Numerical modelling of seismic slope failure using MPM

The Finite Element Method (FEM) is widely used in the simulation of geotechnical applications. Owing to the limitations of FEM to model problems involving large deformations, many efforts have been made to develop methods free of mesh entanglement. One of these methods is the Material Point Method (MPM) which models the material as Lagrangian particles capable of moving through a background computational mesh in Eulerian manner. Although MPM represents the continuum by material points, solution is performed on the computational mesh. Thus, imposing boundary conditions is not aligned with the material representation. In this paper, a non-zero kinematic condition is introduced where an additional set of particles is incorporated to track the moving boundary. This approach is then applied to simulate the seismic motion resulting in failure of slopes. To validate this simulation procedure, two geotechnical applications are modelled using MPM. The first is to reproduce a shaking table experiment where the results of another numerical method are available. After validating the present numerical scheme for relatively large deformation problem, it is applied to simulate progression of a large-scale landslide during the Chi-Chi earthquake of Taiwan in which excessive material deformation and transportation is taking place.     

An auto-adaptive moving mesh method for the numerical simulation of piping erosion

A numerical approach for simulating piping erosion is proposed based on an auto-adaptive moving mesh. This approach adapts a flownet mesh (FM) to discretize the domain. It reduces the simulation of two-dimensional transport of moving particles to one-dimensional problem by taking advantages of flow tube concept. Furthermore, it employs a stepwise procedure to decouple the solid-liquid interaction equations for modeling piping erosion. Specifically, the FM is updated and evolved automatically in accordance to simulated erosion since the flownet is refined in high-velocity regions, where the piping erosion progresses. Therefore, the FM is auto-adaptive to the piping erosion paths.     

Finite element methods for variable density flow and solute transport

Saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwater aquifers is an ongoing problem that will continue to impact coastal freshwater resources as coastal populations increase. To effectively model saltwater intrusion, the impacts of increased salt content on fluid density must be accounted for to properly model saltwater/freshwater transition zones and sharp interfaces. We present a model for variable density fluid flow and solute transport where a conforming finite element method discretization with a locally conservative velocity post-processing method is used for the flow model and the transport equation is discretized using a variational multiscale stabilized conforming finite element method. This formulation provides a consistent velocity and performs well even in advection-dominated problems that can occur in saltwater intrusion modeling. The physical model is presented as well as the formulation of the numerical model and solution methods. The model is tested against several 2-D and 3-D numerical and experimental benchmark problems, and the results are presented to verify the code.     

A moving‐mesh finite‐volume method to solve free‐surface seepage problem in arbitrary geometries

The main objective of this work is to develop a novel moving‐mesh finite‐volume method capable of solving the seepage problem in domains with arbitrary geometries. One major difficulty in analysing the seepage problem is the position of phreatic boundary which is unknown at the beginning of solution. In the current algorithm, we first choose an arbitrary solution domain with a hypothetical phreatic boundary and distribute the finite volumes therein. Then, we derive the conservative statement on a curvilinear co‐ordinate system for each cell and implement the known boundary conditions all over the solution domain. Defining a consistency factor, the inconsistency between the hypothesis boundary and the known boundary conditions is measured at the phreatic boundary. Subsequently, the preceding mesh is suitably deformed so that its upper boundary matches the new location of the phreatic surface. This tactic results in a moving‐mesh procedure which is continued until the nonlinear boundary conditions are fully satisfied at the phreatic boundary. To validate the developed algorithm, a number of seepage models, which have been previously targeted by the other investigators, are solved. Comparisons between the current results and those of other numerical methods as well as the experimental data show that the current moving‐grid finite‐volume method is highly robust and it provides sufficient accuracy and reliability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

多尺度有限单元法求解非均质多孔介质中的三维地下水流问题

应用多尺度有限单元法模拟非均质多孔介质中的三维地下水流问题。与传统有限单元法相比，多尺度有限单元法的基函数具有能反映单元内参数变化的优点，所以这种方法能在大尺度上抓住解的小尺度特征获得较精确的解。在介绍多尺度有限单元法求解非均质多孔介质中三维地下水流问题的基本原理之后，对参数水平方向渐变垂直方向突变的非均质多孔介质中的三维地下水流和Borden实验场的三维地下水流分别用多尺度有限单元法和传统等参有限单元法进行了计算，结果表明在模拟高度非均质多孔介质中的三维地下水流问题时，多尺度有限单元法比传统有限单元法有效，既节省计算量又有较高的精度；在模拟非均质性弱的多孔介质中的三维地下水流问题时，多尺度有限单元法虽然也能在大尺度上获得较为精确的解，但效果不明显。     

Using global node-based velocity in random walk particle tracking in variably saturated porous media: application to contaminant leaching from road constructions

Precise and efficient numerical simulation of transport processes in subsurface systems is a prerequisite for many site investigation or remediation studies. Random walk particle tracking (RWPT) methods have been introduced in the past to overcome numerical difficulties when simulating propagation processes in porous media such as advection-dominated mass transport. Crucial for the precision of RWPT methods is the accuracy of the numerically calculated ground water velocity field. In this paper, a global node-based method for velocity calculation is used, which was originally proposed by Yeh (Water Resour Res 7:1216–1225, 1981). This method is improved in three ways: (1) extension to unstructured grids, (2) significant enhancement of computational efficiency, and (3) extension to saturated (groundwater) as well as unsaturated systems (soil water). The novel RWPT method is tested with numerical benchmark examples from the literature and used in two field scale applications of contaminant transport in saturated and unsaturated ground water. To evaluate advective transport of the model, the accuracy of the velocity field is demonstrated by comparing several published results of particle pathlines or streamlines. Given the chosen test problem, the global node-based velocity estimation is found to be as accurate as the CK method (Cordes and Kinzelbach in Water Resour Res 28(11):2903–2911, 1992) but less accurate than the mixed or mixed-hybrid finite element methods for flow in highly heterogeneous media. To evaluate advective–diffusive transport, a transport problem studied by Hassan and Mohamed (J Hydrol 275(3–4):242–260, 2003) is investigated here and evaluated using different numbers of particles. The results indicate that the number of particles required for the given problem is decreased using the proposed method by about two orders of magnitude without losing accuracy of the concentration contours as compared to the published numbers.     

开挖模拟在数值流形方法中的实现

针对数值流形方法特有的覆盖剖分方式,提出了一种模拟岩土工程中开挖过程的算法。该算法采取某种措施,在覆盖剖分过程中将开挖面视为特殊的不连续面,这种不连续面将其所在的数学网格剖分成不同的流形单元,但却不对所在的数学覆盖作剖分。这样,开挖面两侧虽分属不同的流形单元,但开挖面两侧同一数学网格内的流形单元却具有相同的物理覆盖。采用该算法,无需对开挖面处的单元进行特殊处理,可在整个分析域采用统一的网格形式;同时,打破了原有数值流形方法的限制,将开挖面的位置完全当作连续介质来处理,避免了因将其视为不连续面而产生的误差。验证了算法的可靠性后,将其应用于某假想隧道的开挖模拟,计算结果表明该算法具有一定的应用前景。     

A framework for automatic modeling of underground excavations and optimizing three‐dimensional boundary and finite element meshes derived from them—framework

Many problems in mining and civil engineering require using numerical stress analysis methods to repeatedly solve large models. Widespread acceptance of tunneling methods, such as New Austrian Tunneling Method, which depend heavily on numerical stress analysis tools and the fact that the effects of excavation at the face of a tunnel are distinctively three–dimensional (3D), necessitates the use of 3D numerical analysis for these problems. Stress analysis of a practical mining problem can be very lengthy, and the processing time can be measured in days or weeks at times. A framework is developed to facilitate efficient modeling of underground excavations and to create an optimal 3D mesh by reducing the number of surface and volume elements while keeping the result of stress analysis accurate enough at the region of interest, where a solution is sought. Fewer surface and volume elements mean fewer degrees of freedom in the numerical model, which directly translates into savings in computational time and resources. The mesh refinement algorithm is driven by a set of criteria that are functions of distance and visibility of points from the region of interest, and the framework can be easily extended by adding new types of criteria. This paper defines the framework, whereas a second companion paper will investigate its efficiency, accuracy and application to a number of practical mining problems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nodal-based three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis (3-D DDA)

This paper presents a new numerical model that can add a finite element mesh into each block of the three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis (3-D DDA), originally developed by Gen-hua Shi. The main objectives of this research are to enhance DDA block’s deformability. Formulations of stiffness and force matrices in 3-D DDA with conventional Trilinear (8-node) and Serendipity (20-node) hexahedral isoparametric finite elements meshed block system due to elastic stress, initial stress, point load, body force, displacement constraints, inertia force, normal and shear contact forces are derived in detail for program coding. The program code for the Trilinear and Serendipity hexahedron elements have been developed, and it has been applied to some examples to show the advantages achieved when finite element is associated with 3-D DDA to handle problems under large displacements and deformations. Results calculated for the same models by use of the original 3-D DDA are far from the theoretical solutions while the results of new numerical model are quite good in agreement with theoretical solutions; however, for the Trilinear elements, more number of elements are needed.     

Modeling coupled erosion and filtration of fine particles in granular media

One of the major causes of instability in geotechnical structures such as dikes or earth dams is the phenomenon of suffusion including detachment, transport and filtration of fine particles by water flow. Current methods fail to capture all these aspects. This paper suggests a new modeling approach under the framework of the porous continuous medium theory. The detachment and transport of the fine particles are described by a mass exchange model between the solid and the fluid phases. The filtration is incorporated to simulate the filling of the inter-grain voids created by the migration of the fluidized fine particles with the seepage flow, and thus, the self-filtration is coupled with the erosion process. The model is solved numerically using a finite difference method restricted to one-dimensional (1-D) flows normal to the free surface. The applicability of the model to capture the main features of both erosion and filtration during the suffusion process has been validated by simulating 1-D internal erosion tests and by comparing the numerical with the experimental results. Furthermore, the influence of the coupling between erosion and filtration has been highlighted, including the development of material heterogeneity induced by the combination of erosion and filtration.

     

Proof of multiplicity of solutions for groundwater seepage in recharged heterogeneous unconfined aquifers

A new analytical proof is presented for steady‐state seepage in recharged heterogeneous unconfined aquifers. The paper also presents a detailed procedure and important rules for performing correctly numerical studies of unsaturated seepage. Once a numerical solution is calibrated with field data, using a set of spatially distributed values for hydraulic conductivity K and effective infiltration EI, any new numerical analysis with a set of αK and αEI values, where α is a constant, yields an equally good calibration. However, if the effective porosities of each layer are unchanged, the groundwater velocities are multiplied by α, whereas the travel times are divided by α, which may help to select α in order to match known travel time data. This is a clear example of multiple solutions to an inverse problem. The paper underlines the role and the need to finely mesh unsaturated zones and also contacts between layers to reach the asymptotic convergence range, as it was carried out to verify the proof and as it should be completed to study any seepage problem. A few consequences of the new analytical proof and the rigorous procedure are shown with examples. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical study of retention efficiency of a flexible barrier in mitigating granular flow comparing with large-scale physical modeling test data

Retention behavior of a flexible barrier in mitigating a granular flow is still an open problem not fully understood, especially due to the complexity of the granular material and the flexible barrier. Understanding the retention mechanism and quantifying the influencing factors of retention efficiency are desirable for optimizing the design and minimizing the maintenance cost of a debris-resisting flexible barrier. In this paper, a numerical model, based on the discrete element method, is presented, calibrated, and validated to analyze the interaction between a granular flow and a flexible net. A full-scale numerical simulation is first performed to compare with a large-scale physical modeling test in the literature and validate the applied parameters in the simulation. The interaction and deposition characteristics of the granular flow interacting with a flexible net are revealed. Afterward, parametric study is performed to investigate the effects of the internal friction angle (φ) of debris material and the relative mesh size of flexible net on the retention efficiency and clogging mechanism of a flexible barrier. The simulation results illustrate that the particle passing ratio (P) increases with increment of the friction angle of particles and enlargement of the mesh size of a flexible net. Both parameters have critical effects on the retention efficiency of a flexible barrier in intercepting a granular flow. Therefore, the friction angle and the particle size distribution characteristics of the debris material are suggested being used for optimization of the mesh size and more efficient design of debris-resisting flexible barriers.

     

New point-to-face contact algorithm for 3-D contact problems using the augmented Lagrangian method in 3-D DDA

This paper presents a new point-to-face contact algorithm for contacts between two polyhedrons with planar boundaries. A new discrete numerical method called three-dimensional discontinuous deformation analysis (3-D DDA) is used and formulations of normal contact submatrices based on the proposed algorithm are derived. The presented algorithm is a simple and efficient method and it can be easily coded into a computer program. This approach does not need to use an iterative algorithm in each time step to obtain the contact plane, unlike the ‘Common-Plane’ method applied in the existing 3-D DDA. In the present 3-D DDA method, block contact constraints are enforced using the penalty method. This approach is quite simple, but may lead to inaccuracies that may be large for small values of the penalty number. The penalty method also creates block contact overlap, which violates the physical constraints of the problem. These limitations are overcome by using the augmented Lagrangian method that is used for normal contacts in this research. This point-to-face contact model has been programmed and some illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate the new contact rule between two blocks. A comparison between results obtained by using the augmented Lagrangian method and the penalty method is presented as well.     

Modelling of contaminant transport through landfill liners using EFGM

Modelling of contaminant transport through landfill liners and natural soil deposits is an important area of research activity in geoenvironmental engineering. Conventional mesh‐based numerical methods depend on mesh/grid size and element connectivity and possess some difficulties when dealing with advection‐dominant transport problems. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to provide a simple but sufficiently accurate methodology for numerical simulation of the two‐dimensional contaminant transport through the saturated homogeneous porous media and landfill liners using element‐free Galerkin method (EFGM). In the EFGM, an approximate solution is constructed entirely in terms of a set of nodes and no characterization of the interrelationship of the nodes is needed. The EFGM employs moving least‐square approximants to approximate the function and uses the Lagrange multiplier method for imposing essential boundary conditions. The results of the EFGM are validated using experimental results. Analytical and finite element solutions are also used to compare the results of the EFGM. In order to test the practical applicability and performance of the EFGM, three case studies of contaminant transport through the landfill liners are presented. A good agreement is obtained between the results of the EFGM and the field investigation data. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building a three dimensional sealed geological model to use in numerical stress analysis software: A case study for a dam site

The dam area of the SUOXI hydropower project shows high terrain undulation and complex geological conditions, containing 6 faults and 7 weak inter-beds. A geometric model developed to represent the geology and engineering structures should incorporate the geological realities and should allow suitable mesh generation to perform numerical stress analysis. This is an important precondition to perform rock mass stability analysis of a dam foundation based on a numerical stress analysis software such as FLAC^3D. Using the modeling tools available in FLAC^3D, it is difficult to construct a complex geological model even after performing a large amount of plotting and data analyses. The 3-D geological modeling technique suggested in this paper, named as Sealed Geological Modeling (SGM), is a powerful tool for constructing complex geological models for rock engineering projects that require numerical stress analysis. Applying this technique, first, the geological interfaces are constructed for the dam area of SUOXI hydropower project using various interpolation procedures including geostatistical techniques. Then a unitary wire frame is constructed and the interfaces are connected seamlessly. As the next step, a block tracing technique is used to build a geological model that consists of 130 seamlessly connected blocks. Finally, based on the Advancing Front Technique (AFT), each block is discretized into tetrahedrons and a mesh is generated including 57,661 nodes and 215,471 tetrahedrons which is suitable to perform numerical stress analysis using FLAC^3D.     

山东淄博市大武水源地裂隙岩溶水中污染物运移的数值研究

在分析研究淄博市大武水源地裂隙岩溶含水层的水力性质和污染物运移特征的基础上 ,对裂隙岩溶水的水头和污染物运移进行数值研究。目前国内外对裂隙岩溶水进行数值计算时 ,通常用等价多孔介质模型 ,但裂隙岩溶介质和多孔介质有很大不同。裂隙岩溶介质的储水和导水空间为裂隙网络 ,导水系数大 ,地下水的实际平均流速比孔隙水大得多 ,但给水度和贮水系数小。当用等价多孔介质模型进行模拟时应考虑这些特点。对于污染物运移的模拟 ,要同时求解水头方程和对流弥散方程 ,可采用MODFLOW和MT3D软件进行模拟。研究区裂隙岩溶水水头的数值计算表明 ,等效多孔介质模型水头的拟合误差能满足国标GB/T144 97- 93的要求。各时段地下水水量均衡计算的精度也满足要求。对流弥散方程的数值计算 ,由于Peclet数高达 95 .6 7,对流占绝对优势 ,可能存在数值弥散和数值振荡 ,因而采用多种方法进行了比较。对于同一问题 ,同时采用上游有限差分法 (UFDM) ,混合的欧拉拉格朗日方法 (特征线法MOC、改进特征线法MMOC和混合特征线法HMOC) ,总变异消减法(TVD)进行计算 ,并比较其结果。结果表明 ,混合特征线法 (HMOC)和总变异消减法 (TVD)比较适合于对流占优势的运移问题计算。由于渗透系数K和有效孔隙度θ对溶质运移结果的影响很大 ,?     

Scattering of elastic waves by a plane crack of finite width in a transversely isotropic medium

This work presents a numerical algorithm for solving crack scattering in a transversely isotropic medium whose symmetry axis is perpendicular to the crack surface. The crack is modelled as boundary discontinuities in the displacement u and the particle velocity v, of the stresses [κu+ζv], where the brackets denote discontinuities across the interface. The specific stiffness κ introduces frequency-dependence and phase changes in the interface response and the specific viscosity ζ is related to the energy loss. The numerical method is based on a domain decomposition technique that assignes a different mesh to each side of the interface, that includes the crack plane. As stated above, the effects of the crack on wave propagation are modelled through the boundary conditions, that require a special boundary treatment based on characteristic variables. The algorithm solves the particle velocity–stress wave equations and two additional first-order differential equations (two-dimensional case) in the displacement discontinuity. For each mesh, the spatial derivatives normal to the interface are solved by the Chebyshev method, and the spatial derivatives parallel to the interface are computed with the Fourier method. They allow a highly accurate implementation of the boundary conditions and computation of the spatial derivatives, and an optimal discretization of the model space. Moreover, the algorithm allows general material variability. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convolution-based particle tracking method for transient flow

A convolution-based particle tracking (CBPT) method was recently developed for calculating solute concentrations (Robinson et al., Comput Geosci 14(4): 779–792, 2010). This method is highly efficient but limited to steady-state flow conditions. Here, we present an extension of this method to transient flow conditions. This extension requires a single-particle tracking process model run, with a pulse of particles introduced at a sequence of times for each source location. The number and interval of particle releases depends upon the transients in the flow. Numerical convolution of particle paths obtained at each release time and location with a time-varying source term is performed to yield the shape of the plume. Many factors controlling transport such as variation in source terms, radioactive decay, and in some cases linear processes such as sorption and diffusion into dead-end pores can be simulated in the convolution step for Monte Carlo-based analysis of transport uncertainty. We demonstrate the efficiency of the transient CBPT method, by showing that it requires fewer particles than traditional random walk particle tracking methods to achieve the same levels of accuracy, especially as the source term increases in duration or is uncertain. Since flow calculations under transient conditions are often very expensive, this is a computationally efficient yet accurate method.     

An efficient approach to generating DEM samples having coincident void ratios with actual sand

The ranges of initial void ratios that can be achieved for numerical samples with the same grading as actual sand under gravity are explored using three-dimensional discrete element method (DEM). A corrected compressible accumulation model is proposed to predict the packing density of sand. Compared with the measured results, the errors of the prediction results are small. For three-dimensional DEM samples, when the ratio of sample size to particle size L/R is equal to or larger than 30, the maximum and the minimum void ratios are minimally affected by the sample size L. The maximum void ratios and the minimum void ratios of numerical samples with spherical particles are much smaller than those of actual sands. The generation method for numerical samples with non-spherical particles is proposed based on the theory of CPM. The variations of void ratios of numerical samples with non-spherical particles are wider than actual sands. So it can meet all the need of DEM simulation on the void ratio of actual sand.