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Plaxis finite element code for soil and rock analyses

Plaxis Bulletin issue 19 / March 2006

Simulation of soil nail in large scale


direct shear test
Finite element modelling of ice rubble

Staged construction of embankments on Soft Soil using Plaxis


Editorial

Colophon

Ronald Brinkgreve

Editorial 3 The Plaxis Bulletin is the combined magazine of Plaxis B.V. and the Plaxis Users
Association (NL). The Bulletin focuses on the use of the finite element method in geotech-
nical engineering practise and includes articles on the practical application of the Plaxis
The Plaxis company has now been in existence for 12.5 years. Last year our
programs, case studies and backgrounds on the models implemented in Plaxis.
New Developments 4 emphasis was on quality and involved procedures such as automatic GUI and ker-
The Bulletin offers a platform where users of Plaxis can share ideas and experiences with
each other. The editors welcome submission of papers for the Plaxis Bulletin that fall in nel testing, improved planning, version control, a system for bug reporting and
Plaxis Practice 6 any of these categories.
monitoring, release test procedure and improved documentation. The new quality
The manuscript should preferably be submitted in an electronic format, formatted as
Finite element plain text without formatting. It should include the title of the paper, the name(s) of the procedures have now been integrated into all Plaxis developments. We are also
modelling of ice rubble authors and contact information (preferably email) for the corresponding author(s). The
main body of the article should be divided into appropriate sections and, if necessary, refactoring improving the design of our existing code.
subsections. If any references are used, they should be listed at the end of the article.
The author should ensure that the article is written clearly for ease of reading. This issue of the Plaxis Bulletin features three articles by Plaxis users covering discrete
Plaxis Practice 12 modeling of ice rubble for offshore construction projects, large-scale shear testing of dike

Simulation of soil nail in In case figures are used in the text, it should be indicated where they should be placed
approximately in the text. The figures themselves have to be supplied separately from the
reinforcement and speed versus safety during road embankment construction. In addition
there is information about Plaxis related activities.
large scale direct shear text in a common graphics format (e.g. tif, gif, png, jpg, wmf, cdr or eps formats are all
acceptable). If bitmaps or scanned figures are used the author should ensure that they The first article describes how Plaxis 3D was used for the validation of punch testing re-
test have a resolution of at least 300 dpi at the size they will be printed. The use of colour in sults on ice rubble. The strength of ice rubble had been determined to provide information
figures is encouraged, as the Plaxis Bulletin is printed in full-colour. for offshore construction projects such as oil platforms. Plaxis was used to back-calculate
the test results and a finite element analysis approach was used to model discrete ice
Plaxis Practice 16 Any correspondence regarding the Plaxis Bulletin can be sent by email to particles. This was actually a mix of continuum and discrete approaches.
bulletin@plaxis.nl
Staged construction of The second article discusses the use of Plaxis to simulate large-scale shear testing of

embankments on Soft or by regular mail to: dike reinforcement.

Soil using Plaxis Plaxis Bulletin The third article looks at the stage-by-stage construction of road embankments. A com-
c/o Erwin Beernink promise always has to be struck between speed of construction and safety. Plaxis was
PO Box 572 used to analyze stability as a function of consolidation time and turned out to be an ideal
tool for this type of work.
Recent activities 18 2600 AN Delft
The Netherlands
This issue also contains contributions from Plaxis and information on Plaxis related is-
The Plaxis Bulletin has a total circulation of 10.000 copies and is distributed worldwide. sues. These include the relevance of small strain stiffness and the latest information
on the cooperation between Plaxis and GeoDelft. Here joint research and development
Editorial Board: projects will benefit from the combined expertise of the two companies (finite-element
modeling + geo-engineering).
Wout Broere
Ronald Brinkgreve
Erwin Beernink
Franois Mathijssen

 
New Developments New Developments

New Developments

Ronald Brinkgreve

The accuracy of results from Plaxis calculations depend in particular on the type of soil S-curves of several different types of soil that the particular shape of the S-curves Variations with the position of the bottom and side boundaries have indicated that the
model being used and the selection of the corresponding model parameters. does not change much and that g0.7 is generally around 10-4. G0 generally ranges from HSsmall model is indeed less sensitive for the precise position of the boundaries than
From the beginning of Plaxis, much effort has been put into development, improvement around 10 times Gur for soft soils, down to 2.5 times Gur for harder types of soil, where other Plaxis soil models.
and implementation of soil models. Over the years more advanced soil models became Gur = Eur / (2(1+nur)).
available, taking into account more and more aspects of soil behaviour. Most Plaxis users In another application a small soil column was modelled in a dynamic application, ap-
nowadays recognize the advantages of models like the Hardening Soil (HS) model with Figure 2 shows compuational results of an example excavation project in medium stiff plying a harmonic horizontal prescribed displacement at the bottom. Figure 3 shows the
its stress(path)-dependent stiffness behaviour. Despite the larger number of stiffness soil, where both the HS model and the HSsmall model with similar parameters were results in terms of shear stress vs. shear strain for a stress point near the bottom of
parameters that have to be entered, the parameter selection is easier than for simplified used to model the soil behaviour. The additional parameters in the HSsmall model were the model. The HS and the MC model do not show any hysteresis, whereas the HSsmall
models, because of the clear meaning of the individual stiffness parameters in the HS taken G0ref = 3 Gurref and g0.7 = 10-4. The results indicate that the HSsmall model gives model clearly shows hysteresis for subsequent loading cycles, resulting in more realistic
model. a stiffer over-all behaviour and a smaller (less wide) settlement trough behind the material damping.
One feature of soil behaviour that was still missing in the HS model is the high stiffness retaining wall. According to Peck [3], the width of the settlement trough behind the retaining
at small strain levels (< 10-5). Even in applications that are dominated by engineering wall in relatively stiff soils extends to a maximum of two times the excavation depth (here
strain levels (> 10-3) small-strain stiffness can play an important role. It is generally 12 m), which corresponds well with the results of the HSsmall model.
known that conventional models over-predict heave in excavation problems. These models
also overpredict the width and underpredict the gradient of the settlement trough behind
excavations and above tunnels. Small-strain stiffness can improve this. Moreover, small-
strain stiffness can reduce the influence of the particular choice (position) of the finite
element model boundaries. Last but not least, small-strain stiffness can be used to model
the effect of hysteresis and hysteretic damping in applications involving cyclic loading
and dynamic behaviour.
Recently, the Plaxis HS model was extended with small-strain stiffness. The small-
strain stiffness formulation was based on research by Thomas Benz at the Federal Wa-
terways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) in Karlsruhe, and supervised by the
Institut fr Geotechnik of the University of Stuttgart [1,2]. The extended HS model, named
HSsmall, has been implemented in a special Plaxis version for PDC members (PDC =
Plaxis Development Community). The extra information on which the small strain stiffness
formulation is based comes from S-shaped curves where the shear modulus, G, is plotted Figure 3: Shear stress as function of shear strain, indicating hysteresis
as a (logarithmic) function of the shear strain, g, ranging from very small strain levels Blue: Mohr-Coulomb model
(vibrations) up to large strain levels. The S-curve is characterised by the small-strain Red: Hardening Soil model
shear modulus, G0, and the shear strain at which the shear modulus has reduced to Gold: HSsmall model
0.7 times G0 (g0.7); see Figure 1. These two parameters are the only extra parameters
compared to the original HS model. In fact, it has been demonstrated by comparing In the coming period the HSsmall model will be further tested in various applications.
Therefore, different material data sets will be defined for different types of soil, and it
will be validated to what extend these data sets can be used in various applications.
Meanwhile, a small group of users can already get familiar with the new model.

References:
[1] Benz T. (2006). Small-strain stiffness of soils and its numerical consequences.
Ph.D. Thesis. Institut fr Geotechnik, Universitt Stuttgart.

[2] Benz T., Schwab R. and Vermeer P.A. (2006). A small strain overlay model I:
model formulation. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech., in progress.
Figure 2: Example excavation project.
Above using the existing HS model [3] Peck R.B. (1969). Deep excavations and tunneling in soft ground.
Figure 1: S-curve for reduction of shear modulus with shear strain Below using the new HSsmall model State of the art report. Proceedings 7th ICSMFE, Mexico.

 
Plaxis Practice Plaxis Practice

Finite element modelling of ice rubble

Pavel Liferov. Barlindhaug Consults AS, Norway; NIP-Informatica, Russia

Introduction Loads from sea ice ridges on offshore structures are usually estimated by calculating the of the internal friction angle were obtained. As the analytical approaches do not take
A characteristic feature of ice-covered waters is the presence of ice ridges. They are loads from the sail, the consolidated layer and the keel separately and adding them at the complexity of deformation mode into account, they may yield to unreliable results.
formed by compression or shear in the ice cover and are often found in the shear zone the end. The consolidated layer is often considered to be a thick level ice sheet so that the Numerical modelling of punch tests turned out to be a useful tool for assessment of the
between the land fast ice, i.e. frozen to the shore and the drift ice. A high ridging intensity thickness and the strength (flexural and compressive) become the vital parameters. The ice rubble strength. Finite-element simulations of the physical tests described above were
may also be found in straits and sounds with strong currents. Ice ridges are in general sail and the keel are normally called ice rubble and are often treated as a granular mate- conducted in Plaxis 8 for the plain strain test and in Plaxis 3D tunnel for the circular plate
long and curvilinear features. Ridges often exist in combination with rafted ice and this rial. A number of testing programmes was conducted both in the laboratory and in-situ test as described by Liferov et al. (2002, 2003). The finite-element model of the circular
combination is named a ridge field. Ice ridges do in many cases give the design loads for during the last three decades. Ice rubble was normally described either as Tresca or as plate punch test is shown in Figure 5.
such structures as offshore platforms and bridge piers. They may also cause significant Mohr-Coulomb material. The cohesion and the angle of internal friction of ice rubble were,
impediment to navigation. When drifting into the shallow waters, ice ridges may scour the and still are a subject for investigation and discussion. Variation in the above strength
seabed and create a serious threat to all seabed installations such as pipelines, cables, parameters was, in particular for the laboratory tests, exceedingly high and there are a
wellheads etc. The loads from ice ridges on various structures are not clear, and one of number of reasons for this. In contrast with other granular materials, the lifetime of ice
the major deficiencies is that the mechanical properties, in time and space, of first-year rubble within the ice ridge is limited to a few months. During this period the ice rubble Figure 3: Barge test set-up (from Jensen, 2002)
sea ice ridges are not well known. constantly evolves throughout the initial, main and the decay phases. Laboratory tests on One of the major problems with laboratory testing is scaling. Gravity forces dominate the
A typical view of the sea ice cover (in the area of high interest with respect to oil and gas ice rubble are normally conducted during the initial phase, which is believed to be the problem studied and thus the Froude scaling was used: the gravity field was not scaled
exploration) is shown in Figure 1. most sensitive with respect to the testing conditions. When modelling ice rubble, the ther- and the basic scaling unit was the length (l). The flexural strength of the ice was scaled,
modynamic similarity is of high significance in addition to geometric, kinetic and dynamic but not that of the ice rubble as there are no standardised methods for ridge production
A typical section of the first-year ice ridge is schematically shown in Figure 2. A first-year similitude between the prototype and the model. All this, even intending, is very difficult in ice facilities. It was therefore of high importance to conduct separate tests on ice
ice ridge consists of the sail, the consolidated layer and the keel. The sail is visible, or to achieve in reality. Different interpretation of test result with subsequent comparison rubble in order to estimate its strength so it could be related to the full-scale values.
above the water surface part of a ridge (ref. Figure 1), similar to that of an iceberg. neither helped to meet the agreement on how to describe the ice rubble strength. Two types of tests were conducted and analysed: plane strain and circular plate punch
The keel is a part of a ridge that is below the water surface. The consolidated layer is the This article briefly descries how PLAXIS was used to simulate some physical tests on tests. Figure 4 shows a cross-section along the centreline of the ridge with the corre-
uppermost refrozen part of the keel. The keel draught can reach 25 30 m. ice rubble with respect to derivation of its strength. The developed pseudo-discrete con- sponding test locations.
tinuum model of ice rubble is also presented as a tool to describe and analyse the char-
acteristic behaviour of ice rubble at failure.

Figure 5: Finite-element model of the simulated punch tests


Punch testing of ice rubble
During the design phase offshore structures are subjected to physical model testing.
Action from the ice and the ice ridges is studied in ice basins. In the course of conceptual The quasi-static approach was used in the simulations and the iterative calculations
design of the Arctic Shuttle Barge equipped with the Submerged Turret Loading system, were carried out until the prescribed displacement level was reached. The initial stress
the model tests were conducted at the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (TMR Programme state inside the ice rubble was neglected, i.e. the ice rubble was considered as a weight-
from the European Commission through contract NERBFMGECT950081) as described in less material. The level ice and the consolidated layer were modelled as an elastic mate-
details by Jensen, 2002. The use of the barge concept for export of oil includes the follow- rial and their elastic properties were estimated during physical model testing. Ice rubble
ing four major phases: initial approach to the loading facility, final approach and hook- was modelled as the elastic-perfectly plastic Mohr-Coulomb material. The ice sheet was
Figure 4: Punch tests set-up
up, loading and departure. During loading the major concerns are related to ice loads on modelled resting on the underlying elastic layer whose properties were calibrated such
the tanker from ice ridges and mooring/riser interference with ice when the ridges are As shown in Figure 4, the plain strain test was performed in such a way that it was pos- that it simulated the water for the particular needs (elastic padding). In the part of the
passing by. Figure 3 shows an illustration of the test with the barge and the STL going sible to observe the failure inside the rubble behind the transparent lexan glass wall. cross-section under the ice rubble the elastic layer underneath was deactivated as it
through the ice ridge. In the circular plate test, the large circular platen with diameter of 0.7 m was loaded by could impose incorrect boundary conditions at the bottom of the keel. In this area the
Figure 1: Sea ice cover
230 kg of steel weights. Penetration force (Fz) and displacements of the platen (Z1) and buoyancy force was modelled as an imposed traction load applied to the bottom of the
of the surrounding ice (Z2) were measured in both tests. consolidated layer and it was set proportional to the displacement of the ice sheet in
The derivation of the rubble strength from punch tests where boundary conditions are not Z-direction. As the ice became fully submerged, the buoyancy load was set to a constant
properly controlled is not straight forward. Two approaches have been used in the past value. The displacement of the platen was prescribed to a value that was recorded during
to interpret the test results: analytical and numerical. Among the analytical approaches the experimental testing. The material properties of the ice rubble were then adjusted
both the different forms of limit equilibrium method and the upper bound theorem of plas- in order to fit the recorded load - displacement curves Fz versus Z1 and Z2. In case of
ticity were used. The major problem was associated with the use of the two-parametric the plain strain test, the failure mechanism observed through the transparent wall was
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion since tests result in one equation and two unknowns in an extra input to the curve fitting. An example of the experimental and the simulated
this case. Simplifications were done and ice rubble was considered either as a friction- failure mechanisms inside the rubble is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 2: Cross-section of an ice ridge less or as a cohesionless material. In the latter case, however, unrealistically high values The goal of the finite element modelling was to evaluate the strength of the model ice

 
Plaxis Practice Plaxis Practice

Finite element modelling of ice rubble

Continuation

rubble by fitting the experimental curves by the simulated ones. Both the shape of the The simulations revealed that the failure mechanism of ice rubble consisted of the plate mode is associated with propagating failure and mobilization of the frictional resistance.
curves and their ultimate values were fitted. Nevertheless, no particular efforts were put bending and the punch through modes. Curve fitting showed that frictional resistance Incorporation of these experimentally observed failure modes into modelling of rubble
into refining of the fitting and the attention was rather focused on the parametric study. of the ice rubble against the pushing load was minor compared to the cohesive compo- structure interaction can provide an opportunity to conduct more physically sound
Examples of results from the circular plate test simulations is shown in Figure 7 where the nent. It became apparent that the frictional resistance could not be mobilized along the simulations and to verify the existing models.
experimental (recorded) and the simulated load displacement curves are shown. entire failure plane because of the extensive tensile zone in the lower part of the rubble. The pseudo-discrete continuum model of ice rubble deformation is a combination of
Two stiffness regions separated at about 1-2 mm displacement were obtained as a result The parametric study showed that the strength parameters of the material do not contrib- a discrete particles assembly (i.e. ice rubble accumulation) and a FE analysis of this
ute independently to the peak load. Basically, it was found that strength of the ice rubble assembly. The primary rational for developing such a model was to produce a tool that
in the punch test is largely dominated by cohesion and tensile strength. The local failure would enable a numerical study of the primary failure mode of ice rubble that in many
Primary failure planes mode is rather complex and depends on combination of the material properties. It was cases can dominate the global rubble resistance. This model, described by Liferov (2004),
Secondary failure planes also shown that increase of the friction angle may cause decrease of the attained peak provides the possibility to simulate contacts between ice blocks and to account for their
Punch plate
load when the bending of the ice formation is not prevented. It may also be pointed out local failure. The modelling procedure consists of two basic steps. First, the assembly
that the cohesion of the simulated ice rubble could be in order of 0.5 kPa while its tensile of blocks is generated. A block generator was developed to fulfil this task. In the second
strength is about 0.25 kPa. These values correspond to the assumed angle of internal step, the generated assembly is used as a geometrical input for the FE analysis to study
Figure 7: Load-displacement curves, circular plate test (Note: recorded force includes the
buoyancy load that is 40 kN at 40 mm displacement). friction of 35 and they provide the best fit of the experimental curves. This corresponds to its behaviour under different boundary conditions. A typical view of the direct shear box
the full-scale cohesion value of 12.5 kPa that is in a fairly good agreement with what was FE model is shown in Figure 11.
of the simulations shown in Figure 7. This coincides well with the experimental records. experimentally measured in the full-scale punch tests in-situ. A series of experiments was conducted to study the variation of the interface strength
The analysis of the material state at the transition point shows that in the first high stiff- reduction factor R, the confining pressure p, the angle of internal friction of the parent
ness region the ice rubble fails in tension in the lower part of the ridge as shown in Figure Pseudo-discrete modelling of ice rubble ice blocks j and the contact area between the blocks A. Three randomly generated block
8 (cross-section taken at the centreline of the plate, prescribed displacement not shown). Detailed analysis of the in-situ tests on ice rubble described by Liferov and Bonnemaire assemblies were used for each set of the parametric analysis. Figure 12 shows an
After that a shear slip surface begins to develop through the keel and a substantial part (2004) revealed that there exist essentially two failure modes of the ice rubble. The pri- example of simulation results: the influence of confining pressure p on the rubble shear
of the rubble experiences tensile distortion (Figure 9) and the stiffness drops approaching mary failure mode is associated with breakage of the initial rubble skeleton. The skeleton resistance t. For the range of the present analysis t increased non-linearly with increasing
zero at failure (Figure 10). consists of the ice blocks that are fused together by freeze bonds. The secondary failure p as shown in Figure 12.

a: Experimental
Lid

Prescribed displacement (a) Plastic (red) and Tension cut-off (white) points (b) Relative shear stresses (red = 1)
Figure 8. Stress state inside the ice rubble at 1.5 mm displacement of the plate.

(a) Plastic (red) and Tension cut-off (white) points (b) Relative shear stresses (red = 1)
Figure 9. Stress state inside the ice rubble at 6 mm displacement of the plate.
Interface element
to simulate
freeze bond

b: Simulation (total strains) (a) Plastic (red) and Tension cut-off (white) points (b) Relative shear stresses (red = 1)
Figure 6: Failure mechanism in plain strain test Figure 10. Stress state inside the ice rubble at the ultimate failure. Horizontal translation is constrained Vertical translation is constrained

Figure 11: FE model of the direct shear box test

 
Plaxis Practice

Finite element modelling of ice rubble Plaxis and GeoDelft

Continuation Klaas Jan Bakker

At the confining pressure p of 1 kPa the rubble failed in tension, i.e. the tensile stresses resulted in a quite approximate description of the ice rubble strength. The numerical Since GeoDelft and PLAXIS signed their Memorandum of Understanding on further support agreement has been achieved to upgrade his 2D formulation into a 3D version
at the contacts between the blocks exceeded their tensile strength. The failure mode tools such as FEM in general and the PLAXIS code in particular are believed to be useful cooperation, much progress has been made. using Plaxis. For those who are familiar with the formulation of the Finite Element Method,
changed with increase of p and became a combination of tension and shear modes. Shear in planning and analysing the non-standard tests as well as performing further applied the material points in MPM might roughly be compared to moving integration points in a
failure dominated at p = 10 kPa. analyses. Ice rubble resembles granular materials and therefore the soil material models Among other things, GeoDelft and Plaxis have undertaken the update of their FEM formulation. Therefore it was decided to use the Plaxis 3D source code as a basis for
can be used to simulate its behaviour. mutual product PlaxFlow. As a first step that will eventually lead to the development of the further development of a 3D MPM code. At this moment Dr Claus Wisser has started
A good correlation was found between the interface strength (i.e. freeze bond strength) in PlaxFlow 3D, an update of the present 2D product PlaxFlow was decided for. The direct working at Stuttgart University IGS with Prof Vermeer, to develop a static version of the
the pseudo-discrete model and the equivalent cohesion (i.e. shear strength) in the con- References occasion to undertake this job was the development of the multi-language user interface code. We are looking forward for his first results in roughly about one and a half years.
tinuum model. At present, a research project is ongoing to study the freeze bond strength Jensen, A., 2002. Evaluation of concepts for loading of hydrocarbons in ice-infested for Plaxis 2D, which will eventually enable a Chinese and Japanese version of the Plaxis
between the ice blocks in-situ. This knowledge would enable to provide better assessment waters. PhD Thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of User interface. This update is in a finishing stage when you read this Bulletin. Further Plaxis and GeoDelft intend to upgrade the compatibility between the Plaxis and
of the ice rubble shear strength, both in time and space, which can then be used in practi- Structural Engineering. GeoDelft Software by making interactions between a number of Delft Geosystem software
cal engineering applications. P. Liferov, A. Jensen, K.V. Hyland and S. Lset, 2002. On analysis of punch tests on ice Besides that, a new product development line has been undertaken in a mutual project products and Plaxis V8. The results of these developments are foreseen in the upcoming
rubble. 16th International Symposium on Ice (IAHR02), Dunedin, New Zealand, December between GeoDelft, Stuttgart University (Prof Pieter Vermeer) and Plaxis. The project is year. On the longer term it is decided to match the Plaxis and GeoDelft software range upto
2002, vol. 2, pp. 101-110. aimed at the development of a new analysis tool for large deformations, such as for a compatible series of software for geotechnial purposes, where Delft geosystem software
P. Liferov, A. Jensen and K.V. Hyland, 2003. 3D finite element analysis of laboratory punch cone-penetration and excavation problems, see Figure 1, and most likely for a number of is aimed at application oriented software products for Geotechnical design and Plaxis is
tests on ice rubble. Proceedings of the 17th Conference on Port and Ocean Engineering offshore problems such as spud can installation. aimed at general purpose analysis software for geo-engineering in 2D and 3D.
under Arctic conditions (POAC), Trondheim, Norway, June 16-19, vol. 2, pp. 611-623.
Liferov, P. and Bonnemaire, B., 2004. Ice rubble behaviour and strength, Part I: Review The method, known as Material Point Method or sometimes referred to as Particle In Cell Further Plaxis and GeoDelft have decided to increase their cooperation with respect to
of testing methods and interpretation of results. Journal of Cold Regions Science and method, has shown some major progress in the last decade. Originally some two decades international marketing by using their mutual international networks and e.g. combining
Technology, 41: 135-151. ago, the method appeared in fluid dynamics. Later on the method was adopted by some efforts in the case of presence at international conferences and business fairs.
Liferov, P., 2004. Ice rubble behaviour and strength, Part II: Modelling. Journal of Cold universities which modified the equations to solve geotechnical problems. Amongst these
Regions Science and Technology, 41: 153-163. first geotechnical developers are well-known researchers as Prof Schreyer, University
of Albuquerque in New Mexico, Prof. Wieckowski from Lodz University in Poland, and Dr
Coetzee from Stellenbosch University in South Africa. With the latter a cooperation and

Figure 12: Direct shear box test: t vs. p diagram

Discussion
Mechanical properties of ice rubble is a relatively new item in the engineering ice
research. Practical difficulties with conducting both the laboratory and the in-situ tests Dead Load

Virgin Material

Bucket Displacement = 800 mm


Figure 1: Example of 2D Material Point Method analysis for large deformation analysis, e.g. bucket excavation, by Coetzee

10 11
Plaxis Practice Plaxis Practice

Simulation of soil nail in large scale direct shear test

Arny Lengkeek, Witteveen+Bos


Marco Peters, Grontmij Netherlands

Introduction Dike reinforcement by soil nailing is mainly achieved by the anchorage. However, the Soil behaviour in direct shear test FE model in prediction analysis
In the Netherlands we have a history of living with water. Dikes, both at the sea and at riv- shear connection by the soil nails is important for the performance of the soil nail. The A proper way to investigate the maximum shear stress in soil is the direct shear test. This Due to nonsymmetrical loading, numerical analysis was not possible with axi-symmetric
ers, need to protect us against flooding. The height of the dikes in the Netherlands needs research is focued on the shear connection in clayey soils, as there is little experience on test shows the relation between the present normal stress and the maximum mobilised 2D calculations. The use of PLAXIS 3D Tunnel makes it possible to simulate these large
to be increased in the future. Adjustment is needed because of climate changes, raising this subject. shear stress. For a drained situation Coulomb derived the relation as: scale direct shear tests and 3D effects of the soil nailing properly.
sea level and ongoing settlements. If raising of the crest level is required, stability is best
increased by widening the dike. However, this is not possible in case of existing buildings To investigate the behaviour of soil nail in clayey soils, large scale direct shear tests were t = c + sn tanj In the prediction analysis, several models were developed to simulate undrained
at the land side and in the case narrowing of the river flow section is not allowed. Within executed to explore the strengthening effects with different types of soil nails in clayey behaviour of natural clay, see figure 4. In 3D Tunnel, the tunnel structure will normally be
this framework the project INnovations on Stability Improvement enabling Dike Elevations soils. The tests were executed in the laboratory by two circular steel structures with a In the case of undrained situations, one may asscume j = 0 and c = cu. Although the generated in a horizontal z-direction. To model an undrained situation without increas-
(INSIDE) started in 2001. diameter of 0.9 m and a total height of 1.2 m. The soil nail was placed centric in the cyl- maximum shear stress could directly be obtained, there are some disadvantages about ing effective stresses in y-direction perpendicular to the tunnel lining, the initial stress
inder with a rotation possibility at the bottom. The upper ring could displace by horizontal the direct shear test. The location of the deformation plane is prescribed, and the stress condition was created in the first calculation step by using a uniformly distributed z-load.
Consortium INSIDE Squad, a Dutch co-operation between Boskalis b.v., Van Hattum en loading, while the lower ring was fixed. situation in the soil sample is not uniformly recorded. In contrast of the simple shear test, The material model used in the prediction analysis is the Mohr-Coulomb model, with
Blankevoort b.v., Grontmij b.v. and Witteveen+Bos b.v. developed a new concept Dijkver- the displacements in a direct shear test are not homogeneous but lenticular shaped as c = cu , E = Eundr;50 and j set to zero. The different soil nails were modelled by a linear
nageling, which stands for reinforcing dikes by soil nailing. This way steeper slopes are Before performing the large scale direct shear tests, analytical and numerical finite ele- shown in figure 2. elastic tunnel structure with bending stiffness EI and extension stiffness EA.
possible. Figure 1 shows the typical failure mechanism of a dike and the reinforcing by ment analyses (FEM) were carried out to define the soil nail properties such as diameter
soil nailing. The soil nails add to the stability of the dike, but do not take over the full load. and bending stiffness in relation to the soil strength and the soil stiffness. After the Test result
The dike keeps functioning the way it did for hundreds of years. The soil nails increase the tests, postdiction analyses were made to understand the behaviour and improve the FEM Figure 3 presents the test results of the large scale direct shear tests on soft clay. The
A
internal strength of the dike in three ways: model. saturated density is 17 kN/m and the undrained shear strength is 9 kN/m. The total jack
- anchorage of the sliding section; force has been normalised by the total undrained shear strength of the cross section; this
- increasing of the contact stress at the shear plane; A total of fifteen large scale direct shear tests have been performed with different soil is called the strengthening ratio. A ratio of 1.0 is equal to the maximum strength of the
- shear connection of the sliding section. nails. Three of these tests have been performed without soil nails for reference, six tests soil, any increase is caused by the soil nails. The maximum strengthening of 1 soil nail
have been performed on very soft clay and two tests have been performed with three soil at 20 cm displacement is about 25% (ratio is 1.25). For 3 soil nails it is 75%. The force B
nails in one cylinder. by 3 soil nails is equal to 3 times that of 1 soil nail. It can be concluded that there is no
negative group effect for soil nails in a close grid (less than 0.5 m).
Typical soil nails that were used are:
- steel rods with a grout body of about 3 to 6 cm;
- carbon rods with a grout body of about 3 to 6 cm;
- HDPE strips with a width of 10 to 15 cm.
C

Figure 1: Typical section of reinforced dike by soil nailing


Figure 4: Developed models in prediction analysis

Research
Reinforcing embankments by soil nailing is a proven method to stabilise, especially in
case of constructing a steeper slope in granular soils. But how does it work in dikes
consisting of soft clay?

The main investigation goals were defined as:


- what is the behaviour of soil nails in soft clay in a direct shear mode;
- what are the 3D and group effects of the soil nails;
- is it possible to develop a design model. Figure 2: Large scale direct shear test Figure 3: Strengthening by soil nail in direct shear test with soft clay

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Plaxis Practice Plaxis Practice

Simulation of soil nail in large scale direct shear test

Continuation

Postdiction model Figure 5 presents the postdiction reference model without soil nail (half symmetric). The strengthening by a soil nail in a large scale direct shear test can also be determined Conclusions on modelling
To postdict the large scale direct shear tests more properly and to obtain more accurate The maximum calculated shear stress tyz was in fact equal to the input value used for the with the postdiction model. First step is to perform postdiction analyses with soil nail. With regard to the presented results, one can conclude that PLAXIS 3D Tunnel offers a
stress results, the 3D Tunnel model was modified by using gravity loading with an adapt- undrained shear stress (c = cu ). The shear stresses in the symmetric cross section also Second step is to switch off the soil nail and repeat the calculation. Figure 7 shows the good tool to model the large scale direct shear tests. However, some suggestions how to
ing gravitation direction parallel to the tunnel lining and with adapted boundary condi- showed a lenticular development. Figure 6 presents the postdiction model with soil nail. difference between load-displacement curves of clay with soil nail and without soil nail. obtain better results are presented below, as there is always room for improvement.
tions. Moreover, an improved modelling of soil behaviour was considered by using the There is an obvious interaction between the soil nail and the horizontal stresses. The strengthening ratio can be determined by the ratio of both analyses results.
Hardening Soil model and by distinguishing between effective stresses and (excess) pore Mesh refinement with smaller element sizes might lead to even better results, but using
pressures using the undrained setting. Soil properties prediction postdiction Comparison of results smaller elements could increase calculation time dramatically. Using a half space sym-
Model prediction A, B, C Mohr Coulomb Hardening Soil The strengthening effect has been determined by the interpretation of the measurements metric model was one of the methods to reduce calculation time.
Analysis drained undrained and the postdiction analyses with the 3D Tunnel model. The results of the strengthening
Material type (clay) undrained undrained ratio are presented in figure 8. The symmetry line represents the ideal relation between Further investigation on the influence of shaft friction between nail and soil and between
Unit weight 18.4 kN/m3 18.4 kN/m3 measurement and model. Most results do have a margin of less than 10% from this line. soil and inner side of cylinder is recommended. The actual undrained shear strength is
Elastic modulus E50 (ref.) 700 kPa 700 kPa The results are very satisfying in particular because a variety of soil nails have been not constant in the different stress paths in the used model. Overconsolidation has been
Elastic modulus Eoed (ref) - 1973 kPa tested in normal and very soft clay. The 3D Tunnel model is capable to perform good taken into account, but the degree of overconsolidation in the used clay after installation
Elastic modulus Eur (ref) - 2100 kPa postdiction analyses and can be used for future designs. in the test rings is not recorded.
Power m - 0.8
Poissons ratio 0.49 0.20 One of the advantages of the 3D Tunnel postdiction model is the fact that identical soil
friction angle 1 1 conditions are compared with and without the application of a soil nail. In this way, some
cohesion 27.5 kPa 27.5 kPa of the inadequacies in modelling leading to different results can be faded out.
shear stress A: x-y plane z-x plane
B + C: z-x plane
initial stress z-load gravity loading (drained)

Table 1: Material models and material properties

Figure 5: Postdiction reference model without nail, shear stresses

Figure 8: Comparison of strengthening ratio by interpretation of measurements and by


the postdiction model

Figure 7: Postdiction model results, load-displacement curves with and without soil nail

Figure 6: Postdiction model with soil nail, total stresses

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Plaxis Practice Plaxis Practice

Staged construction of embankments on


Soft Soil using Plaxis

Gautam Bhattacharya, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, INDIA
Sudip Nath, Graduate Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, INDIA

Introduction included in the model and a fixed base is used instead (Figure 2). The properties of the even after allowing a large time interval of more than 1000 days, the increased strength would perform satisfactorily during its design life. Now, as discussed before, for the plan-
A problem, which is rather common in the fields of geotechnical and highway engineering, different soil types are given in Table 1. In the initial conditions, the hydrostatic pore water is still not sufficient to raise the embankment by another 2.0 m to its final height of 4.0 ning of staged construction, the geotechnical designer has to adopt a target factor of
arises when road embankments of moderate to large heights are to be constructed on very pressures are based on a general phreatic level at the base of the clay layer. m. It has therefore been decided to build the remaining height of 2.0 m in two stages, 1m safety. The engineering judgment to be applied in this case is obviously based on the
soft soils with low shear strength and high compressibility in the shortest possible time. in each stage, thus making it a 3-stage construction. In the second stage, the required displacement estimated to take place at the end of construction as well as long term. For
But, owing to the low shear strength of the subgrade (foundation) soil, the full height of Safety Analysis for Staged construction minimum time interval comes out to be 75, 100 and 125 days corresponding to the target the geotechnical engineer, therefore, it would be very useful, if a correlation is available
the embankment cannot be built at a time and the so-called staged construction has to Since it is required to construct the embankment in the shortest possible time, the time factor of safety at the end of construction of 1.10, 1.15, 1.20 and 1.25 respectively. In this between the target factor of safety and the estimated vertical displacement at the end of
be resorted to. To implement such a phased construction it is required to carry out an of construction in each stage should be such that it is just sufficient for the stability of case the minimum time of construction is 2, 10, 25 and 35 days respectively. Similarly, for construction as well as at long term. Figure 4 presents such a correlation in the form of a
analysis to determine beforehand the sequence of construction to be followed in a given the embankment up to that height for a target factor of safety. The time of construction, the third stage, the minimum time interval and time of construction have been obtained. plot of factor of safety against displacement.
situation such that the embankment can be constructed as quickly as possible while therefore, depends on the target factor of safety. The larger the factor of safety, longer Finally, the minimum time interval between the completion of construction and the time of
ensuring a reasonable margin of safety. will be the time of construction in each stage. After the construction of a certain stage, dissipation of excess pore water pressure to less than a value of 1 kN/m2 has been found Utilizing the Plaxis updated mesh option, the above mentioned displacements have been
some time interval needs to be allowed for the improvement in undrained strength due to out. The entire sequence of construction thus obtained has been presented in Figure 3 for re-evaluated and plotted against the target factor of safety in Figure 5. It may be men-
Analysis of embankment stability using Plaxis consolidation, which is required for the stability of the increased height in the next stage. various target factor of safety. The long term factor of safety of the completed embank- tioned here that such an analysis does not provide values of safety factor and, therefore,
Plaxis (Version 8.0) has the provision for 2D (plane strain) stress-displacement as well Further, after the construction of the total height is over, some amount of time needs ment is obtained as 1.390. a revised construction sequence similar to Figure 3 cannot be obtained. However, it is
as safety factor analysis of road embankments founded on layered deposit having any to be allowed for a certain percentage of consolidation to take place for which Plaxis observed that the time of consolidation following the end of construction comes out to
complex soil and pore water pressure conditions. Analysis can be done based on a number has a provision to calculate time of consolidation till the excess pore pressure becomes be appreciably less than in the original analysis. This may allow the engineer-in-charge
of options available, e.g., type of element, coarse mesh or fine mesh, soil models such as less than a certain pre-assigned value (e.g., 1.0 kN/m2). Thus, the total time required a little margin in this time interval before declaring the embankment ready for the con-
Mohr-Coulomb model (MC), Soft Soil Creep model (SSC), Hardening Soil model (HS) etc. includes the actual time of construction in each stage and the time interval between two struction of pavement structure.
Further, the updated mesh and consolidation options can be invoked for a more rigorous consecutive stages as well as after the final stage of construction. If the construction
determination of embankment displacements and excess pore pressure dissipation. sequence thus obtained is available to a practicing geotechnical engineer, for various Summary and Conclusion
target factor of safety, it will enable him to make a trade-off between the time available In the present article an attempt has been made to demonstrate how the Plaxis (version
for the completion of the project and the amount of risk involved in selecting a particular 8) can be effectively utilized in providing the practicing geotechnical engineers with all
target factor of safety. the relevant results of safety and displacement analyses that will enable him to exercise
engineering judgment in deciding on a judicious sequence of staged construction of a
road embankment. It is understandable that the sequence of construction depends on the
target factor of safety at the intermediate stages; the higher the target factor of safety the
Figure 1: Road embankment on soft soil for the illustrative example
Figure 4: Variation of Top Vertical Diplacement with FOS longer it will take for the total construction to be completed. However, the displacement,
especially the vertical displacement at the end of construction as well as at the long term
should be of concern to the designer of such a project. The displacement is obviously
inversely proportional to the total time allowed and hence the target factor of safety. Thus
it is a trade-off between the time available at hand and the maximum permissible vertical
displacement i.e. settlement of the embankment. Keeping this in mind, the results of the
entire analysis have been summed up in the form of two plots one giving the height of
Figure 2: Plaxis model construction vs. time for various factor of safety and the other, vertical displacement vs.
target factor of safety.
Figure 3: Construction sequence
Illustrative Example
Description
To illustrate the staged construction of a road embankment in the shortest possible time
compatible with the safety requirements at the intermediate stages of construction as Results
well as during its service life (long term), the embankment section exemplified in the Sequence of construction Figure 5: Variation of Top Vertical Diplacement with FOS (using Updated Mesh)
Tutorial Manual (Lesson 5) has been selected for the present study (Figure 1). In the first stage, by trial runs, it has been observed that a height of 2.0 m can be built by
The geometry model, material sets, mesh generation and initial conditions adopted in the allowing a minimum time of construction as 4, 20, 50 and 70 days corresponding to target
Tutorial Manual (Lesson 5) have been retained. Specifically, a plane strain model with factor of safety at the end of construction of 1.10, 1.15, 1.20 and 1.25 respectively. Before Correlation Between Factor of Safety and Displacement
15-node elements is utilized. The problem being symmetric, only one half is modeled. the second stage of construction begins, it is required to allow a sufficient time interval Although safety analysis indicates the stability status of the embankment, a displace-
The deformations of the deep sand layer are assumed to be zero; hence this layer is not for substantial strength increase due to consolidation. However, it has been observed that ment analysis is of interest to ensure its serviceability requirement; in other words, the
displacements occurring particularly at long term indicate whether the embankment Table 1: Material Properties of the road embankment and subsoil

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Plaxis Practice

Recent activities

Erwin Beernink

Plaxis Staff 12th European Plaxis User Meeting Plaxis Asia New products/updates
We are pleased to announce that we appointed a new Course Coordinator. From February Around 80 participants attended the European Plaxis Users Meeting 2005, hosted by the In Asia we will enforce our activities with the assistance of William Cheang. William In 2005 we worked hard on improvements of our products and services. Latest extensions
1, 2006, Dennis Waterman will take over the position of Wout Broere. Wout was working BundesAnstalt fr Wasserbau in Karlsruhe, Germany. Many interesting presentations will act on behalf of Plaxis bv under the flag of Plaxis Asia. He will be involved in pre can be downloaded from our website. Plaxis Version 8 update pack 7 has been extended
3 days at Plaxis bv and 2 days at Delft University . Wout got the opportunity to get a 4 days weregiven by engineering consultants and researcher, on geotechnical engineering ap- and after sales activities in Asian countries were we do not have an agent. Furthermore with;
job at the University and he will continue his part of writing manuals of upcoming new plications, research-like projects, soil modelling aspects, parameter selectionand other William will assist our agents to promote Plaxis products and services via conferences, - Steady state groundwater flow for axisymmetric problems has been reintroduced
Plaxis versions. Dennis has already a long Plaxis history with support and programming Plaxis-related subjects. In addition to the presentations, group discussions on special courses and seminars. You can already get acquinted with him at the Asian Experienced - The Modified Cam Clay model (has been added to the available soil models)
activities. Besides course coordination Dennis will also stay responsible for the first line themes resulted in the generation and distribution of knowledge and new ideas. Plaxis Users Course and Users Forum in Phuket, April 17-20. William did his undergradu- - A set of revised manuals
support. During support peak periods he will be assisted by other Plaxis staff. Besides An extra day was devoted to user-defined soil models, where researchers presented ate and Masters of Science degree at the University of East London, United Kingdom. - Alternative examples (lesson 4 and 6) using the Hardening Soil model
these internal changes Plaxis staff is extended with Eric Verschuur. Eric studied technical implementational aspects and applications of special soil models. This day was not only Furthermore he did a doctoral study at the National University of Singapore under the
informatics and graduated at the Haagse Hogeschool and has a background in user inter- visited by researchers, but also by consulting engineers with interest for advanced soil title Axial Soil Nail-Soil Interaction: Quasi-static Pullout Behaviour of Passive Bonded Furthermore some bugs have been solved including problems on East Asian Windows
face development. He is currently working on upgrading the 3D Geothermic program. modelling Inclusions in residual Soils. systems. From update pack 7 also the Chinese and Japanese version of Plaxis V8 are
available.
Due to continued growth, Plaxis bv has Based on the number of participants and the positive comments during and after the For Plaxis activities in China a cooperation agreement has been signed between Prof. E.X.
additional positions available for; meeting it can be concluded that themeeting was again very succesful. We are look- Song of Tsinghua University, Beijing and Plaxis bv. Professor Song has contributed in the In Version 1.5 of 3DFoundation many new features are included like;
- Software Quality Engineer ing forward to the next European Plaxis users meeting in Karlsruhe in November2006. past to the development of the Plaxis finite element program and the education to the - Consolidation analyses
- Senior Software Development Engineer See the agenda on our website or the backcover of this bulletin for upcoming User Plaxis users. See also the updated Plaxis History at our website. Last months Prof. Song - Creep: secondary compression with the Soft Soil Creep model
- Programmer Graphical User Interface Meetings and other activities. performed a quality check on the Chinese Plaxis version of the user interface and manual. - New vertical elements: vertical beams, vertical line loads and vertical fixities
- Numerical Geophysicist/Geohydrologist We will also cooperate in the organization of Post Academic Computational Geotechnical - K0-procedure
Courses in China. - Display of (volume) pile forces
See our website for detailed information. - Usage of stress points and nodes of structural elements for curves

Plaxis User Meeting 2005

A visited laboratory of the Bundes Anstalt fr Wasserbau in Karlsruhe, Germany

18 19
Plaxis finite element code for soil and rock analyses

Activities 2006
13 - 15 March 2006 2 - 4 June 2006
Finite Elemente in der Geotechnik, GeoShanghai International Conference
Theorie und Praxis - Stuttgart, Germany Shanghai, China

20 - 23 March 2006 20 - 22 June 2006


International Course for Experienced Course Computational Geotechnics
Plaxis Users - Antwerp, Belgium Manchester, United Kingdom

17 - 19 April 2006 28 - 30 June 2006


2nd Asian Course for Experienced ICDE 2006 Deep Excavations -
Plaxis Users - Phuket, Thailand Singapore

20 April 2006 July 2006


1st Asian Users Day - Phuket, Thailand Short Course on Computational
Geotechnics - Boulder, USA
18 - 22 April 2006
100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference 16 - 18 August 2006
San Fransisco, U.S.A. Standard Course on Computational
Geotechnics - Johannesburg, South Africa
22 - 27 April 2006
ITA 2006 - Seoul, South Korea 27 - 31 August 2006
COBRAMSEG 2006 - Curibita, Brazil
9 - 11 May 2006
Plaxis Workshop 6 - 8 September 2006
Cairo, Egypt 6th European Conference on Numerical
Methods in Geotechnical Engineering
15 - 18 May 2006 Graz, Austria
Curso Internacional de Geomecanica
Computational - Valparaiso, Chile 29 - 30 September 2006
Baugrund Tagung - Bremen, Germany
16 May 2006
French Plaxis Users Meeting 9 - 11 November 2006
Paris, France European Plaxis User Meeting
Karlsruhe, Germany
29 - 31 May 2006
XIII. Danube-European Conference on 13 - 15 November 2006
Geotechnical Engineering Short Course on Computational
Ljubljana, Slovenia Geotechnics - Trondheim, Norway

1 - 3 June 2006 November 2006 Plaxis BV


International Course on Computational Pratique claire des lments finis PO Box 572
Geotechnics - Ljubljana, Slovenia en Gotechnique - Paris, France 2600 AN Delft
The Netherlands
31 May-2 June 2006 December 2006 Tel: +31 (0)15 251 77 20
10th Piling and Deep Foundations Dutch Plaxis Users Meeting Fax: +31 (0)15 257 31 07
Amsterdam, the Netherlands Delft, The Netherlands E-Mail: info@plaxis.nl
Website: www.plaxis.nl
5004866

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34752 erenky-Kadky / stanbul TURKIYE
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