Buckling analysis of super-long rock-socketed filling piles in soft soil area by element free Galerkin method

In order to discuss the buckling stability of super-long rock-socketed filling piles widely used in bridge engineering in soft soil area such as Dongting Lake, the second stability type was adopted instead of traditional first type, and a newly invented numerical analysis method, i.e. the element-free Galerkin method (EFGM), was introduced to consider the non-concordant deformation and nonlinearity of the pile-soil interface. Then, based on the nonlinear elastic-ideal plastic pile-soil interface model, a nonlinear iterative algorithm was given to analyze the pile-soil interaction, and a program for buckling analysis of piles by the EFGM (PBAP-EFGM) and arc length method was worked out as well. The application results in an engineering example show that, the shape of pile top load-settlement curve obtained by the program agrees well with the measured one, of which the difference may be caused mainly by those uncertain factors such as possible initial defects of pile shaft and the eccentric loading during the test process. However, the calculated critical load is very close with the measured ultimate load of the test pile, and the corresponding relative error is only 5.6%, far better than the calculated values by linear and nonlinear incremental buckling analysis (with a greater relative error of 37.0% and 15.4% respectively), which also verifies the rationality and feasibility of the present method.

Research on new type of numerical method for material creep analysis

Based on the principles of virtual work for continuum medium,the element free Galerkin method to simulate the numerical calculations of steady-state creep was used and the discrete equation was derived in meshlss method for steady-state creep.The es- sential boundary conditions and volume incompressible conditions can be realized by em- ploying the penalty parameters,so the symmetric positive definite system stiffness matrix can be yielded.Results of numerical cases show that element free Galerkin method,with its high accuracy,is much more convenient to deal with the pre-process and post-process, the results by meshless method is in good agreement with the exact solution data.

Simulation of top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements

Top-down crack in asphalt pavements has been reported as a widespread mode of failure.A solid understanding of the mechanisms of crack growth is essential to predict pavement performance in the context of thickness design,as well as in the design and optimization of mixtures.Using the coupled element free Galerkin (EFG) and finite element (FE) method,top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements is numerically simulated on the basis of fracture mechanics.A parametric study is conducted to isolate the effects of overlay thickness and stiffness,base thickness and stiffness on top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements.The results show that longitudinal wheel loads are disadvantageous to top-down crack because it increases the compound stress intensity factor (SIF) at the tip of top-down crack and shortens the crack path,and thus the fatigue life descends.The SIF experiences a process "sharply ascending—slowly descending—slowly ascending—sharply ascending again" with the crack propagating.The thicker the overlay or the base,the lower the SIF; the greater the overlay stiffness,the higher the SIF.The crack path is hardly affected by stiffness of the overlay and base.