Structural Elements in PLAXIS

Structural elements in Plaxis
Dennis Waterman
Plaxis BV
PLAXIS FINITE ELEMENT CODE FOR SOIL AND ROCK ANALYSES
Structural elements in Plaxis

Plates and shells (walls, floors, beams, tunnels) Anchors Geogrids (geotextiles) Interfaces
CG1 Chile May 15-18, 2006: Structural elements and excavations
Plates and shells

3 or 5 noded line elements 3 degrees of freedom per node Elastic or elastoplastic behaviour To model walls, floors, tunnels
Input parameters for plates

Flexural rigidity Normal stiffness Element thickness
EI = E h3 b 12
(b=1 m) (b=1 m)
EA = E h b
d = h = 12 EI EA
h b b = 1 m in plane strain b = 1 meter in axisymmetry b
Plate weights
Compensate for overlap:
w = ( concrete soil ) d real
For soil weight use:

unsat above phreatic level sat below phreatic level
Plate weights for tunnels

d real rinside routside lining soil r
Overlap is only for half the lining thickness

w = ( concrete d real ) soil 1 d real 2 r = 1 (rinside + routside ) 2
Fixed-end anchors
To model supports, anchors and struts
Elasto-plastic spring element One end fixed to point in the geometry, other end is fully fixed for displacement Positioning at any angle Pre-stressing option
strut
Node-to-node anchors
To model anchors, columns and rods
Elasto-plastic spring element Connects two geometry points in the geometry Pre-stressing option
anchored wall
cofferdam
Anchor material properties

Normal stiffness, EA (for one anchor) Spacing, Ls (distance between anchors) Maximum anchor force for compression and tension, |Fmax,comp| and |Fmax,tens| [kN] [m] [kN]
Pre-stressing of anchors
Defined in Staged construction phase Both tension (grout anchor) or compression (strut) possible
Geogrids
3 or 5 noded line element Linear elastic behaviour No flexural rigidity (EI), only normal stiffness (EA) Only allows for tension, not for compression Soil/Geogrid interaction may be modelled using interfaces
geotextile wall
ground anchor
Ground anchors
Combination of node-to-node anchor and geogrid Node-to-node anchor represents anchor rod (no interaction with surrounding soil) Geogrid represents grout body (full interaction with grid No interface around grout body; interface would create unrealistic failure surface
Ground anchors
Input geometry
real distribution of axial forces in ground anchor
axial forces in geotextile element
Axial forces in ground anchors
Generated mesh
Interfaces
Soil-structure interaction
Wall friction Slip and gapping between soil and structure
Soil material properties

Taken from soil using reduction factor Rinter Cinter = Rinter * Csoil tan()inter = Rinter * tan()soil Individual material set for interface
Interfaces
Suggestions for Rinter:
Interaction sand/steel = Rinter 0.6 0.7 Interaction clay/steel = Rinter 0.5 Interaction sand/concrete = Rinter 1.0 0.8 Interaction clay/concrete = Rinter 1.0 0.7 Interaction soil/geogrid = Rinter 1.0 (interface may not be required) Interaction soil/geotextile = Rinter 0.9 0.5 (foil, textile)
Interfaces
Try to omit stress oscillations at corners of stiff structures
Inflexible corner points, causing bad stress results
Flexible corner points with improved stress results

Excavations in Plaxis
Dennis Waterman
Plaxis BV
Material behaviour
Unloading due to excavation Primary loading due to pre-stressing Hardening Soil model is preferred
Non-linear elastic unloading/reloading behaviour
Sometimes better to use Mohr-Coulomb with known parameters than HS with unverified parameters.
When using MC: Eur should be used rather than E50
Material behaviour: Stress paths

Construction phases:
I 1st excavation
II Pre-stressing anchor III Final excavation

Point A v Kactive K0 Point A
II I III
K=1
Point B
Point B
K passive
h
Dewatering
Wet excavation
Impermeable (concrete) excavation floor
Dry excavation
Undisturbed water table outside excavation Drawdown outside excavation
10
Dewatering: options
General phreatic level Cluster phreatic level
Applies to one specific cluster. Makes a specific cluster dry. Interpolate pore pressures between clusters above and below. Applies to all clusters that have not been separately defined.
Cluster dry Interpolate
User-defined pore pressure
Specify pressure pref at level yref and increase pinc per meter in ydirection.
Dewatering: wet excavation

Excavate without changing water conditions (in stages or at once) Apply stabilising weight at the bottom Set excavated area dry
Use cluster dry option or Use cluster phreatic line
Pore pressures outside excavated area remain unchanged

11
Dewatering: dry excavation

Undisturbed water table outside excavation For every excavation phase do
Excavate soil Set excavated area dry Define area just below excavation floor as interpolate between lines or clusters Suitable for short term excavations in low permeability soils

Undisturbed water table outside excavation
dry interpolate GPL
12

Drawdown outside excavation
For every excavation phase do
Excavate soil Define boundary conditions (heads) Perform groundwater flow analysis. Suitable for long-term excavations or excavations in high permeability soils
Simplified alternative:
Draw GPL according to expected groundwater level and generate pore pressures based on GPL.

Drawdown outside excavation
Groundwater flow calculation gives steady-state solution, so for time is infinite!

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Structural Elements in PLAXIS

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Structural elements in Plaxis

PLAXIS FINITE ELEMENT CODE FOR SOIL AND ROCK ANALYSES