Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The application of a small strain model in excavations

  • Published:
Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University (Science) Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The importance of soil small strain effect on soil-structure behavior was investigated by researchers in last decades. The finite element method (FEM) is always used to predict the excavation behavior, whereas there are not many soil models available to consider this effect in analysis. This paper introduces a simple small strain soil model—hardening small-strain (HSS) in PLAXIS 8.5 and exhibits its application in excavation problems via studying the history of two cases. The analyses also use two familiar soil models: hardening-soil (HS) model and Mohr-Coulomb (MC) model. Results show that the HSS predicts more reasonable magnitudes and profiles of wall deflections and surface settlements than other models. It also indicates that the small strain effect relies on the strain level which is induced by excavation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

A :

Area, m2/m

B :

Excavation width, m

c :

Soil strength, kPa

c u :

Soil undrained strength, kPa

E :

Elastic modulus of structural component, GPa

E 50 :

Secant stiffness modulus of soil, MPa

E refoed :

Reference tangent stiffness modulus of soil for primary oedometer loading, MPa

E refur :

Reference unloading/reloading stiffness modulus of soil, MPa

G ref0 :

Reference initial shear modulus, MPa

I :

Moment of inertia of structural component, dm4/dm

k :

Permeability, m/s

K 0 :

Coefficient of earth pressure at rest

m :

Power for stress-level dependency of stiffness

N :

Blow count of SPT

p ref :

Reference pressure, kPa

ν :

Poisson’s ratio

σ′3:

Horizontal effective stress, kPa

ϕ :

Soil effective friction angle

References

  1. Jardine R J, Potts D M, Fourie A B, et al. Studies of the influence of non-linear stress-strain characteristics in soil-structure interaction [J]. Geotechnique, 1986, 36(3): 377–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Atkinson J H, Sallfors G. Experimental determination of soil properties [C]//Proc of the 10th ECSMFE. Florence:[s.n.], 1991: 915–956.

  3. Whittle A J, Hashash Y M A, Whitman R V. Analysis of deep excavation in boston [J]. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, 1993, 119(1): 69–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Whittle A J, Hashash Y M A. Soil modeling and prediction of deep excavation behavior [C]//Proc Int Symp on Pre-Failure Deformation Characteristics of Geo-Mat. Balkema Amsterdam:[s.n.], 1994: 589–595.

  5. Kung G T C, Ou C Y, Juang C H. Modeling small-strain behavior of Taipei clays for finite element analysis of braced excavations [J]. Computers and Geotechnics, 2009, 36(1): 304–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Schanz T, Vermemr P A, Bonnier P G. The hardening soil model-formulation and verification [C]//Beyond 2000 in computational geotechnics. Balkema Amsterdam: [s.n.], 1999: 281–296.

  7. Benz T. Small-strain stiffness of soils and its numerical consequences [D]. Stuttgart: Stuttgart University, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Vucetic M, Dobry R. Effect of soil plasticity on cyclic response [J]. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, 1991, 117(1): 89–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Alpan I. The geotechnical properties of soils [J]. Earth-Science Reviews, 1970, 6(2): 5–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Wong K S. How to avoid failures in deep excavation [C]// Proceedings of International Conference on Structural and Foundation Failures. Singapore: [s.n.], 2004: 384–397.

  11. Ou C Y, Hsieh P G, Chiou D C. Characteristics of ground surface settlement during excavation [J]. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 1993, 30(5): 758–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hsieh P G, Ou C Y. Shape of ground surface settlement profiles caused by excavation [J]. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 1998, 35(6): 1004–1017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Feng Xuan  (宣 锋), Xiao-he Xia  (夏小和) & Jian-hua Wang  (王建华)

Authors
  1. Feng Xuan  (宣 锋)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiao-he Xia  (夏小和)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jian-hua Wang  (王建华)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian-hua Wang  (王建华).

Additional information

Foundation item: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50679041)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xuan, F., Xia, Xh. & Wang, Jh. The application of a small strain model in excavations. J. Shanghai Jiaotong Univ. (Sci.) 14, 418–422 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-009-0418-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-009-0418-3

Key words

CLC number

Search

Navigation