Klant: Plaxis B.V.

Delft, Nederland

Producten: Diverse handleidingen voor geotechnische

software

Werkzaamheden: Eindredactie, opmaak & drukklaar maken,

zowel voor de oorspronkelijke Engelse
documenten als voor diverse vertalingen
(Frans, Duits, Spaans, Indonesisch)
Tevens vervaardiging helptekstsystemen
op basis van handleidingen

Voorbeeld: 10 pagina’s uit de Dynamics handleiding

bij Plaxis V8 – Finite Elelement Code for
Soil and Rock Analyses
 TUTORIAL

When the Hardening Soil model is used wave velocities are not shown because they
vary due to the stress-dependent stiffness.

Mesh generation
The mesh is generated with a global coarseness set to coarse (default). A local
refinement is made in the pile cluster. The result of the mesh generation is plotted in
Figure 2.13.
A

18

0 x 30

Figure 2.13 Finite element mesh for pile driving problem.

2.2.1 INITIAL CONDITIONS

Water pressures:
The phreatic level is assumed to be at the ground surface. Hydrostatic pore pressures are
generated in the whole geometry according to this phreatic line.

Initial stresses:
Initial effective stresses are generated by the K0 procedure, using the default values.
Note that in the initial situation the pile does not exist and that the clay properties should
be assigned to the corresponding clusters.

2.2.2 CALCULATIONS
The analysis consists of three calculation phases. In the first phase the pile is created. In
the second phase the pile is subjected to a single stroke, which is simulated by activating
half a harmonic cycle of load system A. In the third phase the load is kept zero and the
dynamic response of the pile and soil is analysed in time. The last two phases involve
dynamic calculations.

2-13
DYNAMICS MANUAL

Phase 1:
1. Select Plastic calculation in the general tab sheet.
2. Select Staged construction in the parameter tab sheet.
3. Assign the pile properties to the pile cluster.

Phase 2:
1. Select Dynamic analysis in the general tab sheet.
2. Use standard Additional steps (250).
3. Reset displacements to zero.
4. Enter 0.01 s for the Time interval.
5. Select Manual setting for the iterative procedure and click Define. The initial
number of Dynamic sub steps is relatively large, due to the large difference in wave
speeds and the small element sizes (see earlier remark on material properties). Set
the number of Dynamic sub steps to 1. All other settings remain at their default.

6. Click next to Load system A in the multiplier tab sheet to apply the dynamic
loading. Enter the values as indicated in Figure 2.14.

Figure 2.14 Dynamic loading parameters

The result of this phase is half a harmonic cycle of the external load in system A. At the
end of this phase, the load is back to zero.

Phase 3:
1. Select Dynamic analysis in the general tab sheet.
2. Use standard Additional steps (250).

2-14 PLAXIS Version 8

 TUTORIAL

3. Enter a Time interval of 0.19 s.

4. Select the Manual setting for the Iterative procedure and click Define. Set the
number of Dynamic sub steps to 1. This results in equal time steps in phase 2 and 3.
5. In the Multiplier tab sheet, all multipliers remain at their default values.

6. Click next to Load system A and set all parameters in the Dynamic Loading
window to zero.
7. Select a node at the top of the pile for load displacement curves.

2.2.3 OUTPUT
Figure 2.15 shows the settlement of the pile (top point) versus time. From this figure the
following observations can be made:
∑ The maximum vertical settlement of the pile top due to this single stroke is about 24
mm. However, the final settlement is almost 22 mm.
∑ Most of the settlement occurs in phase 3 after the stroke has ended. This is due to
the fact that the compression wave is still propagating downwards in the pile,
causing additional settlements.
∑ Despite the absence of Rayleigh damping, the vibration of the pile is damped due to
soil plasticity and the fact that wave energy is absorbed at the model boundaries.

Uy [m]
0

-5e-3

-0.01

-0.015

-0.02

-0.025
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Time [s]

Figure 2.15 Pile settlement vs. time.

When looking at the output of the second calculation phase (t = 0.01 s, i.e. just after the
stroke), it can be seen that large excess pore pressures occur very locally around the pile

2-15
DYNAMICS MANUAL

tip. This reduces the shear strength of the soil and contributes to the penetration of the
pile into the sand layer. The excess pore pressures remain also in the third phase since
consolidation is not considered.
Figure 2.16 shows the shear stresses in the interface elements at t = 0.01 s. This plot is
obtained by using a manual scaling factor of 10 and zooming into the small area of
stresses along the pile. The plot shows that the maximum shear stress is reached all
along the pile, which indicates that the soil is sliding along the pile.

shear stress
down along the pile (interface)

maximum shear stress as

defined by Mohr-Coulomb
criterium

Figure 2.16 Shear stresses in the interface at t = 0.01 s.

When looking at the deformed mesh of the last calculation phase (t = 0.2 s), it can also
be seen that the final settlement of the pile is about 22 mm. In order to see the whole
dynamic process it is suggested to use the option Create Animation to view a 'movie' of
the deformed mesh in time. You may notice that the first part of the animation is slower
than the second part.

2.3 BUILDING SUBJECTED TO AN EARTHQUAKE

This example demonstrates the behaviour of a four-storey building when subjected to an

earthquake. A real accelerogram of an earthquake recorded by USGS in 1989 is used for
the analysis. It is contained in the standard SMC format (Strong Motion CD-ROM),
which can be read and interpreted by PLAXIS (Section 3.2.7).

Input
The building consists of 4 floors and a basement. It is 6 m wide and 25 m high. The total
height from the ground level is 4 x 3 m = 12 m and the basement is 2 m deep. The dead
load and a percentage of the live load acting on each floor are added up, mounting up to
5 kN/m2. This value is taken as the weight of the floors and the walls.

2-16 PLAXIS Version 8

 TUTORIAL

Geometry model
The length of the building is much larger than its width. The earthquake is also supposed
to have a dominant effect across the width of the building. Hence, a plane strain analysis
can be performed. 15-noded elements are used to simulate the situation. The unit of time
is set to seconds [s]. The other dimensions are left to their defaults (length: [m], force:
[kN]).
The subsoil consists of a relatively soft soil layer of 20 m thickness, overlaying a rock
formation. The latter is not included in the model. The building itself is composed of 5-
noded plate elements. The clusters of the building are filled with soil material when
generating the mesh, but these clusters are deactivated in the initial situation.
The vertical boundaries are taken relatively far away from the building. Physical
damping in the building and the subsoil is simulated by means of Rayleigh damping
(Section 3.1.5).
The earthquake is modelled by imposing a prescribed displacement at the bottom
boundary. In contrast to the standard unit of length used in PLAXIS [m], the displacement
unit in the SMC format is [cm]. Therefore the input value of the horizontal prescribed
displacements is set to 0.01 m. (When using [ft] as unit of length, this value should be
0.0328 ft). The vertical component of the prescribed displacement is kept zero
(ux=0.01m and uy=0.00m). At the far vertical boundaries, absorbent boundary conditions
are applied to absorb outgoing waves. PLAXIS has a convenient default setting to
generate standard boundary conditions for earthquake loading using SMC-files
(Standard earthquake boundaries). This option can be selected from the Loads menu. In
this way the boundary conditions as described above are automatically generated (see
Figure 2.17).
y=32
beam
elements

20
y=18
absorbent standard fixities absorbent
boundary boundary

0 prescribed displacement 100

Figure 2.17 Geometry model with standard earthquake boundary conditions.

Material properties
The properties of the subsoil are given in Table 2.4. The soil consists of loam, which is
assumed to be linear elastic. The stiffness is higher than one would use in a static
analysis, since dynamic loadings are usually fast and cause very small strains. The
presence of the groundwater is neglected. The building is also considered to be linear
elastic. The walls and the floors have similar plate properties, which are listed in Table
2.5.

2-17
DYNAMICS MANUAL

Table 2.4 Material properties of the subsoil

Parameter Name Value Unit
Material model Model Elastic -
Type of material behaviour Type Drained -
Unit soil weight g 17.0 kN/m3
Young's modulus (constant) Eref 30000 kN/m2
Poisson's ratio n 0.2 -
Rayleigh damping a and b 0.01

Considering a gravity acceleration of 9.8 m/s2, the above properties are equivalent to a
shear wave velocity of about 85 m/s and a compression wave velocity of about 140 m/s.

Table 2.5 Material properties of the building (plate properties).

Parameter Name Floors / Walls Unit
Material model Model Elastic -
Normal stiffness EA 5·106 kN/m
Flexural rigidity EI 9000 kNm2/m
Weight w 5.0 kN/m/m
Poisson's ratio n 0.0 -
Rayleigh damping a and b 0.01

Mesh generation

20

y
0 100
x

Figure 2.18 Finite element mesh.

For the mesh generation, the global coarseness is set to 'coarse' and the clusters inside
the building are refined once. This is because of the high concentration of stresses that
can be expected just in and under the building elements (See Figure 2.18).

2-18 PLAXIS Version 8

 TUTORIAL

2.3.1 INITIAL CONDITIONS

Water pressures:
The generation of water pressures can be skipped, since pore pressures are not
considered in this example.

Initial stresses:
In the initial situation the building is not considered; therefore the plates and the clusters
above the ground surface must be deactivated. The initial state of stresses is generated
by the K0-procedure, with a K0-value of 0.5 for all active clusters.

2.3.2 CALCULATIONS
The calculation involves two phases. The first one is a normal plastic calculation in
which the building is constructed. The second is a dynamic analysis in which the
earthquake is simulated. To analyse the effects of the earthquake in detail the
displacements are reset to zero at the beginning of this phase.

Phase 1:
1. Select Plastic calculation in the general tab sheet.
2. Select Staged construction as the loading input in the parameter tab-sheet and click
Define.
3. Activate the plates of the building and de-activate the soil cluster in the basement.
All clusters inside the building should now be inactive.
4. Make sure the prescribed displacement used for modelling the earthquake
acceleration is switched on.

20

y
0 100
x
Figure 2.19 Construction of the building

Phase 2:
1. Select Dynamic analysis for the calculation type in the General tab sheet.
2. Set the number of Additional steps to 250 in the Parameters tab-sheet.

2-19
DYNAMICS MANUAL

3. Select Reset the displacements to zero.

4. Set the Time interval to 10 sec in the loading input box.
5. Select Manual setting for the Iterative procedure. Set Dynamic sub step to 1.
6. Click Define.
7. Select the Multiplier tab sheet.

8. Click next to the S -Mdisp multiplier.

9. Select the option Load multiplier from data file.

Figure 2.20 Selection of SMC file.

10. Select the appropriate SMC file (225A.smc). This file can be found in the PLAXIS
program directory. The data provided in this file is an accelerogram, thus the option
Acceleration has to be selected from the File contents box (See Figure 2.20).
11. Click OK.
12. Select points for load displacement curves at the top of the building, at the bottom
of the basement and at the bottom of the mesh. You may now start the calculation.

Hint: Plaxis assumes the data file is located in the current project directory when no
directory is specified in the Dynamic loading window.
> In the SMC files, data is given for each 0.005 s (200 values per second). The
calculation step size does not correspond with the data given in the file, but the
calculation program will interpolate a proper value for the actual time of each
step.

2-20 PLAXIS Version 8

 TUTORIAL

2.3.3 OUTPUT
The maximum horizontal displacement at the top of the building is 75 mm and occurs at
t=4.8 s. Figure 2.21 shows the deformed mesh at that time. The output program also
provides data on velocities and accelerations. The maximum horizontal acceleration at
the top of the building is 3.44 m/s2 (0.34 G) and occurs at t=2.88 s (see Figure 2.22).

Figure 2.21 Deformed mesh at at t = 4.80 s (step 121). Maximum horizontal

deformation at the top: ux = 75 mm

Figure 2.22 Horizontal accelerations at t = 2.88 s (step 73). Maximum value at the top:
ax = 3.44 m/s2

Figure 2.23 and Figure 2.24 show, respectively, time-displacement curves and time-
acceleration curves at the bottom of the mesh, the basement and the top of the building.
From Figure 2.24 it can be seen that the maximum accelerations at the top of the
building are much larger than the accelerations from the earthquake itself.

2-21
DYNAMICS MANUAL

Displacement [m]
0.08

0.04

0.00

Legend
-0.04 Bottom of Mesh
Bottom of Basement
Top of Builing
-0.08
0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0
Time [s]

Figure 2.23 Time-displacement curve for the mesh bottom, basement and top of
building

Acceleration [m/s2]
4.0

2.0

0.0

-2.0
Legend
Bottom of Mesh
Bottom of Basement
Top of Builing
-4.0
0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0
Time [s]

Figure 2.24 Time-acceleration curve for the mesh bottom, basement and top of building.

2-22 PLAXIS Version 8