Exercise 2 – Embankment 1.
Consolidation & Safety Analysis
Ex 2a. Consolidation and Safety analysis
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
INTRODUCTION
The construction of an embankment on soft soil with a high groundwater level leads to an increase in
pore pressure. As a result of this 'undrained behaviour' the effective stress remains low and
intermediate consolidation periods have to be adopted to construct the embankment safely. During
consolidation the excess pore pressures dissipate. As a result, the soil develops the necessary shear
strength to allow the construction process to continue.
Figure 1. Road embankment on soft soil
INPUT
Figure 1 shows a cross section of a road embankment. The embankment is 16.0 m wide and 4.0 m
high. The slopes have an inclination of 1:3. The problem is symmetric, so only one half is modelled
(in this case the right half is chosen). The embankment itself is composed of loose sandy soil. The
subsoil consists of 6.0 m of soft soil. The upper 3.0 m of this soft soil layer is modelled as a peat
layer and the lower 3.0 m as clay. The phreatic level coincides with the original ground surface.
Under the soft soil layers there is a dense sand layer, which is not included in the model.
Geometry model
The embankment shown in Figure 1 is analysed with a Plane strain model. The geometry model is
shown in Figure 2. For this example 15-node elements are used. A total width of 40 m is considered
in the geometry model, measured from the embankment centre.
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
(0, 10) (8, 10)
(0, 8) Sand (14, 8)
(0, 6) A (20, 6)
(40, 6)
B (1, 4.5) Peat
(0, 3) (40, 3)
Clay
(0, 0) (40, 0)
Figure 2. Geometry model of road embankment
Table 1. Material properties of the road embankment and subsoil
Parameter Name Clay Peat Sand Unit
Material model Model MC MC MC -
Type of behaviour Type Undrained A Undrained A Drained -
Soil unit weight above γ unsat 15 8 16 kN/m3
phreatic level
Soil unit weight below γ sat 18 11 20 kN/m3
phreatic level
Horizontal permeability kx 1⋅10-4 2⋅10-3 1.0 m/day
Vertical permeability ky 1⋅10-4 1⋅10-3 1.0 m/day
Young's modulus E ref 1000 350 3000 kN/m2
Poisson's ratio ν 0.33 0.35 0.3 -
Cohesion c ref 5.0 7.0 1.0 kN/m2
Friction angle ϕ 24 20 30 °
Dilatancy angle ψ 0.0 0.0 0.0 °
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Material sets and mesh generation
Three separate material sets should be created based on the data shown in Table 1. The data should
then be assigned to the appropriate clusters in the geometric model.
To generate the finite element mesh, use the Medium coarseness setting. Generate the mesh by
clicking on the Generate mesh button.
CALCULATIONS
The initial mesh should look similarly to that one (coarse mesh)
Fig. 1 Coarse mesh
You should define phases as below
Phases:
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
Initial conditions
In order to define initial conditions being the starting point of project calculus initial geometry
configuration and initial water pressures need to be properly set. In the initial situation the
embankment is not present. The embankment is therefore de-activated by clicking on the appropriate
clusters
Once the embankment has been de-activated it is necessary to set up the initial stresses. The
remaining active geometry is horizontal with horizontal layers so the Ko procedure can be used to
calculate the initial stresses.
The water pressures are fully hydrostatic and based on a general phreatic level, water table is at the
soil surface.
In addition to the phreatic level, attention must be paid to the boundary conditions for the
consolidation analysis that will be performed during the calculation process. The left vertical
boundary must be closed because this is a line of symmetry, so horizontal flow should not occur. The
right vertical boundary should also be closed because there is no flow at that boundary. The bottom is
open because flow can occur freely into the deep and permeable sand layer. The upper boundary is
obviously open as well. In order to create the appropriate consolidation boundary conditions, follow
these steps:
Closed consolidation boundary button in the toolbar.
Appropriately defined consolidation boundary conditions are shown in Figure 3. It is highly
recommended to preview the water pressures first before defining and executing other calculation
phases. Once the initial conditions have been generated and inspected, calculations of construction
phases can be defined.
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Figure 3. Consolidation boundary conditions.
Construction stages
The embankment construction consists of two phases, each taking 5 days. After the first construction
phase a consolidation period of 200 days is introduced to allow the excess pore pressures to dissipate.
After the second construction phase another consolidation period is introduced from which the final
settlements may be determined. Hence, a total of four calculation phases have to be defined.
To define the calculation phases, follow these steps:
♦ The first calculation stage is a Consolidation analysis, Staged construction.
Time interval of 5 days.
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
♦
♦ The second phase is also a Consolidation analysis, Staged construction.
Enter a time interval of 200 days
♦ The third phase is once again a Consolidation analysis, Staged construction.
After selecting Staged construction in the Parameters tabsheet enter a Time
interval of 5 days.
♦ The fourth phase is a consolidation analysis to a minimum pore pressure. In
the Parameters tabsheet, select Minimum pore pressure from the Loading
input box and accept the default value of 1 kN/m2 for the minimum
pressure.
♦ Before starting the calculation, click on the Select points for curves button
and click nodes for load-displacement curves and select the following
points (see also Figure 2): As Point A, select the toe of the embankment (20
, 6). The second point, Point B (1, 4.5) will be used to plot the development
(and decay) of excess pore pressures. Therefore, appropriate location of the
point is at the centre of the peat layer, close to the left boundary. After
selecting these points, start the calculation.
During a consolidation analysis the development of time can be seen in the upper part of the
calculation info box (Figure 4). In addition to the multipliers, a parameter Pmax occurs, which
indicates the current maximum pore pressure. This parameter is of interest in the case of Minimum
pore pressure consolidation analysis where all pore pressures are specified to reduce below a
predefined value.
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Figure 4. Calculation info box.
SAFETY ANALYSIS
In the design of an embankment it is important to consider not only the final stability, but also the
stability during construction. In this exercise the global safety factor for the road embankment is
computed immediately after the 1st and 2nd stages of construction and also in the long term. This is
done using the strength-reduction calculation method.
The Safety calculation option is available from the Calculation type list box on the General tab sheet.
If the Safety option is selected as the Calculation Type, Loading type is automatically set to
Incremental multipliers.
♦ We first want to calculate the safety factor after the first construction stage.
Therefore introduce a new calculation phase and select Phase 1 in the Start
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
from phase list box.
♦ In the Multipliers window, check that the first increment of the multiplier
that controls the strength reduction process, Msf, is set to 0.1. The first
safety calculation has now been defined.
♦ We now want to define the calculation of the safety factor after the second
construction stage. Therefore introduce a new calculation phase and select
the Calculation program by clicking on the combo box start from phase
choosing Phase 3.
♦ select the Reset displacements to zero option,
♦ In the Multipliers window, check that Msf is set to 0.1.
♦ Finally we want to know the final safety factor of the embankment.
Therefore introduce one more calculation stage and let it start from the
fourth calculation phase.
♦ select the Reset displacements to zero option. In addition, select the Ignore
undrained behaviour option, because in this case the long term behaviour is
considered.
♦ In the Multipliers window, check that Msf is set to 0.1.
Note
In order to evaluate the influence of the consolidation process on embankment stability during
construction itself it is recommended to define additional safety analysis calculation starting form the
first consolidation period (3rd calculation phase).
Plotting
The value of ΣMsf represents the safety factor, provided that this value is indeed more or less
constant during the previous few steps.
The best way to evaluate the safety factor, however, is to plot a curve in which the parameter ΣMsf is
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
plotted against the displacements of a certain node. Although the displacements are not relevant,
they indicate whether or not a failure mechanism has developed. In order to evaluate the safety
factors for the all four situations in this way, follow these steps:
♦ Click the Curves manager button in the toolbar and Select New
♦ In the Curve generation window, select the embankment toe (point A) for
the x-axis. Select Deformations – Total displacements - |u| or Total Steps
as before.
♦ For the y-axis, select Multipliers and select ΣMsf . As a result the curve of
Figure 10 appears.
UPDATED MESH ANALYSIS
As can be seen from the output of the Deformed mesh at the end of consolidation (stage 4), the
embankment settles over half a metre within two years of the start of construction. Part of the sand
fill that was originally above the phreatic level will settle below the phreatic level. As a result of
buoyancy forces the effective weight of the soil that settles below the water level will change, which
leads to a reduction of the effective overburden in time. This effect can be simulated in PLAXIS using
the Updated mesh and Updated water pressures options. Define new phases with those options
(starting from initial phase), and redo the calculations to see the effect.
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
RESULTS
Factors of safety:
Fig. 2 Factors of safety are (from left to right):
- for first part of the embankment
- after 200 days of consolidation
- for embankment constructed in full
- after full consolidation
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Pore pressures
Fig. 3 Excess pore pressures after construction 1. Open boundaries on the right, y min boundary
open
Fig. 4 Pore pressures after consolidation 1. Open boundaries on the right, y min boundary open
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Fig. 7 Final displacements
Accurate mesh:
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Fig. 7 Final displacements
Accurate mesh:
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
Fig. 8 Safety factors
Fig. 9 Pore pressures after construction of embankment
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Fig. 10 Total displacements
Fig. 11 Pore pressures, point B
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
Fig. 12 Settlements Point A
Fig. 13 Settlements, point B
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Tutorial 3 – Consolidation & Phi/c Reduction Analysis
Typical mistake: closed flow boundary at the bottom
Excess pore pressures after construction 1. Open boundaries on the right, y min boundary closed
Pore pressures after consolidation 1. Open boundaries on the right, y min boundary closed
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Exercise 2 – Embankment 1. Consolidation & Safety Analysis
Pore pressures after construction 2. Open boundaries on the right, y min boundary closed
Pore pressures after consolidation 1. Open boundaries on the right, y min boundary closed
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