This document describes a numerical analysis of the consolidation of soft clay soils under an embankment constructed in three stages over time. The model geometry consists of four soil layers and a rising embankment. Soil properties, boundary conditions, and a transient loading schedule are defined. The model is solved using the finite element method with a customized mesh. Pore pressure over time is plotted at a point below the center of the embankment and shows agreement with field data, validating the use of a Modified Cam-Clay model to simulate the consolidation behavior over time.
This document describes a numerical analysis of the consolidation of soft clay soils under an embankment constructed in three stages over time. The model geometry consists of four soil layers and a rising embankment. Soil properties, boundary conditions, and a transient loading schedule are defined. The model is solved using the finite element method with a customized mesh. Pore pressure over time is plotted at a point below the center of the embankment and shows agreement with field data, validating the use of a Modified Cam-Clay model to simulate the consolidation behavior over time.
This document describes a numerical analysis of the consolidation of soft clay soils under an embankment constructed in three stages over time. The model geometry consists of four soil layers and a rising embankment. Soil properties, boundary conditions, and a transient loading schedule are defined. The model is solved using the finite element method with a customized mesh. Pore pressure over time is plotted at a point below the center of the embankment and shows agreement with field data, validating the use of a Modified Cam-Clay model to simulate the consolidation behavior over time.
This document describes a numerical analysis of the consolidation of soft clay soils under an embankment constructed in three stages over time. The model geometry consists of four soil layers and a rising embankment. Soil properties, boundary conditions, and a transient loading schedule are defined. The model is solved using the finite element method with a customized mesh. Pore pressure over time is plotted at a point below the center of the embankment and shows agreement with field data, validating the use of a Modified Cam-Clay model to simulate the consolidation behavior over time.
This example considers the case where multiple layers of embankment are constructed on 4 layers of soil. The embankment is built to a height of 1.5m in three stages. The soil profile and embankment geometry are given in Figures 1 and 2. Input parameters are listed in Table 1 and the schedule for adding embankment layers is shown in Figure 3 [1].
Crust Clay, Slightly Sandy
Clay, soft, estuarine Indurated sand, dense
Clay, soft to firm, stiff
Figure 1 : Soil profile [1]
Figure 2 : Embankment Geometry [1]
Embankment Height 2
Height (m)
1.5 1 0.5 0 0
50
100
150
Time (d) Figure 3 : Schedule for adding embankment layers
Table 1 : Soil input parameters
Crust Soft Clay Sand Stiff Clay Fill
t (kN/m3) 18.94 15.08 19.80 15.99 18
OCR K0
MCC parameters
e M
8 5.3 1.06 -
0.011 0.020 0.009 -
0.078 0.587 0.134 -
1.28 1.10 0.56 0.54 -
0.98 4.00 2.18 -
1.33 1.07 1.11 -
kv (m/s)
E (kPa)
7.0 10-8 1.6510-9 1.010-6 6.9510-10 0.1
0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
1940 609
The problem was analyzed in Modified Cam-Clay mode. Ground water is at 1m below the surface. 1.2
Creating The Model
1.2.1 Project Settings
In the Project Settings window, under the General Tab the analysis type is set to Coupled (Biot) and the solver type is set to Automatic. Under the Stages tab, 32 stages are created with the first stage being a steady-state stage followed by transient stages.
Figure 4 : Project Settings window
1.2.2 Geometry The model was created by drawing the geometry and the material boundaries, shown in Figure 5. The geometry was then extruded 84m in the Z direction. This would result in an 84m slice. The slice was then duplicated and similar slices were inserted after and before the initial slice. The middle slice was then split into two 42m slices. The Edit Slice Properties window, Figure 7, was used for duplicating and splitting slices. Splitting the middle slice creates a line under the center of the embankment. This line will be used to increase the mesh density in the next steps. This line is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 5 : Geometry of the model
Figure 6 : Splitting the slices
Figure 7 : Edit Slice Properties window
Figure 8 : Line under the center of the embankment used for increasing mesh density
1.2.3 Materials and Staging
The next step is to define the material properties for the soil layers from Table 1. The crust, soft clay and stiff clay layers are set to Modified Cam Clay and the sand and embankment layers are set to Mohr Coulomb. Initial loading for the soil layers is set to Field Stress and Body Force and to Body Force Only for the embankment layer in order to take into account the effect of gravity. The Material Properties window is shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9 : Material Properties window
1.2.4 Groundwater Groundwater is at 1m below the surface of the embankment therefore Zero Pressure groundwater boundary condition is applied at this depth. The Add Groundwater Boundary Condition window is shown in Figure 10. Hydraulic properties of the soil layers, shown in Figure 11, are defined using the values for parameter kv in Table 1. Linear permeability is defined for all materials as shown in Figure 12. Fluid permeability is set to isotropic, i.e. permeability is the same in all directions.
Figure 10 : Add Ground Water Boundary Condition window
Figure 11 : Hydraulic properties of the soil layers
Figure 12 : User Defined Permeability Function window
1.2.5 Restraints Figure 14 shows the boundary conditions of the model. For edges with XZ restraints, Edges and Points mode is selected from the Add Restraints window as shown in Figure 13. For restraints on the surfaces of the model, Surface and Edges mode is selected. Note that there could be cases where the boundary conditions that are applied first might be overwritten by ones that are applied afterwards. In these cases, the latest boundary conditions are the dominant ones.
Figure 13 : Restraints window
XZ Restraint (Edge) X Restraint Z Restraint XZ Restraint (Edge)
XZ Restraint (Edge) Z Restraint X Restraint XZ Restraint (Edge)
XYZ Restraint (Bottom)
Figure 14 : Boundary conditions of the model
Figure 15 : Field Stress Properties window
In the Field Stress Properties window, shown in Figure 15, the field stress type is set to gravity and under the Advanced tab, custom stress ratio is defined for the soil layers using the values for parameter K0 from Table1.
1.2.6 Mesh Low density mesh is initially applied to the model using the Mesh Setup window in Figure 16. The mesh is then customized in order to get higher density along the line shown in Figure 8
using the Custom Mesh feature shown in Figure 17. Edge mode needs to be selected for customizing the mesh.
Figure 16 : Mesh Setup window
Figure 17 : Custom Mesh Parameters window
1.3
Results
A query point, shown in Figure 18, is placed 4m under the center of the embankment to observe the results for excess pore water pressure. The results are plotted versus time using the Query Graph Data window as illustrated in Figure 19. Note that all stages need to be selected to get accurate results. Figure 20 shows the results for the model.
Query point
Figure 18 : Location of query point in the model
Figure 19 : Graph Query Data window
Excess Pore Water Pressure Vs. Time
(center of embankment) Excess Pore Water Pressure (kPa)
20 15 10 5
field data
RS3 - MCC - 3D
-5 -10 10
100
1000
10000
Time (d) Figure 20 : Excess pore water pressure versus time for the Modified Cam-Clay model
1.4
References
1. Huang, W., Fityus, S., Bishop, D., Smith, D., & Sheng, D. (2006). Finite-element parametric study of the consolidation behavior of a trial embankment on soft clay. International Journal of Geomechanics, 6(5), 328-341.
