• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.67-75
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• 2008

In construction facilities such as bridges, the fluid boundary layer(or water film) is formed at the structure-soil interface by the inflow into the system due to rainfall or/and rising ground-water. As a result, the structure-soil interaction(SSI) state changes into the structure-fluid-soil interaction(SFSI) state. In general, construction facilities may be endangered by the inflow of water into the soil foundation. Thus, it is important to predict the dynamic SFSI responses accurately so that the facilities may be properly designed against such dangers. It is desired to have the robust tools of attaining such a purpose. However, there has not been any report of a method for the SFSI analyses. The objective of this study is to propose an efficient method of finite element modelling using the new interface element named hybrid interface element capable of giving reasonable predictions of the dynamic SFSI response. This element enables the simulation of the limited normal tensile resistance and the tangential hydro-plane behaviour, which has not been preceded in the previous studies. The hybrid interface element was tested numerically for its validity and employed in the analysis of SFSI responses of the continuous bridge subjected to seismic load under rainfall or/and rising ground-water condition. It showed that dynamic responses of the continuous bridge resting on direct foundation may be amplified under rainfall condition and consequently lead to significant variation of stresses.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.281-290
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• 2022

The direct shear test is commonly used to evaluate the shear behavior of frozen soil-structure interfaces under normal stress. However, failure criteria, such as the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, are needed to obtain the unconfined shear strength. Hence, the punch shear test, which is usually used to estimate the shear strength of rocks without confinement, was examined in this study to directly determine the adfreezing strength. It is measured as the shear strength of the frozen soil-structure interface under unconfined conditions. Different soils of silica sand, field sand, and field clay were prepared inside the steel and concrete ring structures. Soil and ring structures were frozen at the target temperature for more than 24 h. A punch shear test was then conducted. The test results show that the adfreezing strength increased with a decrease in the target temperature and increase in the initial water content, owing to the increase in ice content. The adfreezing strength of field clay was the smallest when compared with the other soil specimens because of the large amount of unfrozen water content. The field sand with the larger normalized roughness showed greater adfreezing strength than the silica sand with a lower normalized roughness. From the experiment and analysis, the applicability of the punch shear test was examined to measure the adfreezing strength of the frozen soil-structure interface. To find a proper sample dimension, supplementary experiments or numerical analysis will be needed in further research.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.571-587
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• 2012

This paper presents results of a numerical analysis performed on a corrugated steel plate (CSP) bridge during a backfilling process. The analysed bridge structure was a box culvert having a span of 12315 mm as well as a clear height of 3550 mm. Obtained calculation results were compared with the experimental ones. The paper is presented with the application of the Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) program based on the finite differences method (FDM) to determine behaviour of the soil-steel bridge structure during backfilling. The assumptions of a computational 2D model of soil-steel structure with a non-linear interface layer are described. Parametric analysis of the interface element is also given in order to receive the most realistic calculation results. The method based on this computational model may be used with large success to design calculations of this specific type of structure instead of the conventional and fairly inaccurate analytical methods. The conclusions drawn from such analysis can be helpful mostly for the assessment of the behaviour of steel-soil bridge structures under loads of backfilling. In consideration of an even more frequent application of this type of structure, conclusions from the conducted analysis can be generalized to a whole class of similar structural bridge solutions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1021-1046
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• 2017

The assessment of slope stability is an essential task in geotechnical engineering. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) was employed to investigate the performance of different shear pin arrangements to increase the stability of a soil block resting on an inclined plane with a low-interface friction plane. In the numerical models, the soil block was modeled by volume elements with linear elastic perfectly plastic material in a drained condition, while the shear pins were modeled by volume elements with linear elastic material. Interface elements were used along the bedding plane (bedding interface element) and around the shear pins (shear pin interface element) to simulate the soil-structure interaction. Bedding interface elements were used to capture the shear sliding of the soil on the low-interface friction plane while shear pin interface elements were used to model the shear bonding of the soil around the pins. A failure analysis was performed by means of the gravity loading method. The results of the 3D FEA with the numerical models were compared to those with the physical models for all cases. The effects of the number of shear pins, the shear pin locations, the different shear pin arrangements, the thickness and the width of the soil block and the associated failure mechanisms were discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.69-88
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• 2000

A relatively simple model of a buried structure response to a surface loading that can simulate a possible opening and closure of a gap between the soil and the structure is presented. Analysis of the response of small and medium scale buried roof slabs under surface impulsive loading shows that the model's predictions are in fairly good agreement with the experimental results. Application of the model to a study case shows the relative influence of system parameters such as, the depth of burial, the arching coefficient, and the roof thickness, on the interface pressure and on the roof displacement. This model demonstrates the effect of a gap between the structure and the soil. The relative importance of including a gap opening and closure in the analysis is examined by the application of the model to a study case. This study results show that the deeper the depth of burial, the longer the gap duration, and the shorter the duration of the initial interface impact, while the higher the soil's shear resistance, the higher the gap duration, and the shorter the initial interface impact duration.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.783-791
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• 2018

In consideration of the mesoscopic structure of soil-rock mixtures in which the rock aggregates are wrapped by soil at normal temperatures, a two-layer embedded model of single-inclusion composite material was built to calculate the shear modulus of soil-rock mixtures. At a freezing temperature, an interface ice interlayer was placed between the soil and rock interface in the mesoscopic structure of the soil-rock mixtures. Considering that, a three-layer embedded model of double-inclusion composite materials and a multi-step multiphase micromechanics model were then built to calculate the shear modulus of the frozen soil-rock mixtures. Given the effect of pore structure of soil-rock mixtures at normal temperatures, its shear modulus was also calculated by using of the three-layer embedded model. Experimental comparison showed that compared with the two-layer embedded model, the effect predicted by the three-layer embedded model of the soil-rock mixtures was better. The shear modulus of the soil-rock mixtures gradually increased with the increase in rock regardless of temperature, and the increment rate of the shear modulus increased rapidly particularly when the rock content ranged from 50% to 70%. The shear modulus of the frozen soil-rock mixtures was nearly 3.7 times higher than that of the soil-rock mixtures at a normal temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.471-476
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• 2001

Even though structural performance evaluation techniques for reinforced concrete structures have been improved, there are still many problems in the evaluation of structural performance for underground structures which interacts with surrounding soils. Since experimental evaluation of underground RC structures considering the interaction with the surrounding soil medium is quite difficult to be simulated, the evaluation for underground RC structures using an analytical method can be applied very usefully, For underground structures interacted with surrounding soils, it is important to consider path-dependent RC constitutive model, soil constitutive model, and interface model between structure and soil, simultaneously. In this paper, an elastoplastic interface model which consider thickness was proposed and importance of interface model is discussed. The effects of stiffness of structures to entire underground RC system are investigated through numerical experiment for underground RC structure for different reinforcement ratios and thickness of interfaces.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2018

The paper focuses on the seismic responses of a hyperbolic cooling tower resting on soil foundation represented by the three-parameter Vlasov elastic soil model. The three-parameter soil model eliminates the necessity of field testing to determine soil parameters such as reaction modulus and shear parameter. These parameters are calculated using an iterative procedure depending on the soil surface vertical deformation profile in the model. The soil and tower system are modeled in SAP2000 structural analysis program using a computing tool coded in MATLAB. The tool provides a two-way data transfer between SAP2000 and MATLAB with the help of Open Application Programming Interface (OAPI) feature of SAP2000. The response spectrum analyses of the tower system with circular V-shaped supporting columns and annular raft foundation on elastic soil are conducted thanks to the coded tool. The shell and column forces and displacements are presented for different soil conditions and fixed raft base condition to investigate the effects of soil-structure interaction. Numerical results indicate that the flexibility of soil foundation leads to an increase in displacements but a decrease in shell membrane and column forces. Therefore, it can be stated that the consideration of soil-structure interaction in the seismic response analysis of the cooling tower system provides an economical design process.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.455-460
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• 2014

In this study, structural behavior of plastic greenhouse foundation was investigated using rational finite element modeling for structures which have different material properties each other. Because the concrete foundation of plastic greenhouse and soil which surround and support the concrete foundation have very different material property, the boundary between two structures were modeled by a interface element. The interface element was able to represent sliding, separation, uplift and re-bonding of the boundary between concrete foundation and soil. The results of static and dynamic analysis showed that horizontal and vertical displacement of concrete foundation displayed a decreasing tendency with increasing depth of foundation. The second frequency from modal analysis of structure including foundation and soil was estimate to closely related with wind load.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.717-733
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• 2003

A time domain method is presented for soil-structure interaction analysis under seismic excitations. It is based on the finite element formulation incorporating infinite elements for the far field soil region. Equivalent earthquake input forces are calculated based on the free field responses along the interface between the near and far field soil regions utilizing the fixed exterior boundary method in the frequency domain. Then, the input forces are transformed into the time domain by using inverse Fourier transform. The dynamic stiffness matrices of the far field soil region formulated using the analytical frequency-dependent infinite elements in the frequency domain can be easily transformed into the corresponding matrices in the time domain. Hence, the response can be analytically computed in the time domain. A recursive procedure is proposed to compute the interaction forces along the interface and the responses of the soil-structure system in the time domain. Earthquake response analyses have been carried out on a multi-layered half-space and a tunnel embedded in a layered half-space with the assumption of the linearity of the near and far field soil region, and results are compared with those obtained by the conventional method in the frequency domain.