Thermo-hydro-mechanical modeling of unsaturated soils using isogeometric analysis: Model development and application to strain localization simulation

This study presents a thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) model of unsaturated soils using isogeometric analysis (IGA). The framework employs Bézier extraction to connect IGA to the conventional finite element analysis (FEA), featuring the current study as one of the first attempts to develop an IGA-FEA framework for solving THM problems in unsaturated soils. IGA offers higher levels of interelement continuity making it an attractive method for solving highly nonlinear problems. The governing equations of linear momentum, mass, and energy balance are coupled based on the averaging procedure within the hybrid mixture theory. The Drucker-Prager yield surface is used to limit the modified effective stress where the model follows small strain, quasi-static loading conditions. Temperature dependency of the surface tension is implemented in the soil-water retention curve. Nonuniform rational B-splines (NURBS) basis functions are used in the standard Galerkin method and weak formulations of the balance equations. Displacement, capillary pressure, gas pressure, and temperature are four independent quantities that are approximated by NURBS in spatial discretization. The framework is used to simulate strain localization in an undrained dense sand subjected to plane strain biaxial compression under different temperatures and displacement velocities. Results show that an increase in the displacement rate leads to reduction in the equivalent plastic strain while an increase in the temperature leads to an increase in the equivalent plastic strain. The findings suggest that the proposed IGA-based framework offers a viable alternative for solving THM problems in unsaturated soils.