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Plaxis finite element code for soil and rock analyses
Simulation of a volcano in PlaxisStructural reliability analysis of deep excavations
Numerical simulation of a trial wall on expansive soil in Sudan
Application of the ground anchor facility in Plaxis 3D Foundation
issue 21 / March 2007Plaxis Bulletin
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�
the Plaxis Bulletin is the combined magazine of Plaxis B.V. and the Plaxis Users
association (nl). the Bulletin focuses on the use of the finite element method in geotech-
nical engineering practise and includes articles on the practical application of the Plaxis
programs, case studies and backgrounds on the models implemented in Plaxis.
the Bulletin offers a platform where users of Plaxis can share ideas and experiences with
each other. the editors welcome submission of papers for the Plaxis Bulletin that fall in
any of these categories.
the manuscript should preferably be submitted in an electronic format, formatted as
plain text without formatting. it should include the title of the paper, the name(s) of the
authors and contact information (preferably email) for the corresponding author(s). the
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the author should ensure that the article is written clearly for ease of reading.
in case figures are used in the text, it should be indicated where they should be placed
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any correspondence regarding the Plaxis Bulletin can be sent by email to
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Editorial Board:
Wout BroereRonald BrinkgreveErwin Beerninkarny lengkeek
coverphoto: Building Pit sixhaven, noord/Zuidlijn metro, amsterdam
Colophon
Editorial
New Developments
Plaxis PracticeSimulation of a
volcano in Plaxis
Plaxis PracticeStructural reliability
analysis of deep excavations
Plaxis PracticeNumerical simulation
of a trial wall on expansive soil in Sudan
Plaxis PracticeApplication of the ground
anchor facility in Plaxis 3D Foundation
Recent Activities
Activities 2007
3
4
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the first application involves a study after the stability of the cumbre Vieja volcano
at the island of la Palma. in contrast to what has been suggested in a world famous
television documentary, the results of this study show that there is no danger for a big
slide or resulting tsunami in the near future.
talking about ‘dangers’, the second application shows how Plaxis can be used in
structural reliability calculations using probabilistic methods. in this respect, failure is
not primarily defined as collapse of the soil structure, but may also be defined in terms
of structural forces or displacements obtained from the finite element calculations. the
article shows that probabilistic analysis using Plaxis is quite feasible.
the third application demonstrates the use of a new model for partially saturated soil.
the application involves a combination of transient groundwater flow calculations using
Plaxflow, and deformation analysis using Plaxis version 8. it is concluded that care must
be taken with the use of suction in deformation or stability calculations.
the fourth application is a validation example of the ground anchor facility in the new
Plaxis 3d foundation program that will be released soon. the results show that it is
an efficient way to model ground anchors under working load conditions. However, it is
emphasized that the ground anchor facility should not be used to evaluate a pull-out
force. When going towards failure, results become quite mesh dependent.
all together, we think that the current Bulletin contains enough interesting information,
which may also encourage you to submit your own contribution next time. We wish you a
fruitful reading experience and look forward to receive more documented projects for the
coming bulletins.
the editors
Editorial
in the last year we have seen a continuing increase of Plaxis-related activities.
The prospect for 2007 is even better; see the agenda at the end of this Bulletin.
The increase in 2D and 3D geotechnical finite element calculations has led to
some interesting innovative applications in this Bulletin.
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New Developments
Ronald Brinkgreve, Plaxis BV
New Developments
the development of advanced but practical models to simulate soil behaviour has always
played an important role in the Plaxis developments. over the years, advanced models
have become available, while maintaining the Plaxis philosophy that such models must
have clear and understandable parameters. subsequently, more and more users have
made the step to learn about these advanced models, to select the corresponding model
parameters and to apply them in practical finite element calculations. all together it has
led to an improvement of the predictive capabilities of the finite element method in the
geotechnical engineering practice.
in fact, model development is an ongoing activity. the latest model that has been added
to the family is the Hardening soil model with small-strain stiffness [1]. this addition
is not only relevant for dynamic applications (wave propagation, hysteretic damping),
but it also improves the prediction of settlements as a result of excavations. moreover,
using small-strain stiffness makes finite element results less dependent on the precise
position of the model boundaries, provided that a sufficiently large part of the geometry
is taken into account in the finite element model [�]. all this is obtained for only two extra
(compared to the standard Hsm) model parameters: the small-strain shear stiffness, G0,
and the shear strain at which the secant shear stiffness has reduced to 70% of G0. the
Hssmall model is available for all users that participate in the Plaxis renewable license
programmes.
in the remainder of this column i like to mention some other material model
developments that are going on and that we consider to make available in the (near)
future for those who are interested. first of all, in addition to the Hssmall model, we will
be working on a real cyclic loading model. this model will include the accumulation of
volumetric straining in multiple load cycles. in combination with undrained behaviour it
will also lead to liquefaction type of behaviour, although real liquefaction would require a
more complicated model with softening. moreover, within the network of universities and
institutes where Plaxis collaborates with, work is being performed on unsaturated soil
models, anisotropic creep models, anisotropic undrained strength models,
structured clay models, hypo-plastic models and other small-strain models. some of
these have already been developed as user-defined soil models and are available on
special request. for further details see the Plaxis web site (services > Udsm).
Historically speaking, Plaxis has always been strong in the modelling of soft soils.
nevertheless, since Plaxis is used nowadays all over the world under different
geological conditions (see for example the la Palma application further in this
Bulletin) there is an increasing demand for rock models. in this respect, the well-known
generalized Hoek-Brown model has been recently implemented as a user-defined model.
a particular feature of the Hoek-Brown model is the curved failure envelope with increasing
confining pressure, in combination with a tensile strength for strong cohesive materials.
this leads to difficulties to make the model compatible with typical Plaxis features like phi-c
reduction, but this difficulty has been overcome, as demonstrated by Benz et.al. [3]. later
this year, the Hoek-Brown model will be made operational as a standard model in Plaxis.
to give users insight in the behaviour of new models we will integrate them in
Plaxis courses on computational Geotechnics and in the new soil test facility.
We are convinced that this will lead to a further improvement of the quality of
geotechnical finite element calculations.
References[1] Benz, t. (�006). small-strain stiffness of soils and its numerical consequences.
Ph.d. thesis. institut für Geotechnik, Universität stuttgart.
[�] Brinkgreve r.B.J., Bakker k.J., Bonnier P.G. (�006). the relevance of small-strain
stiffness in excavation and tunnelling projects. in: H.f. schweiger (ed.) numerical
methods in Geotechnical engineering. taylor & francis. 133-139.
[3] Benz t, kauther r., schwab r (�006). simulation of a large excavation using a
Hoek-Brown model. in: H.f. schweiger (ed.) numerical methods in Geotechnical
engineering. taylor & francis. 513-518.
corrected reference on embedded beam element in previous new developments column
(Bulletin �0): [1] sadek m., shahrour i. (�00�). a three-dimensional embedded beam
element for reinforced geomaterials. int. J. num. anal. meth. Geomech. �8, 931-9�6.
σ σ
figure 1 Hoek-Brown failure criterion
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Simulation of a volcano in Plaxis
Janneke van Berlo, M. sc. student, Delft University of Technology
Introductionmodelling of slope stability is a common practice in Plaxis. modelling of a volcanic edifice of
16 km wide and � km high however, required some pioneering in the familiar finite element
package. for geological processes such as magma intrusion and water expansion, Plaxis
offers no ready made features. nevertheless this article will show that with creative use of
the program one can accomplish more than might be expected on first sight.
the island of san miguel de la Palma is the most north-western island of the canary
islands archipelago, situated about �00 km from the coast of central morocco.
the south-western part of the island, which is formed by the cumbre Vieja volcano has
been considered to be more or less unstable by various authors (ancochea et all, 199�;
carracedo et al, 1999; day et al, 1999). (figure 1) Ward and day (�001) even forecast that
an effective collapse of the island may cause a tsunami in the altantic ocean.
this research emcompassed quantifying the likelyness that the supposed la Palma
landslide will actually take place. the (boundary) conditions under which the West flank
of the cumbre Vieja volcano could start sliding have been investigated. moreover the time
lapse from the present day to the day such mass movement would occur was assessed.
the purpose of this article is to inform the reader about the specific problems encountered
during the modelling of a volcano and the applied solutions. at the same time the results
of the research objectives will be discussed briefly.
figure 1 satellite view of la Palma with indication of modelled area
The geometry of the mountainin order to construct a full cross-section through the mountain, at least 16 km of
modelling space was required. on the other hand, the drawing space is limited to
10 km. But with the origin in the centre, both positive and negative coordinates up
to 10 km can be used. Because modelling was carried out in �d, a least stable cross
section through the edifice was chosen. figure � shows the layout of the cross section.
the asymmetry of the cross section stands out: a significant part of the eastern flank has
not been modelled. this is because the eastern flank contains a relatively weak layer of
sediments that were deposited there after a previous giant collapse of the island about 560
thousand years ago. this layer is called ‘Post collapse sequence’ or ‘Post collapse
sediment’ (Pcs) and is depicted in yellow in figure �. it is to be expected that this layer
governs the failure mechanism. earlier modelling in a fully symmetric cross section
confirmed this prospect.
figure � the layout of the model
Geotechnical properties of the rocksdue to its volcanic character la Palma almost entirely consists of rocks. But the one
major soil unit present at the island (the Pcs, indicated in yellow in figure �) indeed
governs the stability situation. the rocks on the island are often characterized by a mixed
character on scales too small for modelling. examples are found on the volcano flanks
in the geotechnical unit ‘cumbre Vieja lava & Breccia’ and in the riftzone rocks (figure
�). the parameters representing these zones have been chosen to be averaged values of
the rocks present there. modelling has been carried out with the use of two datasets. the
first one representing an average or ‘standard’ state of rock mass properties, the second
one representing a ‘worst case’ of rock mass properties. from these data appropriate
parameters for the mohr-coulomb model were selected. table 1 depicts a summary of the
‘worst case’ rock mass parameters.
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Continuation
Simulation of a volcano in Plaxis
Plaxis Practice
table 1. summary of worst case parameter data set
Parameter Unit lava & PCs Pyroclasts Dykes Volcaniclasts Breccia (submarine)d mn/m3 0.0177 0.016 0.01� 0.0�5 0.0133
w mn/m 0.0180 0.017 0.016 0.0�6 0.0136
n - 0.�5 0.35 0.�5 0.�5 0.�5
e50 mPa - 1�5 1�95 �9867 -
º 30 �5 �5 37 �6
c mPa 5.8 0.01 �.1 9 3.9
σtm mPa -0.07� -0.006 -0.016 -0.13� -0.039
em mPa 7913 - - 13335 �519
σtm and em are parameters according to the Hoek-Brown formulation
σtm = tensile strength
em = deformation modulus
Modelling of geological and volcanological processesthe program has been made fit to address volcano growth, varying ground water
levels, extreme pore pressure or explosions and dike-shaped magma intrusions. the
next paragraphs will briefly describe the way these processes and structures have been
incorporated.
Volcano Growththe historical growth of the cumbre Vieja volcano has been simulated in stages. in each
stage, about 100m of magmatic rocks are put on top of the edifice. the growth has
been simulated this way, because the influence of the loading path on the final stress
distribution in the edifice was not known. thus the volcano has been slowly built up, up to
the height that it currently has. from this point on the model was extended with possible
future processes and future growth. the height of the water table is updated along with
every stage of growth.
Pore pressures and explosions due to heating of pore water around intrusion in the riftzonea volcanic dyke is a tabular intrusion of magma that cuts across the bedding of
the country rock. an intruding dyke can heat up surrounding water which is trapped
between vertical impermeable dykes. subsequently the water may expand and when
experiencing little counter pressure, cause explosions. although it is plausible that
some of the produced forces are deviated in horizontal direction, experience shows that
great amounts of heated pore water escape in vertical direction through the riftzone. after
all, the vertically zoned pyroclastic rocks in the riftzone will expose less resistance to
pressure than the dykes and lavas that are governing the horizontal direction.
in reality pressurized pore water will move, escape vertically and not be bounded
inside a specific area. When expanding and migrating water cannot dissipate and when
counter pressure is small, explosions occur. Plaxis cannot simulate the migration of water.
instead the pressures are imposed on the model by means of insertion of manually
defined pore pressures on top of the normal hydrostatic pore pressures. the increased pore
pressures have been placed in a limited space in the subsurface. the material data sets
in the pressurized areas have been temporarily replaced by material sets with a very low
elastic modulus. thus pressures can be transmitted to surrounding rocks through
occurring deformations. Hence, a worst case approach has been adapted (as if it
were that the water is blocked in vertical direction e.g. by a sill). two of these limited
areas have been investigated; one simulating a heat source above sea level and another
simulating a heat source below sea level. a range of these pressures have been modelled
in Plaxis until failure of the model occurred.
Dyke intrusiona strong dyke intrusion could fill a fissure from the sea bottom to about 100 m below
the crest of the riftzone. in lateral sense, it is known that during an eruprion of the
cumbre Vieja volcano in 19�9, a fissure of at least 800 m, but more likely �000m
existed (day et al, 1999). When a dyke intrudes into the riftzone, two mechanisms
contribute to a weakening of the volcanic edifice. firstly the weight of the magma exerts a
magmastatic pressure on its surroundings (figure 3). secondly, the magma cannot resist
shear stress and will therefore immediately be the weakest material unit in the model,
thus introducing a potential zone of failure.
figure 3 illustration of the stress difference in a fluid and in a rock mass
in a modelled representation of an intrusion the dyke would ideally be introduced as a
“fluid cluster” instead of a soil cluster. this “fluid cluster” would contain the proper
features to both simulate the equi-directional pressure forces of the magma fluid and
the specific weight of the magma. However the only fluid available in the Plaxis software
is water, so a real magma material cannot be introduced in the program. therefore the
area of the dyke has been assigned an infill of water only. at the same time, a horizontal
prescribed load of 0.017 mn/m�/m has been imposed on the sides of the dyke in order to
make up for the density difference between water and magma (γmagma is approximately
0.0�7 mn/m3.
check: Pwater + magmastatic = γmagma; 0.010 + 0.017 = 0.0�7 mPa). see figure �.
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Plaxis Practice
figure �. layout of the prescribed load system that simulates a magmastatic dyke pressure
Future volcano growthapart from eruption mechanisms that may destabilize the western flank of the volcano
any further, a process of different nature would be a more steady and certain destabilizer.
this mechanism is further accumulation of lavas at the top part of the volcano. former
landslides at la Palma have been estimated to occur at greater heights and slopes than
the cumbre Vieja has currently reached. heights of �000-3000 m, with flanks consistently
exceeding �0° and frequently even 30-35°. for comparison: the cumbre Vieja volcano is
now 1900 m high at its peak, but on average 1700 m. the dips of its slopes vary from 16°
to �0°. the possible future growth has simply been added in the model by a continuation
of lava streams on top of the topography of the current cumbre Vieja volcano.
Resultsin a situation where gravity only acts on the volcano body in its current configuration,
the factor of safety is 1.70 under a standard parameter set and decreases to 1.��
under a worst case parameter set. similar results were also obtained earlier using a
conventional limit equilibrium method. Hence under its own weight the edifice is not prone
to collapse. the failure mechanism along the weak sediments under the western
volcano flank, however, is already clearly visible (figure 5). even in this situation of
relative stability, about 9 m of displacement has taken place along the volcano crest.
a mayor fissure which formed in 19�9 at the crest of the volcano, may be the result of
such accomodative displacement. formerly scientists have postulated that this 19�9
fissure was an indication of instability. from the results of this work however, one
may conclude differently. the presence of the fissures has been confirmed by the
calculations, but they are more likely the result of deformation only than of a collapse
situation. future growth of the cumbre Vieja is the most effective agent to trigger
the potential landslide. on average, the factor of safety is decreased with 0.1 with every
�00 m of growth. according to this model, due to growth only it would take in the order
of magnitude of tens of thousands of years to trigger a massive flank collapse.
figure 5. total displacements due to historical growth only. the plane of weakness is
formed by a sequence of Post collapse sediments.
the pore water heating mechanism is an effective agent to disrupt the volcano.
nevertheless it does not cause the landslide as feared by many. instead, as may be
expected, this mechanism causes a collapse of the top of the volcano that is blown
upward, in the same way as often observed during volcanic eruptions that involve
water. figure 6 shows how mohr-coulomb and tensions cut-off points are concentrated in
the riftzone. Under the extreme pressures that have been modelled here, the flank also
develops an almost interconnected chain of mohr-coulomb points. yet, the preferential
path of rupture develops in the central zone.
the magmastatic pressure of an intruding dyke can have a significant influence on the
factor of safety (fs) of the potential landslide body, with a reduction of the fs up to 0.�.
Conclusion on modelling and research goalsPlaxis has proven to be suitable to simulate a volcano of significant size and complex
rock structure. in particular, two volcanic processes have been simulated: thermal
pore pressure development due to heat radiation of an intruding magma body and
magmastatic pressure of a dyke. the former can be simulated by a combination of
the manual pore pressure feature working on a fully elastic infill material. the density
of the latter has been simulated by a prescribed load acting on a body of water.
an eruption during the next several human generations is not expected to cause a
landslide hazard at the cumbre Vieja volcano. the eruption forces cannot generate enough
momentum to trigger failure in a 3d situation. However, after further volcano growth in
the far future, when significant extra gravity forces act on the edifice, the eruption forces
may be able to trigger a landslide. this will, however, take place in a time span of not
less than 10.000 years.
W E
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figure 6 failure points in the riftzone as a result of thermal pore pressures. the thermal
pore pressures form due to heat radiation of deep seated magma intrusions.
Continuation
Simulation of a volcano in Plaxis
Referencesancochea e et all. (199�) constructive and destructive episodes in the building of a young
oceanic island, la Palma, canary islands, and genesis of the caldera de taburiente,
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal research, 60, ��3-�6�
carracedo Jc et all. (1999) later stages of volcanic evolution of la Palma, canary islands:
rift evolution, giant landslides, and the genesis of the caldera de taburiente, Geological
society of america Bulletin, 111 (no. 5), 755-768
day sJ et all. (1999) recent structural evolution of the cumbre Vieja volcano,
la Palma, canary islands: volcanic rift zone reconfiguration as a precursor to volcano flank
instability?, Journal of volcanology and geothermal research, 9� (issues 1-�), 135-167
masson dG et al (�00�) slope failures on the flanks of the western canary islands,
earth-scx. reviews, 57, 1-35
Ward sn, day s (�001) cumbre Vieja Volcano -- Potential collapse and tsunami at
la Palma, canary islands, Geophysical research letters, �8 (17), 3397-3�00
White Jdl; schmincke HU (1999) Phreatomagmatic eruptive and depositional
processes during the 19�9 eruption on la Palma (canary islands), Journal of volcanology
and geothermal research, 9�, �83-30�
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Structural reliability analysis of deep excavations
Timo schweckendiek, TU Delft,Wim Courage, TNO Built Environment and Geosciences
Introductionthe finite element method is nowadays widely used in structural design, both for the
servicebility limit state (sls) and also for the Ultimate limit state (Uls). especially
the Uls design rules are based on the idea of ensuring sufficient structural reliability,
which is usually expressed in a maximum admissible failure probability. this is commonly
achieved by prescribing design rules and establishing partial safety factors. these
load and resistance factors are calibrated for a wide range of typical cases with typical
dimensions. for more extraordinary cases it could be that the application of these
concepts leads to extremely conservative or possibly also to unconservative designs.
the presented approach enables us to use the optimization potential for these
case. furthermore, the determination of failure probabilities is a substantial and
indispensable element in modern risk-based design strategies (see fig. 1).
figure 1. risk-based design concepts
in this article we present a way of determining the structural reliability respectively
the failure probability by means of probabilisitic calculations directly. to this end
Plaxis is coupled with the generic probabilistic toolbox ‘ProBox’, developed by tno Built
environment and Geosciences. ProBox enables us to carry out a reliability analysis
using Plaxis in a fully automatized manner. We will also show that, in contrast to common
prejudices, probabilistic analysis does not necessarily require thousands or millions of
calculations as e.g. the monte carlo method, if we use more advanced and more efficient
reliability techniques.
Structural Reliabilitythe task of the engineer in structural design is to ensure that the resistance (r) of the
structure is larger than the load (s) it is exhibited to. Both quantities usually imply several
variables, e.g. soil parameters, geometrical dimensions or forces. the magnitude of most
of these quantities is uncertain. to ensure the safety of a structure it is common nowadays
for most types of structures to apply partial safety factors to the load and resistance
variables (lrfd: load and resistance factor design). this design approach is meant
and calibrated to ensure a certain minimum reliability level, i.e. that the probability of
structural failure is sufficiently low.
figure �. Partial safety factors vs. fully Probabilistic
an essential task in structural reliability analysis is thus the determination of failure
probabilities. to this end the first thing to do is the definition of failure. this failure
definition does not necessarily have to mean structural collapse, but an unwanted event
or state of the structure. in general, failure is defined as the load exceeding the strength.
an example for an excavation with a sheet pile retaining wall would be the that the
bending moment exceeds the elastic or plastic moment of the sheet pile, respectively that
the stresses in the pile exceed the yield strength or the ultimate strength of the steel.
for the analysis we have to define a limit state function (Z). this function is the
mathematical description of our failure definition. it implies all relevant load and
resistance variables. a negative Z-value (Z<0) corresponds to failure, whereas a positive
value (Z>0) to the desired state. a simple example for a limit state function is
Z = R - swhere r is the structural resistance and s is the load. consequently, when the load
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exceeds the strength (s>r -> Z<0) we obtain failure.
to obtain the failure probability we have to use furthermore the statistical information of
the variables. in essence, we integrate the probability density over the failure domain:
the reliability is the converse of the probability of failure. it is often expressed in terms
of the reliability index:
where Φ-1 is the inverse cumulative normal distribution. for low values of b one can
approximate the failure probability by Pf = 10b.
Functionality of Proboxthe program ProBox allows us to carry out this complex operation of determining the
failure probability with advanced and efficient methods of high accuracy (level ii and
level iii), amongst which:
- form / sorm
- crude monte carlo
- directional sampling / dars
- increased Variance sampling
- numerical integration
figure 3. screenshot Probox
Structural reliability analysis of deep excavations
Continuation
for the model input statistics several distribution types can be used, like e.g. normal,
lognormal or extreme value distributions. the correlations among the variables can be
accounted for in form of a correlation matrix.
the strength of ProBox is the possibility of using external models for reliability analysis.
for example the influence of corrosion on a sheet pile structure can be analyzed by using
a corrosion model for the strength reduction part, whilst the load on the wall would be
determined by Plaxis.
ProBox has already been used in combination with:
- fem-codes (diana, PlaXis, catpro)
- matlab
- excel
- other stand-alone applications (sobek, ozone, etc.)
- user-defined dll’s (fortran, c, c++, Java)
the most relevant results of an analysis with ProBox are the probability of failure Pf ,
the reliability coefficient and the influence coefficients expressing the influence of each
stochastic variable on the analyzed limit state b. the results can also be visualized in
form of scatter plots, histograms or line plots.
Coupling Probox - Plaxisthe reliability analysis is fully controlled by ProBox. Plaxis is used to evaluate the
limit state function for a parameter combination which is determined by the reliability
algorithm. in other words, the Plaxis analysis allows us to decide wether a certain
parameter combination would lead to structural failure or not.
figure �. coupling scheme ProBox-Plaxis
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the scheme in figure � illustrates how the coupling between ProBox and Plaxis works.
in first instance one has to build the structural model in Plaxis. in ProBox you assign
statistical properties to material properties like e.g. soil parameters or load
characteristics that reflect their uncertainty. the reliability algorithm defines for each
limit state function evaluation the parameter combination that has to be evaluated with
the Plaxis model. the according Plaxis input files are manipulated, before the calculation
is started. after the fem-analysis ProBox reads the relevent results from the output files.
this procedure is repeated until the convergence or stop criteria of the chosen reliability
method are reached.
Examplethe following example of a sheet pile wall with one anchor layer in soft soil will illustrate
the presented ideas.
figure 5. example Geometry
the soil properties and the distributions of the soil parameters are listed in table 1. Based
on the problem geometry and these soil parameters a deterministic design was made,
based on the dutch technical recommendations for sheet pile structures (cUr 166). the
obtained structural dimensions are also indicated in figure 5.
the choice of distribution functions in table 1 is partially based on avoiding illposed
problems. a lognormal distribution cannot assume values smaller than 0 and a Beta
distribution has a lower and an upper limit and is therefore well suited for parameters
such as the Poisson ratio.
in this example we want to determine the probability of failure of the sheet pile
itself. the simplest way to do so would be to determine the probability that the design
moment md is exceeded. the according limit state function would be:
Z = Md - M = Wel * fy - M
where Wel is the elastic section modulus, fy is the yield strength and m is the bending
moment calculated in Plaxis. one could also use a plastic moment, when plastic hinges
are allowed.
this expression can be refined by accounting for the axial forces in the wall as well.
in this case we can determine the probability that the yield strength fy is exceeded using
the limit state function:
Z = fy - σ = fy - (M/Wel + F/a)
where the stress σ is composed of the bending moment m, the section modulus Wel ,
table 1. soil Parameter distributions
1,328 [kPa] 733.2 [kPa]0.396 [-]0.335 [-]18.64 [kN/m³]13.58 [kN/m³]20.48 [deg]23.78 [deg]33.90 [deg]13.69 [kPa]7.36 [kPa]0.474 [-]0.608 [-]
table �. results reliability analysis sheet Pile failure
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the axial force f and the cross sectional area a. this expression has the additional
advantage that e.g the influence of corrosion can be accounted for via changes in the
geometrical properties of the sheet pile Wel and a easily.
the results of a reliability analysis, in which the relevant soil properties were treated as
stochastic quantities, are listed in table �. the analysis was carried out with a form
algorithm. 99 evaluations of the limit state function were carried out, i.e. the Plaxis model
was evaluated 99 times. for this relatively simple model this resulted in a calculation
time of only approximately 30 minutes. the results were furthermore checked against
‘exact’ level three calculations, which gave similar results. these were carried out with
directional sampling and required 655 model evaluations. considering the low failure
probability a crude monte carlo simulation would not be feasible within reasonable time,
since the required number of Plaxis calculations would be in the order of 10+7.
the target reliability index of class ii
structure designed with the cUr 166
recommendations is b = 3.�. Using
this approach we calculate a higher
reliability (b =�.�). the structural design
is thus conservative for this limit state.
there might be room for optimization. the
influence coefficients in table � and
figure 6 give us information about the
importance of the parameters involved.
there are two contributions in this
influence measure, the sensitivity of
the model to a certain variable and the
amount of uncertainty in the same
parameter. a positive value of indicates
a positive influence on the limit state
(and the reliability index), whereas a
negative value indicates a negative
influence. the design point is the most
likely combination of parameters leading
to failure (highest probability density).
for this specific example the stiffness
parameters of the clay layer apparently
dominate the load on the wall. the
influence factors α² from figure 6 give
information about the contribution of
the variables to the total uncertainty.
considering the definition of the
influence factor that means that
Structural reliability analysis of deep excavations
Continuation
e.g. decreasing the uncertainty in these stiffness properties by additional soil
investigation could increase the reliability considerably.
figures 7 and 8 show the principal effective stresses in the design point. the design
point is the parameter combination with highest probability density that leads to failure.
especially from figure 8 can be concluded that the shear strength in the soil behind
the wall is mobilized to a very low degree. the problem is thus still fully elastic
(the calculations were carried out with the mohr-coulomb model.). that explains why the
strength parameters of the soil play a minor role for this limit state.
this was just an example of results of a reliability analysis and possible conclusions
for the optimization of the problem. the outcomes of such an analysis contain a lot of
useful information that can be used either for design refinements or in risk-based design
approaches.
figure 6. influence factors α�
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figure 7. Principal effective stresses (design Point sheet Pile failure)
figure 8. relative shear (design Point sheet Pile failure)figure 6. influence factors α�
Conclusionsfully probabilistic reliability analysis can be carried
out with the presented framework with reasonable
modeling and computational effort.
this type of analysis allows us to calculate the
reliability of a structure directly. this information
can be used for optimization purposes, in risk-based
design concepts and for the calibration of partial
safety factors in design codes.
- the influence coefficients as result of the analysis
provide useful information for optimization purposes
and also for the physical understanding of the model
behavior close to failure.
AcknowlegdementsWe want to thank Plaxis bv, especially dr. Paul
Bonnier, for their support during this research.
ReferencesBrinkgreve, Broere, Waterman, ‘Plaxis 8.� manual,
�006.
ditlevsen, o.d., ‘stuctural reliability methods’,
John Wiley & sons, chichester, Uk, 1996, edition 1.
ProBox, ‘a Generic Probabilistic toolbox’, more
information and trial-version availbale on:
www.tno.nl/probox
schweckendiek, t., ‘structural reliability applied
to deep excavations’, msc-thesis, tU delft,
the netherlands, �006. (www.citg.tudelft.nl)
Waarts, P.H., ‘structural reliability Using finite
element methods’, Phd thesis, tU delft,
the netherlands, �000.
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Numerical simulation of a trial wall on expansive soil in Sudan
ayman abed, stuttgart University
Introductionthe expansive soil shows obvious volumetric changes under changing moisture
conditions. these volumetric deformations usually result in differential movements
of shallow foundations resting on it. consequently, structural damages could happen
if no special measures would have been taken during the design process. this article
illustrates the possibility to predict such movements using PlaXis provided that a
suitable constitutive model for unsaturated soil behaviour is used.
Trial Wall on Expansive Soilnine trial walls were built on swelling soil in Barakat site in sudan. the area is known for
its highly expansive soil. the test were carried out in order to investigate the effect of soil
replacement on the walls vertical movement [saeed �00�]. the walls are made of brick
(1 1/� brick) with a length of 1.� m and a height of 1.9 m above the ground level. the
foundation depth is 0.6 m. a schematic representation of the walls with their dimensions
is given in figure 1. the expansive soil underneath the walls was replaced with different
materials namely a1, a�, a3, B1, B�, B3, c1, c� and c3 where:
a1: plain concrete, a�: reinforced concrete with �0 % voids, a3: Big stones, B1: �5 cm of
cohesive nonexpansive soil (cns), B�: 50 cm of cns, B3: 75 cm of cns, c1: natural soil,
c�: natural soil with 6 % lime, c3: sand.
the soil was then exposed to two successive wetting-drying cycles for a period of
about 18 months. detailed data about the vertical displacements of the trial walls is
reported by [saeed �00�], figure � presents only the displacements of the wall c1 with no
replacement as the purpose of this study is to simulate the behaviour of the expansive
soil itself. on investigating the measurements one finds that the test has four stages.
the first one is a wetting phase of about �70 days resulting in a total heave of about
6.0 cm. the wetting phase was followed by a drying phase of 90 days resulting in �.5 cm
of shrinkage. the second wetting stage lasted 1�7 days and resulted in �.5 cm of heave,
which indicates an elastic behaviour by recovering the settlement in the previous drying
phase in almost similar time. the final phase was relatively short of about 50 days and
resulted in 0.5 cm of shrinkage.
figure 1. Geometrical details of the walls
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Plaxis Practice Plaxis Practice
figure �. measured displacements of the wall c1 as provided by [saeed �00�]
Soil Propertiesthe soil is classified as a clayey silt with a liquid limit ll = 68% and a plastic index
Pi = 36%. the 1-d compression results in figure 3 shows that the soil is overconsolidated
and it has a modified compression index l* = cc / �.3 = 0.098 and a modified swelling
index k* ≈ cs / �.3 = 0.03. the high k value is typical for an expansive soil. other available
soil properties are listed in table 1.
figure 3. one dimensional compression results
table 1. other soil properties
f’ c’ σ’p ksat γb
30o 0.0 105 kPa 0.0� m/day 17.6 kn/m3
where f’: soil friction angle
c’: effective cohesion
ksat: saturated permeability
γb: humid unit weight
σ’p: preconsolidation pressure
Material Model for SoilBarcelona Basic model [alonso & Gens 1990] is used as a constitutive model in this
work. the model adopts the idea of two independent stress measures namely, the net
stress σ* and the suction s. the net stress is defined as the difference between the total
stress σ and the pore air pressure ua whereas suction is the difference between pore air
pressure ua and pore water pressure uw. in what follows the air pressure is assumed to be
atmospheric everywhere in the soil which means that the net stress in this special case
is simply the total stress and the suction is equal to -uw. the model is an extension of the
modified cam clay model by adding the effect of suction on soil strength and stiffness.
at full saturation, when suction = 0, the model coincides with the modified cam clay
model.
on drying the soil (increasing the suction), a capillary cohesion develops and
consequently the yield ellipse grows into the tension region with a rate equal to the model
parameter a as it shown in figure �.a. the soil preconsolidation pressure pp increases
as well. it can be related to the preconsolidation pressure at full saturation ppo through
the following formula
ppo
lo - k
pp = pc . ( pc ) l - k (1)
where pc is a reference pressure and
l=l∞-(l∞-lo).e-b.s (�)
(a) (b)
figure �. the yield surface of Barcelona Basic model
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l is the suction dependent compression index. Hence, for full saturation we have
s = 0, l = lo and pp = ppo. the larger the suction, the smaller the compression index l. in
the limit for s = ∞ the above expression yields l=l∞. the constant b controls the rate
of decrease of the compression index with suction.
When the deviatoric stress q = 0, the yield surface of Barcelona Basic model degenerates
to the so-called loading-collapse curve as it clear in figure �.a where p* and q are the
stress invariants being defined as
1
p* = 3 (σ*1+σ*�+σ*3)-ua ;
1q = � (σ*1 -σ*�)
� + (σ*� -σ*3)� + (σ*3 -σ*1)
� (3)
for the elastic behaviour, the model assumes that the soil has different stiffness
parameters for changes of net stress and changes of suction. for example starting from
stress state a in figure �.b the soil shows different stiffness depending on whether it is
exposed to net stress change or suction change. in the latter case the soil swelling index
with respect to suction ks controls the soil response while the normal swelling index k
dominates the other case. this model has been implemented into PlaXis finite element
code as a user defined model by [aBed & Vermeer �006] where the full mathematical
description of the model is also presented. the swelling index with respect to suction ks is
the most important parameter in the trial wall case as suction is the only variable during
the test. it is assumed that the reader is aware of the fact that the change of moisture
content and the change of suction are synonym.
Finite Element Calculationsthe calculations involve transient unsaturated flow as well as deformation analyses.
as the calculations are done in an uncoupled way, the unsaturated ground water flow
analyses are done first and the resulted suction fields are used for later deformation
calculations. the PlaXfloW finite element code [BrinkGreVe et al. �003] is used to
simulate the unsaturated groundwater flow and to determine the suction variation
with time. the deformation analyses are done using the Barcelona Basic model as
implemented in the PlaXis finite element code.
Geometry, Boundary and Initial Conditionsfigure 5.a shows the boundary conditions, the initial conditions and the finite element
mesh being used. the ground water calculation is found to be decisive for choosing the
depth of the mesh. no local deformations are expected to take place around the wall
footing, for that reason no further mesh refinement is needed in that region. the ground
water table lies at a depth of 30 m below the ground level. the initial pore water pressure
is assumed to be hydrostatic, with tension above the phreatic line. according to [saeed
�00�], the soil was always soaked with water during wetting phase, which suggests an
infiltration rate equal to the saturated soil permeability ksat. a high evaporation rate of 10
mm/day is applied during the drying phase to account for the observed severe shrinkage.
the applied surface discharge with time is illustrated in figure 5.b. PlaXfloW requires
information about the suction-degree of saturation and the suction-relative permeability
Numerical simulation of a trial wall on expansive soil in Sudan
Continuation
relationships. the first one is known as the soil Water characteristic curve while the
second is the relative permeability function. the term relative permeability stands for
the ratio between soil permeability k at a certain suction level and ksat. Both curves are
shown in figure 6.
(a)
(b)
figure 5. Geometry, boundary and initial conditions
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figure 6. soil Water characteristic curve and relative permeability function
PLAXFLOW outputfigure 7 illustrates the variation of suction and degree of saturation with time underneath
the wall as calculated by PlaXfloW. the suction drops from 300 kPa to about 30 kPa at
the end of the first wetting phase. then it increases again to ��0 kPa at the end of the
first drying phase. then behaviour is repeated in the next wetting-drying cycle. it is also
interesting to see how the degree of saturation is increasing with the decrease of suction
and vice versa. figure 8 presents the calculated suction profiles at the end of the first
wetting phase as well as at the end of the first drying phase. they resembles typical
suction distributions under infiltration and evaporation boundary conditions
figure 7. suction and degree of saturation underneath the wall
figure 8. suction profile at different time steps
Deformation analysessuction values resulted from ground water flow calculations are transferred to PlaXis for
deformation calculations. the material properties in table � are used for the Barcelona
Basic model.
no information is provided about the soil swelling index with respect to suction ks, for
that reason it is the calibration parameter in these calculations. its value is varied
between 0.005 to 0.03 which covers the most common values for this index as mentioned in
literature [fredlUnd & raHardJo 1993]. a value of ks = 0.015 is found to give the best
fit to the field measurements. indeed this value is satisfactory in the sense that it also
reflects the expansive nature of the soil being studied.
on using the material properties as listed in table � the calculated deformations are in
good agreement with measured data as shown in figure 9. the deviation at the end of the
first drying phase suggests that one should use a higher swelling index during shrinkage.
as the model uses the same index for both swelling and shrinking it would be better for
further improvement to use the idea of yielding on the shrinkage path as it proposed also
by the Barcelona Basic model [alonso & Gens 1990] where after a certain suction level
the soil tends to yield with lower stiffness and giving more shrinkage.
table �. Barcelona Basic model parameters
strength parameters stiffness parameters stiffness parameters with respect to suctionf’ 30o lo 0.098 ks 0.015
c’ 0.0 k 0.03 l∞ 0.07
a 0.5 n 0.� b 0.013 kPa-1
pco 97 kPa pc 50 kPa
where n: soil Poisson’s ratio for unloading-reloading
0.0
50. 0
100. 0
150. 0
200. 0
250. 0
300. 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Time [days]
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Deg
ree
of sa
tura
tion
Sr %
Suct
ion
[kPa
]
degree of saturationsuction
considered point
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Plaxis PracticePlaxis Practice
figure 9. calculated versus measured data
Conclusionsthe PlaXfloW-PlaXis interaction offers a nice tool to simulate the mechanical behaviour
of unsaturated soil. in this study PlaXfloW is used to solve suction variation in time
whereas the Barcelona Basic model as implemented in PlaXis is used to calculate the
deformations. it shows clearly how much this procedure is efficient. However, one should
always emphasize on the comprehensive understanding of the constitutive model being
used and its limitations. the use of suction in deformation or stability calculation is
always critical and need special model to handle it. Using it with the wrong model or
without full awareness leads in most cases to a non-conservative estimation.
figure 10. deformed mesh at the end of calculations
Numerical simulation of a trial wall on expansive soil in Sudan
Continuation
References[aBed & Vermeer �006] a. a. aBed, P. a. Vermeer: foundation analyses with
unsaturated soil model for different suction profiles: in proc. sixth european conference
on numerical methods in Geotechnical engineering, Graz, austria.
[alonso & Gens 1990] e. e. alonso, a. Gens, and a. Josa: a constitutive model for
partially saturated soils: Géotechnique (�0), 1990
[BrinkGreVe et al. �003] PlaXfloW User manual: Balkema, rotterdam, �003
[fredlUnd & raHardJo 1993] soil mechanics for Unsaturated soils: John Wiley & sons,
1993
[saeed �00�] i. m. a. saeed: evaluation of improvement techniques for strip foundation
on expansive clay soils in Gezira: master thesis: University of khartoum: sudan, �00�
[Vermeer & BrinkGreVe 1998] PlaXis – finite element code for soil and rock analysis:
Balkema, rotterdam, 1998
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Application of the ground anchor facility in Plaxis 3D Foundation
Franz Tschuchnigg, Helmut schweiger, Graz University of Technology
Introductionthe ground anchor in Plaxis 3d foundation consists of two different parts. the first part
represents the free anchor length and the second part the grout body. the free length
is modelled as a node-to-node anchor, which represents the connection between the
grout body and e.g. a diaphragm wall, and the grout body consists of embedded beam
elements, which are line elements with a special interface to model the grout-soil interaction.
for the definition of the ground anchor eight input values are required (fig. 1).
figure 1: system layout and input values for a ground anchor
the soil-interaction is defined with the two separate values for skin resistance along the
grout body. thus it is possible to define a constant, linear or trapezoidal distribution of
skin resistance. the maximum interaction force between the soil and the grout body is
directly applied in the “interface” of the embedded beam.
it is pointed out that this represents the skin resistance at failure (i.e. when the pull
out force is reached) and that the skin traction distribution below full mobilisation is
influenced by the specified limiting distribution. in reality mobilisation will start at the
top of the grout body and only close to the pull out force (failure) the skin traction at the
bottom should be mobilised. in the embedded pile the mobilisation follows the predefined
shape from the beginning (also at the bottom). However, tests have shown that this does
not have a noticeable influence on the global behaviour of an anchored structure under
working load conditions.
another important point is, that for forces close to the theoretical pull out force numerical
failure may occur due to plasticity in the soil adjacent to the grout body. although this is of
course possible in reality, in the model it may be artificial and caused by the fact that the
grout body is a line element. to overcome this problem in ultimate limit state conditions
it is necessary to work with an enlarged diameter of the grout body. this virtual diameter
of the grout body is defined as follows:
Dvirtual = f * Dreal
in this equation f is the factor for the enlargement, and a value of f in the range of � – �
is suggested. this does not affect the pull out force (this is an input due the input of the
limiting skin resistance and the length of the grout body) and has minor effect on the
behaviour under working load conditions. it follows, and the user must be aware of this,
that when using this option in Plaxis 3d foundation the maximum pull out force is an
inPUt and cannot be oBtained from the analysis.
Deep excavation with prestressed ground anchorsin order to demonstrate the application of the ground anchors in Plaxis 3d foundation,
some results from a practical example, namely a deep excavation in Berlin sand, are
presented. this example was chosen for testing the ground anchor facility under working
load conditions because a �d reference solution was available. the model dimensions and
material sets for the soil layers have been taken from the �d reference solution (fig. �).
figure �: Geometry and subsoil conditions
the diaphragm wall has been modelled as a continuum element (fig. 3), with linear
elastic material behaviour and a stiffness eref=3.0*e7 kn/m�. the hydraulic cut off does
not act as a structural element, the properties are the same as for the soil (sand �0
– �0m).
figure 3: 3d view of the model (�09�� elements)
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Application of the ground anchor facility in Plaxis 3D Foundation
Continuation
to obtain the current porewater distribution inside the excavation the porewater
pressure was defined after each groundwater lowering (with user defined pore pressure
distribution). the ground anchors have different spacing and prestress forces in the
different layers and therefore the anchor rods have different properties. the properties of
the grout body are the same in all rows (table 1).
table 1: Ground anchor properties
aim of the test was to see if the embedded pile model (employed for the grout body) works
well in working load conditions and therefore the skin resistance in the grout body has
been defined about two times the expected axial load in the node-to-node anchor.
in the different calculations the material model, the shape of the limiting skin resistance
and the enlargement of the grout body have been varied (table �).
in the following tables the soil properties for the mc and the Hs-model are summarized.
in calculation 5 the stiffness of the grout body has been changed according to the ratio of
the real diameter (0.1�5m) to the fictitious enlarged diameter (0.1�5*f=0.5m).
Resultsit follows from figure � that neither the variation of the predefined limiting skin
resistance of the grout body nor the f-factor for the enlargement of the grout diameter
have a significant influence on the axial forces predicted under working load conditions.
However the distribution of the mobilised skin traction along the grout body is not what
one would expect in reality (fig. 5). if the mohr coulomb model is employed the results are
slightly different (fig 6).
figure �: axial forces in the first anchor row (calculation 1, �, 3, �, 5)
figure 5: mobilised skin friction and axial force – first anchor row (after excavation �,
calculation 1)
With respect to the horizontal displacements there is a trend that wall deflection
with a linear predefined shape of the skin friction is slightly higher than the one with
constant skin traction distribution. it is also notable that by increasing the f-factors for
the virtual grout body diameter displacements in horizontal direction become smaller.
the differences are in the order of 10%. With the mc-model the highest deformations in
horizontal direction are located around the grout body (fig. 7), whereas with the Hs-model
this is not the case. this effect also occurs with the assignment of a high f-factor.
the settlements behind the diaphragm wall are in the range of 11mm (almost the same
for the different variations) with the Hs model, but with the mc model there is a heave of
more than 1�mm, an effect which is well known.
table �. soil parameters for the Hs-model
table 3. soil parameters for the mc-model
table �. Variations in the different calculations
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Plaxis Practice
figure 6: axial forces in the first anchor row – calculation � vs calculation 6
figure 7: Horizontal displacements – left calculation � (Hs-model), right calculation
6 (mc-model)
Comparison of 3d results with 2d reference solutionin figure 8 axial forces in the first anchor row from calculation � (Hs-model and
f-factor=1) are compared with the axial forces from the �d reference solution. in
Plaxis V8 the grout body of a ground anchor is modelled with geogrid elements. these
elements have an axial stiffness but no bending stiffness. the axial forces from Plaxis
V8 are in the dimension [kn/m] and to compare these results with the 3d analysis it is
necessary to divide the axial forces from Plaxis 3d foundation by the anchor spacing of the
different rows. one can see that the axial forces from the 3d calculations are in a very good
agreement to the reference solution. the deviation of the forces in the node-to-node
anchor between both calculations is less than �%. also the vertical displacements
behind the diaphragm wall from the 3d calculation (fig.9) are very similar to the ones
obtained from the �d solution (both maximum value and distribution).
figure 8: axial forces calculation � vs. �d reference solution
figure 9: Vertical displacements behind the diaphragm wall – comparison reference solu-
tion with calculation �
Conclusionsa deep excavation supported by a diaphragm wall and three rows of anchors has been
analysed utilizing Plaxis 3d foundation with the ground anchor option.
the results from the 3d calculation with the Hs-model compare well to the �d reference
solution (both with respect to anchor forces and displacements) and as a consequence
from the parametric study it can be concluded that it is not necessary to artificially
increase the diameter of the grout body for working load conditions.
concerning the distribution of the skin friction along the grout body, it is obvious that
the mobilisation is not realistic. the reason is, that also at working load conditions the
distribution of the skin friction is strongly influenced by the distribution in the failure
state, which is an input. due to the fact that the limiting skin friction is an input the grout
body length has no or minor influence on the result and therefore the length cannot be
determined from the analysis.
compared to the Hs-model the mc-model predicts significantly larger deformations
around the grout body. the virtual enlargement of the grout body diameter (f-factor) does
not change the results significantly for working load conditions.
However for ultimate limit state calculations the f-factor becomes important, because in
these calculations a premature failure (i.e. a failure below the theoretical pull out force)
may occur when f=1.0. to overcome this problem it is essential to work with a virtual
grout body enlargement.
it follows from this study that the ground anchor concept in Plaxis 3d foundation is
efficient for working load conditions, but for ultimate limit state analysis assumptions
such as the f-factor, mesh coarseness and stiffness parameters of the soil (adjacent to
the grout body) may have a significant influence on the result. it is emphasized again the
maximum pull out force is an inPUt to the analysis and not a resUlt.
Page 22
��
Recent Activities
Recent Activities
Product updatesrecently we introduced a new Plaxis introductory cd. Besides the Plaxis V8 introductory
this cd includes:
- 3dfoundation introductory
- 3dtunnel introductory
- Japanese Plaxis V8 introductory
- chinese Plaxis V8 introductory
- Updated and new animations
if you are interested to receive this new introductory you can fill in the request form at
the service page of www.plaxis.com
Plaxis StaffWe are pleased to announce that we extended our staff with Pranesh chaterjee and luc
Bijsterbosch. Pranesh has a master degree in Geotechnical engineering from Bengal
engineering college, Howrah and Ph. d. in seismic soil-structure interaction analysis from
Jadavpur University, kolkatta both from india. furthermore he worked as a post doctoral
at the k.U. leuven (Belgium) on tunnel-soil interaction analysis and worked in industry
in the U.k. and india. His main responsibility at Plaxis developments will be 3d dynamics
and soil-structure interaction analysis. luc graduated at the tU delft with a hydraulics
background, looking at the influence of sea-level rise on tidal inlets. Besides his study
civil engineering, he also followed several didactical courses. His work will consist of
quality control, support and marketing activities. He will start working on new tutorials
and a 3d example book related to the release of 3d foundation V�.
additional to contracting this promising staff Plaxis bv will continuously strengthen
its team and has currently a key-position available for a senior software development
engineer.
User days and seminarsthe dutch Plaxis Users association or Plaxis Gebruikersvereniging (PGV) had their annual
meeting on october 18, �006. this is one of the yearly activities. in the meeting, the board
presents the plans for the next year and the bookkeeping. the annual meeting was held
at the new metro line (noord/Zuidlijn) in amsterdam. in addition, the program included
a presentation about the design of immersed tunnel and an excursion in the building
pit. the building pit has two functions, one as construction dock for the concrete tunnel
elements and finally as insitu tunnel for the approach of the immersed tunnel under the
river iJ.
furthermore the dutch Plaxis Users association has organised a workshop on
“Geotechnical modelling” which was attended by 30 enthusiastic Plaxis Users. a total
of 10 speakers presented topics ranging from determination from geotechnical
parameters, geometrical modelling, constitutive and numerical modelling to reliability
and safety approach. the speakers and their topics are presented below:
- otto Heeres, “Geotechnical modelling”, Public Works department of rotterdam/ delft
University of technology
- timo schweckendiek, “are safety factors safe?”, tno/ delft University of technology
- Jelke dijkstra, “modelling of pile foundations”, delft University of technology/ Geodelft
- richard de Jager, “modelling of static liquefaction”, delft University of technology/
Boskalis
- ronald Brinkgreve, “modelling in �d or 3d?”, Plaxis bv
- abjan Jacobse, “settlements of high-rise buildings in den Haag“, icPluse
- chris dykstra, “the isotachen model from a practical perspective”, Boskalis
- daan Vink, “the rijksmuseum in amsterdam”, crUX
- dirk luger, “modelling of pre-tensioned friction piles”, Geodelft
- cor Zwanenburg, “experimental testing from up-close”, Geodelft
the topics dealt with in the symposium were very diverse and after each presentation
a stimulating discussion resulted. a more detailed perspective on the topics will follow
since several authors will present their work and/or views in an article in this and future
bulletins.
Plaxis in Russiarelated to the rapid growth of Plaxis users in russia and as a spin-off from the
discussions during the 1st russian Users meeting last year we will soon introduce the
russian Plaxis website (www.plaxis.ru) on this website you will have access to all relevant
Plaxis information in russian language and also fully described papers of presentations
Page 23
�3
topview of the building pit
of russian User meetings. one paper which can be found is from mr. e. Zakharov. Below
you can find an abstract and some pictures of his presentation. the full paper in russian
language will be posted soon on the russian Plaxis Website.
mr. e. Zakharov of ooo “lengiproengproject”.
“subsoil deformation analysis in the course of underground structures building.”
in this paper the Plaxis programs are used for subsoil deformation analysis in case of
underground collector failure simulation. the procedure suggested makes it possible
to understand surface constructions operation in accident and present an optimum
collector placing scheme. the procedure under consideration has been successfully
used in a number of construction projects in st.-Petersburg. on the bases of the
analysis, recommendations of reinforcement measures are given, concerning
st.-Petersburg historical centre buildings.
Recent Activities
Plaxis in Hong Kongon January 19 a seminar was held at the scoPe lecture theatre city University of Hong
kong. the activity was well attended by 60 participants and they were mainly from
the geotechnical fraternity in Hong kong. dr. andy Pickles gave an interesting and
informative presentation on his experience of using finite element analysis in daily routine
engineering design work. dr. lee siew Wei described and presented some of the
analytical and design problems using Plaxis �d and 3d programs. the technical manager
of Plaxisasia, William cheang delivered presentations that touch on current and future
developments of Plaxis programs. discussions were held at the end of the presentations.
a half-day workshop was held at clifftons, a day after the seminar. in this workshop, the
aim was on the familiarization of �d and 3d finite element analysis using Plaxis. most of
the participants were new to the Plaxis programs. the 3d foundation program generated
the most interest and questionnaires were related to the modelling of deep excavations,
piled foundations and reinforced structures.
Page 24
Plaxis finite element code for soil and rock analyses
Plaxis BVPo Box 57�
�600 an delft
the netherlands
tel: +31 (0)15 �51 77 �0
fax: +31 (0)15 �57 31 07
e-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.plaxis.nl
19 - 21 March 2007 course computational Geotechnics (German)
stuttgart, Germany
26 - 29 March 2007international course for experienced
Plaxis users
antwerpen, Belgium
1 - 4 april5th international Workshop on applications
of computational mechanics in Geotechnical
engineering
Guimaraes, Portugal
18 - 19 april 2007Plaxis user meeting Uk
london, manchester, United kingdom
25 - 27 april 2007nUmoG X
tenth international symposium on
numerical models in Geomechanics
rhodes, Greece
5 - 10 May 2007ita-aites World tunnel congress �007
Prague, czech republic
8 - 11 May 200716th southeast asian Geotechnical
conference
selangor darul ehsan, malaysia
12 - 14 June 2007 course computational Geotechnics
manchester, United kingdom
25 - 28 June 2007course on advanced computational
Geotechnics
sydney, australia
16 - 20 July 2007Xiii PcsmGe �007
isla de margarita, Venezuela
24 - 27 July 2007course on computational Geotechnics
and dynamics
chicago, Usa
10 - 14 september 2007course on advanced computational
Geotechnics
ankara, turkey
24 - 27 september 2007XiV ecsmGe
madrid, spain
21 - 24 October 200710 anZ smGe,
Brisbane, australia
7 - 9 November 20071�th european Plaxis User meeting
karlsruhe, Germany
26 - 28 November 20071� african regional conference smGe,
yaounde, cameroon-africa
10 - 14 December 200713th asian regional conference on soil me-
chanics and Geotechnical engineering
calcutta, india
Activities 2007
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910