Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Analysis of Soil-Pile Interaction in Expansive Unsaturated Clays during Natural Evaporation and Infiltration
Publication: Geo-Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
The swelling of expansive soils in the active zone can impose intolerable uplift forces on piles’ skin. Therefore, it is critical to accurately estimate the wetting-induced swelling and drying-induced shrinkage of expansive soils and soil-pile interactions to help minimize damage to the buildings. In this study, a coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) model is utilized to estimate the active zone, swelling deformation of the soil, and the soil-pile interactions, when the soil is subjected to real-time meteorological data. The THM model and the input thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical data are implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics. The comparison of the simulated swelling/shrinkage deformation with the analytical calculation produced by VOLFLO software showed a reasonable outcome of the numerical model. The coupled THM modeling approach presented in this paper employs a few input parameters that can be measured using conventional methods and can be incorporated in the rational design of pile foundations in expansive soils.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2024
Pages: 328 - 337
History
Published online: Feb 22, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Continuum mechanics
- Deformation (mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Expansive soils
- Fine-grained soils
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Models (by type)
- Numerical models
- Organic compounds
- Soil analysis
- Soil deformation
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil-pile interaction
- Soils (by type)
- Solid mechanics
- Structural mechanics
- Thermal analysis
- Thermodynamics
- Trihalomethanes
- Unsaturated soils
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