M. R. Karim

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

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 (9xa0years). 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 12xa0months of field settlement data. Comparisons are made among the predictions obtained adopting an elasto...

Effect of geosynthetic reinforcement creep on the long term performance of an embankment

Geo-synthetic reinforcements are often used to enhance the stability of geotechnical structures such as embankments. These geosynthetic polymers often show significant creep deformational behaviour. In the short-term performance of a geotechnical structure, it may not play a significant role. However, while dealing with the long term behaviour, it is necessary to investigate its effect. In this paper two plane strain fully coupled finite element analysis have been conducted; one with and the other without taking into account of the creep behaviour of geosynthetics. A well documented field case of Leneghans embankment (Geogrid improved wide embankment constructed near Sydney, Australia in 1990s) have been used for this purpose. It is evident from the analyses that though the geosynthetic reinforcements may play a vital role in the performance/stability of an embankment in the early days (during and after construction), its contribution may become insignificant with time and the creep of geo-synthetic may not play a significant role in the long term stability.

Calculated and observed long term performance of Leneghans embankment

This paper presents the finite element (FE) analysis of the consolidation of the foundation of an embankment constructed over soft clay deposit which shows significant time dependent behaviour and was improved with prefabricated vertical drains. To assess the capability of a simple elastic viscoplastic (EVP) model to predict the long term performance of a geotechnical structure constructed on soft soils, a well documented (Leneghans) embankment was analyzed to predict its long term behaviour characteristics. Two fully coupled two dimensional (2D) plane strain FE analyses have been carried out. In one of these, the foundation of the embankment was modelled with a relatively simpler time dependent EVP model and in the other one, for comparison purposes, the foundation soil was modelled with elasto-plastic Modified Cam-clay (MCC) model. Details of the analyses and the results are discussed in comparison with the field performance. Predictions from the creep (EVP) model were found to be better than those from Elasto-plastic (MCC) analysis. However, the creep analysis requires an additional parameter and additional computational time and resources.

Consolidation and Creep Settlement of Embankment on Soft Clay: Prediction Versus Observation

This chapter evaluates the capability of a simple elastic viscoplastic model to predict the long-term multiple behavior characteristics of an embankment constructed on soft soils that show significant creep behavior.

Review of constitutive models for describing the time dependent behaviour of soft clays

Different classes of constitutive models have been proposed to capture the time-dependent behaviour of soft soil (creep, stress relaxation, rate dependency). This paper critically reviews many of the models developed based on understanding of the time dependent stress-strain-stress rate-strain rate behaviour of soils and viscoplasticity in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. Some discussion is also made on the numerical implementation aspects of these models. Typical findings from numerical analyses of geotechnical structures constructed on soft soils are also discussed. The general elastic viscoplastic (EVP) models can roughly be divided into two categories: models based on the concept of overstress and models based on non-stationary flow surface theory. Although general in structure, both categories have their own strengths and shortcomings. This review indicates that EVP analysis is yet to be vastly used by the geotechnical engineers, apparently due to the mathematical complication involved in the formulation of the constitutive models, unconvincing benefit in terms of the accuracy of performance prediction, requirement of additional soil parameter(s), difficulties in determining them, and the necessity of excessive computing resources and time.

An automatic time increment selection scheme for simulation of elasto-viscoplastic consolidation of clayey soils

An automatic time increment selection scheme for numerical analysis of long-term response of geomaterials is presented. The scheme is simple, rational and stable. Governed by a simple empirical expression, it can adaptively adjust the time increments depending on the strain rate-dependent temporal history of the material response. The proposed expression requires only a few parameters whose selection is a trivial task since they have a small effect on accuracy but have a significant effect on computational efficiency. This generalization has been made possible because of the enforcement of certain predefined control criteria to avoid extreme conditions. If any of the control criteria is satisfied, the computation is restarted by going a few time steps back to ensure the smoothness of the computed responses and time increments are again continuously adjusted through the governing equation provided. Performance of the automatic time increment selection scheme is investigated through finite element analyses of the long-term consolidation response of clay under different geotechnical profiles and loading conditions. Both elastic and elasto-viscoplastic constitutive relations are considered, including the consideration of the destructuration effects of geomaterials. Numerical results show that the performance of the automatic time increment selection scheme is reasonably excellent. While offering reasonable accuracy of the numerical solution, it can ensure temporal stability at optimal computational efficiency. In addition to the Euler implicit method, the automatic time increment selection scheme also performs well even when the explicit fourth-order Runge–Kutta method is employed for the integration of time derivatives.