Small strain stiffness in geotechnical finite element analysis

This one day course offers an introduction to the theory behind the non-linear behaviour of soil, the impact this has on predicting ground movements and presents a simple non-linear constitutive soil model that has that has been used widely in finite element analysis within academia and engineering practice (Jardine et al, 1986). The effect of plastic yielding is accounted for by coupling the small strain behaviour with the non-associated Mohr-Coulomb model. The derivation of the soil parameters for the model from laboratory testing will be discussed and some examples of the implementation of this soil model will be presented. The course will finish with a practical session in which delegates will use the non-linear model in the finite element program PLAXIS to analyse a number of soil-structure interaction problems, comparing results with linear model predictions.

- Historical background, case studies
- Classification of building damage
- Importance of accurate settlement profiles
- Methods of investigation
- Pressuremeter
- Bender elements, Suction tests, Triaxial (small strain measurement)
- Vibrating wire piezos, Seismic cone
- Small strain model
- Derivation of parameters
- Coupling Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria
- Case study examples