults should be used. In this phase the rst layer of ll must be switched on. Computational Geotechnics
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Phase 3: Second ll
This calculation phase is again a Plastic analysis, loading type Staged construction. For all the other settings the defaults should be used. Switch on the second layer of ll.
Phase 4: Safety factor determination

This calculation phase is a Safety phase. The loading type will be set automatically. Keep all default settings.
After this, we will construct the embankment taking into account consolidation:
Phase 5: Consolidated construction of the ditch and retaining bank

This phase starts an alternative calculation, so phase 5 should NOT follow on phase 4 as is the default, but it should follow on the initial phase. To do so, on the General tabsheet set Start from phase to the Initial phase. This calculation phase is a Consolidation analysis, loading type Staged construction. We assume that construction of the ditch and retaining bank will take 3 days. Hence, in the Loading Input box ll in a Time Interval of 3 days. During this time interval construction will take place, as well as consolidation. For all the other settings the defaults should be used. In this phase again: Switch on the full geotextile Construct the retaining bank Excavate the ditch (left of the embankment)
Phase 6: First ll - consolidated

This calculation phase is also a Consolidation analysis, loading type Staged construction. We assume that making the hydraulic ll will take 7 days, so the Time interval should be set on 7 days. For the rest this phase is equal to phase 2; hence the rst layer of ll must be switched on.
Phase 7: Second ll - consolidated

This calculation phase is again a Consolidation analysis, loading type Staged construction. This second ll will take 3 days, so the Time interval should be set on 3 days. For all the other settings the defaults should be used. In staged construction, switch on the second layer of ll. 10 Computational Geotecnics
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Phase 8: Safety factor determination

This calculation phase is a Safety phase. The loading type will be set automatically. Keep all default settings.
Select points for load-displacement curves

As node for load-displacement curves, select the toe of the embankment and start the calculation.
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INSPECT OUTPUT
In order to get a good idea of the displacement mechanism, one can view the contours of incremental displacements. Figure 6 shows this plot of the nal calculation step for the undrained construction. It clearly shows the effect of the geotextile reinforcement. Figure 7 shows the incremental displacement for the consolidated construction. Here the embankment has a more gradual settlement without showing an upcoming failure mechanism.
Figure 6: Incremental displacements contours, undrained (phase 3)
Figure 7: Incremental displacement contours, consolidated (phase 7) The axial forces of the geotextile can be visualised by double clicking on the geotextile. This will rst present the displacement of the geotextile. On using the menu item Forces, one can select Axial forces N.
Figure 8: Axial forces in geotextile, undrained (phase 3) At the ends of the geotextile the axial force must be zero, but due to the discretisation and some numerical inaccuracy this is not completely achieved. The maximum axial forces is approx. 8 kN/m. gure 9 shows the axial forces for the consolidated construction. The maximimum axial force here is only 5-6 kN/m. Finally, the factors of safety are checked. In order to do so follow these steps: Start the curves manager by selecting the Curves manager option from the Tools menu. 12 Computational Geotecnics
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Figure 9: Axial forces in geotextile, consolidated (phase 7) In the curves manager (see gure 10) select New in the Charts tabsheet. This presents the Curve Generation window as shown in gure 11. On the x-axis we want to show the displacements of the point at the toe of the embankment, hence choose Point A and Deformations Total displacements |u|. On the y-axis we want to show the strength reduction factor, hence select Project and Multiplier M sf on the y-axis.
Figure 10: Curves manager The created curve indicates a safety factor around 1.4 for the undrained construction and a a safety factor of 2.1 for the consolidated construction of the embankment, as can be seen in gure 12. From the graph above, the factor of safety can be determined. Always look for a steady state solution (slight variations in the load multipliers, increasing displacements). In most case, the phi/c reduction calculation shows some variation at the beginning of the calculation. Note that the displacements resulting from a Safety analysis are non-physical. Hence the total displacements are not relevant. An incremental displacement plot of the last step, however, shows the failure mechanism that corresponds the calculated value for M sf . Addicionally, gures 13 and 14 show the failure mechanisms with the lowest factor or safety for both the undrained and consolidated case.
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Figure 11: Curve generation window
Consolidated: Msf=2.1
Undrained: Msf=1.4
Figure 12: Safety factor curve for reinforced embankment 14 Computational Geotecnics
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Figure 13: Incremental displacements, undrained (phase 4)
Figure 14: Incremental displacements, consolidated (phase 8)
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SUGGESTION FOR EXTRA EXERCISE: NON-REINFORCED EMBANKMENT

For the undrained construction of an embankment, now introduce phase (9). In the Start from phase list box select <0 initial phase>. This phase as well as phases 10 and 11 are Plastic analyses. Excavate the ditch and construct the embankment, but do NOT activate the geotextile. In the next phase (10) the rst part of the ll is activated. In the next phase (11) the second part of the ll is activated. In the next phase (12) perform a safety analysis. In principle we can keep the 100 additional steps for this calculation. However, 50 additional steps is already sufcient here. For the consolidated construction of the embankment, now introduce phase (13). In the Start from phase list box select <0 initial phase>. This phase as well as phases 14 and 15 are Consolidation analyses. Set the Time interval to 3 days, excavate the ditch and construct the embankment, but do NOT activate the geotextile. In the next phase (14) the rst part of the ll is activated. Set the Time interval to 7 days. In the next phase (15) the second part of the ll is activated. Set the Time interval to 3 days. Finally, in the last phase (16) perform a Safety analysis again. In principle we can keep the 100 additional steps here as well. However, 30 additional steps is already sufcient to obtain a reliable value. Presented below is both the incremental displacement plot as well as the incremental shear strain plot of both the drained and consolidated non-reinforced embankment after safety analysis. Hence, the plots show the failure mechanisms.
Figure 15: Incremental displacements, undrained (phase 12)
FACTORS OF SAFETY
The factors of safety are checked with the Curves program, see gure 19. 16 Computational Geotecnics
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Figure 16: Incremental shear strains, undrained (phase 12)
Figure 17: Incremental displacements, consolidated (phase 16)
Figure 18: Incremental shear strains, consolidated (phase 16)
Consolidated: Msf=1.4
Undrained: Msf=1.1
Figure 19: Safety factor curve for non-reinforced embankment Computational Geotechnics
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18
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SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE CLAY PARAMETERS

qc su 15 = 150 = 10 kPa 15 ,0 0 ,0 su = 1 x + ,y0 sin() + c cos() with x = K0 y (1 sin()) ,y0 2 In the middle of the clay layer at about 2m below ground level: ,0 ,0 ,0 y = h (sat water ) = 2 3.5 = 7 kPa = x = (1 sin(20)) y = 4.6 kPa For this clay estimate = 20, then c 8 kPa su 10 Eu 15000 = 15000 = 3000 kPa 50 50 1 1 G = 3 Eu = 3 3000 = 1000 kPa E = 2G(1 + ) = 8 G = 2667 kPa 3 K0 0.5 = 1+K0 = 1.5 = 0.33 Use Undrained A as the type of material behaviour.
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Basic concepts of PLAXIS 3D
Plaxis 3D Input
General toolbar Mode switches Selection explorer
Drawing area Model explorer Mode toolbar
Command line
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Plaxis 3D Input : Modes

Definition of soil stratigraphy Definition of structural elements, loads and boundary conditions
SOIL
Creation of the FE mesh Definition of pressure distribution
STRUCTURES
Definition of construction stages
MESH
WATER LEVELS
STAGED CONSTRUCTION
Model and Selection explorer

The Model Explorer provides a graphical overview of the complete model and the objects that it contains. The Selection Explorer provides the same functionality as the Model Explorer, but only for the current selection of objects For managing any objects created in the model:
shows number of materials, loads Showing, hiding or deleting model items Renaming model items Changing properties of model items (load values, water height, material sets, )
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Command line
All the actions carried out using either the mouse or the explorers are translated into commands. Alternatively, PLAXIS 3D allows to carry out actions using keyboard input by directly typing the corresponding commands in the command line. The Session tab displays the commands executed in the active session The Model history tab displays all the commands executed in the project
Other functionality
Selection by either clicking individual objects or at once by defining a selection box in the draw area. Criteria can be applied to the type of items to be selected. Group creation for fast model creation when the same operations have to be undertaken over a large number of objects
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Soil Mode
Soil mode
Borehole 4
Definition of soil volumes and initial water levels Based on the concept of boreholes Offers import geometry facilities Boreholes Locations in the draw area where the information on soil layering and location of the water table is specified For multiple boreholes, PLAXIS 3D will automatically interpolate the soil layers between boreholes Each defined soil layer is used throughout the whole model.
Borehole 1
Borehole 3
Borehole 2
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Borehole definition
Defining soil layer heights in the Soil layers tabsheet Defining water conditions in the Water tabsheet: Specific Head Hydrostatic distribution, Interpolate from adjacent layers Dry User-defined pore pressures Defining Initial Soil conditions in the Initial conditions tabsheet Specify OCR, POP, K0x and K0y for the K0 procedure
Material Sets
Definition of material sets and parameters for representing the soil layers and structural elements Same method of input as Plaxis 2D
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Structures Mode
Defining the geometry

Points Generated by clicking the Create point button. Used for Point loads, Point prescribed displacements and Fixed-end anchors. Lines Generated by clicking the Create line button. Used to define Beams, Line loads, Line prescribed displacements, Node-tonode anchors and Embedded piles. Surfaces Generated by clicking the Create surface button. Used to define Plates, Geotextiles, Interfaces and Surface loads. The first three created points define the surface plane by default. Existing surfaces can be edited from the Surface points dialog box of from the pop-up submenu of Create surface button
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Defining the geometry: Array

Generate multiple copies of a selection, arranged in a rectangular pattern
Defining the geometry: Extrude

Extrusion of Lines and surfaces in order to create surfaces and volumes respectively: From the Extrude dialog box By dragging and dropping the bottom surface to the top surface location
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Defining the geometry: Other functions

Decompose into surfaces: creates outer surfaces of selected volumes Decompose into outlines: creates contour of selected surfaces Intersect: splits selected geometric objects along their intersection Combine: merges selected geometric objects of the same kind
These functionalities are only accessible from the RMB context menu in the draw area
Loads
Generated by clicking the Create load button or by right-clicking on any geometric objects in the draw area
Point load Line load Surface load
In a similar way it is possible create Prescribed displacements.
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Default Boundary Conditions

Default boundary conditions are All displacements fixed for the bottom surface of the soil contour Perpendicular displacement fixed for lateral surfaces of the soil contour
Default boundary conditions can be overwritten by specifying Prescribed displacement surfaces on the soil contour
Structures
Generated by clicking the Structure button Can also be created by right-clicking on selected: points (fixed-end anchor) lines (beam, node-to-node anchor or embedded pile) surfaces (plate, geogrid, interfaces)
Fixed-end anchor Beam Node-to-node anchor Embedded pile Plate Geogrid Positive interface Negative interface
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Importing Geometry
Possibility to import from external sources in different formats like 3D Studio files (*.3DS) AutoCAD native (*.DWG) Interchange (*.DXF) file format Click Click to import surface to import volume
Mesh Mode
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Mesh density in Plaxis 3D

Global coarseness: Defines an average element size based on model dimensions and relative element size factor Re (Very coarse / Coarse / Medium / Fine / Very Fine) Reference element size = 0.05 * Re * (Model diagonal length) Local refinement (Fineness factor): Element size can be locally refined or coarsened Element size = (Fineness factor) * (Global coarseness) * (Ref. elem. size) Color code Depending on their degree of local refinement, geometric objects are displayed in different color in the Draw area (gray for Fineness factor of 1 and green otherwise with darker colour when getting more refined)
Local mesh refinement

By clicking the toolbar buttons Refine mesh or Coarsen mesh and selecting the desired items in the Draw Area From the Selection explorer by entering the desired fineness factor value By invoking RMB context menu after item selection
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Generate Mesh
Can be done by clicking the Generate mesh button from the Mesh Toolbar or the right mouse button popup menu While the mesh is being generated, the possibilities are offered to either pause, resume or cancel the process
Water Levels Mode
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Water Levels
Generated water level is created by specifying a Head in the boreholes (in the Soil mode) and is the default water level A single borehole can be used to create a horizontal water surface that extends to the model boundaries. When multiple boreholes are used, a non-horizontal water surface can be created by combining the heads in the various boreholes Non hydrostatic distribution in the soil may be specified in the Water tabsheet of the Modify soil layers dialog box User water levels are available in the Water levels mode and can be used as a alternative to the Generated water level.
Water conditions in soil volumes

Water levels can be specified for each individual volume Available options are: Global level (default) Custom level Head User-defined Interpolate Dry Can be done from The WaterConditions feature in the Selection explorer. Right-clicking the mouse
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The Staged Construction Mode
Calculation phase definition

Phase explorer
Change and/or (de)activate objects per phase by means of the Model explorer, Selection explorer or directly in the Draw area
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The Phase explorer

For creating and editing the calculation phases
Insert phase Add phase
Delete phase
Define phase settings
Calculation type indicator Calculation status indicator to be calculated not to be calculated calculation successful calculation failed K G P D C S K0 procedure (initial phase) gravity loading (initial phase) plastic plastic drained consolidation safety
Defining Phase settings

Calculation phase settings can be edited: Calculation type Phase parameters Iterative procedure settings
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Working in the Geometry Modes of Plaxis 3D

William WL Cheang Plaxis AsiaPac
Introduction
The Geometry modes of Plaxis 3D comprises the Soil mode and the Structures mode They are meant to fully define the model geometry in terms of: Soil stratigraphy Structural elements Soil structure interfaces Loads Boundary conditions
The Geometry modes are indicated using blue tabsheets and precede the Calculation modes (green tabsheets) when building up a model from scratch
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The Soil Mode
Introduction to the Soil Mode

Meant to define soil volumes and initial water levels Based on the concept of boreholes like in Plaxis 3D Foundation Offers import geometry facilities
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Soil Mode Toolbar

Adjust Soil Contour
Create Borehole
Import Soil
Show Materials
Adjust Soil Contour

The model contour can be adjusted by
Moving an existing points or lines Inserting a control points Deleting an existing points
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Boreholes
Boreholes are locations in the draw area at which the information on the height of the constitutive soil layers and location of the water table is given If multiple boreholes are defined, PLAXIS 3D will automatically interpolate between boreholes and derive the corresponding position and height of the soil layers from the available borehole information. Each defined soil layer is used throughout the whole model contour
Borehole 1
Borehole 4 Borehole 3
Borehole 2
Creating Boreholes
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Defining Water Conditions

Water conditions can be specified from the Modify soil layers dialog box in the Water tabsheet Available options are Head Hydrostatic Interpolate Dry User-defined
Initial Soil Conditions

Initial soil conditions can be specified from the Modify soil layers dialog box in the Initial conditions tabsheet Values specified (OCR, POP, K0x and K0y) will be using during initial stage calculation based on K0 procedure
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Importing Top and Bottom Model Surfaces

Definition of the top and bottom soil layer surfaces can be achieved as a result of surface import operation Import formats include 3DS, ITS, DWG, DWF and SLT Feature available for VIP members only
Importing Soils
The geometry of the soil can be imported from predefined files instead of using the Borehole tool The same import formats as for importing soil surfaces are available (3DS, ITS, DWG, DWF and SLT) Feature also only available for VIP members
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Material Sets
Definition of material model parameters for constitutive soil layers and structural elements Dialog box consistent among all Plaxis products Available from many places in Plaxis 3D: Present in each model Many shortcuts from different dialog boxes where material sets assignment is required Entry point to the SoilTest facility
The Structure Mode
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Introduction to Structure Mode

Meant to define structural elements and loading Structural objects are created directly into a 3D space using mouse and/or assisting tools
Default Movement Limitation

Defining 3D geometry using mouse input is cumbersome considering the fact that the location in the direction perpendicular to the draw view cannot be precisely defined. By default: mouse will enable movement in the XY plane holding <Shift> while moving the mouse will enable movement in Z direction only
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Changing Movement Limitation Settings

Selecting one the six sides view of the default views gives access to the Movement limitation dialog boxes The Movement limitation dialog box can be closed by selecting the Perspective view option of the default views.
Structure Mode Toolbar

Rotate Points Loads
Extrude
Lines
Displacements
Array
Surfaces
Structures
Import surface
Import volume
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Points
Can be generated by cilcking the Create point button The following items can be assigned to a point Point load Point prescribed displacement Fixed-end anchor
Point load Point prescribed displacement Fixed-end anchor
Lines
Can be generated by clicking the Create line button The following items can be assigned to a line Beam Line load Line prescribed displacement Node-to-node anchor Embedded pile
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Surfaces
Can be generated by clicking the Create surface buttom The first three created points define the surface plane by default Existing surfaces can be edited from the Surface points dialog box of from the pop-up submenu of Create surface button
Mode points/lines Insert points Delete points
Rotate
Rotate any selection around a rotation point compared to global axis Possibility to directly rotate the selected objects from the draw area using Euler angles
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Extrude
Lines and surfaces can be extruded to create surfaces and volumes correspondingly: From the Extrude dialog box By dragging and dropping the bottom surface to the top surface location
Array
Generate multiple copies of a selection, arranged in a rectangular pattern
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Further Geometrical Operations

On top of the aforementioned geometrical operations (rotate, extrude and array), Plaxis 3D also offers Decompose into surfaces: create outer surfaces of selected volumes Decompose into outlines: create outer lines (including points) of selected surfaces Intersect: Split select geometric objects along their intersection Combine: Merge selected geometric objects of the same kind These functionalities are only accessible from the RMB context menu oin the draw area
Loads
Can be generated by clicking the Create load button or by invoking the RMB context menu on any geometric objects in the draw area
Point load Line load Surface load
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Prescribed Displacements
Can be generated by clicking the Create prescribed displacements button or by invoking the RMB context menu on any geometric objects in the draw area is a very similar way as for Load definition
Point prescribed displacement Line prescribed displacement Surface prescribed displacement
Default Boundary Conditions

Default boundary conditions are All displacements fixed for the bottom surface of the soil contour Perpendicular displacement fixed for lateral surfaces of the soil contour Default boundary conditions can be overwritten by specifying Prescribed displacement surfaces on soil contour
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Structures
Can be generated by clicking the Structure button Can also be created from the RMD context menu after selecting: points (fixed-end anchor) lines (beam, node-to-node anchor or embedded pile) surfaces (plate, geogrid, interfaces)
Fixed-end anchor Beam Node-to-node anchor Embedded pile Plate Geogrid Positive interface Negative interface
Importing Geometry
Possible to import from external sources in different formats like 3D Studio files (*.3DS), AutoCAD native (*.DWG) and interchange (*.DXF) file formats: Click Click to import surface to import volume
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Working in the Calculation Modes of Plaxis 3D William Cheang Plaxis AsiaPac
Introduction
The Calculation modes of Plaxis 3D comprises the Mesh mode, the Water Levels mode and the Staged Construction mode They are meant to fully define the model geometry in terms of: The finite element mesh Changes in water pressure distribution Construction phases Calculation settings
The Calculation modes are indicated using green tabsheets and follow the Geometry modes (blue tabsheets)
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The Mesh Mode
Introduction to the Mesh Mode

Entered once the geometric modeling is complete Meant to define the finite element mesh used by the kernel for project calculation Fully automated generation of finite element meshes.
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Mesh Density Definition in Plaxis 3D

Global coarseness: Define an average element size based on model dimensions and relative element size factor Re (Very coarse / Coarse / Medium / Fine / Very Fine) Ref. Elem. Size = 0.05 * Re * Model Diagonal Length Fineness Factor: Element size could be locally refine or coarsen Element size = Fineness Factor * Global Coarseness * Ref. Elem. Size Color code Depending on their Fineness Factor, geometric objects are displayed in different color in the Draw Area (gray for fineness factor of 1 and green otherwise with darker color as getting more refined)
Mesh Mode Toolbar

Refine mesh Coarsen mesh Reset local coarseness Generate mesh View mesh Select points for curves
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Changing Local Mesh Density

By clicking the toolbar buttons Refine mesh or Coarsen mesh and selecting the desired items in the Draw Area From the Selection explorer by entering the desired fineness factor value By invoking RMB context menu after item selection
Generate Mesh
Can be done by clicking the Generate mesh button from the Mesh Toolbar or the RMB context menu While the mesh is being generated, the possibilities are offered to either pause, resume or cancel the process
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View Mesh and Select Points

The View mesh and the Select points for curves will open the Output Program where mesh could be evaluated nodes and/or stress points could be selected at the location of which Output needs to be generated
The Water Levels Mode
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Water Levels
Generated water level is created by specifying a Head in the boreholes (in the Soil mode) and is the default water level A single borehole can be used to create a horizontal water surface that extends to the model boundaries. When multiple boreholes are used, a non-horizontal water surface can be created by combining the heads in the various boreholes Non hydrostatic distribution in the soil may be specified in the Water tabsheet of theModify soil layers dialog box User water levels is available in the Water levels mode and can be defined as a alternative to Generated water level
Presentation of the Water Level Mode

Meant to define User water levels in a similar way as surface Enable preview of generation of water pressure
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Assigning Water Conditions to Soil Volume

Water levels can be specified for each individual volume Available options are: Global level (default) Custom level Head User-defined Interpolate Dry Can be done from The WaterConditions feature in the Selection explorer. The RMB context menu
The Staged Construction Mode
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Introduction to the Staged Construction Mode

To define relevant construction stages and Launch Plaxis 3D calculation
Staged Construction Toolbar

Activate Deactivate Show materials Preview construction stage Select points for curves Calculate View calculation results
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Activate/Deactivate
Indicates which model parts should be active or inactive in the each construction stage Can be defined through RMB context menu The selection or model explorer Selection tool can be advantageously used for fast selection of large number of objects Be careful with hidden objects which might still be active
The Phase Explorer

For defining and listing the defined phases for a calculation Accessible from all Calculation modes but only editable in the Mesh mode
Insert phase Add phase Calculation type indicator K Calculation status indicator to be calculated not to be calculated calculation successful calculation failed G P D C S K0 procedure (initial phase) gravity loading (initial phase) plastic plastic drained consolidation safety Delete phase Define phase settings
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Defining Calculation Stages

Calculation phase settings can be edited: Phase type Phase parameters Phase types are: Initial stress definition Plastic calculation Safety factor analysis (phi-c reduction) Consolidation analysis (with closed or open flow model boundaries)
Phase Parameters
Advanced phase parameters can also be controlled from the Phases dialog box Maximum number of calculation steps Reset displacement Updated Mesh Ignore undrained behaviour Parameters for automatic step size
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Modelling piles in PLAXIS 3D
Learningobjectives
To To To be able to: Model piles in different ways Analyse pile forces understand the backgrounds of the embedded pile model recognize the possibilities and limitations of pile modelling
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Outline
Volume piles Embedded piles Concept Model Properties Deformation behaviour Elastic region Output Verification & validation Axial loading, pile groups, lateral loading Further research
Volumepiles
Volume piles: Piles composed of volume elements or wall elements with pile properties Use Cylinder command to create pile geometry Cylinder0.62024 (creates a cylinder with 0.6m radius, 20m length and 24 sections) Alternative: Import cylinder Pile can be inclined in PLAXIS 3D! (not in 3D Foundation)
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Volumepiles
Volume piles:
Import cylinder
Volumepiles
Volume piles: After creating pile geometry: Create soil material set with concrete properties for pile Tubes: Apply plate around pile volume; create plate material set Apply interface around pile geometry To activate pile in calculation phase: - Assign pile properties - Tubes: activate plate - Activate interface
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Volumepiles
Volume piles: Limitations of volume piles: Takes many elements Limited number of piles feasible Installation effects not considered Possibly bad element shapes (check mesh quality)
Embeddedpiles Concept
Sadek & Shahrour (2004):
A three dimensional embedded beam element for reinforced geomaterials

Beam arbitrarily through volume elements Shear interaction between beam element and surrounding soil. Septanika (2005)
A finite element description of embedded pile model

with limiting capacities (optional) Shaft interaction similar to Sadek & Shahrour (2004) NEW: - Tip interface - Shaft interface
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Embeddedpiles
pile
kt kn kt kn ks ks
Model
Skinstiffness: tmax ks:axialstiffness Kn ,kt :lateralstiffness
k 1
tskin
kt
soil
Skintractions: ts =qs/length = ks (uspileussoil)tmax tn =qn/length =kn (unpileunsoil) tt =qt/length =kt (utpileutsoil) Basestiffness: kb:base/footstiffness Base/Footforce: Fb = kb (ubpile ubsoil)Fmax
urel
Ffoot
kn s t
ks
kb n
Embeddedpiles Model
Embedded piles: Beam nodes: Real nodes; 6 d.o.f.s per node (ux uy uz rx ry rz) Interface nodes: Virtual nodes, 3 d.o.f.s per node (ux uy uz), expressed in volume element shape functions
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Embeddedpiles Properties
Properties (in explorer): Connection: Rigid (only at beams / plates) Hinged Free
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Embeddedpiles Properties
Material set with embedded pile properties: Pile type and material - Type: Massive circular pile, Circular tube, Massive square pile Interaction properties (defines pile bearing capacity)
Embeddedpiles
BearingCapacity= (Ttop+Tbot)Lpile +Fmax Ttop
Lpile
Tbot
Fmax
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Embeddedpiles Deformationbehaviour
Pile bearing capacity is input and not result of FEM calculation F Specifiedbearingcapacity
1
t
tmax
k
urel
Globalpileresponse fromsoilmodelling andpilesoilinteraction u
F
Fmax
k 1
urel
Embeddedpiles Withoutelasticregion
Load-Displacement Curves - Vertical Pile EB+CS
1250
Defined Capacity
Capacity Reached (Premature Failure)
Defined Pile Capacity
1193.2 kN
1000
Load (kN)
750
500
VERY FINE MESH FINE MESH MEDIUM MESH COARSE MESH VERY COARSE MESH Pile Capacity Defined
250
0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Without elastic region: Early (soil) failure for fine meshes
Displacement (mm)
431
Embedded piles . ElasticRegion

Around shaft Around foot
Soil stress points inside elastic region are forced to remain elastic
Embeddedpiles Output
Displacements, bending moments, axial forces, shaft friction, foot force
Ts
C B A
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Verification&validation
Verification & validation by Plaxis, METU, TUGraz, TUDelft - Shaft friction, end bearing, total capacity - Axial loading (compression, extension) - Lateral loading (external loading, soil movement)
* 1. 2. 3. 4.
5. 6. 7. 8.
Related reports and publications: Engin H.K. (2006). Validation of embedded piles, Plaxis Internal Report. Engin H.K., Septanika E.G. and Brinkgreve R.B.J. (2007). Improved embedded beam elements for the modelling of piles. In: G.N. Pande & S. Pietruszczak (eds.), Int. Symp. on Numerical Models in Geomechanics NUMOG X, 475-480. London: Taylor & Francis group. Engin H.K. (2007). A Report on tension piles testing using embedded piles, Plaxis Internal Report. Engin H.K., Septanika E.G., Brinkgreve R.B.J., Bonnier P.G. (2008). Modeling piled foundation by means of embedded piles. 2nd International Workshop on Geotechnics of Soft Soils - Focus on Ground Improvement. 3-5 September 2008, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. (Accepted for publication) Septanika E.G., Brinkgreve R.B.J., Engin H.K. (2008). Estimation of pile group behavior using embedded piles, the 12th International Conference of International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), 1-6 October, 2008, Goa, India. Tschuchnigg F. (2009). Embedded piles 1. Report. CGG_IR021_2009. Technische Universitt Graz. Tschuchnigg F. (2009). Embedded piles 2. Report. Improvements. Technische Universitt Graz. Dao T.P.T. (2011). Validation of PLAXIS embedded piles for lateral loading. MSc thesis Geo-engineering. Delft University of Technology.
Verification&validation Axialloading(Plaxis)
Single Layer : = 0 , Cohesive Soil (Case 1): c = 50 kPa = 0
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Verification&validation Axialloading(Plaxis)
Single Layer : = 0 , Cohesive Soil (Case 1): c = 50 kPa = 0
Verification&validation Axialloading(METU)
Pile load test Alzey Bridge near Frankfurt (Bored Pile)
Hardening Soil model Pre Overburden Pressure = 50 kPa
El-Mossallamy, Y (1999)
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Verification&validation Axialloading(METU)
Alzey Brigde Single Pile Load Test
3500 PILE CAPACITY 3000
2500
2000 Load (kN) 1500
Total Load Skin Friction Base Resistance PILE CAPACITY HS-CS HS-CS-Base Res. HS-CS-Ave. Skin Friction
1000
500
0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Settlement (mm) 30 35 40 45 50
Verification&validation Pilegroups(TUDelft)
Pile group example by Poulos:
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(a) Poulos & Davis (1980) (b) Randolph (1994) (c) Strip on springs analysis, using the program GASP (Poulos,1991) (d) Plate on springs approach, using the program GARP(Poulos, 1994a) (e) Finite element and boundary element method of Ta & Small(1996) (f) Finite element and boundary element method of Sinha(1996).
AverageSettlement(mm)
50,0 45,0 40,0 35,0 30,0 25,0 0,6 1,2 1,0 0,8
Moment(MNm/m)
FETa& Small
FE+ BE Sinha
Plaxis3DFnd
Plaxis3DFnd
Strip(GASP)
10,0 5,0 0,0
Randolph
15,0
0,4 0,2 0,0
DifferentialSettlement(mm)
10,0 9,0 8,0 7,0 6,0 5,0 4,0 3,0 2,0 1,0 0,0
%LoadonPiles
100,0 90,0 80,0 70,0
FETa& Small
Strip(GASP)
FE+ BE Sinha
Plaxis3DFnd
Plate (GASP)
30,0 20,0 10,0 0,0
FETa&Small
Plaxis3DFnd
FE+ BESinha
Plate(GASP)
Randolph
Strip (GASP)
60,0 50,0 40,0
Strip(GASP)
FE+ BE Sinha
Plate (GASP)
Plate (GASP)
20,0
Poulos &Davis
FETa& Small
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Verification&validation Axialloading(TUGraz)
3D model - volume piles: 70 mm
Verification&validation
2D model: 72 mm
3D model - embedded piles: 74 mm
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Verification&validation Axialloading(TUGraz)
Conclusions from research at TUGraz (based on 3D Foundation): Embedded pile gives good results in serviceability states Layer-dependent option preferred to obtain realistic shaft friction Increased interface stiffness needed at pile tip * Pile should end at corner node *
* Implemented in PLAXIS 3D
Verification&validation Lateralloading(TUDelft)
Validation for lateral loading: Comparison with volume pile Lateral movement of pile in horizontal soil slice Lateral loading of pile top Lateral loading by soil movement (embankment construction) Comparison with measurements from centrifuge test Lateral loading by soil movement (embankment construction)
438
Lateral movement of pile in horizontal soil slice: > Embedded pile almost behaves as volume pile due to elastic region
Lateral loading by soil movement due to embankment construction > Bending moments in reasonable agreement with measurements
439
Conclusions from research at TUDelft: Embedded piles have capabilities for lateral loading behaviour in case of rough pile-soil contact (full bonding) and small soil displacements When using standard mesh around embedded piles (no local refinement), stiffness and lateral capacity are over-estimated (~30%)
Furtherresearch(TUDelft)
Research at TUDelft on pile installation effects: Press-replace technique to simulate pile installation with the purpose to generate data for different situations Results are used in generalized model, where (embedded) piles are wished-in-place and installation effects are superimposed
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Conclusions
Volume pile Pile composed of volume elements or wall elements with pile props Massive piles or tubes (wall elements) Not feasible for many piles Embedded piles Efficient way to model different types of piles Validated for axial loading, pile groups and lateral loading
Conclusions(contd)
Limitations of embedded piles: Primarily for bored piles (no installation effects) Primarily for serviceability states Mesh-dependency of results Full bonding considered in lateral movement
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Modelling piles in PLAXIS 3D Ronald B.J. Brinkgreve
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Embedded Elements in Plaxis 3D

(A comparison of embedded pile against solid pile)
Based on original course note by Prof. Harry Tan
EmbeddedpileinPlaxis3D
EmbeddedpileinPlaxis 3Dcanbeusedto simulatepilestoobtain pilemovementprofiles, internalforcesreadily. HOWEVER,agood understandingofthe behaviorofembedded pileinPlaxis3Discritical fortheproperuseofthis veryusefulelement.
Illustrationofapilebehind excavation
1
443
Anembeddedpile=Beamelement+Interface elementaroundthebeamelementtointeract withthesurroundsoilelements. Assuch,thedefinitionofanembeddedpile elementconsistsof2parts:propertiesofthe beam&propertiesoftheinterfaceelement (skinresistanceandfootresistance).
3
Forthedefinitionofthe beamelementpart,itis muchthesameasthat definedforthebeam elements. Becautiousofnonisotropic pile(likeHpile)withthe possibilityofdifferentpile orientation,aswillbe illustratedinthenextslide!
4
2
444
red InPlaxis3D,the1st localaxisis indicatedbyaRED arrowalign blue withtheembeddedpile green direction;the2nd localaxisis GREEN arrowandthe3rd axisis BLUE arrow. Fornonisotropicpile(likeHpile) the3rd axis isthemajoraxiswith assignedlargerI3 intheinput, thealignmentoftheaxisshould beadjustedaccordinglyfor lateralloadingcases.
5
Illustration:Embeddedpile Orientation.P3D
Forahigherresistance toexcavationinduce bendingmoment,theH pilesareorientedwith majoraxistobebending towardtheexcavation side,hastheembedded pileorientationbeing properlyconfiguredin therighthandfigure?
Illustrationofapilebehind excavation
6
3
445
Embeddedpileinteraction withsoilelements
Anembeddedpilecancross a10nodetetrahedralsoil elementatanyplacewith anyarbitraryorientation, introducing3extranodes insidethe10node tetrahedralsoilelement.
Anembeddedpilecrossingan tetrahedralsoilelement
7
Interactionbetween embeddedpileand surroundingsoilelementat eachnodeisbasedon:
embeddedpileinteractingwith surroundingsoils
8
4
446
Whileinterfaceelementhasbeen providedalongtheembeddedpile shaft(goodforcorrectsimulationof axialpilesoilinteraction),takenote thatNO interfaceelementsare providedforthelateralsoilsliding aroundtheembeddedpile.Assuch, forlaterallyloadedcase,embedded pileonlyworkswellinworking conditionwhenthereisnotmuch pilesoillateralslidingoccurs,itcan notbeusedforsimulationof embeddedpileinteractingwith ultimatelateralloadingscenario. surroundingsoils
9
Performanceofembeddedpileversus solidpileinPlaxis3D
Single Bored Pile of 1m Dia and 20m L M-C soil of Cu=100kPa, =0, E=40000 kPa, =0.3, Rinter=1 Pile loaded in axial compression +Fz Pile loaded in axial tension -Fz Pile loaded laterally +Fx
10
5
447
3DFEMmeshforsolidpile
Thepileissimulated bydia.1msolid cylindricalobjectwith surroundinginterface withRinter=1
Thedia.1msolid cylindricalobjecthas concreteelasticproperties withE=3.0E+7kPa
11
3DFEMmeshforembeddedpile
Definingthebeam properties:The embeddedpilehasthe structuralproperties matchexactlythedia. 1mboredpile
12
6
448
Calculatedpilecapacity
Definingembeddedpileinterfaceproperties: Skinresistance:Cu=100kPa,Rinter =1,Thus,Tmax = 3.14*1m*100kPa=314kN/m. Endbearingresistance:qb =9Cu=900kPa,Fmax = 0.25*3.14*(1m)^2*900kPa=706kN So,TotalshaftresistanceFshaft =314kN/m*20m=6280kN TotalbaseresistanceFmax=706kN TotalpileresistanceFtotal =Fshaft +Fmax =6990kN
13
Axiallyloadedembeddedpile
Fz =7000kN =1000kN =2000kN =3000kN =4000kN =5000kN =6000kN
14
7
449
Punchingofembeddedpileunder theoreticalaxialload
Fz =7000kN
15
Embeddedpiletoeresistanceunderaxialloads
Fz =7000kN
16
8
450
Axialloadtransfercurves
Axialforce(kN)
0 0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Elevation (m)
10 EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN 15 EmbeddedpileFz=3000kN
20
EmbeddedpileFz=5000kN
706kN
25
EmbeddedpileFz=7000kN 17
Shaftskinresistanceofembeddedpile
0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Elevation (m)
10 EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN
15
EmbeddedpileFz=3000kN
EmbeddedpileFz=5000kN 20 EmbeddedpileFz=7000kN 25
Shaftfriction (kPa)
18
9
451
Axialloadsettlementbehavior
0 0 10 20 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Pilesettlement (mm)
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
19
Embeddedpile Embeddedpile Solidpile
Axialload (kN)
Axialloadtransfercurves
Axialforce(kN)
0 0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Elevation (m)
10 EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN EmbeddedpileFz=3000kN 15 EmbeddedpileFz=5000kN Fz=3000kN EmbeddedpileFz=7000kN Solidpile(1000kN) 20 Solid pile(3000kN) Embeddedpile Fz=5000kN Solidpile(5000kN) Solidpile(7000kN) EmbeddedpileFz=7000kN 20 Solidpile(8000kN)
25
10
452
Comparisonofskinfriction
0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Elevation (m)
10
EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN EmbeddedpileFz=3000kN EmbeddedpileFz=5000kN
15
EmbeddedpileFz=7000kN Solidpile(1000kN) Solidpile(3000kN)
20
Solidpile(5000kN) Solidpile(7000kN)
25
Solidpile(8000kN)
Shaftfriction (kPa)
21
Concludingremarks:Embeddedpileperforms satisfactorilyunderaxialloadsandconformto theoreticallyvalues,whilesolidpileexhibittoohighend bearingresistanceandmuchstifferpileresponsenear ultimateloadingcondition,andthusneededtobeused withcautions. Cantensionloadingcaseeliminatetheendbearing difference?

TotalshaftresistanceFshaft =314kN/m*20m=6280kN Selfweightofboredpile=0.25*3.14*(1m)^2*20m* 24kN/m^3=377kN So,expectedtotalpulloutresistance=6280+377=6660kN
22
11
453
Cantensionloadingcaseeliminate theendbearingdifference?
50 40 Embededpile_useactualload Embededpile_useactualload Solidpile
Pilemovement (mm)
30
20
10
0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

23
Tension load (kN)
Loadtransfercurvesundertensionloadings
Tensionforce(kN)
8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0
10 EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN EmbeddedpileFz=1000kN EmbeddedpileFz=3000kN EmbeddedpileFz=5000kN Embeddedpile Fz=3000kN Embeddedpile Fz=6000kN Solidpile(1000kN) Solidpile(3000kN) Embeddedpile Fz=5000kN Solidpile(5000kN) Solidpile(7000kN) EmbeddedpileFz=6000kN Solidpile(8000kN) 25 20 15
Elevation (m)
24
12
454
Ingeneral,embeddedpileperformssatisfactorily underbothaxialcompressionloadsandtension loadsandgenerallyconformtotheoretically values,whilesolidpileexhibittoohighend bearingresistanceandmuchstifferpileresponse nearultimateloadingcondition,anddevelopvery largesuctionatthetoeofsolidpileundertension loadwhichmaynotbesoreliable,andthus neededtobeusedwithcautions.

Howabouttheperformancesunderlateralloads?
25
Estimationoflateralpilecapacityassumingpileisrigidenough andhassufficientlyhighstrength,andfailureoccursintheclay
Brom's Theory: Free head, L/d=20, e/d=0, Hu/cud^2=60 Hu=6000 kN
26
13
455
LateralloadingonpileinPlaxis3D
27
Lateralload movementcurves
400 350
Lateralpilemovement (mm)
300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 1000
Embeddedpile Solidpile Solidpile
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
Lateralload (kN)
7000 28
14
456
TakenotethatNOinterfaceelement providedforthelateralsoilsliding aroundtheembeddedpile.Assuch, forlaterallyloadedcase,embedded pileonlyworkswellinworking condition(FOS=2.0~3.0)whenthere isnotmuchpilesoillateralsliding occurring,itcannotbeusedfor simulationofultimatelateral loadingscenario.
embeddedpileinteractingwith surroundingsoils
29
BMunderlateralloadings
14000
12000
Embeddedpile Solidpile
Pilebending momnet (kNm)
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Lateralload (kN)
7000 30
15
457
Comparisonofpiledeflectionprofiles
20 0 2 4 6 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Elevation (m)
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Embeddedpile Fx=1000kN Embeddedpile Fx=1000kN EmbeddedpileFx=2000kN EmbeddedpileFx=2000kN EmbeddedpileFx=3000kN Embeddedpile Fx=3000kN Embeddedpile Fx=4000kN Solid pile Fx=1000kN Solid pile Fx=1000kN SolidpileFx=2000kN SolidpileFx=2000kN SolidpileFx=3000kN Solid pile Fx=3000kN Solid pile Fx=4000kN
Lateralpilemovemetn (mm)
31
ComparisonofBMprofiles
2000 0 0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Elevation (m)
10 Embeddedpile Fx=1000kN Embeddedpile Fx=1000kN EmbeddedpileFx=2000kN EmbeddedpileFx=2000kN EmbeddedpileFx=3000kN Embeddedpile Fx=3000kN Embeddedpile Fx=4000kN Solid pile Fx=1000kN Solid pile Fx=1000kN 20 SolidpileFx=2000kN SolidpileFx=2000kN SolidpileFx=3000kN Solid pile Fx=3000kN Solid pile Fx=4000kN
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15
25
Lateralpilemovemetn (mm)
16
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Conclusions
Embeddedpileisagoodmodelofsinglepileresponse subjectedtobothverticalcompressionloadsand verticalpulloutloads. Solidpilemaygiveverylargeendbearingresistance whensubjectedtoverticalcompressionload,and generatelargesuctionforceatthebasewhensubjected topulloutload,andthusmustbeusedwithcaution. UnderworkingloadconditionwithFOS=2~3whenthere isnomuchpilesoillateralslideoccurring,embedded pilegiveveryreasonablepiledeflectionandpilebending moment.However,embeddedpilecannotbeusedfor simulationofultimatelateralloadingscenario.
33
17
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E7: Exercise on Piled Raft Analysis

Based on an actual project: Pile Foundations for Flieden Bridge in Germany
1
460
y
Trench section coordinates (4250) (.425.8) (.425.8) (4250)
X=35m to35m
X
z X
y=25m to25m z=0to 30m

3
Thesubsoilconsistsmainlyoftertiary formationsofhighlyplasticclaywithlensesof lignitecoal(claywithbrowncoal).Inthis analysis,auniformclaylayerwasidealizedwith OCR=1.3

4
2
461
Soilparameters
SimulationinPlaxis3D Step1:Generalsetting Step2:Addinaborehole Step3:Definesoilproperties Step4:Create6piles Step5:Create1pilecap Step6:Cloneanotherpilegroup Step7:Createthetrench Step8:Assignverticalloads Step9:Generatemeshwithrefinement Step10:Definestagesandviewresults
3
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Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation
FLIEDEN BRIDGE PILED-RAFT FOUNDATION
Original excercise made by

Dr. Yasser El-Mossallamy ARCADIS Consult. Germany
Computational geotechnics
463
INTRODUCTION
The foundation of the 4-span railway bridge of Flieden in Germany (gure 1) was the rst railway bridge in Germany founded on piled rafts.
Figure 1: Geological conditions of the Flieden railway bridge The subsoil consists mainly of tertiary formations of highly plastic clay with lenses of lignite coal (clay with brown coal). To ascertain the adequacy of the piles and determine appropriate design values, pile load tests were rst conducted on large diameter bored piles with and without post shaft grouting (El-Mossallamy et al. 2003). These results conform to the mechanical sensitivity of the organic silty clay and lignite coal lenses. It was decided to install all foundation piles applying post shaft grouting.
INPUT
The bridge piers are consisted of two pillars, each founded on a separate group of 6 piles underneath a raft. The pile arrangements are shown in Figure 2. The rafts are 1.5 meters thick and are embedded in the soil with the raft base at a depth of 2.3 meters below the soil surface. The piles where designed with a diameter of 1.2 m and a length of 18 m. The pillars transfer two working loads of 20 MN and 22 MN respectively from the superstructure to the piled raft foundation.
Work ow
In this excercise the model is created in a specic order that has proven to be a rather efcient way to create the model. Please note that many parts of the model can be created in any other order as well and the work ow presented here is not the only correct method to create the project. The work ow to create the project presented here is: 1. Enter dimensions of the project and some general visualisation options 2. Dene the underground model using 1 borehole and the appropriate soil material sets Computational geotechnics
464
Figure 2: Geometry of the piled raft foundation 3. Insert 1 pile in the model 4. Copy this 1 pile 5 times to create the 6 piles needed for 1 piled raft 5. Insert the raft, the lower column and the top load 6. Copy the complete piled-raft 1 time to create the second piled raft 7. Create an extra zone for mesh renement around the piled-rafts 8. Generate mesh
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Geometry
General settings
Start the PLAXIS 3D input program. A Quick select project dialog box will appear in which you can select an existing project or create a new one; choose Start a new project so that the Project properties window appears. 1. In the Project properties window on the Model tabsheet the size of the model contour has to be set. In the Contour box ll in xmin = 35, xmax = 35, y min = 25 and y max = 25. 2. Close the Project properties window, the drawing area will now appear. 3. From the Options menu choose Visualization settings. A new window will open, containing 2 tabsheets: View and Visibility. 4. On the View tabsheet the grid point distance (Spacing ) and number of snap intervals per grid distance can be set. By default the Spacing is set to 1 m with only 1 snap interval per grid distance. As can be seen from gure 2 many dimensions of this project have an accuracy of 0.1 m and therefore just 1 snap interval per 1 m is not sufcient. Therefore, set the Intervals to 10, this will results in having a snap distance of 0.1m (Spacing / Intervals). 5. Close the Visualization settings window.
Subsoil
The rst step in creating a model in PLAXIS 3D is the denition of the subsoil, which is done using boreholes. 1. Select the Create borehole button ( ) and move the mouse to the origin of the system of axis. Click at (x,y,z) = (0 0 0), this will open the Modify soil layers window. 2. In the Modify soil layers window click the Add button in order to dene a new soil layer in this borehole. Set the top of the borehole to 0.0 m and the bottom to -30.0 m. 3. In order to assign a material set to the newly dened model it is necessary to rst dene ) to open the material a material set. To do so, press the Materials button ( sets database. 4. Though the model only has one soil layer (clay) we will have to dene two material sets: the second material set will be used to represent the concrete needed for both raft and piles. Therefore, create two material sets according to the material parameters specied in table 1. 5. After dening the two material sets close the window by clicking OK in order to return to the Material sets window. Computational geotechnics
466
Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation Table 1: Parameters for the clay layer and concrete slab
Parameter Material model Type of behaviour Unsaturated soil weight Saturated soil weight Youngs modulus Drained triaxial test stiffness Primary oedometer stiffness Unloading/reloading stiffness Power for stress-dependent stiffness Poissons ratio Unloading-reloading Poissons ratio Cohesion Friction angle Dilatancy angle Permeability Interface strength Coefcient for initial lateral stress Overconsolidation ratio Name Material model Drainage type unsat sat Eref ref E50 ref Eoed ref Eur m ur c kx , k y , k z Rinter K0 OCR Clay Hardening Soil Drained 20.0 20.0 45.0 45.0 135.0 0.9 0.2 10 30 0 0 0.6 (Manual) Automatic 1.3 Concrete Linear Elastic Non porous 24.0 30000 0.3 Rigid Automatic Unit kN/m3 kN/m3 M N/m2 M N/m2 M N/m2 M N/m2 kN/m2
o o
m/day -
6. Drag and drop the clay material set from the Material sets window onto the borehole. The mouse cursor changes shape when the material set can be dropped. After dropping the borehole should get the colour of the material set. Now close the Material sets window in order to return to the Modify soil layer window. 7. In the Modify soil layer window directly above the graphical representation of the borehole it is possible to specifty a general phreatic level for this borehole by changing the Head value. In this project the water level is 0.5 meters below ground level, therefore change the Head to -0.5 m. 8. Press OK to close the Modify soil layers window and return to the drawing area. In the drawing area there is now a block of soil with the horizontal dimensions specied in the Project properties window and a depth according to the borehole. We have now nished dening the subsoil and we will continue dening the foundation. Press ) on the mode toolbar to move to Structures mode. the Structures option (
Create foundation structures

Create piles The two bridge foundations are equal with exception of the load from the bridge acting on the foundation. Therefore its sufcient to dene 1 foundation and then make a copy of the
467
Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation foundation to get the second. Similarly, each foundation is supported by six equal piles, hence it is sufcient to dene 1 pile and make 5 copies to model all piles to model 1 foundation. In the current version of PLAXIS 3D the only possibility to insert a pile is by inserting a cylinderical volume using the command line. The syntax for inserting a cylinder is:
cylinder <R> <L> <num planes> (<start_x> <start_y> <start_z>) (<dir_x> <dir_y> <dir_z>)
In short, one species the radius (R) and length (L) of the cylinder, a set of 3 coordinates to indicate the starting point of the cylinder and a vector to indicate the direction of the cylinder. Special attention should be given to <num planes>. In PLAXIS 3D a cylinder is modelled with a polygon cross section, hence <num planes> gives the number of sides of the polygon. The higher the number the more accurate the polygon will represent the circular cross section. 9. Insert the rst pile at (x,y) = (-8.4, -1.8). Note that the piles have a 1.2m diameter (hence a radius of 0.6m), are 18 meters long, start at z = -2.3m and go down vertically, that is in the negative z-direction. The number of planes is set to 15 to accurately model the cylinderical shape. This results in the following cylinder command:
cylinder 0.6 18 15 (-8.4 -1.8 -2.3) (0 0 -1)

Type this command on the command line and press <Enter>. The cylinder is now inserted in the model as a volume. 10. In order to assign interfaces around the pile, the pile has to be split into its separate surfaces. To do so, right click on the pile and from the popup menu choose Decompose into surfaces. 11. Now select the outer surfaces of the pile, right-click and select Create negative interface. This will create a negative interface along the outside of the pile. 12. In order to create an interface below the foot of the pile, select the bottom circular surface of the pile. It is probably necessary to rotate the model in order to see the foot of the pile from below. Right-click again and select Create negative interface to create the interface below the foot as well. Hint: Interfaces are drawn as planes at a certain distance from the surface they belong to. Therefore, if a project requires a lot of interfaces it may become difcult to see the underlying structure as the interfaces are surrounding it. This can be solved by either reducing the distance between interface and structure or by making the interfaces invisible. The distance between interface and surface can be reduced in the Visualization settings that can be found under the Options menu. On the View tabsheet the eld Interface size controls the distance. By default this value is set to 1. Reducing this value will reduce the distance between interface and surface. Alternatively, in the Object explorer it is possible to make the interfaces invisible by clicking on the small eye in front of the branch Interfaces (to make them all invisible) or in front of individual interfaces (to make only a selection of interfaces invisible). 6
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Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation We have now nished creating the rst pile. The next step is to make 5 copies of the pile to create the group of 6 piles of the rst foundation slab. 13. Click the button Select rectangle ( ), ignore the suboptions that become available. Now draw a rectangle that ts the whole pile so that all parts of the pile are selected. ) to specify the locations of the copies of the pile. 14. Now click the Create array button ( The Create array window appears, see gure 3.
Figure 3: Copy the pile by creating an 2-dimensional array of piles In x-direction we need 3 piles with an intermediate distance of 3.4 meters and in the y-direction we only need 2 piles with a distance of 3.6 meters in between. 15. Set the Shape of the array to 2D, in xy plane as we want to copy the piles in both x and y direction, keeping the z coordinate constant 16. Fill in 3 columns with a distance of x = 3.4m in between and 2 rows with a distance of y = 3.6m in between. 17. Press OK to copy the pile to the specied locations. We have now created the 6 piles for one of the bridge foundations. Create rst raft After creating the 6 piles now the raft has to be modelled on top of the piles, including the lower part of the column supporting the bridge: Computational geotechnics
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Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation 1. From the horizontal button bar with general options, click the Top view button ( will show the model seen along the z-axis. ). This
2. In the Movement limitation window that appears, x the z-coordinate to z = -0.8m by lling in -0.8 in the z-value eld and clicking the Set button. 3. Select the Create surface button ( ) and draw the surface representing the top side of the raft from (x y) = (-9.6 -3.0) to (-9.6 3.0), (-0.4 3.0) and (-0.4 -3.0). 4. Select the surface that has just been created and click the Extrude button ( ). In the window that opens ll in an extrusion vector of (x,y,z) = (0 0 -1.5) in order to create the 1.5m thick raft and click OK. Now the raft has been created as volume, in order to assign interfaces to all sides of the raft, the raft volume has to be decomposed into its surfaces. 5. From the button bar with general options, click the Perspective view button ( ). .
6. Right-click on one of the vertical sides of the raft and select the option Decompose into surfaces. This will created surfaces for all sides of the volume. 7. For all 6 sides, right-click on the side and add an interface. Note that all sides need a negative interface with exception of the vertical side at y = 3.0m; this side needs a positive interface. Check if all created interfaces are on the outside of the raft! 8. In order to make the lower part of the supporting column, click again the Top view button and x the z-coordinate to ground level. 9. Create a surface from (x y) = (-6.0 -1.0) to (-6.0 1.0), (-4.0 1.0) and (-4.0 -1.0). 10. Extrude the surface 0.8 meters downwards, hence in the negative z-direction. This creates the lower part of the column from groundlevel down to the raft. 11. Decompose the column into surfaces. 12. For all 4 vertical surfaces created, create an interface on the outside. That is, negative interfaces for all vertical sides but the vertical side at y = 1.0m. The latter side needs a positive interface. The only part missing now is the load representing both the weight of the bridge and a passing train 13. Right-click on the top plane of the column, that is the plane at ground level. 14. From the popup menu that opens, select the option Create surface load to add the load. The rst raft is now complete.
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Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation Create second raft The second raft is equal to the rst raft, hence creating the second raft is simply making a copy of the rst raft: 1. Click the button Select rectangle ( ), ignore the suboptions that become available. Now draw a rectangle that ts the whole structure of piles, raft and column so that all parts are selected. ) to specify the location of the copy of the founda2. Now click the Create array button ( tion structure in the Create array window. 3. Set the Shape of the array to 1D, in x direction as we want to copy the foundation just one time in x direction, keeping the y and z coordinates constant 4. Fill in 2 columns with a distance of x = 10m in between and press OK. Now the second raft is created as copy of the rst raft. Both rafts have now been dened, see gure 4.
Figure 4: Geometry containing the two rafts
Create mesh renement area In order to be able to rene the mesh in the area around the rafts it is needed to dene a volume of soil around the rafts where a mesh renement can be applied. To do so, follow these steps: 1. Select the Top view and x the z-coordinate to -25.0 m Computational geotechnics
471
Flieden bridge piled-raft foundation 2. Draw a rectangular surface from (x y) = (-10.0 -4.0) to (-10.0 4.0), (10.0 4.0) and (10.0 -4.0). 3. Select the Perspective view, select the newly created surface and extrude it 25m up, hence in the positive z-direction. We have now created a volume around the foundation structure that we can use for local mesh renement.
Mesh generation
In the Mesh mode we will specify global and local renements and generate the mesh. In order to generate more accurate results a renement of the mesh around the foundation structures will be applied. 1. In the geometry click somewhere close to the origin. This will select the body of soil that encloses the foundation structures. 2. In the Selection explorer on the left the selected soil body appears, showing a mesh renement factor of 1.0. Change this mesh renement factor to 0.30. 3. Select the Generate mesh button ( window appears. ) in order to generate the mesh. The Mesh options
4. In the Mesh options window choose a Very coarse element distribution and click OK to start the mesh generator. 5. After mesh generation has nished one can already see an indication of the amount of elements and nodes generated in the command line box below the draw area. For this project about 22,000 elements should be generated. 6. Click the View mesh button ( ) to inspect the generated mesh.
After inspecting the mesh the output window can be closed. Mesh generation has now been nished and so creating all necessary input for dening the calculation phases has been nished.
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10
Figure 5: Generated mesh with local renement
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CALCULATION
The calculation consists of the initial phase and three additional phases. Since water levels will remain constant the Water levels mode can be skipped. Therefore, click on the Staged construction mode button to move to the dention of the calculation phases.
Initial phase
By default the Initial phase is set to the K0 procedure, which is ne for this example. No further changes have to be made.
First phase - construction of the foundations

1. Click on the Add phase button ( ) to add the rst calculation phase.
2. As the foundations are surrounded by soil they cannot be accessed directly. In order to change their properties the surrounding soil has to be made invisible. To do so, rightclick on the soil somewhere far away from the origin and from the menu that pops up choose Hide to hide the outer soil. Now only the foundations and the renement zone is left. Make sure the soil is hidden, not deactivated! 3. Right-click on the renement zone volume and again choose the Hide option from the popup menu. With the renement zone hidden, only the foundations structures remain visible. 4. Open the material sets database by clicking the Show materials button ( ). Drag and drop the material set representing the concrete on all piles, the rafts and the two parts of the column. When assigning the material set, the colour changes from the colour of the material set representing the clay to the colour of the material set representing the concrete. 5. In the Model explorer, activate all interfaces by clicking on the checkbox in front of the interfaces branch so that a checkmark appears.
Second phase - working load

1. Click on the Add phase button ( ) to add the second calculation phase.
2. In the Model explorer open the Surface loads branch and change the value for the two surface loads. Set the rst surface load to a vertical stress of z = 5000 kN/m2 (20 MN dived by 4 m2 cross sectional area of the column) and set the second surface load to a vertical stress of z = 5500 kN/m2 . 3. Make sure the surface loads are activated, that is that they have a checkmark in the Model explorer. Computational geotechnics
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12
Third phase - ultimate limit load

1. Click on the Add phase button ( ) to add the third calculation phase.
2. In the Model explorer change the values of the Surface loads to z = 10000 kN/m2 for the rst surface load and z = 11000 kN/m2 for the second surface load. ) to start the calculation. Ignore the message "No nodes or Press the Calculate button ( stress points selected for curves" as we will not draw any load-displacement curves in this example, and continue the calculation.
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OUTPUT RESULTS
Figure 6 demonstrates the calculated load settlement behaviour of the piled raft applying the GAPR (Geotechnical Analysis of Piled Raft, El-Mossallamy 1996). Due to the non-linear response of the foundation system the loads have been incrementally applied till the ultimate limit state. Another aim of the analysis under working loads was to determine the pile/soil stiffness and subgrade reaction distribution beneath the raft, which are necessary for the design of the foundation. However, within the framework of this exercise the subgrade reaction distribution will not be checked. Figure 7 shows the measured settlements in comparison to the calculated values
Figure 6: Load-settlement behaviour of the piled raft foundation (calculated by program GAPR, El-Mossallamy)
Figure 7: Measured settlements
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14
Finite Element Modelling of Tunnels and Tunnelling

William WL CHEANG
PhD (Geo) MSc PGDip BEng (Hons) (Civil)
Plaxis 2D & 3D
Contents
1. Part 1- Modelling of Tunnels in Plaxis 3D a. Input and construction of FE model b. Conclusions 2. Part 2- Modelling of Tunnels in 2D or 3D a. Modelling of Tunnels in 2D (Methods available) b. Modelling of Earth Pressure Balance and Slurry Shields c. Conclusions 3. Part 3- Cases a. Tunnelling 1 b. Tunnelling 2 c. Tunnelling 3
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ModellingofTunnelsandTunnellingin3D
1. Geometric modelling issues (CAD, Import or CM Line) 2. Construction stages 3. Modelling anchors 4. Modelling volume loss 5. Conclusions
Geometricmodellingissues
Circular tunnel shapes (TBM tunnels) Example
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Geometricmodellingissues(CMLine)
Circular tunnel shapes (TBM tunnels) Create cylinder using Cylinder command or using Import facility cylinder 4 100 48 Decompose cylinder volume into surfaces Apply plate and negative interface features to cylinder contour
Geometricmodellingissues
Cross passages and entrance shafts Example
Hint: Draw cross section surface and use Extrude command to create shafts PLAXIS 3D will automatically create intersections
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Geometricmodellingissues(CAD)
Non-circular tunnel shapes 1. Using shape designer* to create tunnel shape 2. Decompose tunnel volume into surfaces 3. Assign Plate and interfaces features to tunnel surface
* new in 3D 2011
Geometricmodellingissues(Import)
Importing tunnel geometry using CAD model DXF triangulated surface model - Model should be cleaned before importing in PLAXIS 3D 3DS model Use Import command or corresponding tool in Structures mode
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Constructionstages(Forsequenceofevents)
Creating geometry for construction stages Divide tunnel in excavation sections (top heading, bench, invert) Divide tunnel in longitudinal steps by defining cross section planes Intersect tunnel with excavation sections and cross section planes Remove unnecessary sub-surfaces around tunnel Creating geometry for construction stages Example (exploded view)
ModellingAnchors
Create anchors in the following way: Use Lineangles option to create end points for anchors, e.g. Repeat for different angles Remove lines but keep end points Use end points with Lineangles command to create new lines snapping onto tunnel volume
Lineangles (x y z) 0 45 15 Assign Beam feature to turn lines into anchors Alternatively, embedded piles can be used Lineangles point_2 0 225 volume_1
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ModellingAnchors
Example showing anchors and partial excavation
Modellingvolumeloss
1. Volume loss can be modelled by: a. Defining Contraction in Structures mode, or use contraction tool or righthand mouse menu Contraction Phase_Volume_1_1 b. Activate contraction in Staged construction mode 2. Alternatively, volume loss can be modelled by: a. Applying Volumetric strain to volume (Staged construction mode) b. Distinction and specific strain components can be
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Conclusions
PLAXIS 3D contains several features to model tunnels: - TBM tunnels - NATM tunnels - Tunnel lining - Anchors - Construction stages - Volume loss - Deformation analysis - Stability analysis (e.g. tunnel heading) Automatic intersection of objects
2D & 3D MODELLING OF TUNNELLING
Part 2
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483
Part2Outlines
A. 2D modelling of tunnelling 1. influence of soil constitutive models 2. different methods modelling tunnel excavation B. 3D modelling of tunnelling 1. background on pile response 2. progressive advance of tunnel face 3. response of piles & building to tunnelling
TunnellingObservations
1. 2. Tunnelling case histories in Hong Kong observed 1. Greenfield surface settlement profile fitted by Gaussian curve with trough width parameter (K) of 0.5 in layered ground 2. With good workmanship achieved greenfield volume (or ground) loss ratios were less than 1% GCO (1985), Storry et al. (2001), Storry et al. (2003) & Hake & Chau (2008)
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ConceptofModellingTunnellingin2D
3D
2D
2D
Moller (2006)
3D arching around unsupported tunnel heading carries vertical load Pg by transferring them around unsupported cut stretch 2D analysis cannot model 3D arching effect - this is compensated by including an artificial support pressure Ps (can be a pressure- or displacement-controlled approach)
MethodsofModellingTunnellingin2D
Plaxis 2D provides 1. Lining Contraction Method 2. Stress Reduction Method (-method) 3. Applied Pressure Method (APM)
(from Grout Pressure Method by Moller & Vermeer, 2008)
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LiningContractionMethod
1st Phase 2nd Phase Vermeer & Brinkgreve (1993) Moller (2006) Initial position 1St Phase: Lining is wished-in-place, soil elements inside tunnel deactivated tunnel heaves 2nd Phase: Lining is stepwise contracted until prescribed contraction % radial displacement towards tunnel center
Tend to give unrealistic results for ground surface settlement & horizontal displacement
StressReductionMethod()
1 Pk Pk 1
Pk = initial ground radial pressure Mstage = 1 -
1St Phase: Soil elements inside tunnel deactivated, internal support pressure = pk, net load acting on unsupported perimeter = (1-)pk 2nd Phase: Lining activated, remove internal support pressure & lining takes remaining load pk is Load Reduction factor, obtained from tunnelling experience. Tend to give reasonable results
Lining
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AppliedPressureMethod(APM)
A. Based on Grout Pressure (Moller & Vermeer,

2008)
B. Applied Pressure Methods vs betamethod, difference is the profile of internal support pressure
1st Phase: Soil elements inside tunnel deactivated, internal support pressure manually specified which is Pcrown at tunnel crown, rate of increasing with depth = grout (e.g. ~15 kN/m3) 2nd Phase: Lining activated & remove internal support pressure
FEPredictionofGreenfieldSurfaceSettlement
1. Numerical analysis with simple constitutive model (LEPP) cannot replicate measured greenfield (G/F) surface settlement curve 2. FE prediction improved by 1. 2. 3. 4. Refining method of modelling tunnel excavation (TBM model) Using advanced soil constitutive model
An exercise to investigate effects of these two factors Case histories showed G/F surface settlement could be reasonably fitted with Gaussian curve (reference check)
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ModellingofTunnellinginHongKongSoils
60 m 20m
Fil Marine l Deposits
0 -3 -6
6m tunnel
Completely Decomposed Granite (CDG)
40m
Rock 40 Ground conditions: 3m Fill, 3m MD, 34m CDG & rock; GWT at surface Tunnel 6m diameter with axis at 20 mbgl; 2700 nos of 15-noded elements
SoilsModelledbyMohrCoulomb Model
Soil Fill MD (Undrained) CDG (kN/m3) 19 16 20 E (MPa) 20 6 39 [-] 0.3 0.3 0.3 c' / cu (kPa) 0 15 5 ' (Deg) 30 0 35
SoilsModelledbyHS&HSsmallModels
Soil E50ref & Eoedref (MPa) 20 Eurref (MPa) 60 m [-] 0.5 c' (kPa) 0 ' (Deg) 30 Pref (kP a) 100 ur [-] 0.2 0.7 [-] G0 (MP a) -
Fill (HS) MD (HS) (Und.) CDG (HSsmall)
18
22
100
0.2
39
117
0.5
35
200
0.2
5E -5
200
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PrefailureStressstrainBehaviour
1: Mohr Coulomb 1: Linear elastic, perfectly plastic 2: Hyperbolic stress-strain curve (stiffness degradation for > 1E-4) 3: Non-linear stiffness from very small strains (1E-6) 2: Hardening Soil 3:Hardening Soil + Small Strain Overlay
1e-6
1e-5
1e-4
1e-3
1e-2
1e-1
InitialStressEquilibrium
K0 = 1 sin' ' = drained effective friction angle (Fill=30; MD=22)
Soil
K0
CDG
Fill
0.5
MD
0.625
Schnaid et al. (2000) 0.4 0.65 0.9
CDG
0.65
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DetailsforAnalyses
1. FE series 1-Mohr Coulomb (i) Lining Contraction Method (ii) Stress Reduction () Method (iii) Applied Pressure Method - APM 2. FE Series 2-HS & HS-small (i) Lining Contraction Method (ii) Stress Reduction () Method (iii) Applied Pressure Method - APM Compare greenfield surface settlement curves with a ground loss ratio (VL) of 1%.
0 0 -2 Settlement (mm) -4 -6 -8 -10 -12
10
Distance from tunnel centreline (m) 20 30 40 50
60
ResultsforMohrCoulombSoilAnalyses
Gaussian (K=0.5, VL 1%) Lining contraction - LC 1%, VL 0.32% Lining contraction - LC 1.7%, VL 1% Stress reduction - beta 0.68, VL 1% Applied pressure - Pcr 190 kPa, VL 1%
MohrCoulombSoilwithLining Contraction
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ComparisonofMCandHS&HSsmallModels
0 0 -2 Settlement (mm) -4 -6 -8 -10 -12
0 0 -2 Settlement (mm) -4 -6 -8 -10 -12 Gaussian (K=0.5, VL 1%) Lining contraction - LC 1%, VL 0.77% Lining contraction - LC 1.22 %, VL 1% Stress reduction - beta 0.66 , VL 1% Applied pressure - Pcr 186 kPa, VL 1%
10
Distance from tunnel centreline (m) 20 30 40 50
60
Mohr Coulomb
Gaussian (K=0.5, VL 1%) Lining contraction - LC 1%, VL 0.32% Lining contraction - LC 1.7%, VL 1% Stress reduction - beta 0.68, VL 1% Applied pressure - Pcr 190 kPa, VL 1%
Distance from tunnel centreline (m) 10 20 30 40 50
60
HS & HS-small
Stress Reduction
Applied Pressure
StressReductionvs.AppliedPressure Methods
HS & HS-small analyses, Greenfield VL 1%

Exaggeration scale 100
Comparison of Radial Internal Support Pressure
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Summaryof2DModellingofTunnelling
A. Good prediction of greenfield surface settlement curve (Gaussian) in 2D requires 1. advanced soil constitutive model for nonlinear stiffness from small strains 2. refined method of modelling tunnel excavation B. Tunnelling example investigated herein: 1. effect of advanced constitutive model is more significant than method of modelling tunnel excavation 2. Applied Pressure Method gives steeper surface settlement curve, followed by Stress Reduction Method & Lining Contraction Method C. On realistic prediction of surface settlement curve & pattern of ground deformation around tunnel: 1. Mohr Coulomb model + Lining Contraction Method gives unrealistic results 2 HS & HS small models + Applied Pressure Method gives better
TUNNELLING ADJACENT TO A BUILDING SUPPORTED BY END-BEARING PILES
Part 3.1
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Presentation Outline
1. Background of tunnel-pile interaction problem 2. Example of tunnelling beneath a piled building in HK 3. 3D finite element modelling of tunnel advance 4. Response of piles to tunnelling 5. Discussion on 3D FE analysis vs. analytical solution
ThreeStageBuildingDamageAssessmentDuetoTunnelling
1. 3D analysis for detailed evaluation only 2. Give greater certainty on requirements for protective measures 3. Saving in construction cost & time justifies time spent on 3D analysis 4. 3D analysis has potential to add value to tunnel design & construction process
Burland (1995)
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TunnelpilesoilInteraction
1. A three-dimensional problem due to

1. progressive advance of tunnel face towards piles 2. movement of piles in 3D 3. oblique orientation of building relative to tunnel alignment
1. Tunnelling induced ground movements can cause

1. increase/decrease in pile axial force (negative/positive skin friction) relative pile/soil vertical displacement 2. increase in pile bending moment curvature of pile displacement 3. potential reduction in pile geotechnical capacity reduction in soil effective stresses 4. distortion of building, e.g. angular distortion & horizontal strain horizontal
ZonesofInfluence
Zone C
Zone B
Zone A
Zone B
Zone C
Pile settlement C BA
Selementas et al. (2005)
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45
For pile toe located in Zone A: pile head settlement > soil surface settlement; decrease in pile axial force Zone B: pile head settlement soil surface settlement Zone C: pile head settlement < soil surface settlement; increase in pile axial force
Depth
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AnalysisofTunnelpileInteraction
1. Typically use the combination of

1. empirical relationships/closed-form solutions to estimate greenfield ground movements; and 2. boundary element methods to compute pile deformations and stresses 1. Suitable for preliminary assessment, with some limitations
2. Alternatively, use 3D numerical analysis

Pros: model tunnelling, tunnel-pile-building interaction & geotechnical entities in one single analysis Cons: complicated, relatively long analysis time & require advanced constitutive model for soil non-linear behaviour
ExampleofTunnellingBelowPiledBuilding
0 mbgl 2m 5 mbgl 10 mbgl 25m Pile cap Fill MD CDG 1m 4m 20 mbgl Tunnel 6m 30 mbgl 31.5 mbgl Rock P1/P4 P2/P5 P3/P6 10m 9m P1 P4 4m 1m 25m P5 Rear P6 10m P2 Front P3 6m tunnel Tunnel advance direction 2m pile Pile design load 15MN (~5MPa) 3m bell-out
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InformationforTunnel,Piles&Ground
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 6 m diameter tunnel excavated by TBM, tunnel axis depth at 20 mbgl in Completely Decomposed Granite 15-storey building supported by 6 nos of 2 m diameter bored piles with 3 m diameter bell-outs in rock at 32 mbgl Each pile takes 15 MN design load (~5 MPa). Building plan size is 25 m by 9 m, pile cap 2 m thick Stratigraphy is 5 m Fill, 5 m Marine Deposits, 20 m CDG and rock. Groundwater table at 2 mbgl Tunnel constructed in between piles, tunnel edge to pile edge distances are 1 m, 4 m and 10 m
SoilSmallStrainNonlinearStiffness
0.01 %
0.1%
1% Atkinson & Sallfors (1991)
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CDGSmallStrainNonlinearStiffness
Laboratory small strain stiffness results for CDG samples Ng et al. (1998) Hardening Soil + Small Strain Overlay (HSsmall) constitutive model to consider CDG small strain non-linear stiffness
1600 1400 1200 1000 Gsec /p' 800 600 400 200 0 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 Shear strain (%) 1 10 Triaxial_Upper Triaxial_Low er HSsmall_Upper
Adopted line
HSsmall_Low er HSsmall_Baseline
3DFiniteElementModel(PlaxisGiD)
Rear Building 40m Bored pile Front Tunnel 120m 43,000 elements Fill MD CDG Rock Tunnel face 149m TBM length Linings Load 15 MN Plate Pile cap
Bell-out
Refined mesh around tunnel & building piles
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TunnelConfinementPressure
A PIV Rear 6m TBM shield 9m PII PVI PV A PIII PIII PI Front
A. Face support pressure (PI to PII) = hydrostatic pore pressure + overpressure B. Along TBM shield, tunnel support pressures vary to consider 1. Conical shape of TBM shield / over-cutting 2. Ground loss into tail void in rear C. Any combination of support pressure profiles can be modelled
PV Section A-A
Pressure increases with depth
ModellingofTunnelFaceAdvance
1. Soil elements inside TBM shield are deactivated 2. Apply tunnel support pressure profiles 3. For each face advance, shift tunnel support pressures forward & correspondingly erect new lining behind TBM 4. The process is repeated as tunnelling progresses
1.5 1.5m
Lining Lining
TBM shield (elements nulled)
1.5 1.5m Lining Lining
Lining Lining
1.5 1.5m
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ModellingofStructures
1. 2. 3. Piles & pile cap modelled by solid elements Interface elements along pile shafts & on pile cap vertical faces Consider flexural stiffness (EI) & axial stiffness (EA) of superstructure by incorporating a Plate structural elements on top of pile cap. Superstructure EI estimated by (Potts & Addenbrooke, 1997) 1. Parallel Axis Theorem (bending about building neutral axis); or 2. Summation of EI for individual building storeys 4. Tunnel linings modelled by Plate elements
PredictiononGroundSurfaceSettlement
Overpressure 20 kPa, G/F VL 1.6% Fill MD
Settlement (mm) 0 -4 -8 -12 -16 -20 -24
Overpressure 20 kPa
Distance from tunnel centreline (m) -60 -40 -20
VL 0.31%
20
40
60
VL 1.61%
Mid-building Greenfield Gaussian
CDG Tunnel
Lateral spreading of displacements in MD layer Settlement trough becomes wider
Gaussian curve with K = 0.45 Close to K 0.5 from HK tunnelling experience
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PredictiononPileTransverseDisplacement
Overpressure 20 kPa
Transverse horizontal disp. (mm) -5 -4 -2D Front Rear +2D +10D 15 20 25 30 35 -3 -2 -1 0 0 5 10 Depth (mbgl)
+10D
+2D Rear
1m
P2 Front -2D
Tunnel advance
PredictiononPileLongitudinalDisplacement
Overpressure 20 kPa
Longitudinal horizontal disp. (mm) -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 0 5 10 15 -2D Front Rear +2D +10D 30 35 20 25 Depth (mbgl)
+10D
+2D Rear
1m
Tunnel advance
P2 Front -2D
Tunnel advance
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500
PredictiononPileSettlement&AxialForce
Overpressure 20 kPa
0 0 5 10 Depth (mbgl) 15 20 25 30 35 Settlement (mm) -1 -2 -2D Front Rear +2D
Depth (mbgl) 10 15 20 25 0 5 0 Increase in axial force (MN) 1 2 3 4
P2
P2
-2D Front Rear +2D +10D
+10D
7
B C Pile toe
30 35
PredictiononPileBendingMoment
Overpressure 20 kPa
Transverse moment (kNm) 1500 0 5 10 Depth (mbgl) 15 20 25 30 35 -2D 500 -500 -1500
Longitudinal moment (kNm) 1500 0 5 10 Depth (mbgl) 15 20 -2D Front Rear +2D +10D 500 -500 -1500
P2
P2
Front Rear +2D +10D
Tunnel advance 25
30 35
25
501
CheckonPotentialStructureDamage
45 35 Axial Force, N (MN) _ 25 15 5 -5 -15
P2
OP 10kPa OP 20kPa OP 30kPa OP 40kPa
Distance from tunnel centre (m) -10 -5 0 5 10 15 0.0 Bldg. settlement (mm) _
OP 10kPa 0.3
Cat. 4 & 5
OP 20kPa OP 30kPa OP 40kPa
-0.8
/L (%)
-0.4
0.2
0.1
-1.2
=0.14 mm
0.0 0
Cat. 3
0.3
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 Moment, M (MNm)
15
-1.6
0.1 0.2 h (%)
Pile N-M Interaction Diagram
Building deflection
Burlands chart
ComparisonwithClosedFormSolution
Greenfield subsurface settle. (mm)
Greenfield subsurface horiz. disp. (mm)
-35
-25
-15
-5
15 0
-15
-10
-5
0 0
Fill MD
5 10 15 20 25
Fill
5
MD
Depth (mbgl)
10 Depth (mbgl)
CDG
CDG
15 20 25
Loganathan et al. (2001) 3D analysis
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Loganathan et al. (2001) 3D analysis
Rock
Rock
30 35
35
Greenfield subsurface section corresponds to P2 location 3D analysis: Overpressure 20 kPa, G/F VL 1.61%
26
502
3DFEAvs.AnalyticalSolution
Issues
Ease of use
3D FEA
1. 2. 1. 2. Complicated Long analysis time Layered soil Need realistic constitutive model
Analytical Solution
1. 2. 1. 2. Relatively easy Less analysis time Homogeneous soil Estimated greenfield deformation less good for layered soil Only pile response in transverse direction
Ground conditions
Tunnelling progress
1. 2.
Model face advance Pile response in transverse & longitudinal directions
1.
3DFEAvs.AnalyticalSolution
Issues
Ground loss, VL Effect on piles/building 1. 1.
3D FEA
Model confinement pressure & predict VL Model tunnel, piles, building & their interaction in one single analysis Results from piles & building used directly in structural check 1. 1.
Analytical Solution
Assume a certain VL Different boundary element programs for pile axial and lateral responses Specific analysis for pile group effect Dedicated modification factors account for building rigidity
2.
2. 3.
27
503
TUNNELLING BENEATH A BUILDING SUPPORTED BY PILES
Part 3.2
Tunnelling Below Building on Frictional Piles

6m tunnel P6 P5 P1 y x P3 P2 Bldg. footprint 3311m 3m 31 mbgl y 2m piles P8 P7 P4 P5 P1 P6 P2 P7 P3 P8 P4 23m 2m
z Tunnel advance direction
x z 6m tunnel
Plan view
Vertical x-section
28
504
3D Model by Plaxis-GID
Pile cap + Plate
Building
45m 23m
Fill MD CD G 165m Tunnel 136m 82,600 wedge/pyramid/tetrahedral elements
3m Bored piles 2m
Tunnelling direction Tunnel 6m
P5
Settlement&AxialForcePile P5
Rear cap Front cap
0 0 -5
Pile A B C
Settlement, Uy (mm) -10 -15 -20 -25
-30
0
Pile axial laod, N (MN) 4 6 8 10
12
-5 Depth (mbgl)
-5
-10
Depth (mbgl)
-10
-15
-15
Initial
-20
-20
-25 Front
Rear
+2D
+15D
-25 Front
Rear
+2D
+15D
29
505
ChannelTunnelRailLink(UK)Measurement
Selementas (2005)
2m Approachin Final Initia g l
Tunnel 8.15m dia. at 19m depth Driven cast-in situ pile 0.48m dia. Layered ground
P5
Rear cap Front cap -1

0
LongitudinalHorizontalDisplacement& BendingMomentPileP5
Longitudinal hor. disp., Uz (mm) 0 1 2 3
-400 0 Longitudinal moment, Mz (kNm) -200 0 200 400 600
-5
-5
Depth (mbgl)
-10
Depth (mbgl)
-10
-15
-15
-20
Tunnel advanc e
Rear +2D +15D
-20
-25 Front
-25 Front
Rear
+2D
+15D
30
506
P6 Rear cap Front cap

-5
TransverseHorizontalDisplacement& BendingMomentPileP6
Transverse hor. disp., Ux (mm) -4 -3 -2 -1 0 0
-6
-2000
Transverse moment, Mx (kNm) -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 0
-5
-5 Depth (mbgl)
Depth (mbgl)
-10
-10
-15
-15
-20
-20
Tunne l
Front
Rear
+2D
-25 +15D
Front
Rear
+2D
-25 +15D
GreenfieldSurface&BuildingSettlements
-70 0 Settlement (mm) _ -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30
Reference distance (m) -50 -30 -10 10 30

VL 0.72%
50
70
Greenfield Building
VL 2.8% Building
31
507
BuildingSettlements>GreenfieldSurfaceSettlements
Greenfield surface settlements
F: front; R: rear
Bldg. settlements GCO TN4/85 Sheung Wan founded on 73 nos. of

0.457m concrete piles
Sheung Wan 5.8m overrun tunnel built in 1980s
TUNNELLING NEAR A BUILDING SUPPORTED BY LARGE NUMBERS OF PILES
Part 3.3
32
508
TunnellingNeara Groupof48Piles
0 mPD 6m tunnel Building footprint 13.6m 1m 0.6m Franki piles @ 3 spacing 10m 0.6m Franki piles Tunnel advance Plan View Pile cap 1.5m
-20mPD 1m 6m tunnel Front View
3DModelbyPlaxis3D
Bldg. load Building Fill CDG Tunne 140ml 120m 40m Tunnel advanc e 1m
Plate modelling superstructure EI & EA 48 Franki piles (Embedded Piles)
Analysis by Plaxis 3D Release Candidate 2 69,951 nos. of 15-node wedge/13-node pyramid/10-node tetrahedral elements
6m tunnel
33
509
Effectof3mThickAnnulusGrout
Grouted annulus
21m 3m
Tunnel Grout modelled as Mohr Coulomb material c = 100 kPa, = 35, E = 150 MPa
EffectofFixedPileHeadConnections
Pile cap Plate modelling superstructure
Tunnel
Place Plate modelling superstructure on underside of pile cap to form fixed connections with Embedded Pile heads
34
510
Output ofResults
Iso-surface of soil total displacements
Pile group deformations
Isometric view
Front view
Tunnel advance
Tunnel advance
Ho rizo ntal distance fro m centreline (m) Horizontal distance from tunnel centreline (m) -60 0 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
Settlement (mm)
-2 -4 -6 -8 -1 0 -1 2 Greenfield B uilding
Bldg.
For pile toes above tunnel, building settlements are greater than greenfield surface settlements due to undermining below pile toes
35
511
BuildingSettlements>GreenfieldSurfaceSettlements
Greenfield surface settlements
F: front; R: rear
Bldg. settlements GCO TN4/85 Sheung Wan founded on 73 nos. of

0.457m concrete piles
Sheung Wan 5.8m overrun tunnel built in 1980s
ComparisonofBuildingSettlements
Ho rizo ntal distance fro m centreline Horizontal distance from tunnel centreline(m) (m) 0 0 5 1 0 1 5 20 25
Building settlement (mm)
-2 -4 -6
Annulus grout
Fixed pile heads

-8 -1 0 -1 2
A 1- B aseline A 2 - A nnulus gro ut
Baseline (Pinned pile heads)
A 3 - Fixed heads
Annulus grout reduces building settlements by half No significant difference (1 mm) between pinned & fixed pile heads
36
512
TransverseHorizontalDispl.ofClosestPile
P ile transverse Ux (mm) -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 0 -4 -8 -1 2 -1 6 -20
(Pinned pile heads)
A 1- B aseline A 2 - A nnulus Gro ut A 3 - Fixed Heads
Annulus grout
Tunnel
3D NUMERICAL MODELLING OF TUNNELLING INTERSECTING PILES
Part 3.4
Level (mPD)
37
513
TunnellingIntersectingPiles
17.8m Building footprint 50 nos 0.6m Franki piles @ 3 spacing Tunnel advanc e Pile cap 6m tunnel 1.5m 8.8 m Plan View
0 mPD
Front View
-23 mPD
15 nos. pile toes to be trimmed by ~ 3m
3DModelbyPlaxis3D
Upper half annulus grout Bldg. load Building Fill CDG Tunne 150m l 120m 3m Grout 12m 40m Full annulus grout
Plate models superstructure
Analysis by Plaxis 3D Release Candidate 2 79,404 nos. of wedge/pyramid/tetrahedral elements
38
514
OutputofResults
Isometric view Front view
6m tunnel Exaggeration scale 100x
Horizontal distance from tunnel centreline (m)
-60 0 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
Settlement (mm)
-1 0 -20 -30 -40 Greenfield Building
Bldg.
Baseline analysis without grouting
39
515
Effectof3mThickAnnulusGroutonBldg.Settlements
Horizontal distance from tunnel centreline (m)
-1 6 0 -1 4 -1 2 -1 0 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4
Building settlement (mm)
Full annulus grout

-1 0 -20 -30 -40 Baseline Half grout Full grout
Half annulus grout No grout
EffectofAnnulusGroutonPileSettle.&AxialForce
Critical pile
Tunnel advanc Pile settlement (mm) e

-40 -30 -20 -1 0 0
0 -1
6m tunnel Pile axial force (MN)

0 1 2 3
Tensio
Level (mPD)
-4 n -8 -1 2 -1 6 -20 -24 Initial Baseline (No grout) Half grout Full grout
(No grout)
Baseline
Half grout Full grout
40
516
EffectofAnnulusGroutw.r.tPileNMCapacity
Critical pile
2500 2000
Tunnel advanc e
6m tunnel
Pile capacity Baseline (No grout) Half grout Full grout
Axial force (kN)
1500 1000 500 0 -500 -200
-150
-100
-50
50
100
150
200
Moment (kNm)
Numerical Modeling Plaxis 2D Plaxis 3D Tunnel
Slide 82
41
517
Plaxis2D Plaxis3D
WhyNumerical Modeling?
Slide 83
Because!
EmpiricalMethodbasedonCloseForm Solution SuitableforCircularTunnelProfile/Geometry HomogeneousGroundCondition IsotropicStressRegime
Slide 84
42
518
WhyNumerical Modeling?
NumericalMethodnotbasedonCloseForm Solution SuitableforAnyTunnelProfile/Geometry InhomogeneousGroundCondition(Multilayers) AnisotropicStressRegime
Slide 85
Plotting Ground Reaction Curve by using Plaxis 2D
Slide 86
43
519
GROUNDPROFILE
Slide 87
CURVECONSTRUCTIONSEQUENCE
Slide 88
63m
44
520
RELAXATIONFACTOR( FACTOR)
Slide 89
TUNNELDEFORMATIONPROFILE
0,41.02
Slide 90
45
521
SELECTIONOFPOINTTOPLOTCURVE
0,41.02
Slide 91
PLOTTINGCURVE
Slide 92
46
522
GROUNDREACTIONCURVE
Slide 93
GROUNDREACTIONCURVE
Slide 94
47
523
Plotting Longitudinal Deformation Curve by using Empirical Method
Slide 95
LONGITUDINALDEFORMATIONPROFILE(LDP)
Thisprofilecanbeusedto Establishadistanceconvergencerelationshipfor2D modelingorforanalyticalsolutions ThefollowingEquationsareproposedby Vlachopoulos andDiederichs (2009a)toestimate LDP

Slide 96
48
524
InputParameters
RadiusofPlasticZone(Rp) TunnelRadius(Rt) TotalTunnelDeformation(Umax) DistanceIntervalAheadandBehindof Tunnelface(X)
Slide 97
TUNNELANDPLASTICZONERADIUS
(FinalStage)
Slide 98
49
525
TOTALTUNNELDEFORMATION
Slide 99
Slide 100
50
526
Plotting Support Reaction Curve
Slide 101
SUPPORTREACTIONCURVE
Slide 102
51
527
SUPPORTREACTIONCURVE
SFPsm/peq>1.0
psm
equilibrium
peq
Slide 103
DESIGNSPREADSHEET
Slide 104
52
528
RELAXATIONFACTORDETERMINATION
MStage =0.7
Slide 105
15.6mm
COMPARISON
Slide 106
53
529
Verification by Plaxis 3D
Slide 107
3DTUNNELMODELMESH
Slide 108
54
530
TUNNELDEFORMATION
Slide 109
TUNNELDEFORMATION
Slide 110
55
531
TUNNELDEFORMATION
Comparison
3D
2D
Slide 111
TUNNELRADIALDEFORMATION
DEFORMEDMESH
Slide 112
56
532
Slide 113
Slide 114
57
533
Slide 115
TUNNELDEFORMATION
RADIAL
FACE
Slide 116
58
534
RADIALDEFORMATION
Slide 117
FACEDEFORMATION
Slide 118
59
535
DEFORMEDPROFILE
Slide 119
DEFORMEDPROFILE
Slide 120
60
536
DEFORMATIONPROFILE
Slide 121
DEFORMATIONPROFILE
Slide 122
61
537
PLANVIEW
TunnelFace
TunnelDrive
SECTIONALVIEW
Slide 123
With Support
Slide 124
62
538
DEFORMEDPROFILE
WithSupport
Slide 125
DEFORMEDPROFILE
WithSupportandExcavation
Slide 126
63
539
PLANVIEW
Slide 127
SIDEVIEW
Slide 128
64
540
COMPARISON
Slide 129
THANKYOU
Slide 130
65
541
Summary
1. Details & results for 3D modelling of tunnel advance near a piled building are given:
a. b. c. d. pressure-controlled boundary on tunnel face & along TBM integrated response of piles & building to tunnelling in 3D bldg. on end-bearing piles: bldg. settlement < greenfield surface settle. bldg. on friction piles (toes above tunnel): bldg. settlement > greenfield surface settlement
2.
For detailed evaluation of identified critical buildings, 3D FEA:

a. b. offers a more detailed assessment of pile/structure behaviour than empirical/closed form solution + boundary element method considers layered ground, tunnel face advance, TBM support pressure, bldg. stiffness & combined piles-cap-bldg. behaviour
3.
3D analysis adds value to tunnel design & construction process, e.g. assessment of requirement for protective measures
References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Atkinson, J. H. & Sallfors G. (1991). Experimental determination of soil properties. Proc. 10th ECSMFE, Florence, Vol.3, 915-956 Burland, J. B. (1995). Assessment of risk of damage to buildings due to tunnelling and excavation. 1st Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotech. Engrg., IS Tokyo. Geotechnical Control Office (GCO) (1985). Technical Note T4/85 - MTR Island Line: Effects of Construction on Adjacent Property. Civil Engrg. Services Dept., Hong Kong. Hake, D. R. & Chau, I. P. W. (2008). Twin stacked tunnels - KDB200, Kowloon Southern Link, Hong Kong. Proc. 13rd Australian Tunnelling Conference, 445452. Loganathan, N., Poulos, H. G. & Xu, K. J. (2001). Ground and pile-group responses due to tunnelling. Soils and Foundations, 41(1), 57-67. Moller, S. (2006). Tunnel induced settlements and structural forces in linings. PhD thesis, University of Stuttgart. Moller, S. & Vermeer, P. A. (2008). On numerical simulation of tunnel installation. Tunnelling & Underground Space Technology, 23, 461-475. Ng, C. W. W., Sun, Y. F. & Lee, K. M. (1998). Laboratory measurements of small strain stiffness of granitic saprolites. Geotechnical Engineering, SEAGS, 29(2), 233-248. Pang, C. H. (2006). The effects of tunnel construction on nearby pile foundation. PhD thesis, National University of Singapore. Potts, D. M. & Addenbrooke, T. I. (1997). A structures influence on tunnelling-induced ground movements. Geotechnical Engineering, Proc. ICE, 125, 109125. Schnaid, F., Ortigao, J. A. R., Mantaras, F. M., Cunha, R. P. & MacGregor, I. (2000). Analysis of self-boring pressuremeter (SBPM) and Marchetti dilatometer (DMT) in granite saprolites. Canadian Geotechnical J., 37, 796-810. Selementas, D. (2005). The response of full-scale piles and piled structures to tunnelling. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge. Storry, R. B. & Stenning, A. S. (2001). Geotechnical design & contraction aspects of the Tsing Tsuen Tunnels KCRC West Rail Phase; Contract DB320. Proc. 14th SEAGC, Hong Kong, 443-448. Storry, R. B., Stenning, A. S. & MacDonald, A. N. (2003). Geotechnical design and construction aspects of the Tsing Tsuen Tunnels contract DB320 KCRC West Rail Project. Proc. ITA World Tunnelling Congress, (Re)claiming the Underground Space, Saveur (ed.), 621-626. Vermeer, P. A. & Brinkgreve, R. (1993). Plaxis Version 5 Manual. Rotterdam, a.a. Balkema edition.
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Chennai 2007
2D Modelling of NATM and Shield Tunnels
Pieter A. Vermeer
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Stuttgart
Part 1: Introduction into Conventional Tunnelling Part 2: FEM for NATM Part 3: Introduction into Shield Tunnelling Part 4: FEM for Shield Tunnelling Part 5: Case Study
Further reading : Mller (2006). Tunnel induced settlements and structural forces in linings. PhD thesis, University of Stuttgart, Institute of Geotechnical Engineering.
Introduction: New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM)
IGS
The design of sequential excavations depends on the quality of the ground Ground Conditions Good Bad The smaller the excavated area the smaller the settlements.
Partial Excavations
University of Stuttgart
67
543
Introduction: Conventional tunnelling on NATM
IGS
Full excavation
Sequential excavation
d = round length
Introduction: Sequential excavation
IGS
(Kalotte) (Ulme) (Kern)
(Sohle)
68
544
Introduction: top heading of excavation
IGS
(Kalottenausbruch beim Rennsteig Tunnel in Thringen)

Introduction: Sequential excavation in Stuttgart
IGS
(Teilausbruch beim Heslacher Tunnel in Stuttgart)

69
545
Introduction: Typical German railway tunnel
IGS
Undrnierte Bauweise Ohne Entwsserung Undrnierte Bauweise Ohne Entwsserung

SpritzbetonSpritzbetonAuenschale Auenschale 1- oder 21- oder 2lagige KDB mit lagige KDB mit Abschottung Abschottung
Innenschale als Innenschale als WUB-KO WUB-KO
Introduction: Typical German motorway tunnel
IGS
70
546
Introduction: undrained versus drained type of tunnel
IGS
Undrnierte Bauweise
SpritzbetonAuenschale 1- bzw. 2lagige KDB mit Abschottung
Drnierte Bauweise
SpritzbetonAuenschale 1-lagige KDB
Innenschale
Innenschale Als WUB-KO Ulmendrnage
Sohldrnage DN 200
Introduction: Tunnel Boring Machine without shield
IGS
e.g. 50m
Non-supported tunnel length is only possible in hard rock. For NATM we need at least a stiff soil or soft rock. Shielded tunnelling is needed in soft ground.
71
547
Introduction: Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) without shield
IGS
Introduction: Collapse of a tunnel in Mnchen 1994
IGS
72
548
Introduction: The settlement trough
IGS
Extension of Settlement Trough
Introduction: Settlements due to tunneling
IGS
73
549
Introduction: Damage due to settlements
IGS
FEM for NATM: Initial state of stress
IGS
x z
z x z
z z
unit soil weight
K0 z
K 0 1 sin OCR
74
550
FEM for NATM: On the use of the Mohr-Coulomb Model
IGS
Layer F, unloading stiffness Layer G, small strain stiffness
As soil stiffness is stress dependent even homogeneous layers must be taken stiffer with increasing depth. It is strongly recommended to use more advanced soil models, as MC-model tends to give a relatively wide settlement trough. University of Stuttgart
FEM for NATM: Drained with c and undrained with cu IGS
Most usually: fine-grained soil (feinkrnig) initially undrained, but finally drained drained
coarse-grained soil (grobkrnig)
Anagnostou (1993): ... Drained conditions prevail if the coefficient of permeability is larger than 10-7 - 10-6 m/s and if the tunnelling speed is at the same time 2.5-25m per day or less
75
551
FEM for NATM: Intermediate support pressure
IGS
0 0
FEM for NATM: Stress reduction method ( -method )

normalized lining pressure, 0
IGS
core stress reduction method
volume loss
For shield tunneling, is usually beyond 0.5. For NATM, is usually below 0.5.
76
552
FEM for NATM: Stress reduction method (-method)
IGS
0 Support pressure Step 1: Deactivation of volume elements and reduction of initial core support down to 0
Step 2: Installation of lining and full deactivation of support pressure
FEM for NATM: Stress reduction method ( Method )
IGS
0 is the intermediate support pressure. may for instance be chosen such that a particular ground loss is achieved.
77
553
Introduction into shield tunneling: Four types
IGS
(keine Sttzung)
(mechanische Sttzung)
slurry support (Suspensionssttzung)
(Erddrucksttzung)
Introduction into shield tunneling: First one in London
IGS
Construction period: 1825 - 1843 Tunnel length: 400m Cross section: 4.8 *4.2 m Cover: 34m During construction there were more than five serious cases of flooding Isambard Marc Brunel: 1769 - 1849 Suspension bridges, First floating quai, First shield tunnel
78
554
Introduction into shield tunneling: Causes of Settlements
IGS
1.) Deformation of tunnel face 2.) Conical shape of the shield or overcutting 3.) Tail void 4.) Deformation of tunnel lining
Introduction into shield tunneling: Influence of Method
IGS
NATM : tunnel face deformation is dominant shield : tail void deformation is dominant
79
555
FEM for Shield-tunnelling: Grout pressure method
IGS
In the grout pressure method the support pressure distribution is taken as a hydrostatical grout pressure. No doubt this is better than the proportional reduction of the initial stresses in the core. Ideally both the -method and the grout pressure method might be extended with a displacement restriction of nodal point displacements towards the lining
FEM for Shield-tunnelling: Grout pressure method
IGS
grout
Displacement limitation as needed for -method and grout pressure method.
80
556
Case study: Heinenoord tunnel near Rotterdam
IGS
Case study: Heinenoord tunnel in Rotterdam
IGS
HS-small : h 1.5 D HS-model : small strain stiffness starting at depth D/2 below tunnel Mesh fineness around tunnel : element length in Table I < D/20
81
557
Case study: Soil model parameters for MC-Model
IGS
Layer 1 2 3
sat [kN/m] 17.2 20 20
E [MPa] 5.5 27 11
c [kPa] 3 0 7
[] 27 35 31
K0 [-] 0.58 0.47 0.55
OCR = 1
Case study: Soil model parameters for HS-Small model
IGS
Layer 1 2 3
ur [-] 0.2 0.2 0.2
Eoed0 [MPa] 14 35 7
E500 [MPa] 14 35 12
Eur0 [MPa] 42 105 36
E00 [MPa] 120 408 216
0.7 [%] 5 E-4 5 E-4 5 E-4
m [-] 0.5 0.5 0.9
OCR = 1
82
558
Case study: Site view of measuring
IGS
Case study: Influence of different approaches
IGS
Grout pressure method: p-crown = 128.5 kPa Method: =0.69 University of Stuttgart
83
559
Case study: Horizontal displacements
IGS
Case study: Structural forces on lining
IGS
lining pressures For ko < 1
bending moments For ko < 1
normal forces For ko < 1
84
560
Case study: Computed bending moments
IGS
- method
Case study: Computed normal forces for Heinenoord shield tunnel
IGS
Grout pressure method - method
85
561
Case study: Measurement of structural forces using strain gauges
IGS
Case study: Normal forces and bending moments
IGS
Grout pressure method - method
M[kN/m]
M[kN/m] University of Stuttgart
86
562
ModellingofExcavationsinPlaxis
Dr William WL Cheang
Principal Geotechnical Consultant Plaxis AsiaPac
Lecture notes are contributed by: Dr Lee Siew Wei Prof. Harry Tan A.Prof. Ronald Brinkgreve Dr Shen Rui Fu Ir Dennis Waterman
Contents
1. Modelling of Excavations in PLAXIS 2. Influence of Soil Model 3. Validations on the use of PLAXIS 4. Influence of variation of water-table
563
AXISYMMETRY,PLANESTRAIN&3DMODEL
SECTION1:
GEOMETRY MODELDISCRETIZATION
2-D Plane Strain 3-D MODEL
564
GEOMETRY MODELDISCRETIZATION
Axi-symmentry
565
3DMODELS
Piled building
Tower crane
Piled building
Strut layout
566
3DMODELOFANEXCAVATION
Top of PW (70/90)
Top of Grade III or Better
Complex Soil-Structure Interaction Problem
EXCAVATIONANALYSIS
A. Typicalexcavationsequences:
Sheet pile wall, slurry wall: Wall installation Excavate (and dewater) one level Install (and prestress) anchor
Berlin method: Soldiers installation Excavate (and dewater) one level Install wall panel Install (and prestress) anchor
567
WALLS ONECHAINVS.MULTIPLECHAINS
A. Onechain 1. Continuousdrawingofplateelementsgiveonechain 2. Onechainhasonematerialsetandis(de)activatedinoncepiece 3. Forwallsthatarefullyinstalledpriortoexcavation B. Mutiplechains 1. Drawwallpiecerightclicktoendwallchaindrawnextwallpieceetc. 2. Everypiececanhaveitsownmaterialsetandcanbe(de)activatedindividually 3. Forwallsthatareinstalledfollowingtheexcavationprocess
C. Sheetpilewall,slurrywall 1. Onewallchain D. Berlinwall 1. Generallythesoldiersdeterminewallpropertiesandnotthepanelsonewallchain 2. Multiplechainsmaybeusedifpanelshavesignificantcontributiontotheflexuralrigidityof thewall.
WALLS THINWALLVS.THICKWALL
A. Thinwall 1. 2. 3. Wallthickness<<walllength Shearingnotimportant Noendbearing,onlyfriction
Plateelementsuffices
A. Thickwall 1. 2. 3. Wallthicknesssignificant Shearingimportant Endbearingcapacityneeded
Usesoilelementswithmaterialsetrepresen ngwallmaterial Inordertoobtainstructuralforcesaplatemaybeinserted
568
Walls thick wall

A. Soilelementswithmaterialsetrepresentingwallmaterial B. Difficulttoobtainstructuralforcesfromsoilelements,thereforeintroduceplate:
1. Noinfluenceondeformation:lowstiffness,noweight 2. Locatedinontheneutralline(usuallythemiddle) 3. Tightbondingtotheconcreteelements:nointerfaces
Soil elements: Esoil=Ewall, I = 1/12*d3 , d = wall thickness Plate element: EI = EsoilI / x, choose x large (e.g. 10000) uplate = usoil Mwall = x*Mplate, Qwall = x*Qplate NOTE: Nwall = Nplate+y,0 , y,0 = initial vertical stress in soil elements
WALLS SUPPORT
A. Lagging 1. 2. B. Struts 1. 2. C. Fullexcavation:nodetonodeanchor Half(symmetric)excavation:fixedendanchor Useshortadditionalsectionofplateperpendiculartothe wall Createshortsectionwithincreasedstiffnessusingmultiple chains
Anchors 1. 2. Groutanchor:nodetonodeanchor+geotextileforgrout body Groundanchor:nodetonodeanchor+perpendicularplate element
569
GROUNDANCHORS
A. Combinationofnodetonodeanchorandgeogrid B. Nodetonodeanchorrepresentsanchorrod (nointeractionwithsurroundingsoil) C. Geogridrepresentsgroutbody(fullinteractionwithsurroundingsoil) D. Nointerfacearoundgroutbody;interfacewouldcreateunrealisticfailuresurface
E. Workingloadconditionsonly nopullout F. Ifpulloutforceisknownthiscanbeusedbylimitinganchorrodforce
Groundanchors
Axial forces in ground anchors: Input geometry
Generated mesh
real distribution of axial forces in ground anchor
axial forces in geotextile element
Nrod <> Ngrout due to shared node between anchor, geotextile and soil
570
INTERFACES
A. Soilstructureinteraction 1. 2. B. Wallfriction Slipandgappingbetweensoilandstructure
Soilmaterialproperties 1. TakenfromsoilusingreductionfactorRinter Cinter inter Ginter 2. 3. Rinter =tan()/tan(soil) Individualmaterialsetforinterface =Rinter *Csoil =0forRinter <1,elseinter =soil =(Rinter)2 *Gsoil tan(inter) =Rinter *tan(soil)
Somebuildingcodesprescribesoilwallfrictionangle:
INTERFACES
SuggestionsforRinter:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Interactionsand/steel Interactionclay/steel Interactionsand/concrete Interactionclay/concrete Interactionsoil/geogrid (interfacemaynotberequired) Interactionsoil/geotextile =Rinter0.9 0.5(foil,textile) =Rinter 0.6 0.7 =Rinter 0.5 =Rinter 1.0 0.8 =Rinter 1.0 0.7 =Rinter1.0
StabilityshouldnotbecriticalonRinter !
571
MATERIALBEHAVIOUR
A. Unloadingduetoexcavation 1. Verticalunloadingatexcavationbottom 2. Horizontalunloadingbehindwall B. Primaryloadingduetoprestressing C. HSsmallmodelispreferred 1. Nonlinearelasticunloading/reloadingbehaviour 2. Shearplasticityduetohorizontalunloading 3. Highfarfieldstiffnessforbettersettlementtroughprediction
MATERIALBEHAVIOUR:STRESSPATHS
Construction phases:
I 1st excavation
K v Point A
II I III
active
K0 K=1
II Pre-stressing anchor III Final excavation

Point A
Point B
passive
Point B
572
MATERIALBEHAVIOUR:STRESSPATHS
Eur ,,E50 E0 Eur , E50 Eur Eoed
E0
MATERIALBEHAVIOUR
A. MohrCoulomb:unrealisticdeformations 1. 2. 3. Overestimationoverbottomheave Oftenheaveofsoilbehindthewall Occasionallyexcavationwidensspontaneously(evenwithoutanchors!)
B.
HardeningSoilmodel:qualitativerealisticdeformations 1. 2. Betterbottomheave,butincreaseswithmodeldepth Settlementtroughbehindwall,butoftentooshallowandtoowide
C.
HSsmallmodel:qualitativeandquantitativerealisticdeformations 1. 2. Goodbottomheaveindependent ofmodeldepth Morerealisticsettlementtroughbehindthewall(narroweranddeeper)
573
DEWATERING:WETEXCAVATION
A. Excavatewithoutchangingwaterconditions(instagesoratonce) B. Applystabilising weightatthebottom C. Setexcavatedareadry 1. Useclusterdryoptionor 2. Useclusterphreaticline D. Porepressures outsideexcavatedarearemainunchanged
DEWATERING:DRYEXCAVATION
Undrainedexcavation
A. Foreveryexcavationphasedo 1. Excavatesoil 2. Setexcavatedareadry
Phreaticleveloutsidetheexcavationremainsunchanged
Suitableforshorttermexcavationsinlowpermeabilitysoils
574
DEWATERING:DRYEXCAVATION
Drainedexcavation
A. Foreveryexcavationphasedo 1. 2. 3. Excavatesoil Defineboundaryconditions(heads) Performgroundwaterflowanalysis.
Phreaticleveloutsidetheexcavationlowers
Suitableforlongtermexcavationsinhighpermeabilitysoils
Dewatering:dryexcavation
Drained excavation
Groundwater flow calculation gives steady-state solution, so for time is infinite!
575
Dewatering
1 General 2 3
Z-shape phreatic level gives wrong results: No equilibrium in horizontal water pressures: Local peak stresses Local peak strains Non-physical horizontal displacements Non-physical excess pore pressures Possible incorrect water pressure acting on wall:
General
General 6 7
5 8
INFLUENCEOFALINEARELASTICPERFECTPLASTICANDHARDENING MODEL
SECTION2
576
CONSTITUTIVEMODELS
1. 2. 3. Linear elastic, perfectly plastic Hyperbolic stress-strain curve (stiffness degradation for > 1E-4) Non-linear stiffness from very small strains (1E-6)
1: Mohr Coulomb
1e-6
1e-5
1e-4
1e-3
1e-2
1e-1
2: Hardening Soil
3:Hardening Soil + Small Strain Overlay
SURFACEHEAVEININITIALEXC./CANTILEVERWALL
3 m deep excavation with cantilever wall 20kPa 5m 3m 7m Dry sandy material FSP III sheetpile
3 analyses with Mohr Coulomb, Hardening Soil & Hardening Soil-Small models using equivalent soil input parameters Compare ground movements, wall displacements & wall stability
577
SOILINPUTPARAMETERSFOR3ANALYSES
Parameters for soil strength & initial stress state
Analyses Material Model 1 2 3 MC HS HSsmall
3
c'
' (Deg) 35 35 35
(kN/m ) (kPa) 20 5 20 5 20 5
(or ur) [-] 0.3 0.2 0.2
[-] 0.426 0.426 0.426
Rinter
0.67 0.67 0.67
Parameters for soil stiffness prior to failure

Analyses Material Model 1 2 3 MC HS HSsmall Eref (or E50ref or Eoedref) (MPa) 30 30 30 Eurref (MPa) 90 90 pref (kPa) 100 100 m [-] 0.5 0.5 G0 (MPa) 150 0.7 [-] 210-5
For derivation of soil stiffness parameters, a. HS model from standard drained triaxial compression tests b. HSsmall model from small-strain triaxial tests or field tests (e.g. downhole / crosshole seismic survey)
PREDICTEDSURFACESETTLEMENTBEHINDWALL
Distance behind wall (m) 0 0.006 0.004 0.002 Settlement (m) 0.000 -0.002 -0.004 -0.006 -0.008 -0.010 5 10 15 20 25 30
Heave
Settlement
MC HS HSsmall
MC predicts unrealistic surface heave 4 mm HS & HSsmall predict max. surface settlement 9 mm
578
PREDICTEDHEAVEATEXC. LEVEL INCOFFERDAM

Distance in front of wall (m) -5 0.025 0.020 0.015 Heave (m) 0.010 0.005 0.000 -0.005 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2
MC
Wall
HS HSsmall
MC predicts 20 mm heave at cofferdam centreline HS & HSsmall predict 11 mm & 8 mm respectively
PREDICTEDWALLRESULTANTDISPLACEMENT
MC
Ux=6mm
HS
Ux=11mm
HSsmall
Ux=10mm Ux: wall horizontal displacement
579
PREDICTEDSTABILITYOFWALL
3 Sum-Msf = FOS 2.5 2 1.5 Sum-Msf = FOS FOS=2.8
MC
Rotation mechanism with FOS 2.8
FOS=2.8
2.5 2 1.5
HS Phi-c' reduction for predicting FOS FSP III sheetpile properties: EI=34440 kNm2/m; EA=3.92106kN/m Mp=369 kNm/m; Np=3575 kN/m
3 Sum-Msf = FOS 2.5 2 1.5
FOS=2.8
HSsmall
SUMMARYOFPREDICTIONS
Analyses MC HS HSsmall Surface settlement behind wall Heave 4 mm (not OK) Settle 9 mm Settle 9 mm Heave at excavation level Heave 20 mm Heave 11 mm Heave 8 mm Wall horizontal displacement 6 mm 11 mm 10 mm FOS for wall stability 2.8 2.8 2.8
1. MC predicts incorrect surface heave behind wall a. related to soil stiffness (E) prior to failure b. different ways of modelling E in 3 constitutive models 2. Stability of wall has FOS = 2.8 for 3 analyses a. related to soil shear strength b. all 3 constitutive models use Mohr Coulomb failure criterion with c'=5 kPa & '=35
580
VARIATIONOFSOILSTIFFNESSINEXCAVATION
1. Soil stiffness is not constant and varies with a. stress-level. Higher stress, higher stiffness b. strain-level. Higher strain (or displacement), lower stiffness c. stress-path (recent soil stress history). d. Rotation of stress path, higher soil stiffness 2. During excavation, soil elements at different locations experience different changes in stress, strain & stress-path direction
SOILSTRESSPATHSNEAREXCAVATION
GCO No.1/90
A: unloading compression; B: unloading extension Rotation of stress paths at A & B
581
SOILSTRESSPATHSNEAREXCAVATION
20kPa 3m
25
20kPa Failure line
20 15
K0 Exc. Exc.
A B
B
t (kPa)
10
7m
5 0
K0
20kPa
5m
-5 -10 -15 0 10 20 30 s' (kPa) 40 50 60
A: unloading compression B: unloading extension
Failure line
Rotation of stress path at A, A 90 w.r.t. K0 direction Rotation of stress path at B, B 160 w.r.t. K0 direction
STRESSPATHDEPENDENTSOILSTIFFNESS
Stress path rotation, t =0 =180 K0 =90 s' Shear modulus, 3G (MPa)
Atkinson et al. (1990) Triaxial tests on London Clay
Shear strain (%) -1 -0.1 -0.01 0.01 0.1 1 =0, no change in stress path direction =180, full reversal of stress path direction
582
STRESSPATHDEPENDENTCDG STIFFNESS
Stress-level Test series
Extension
Compress
Compression
Extension
=90 Wang & Ng (2005) At s 0.01%, shear stiffness in extension 60% higher than in compression
WHYMCPREDICTSINCORRECTSURFACEHEAVE?
1. 2. MC models a constant soil stiffness prior to failure not realistic In reality, stiffness of soil elements near excavation varies according to a. stress-level b. strain-level c. direction of stress-path Realistic prediction of wall deflections & ground settlements in all excavation stages requires a constitutive model that considers above factors, e.g. HS & HSsmall models 4. HS & HSsmall consider factors (1), (2) & (3) in determining the operational soil stiffness (E), i.e. E is changing during excavation
3.
583
INFLUENCEOFSMALLSTRAINSATFARFIELDAREAS
MODELLINGOFDEEPEXCAVATIONS
SECTION2.1:EXAMPLES
584
585
586
587
588
589
SECTION3:VALIDATIONS
Plaxisvs.SAP2000
Model a non-symmetrical deep exc. DWall, 6 strut layers, 24m deep exc.
20m
Compare structural behaviour - DWall deflections/bending moments/shear forces, strut forces Recommendation on design of reinforcement based on 3D results
28m
Plaxis 3D Foundation V2.2 - analyses by GCG (Asia) SAP2000 V12.0.2 (BD No. S0749) analyses by AECOM
25m
56
590
Plaxis 3D Foundation
SAP2000
Element size ~1.3m
Element size ~1m
Plaxis 3D Foundation
SAP2000
58
591
Validation3 DeformedMesh
Plaxis 3D Foundation SAP2000
Validation3 DWallDeflection
592
Validation3 StrutAxialForce
61
Validation3 DWallBendingMoment
62
593
SECTION4:INFLUENCEOFWATER TABLEVARIATION
EffectsofGWTChanges
LecturesofProfHarryTan NationalUniversityofSingapore
594
CASESSTUDIED
A. Case1 LowerGWTinallSoilsaboveandbelowSoftClay B. Case2 LowerPhreaticLevelinSoilbelowSoftClay C. Case3 LowerPhreaticLevelinSoilaboveSoftClay
CASE1 LOWERGWTINALLSOILSABOVEAND BELOWSOFTCLAY

Sand Fill, MC Drained, E=10 MPa, nu=0.3, c=1 kPa, phi=30 deg, k=0.01 m/day Soft Mclay, Soft Soil model, Cc=1.0, Cr=0.2, einit=1.8, c=0 kPa, phi=20 deg, k=8E-5 m/day -35m Stiff OA, MC UNDrained, E=50 MPa, nu=0.3, c=20 kPa, phi=30 deg, k=0.001 m/day
-10m
595
ANALYSISSTAGES
Initial GWT GWT lower to -8m
A (Nodal Point)
Flow boundaries OPEN top and bottom Examine Settlement of Point A with time Examine Excess PP of Point K with time
K (Stress Point)
RESULTSOFSETTLEMENTOFPTA
596
RESULTSOFEXCESSPPOFPTK
RESULTSOFSETTLEMENTPROFILES
30 yr 20 yr 10 yr
50yr
5 yr 1 yr
597
RESULTSOFEXCESSPOREPRESSUREPROFILES
50yr 30 yr 20 yr 10 yr 5 yr 1 yr
COMPAREPPANDEFFECTIVESTRESSCHANGES
EXC PP dissipating with time
Eff Stress increasing with time
598
CASE2 LOWERGWTINSOILBELOWSOFT CLAY

-10m
WATERCONDITIONSSETTINGS
Fill: General Phreatic Level at Ground Surface
For Soft Clay: Interpolate between top and bottom soil Clusters
Analysis Stages
OA Soil: Set Cluster Phreatic Level at 8m below Ground Level
599
RESULTSOFSETTLEMENTCASE2
RESULTSOFEXCESSPPCASE2
600
30 yr 20 yr 10 yr
50yr
5 yr 1 yr
Half the loading compare to Case 1 Produce about half the settlement of Case 1
50yr 30 yr 20 yr 10 yr
5 yr
1 yr
601
CASE3 LOWERGWTINSOILABOVESOFT CLAY

-10m
602
WATERCONDITIONSSETTINGS
General Phreatic Level at Ground Surface Cluster Phreatic Level in Fill lower to -8m For Soft Clay: Interpolate between top and bottom soil Clusters Analysis Stages
OA Soil: General Phreatic Level at Ground Surface
RESULTSOFSETTLEMENTCASE3
603
RESULTSOFEXCESSPPCASE3
50yr 30 yr 20 yr 10 yr
5 yr 1 yr
Half the loading compare to Case 1 Produce about half the settlement of Case 1
604
30 yr 20 yr 10 yr 5 yr
50yr
1 yr
605
CONCLUSIONS
A. GWTchangesinsoilsofhigherpermeabilityaboveorbelowathicksoftclaylayer willinduceexcessporepressureswhichwillcauselongtermconsolidation settlements B. Theamountandrateofsettlementcanbecomputedcorrectlybyusingan appropriateFEMcodewithsuitablesoftsoilmodelsthathavethecompression propertiesofCc,CsandPcvaluesbuildintothemodel(egHSorSSmodelin Plaxis)
End
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3D Excavation Supported By Struts

Three dimensional finite element modelling using Plaxis 3D
WilliamCheang,ShenRuiFu&TanSiewAnn 11/20/2011
Threedimensionalfiniteelementmodellingofa50x10excavationsupportedbytwolevelsofstruts. Excavationdepthis8.5mandthetoeoftheretainingstructureislocatedat12mbelowgroundlevel.Struts spacedat10mcentretocentrespacing.
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INTRO ODUCT TION
Figur re 1: The model m In t this exercis se a long excavation n of 50m le ength, 10m m width an nd 8.5m de eep will be e modelled. The analy ysis investigates the difference between a 2D and 3 3D model. The result of from the e 2D analy ysis is included in th he result se ection of th his exercis se for comparison. In n this finite e element model m the fo ocus is on creating th he model in i 3-dimen nsional spa ace, setting g the variou us stages to simulate the wh hole construction pro ocess and d at each stage the e excavated d zone is dewatere ed. The a analysis will w look into the s short-term condition. Dewatering is done e with the e cluster dry opti ion and in nterpolate within walls w below w n level to general g ph hreatic leve el. Time in nterval of 5 days for r each stag ge to allow w excavation plotting of curves for r compariso on
A. Ge eometry y
1. The e geometry y of the exe ercise is sh hown in Ta able 1. 2. The e excavatio on is 50m in i length, 1 10m in width and 8.5m deep. 3. The e toe of the e diaphragm m wall is lo ocated at 12m 1 below w the groun nd. 4. The e excavatio on is done in three st tages and supported d by two le evels of struts spaced d at 1 10m centre e-to-centre distance a along the le ength. 5. At e each level there are 5 numbers s of struts. 6. The e ground co ondition is simple an nd it is a sin ngle layere ed problem m.
608
B. Dime ensions s
1. The e size of th he models and a dimen nsions of th he excavation is indic cated in Ta able 2. 2. The e size of th he finite ele ement mod del in Plax xis 3D is se et at 100 x 60 x 22m m in length, width and dep pth respect tively.
Figure F 2: M Model size in i Plaxis 3D
609
C. Flow w of wor rk
The e flow of wo ork consist t the follow wing steps. In genera al the steps s will be: 1. Set tting up of the t project t informatio on and model size in Project S Settings. 2. In M Mode-Soil the depth of the mod del is set and a the initial position n of the wa ater table is s set. . 3. In M Mode-Structures the dimension ns of the excavation e n and exca avation lev vels will be e con nstructed. This T will be b followed d by the creation of the retain ing wall and suppor rt sys stem. Mode-Mesh h the mode el is discre etised. Refinement will w be made e on impor rtant zones s 4. In M to e enhance th he analysis s and resul ts. 5. In M Mode-Wat ter Levels the wate r condition n at each stages o of excavati ion will be e seq quentially lo owered using the Clu uster Dry option. 6. In Mode-Stag ged Cons struction th he excava ation proc cess and constructi ion of the e reta aining syste em will be made. Fin nally the ca alculation will w be mad de. 7. Insp pect the ca alculated re esults in O Output and construct displaceme ent chart versus v time e usin ng the Cha art option.
ANAL LYSIS
A. PR ROJECT T SETTINGS
Fi igure 3: Qu uick Select t option (Se rt a new project for th his exercis se) elect Star
610
Figure 4: S Setting the size s of a Pla axis 3D mo odel via Mo odel Tab. The T point of f origin is automatically y set at the c centre of the e model (x-o origin = 0, y y-origin = 0) when using g the above e stated valu ues.
1. The e size in x-y space is set using the Conto our input box. b 2. The e dimensio ons in x-y space s are 100 x 60 m in length h and widt th. The min nimum and d max ximum val lues are chosen as such that the point of origin w will be loca ated at the e cen ntre in x-p space. s 3. The e units and d general quantities fo or the anal lysis are given in the above figu ure. 4. The e dimensio ons in z-direction is s set using the t Borehole input o option in M Modify Soi il Lay yers box. 5. Onc ce the inpu ut is complete click O OK.
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B.MODE: SOIL L
Plaxis 3D has 5 main mo odes to def fine the pr roject, that is Soil, St tructures, Mesh, M Wate er Levels and a Stage ed Constru uction. Eve ery mode has a de edicated ve ertical toolbar located between the explor rer boxes and a drawin ng area. In n Soil mod de we define the soil layers for projects. In n this curre ent case th here is onlly a single layer of so oil. Informa ation of this soil laye er and loc cation of th he water t table is en ntered using g a single borehole. To define e use the borehole b option o to de efine the single s soil la ayer, follow w these ste eps: 1. Selec ct the Bore ehole tool f from the ge eometry toolbar. 2. Click k at a location in the c cluster tha at represents the soil. . It is suggested to cli ick on (x; y) = (-50; -30) but any a other position p wo ould be fin ne as well. This place es a boreh hole at loc cation (x; y) y = (-50; -30) and opens o the Modify M soil layers win ndow (Figure 5). The Modify soiil layers wi indow provides a grap phical repr resentation n of the cu urrent bore ehole on th he left and a spreads sheet for d data input t. However when cr reating the e first hole in an a analys sis both the t graph hical repre esentation and boreh sprea adsheet is empty.
Figure e 5: Modify soil s layers window w
612
3. Press s Add button to defin ne a new la ayer in the borehole. By default both the top t and bo ottom bou undaries of f the bore ehole are set to z = 0.0. Chan nge the bo ottom boun ndary to -2 22m. This action in effect is setting s the depth d of the e finite elem ment mode el (see Figure 6) 4. To define d the material properties s for this layer of soil, press the Mate erial button. The Mate erial sets window w will appear
Fig gure 6: Defin ning a single e layered soil using a single s boreh hole Table e 1: Material Properties s for soil Param meter Soil M Model Drain nage type Unsaturated soil l weight Satur rated soil we eight Youngs modulus s Poiss sons ratio Cohe esion Frictio on angle Interfa faces Coeff ficient of earth pressure e at rest Ko Symbol Name Soil Mohr-Coulomb Undrained (B) nit Un kN/ /m3 kN/ /m3 kN/ /m3 kN/ /m2 -
unsat sat
E-ref Nu Su
18.0 19.0 15000 0.25 30 0 Rigid Man nual = 0.55
613
6. Creat te a new material set f for the soil material ac ccording to the data given in Table e 1. Any par rameters no ot mentioned should be e left at thei r default va alue. 7. After entering the material p properties for f the soil close c the w window by clicking OK in n order to re eturn to the Material se ets window. 8. The material properties a are entered d into the model by y drag-and d-drop oach onto the boreho ole layer (s see Figure 7). Once this is don ne the appro desig gnated soil layer in th he borehole e should be e indicated d with the colour chose en for this material m set. .
Figure re 7: Boreho ole with mat terial proper rties proper rly in place.
9. By de efault the water-table w is set at 0 m. In this example th he water ta able is

locate ed at ground level and therefore no n alteration n is needed d. Therefore e keep the ground level and there efore no alteration is needed. n Th erefore kee ep the d at 0 m. Head
We hav ve now fin nished de efining the subsoil and a we w will continu ue to Structure es Mode to o define the ry of the ex xcavation. e geometr
C. MO ODE: ST TRUCTU URES

Press t the Structu ures option n on the m mode toolb bar to mov ve to Struc ctures mod de. We wil ll create the excav vation size by constru ucting a vo olume. This volume w will be loca ated at the e point o of origin of the t model. .
614
To construct the diaphragm wall we will decompose this volume into surfaces. We will change the surfaces located at the four sides of the volume to plate elements. Also interface elements will be introduced by using the same approach. Finally we will construct 3 excavation levels by creating 3 horizontal surfaces at 3 locations along the z-axis. The 5 individual struts located at a given level are constructed using Beam elements. One single strut is drawn and set with the corresponding material properties. This will be copied and replicated using the Array tool along the x-direction at 10 m centre-to-centre distance. The waling system located along the perimeter of the retaining wall will be constructed using Beam elements. The struts and walers located at the first level will be grouped together to form support system level 1. This is to allow easy identification and activation during the staged construction process. Again by using the Array tool all the struts and waler system (support system level 1) located at the first level will be copied to the second level and this therefore forms support system level 2. Create the following material sets and properties listed in Table 2, 3 and 4.
Table 2: Diaphragm Wall Element type Identification Thickness Weight Behaviour Isotropic Modulus of elasticity E1=E2 Name d Plate D-wall 0.6 24 Linear Yes 30e+6 Unit M kN/m3 kN/m2
Table 3: Strut Element type Identification Area Weight Behaviour Modulus of Elasticity Name A Beam Strut 1.225E-1 78.5 Linear 210.0E6 m2 kN/m3 kN/m2 Unit
615
Second moment m are ea
I1= =I2
1.800E-2 1
m4
Table 4: Waling Element type Identifica ation Area Weight Behaviou ur Modulus of Elasticity y Second moment m are ea Na ame A Beam Waling 8.682E-3 8 78.5 Linear 210.0E6 2 1.045E-2 1 Unit m2 kN/m3 3 kN/m2 2 m4

E I1= =I2
eate the ex xcavation volume C1.Cre
Figure e 8: Switch h to Top Vi iew (Plan v view) and movement m limitation w window ap ppears
To expedite the t constru uction of th he foot prin nt of the excavation we switch h to the top p view w mode by y clicking the t tool loc cated on the menu. The viewp point will be switched d to p plan view. A Movem ment limitatiion window w appears s (see Figu ure 8). Usin ng this too ol it is s possible to t fix the drawing d pla ane at a sp pecific elev vation. In t this case th he drawing g plan ne is fixed at z = 0 m). m This is to o facilitate drawing of o the excav vation foot tprint
616
e volume is created by firstly d drawing a surface in x-y plane e at z= 0 m and then n The extr ruding dow wnwards by 12 m us sing the ex xtrusion too ol. From th he vertical tool bar in n Stru uctures Mo ode select the Create e surface option. o 1. Construct a surface of 50 (L) a and 10 (W) ) m in size by locatin ng the four points of a rectangula ar at the fo ollowing c oordinates s. A clockw wise or an nti-clockwis se scheme e can be cho osen (see Figure 9 a and 10)
Table 5: Location L of the surfa ce points at a z=0m
Poi int 1 x -25 y -5 x -25 Poiint 2 y 5 x 25 Poin nt 3 y 5 x 25 Poin nt 4 y -5
Figure 9 9: Construc ct surface st tarting from m point 1 to 3 ( and final lly 4) in cloc ckwise direc ction
617
Figure 10: Constru uction of sur rface at z = 0 m (comp pleted). The position of f the points can c still be fine tun ne using the e table input t seen here at the top right r corner. .
After inser rting the surface rep presenting the cross section of f the excav vation in plan p we wil ll extrude this surface to form the e size (dep pth) of the retaining structure s (D Diaphragm wall). 2. From the horizontal button ba r, click the e Perspect tive view b button. This s will show w the model view to iso ometric. 3. The create ed surface is marked d in dark gr rey. Select t the surfac ce so that it becomes s red. 4. Click the Extrude E button and th he Extrude e window appears (se ee Figure 11) 1
Figure re 11: Extrus sion along z-axis z using g a vector le ength of 12 (vector z = -1)
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v by filling an e extrusion le ength of 12 2m. To extr rude down nwards that 5. Create a volume is beneath h the groun nd surface the extrusion vector is z = -12 (see Figur re 11). 6. Click Appl ly to confirm m the extru usion process. C2.Cre eate the re etaining st tructure w with interfa aces 1. Ensure tha at the view w is set as P Perspectiv ve lume 1 by clicking th he volume e in the dra awing area a. Once se elected the e 2. Select Vol volume is marked in red and in n the Selec ction explorer Volume e 1 is indic cated. 3. Using the Right Mo ouse Butto on (RMB) gesture turn the v volume into surfaces s using Dec compose in nto surface es tool (se ee Figure 12).
Figure 12: Decomp posing a vo olume into s surfaces usi ing the RMB B gesture
4. Six surface es will be formed f aro ound the original volu ume (in this s case Volume 1) but we will ne eed on the e 4 vertica al surfaces s to form the t diaphr ragm wall by turning g these 4 surfaces s in nto plates. One may y choose to delete the top and a bottom m surfaces to o get a cle ean model or mainta ain these knowing tha at we can modify the e elevation of these 2 horizont tal surface es into the e excavatio on levels. The latter option is straight s forw ward for ex xperienced d user. 5. In this exe ercise we will w use the e first appr roach that is to delete e the top and a bottom m surface. Select S the to op and bot ttom surfac ce and delete them.
619
e 4 vertical surfaces located along the perimeter p o of the volume. To do o 6. Select the this, click each of the t vertica al surfaces s (while pr ressing the e ctrl butt ton on the e keyboard). 7. Perform the RMB gesture a and select Create plate. p You u should obtain the e following schematic c as show wn in Fig gure 13 showing s th he selecte ed vertica al surfaces.
Figure 13: Turning g the vertica al surfaces located alo ong the per rimeter into plates usin ng the RMB B e. gesture
8. On a succ cessful con nversion th he 4 surfaces will be e become plates. Th hese plates s will be us sed to mo odel the diiaphragm walls. Pla aced the m material se ets for the e diaphragm m wall using g the drag-and-drop procedure e (Figure 14 4).
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Figure 14: The plate elements e rep presenting the t dimensi ions of the D D-wall.
9. To create the interfaces at th he outer and inner side s of the e diaphrag gm wall we e again use the same e procedur re of selec cting the surfaces alo ong the pe erimeter of the volum me. (Again n you can n use the e select-w while-pressiing-the-ctrl rl-button to o accumulat te all the 4 surfaces). . 10. Using the RMB gest ture select t create po ositive inte erfaces. In nterface ele ements wil ll be created d on the po ositive side e of a plate e( see figu ure 15) 11. A positive e interface refers to the locatio on of side face whic ch is on th he positive e direction when w referr red to the llocal axis (see ( figure 15a) s do not re efer to reta ained or ex xcavation side of the e 12. Positive or negative interfaces retaining wall w (plate) ) but is refe erred to th he direction n of z-direc ction in the e local axis s of the plate. To cons struct interf faces along the plate e both optio ons are ne eeded. The e d interface model is s shown in Figure 16. completed
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Figure 15a
Figure e 15b
Figure 15c
Figure re 15: Local l axis on a plate p (z axis s which is in ndicated in blue, Fig.1 5a). A positive value is s the o outward dire ection. A ne egative valu ue is the in nward direction. By se electing cre eate positive e interfa face interface element ts will be cr reated on th he positive side (Fig.15 5b). Similar rly to create e an inw ward interfa ace the crea ate negative e interface option is ch hosen (see Fig.15.c)
nts along the Figure re 16: Com mplete interf face elemen t perimet ter of the p plate using the create e positi ive interfac ces and c create neg gative interf faces appr roach. The e diagram shows the e direct tion of local blue axis along the p plate.
eate the ex xcavation levels C3.Cre To constru uct the stag ged excava ation proce ess 3 horiz zontal surfa aces locate ed at (z = -3m), (z = 6m) and (z z = -8.5m) ) will be co onstructed. . The first surface is drawn but t the subse equent two o surfaces a are formed by using the t Array tool. 1. Construct a surface e using the e same po oints as in ndicated in n Table 5 but with z et to -3 m. position se 2. Change to o Top view w and the Movemen nt limitation tool app pear again. Set the z value to -3 3.0 m.
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ate surface e tool loca ated in the e vertical toolbar an nd draw a horizonta al 3. Use Crea surface us sing the co oordinates given in Ta able 5. This is the firs st excavation level to o 3 m below w ground le evel (see F igure 17)
Figure 17: Location of o a horizon ntal surface at z = -3m m. This is th he extent of o first stage e excavation. The soil volume v with hin the exc cavation an nd plates ar re switched d to 30% to o facilitate vie ewing
4. To constru uct the exc cavation sta age 2 the position of f the secon nd surface will be at z = -6m. The e firs surfa ace will be c copied and d place at z = -6m. T The vertical l difference e between th he first and d second s surface is 3m. 3 ce (after se election it will w be mar rked red). 5. Select the first surfac e Array tool from th he vertical toolbar. The T Creat te array window w wil ll 6. Select the appear as shown in Figure 18. By default the array y pattern is rectangul lar. 7. In the Co onfiguration section n choose 1D, in z direction to copy th he chosen n surface an nd place th he second horizontal surface at a z = -6m m. To perfo orm this we e set the Di istance between colu umns as -3. - The ne egative vallue is need ded to shif ft the copied d surface in the dir rection opp posite to the t global z-directio on (upward d positive). A value of f 3 is the d difference in distance e between the first and a second d surface ed second surface re epresenting g the second excava ation level is shown in n 8. The create Figure 19.
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Figure 18: The Create e array tooll.
Figure 19 9: Horizonta al surface 1 and 2 for s staged exca avation
9. For the fin el (z= -8.5m) the first nal surface which rep present the e final exca avation leve or second surface can c be cop pied and th he third su urface is c constructed d using the e rray tool ag gain. Create arr 10. In this ex xample we e will use the first horizontal h surface a again. Aga ain set the e shape to 1D, in z direction an nd the Dis stance betw ween the c columns which w is the e spacing will w be (8.5 5-3.0 = 5.5 5m). Again n a negative value is require ed to set a downward d direction. The comp peted mode el at this st tage is sho own in Figu ure 20.
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Figure 20: The excava ation levels represented by 3 horiz zontal surfa aces located d at (z1= -3m, z2 z = -6m an nd z3 = 8.5m m)
eate struts s and wale ers for sup pport syst tem at level 1(z = -1 .5 m) C4.Cre The suppo ort system m for the fir rst excavat tion stage is made of o a line o of waling transecting t g along the perimeter of the wall at z1 = -1 .5m and 5 numbers of struts lo ocated at a centre-tocentre spa acing of 10 0m along x-direction. 1. The e walers will be mode elled using g beam ele ements. 2. . Tw wo approac ches can be b used to o construct the walers s using the e beam el lements. In n the first, the beams b can n be drawn n using the beam too ol found in n the vertic cal tool bar r. The e coordinat tes in x-y plane p is ag gain the same in Table 5 but the e elevation n (z) will be e -1.5 5m below ground. g Th his approa ch is named Cad in nput appro oach. We will w use the e sec cond appro oach whe ere the b beam elem ments rep presenting the wale ers will be e con nstructed using the C Command line appro oach. 3. The e Comman nd line box x is shown n in Figure 21 and the e coordina ates for the e beam line e is s shown. In n this exa ample bra ackets are e used to o indicate the five blocks of coo ordinates. The T bracke ets are not t necessary y but used here for c clarity reaso ons.
Figu ure 21: A be eam line is drawn using g 5 points. The last point is similar r to the first t point
4. The e constructed waling g system is s shown in n Figure 22. 2 The ma aterial for the waling g can n be inser rted using the same e drag-and d-drop ap pproach or r by desig gnating the e mat terial set th hrough the e Model ex xplorer box x (see Figu ure 22).
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Figu ure 22: Inpu ut of materia al set Walin ng to Beam ms represen nting first le evel of walin ng.
Figure e 23: First le evel waling system s with h material set placed in n.
5. The e 5 nos. of strut will be b construc cted. The first f strut will w be place ed using tw wo points. 6. The e centre-to o-centre sp pacing is 1 10m and elevation e of o the stru ut is z= -1.5m below w ground level. The first point is lo ocated at (x1, ( y1, z1) = (-20, -5, -1.5) and a second d poin nt located at (x2, y2, z3) = (-20 , 5, -1.5). 7. The ere are two o possible options. In n the first option o the strut can b be constru ucted using g the Cad input t approach using the coordinate es given above. This s is done by choosing g
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ement option from th he vertical toolbar and drawing the two points using g the beam ele the coordinate e set. 8. The second option o is ag gain using the Comm mand line approach. . 9. For r the secon nd approac ch type be eam -20 -5 -1.5 -20 5 -1.5. 10. Pla aced the material m set for the strut eith her using the t Drag-and-drop or Mode el exp plorer input t approach h. 11. The e complete ed model at a this with one single e strut with h the waling g system is shown in n Figu ure 24
Figu ure 24: Loca ation of first t level walin ng with one e strut. First t excavation n level and interface i are e swit tched off.
12. The e remaining 4 nos. of o struts a are replicat ted using the Array tool. The e important par rameters when w using g this too l are setti ing the sh hape = 1D D, x direct tion, no of o umns = 5 and a the dis stance bet tween the columns = 10 (note positive). The struts s colu will be replica ated along x direction n. The out tcome of this proces ss is shown n in Figure e 25.
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Figu ure 25: The e complete support s sys tem for leve el 1 (z=-1.5m m)
C5.Cre eat struts and waler rs for supp port syste em at level 2 (z = -4. 5 m)
Figure 26: Using the selection s box x for beams s and selec cting the stru uts and wali ling.
1. The e second level supp port system m is creating by rep plicating th he first lev vel suppor rt sys stems to a position of f z= -4.5m. 2. Using the sel lect beams s in the ve ertical toolb bar the ent tire system m consisting g of waling g d struts are e selected. and 3. Using the Arr ray tool ag gain the wh hole suppo ort system is copied b by setting the t shape e to 1 1D, z direction, numb ber of colum mns = 2 an nd distance e between columns is (-4.5m). 4. The e Outcome e of this pro ocess is sh hown in Fig gure 27. 5. The e first level l support system s is G Grouped together t by y using the e Select beams b too ol from m the vert tical toolba ar. Using t the RMB gesture g an nd Group option all the beam m
628
ments loc cated here ein are gr rouped tog gether. We W can ren name this s group to o elem Gro oup_1_Sup pport_Leve el_1 unde er the Mod del explorer r box (see e Figure 28 8) 6. The e second level su upport sys stem is also a Grou uped and d then re ename as s Gro oup_2_Sup pport_Leve el_2 unde er Model ex xplorer bo ox (see Fig gure 28)
Figure 27: Second lev vel support system s repllicate from the t first usin ng the Arra ay tool
Figure 28: Using the Model M explo orer box to r rename the Group to Group_1_Su G upport_Leve el_1
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C. MO ODE: MESH
Figure 29: M Mesh option n using the default Ele ement Distri ribution opti ion of Very y Course mesh
Figure 30: Generated mesh, num mber of elem ments and nodes n (Valu ues will vary y according g to the leve el ent) of refineme
oceed to mesh discre etization by y moving to o Mode: Mesh. M In th his example e we use a 1. Pro very y coarse mesh. m Click k OK. 2. Onc ce meshin ng is comp pleted a m message is given in the t Sessio on Box as s shown in n Fig.30. For example this curre ent model has app proximately y 12K of 10-noded d rahedral ele ements. tetr 3. Pro oceed to check c the constructe ed mesh by clicking on the View Me esh button n loca ated on the Vertical Toolbar. A window w will appea ar as show wn in Fig.3 31. and we e che eck the qua ality of the mesh : Mesh h> Mesh Quality Q
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Figure 31: : Mesh qual lity check
Click the U Update bu utton locate ed at the to op of the window w and d return to Mode: Me esh. 4. We e will now proceed p to Mode: Wa ater Levels s to design the chan nge of the water-table w e with hin the exc cavated zone.
D. MO ODE: WATER W LEVELS L S

1. In Mode: Wa ater Levels s the conf figuration of o the initial groundw water cond dition is as s suc ch that the General Phreatic P Su urface is set s right at ground lev vel as seen n in Fig.32. This s is the init tial groundwater leve el that was set at Bor rehole Inpu ut via Head d.
Figure 32: M Mode: Wate er Levels. Visual V in def fault settings
Fig gure 33: Distribution of hydrostatic c porewater pressu ure
631
ck Preview w button lo ocated at th he Vertica al Toolbar. . The initia al porewate er pressure e 2. Clic dist tribution fo or this sta age (Initia l phase) is shown in Fig 33 3. This is the input por rewater pre essure that t we want t to adopt fo or this phas se. ercise ther re will be additional a s stages. Th he water le evel within the excav vation zone e In this exe will be low wered at each e succ cessive sta age. To pr roceed fur rther it is useful to switch the e visibility of f the surrou unding soil l and gene eral phreati ic level to 30% 3 (see F Fig 34).
Figure 34: Visibility fo or the Gene eral Phreatiic Surface and a surroun nding soil b being switch hed to 30% % visibility. Excavation Stage 1(M Mode Water r Levels) Phase 1: E
1. Add d a new ph hase and th his phase r represent excavation e n to level 1 (-3mBGL) ). 2. In the current t mode our r concern i s to design n the lowering of the e water leve el by direc ct inpu ut. The soil cluster is s not switc ched off at this stage e (Mode: W Water Leve els) but the e soil zone representing g excavatiion zone level 1 is selected d using the Selec ct Rec ctangular-S Select Soils option ( (Fig.35a). This zone e is set to Dry via the t options s ava ailable in S Selection Explorer E wiindow Fig 35b). 3. In this same phase p the porewater r pressure within zone2 (benea ath zone 1) ) will be set to I Interpolate e as shown n in Fig 36 a and 36b. In summa ary the su urrounding soils and d soil bene eath zone 2 is refe rred to the Genera al Phreatic S Surface. Zone 1 is set s to Dry and Zone e 2 is set to t Interpollate betwe een zone 1 and Gene eral Phreat tic Surface.
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Support System S 1 (Mode ( Wa ter Levels s) Phase 2: S 1. This s phase is s added and labelle ed as Con nstruct Sup pport Syste em 1. This stage is s add ded to the sequence as we willl use this Phase to activate th he waling and struts s that t represent t support system s 1. 2. The e water con ndition at this stage i s similar to o Phase 1. Phase 3: E Excavatio on Stage 2 (Mode W Water Levels) 1. This s phase re epresent ex xcavation o of zone 2 to t 6m below w ground llevel. 2. The e ground water w is low wered by selecting zone z 2 and setting t the condition to Dry y. The e procedur re is similar r to the me ethod state ed in Phase e 1. 3. The e porewate er pressure e within zon ne3 that is beneath zone z 2 is s et to Interpolate Phase 4: S Support System S 2 (Mode ( Wa ter Levels s) 1. Add d phase 4 and name ed this sta age as Support System 2 This s phase will w be used d late er. 2. The e porewate er pressure e is kept the same as s in Phase 3. Phase 5: E Excavatio on to Final l Level (Mo odel Wate er Levels) 1. This s is the final excavated state of f the mode el which is -8.5m belo ow ground level. This s zon ne 3. 2. Sim milarly the water w cond dition for zo one 3 is Dry 3. The e zone 4 be eneath zon ne 3 is set to Interpo olate
Figure 35a: : Select exc cavation zon ne 1 using Window Re ectangular-S Select Soil Option
633
Figure 35b: : Changing the water condition c to Dry for ex xcvation zon ne 1
Figure 36a: : Select Zo one 2 that is s beneath Z Zone 1
Figure 36 6b: Select In nterpolate option o for z zone 2 and a preview of the input h ydrostatic porewater cond dition for Phase 1
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E. MODE: STAGED CONSTRUCTION

Initial Phase By default Initial Phase is already included. All the structural elements are switched off. 1. The retaining structure is constructed by wish-in-place (WIP) method. No installation effects are included. 2. The retaining structure is represented by Plate elements. Activate the Plates by using the RMB gesture or through the Selection explorer box.
Phase 1: Excavation Stage 1 (Mode: Stage Construction) In this stage: 1. Zone 1 is deactivated to simulate excavation to level -3mbgl 2. Ensure that the Plate elements are activated for the retaining wall Phase 2: Support System 1 (Mode: Stage Construction) In this stage:
1. Support system level 1 is activated. 2. Ensure that Zone 1is deactivated and the Plates are activated.
Phase 3: Excavation Stage 2 (Mode: Stage Construction) In this stage:
1. Zone 1 and Zone 2 is deactivated to simulate excavation to level -6mbgl 2. Ensure that Support System Level 1 and the Plates are still activated.
Phase 4: Support System 2(Mode: Stage Construction) 1. In this stage Support System Level 2 is activated. 2. Ensure that structural members from previous phases are activated. Phase 5: Excavation to Final Stage (Mode: Stage Construction)
1. The final construction stage is modelled by deactivating zone 4. 2. The final excavation level is -8.5mbgl
635
Proceed to o Calculat te. Prior to o calculatio on we nee ed to selec ct two poin nts. These two points s are used to plot the Displacem ment vs. tim me curves. 1. Clic ck Select Points for Curves in n the vertic cal toolbar. A window w (Select Nodes N and d Stre ess Points) will appear. Two po oints are selected using the x-y y-z points-of-interest t opti ion (see Fi ig 37). 2. Loc cate Point A using the coord dinates giv ven in Tab ble 6. Clic ck the nea arest node e loca ated on at this coordi inate and s select the correspond c ding node. . 3. Rep peat for Po oint B. 4. Clic ck Calcula ate located d in the Ve ertical Toolbar. 5. Mon nitor the ru un and wait for the co ompletion of o the calculations.
Table 6: Co oordinates s for A and d B
Point A B
x 0 -24.5 5
y 5 5
z 0 0
Figure 37: S Selection of point A and B for pllotting
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F. OU UTPUT OF O RES SULTS
Figure 38: P Plot: Displa acement usi ing iso-surfa aces
Figure 39: A Axial forces s for struts at a final exca avation leve el.
Figure 40: D Deformation n of retainin ng structure e
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Figure 41: Wall displac cements at point A and d B with tim me.
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Plaxis Standard Course on Finite Element Modelling in Geotechnical Engineering

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Plaxis Standard Course on Finite Element Modelling in Geotechnical Engineering

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PL LAXIS S STA ANDA ARD COUR C RSE

MU UMBAI, INDIA 18-21 S SEPTEMBER 2012

Lecturer Dr.Juneja/ DrWilliam

Dr.Juneja/ DrWilliam Mr.Siva

Finite element modelling in geotechnical engineering

Ronald Brinkgreve, Plaxis bv / Delft University of Technology

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

a0 v1x a1 v2 x v1x a2 v3 x v1x

u x ( x, y ) N1v1x N 2 v2 x N3v3 x u y ( x, y ) N1v1 y N 2 v2 y N 3v3 y

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

u x ( x, y ) N1v1x N 2 v2 x ... N 6 v6 x u y ( x, y ) N1v1 y N 2 v2 y ... N 6 v6 y

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

u x ( x, y ) N1v1x N 2 v2 x ... N 6 v6 x u y ( x, y ) N1v1 y N 2 v2 y ... N 6 v6 y

v1x v 1y v2 x v2 y e v ... ... v 6x v6 y

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

du x du y dN1 dN dN dN v1x 1 v1 y 2 v2 x ... 6 v6 y dy dx dy dx dy dx

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

B : Strain interpolation matrix

v1x v 1y v2 x v2 y e v ... ... v 6x v6 y

Basic concepts of FEM

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

f1x f 1y f2x f2 y e f ... ... f 6x f6 y

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl

Basic concepts of the Finite element method (deformations)

K1x1x K 1 y1x K 2 x1x K 2 y1 x e K ... ... K 6 x1x K 6 y1 x

K1x1 y K1 y1 y K 2 x1 y K 2 y1 y ... ... K 6 x1 y K 6 y1 y

K1 x 2 x K1 y 2 x K2x2x K2 y2x ... ... K6x2x K6 y2x

K1 x 2 y K1 y 2 y K2x2 y K2 y2 y ... ... K6x2 y K6 y2 y

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

K1x 6 x K1 y 6 x K 2 x6 x K2 y6x ... ... K 6 x6 x K6 y6x

K1x 6 y K1 y 6 y K 2 x6 y K2 y6 y ... ... K 6 x6 y K6 y6 y

CiTG, Geo-engineering, http://geo.citg.tudelft.nl