Modelling of Geotechnical Structures

Week 4

Teresa Bodas Freitas

office 4.19
[email protected]
 Eurocode 7 based geotechnical design
 Based on principle of “Limit State” design.
 A limit state being that, “beyond which the structure no longer fulfils the
relevant design criteria”.
 A distinction is made between ultimate and serviceability limit states:
 Ultimate Limit States (ULS) relate to the safety of people and the
structure – safety requirements. These limit states are associated with
structural failure or collapse.
 Serviceability Limit States (SLS) relate to the comfort of people and/or
the functioning and appearance of the structure. These are states
beyond which the structure does not satisfy the specified functionality
requirements, generally defined in terms of deformation, vibration or
damage.

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 Eurocode 7 based geotechnical design
Relevant ULS are considered to be:
 STRructural failure or excessive deformation of structure or structural elements
where structural resistance is significant.
 GEOtechnical failure or excessive deformation of ground where ground
resistance is significant.
 Loss of EQUilibrium of structure or ground considered as rigid body, where
strength of structure or ground is not significant in providing resistance.
 UPLift by water (or other vertical actions) leading to loss of equilibrium of
structure or ground.
 HYDraulic failure, heave, internal erosion or piping caused by hydraulic
gradients in ground.

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 Uplift Structural/geotechnical

Ultimate limit states

Hydraulic Equilibrium
 Eurocode 7 based geotechnical design
Safety is introduced through partial safety factors applied to the characteristic
values of:
 actions or effects of actions (A), increasing them;
 material properties (M), reducing them;
 resistant capabilities (R), reducing them
And considering deviations in geometric quantities; calculation value of
geometric quantities 𝑎𝑑 = 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑚 + ∆𝑎

A "+" M "+" R

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 Eurocode 7 based geotechnical design
Actions design value - are arrived at by applying appropriate partial
factors, gF to the Fk, i.e.
j i

Fd = ෍ γG,j Gk,j + γQ,1 Q k,1 + ෍ γQ,i ψ0,i Q k,i

1 2

STR / GEO
Action Symbol EQU UPL HYD
A1 A2
Permanent, G Unfavourable gG,unf. 1.1 1.35 1.0 1.0 1.35
Favourable gG,fav. 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.9
Variable, Q Unfavourable gQ,unf. 1.5 1.5 1.3 1.5 1.5
Favourable gQ,fav. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Note: for SLS, all gG and gQ,unf. equal 1.0, and gQ,fav. = 0.0
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 Eurocode 7 based geotechnical design
Design value of material properties (Xd) - are arrived at by applying
appropriate partial factors, gM to the Xk, i.e.
Xk
Xd =
γM
STR / GEO
Material property Symbol EQU UPL
M1 M2
Angle of shearing resistance, tan' g' 1.25 1.0 1.25 1.25
Apparent cohesion, c' gc' 1.25 1.0 1.25 1.25
Undrained shear strength, cu gcu 1.40 1.0 1.40 1.40
Unconfined compression, qu gqu 1.40 1.0 1.40 1.40
Unit weight, g gg 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Note: for SLS, all gM are equal to 1.0
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 Eurocode 7 based geotechnical design
Resistance design value

1 𝑋𝑘,𝑖
𝑅𝑑 = 𝑅 𝐹𝑑 ; ; 𝑎𝑑
𝛾𝑅𝑑 𝛾𝑀,𝑖
Resistance factor set
Geotechnical structure ULS Symbol
R1 R2 R3
Surface footings Bearing gR;v 1.0 1.4 1.0
Sliding gR;h 1.0 1.1 1.0
Retaining walls Bearing gR;v 1.0 1.4 1.0
Sliding gR;h 1.0 1.1 1.0
Earth resistance gR;e 1.0 1.4 1.0
Slopes & overall stability Earth resistance gR;e 1.0 1.1 1.0
Note: piles and anchorages have their own particular resistance factor sets 8
 STR / GEO Ultimate limit states
• When considering rupture or excessive deformation of structure or ground
(STR/GEO), verify:
Ed ≤ R d

where Ed = E{Fd; Xd; ad} & Rd = R{Fd; Xd; ad}/gR

• Proved difficult to come up with a single procedure for this verification that
satisfied all members, so three design approaches are available.

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 STR / GEO Ultimate limit states
• Design Approach 1 (DA1)
– Combination 1 (DA1:C1): A1 “+” M1 “+” R1
– Combination 2 (DA1:C2): A2 “+” M2 “+” R1
– Piles & anchors, DA1:C2 ⇨ A2 “+” (M1 or M2) “+” R4
• Design Approach 2 (DA2) Unfav. actions
– Verify combination A1 “+” M1 “+” R2 Resistances
– Partial factors applied to actions and ground resistance
• Design Approach 3 (DA3)
– Verify combination (A1† or A2‡) “+” M2 “+” R3
– †structural actions; ‡geotechnical actions

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STR / GEO Ultimate limit states
Design approaches

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 Ultimate limit state calculation FE Analysis
 Most software packages allow the consideration of partial
factors of safety so that analysis are carries out according to
a particular design approach / combination
 That is the case of Optum, which allows analysis according
to DA1
 Need to identify if loads are permanent
/variable actions and favourable or
unfavourable
 But in geotechnical structural the soil
weight is usual the most significant
action… and in some problems can be
both favourable and unfavourable…
That problem arises in DA1-C1, but that
combination is usual not the critical for
geotechnical ultimate limit state
 New generation of Eurocodes is trying
to address that. 12
 Serviceability limit states
 Verification of the serviceability limit state requires the verification of the
following:
Ed ≤ Cd
Ed is design value of effect of actions
Cd is limiting value of effect of actions
 All partial factors are taken as 1.0 for SLS.
 Values for Cd are determined on a case-by-case basis, taking into account
the ground conditions & structural type.
 Typically would include limits to total settlement, differential settlement
limit, other deformation quantities, vibrations or damage.

FEM stress – strain analysis is particularly useful to obtain

reliable predictions of ground movements to support SLS
verifications;
FEM analysis can also be employed for ULS verifications…
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 Example 9 – Calculation of the global factor of
safety of a natural slope
(or of any other geotechnical structure)
Definition of the model

GWL

(note: you can later

examine the effect
of raising the GWL)

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Initial phase

Initial vertical
effective stresses

Initial horizontal
effective stresses

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Calculation of the global factor of safety
Analysis type: Strength reduction

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Calculation of the global factor of safety
Failure mechanism (shown shear strains; can also be
seen in plot of shear dissipation) and FoS
FoS=1.559

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Calculation of the global factor of safety – effect of
raising GWL

Optum always carried out a seepage calculation!

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 Calculation of the global factor of safety – effect of
raising GWL
Optum always carried out a seepage calculation!
How to specify boundary conditions for seepage calculation.
Boundary conditions are applied to lines.

Constant head Water level Constant

(only to vertical (only in Seepage face, zero head,
lines), h=20m horizontal fixed pressure, or h=15m
lines) nothing…. 19
Calculation of the global factor of safety – effect of
raising GWL
Failure mechanism (shown shear strains; can also be
seen in plot of shear dissipation) and FoS
FoS=1.396

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