Large deformation dynamic analysis of saturated porous media with applications to penetration problems

This paper outlines the development as well as implementation of a numerical procedure for coupled finite element analysis of dynamic problems in geomechanics, particularly those involving large deformations and soil-structure interaction. The procedure is based on Biot’s theory for the dynamic behaviour of saturated porous media. The nonlinear behaviour of the solid phase of the soil is represented by either the Mohr Coulomb or Modified Cam Clay material model. The interface between soil and structure is modelled by the so-called node-to-segment contact method. The contact algorithm uses a penalty approach to enforce constraints and to prevent rigid body interpenetration. Moreover, the contact algorithm utilises a smooth discretisation of the contact surfaces to decrease numerical oscillations. An Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) scheme preserves the quality and topology of the finite element mesh throughout the numerical simulation. The generalised-α method is used to integrate the governing equations of motion in the time domain. Some aspects of the numerical procedure are validated by solving two benchmark problems. Subsequently, dynamic soil behaviour including the development of excess pore-water pressure due to the fast installation of a single pile and the penetration of a free falling torpedo anchor are studied. The numerical results indicate the robustness and applicability of the proposed method. Typical distributions of the predicted excess pore-water pressures generated due to the dynamic penetration of an object into a saturated soil are presented, revealing higher magnitudes of pore pressure at the face of the penetrometer and lower values along the shaft. A smooth discretisation of the contact interface between soil and structure is found to be a crucial factor to avoid severe oscillations in the predicted dynamic response of the soil.     

DEM–FEM analysis of soil failure process via the separate edge coupling method

The concurrent multiscale method, which couples the discrete element method (DEM) for predicting the local micro‐scale evolution of the soil particle skeleton with the finite element method (FEM) for estimating the remaining macro‐scale continuum deformation, is a versatile tool for modeling the failure process of soil masses. This paper presents the separate edge coupling method, which is degenerated from the generalized bridging domain method and is good at eliminating spurious reflections that are induced by coupling models of different scales, to capture the granular behavior in the domain of interest and to coarsen the mesh to save computational cost in the remaining domain. Cundall non‐viscous damping was used as numerical damping to dissipate the kinetic energy for simulating static failure problems. The proposed coupled DEM–FEM scheme was adopted to model the wave propagation in a 1D steel bar, a soil slope because of the effect of a shallow foundation and a plane‐strain cone penetration test (CPT). The numerical results show that the separate edge coupling method is effective when it is adopted for a problem with Cundall non‐viscous damping; it qualitatively reproduces the failure process of the soil masses and is consistent with the full micro‐scale discrete element model. Stress discontinuity is found in the coupling domain. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An edge-based smoothed point interpolation method for elasto-plastic coupled hydro-mechanical analysis of saturated porous media

An edge-based smoothed point interpolation method is adopted for coupled hydro-mechanical analysis of saturated porous media with elasto-plastic behaviour. A novel approach for the evaluation of the coupling matrix of the porous media is adopted. Stress integration is performed using the substepping method, and the modified Newton-Raphson approach is utilised to address the nonlinearities arising from the elasto-plastic constitutive model used in the formulation. Numerical examples are studied and the results are compared with analytical solutions and those obtained from the conventional finite element method (FEM) to evaluate the performance of the proposed model.     

Unconfined seepage analysis in earth dams using smoothed fixed grid finite element method

One major difficulty in seepage analyses is finding the position of phreatic surface which is unknown at the beginning of solution and must be determined in an iterative process. The objective of the present study is to develop a novel non‐boundary‐fitted mesh finite‐element method capable of solving the unconfined seepage problem in domains with arbitrary geometry and continuously varied permeability. A new non‐boundary‐fitted finite element method named as smoothed fixed grid finite element method (SFGFEM) is used to simplify the solution of variable domain problem of unconfined seepage. The gradient smoothing technique, in which the area integrals are transformed into the line integrals around edges of smoothing cells, is used to obtain the element matrices. The solution process starts with an initial guess for the unknown boundary and SFGFEM is used to approximate the field variable. The boundary shape is then modified to eventually satisfy nonlinear boundary condition in an iterative process. Some numerical examples are solved to evaluate the applicability of the proposed method and the results are compared with those available in the literature. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An edge-based strain smoothing particle finite element method for large deformation problems in geotechnical engineering

To solve large deformation geotechnical problems, a novel strain-smoothed particle finite element method (SPFEM) is proposed that incorporates a simple and effective edge-based strain smoothing method within the framework of original PFEM. Compared with the original PFEM, the proposed novel SPFEM can solve the volumetric locking problem like previously developed node-based smoothed PFEM when lower-order triangular element is used. Compared with the node-based smoothed PFEM known as “overly soft” or underestimation property, the proposed SPFEM offers super-convergent and very accurate solutions due to the implementation of edge-based strain smoothing method. To guarantee the computational stability, the proposed SPFEM uses an explicit time integration scheme and adopts an adaptive updating time step. Performance of the proposed SPFEM for geotechnical problems is first examined by four benchmark numerical examples: (a) bar vibrations, (b) large settlement of strip footing, (c) collapse of aluminium bars column, and (d) failure of a homogeneous soil slope. Finally, the progressive failure of slope of sensitive clay is simulated using the proposed SPFEM to show its outstanding performance in solving large deformation geotechnical problems. All results demonstrate that the novel SPFEM is a powerful and easily extensible numerical method for analysing large deformation problems in geotechnical engineering.     

Upper bound limit analysis of cohesive soils using mesh-free method

A mesh-free based limit analysis approach is proposed, to determine the upper bound solutions for the collapse loads associated with cohesive soils, under plane strain conditions. In the presented technique, the geometry of problem is just simulated by nodes and there is no need of mesh in the traditional sense. The process of finding an upper bound solution consists of combining limit analysis theory and a mesh-free numerical technique as a discretisation tool. To satisfy the required conditions for the admissibility of the discretised velocity field at the entire problem domain, a strain rate smoothing technique has been adopted. The outcome of proposed combination is a nonlinear optimisation problem which is solved by a direct iterative technique. The solution found by an iterative algorithm is an upper bound for limit load of the stability problem. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by solving different example problems in the soil mechanics engineering field, at the end of the paper.     

An alternative approach for quasi‐static large deformation analysis of saturated porous media using meshfree method

An alternative coupled large deformation formulation combined with a meshfree approach is proposed for flow–deformation analysis of saturated porous media. The formulation proposed is based on the Updated Lagrangian (UL) approach, except that the spatial derivatives are defined with respect to the configuration of the medium at the last time step rather than the configuration at the last iteration. In this way, the Cauchy stresses are calculated directly, rendering the second Piola–Kirchhoff stress tensor not necessary for the numerical solution of the equilibrium equations. Moreover, in contrast with the UL approach, the nodal shape function derivatives are calculated once in each time step and stored for use in subsequent iterations, which reduces the computational cost of the algorithm. Stress objectivity is satisfied using the Jaumann stress rate, and the spatial discretisation of the governing equations is achieved using the standard Galerkin method. The equations of equilibrium are satisfied directly, and the nonlinear parts of the system matrix are derived independent of the stresses of the medium resulting in a stable numerical algorithm. Temporal discretisation is effected based on a three‐point approximation technique that avoids spurious ripple effects and has second‐order accuracy. The radial point interpolation method is used to construct the shape functions. The application of the formulation and the significance of large deformation effects on the numerical results are demonstrated through several numerical examples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study on how to couple thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils: Physical equations,numerical implementation and examples

This paper describes a thermo-hydro-mechanical framework suitable for modelling the behaviour of unsaturated soils. In particular, this paper focuses on bentonite clay subjected to a thermo-hydro-mechanical load, as in the case of nuclear waste engineering barriers. The paper gives a theoretical derivation of the full set of coupled balance equations governing the material behaviour as well as an extended physical interpretation. Finally, a finite element discretisation of the equations and number of simulations verifying their implementation into a custom finite element code is provided. Some aspects of the formulation are also validated against experimental data.     

A coupled model for heating and hydratation in unsaturated clays

Knowledge of transport processes of heat and moisture in soils of arid zones is vital to understanding the environmental and economic impacts of many activities: agriculture, waste disposal, geoenvironmental practices and earth sciences. Through extensive review and study on the different aspects of coupled transfer processes in swelling porous media, a general mathematical model for coupled heat, moisture, air flow and deformation problems in clayey soils is proposed in a consistent and unified manner. The model is characterized by the presence of a deformable solid matrix filled with two fluid phases (liquid water and air). In the proposed model, both pore water and air transfers are assumed to be governed by the generalized Darcy’s law. Fully coupled, non-linear partial differential equations are established and then solved by using a Galerkin weighted residual approach in space domain and an implicit integrating scheme in time domain. The obtained model has been finally validated by means of some case tests for the prediction of the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated swelling soils. The calculated relative errors between experimental and numerical results are 3% for temperature and 7% for stresses. Consequently, the developed numerical model predicts satisfactory results, compared to experimental test measures. The model is applicable to two-dimensional problems with various initial and boundary conditions; non-linear soil parameters can be easily included in this model.     

A finite element method for modeling coupled flow and deformation in porous fractured media

Modeling the flow in highly fractured porous media by finite element method (FEM) has met two difficulties: mesh generation for fractured domains and a rigorous formulation of the flow problem accounting for fracture/matrix, fracture/fracture, and fracture/boundary fluid mass exchanges. Based on the recent theoretical progress for mass balance conditions in multifractured porous bodies, the governing equations for coupled flow and deformation in these bodies are first established in this paper. A weak formulation for this problem is then established allowing to build a FEM. Taking benefit from recent development of mesh‐generating tools for fractured media, this weak formulation has been implemented in a numerical code and applied to some typical problems of hydromechanical coupling in fractured porous media. It is shown that in this way, the FEM that has proved its efficiency to model hydromechanical phenomena in porous media is extended with all its performances (calculation time, couplings, and nonlinearities) to fractured porous media. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fracture mapping and extended finite element scheme for coupled deformation and fluid flow in fractured porous media

This paper presents a fracture mapping (FM) approach combined with the extended finite element method (XFEM) to simulate coupled deformation and fluid flow in fractured porous media. Specifically, the method accurately represents the impact of discrete fractures on flow and deformation, although the individual fractures are not part of the finite element mesh. A key feature of FM‐XFEM is its ability to model discontinuities in the domain independently of the computational mesh. The proposed FM approach is a continuum‐based approach that is used to model the flow interaction between the porous matrix and existing fractures via a transfer function. Fracture geometry is defined using the level set method. Therefore, in contrast to the discrete fracture flow model, the fracture representation is not meshed along with the computational domain. Consequently, the method is able to determine the influence of fractures on fluid flow within a fractured domain without the complexity of meshing the fractures within the domain. The XFEM component of the scheme addresses the discontinuous displacement field within elements that are intersected by existing fractures. In XFEM, enrichment functions are added to the standard finite element approximation to adequately resolve discontinuous fields within the simulation domain. Numerical tests illustrate the ability of the method to adequately describe the displacement and fluid pressure fields within a fractured domain at significantly less computational expense than explicitly resolving the fracture within the finite element mesh. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于混合离散的砌石挡土墙边坡极限承载力下限分析

将极限分析下限法理论、混合数值离散思想和线性规划结合起来研究砌石挡土墙边坡的极限承载力。采用三角形有限单元离散土体来模拟土体的连续介质力学特性,构建土体静力许可应力场的约束条件,采用块体单元离散砌石体来模拟砌石体的非连续介质力学特性,构建砌石挡土墙的静力许可应力场的约束条件;同时建立有限元单元和块体单元交界面的约束条件;然后以超载系数为目标函数建立求解砌石挡土墙极限承载力的下限法线性规划模型,并使用内点算法进行最优化求解,获得边坡的极限荷载（或安全系数）和对应的应力场。通过3个算例的分析验证了所提方法的正确性。所提方法是将混合数值离散思想引入极限分析领域的一次尝试。     

Pore‐scale modeling of fluid‐particles interaction and emerging poromechanical effects

A micro‐hydromechanical model for granular materials is presented. It combines the discrete element method for the modeling of the solid phase and a pore‐scale finite volume formulation for the flow of an incompressible pore fluid. The coupling equations are derived and contrasted against the equations of conventional poroelasticity. An analogy is found between the discrete element method pore‐scale finite volume coupling and Biot's theory in the limit case of incompressible phases. The simulation of an oedometer test validates the coupling scheme and demonstrates the ability of the model to capture strong poromechanical effects. A detailed analysis of microscale strain and stress confirms the analogy with poroelasticity. An immersed deposition problem is finally simulated and shows the potential of the method to handle phase transitions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow of non-Newtonian fluids in fractured porous media: Isogeometric vs standard finite element discretisation

A formulation has been derived for the flow of non-Newtonian (power-law) fluids in deformable, fractured porous media. The formulation is enhanced with a subgrid scale model to accurately represent the flow of the power-law fluids inside the cracks. The resulting equations have been discretised using standard (Lagrangian) finite element shape functions and with non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS), which have been cast into a standard finite element datastructure using Bézier extraction. The effect of the power-law index on the velocity inside the fracture and on the total fluid flow through the porous medium has been analysed for a typical boundary-value problem. It is shown that large differences between non-Newtonian and linearised Newtonian fluids can occur for the fluid velocity inside the fracture. This can significantly influence the total fluid transport through the domain. A mesh sensitivity study has been carried out as well and shows that markedly smaller element sizes are required in order to obtain accurate results for the local flow inside the fracture, compared with the element sizes necessary for obtaining accurate results inside the porous medium away from the fracture. Moreover, a comparison has been made between the results obtained using standard Lagrange polynomials and those obtained using NURBS. It is shown that while both discretisation methods are able to accurately simulate the deformations and pressures in the porous medium, the higher interelement continuity of NURBS is mandatory for obtaining correct values of the fluid velocities inside the fracture, especially near the tips.     

A numerical model for nonlinear large deformation dynamic analysis of unsaturated porous media including hydraulic hysteresis

A numerical model based on the theory of mixtures is proposed for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of flow and deformation in unsaturated porous media. Starting from the conservation laws, the governing differential equations and the finite element incremental approximations suitable for nonlinear large deformation static and dynamic analyses are derived within the updated Lagrangian framework. The coupling between solid and fluid phases is enforced according to the effective stress principle taking suction dependency of the effective stress parameter into account. The effect of hydraulic hysteresis on the effective stress parameter and soil water characteristic curve is also taken into account. The application of the approach is demonstrated through numerical analyses of several fundamental nonlinear problems and the results are compared to the relevant analytical solutions. The effects of suction, large deformations and hydraulic hysteresis on static and dynamic response of unsaturated soils are particularly emphasized.     

基于渐近展开法的脆性岩石双尺度方法初步研究

将渐近展开法与细观统计模型相结合,研究了脆性岩石双尺度计算方法。该方法在细观尺度定义材料属性,假定材料参数符合Weibull分布,采用弹性－理想脆性本构模型,脆断标准采用修正的Mohr-Coulomb准则和最大拉应力准则,通过宏细观尺度耦合计算,得到细观尺度材料损伤演化及其对结构宏观性状的影响。方法包括确定材料统计参数、确定细观尺度代表性体积单元（RVE）及求解边值方程等步骤。数值模型采用商业软件ABAQUS及其内嵌的UMAT用户子程序实现。该方法适用于岩石单轴受压或低围压应力状态,考虑到计算效率,计算时宜采用混合尺度,即模型重点（关键）部位采用双尺度,而其他区域采用单尺度计算。宏观尺度材料软化后未采用正则化方法,此时的计算结果有网格依赖性。     

非饱和冻土水汽迁移与相变过程的光滑粒子法模拟

为了研究多年冻土表层的水热分布情况,在非饱和冻土的能量守恒方程和水分迁移的质量控制方程的基础上考虑冰水相变和水汽相变过程,并考虑水汽运移传热及温度势对水汽迁移的影响,建立了非饱和冻土的水-热-汽耦合模型。采用光滑粒子流体动力学(smoothed particle hydrodynamics,简称SPH)方法可方便地计算它们的演化过程。为此,在计算中先求解能量守恒方程的含冰量及气态水含量,再对未冻水含量和温度场进行求解,从而实现了温度场与水汽场的耦合。在此基础上,模拟计算了第1类热边界条件下半无限空间介质内非稳态温度场、体积含水率及水汽通量的分布情况,并将计算结果与未考虑耦合的解析解进行比较,结果显示水汽耦合的作用不容忽略。最后,针对处于季节性周期温度边界下路基的水热场的分布情况进行计算。研究表明,相比于水-热耦合模型,所建立的水-热-汽耦合模型得到的计算结果更为接近实际监测结果,可很好地揭示非饱和冻土中的水热汽迁移特征及其相变过程。     

岩土体渗流自由面问题的重心插值无网格方法

岩土体的渗透破坏、地下工程的防渗设计等无不与渗流计算有关。针对渗流自由面问题,提出一种重心拉格朗日插值的配点型无网格方法。由于渗流自由面问题的求解区域是不规则区域,该方法通过将不规则求解区域嵌入一个正则矩形区域,在正则区域上采用重心拉格朗日插值近似未知函数,利用配点法离散渗流问题的控制方程,将重心拉格朗日插值的微分矩阵离散成代数方程表达的矩阵形式。将自由面上的边界条件通过重心拉格朗日插值离散,通过置换方程法和附加方程法施加边界条件,利用正则区域上的重心插值配点法,通过迭代确定最终自由面的位置。数值算例表明所提出的无网格方法对于求解渗流自由面问题的正确性和高精度。     

Factors influencing the accuracy of the photogrammetry-based deformation measurement method

Triaxial test has been widely used to investigate the stress–strain relationship of unsaturated soils. During triaxial testing, soil volume is an essential parameter to be measured. For an unsaturated soil, due to the presence of air phase, accurate volume/deformation measurement during triaxial testing was a great challenge for researchers. Recently, a photogrammetry-based method has been developed to measure the soil volume/deformation during triaxial testing. Preliminary triaxial test results indicate the new method is simple, accurate, and cost- and time-effective. However, some concerns regarding its measurement accuracy and applicability, which are critical for the dissemination of the photogrammetry-based method, have been raised by other researchers. These concerns were addressed in details in this study. The factors concerning the deformation measurement accuracy were systematically evaluated through a series of triaxial tests on an aluminum cylinder with different confining media and chamber pressures. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to investigate the impact of the system parameters on the volume measurement accuracy of the photogrammetry-based method. In addition, a triaxial test on a saturated sand specimen was conducted to evaluate the influences of mesh density, mesh pattern, and interpolation technique on the volume change measurement accuracy. Finally, some suggestions were provided to improve the accuracy of the photogrammetry-based measurement method.