Saving a building structure in a

landslide.
ZSoil simulation and
EC-based design procedure
Aleksander Urbaski
Cracow University of Technology & ZACE Services

co-operation: Micha Grodecki - CUT

During construction work of a building

a large landslide was activated in the area.
ZSoil simulation has been used:
as a tool for explaining its causes
to evaluate measures of structural stabilization
Final goal:
to design stabilizing structure (r.c. pile and beam system),
with use different ZSoil results in the EC-7 and EC-2
based design procedures.

Situation
Structure
of the building
size: ~14 x 33 m
2 flors,
traditional
& high quality

foundations:
stiff r.c. box (0.3m plate & walls thick)
+
barrette (~10m deep) unfortunatelytoo short

14.0
33.0

Situation
Observed subsoil movements:
inclinometers
~20 mm / 2 month

I2

19.0 m

total, measured on the surface

in the period: 07.201112.2011:
vertical:
145 mm
horizontal:

203
mm
114
mm

fault line

Situation
Initial (incomplete) subsoil recognition

original surface

landslide
fill (deliberately introduced by contractors)
possible causes:
different layers of clay, silty clay
-fill (~5 m)
with liquidity index
-very wet year 2010-11
IL=0.40.7 (poorly documented)

-clear evidence of motion (landslide geometry)

-poor soil data
-additional field examination shows solid rock layer on aprox.
30.0m depth
ZSoil simulation of instability leading to basic strength
parameters: C, tan by back analysis
Inklinometr I2
Inklinometr I3

rock
layer

sliding surface by
inclinometer

 parameters (C,tan ) by back analysis (trial and errors)

in layers were landslide is expected, initial guess:
C 0 = 10kPa, 0 = 80 SF 0 = 1.09

critical values = EC characteristic values (for design)

Ck =

C0
tan 0
= 9.17 kPa tan k =
= 0.132
SF 0
SF 0

I2

I3

best fit of landslide simulated shape with its real geometry

Stabilization
anchors
pile
Design
variants 16
rejected due to:
too low SF,
still large
displacements,
large internal
forces M,N,Q
in beam el.

Final design of stabilizing system - FEM model

2 frame system, each 3x drilled pile D=1.2m + beam 1.6x1.3m

32m
connectors
2D/3D

rock

computational section

Frame 1

landslide limit

Frame 2
tie-beam

qy200kN/m
foundation box
H82000kN

landslide direction
H11000kN
additional frame

tie-beam

qy200kN/m

Details of FE model

two-phase,
Mohr-Coulomb

1. piles a=16m
2. foundation box
3. blocks
4. top beam of frame
5. contact el.
6. unilateral vertical
connectors box-beam
7. barrets (a=4.0m)
8. horizontal conectors
9. load from the building

Identification of connectors
view from above of FE model
U C = UPSO
a) Plane Strain
z
x
g=1

L
b) auxiliary 3D

UB

D
2

a
2
2 a/ 2
UC =
U3D (0,0, z)dz

a D D/ 2
U
U = U B U C =
L

3D problems for identification of piles & barrets in 2D-Plane Strain

e=1.00

-pile D=1.2m:

a/2=8.15

t=

1.00

a=

16.30

L=

0.10

g=

1.00

example:
h

p
9

-barrett
0.5x3.0m :

umax
180

0.08

Rmax
63

e
1

qmax=2*Rmax/(t*a)
7.73006135

A=e*g

E=qmax*g*e*L/(A*umax)
1

9.66

f=qmax*e*g/A
7.73006135

movement of surrounding continuum

on depth:
h=6;9;12;15;18;21m

0.25
3.0

Identification of e-p model (bi-linear) of the connector

R MAX q MAX

4 R MAX
=
a t
mae przemieszczenia,
staa topologia kontaktu

due przemieszczenia,
zmienna topologia kontaktu

U MAX
tensile / compressive strength

stiffness of the connectors

f t qMAX
e g
=
fc
A

q MAX e g L
A EC =
U MAX

Desing of the stabilizing structure

PROBLEM- when we have to deal with unstable soil mass
(still moving) how to determine forces acting on the structure embended in it?
Outline of ZSoil procedure
1. Initial state only soil (C0,tan0) & building (no structures)
2. Time dependent- introductuction of the structure (by proper EXF) in T1
parameters C and tan
gradually decreasing,
but to which value?

As this is the only source of internal forces

in the system, it will affect strongly design
of reinforcement

pseudo-time

Desing according to Eurocode7

Design values of forces acting on the structure ( STR) p.2.4.7.3 EC7

E d = E ( F F , X k / M , a d )
F- active loads (gravity), F=1.0, (approach A2)
Xk characteristic value of material parameter (characteristic= critical )

M- partial factor of material parameters

ad- geometrical parameter
A3.2 EC7 sugest ( M2):

CU = 1.40

NOTE:

= 1.25

Algorithm 1, kombination 2 (A2+M2) :

C = C k / cu = 9.17/1.40 = 6.55kPa
tan = tan k / = 0.132 / 1.25 = 0.102 ( = 5.84o )

SF = M

ZSoil control & result

assuming:
C (t ) = C 0 * LTF (t ) = C 0 * [1 (t t1) / DT ]
characteristic v. at pseudo time:
SF0 := 1.09

M := 1.4

RF0 :=
RFen :=

1
SF0
1

= 0.917

t0 := 1 RF0 = 0.083

LTF (t )

= 0.714

design value at pseudo time:

RF := RF0 RFen = 0.655

t1 :=

( 1 RF)

DT
DT := 1.0

= 0.345

t1

Ed
E K t 0

t1

UC continuum >UB pile

UMAX=~0.06m

UC continuum < UB pile

Displacement for t=0.345
(x 50)

= 1.40)

1000kNm
5000kN

1000 kN

Internal forces in frame F8

t = 0.345
RF = 1 t = 0.655

= 1.40)

design of reinforcement
(EC2)

stabilization

A,D

Conclusions
300

60mm

250

n-s, p.D
e-w, p.D
n-s, p.A
e-w, p.A

200

monitoring still needed

150
100

50
12-05-12

12-03-12

12-01-12

11-11-12

11-09-12

if displacements (n-s, p.D) > 60mm

11-07-12

=> possibility of anchoring (structure is prepared for this)

General
advanced options of ZSoil proved to be essential in this design

Thank you for your attention

aurbansk123@gmail.com