Mello C. Papadopoulou

Effect of Cracking on the Response of Pile Test under Horizontal Loading

Capacity-based design of structures limits the soil-structure interaction mechanism to the determination of the bearing capacity of a pile group. However, in many cases the criterion for the design of piles to resist lateral loads is not the ultimate lateral capacity but the deflection of the piles. Many procedures exist for estimating the response of single piles and pile groups under lateral loading, ranging from application of empirical relationships and simple closed-form solutions to sophisticated nonlinear numerical procedures. With the aim of investigating the effect of cracking, disregarded by most of the above-mentioned methods, a three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear analysis that accounts for cracking is presented. Response prediction correlates well with the experimental data from a full-scale pile load test. Interesting conclusions have also been drawn regarding the discretization of the computational domain and the combination of 3D numerical nonlinear analysis and the structural beam theory.

Numerical Assessment of Subsidence and Adjacent Building Movements Induced by TBM-EPB Tunneling

AbstractA three-dimensional (3D) numerical model simulating a twin tunnel excavated by a tunnel-boring machine (TBM)–earth-pressure balance (EPB) is presented. All relevant components are taken into account, and the influence of the parameters adopted in the TBM-EPB method on the induced ground settlements is investigated. The sensitivity to variations of the face support, the pressure applied to the steering gap slurry, and the tail gap grouting were also evaluated within the framework of parametric analyses. The effects from and on a building located at or beyond the greenfield trough width were also investigated. The greenfield volume loss at the ground surface was found to be 0.85%, increasing to 0.97% at the building foundation level. These values were further increased by 6% at the cross section where the building is located. Furthermore, a full soil-structure interaction using 3D numerical analysis was carried out to evaluate the ability of numerical methods to provide accurate displacement prognos...