Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Simple Approaches for the Design of Shallow and Deep Foundations for Unsaturated Soils II: Numerical Techniques

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Indian Geotechnical Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Numerical techniques are widely used in conventional engineering practice for obtaining the stress versus settlement or load versus displacement (P–δ) behavior, respectively, and use the information in the design of shallow and deep foundations, extending the principles of saturated soil mechanics. This Companion Paper II summarizes the details of numerical techniques that can be used in the design of shallow and deep foundations in unsaturated soils. The two key properties required for performing the numerical techniques are the shear strength and the modulus of elasticity of unsaturated soils. A user-friendly subroutine (USDFLD) has been developed for use in the commercial software, ABAQUS to predict the variation of these soil properties with respect to matric suction. The only additional information required for performing the numerical modeling in addition to the conventional soil properties is the soil–water characteristic curve. Good agreements were observed between the proposed numerical techniques and from theoretical approaches and experimental studies. The numerical techniques discussed in this paper are simple and can be used by the geotechnical engineers in the design of shallow and pile foundations in unsaturated soils.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig.12
Fig.13
Fig.14
Fig.15
Fig. 16

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Douthitt B, Houston W, Houston S, Walsh K (1998) Effect of wetting on pile friction. In: Proceedings of 2nd international conference on unsaturated soils, China, vol 1, pp 219–224

  2. Costa YD, Cintra JC, Zornberg JG (2003) Influence of matric suction on the results of plate load tests performed on a lateritic soil deposit. Geotech Test J 26(2):219–227

    Google Scholar 

  3. Rojas JC, Salinas LM, Sejas C (2007) Plate-load tests on an unsaturated lean clay. In: Schanz T (ed) Experimental unsaturated soil mechanics. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  4. Vanapalli SK, Mohamed FMO (2007) Bearing capacity of model footings in unsaturated soils. Experimental unsaturated soil mechanics. Springer, Berlin, pp 483–493

    Google Scholar 

  5. Uchaipichat A (2012) Variation of pile capacity in unsaturated clay layer with suction. Electron J Geotech Eng 17:2425–2433

    Google Scholar 

  6. Oh WT, Vanapalli SK (2013) Interpretation of the bearing capacity of unsaturated fine-grained soil using the modified effective and the modified total stress approaches. Int J Geomech 13(6):769–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Fattah MY, Salim NM (2014) Behavior of single pile in unsaturated clayey soils. Eng Technol J Part A Eng 32(3):763–787

    Google Scholar 

  8. Akrouch GA, Sánchez M, Briaud JL (2016) An experimental, analytical and numerical study on the thermal efficiency of energy piles in unsaturated soils. Comput Geotech 71:207–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Tang Y, Taiebat HA, Russell AR (2017) Bearing capacity of shallow foundations in unsaturated soil considering hydraulic hysteresis and three drainage conditions. Int J Geomech 17(6):04016142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Vanapalli SK, Sheikhtaheri M, Oh WT (2018) Experimental and simple semiempirical methods for interpreting the axial load versus settlement behaviors of single model piles in unsaturated sands. Geotech Test J 41(4):698–716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ghasemzadeh H, Akbari F (2019) Determining the bearing capacity factor due to nonlinear matric suction distribution in the soil. Can J Soil Sci 99(4):434–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Al-Khazaali M, Vanapalli SK (2019) Experimental investigation of single model pile and pile group behavior in saturated and unsaturated sand. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 145(12):04019112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zhang C, Gao B, Yan Q, Zhao J, Wu L (2019) Development of allowable bearing capacity for strip foundations in unsaturated soils. Comput Geotech 114:103138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Poulos HG (1989) Pile behaviour—theory and application. Geotechnique 39(3):365–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Salgado R, Lyamin AV, Sloan SW, Yu HS (2004) Two-and three-dimensional bearing capacity of foundations in clay. Géotechnique 54(5):297–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Griffiths DV, Smith IM (2006) Numerical methods for engineers. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Sheng D, Smith DW, Sloan SW, Gens A (2003) Finite element formulation and algorithms for unsaturated soils. Part II: Verification and application. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 27(9):767–790

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Fredlund MD, Stianson JR, Fredlund DG, Vu H, Thode RC (2006) Numerical modeling of slab-on-grade foundations. Unsaturated Soils. ASCE, Reston, pp 2121–2132

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ghorbani J, Nazem M, Carter JP (2016) Numerical modelling of multiphase flow in unsaturated deforming porous media. Comput Geotech 71:195–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lalicata L, Desideri A, Casini F, Thorel L (2018) Laterally loaded pile in unsaturated soils: a numerical study. In: 7th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils 2018. ISSMGE-International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, p 6

  21. Oh WT, Vanapalli SK (2011) Modelling the applied vertical stress and settlement relationship of shallow foundations in saturated and unsaturated sands. Can Geotech J 48(3):425–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Oh WT, Vanapalli SK (2012) Modelling the settlement behaviour of in situ shallow foundations in unsaturated sands. In: GeoCongress 2012: State of the Art and Practice in Geotechnical Engineering, pp 2542–2551.

  23. Geostudio (2012) Geo-Slope International Ltd, Calgary.

  24. Han Z, Han S, Oh WT, Vanapalli SK (2014) Modelling the stress settlement behavior of shallow foundation in unsaturated sand using sigma/W and Plaxis. In: 67th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, pp 1–8

  25. PLAXIS 2D 2010. Plaxis bv.

  26. Oh WT, Vanapalli SK (2018) Modeling the stress versus settlement behavior of shallow foundations in unsaturated cohesive soils extending the modified total stress approach. Soils Found 58(2):382–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Al-Khazaali M, Han Z, Vanapalli SK (2016) Modelling the load-settlement behavior of model piles in unsaturated sand and glacial till. In: Geotechnical and structural engineering congress 2016, pp 2075–2087

  28. Han Z, Vanapalli SK, Kutlu ZN (2016) Modeling behavior of friction pile in compacted glacial till. Int J Geomech 16(6):D4016009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG, Pufahl DE, Clifton AW (1996) Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction. Can Geotech J 33(3):379–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG (2000) Comparison of empirical procedures to predict the shear strength of unsaturated soils uses the soil-water characteristic curve. Geo-Denver 2000. Am Soc Civil Eng Spec Publ 99:195–209

    Google Scholar 

  31. Vanapalli SK (2009) Shear strength of unsaturated soils and its applications in geotechnical engineering practice. In: Keynote address. Proceedings 4th Asia-Pacific conference on unsaturated soils. New Castle, Australia, pp 579–598

  32. Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H (1993) Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  33. Cui YJ, Delage P (1996) Yielding and plastic behaviour of an unsaturated compacted silt. Géotechnique 46(2):291–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Oh WT and Vanapalli SK (2009) A simple method to estimate the bearing capacity of unsaturated fine-grained soils. In: Proceedings of the 62nd Canadian geotechnical conference, Halifax, Canada, pp 234–241

  35. Oh WT, Vanapalli SK, Puppala AJ (2009) Semi-empirical model for the prediction of modulus of elasticity for unsaturated soils. Can Geotech J 46(8):903–914

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Vanapalli SK, Oh WT (2010) A model for predicting the modulus of elasticity of unsaturated soils using the soil-water characteristic curve. Int J Geotech Eng 4(4):425–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Dassault Systèmes (2014) Abaqus analysis users’ manual. Version 6.14

  38. Mohamed FMO, Vanapalli SK (2006) Laboratory investigations for the measurement of the bearing capacity of an unsaturated coarse-grained soil. In: Proceedings on 59th Canadian geotechnical conference, Vancouver, BC, pp 1–4

  39. DS 415 (1984) The Danish code of practice for foundation engineering. Danish Society of Civil Engineering, Copenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  40. Fredlund DG, Xing A (1994) Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 31(4):521–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Vanapalli SK, Oh WT, Puppala AJ (2007) Determination of the bearing capacity of unsaturated soils under undrained loading conditions. In: Proceedings of the 60th Canadian geotechnical conference. Canadian Geotechnical Society, Alliston, ON, pp 21–24

  42. Van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:892–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Vanapalli SK, Taylan ZN (2012) Design of single piles using the mechanics of unsaturated soils. Int J Geomate 2(1):197–204

    Google Scholar 

  44. Vanapalli SK, Taylan ZN (2011) Estimation of the shaft capacity of model piles in a compacted fine-grained unsaturated soil. In: Proceedings 14th Pan-Am conference on soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering and 64th Canadian geotechnical conference

Download references

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada for the research programs. Also, the authors appreciates the China Scholarship Council and University of Ottawa, Canada, for the PhD research programs for Xinting Cheng and Mengxi Tan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Xinting Cheng, Mengxi Tan & Sai Vanapalli

Authors
  1. Xinting Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mengxi Tan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sai Vanapalli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sai Vanapalli.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cheng, X., Tan, M. & Vanapalli, S. Simple Approaches for the Design of Shallow and Deep Foundations for Unsaturated Soils II: Numerical Techniques. Indian Geotech J 51, 115–126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-021-00500-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-021-00500-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation