Numerical Simulation of Earthen Embankment Resting on Liquefiable Soil and Remediation Using Stone Columns
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22, Issue 11
Abstract
This study aims to predict the effect of liquefaction on an embankment resting on liquefiable foundation soil. A numerical model has been simulated in PLAXIS 2D with plane strain idealization. An effective stress–based elastoplastic UBC3D-PLM model has been used to represent the constitutive behavior of foundation sandy soil. The embankment soil has been modeled using the Mohr–Coulomb material model. Initially, the pore pressure and settlement response have been derived for the model without a stone column. The top surface of the loose foundation soil experiences excessive heaving near the embankment toe toward the free surface beside the embankment on either side. Subsequently, a parametric study has been conducted on the mitigation of liquefaction beneath the embankment and liquefaction-induced settlement considering stone columns as a mitigation measure. Stone columns have been modeled assuming equivalent plane strips by considering the equivalent permeability and bulk modulus of stone columns. The efficacy of stone columns in controlling the heaving has also been revealed from this study in addition to the reduction in excess pore pressure beneath the embankment toe and the settlement of the embankment. The parametric study has also investigated the effect of diameter and spacing of the stone column. It has been observed in the case of cyclic loading input that with increasing the amplitude of loading, the effectiveness of stone columns reduces, and this leads to an increase in the crest settlement. Moreover, a seismic study of the embankment model has been carried out for 10 different ground motions to examine the effect of the stone column. The study reveals that for moderate-intensity ground motions, the stone column shows an effective mitigation of excess pore pressure near the embankment toe along with a reduction of embankment crest settlement.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the following contributions: Chakraborty A: Conceptualization, Investigation, Software, Validation, and Writing – original draft and Sawant V A: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, and Writing – review and editing.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- amax
- maximum acceleration amplitude;
- c
- cohesion;
- plastic volumetric strain increment;
- dγp
- plastic shear strain increment;
- fp
- predominant frequency;
- G
- elastic shear modulus;
- Ia
- arias intensity;
- K
- elastic bulk modulus;
- pref
- reference stress level (100 kPa);
- ru
- excess pore pressure ratio;
- ru,max
- maximum excess pore pressure ratio;
- maximum excess pore pressure coefficient in the stone column–encased effective zone;
- S/D
- spacing by diameter ratio;
- Tp
- time period;
- Ux,max
- maximum horizontal outflow;
- φmob
- mobilized friction angle;
- φcv
- constant volume friction angle;
- φp
- peak friction angle;
- ηf
- stress ratio at failure;
- ηult
- asymptotic stress ratio evaluated from the best fit hyperbola;
- vertical effective stress;
- initial vertical effective stress;
- ψm
- mobilized dilatancy angle; and
- (N1)60
- corrected SPT value.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 22 • Issue 11 • November 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 15, 2022
Accepted: Jun 4, 2022
Published online: Aug 29, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jan 29, 2023
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Cited by
- Abhijit Chakraborty, V. A. Sawant, Earthquake response of embankment resting on liquefiable soil with different mitigation models, Natural Hazards, 10.1007/s11069-022-05799-6, (2022).