Transmitted Swelling Pressures on Retaining Structures

by Mustafa Aytekin, Karadeniz Technical Univ, Travzon, Turkey,
Warren K. Wray, Karadeniz Technical Univ, Travzon, Turkey,
C. V. Girija Vallabhan, Karadeniz Technical Univ, Travzon, Turkey,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Unsaturated Soils

Abstract:

The main objectives of this paper are to describe a finite element model to simulate the lateral swelling behavior of expansive soils as a function of soil suction change in the soil domain and to compare the results of the numerical model with results obtained by others in a large-scale experimental study. To achieve these objectives, a mathematical model using the well known Finite Element Method, FEM was developed. Also, a computer program called LATEX2D was developed for the mathematical model and a quadrilateral isoparametric finite element was employed in the analysis. The strain due to swelling is related to soil suction changes within the depth. The large-scale laboratory tests were simulated in the numerical model. The observed and the estimated lateral pressures found by the numerical modeling were then compared to the experimental results. The lateral pressure distributions from the numerical model compared closely with the results of the large-scale experiments. Thus, it was concluded that by developing proper material properties of the expansive soils, the lateral pressures on the retaining structures can be predicted fairly well for engineering purposes.

Subject Headings: Soil suction | Numerical models | Finite element method | Expansive soils | Soil pressure | Lateral pressure | Soil properties

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