Fast iterative solution of large undrained soil‐structure interaction problems

In view of rapid developments in iterative solvers, it is timely to re‐examine the merits of using mixed formulation for incompressible problems. This paper presents extensive numerical studies to compare the accuracy of undrained solutions resulting from the standard displacement formulation with a penalty term and the two‐field mixed formulation. The standard displacement and two‐field mixed formulations are solved using both direct and iterative approaches to assess if it is cost‐effective to achieve more accurate solutions. Numerical studies of a simple footing problem show that the mixed formulation is able to solve the incompressible problem ‘exactly’, does not create pressure and stress instabilities, and obviate the need for an ad hoc penalty number. In addition, for large‐scale problems where it is not possible to perform direct solutions entirely within available random access memory, it turns out that the larger system of equations from mixed formulation also can be solved much more efficiently than the smaller system of equations arising from standard formulation by using the symmetric quasi‐minimal residual (SQMR) method with the generalized Jacobi (GJ) preconditioner. Iterative solution by SQMR with GJ preconditioning also is more elegant, faster, and more accurate than the popular Uzawa method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonparametric Estimation of Undrained Shear Strength for Normally Consolidated Clays

For decades, various well-known empirical correlations have been established and commonly used to estimate the undrained shear strength of normally consolidated clays in geotechnical practice. However, there are still many contradictory cases regarding the validity of these correlations, so their applicability and reliability are questionable. In this study, an extensive geotechnical database for normally consolidated clays has been compiled. Next, a Bayesian nonparametric method is exploited to identify the most critical soil index properties in inferring the undrained shear strength and a new predictive model is proposed. Finally, the performance of the proposed predictive model is assessed and compared with two well-known correlations using an independent testing database. It confirms that the proposed model not only possesses high predictability, but also provides superior performance over other existing empirical correlations.     

花岗岩风化料弃土快速堆填过程中不排水抗剪强度评估

沿海沿江城市地下开挖产生的工程渣土含泥量大、含水率高且较松散,主要运往渣土场进行堆填处置。由于产量巨大而处置场地有限,许多渣土场在运营过程中存在堆填速度快、缺乏排水设施、超高超库容堆填等问题,容易引发堆填体失稳事故。目前对于非饱和工程渣土堆体在快速堆填过程中的失稳机制认识尚不清晰,尤其是对这一过程中的高饱和度工程渣土强度增长规律缺乏足够的认识。以深圳红坳渣土场填料——花岗岩风化料(CDG)填土为研究对象,对不同初始饱和度土样进行三轴不排水不排气等向压缩和剪切试验,结果表明:非饱和CDG填土不排水抗剪强度随围压增大呈非线性增长,增长速率与试样初始饱和度密切相关;当土样压缩后的饱和度超过0.7,不排水强度随围压的增长速率显著降低。基于有效固结应力法的原理,结合Hilf孔压公式和修正剑桥模型,提出了一种工程渣土不排水抗剪强度估算方法,并通过与试验结果对比验证了该方法对初始饱和度高于0.6的CDG填土的适用性。利用该方法确定的不排水强度cu与正应力σn的关系可应用于高饱和度工程渣土快速堆填中的稳定性分析。     

One‐dimensional dynamics of saturated incompressible porous media: analytical solutions and influence of inertia terms

The complexity of formulations for the hydromechanical coupled mechanics of porous media is typically minimised by simplifying assumptions such as neglecting the effect of inertia terms. For example, three formulations commonly employed to model practical problems are classified as fully dynamic, simplified dynamic and quasi‐static. Thus, depending on the porous media conditions, each formulation will have advantages and limitations. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of these limitations when solving one‐dimensional fully saturated porous media problems in addition to a new solution that considers a more general loading situation. A phase diagram is developed to assist on the selection of which formulation is more appropriate and convenient regarding particular cases of porosity and hydraulic conductivity values. Non‐dimensional formulations are proposed to achieve this goal. Results using the analytical solutions are compared against numerical values obtained with the finite element method, and the effect of porosity is investigated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

土层应力历史确定方法的研究

本文通过粘土压缩的弹塑性模型,建立了不排水强度与超固结比的关系。针对海洋土在目前取样技术条件下受到较大扰动的现状,选择了受扰动影响相对较小的不排水强度推求先期固结压力。该法主要步骤为(1)临界状态孔压系数∧。的确定;(2)原位不排水强度的推算。通过南海东部某海域的原状土样和实验室制备的重构土样试验结果验证,此法确定的先期固结压力,与传统的方法进行比较,表明结果比较一致。     

The stiffness degradation and damping ratio evolution of Taipei Silty Clay under cyclic straining

The non-linear behavior of Taipei Silty Clay under cyclic strain loading was investigated through a series of undrained cyclic strain-controlled tests. The Ramberg–Osgood equation was used with our proposed stiffness degradation model to calculate degraded secant moduli. The proposed degradation model is simple in that it has only one more component than Idriss's model, the modulus ratio for the first cycle, which reflects the effects of the previous cyclic strain history and the current level of the cyclic strain amplitude, and can be used to describe softening and hardening behavior under irregular cyclic straining. It was found that the Ramberg–Osgood equation successfully predicts the damping ratio for small to medium strains. However, it overestimates the damping ratio for larger strains, so we suggest it can be corrected with a damping ratio index. In addition, the proposed equation for describing the evolution of the damping ratio provides the means to assess the variation for Taipei Silty Clay in the measured damping ratio with both the number of cycles and the strain amplitude.     

正常固结饱和粘性土的不排水强度

本文以有效应力强度理论和Henkel孔隙水压力公式为基础,建立了各种类三轴与平面应变试验条件下正常固结饱和粘土的不排水强度公式及相互关系;初步估计了粘土强度随固结增长的计算公式.     

A simplified approach for studying the influence of vertical accelerations on seismic response of slopes

ABSTRACT

A simplified approach is presented for estimating permanent displacements in slopes as a result of both vertical and horizontal seismic accelerations. A study of 52 earthquake records showed that the time difference between maximum horizontal and vertical accelerations varied between 0 and 10.3 s. The approach is illustrated for an earth dam embankment by analysing the effects of five of the above earthquake records. The approach combines a pseudo-static slope stability analysis for estimation of the critical (or yield) horizontal-vertical acceleration combinations, and a Newmark type displacement analysis. Guidelines are presented for conservative choice of soil strength parameters of saturated clays for use in the stability analysis. While permanent displacements of up to 40 cm were predicted without considering the vertical acceleration component, no additional displacement above 3.5 cm resulted when this component was included. The predicted additional displacement was consistently less than 10%, and in 50% of the analyses, vertical acceleration led to smaller predicted displacements. The simple approach may be applied in analysis for any slope using real earthquake records. Using existing, empirical expressions for permanent displacement, based only on horizontal accelerations, the effect of the vertical accelerations may be conservatively estimated by increasing the displacement by 10%.     

An iterative pressure‐stabilized fractional step algorithm in saturated soil dynamics

This paper presents an iterative, incremental pressure‐stabilized fractional step algorithm for coupled hydro‐mechanical problems with mixed formulations of the displacement–pressure ( u –p) model in saturated soil dynamics that allows the use of finite elements with equal low order of interpolation approximation of u and p. In comparison with the original fractional step algorithm, the distinct features of the proposed algorithm lie in its enhanced stability owing to the introduction of both an iteration procedure and a finite increment calculus (FIC) process into the algorithm. The introduction of the iterative procedure makes the velocity term satisfy the momentum conservation equation in an implicit sense and allows much larger time step sizes to be used than those limited in existing explicit and semi‐implicit versions of the algorithm. The introduction of the FIC process removes the dependence of the stability of the proposed algorithm on the time step size, as a result it allows to using the incremental version of the algorithm and evades the minimum time step size requirement presented in the existing versions of the fractional step algorithm that restricts the application of the algorithm to saturated soil dynamics problems with high frequencies. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and improved performance of the proposed iterative pressure‐stabilized fractional step algorithm. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.