Numerical Implementation of Ground Behaviors Beneath Super-Tall Building Foundations During Construction

Abstract

Recently, in Japan, the number of super-tall buildings has been increasing, and weight per area for some has exceeded 1000 kN/m². The behavior of soil in Japan under such high pressure has not been fully studied, and it is not clear whether such behavior can be simulated using conventional soil constitutive models. As a first step, a series of K0 triaxial tests using Toyoura sand was conducted to study the behavior of the soil beneath the super-tall building foundation during excavation and construction. In this study, a new constitutive model for geomaterials is proposed, where both the confining pressure dependency and strain dependency are considered. Finally, a series of numerical simulations of the CD triaxial test were carried out using the proposed model, along with conventional models for comparison. The proposed model best describes the stress–strain relation obtained from the test because both the confining pressure dependency and strain dependency are properly modelled.