• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.483-490
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• 2002

This paper presents the results of a comparative study between FEM and LEM on slope stability analysis. For validation, factors of safety were compared between FEM and LEM. The results from the two methods were in good agreement suggesting that the FEM with the shear strength reduction method can be effectively used on slope stability analyses. A series of analysis were then performed using the FEM for various constitutive laws, slope angles, flow rules, and the finite element discretizations. Among the findings, the finite element method in conjunction with the shear strength reduction method can provide reasonable results in terms of factor of safety. Also revealed is that the results of FEM can be significantly affected by the way in which the type of constitutive law and flow rule are selected.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.65-74
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• 2003

This paper presents the results of a comparative study between FEM and LEM on slope stability analysis. For validation, factors of safety were compared between FEM and LEM. The results from the two methods were in good agreement. This suggests that the FEM with the shear strength reduction method can be effectively used on slope stability analyses. A series of analyses were then performed using the FEM for various constitutive laws, slope angles, flow rules, and the finite element discretizations. Among the findings, the finite element method in conjunction with the shear strength reduction method can provide reasonable results in terms of safety. Also revealed is that the results of FEM can be significantly affected by the way in which the type of constitutive law and flow nile we selected.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.739-756
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• 2016

The shear strength reduction finite element method (SSRFEM) is a powerful tool for slope stability analysis. The factor of safety (FOS) of the slope can be easily calculated only through reducing effective cohesion (c′) and tangent of effective friction angle ($tan{\varphi}^{\prime}$) in equal proportion. However, this method may not be applicable to soil slope under wetting-drying cycles (WDCs), because the influence of WDCs on c′ and $tan{\varphi}^{\prime}$ may be different. To research the method of estimating FOS of soil slopes under WDCs, this paper presents an experimental study firstly to investigate the effects of WDCs on the parameters of shear strength and stiffness. Twelve silty clay samples were subjected to different number of WDCs and then tested with triaxial test equipment. The test results show that WDCs have a degradation effect on shear strength (${\sigma}_1-{\sigma}_3)_f$, secant modulus of elasticity ($E_s$) and c′ while little influence on ${\varphi}^{\prime}$. Hence, conventional SSRFEM which reduces c′ and $tan{\varphi}^{\prime}$ in equal proportion cannot be adopted to compute the FOS of slope under conditions of WDCs. The SSRFEM should be modified. In detail, c′ is merely reduced among shear strength parameters, and elasticity modulus is reduced correspondingly. Besides, a new approach based on sudden substantial changes in the displacement of marked nodes is proposed to identify the slope failure in SSRFEM. Finally, the modified SSRFEM is applied to compute the FOS of a slope example.

• Journal of Advanced Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.279-285
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• 2018

A shear connection between the steel beam and concrete slab determines the stability of composite beams. An extensive numerical study to evaluate the resistance of the shear connection in a solid slab at high temperature was conducted. Three-dimensional thermo-mechanical finite element models were developed using a dynamic explicit method and concrete damaged plasticity model. Temperature-dependent plasticity parameters of the concrete model were proposed, and the accuracy of the developed model was obtained against experimental data. This investigation has revealed that a stud shearing failure occurs regardless of temperatures, and its shearing location changes in accordance with a rise in temperature. A new strength reduction formula has been presented to estimate the resistance of the shear connection at high temperatures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.179-200
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• 2008

This paper reports the results of a recent experimental study into the behavior of welded fin-plate connections to both hollow and concrete filled tubular (CFT) columns under shear. Experiments have been performed at both ambient and elevated temperatures with the aid of an electric kiln. The observed failure modes include fracture of the fin plate and tearing out of the tube around the welds. By considering the results of previously published research, the current design method for similar connections under purely tensile load, in CIDECT Guide 9, based on a deformation limit of 3% of the tube width is shown to be inadequate when evaluating the ultimate strength of such connections. By comparing the results from the current test program which failed in the fin-plate with Eurocode guidance for failure of a fin-plate alone under shear and bending load it is shown that the column face influences the overall connection strength regardless of failure mode. Concrete in-fill is observed to significantly increase the strength of connections over empty specimens, and circular column specimens were observed to exhibit greater strength than similarly proportioned square columns. A finite element (F.E.) model, developed using ABAQUS, is presented and validated against the experimental results in order that extensive parametric tests may be subsequently performed. When validating the model against elevated temperature tests it was found that using reduction factors suggested in published research for the specific steel grades improved results over applying the generic Eurocode elevated temperature steel strength reduction factors.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.19-29
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• 2009

In this study, a numerical analysis was performed to predict the sequential behavior of anchored retaining wall where the failure accident took place, and verified accuracy of prediction through the comparisons between prediction and field measurement. The emphasis was given to the wall behaviors and the variation of sliding surface based on the two different methods of elasto-plastic and finite element (shear strength reduction technique). Through the comparison study, it is shown that the bending moment and the soil pressure at construction stages produce quite similar results in both the elasto-plastic and finite element method. However, predicted wall deflections using elasto-plastic method show underestimate results compared with measured deflections. This demonstrates that the elasto-plastic method does not clearly consider the influence of soil-wall-reinforcement interaction, so that the tension force (anchor force and earth pressure) on the wall is overestimated. Based on the results obtained, it is found that finite element method using shear strength reduction method can be effectively used to perform the back calculation analysis in the anchored retaining wall, whereas elasto-plastic method can be applicable to the preliminary design of retaining wall with suitable safety factor.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.545-560
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• 2014

For slope stability analysis, an alternative to the classical limit equilibrium method (LEM) of slices is the shear strength reduction method (SRM), which can be integrated into finite element analysis or finite difference analysis. Recently, probabilistic analysis of earth slopes has been very attractive because it is capable to take the soil uncertainty into account. However, the SRM is less commonly extended to probabilistic framework compared to a variety of probabilistic LEM analysis of earth slopes. To overcome some limitations that hinder the development of probabilistic SRM stability analysis, a new procedure based on recursive algorithm FORM with sensitivity analysis in the space of original variables is proposed. It can be used to deal with correlated non-normal variables subjected to implicit limit state surface. Using the proposed approach, a probabilistic finite element analysis of the stability of an existing earth dam is carried out in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.176-183
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• 2008

This paper highlights the importance of carrying out global slope stability analysis as part of design calculations for geosynethetic walls in tiered configuration. Four design case histories were selected to examine the appropriateness of their design by performing additional slope stability analyses using the shear strength reduction method with in the frame work of finite element analysis. The results indicated that all of the walls examined, which were designed to meet the current design guide lines, did not satisfy the global slope stability requirement, and that longer reinforcements are required in the upper tiers to achieve the minimum factor of safety. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.201-212
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• 2018

Decrease in availability of suitable subbase and base course materials for highway construction leads to a search for economic method of converting locally available troublesome soil to suitable one for highway construction. Present study insights on evaluation of benefits of stabilization of subgrade soils in term of extension in service life (TBR) and layer thickness reduction (LTR). Laboratory investigation consisting of Atterberg limit, Compaction, California Bearing Ratio, unconfined compressive strength and triaxial shear strength tests were carried out on two types of soil for varying percentages of stabilizers. Vertical compressive strains at the top of unstabilized and stabilized subgrade soils were found out by elastoplastic finite element analysis using commercial software ANSYS. The values of vertical compressive strains at the top of unstabilized and stabilized subgrade, were further used to estimate layer thickness reduction or extension in service life of the pavement due to stabilization. Finite element modeling of the flexible pavement layered structure provides modern technology and sophisticated characterization of materials that can be accommodated in the analysis and enhances the reliability for the prediction of pavement response for improved design methodology. If the pavement section is kept same for unstabilized and stabilized subgrade soils, pavement resting on lime, fly ash and fiber stabilized subgrade soil B will have service life 2.84, 1.84 and 1.67 times than that of unstabilized pavement respectively. The flexible pavement resting on stabilized subgrade is beneficial in reducing the construction material. Actual savings would depend on the option exercised by the designer for reducing the thickness of an individual layer.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.481-495
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• 2021

This article assesses and estimates the progressive failure mechanism of complex pit-rest secondary toppling of slopes that are located within the vicinity of the Gas Flare Site of Refinery No. 4 in South Pars Special Zone (SPSZ), southwest Iran. The finite element numerical procedure based on the Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) technique has been employed for the stability analysis. In this regard, several step modelling stages that were conducted to evaluate the slope stability status revealed that the main instability was situated on the left-hand side (western) slope in the Flare Site. The toppling was related to the rock column-overburden system in relation to the overburden pressure on the rock columns which led to the progressive instability of the slope. This load transfer from the overburden has most probably led to the separation of the rock column and to its rotation downstream of the slope in the form of a complex pit-rest secondary toppling. According to the numerical modelling, it was determined that the Strength Reduction Factor (SRF) decreased substantially from 5.68 to less than 0.320 upon progressive failure. The estimated shear and normal stresses in the block columns ranged from 1.74 MPa to 8.46 MPa, and from 1.47 MPa to 16.8 MPa, respectively. In addition, the normal and shear displacements in the block columns ranged from 0.00609 m to 0.173 m and from 0.0109 m to 0.793 m, respectively.