Excavation in a Saturated Soil 3-1

3 Excavation in a Saturated Soil

3.1 Problem Statement

An excavation is planned in a saturated soil layer resting on an impervious base. The soil layer
has a thickness of 12 m. The level of the phreatic surface is constant and corresponds to the soil
top-surface. The excavation will have a square cross-section of dimensions 8 m × 8 m, and a
depth of 5 m. In preparation for this work, the excavation site has been surrounded by vertical
impervious walls 1 m thick which extend 2 m below the excavation bottom. After excavation,
pumps are installed to lower the water level to the excavation bottom. The problem is to assess the
total upheave at the excavation bottom resulting from excavation and drainage.
The problem is three-dimensional but, by symmetry, a quarter of the domain may be considered in
the analysis. A system of coordinate axes is defined with the origin at the center of the excavation
in the plane of the soil surface, and the z-axis pointing downward. In this example, boundaries at
|x| = 12 m and |y| = 12 m are viewed as planes of symmetry. Figure 3.1 provides a sketch of the
problem conditions.
The soil is considered as an elastic material. The soil and water have several properties:

bulk modulus, K 390 MPa

shear modulus, G 280 MPa
soil dry density, ρd 1200 kg/m3
water density, ρw 1000 kg/m3
wall density, ρwall 1500 kg/m3
permeability, k 10−12 m2 /Pa-s
porosity, n 0.3
fluid bulk modulus, Kf 2.0 GPa

The modulus g of the gravity vector may be approximated as 10 m/s2 . The initial state corresponds
to a state of equilibrium (after installation of the walls), in which the horizontal isotropic stresses
are such that σ  xx = σ  yy = 0.4σ  zz .

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

3-2 Example Applications

4m 1m

y
z

5m

2m
12m
1m 12m

A 4m A
x y

4m 1m
12m 12m

a. plan view b. section A-A

Figure 3.1 Excavation – quarter-section

3.2 Modeling Procedure

The FLAC 3D model has the dimensions 12 m × 12 m × 12 m; the grid has a total of 12 × 12 × 12
cubic zones of the dimensions 1 m × 1 m × 1 m. A fluid null model is assigned to the zones within
the excavation and wall volumes, and a mechanical null model is assigned to the zones within the
excavation. (See Figure 3.2 for a plot of the grid with the excavation removed.)
Note that, in this problem, the value ρd + nρw for the saturated density of soil is equal to the wall
density. Hence, the initial state is characterized by the uniform pore-pressure distribution p = ρw gz
and the vertical stress distribution σzz = −(ρd + nρw )gz. The horizontal stresses are found to be
σxx = σyy = −[0.4ρd + (0.4(n − 1) + 1)ρw ]gz. Those stresses are applied at the excavation walls
to model the initial undisturbed stage.

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

Excavation in a Saturated Soil 3-3

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As an illustration of the modeling procedure for a staged excavation, the analysis is divided into
three stages. In the first stage, applied stresses at the excavation walls are changed to the isotropic
value σxx = σyy = σzz = −ρw gz, corresponding to the water pressure in the undrained excavation.
The pore pressure is fixed at the excavation bottom and at the soil surface. Flow of water is prevented
using the command SET fluid off. The model is cycled to equilibrium to simulate a rapid (undrained)
excavation process in the fluid-flow time scale.
In the second stage, the pressures are removed from the excavation walls, and flow of water is again
disallowed. The model is cycled to model the effect of rapid lowering of the water table inside the
excavation.
In the third stage, the pore pressure is fixed at the value zero at the excavation bottom, flow of water
is allowed and the model is cycled further. The pore pressure is monitored at a point located 1 m
below the excavation center (number 2 in Figure 3.2) to detect when steady-state flow conditions
are reached. No effort is made to represent the true time scale of consolidation effects; we are
simply interested in the final steady state.
The model contains 1728 zones and requires 140 MB of RAM. The data file for this problem,
“excav.f3dat,” is listed in Example 3.1.

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

3-4 Example Applications

3.3 Results

The pore-pressure contours at the end of each of the three stages are shown in Figures 3.3, 3.4 and
3.5.

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Figure 3.3 Pore-pressure contours after undrained excavation

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

Excavation in a Saturated Soil 3-5

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Figure 3.4 Pore-pressure contours after rapid drainage of the excavation

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Figure 3.5 Pore-pressure contours after groundwater flow reaches steady

state

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

3-6 Example Applications

Histories of the vertical displacement at three points (numbers 6, 7 and 9 in Figure 3.2) located at
the excavation base are taken. Results are presented in Figure 3.6. Heave at the excavation base
is shown to occur during the first and second stages. This is caused by the removal of soil and
drainage of water inside the excavation. During the third stage, a slight settlement occurs at the
base as a result of groundwater flow into the region.
The steady-state flow of groundwater into the excavation at the third stage is shown by the flow
vector plot in Figure 3.7.

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base

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

Excavation in a Saturated Soil 3-7

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Figure 3.7 Steady-state fluid flow into the excavation

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

3-8 Example Applications

3.4 Listing of Data Files

The project file for this example, “excav.f3prj,” is located in “example applications\ExcavSatSoil.”

Example 3.1 EXCAV.F3DAT

;------------------------------------------------------
; Excavation in a saturated soil
;------------------------------------------------------
new project
set fish autocreate off
title ’Excavation in a saturated soil’

config fluid

; --- geometrical model ---

gen zone brick p1 12 0 0 p2 0 12 0 p3 0 0 12 size 12 12 12 rat 1 1 1
group zone soil
group zone excavate range x 0 4 y 0 4 z 0 5
group zone wal1 range x 4 5 y 0 5 z 0 7
group zone wal2 range x 0 4 y 4 5 z 0 7
group zone wall range union group wal1 group wal2

; --- fluid flow model ---

model fluid fl_iso
prop perm 1e-12 poro 0.3
ini fdensity 1e3
ini fmod 2.0e9 ftens -1e-3
model fluid fl_null range group excavate
model fluid fl_null range group wall
ini pp 0 grad 0 0 1e4
fix pp range z -0.1 0.1
fix pp range x -0.1 4.1 y -0.1 4.1 z 4.9 5.1

; --- mechanical model ---

model mech elas
prop bul 3.9e6 shea 2.8e6
model mech null range group excavate
ini density 1.2e3
ini density 1.5e3 range group wall
fix x range x -.1 .1
fix x range x 11.9 12.1
fix y range y -.1 .1
fix y range y 11.9 12.1
fix z range z 11.9 12.1

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

Excavation in a Saturated Soil 3-9

; initial total stresses

ini szz 0 grad 0 0 -1.5e4
ini sxx 0 grad 0 0 -1.2e4
ini syy 0 grad 0 0 -1.2e4
apply nstress 0 grad 0 0 -1.2e4 range x 0.0 4.0 y 3.9 4.1 z 0.0 5.0
apply nstress 0 grad 0 0 -1.2e4 range x 3.9 4.1 y 0.0 4.0 z 0.0 5.0
apply nstress -7.5e4 range x 0.0 4.0 y 0.0 4.0 z 4.9 5.1

; --- setting ---

set gravity 0 0 10

; --- initial state ---

solve force 1 ; check initial equilibrium

; --- histories ---

hist nstep 10
hist add fltime
hist add gp pp 0 0 6
hist add gp xdis 4 0 0
hist add gp xdis 4 0 2
hist add gp xdis 4 2 0
hist add gp zdis 0 0 5
hist add gp zdis 2 0 5
hist add gp zdis 4 0 5
hist add gp zdis 2 2 5
hist add gp zdis 4 2 5
hist add gp zdis 4 4 5
hist add gp zdis 10 0 1
hist add gp zdis 10 0 2
;
; --- excavation ---
set fluid off
; apply pore pressure at walls
apply nstress 0 grad 0 0 -1.e4 range x 0.0 4.0 y 3.9 4.1 z 0.0 5.0
apply nstress 0 grad 0 0 -1.e4 range x 3.9 4.1 y 0.0 4.0 z 0.0 5.0
apply nstress -5.e4 range x 0.0 4.0 y 0.0 4.0 z 4.9 5.1
solve ;force 1
save exc1
;
; --- drainage ---
apply remove nstress
define relaxsetup
global step0 = step
global ncyc = 1000
end
@relaxsetup

FLAC 3D Version 5.01

3 - 10 Example Applications

define relax
global relax
local rstep = step - step0
if rstep < ncyc then
relax = 1.0 - (float(rstep)/float(ncyc))
else
relax = 0.0
endif
end

apply nstress 0 grad 0 0 -1.e4 hist @relax &

range x 0.0 4.0 y 3.9 4.1 z 0.0 5.0
apply nstress 0 grad 0 0 -1.e4 hist @relax &
range x 3.9 4.1 y 0.0 4.0 z 0.0 5.0
apply nstress -5.e4 hist @relax &
range x 0.0 4.0 y 0.0 4.0 z 4.9 5.1
cyc @ncyc
solve
save exc2
;
; --- percolation ---
set fluid on
fix pp 0 range x -0.1 4.1 y -0.1 4.1 z 4.9 5.1
cyc 9000
save exc3

FLAC 3D Version 5.01