Predicting the long-term performance of a wide embankment on soft soil using an elastic–viscoplastic model

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Karim ◽  
C. T. Gnanendran ◽  
S.-C. R. Lo ◽  
J. Mak

This paper presents modelling of the consolidation of foundation soil under a wide embankment constructed over soft soil. An elastic–viscoplastic (EVP) constitutive model is used to represent the foundation soil for the coupled finite element analysis (FEA). A unit-cell analysis is carried out to capture the maximum settlement and the development of excess pore-water pressure with time below the centreline of the embankment for a long period (9 years). A new function for capturing the varying nature of the creep or secondary compression coefficient is proposed and used in association with the EVP model. The input material parameters for this study were determined from extensive laboratory experiments except for the equivalent horizontal permeability, which was systematically estimated by using vertical permeability data obtained from one-dimensional consolidation tests and by back-analysing the first 12 months of field settlement data. Comparisons are made among the predictions obtained adopting an elastoplastic modified Cam clay model and the EVP model with constant and varying creep coefficients for the foundation soil and the corresponding field data. The predictions with the EVP model are found to be better than those with the elastoplastic model and the use of a varying creep coefficient for the EVP model seems to further improve its predicting ability.

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1073-1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Lo ◽  
J. Mak ◽  
C. T. Gnanendran ◽  
R. Zhang ◽  
G. Manivannan

This paper presents the long-term performance of a wide geogrid-reinforced road embankment constructed on soft clay improved with prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) at a freeway extension site 150 km north of Sydney in Australia. The foundation soil and the embankment were instrumented and monitored for about 400 days for excess pore-water pressure, earth pressure, and reinforcement tension, and for 9 years for displacement profiles. The embankment was constructed in stages and surcharged in an attempt to reduce post-construction settlement. As the embankment width was wide relative to the thickness of the soft clay, the settlement near the centre was modelled by a unit cell analysis. The equivalent horizontal permeability was determined by back analysis of the central zone using the first 12 months of settlement data. All other soil parameters were determined from the laboratory and field testing. The predicted pore-water pressure response over the first 400 days showed reasonable agreement with measured values. The same analysis was then continued to predict settlement over a period of 9 years. The predicted settlement was, however, smaller than the measured value at the centre region of the embankment.


1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Yu Ou ◽  
Ching-Her Lai

This paper presents an application of finite-element analysis to deep excavation in layered sandy and clayey soil deposits using a combination of the hyperbolic and the Modified Cam-clay models. In the analysis, the drained behavior of cohesionless soil and the undrained behavior of cohesive soil were simulated using the hyperbolic and Modified Cam-clay models, respectively. A rational procedure for determining soil parameters for each of the models was established. A simulation of the dewatering process during excavation was proposed. The analytical procedure was confirmed through an analysis of three actual excavation cases. Finally, analyses considering pore-water pressure dissipation during the actual elapsed time for each construction phase were carried out. The results indicate that the calculated displacement of a retaining wall during excavation is smaller than that given by undrained analysis. It was thought that some degree of pore-water pressure dissipation actually occurs during the intermediate excavation stages. This results in a decrease in the final deformation of the wall and ground.-surface settlement than would be predicted by undrained analysis. Key words : finite-element analysis, deep excavation, hyperbolic model, Cam-clay model.


Author(s):  
M Zaki ◽  
Wardani SPR ◽  
Muhrozi Muhrozi

<p><em>Construction on soft soil, often creates problems. The Semarang North Ring Bridge and Kali Jajar Bridge are the Recent soft Marine Alluvium zones located in the Pantura area which have very soft soil characteristics with a depth of more than -30.0 meters this has resulted in a very large settlement due to very small grains, flood, rob, pore water pressure increases so that the shear strength of the soil will be small, the compression is large and the permeability coefficient is small so that if the construction load exceeds the critical bearing capacity, the damage to the foundation soil will occur. To get the increase in soil bearing capacity, it can be achieved by changing the properties of the soil from the shear angle (</em>f<em>), cohesion (c) and unit weight (</em>g<em>). The settlement can be reduced by increasing the cavity density from the compression of the soil particles (Wesley, 1977). Soil improvement takes a long time, aiming to increase shear resistance so that it requires a fast time in this case is to use Pre-Fabricated Vertical Drain (Bowles 1981). The results of the analysis of the pattern of decline and the effectiveness of the use of PVD (pre-fabricated vertical drain) at the Oprit Bridge in the two research locations have the same decrease in the range of the same heap height at (H = 4 meters) there is a decrease of 117.53 cm at 64 months on the bridge. Kali Jajar (STA. 3 + 200) and there was a decrease of 268.94 cm at 37 months at the Semarang North Ring Bridge</em></p>


2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
C T Gnanendran ◽  
G Manivannan ◽  
S -CR Lo

The predictability of the behaviour of an embankment constructed on a soft soil with three types of fully coupled finite element analysis models; namely a rate-formulated elasto-viscoplastic, a creep-formulated elasto-viscoplastic, and modified Cam clay (MCC) elastoplastic material model for the foundation soil is examined in this paper. The well documented geotextile reinforced Sackville test embankment was chosen for analyses using the three finite element models. Details of the analyses carried out using the three models and the results are discussed in comparison with field performance. All three models were found to be capable of predicting the behaviour of this embankment reasonably well. The creep model gave slightly better overall predictions of the behaviour compared to the rate and MCC models and therefore is considered to be better for predicting the time-dependent behaviour of this embankment. However, it requires the coefficient of secondary compression of the foundation soft soil as an additional input parameter and consumes more computing resources and time. In contrast, this study suggests that the MCC model is also capable of giving reasonably good overall predictions using less computing resources and time and therefore is sufficient for predicting the performance of embankments on soft soils.Key words: embankment, soft soil, geosynthetic reinforcement, analysis, viscoplasticity, creep.


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Tan

Parts of a U.S. Route 44 relocation project span across cranberry bog areas with deep peat deposits. The peat in the proposed roadway side was completely excavated and backfilled with granular soils, and using sheet pile walls as retaining structures. As peat exhibits low strength, high compressibility, and significant creep behavior, the long-term performance of the sheet pile walls was a great concern. To monitor the development of sheet pile deflections and total lateral earth pressures in peat, selected sheet piles located in peat deposits were instrumented with pressure cells and inclinometer casings. Furthermore, to understand the soil–structure interaction mechanism during roadway construction, the finite element (FE) code PLAXIS was employed to continuously model roadway construction in peat deposits. Peat was simulated by a soft soil creep (SSC) model, which can account for creep effects. One of the challenges in this simulation was how to model deep dynamic compaction (DDC), since the enormous momentum induced by DDC would cause local failure of the soil body and consequently result in termination of the program. This problem was satisfactorily solved by using a dynamic approach presented in this paper, and the FE-calculated results were compared with the field measurements. The comparison indicated that FE modeling yields predictions in a good agreement with field measurements and also could provide some reasonable explanations for the field observations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 256-259 ◽  
pp. 1903-1907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Yin ◽  
Bin Zhang ◽  
Yan Tao

Analysis and study high vacuum densification method in the application of soft soil foundation. According to the engineering characteristic and strength characteristics of Dalian coastal area soft soil, using the finite element analysis software ADINA to simulate the high vacuum densification method effect, obtain the changes of foundation displacement, pore water pressure and effective stress. Finally putting forward a reasonable and applicable design according to the processing method of the quality, time limit for a project, cost, environmental protection and so on.


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis Kelln ◽  
Jitendra Sharma ◽  
David Hughes ◽  
James Graham

A new elastic–viscoplastic (EVP) soil model has been used to simulate the measured deformation response of a soft estuarine soil loaded by a stage-constructed embankment. The simulation incorporates prefabricated vertical drains installed in the foundation soils and reinforcement installed at the base of the embankment. The numerical simulations closely matched the temporal changes in surface settlement beneath the centerline and shoulder of the embankment. More importantly, the elastic–viscoplastic model simulated the pattern and magnitudes of the lateral deformations beneath the toe of the embankment — a notoriously difficult aspect of modelling the deformation response of soft soils. Simulation of the excess pore-water pressure proved more difficult because of the heterogeneous nature of the estuarine deposit. Excess pore-water pressures were, however, mapped reasonably well at three of the six monitoring locations. The simulations were achieved using a small set of material constants that can easily be obtained from standard laboratory tests. This study validates the use of the EVP model for problems involving soft soil deposits beneath loading from a geotechnical structure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Nima Alkhorshid ◽  
Gregório Araújo ◽  
Ennio Palmeira

The use of granular column is one of the ground improvement methods used for soft soils. This method improves the foundation soils mechanical properties by displacing the soft soil with the compacted granular columns. The columns have high permeability that can accelerate the excess pore water pressure produced in soft soils and increase the undrained shear strength. When it comes to very soft soils, the use of granular columns is not of interest since these soils present no significant confinement to the columns. Here comes the encased columns that receive the confinement from the encasement materials. In this study, the influence of the column installation method on the surrounding soil and the encasement effect on the granular column performance were investigated using numerical analyses and experimental tests. The results show that numerical simulations can reasonably predict the behavior of both the encased column and the surrounding soil.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-155
Author(s):  
Iskandar ◽  
Rabiya

Soil consolidation testing using an oedometer and rowe cell. Oedometers are often used on clay and soft soils. However, in the development of the rowe cell device, the results of lowering soft soil were better than the oedometer. The advantage of this rowe cell is that it can determine the saturation value of the soil samples tested. The rowe cell tester can measure the pore water pressure at the beginning and end of each consolidation stage. This rowe cell can provide suitable settlement for soft soils. This consolidation test to obtain soil parameters such as Cv and Cc by using the rowe cell tool. After that, from the test results, the two tools were compared.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1030-1032 ◽  
pp. 1037-1040
Author(s):  
Jin Fang Hou ◽  
Ju Chen ◽  
Jian Yu

The artificial island ground on an open sea is covered by thick soft soil. It must be improved before using. In accordance with a designing scheme, the ground treatment method is inserting drain boards on land and jointed dewatering surcharge preloading, the residual settlement is not more than 30cm after improvement and the average consolidation degree is more than 85%. In order to estimate ground improvement effect and construction safety, instruments are buried to monitor the whole ground improving processes. By monitoring settlement and pore water pressure, it is shown that the total ground settlement in construction is 2234mm, its final settlement is 2464mm, and consolidation degree and residual settlement respectively satisfy requirements. In ground improvement, horizontal displacement is small and construction is safe. Meanwhile, the results of soil properties and vane shear strength detection tests show the soft soil ground is greatly reduced in water content and porosity ratio, and improved in strength. It is named that the ground improvement method is reasonable and reaches expected effect.


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