Three-dimensional upper bound limit analysis of underground cavities using nonlinear Baker failure criterion

A generalized nonlinear Baker failure criterion is employed with the upper bound limit analysis to study the surrounding rock stability of underground cavities. A three-dimensional(3D) failure mode is established by extending the two-dimensional(2D) failure mode, which offers an upper bound expression of the surrounding rock pressure. This method is validated with a series of examples before the influence of four parameters of scale parameter, curvature parameter, shift parameter and lateral pressure coefficient, on the surrounding rock pressure is analyzed. According to these results, failure ranges of the underground cavities are determined. The following conclusions are reached:(1) the proposed approach is more accurate to predict surrounding rock pressure than the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion;(2) the surrounding rock with large scale parameter, curvature parameter, shift parameter, and lateral pressure coefficient can lead to a more stable underground cavity;(3) the failure range in 3D mode can be predicted according to the upper bound solutions.

Upper bound limit analysis of roof collapse in shallow tunnels with arbitrary cross sections under condition of seepage force

The analytical solutions for predicting the exact shape of collapse mechanisms in shallow tunnels with arbitrary excavation profiles were obtained by virtue of the upper bound theorem of limit analysis and variation principle according to Hoek-Brown failure criterion. The seepage force was included in the upper bound limit analysis, and it was computed from the gradient of excess pore pressure distribution. The seepage was regarded as a work rate of external force. The numerical results of roof collapse in square and circular tunnels with different rock parameters were derived and discussed, which proves to be valid in comparison with the previous work. The influences of different parameters on the shape of collapsing blocks were also discussed.

Upper-bound limit analysis based on the natural element method

The natural element method （NEM） is a newly- developed numerical method based on Voronoi diagram and Delaunay triangulation of scattered points, which adopts natural neighbour interpolation to construct trial functions in the framework of Galerkin method. Owing to its distinctive advantages, the NEM is used widely in many problems of computational mechanics. Utilizing the NEM, this paper deals with numerical limit analysis of structures made up of perfectly rigid-plastic material. According to kinematic the- orem of plastic limit analysis, a mathematical programming natural element formulation is established for determining the upper bound multiplier of plane problems, and a direct iteration algorithm is proposed accordingly to solve it. In this algorithm, the plastic incompressibility condition is handled by two different treatments, and the nonlinearity and nons- moothness of the goal function are overcome by distinguishing the rigid zones from the plastic zones at each iteration. The procedure implementation of iterative process is quite simple and effective because each iteration is equivalent to solving an associated elastic problem. The obtained limit load multiplier is proved to monotonically converge to the upper bound of true solution. Several benchmark examples are investigated to validate the significant performance of the NEM in the application field of limit analysis.

Comparative study of material point method and upper bound limit analysis in slope stability analysis

The upper bound limit analysis(UBLA)is one of the key research directions in geotechnical engineering and is widely used in engineering practice.UBLA assumes that the slip surface with the minimum factor of safety(FSmin)is the critical slip surface,and then applies it to slope stability analysis.However,the hypothesis of UBLA has not been systematically verified,which may be due to the fact that the traditional numerical method is difficult to simulate the large deformation.In this study,in order to systematically verify the assumption of UBLA,material point method(MPM),which is suitable to simulate the large deformation of continuous media,is used to simulate the whole process of the slope failure,including the large-scale transportation and deposition of soil mass after slope failure.And a series of comparative studies are conducted on the stability of cohesive slopes using UBLA and MPM.The proposed study indicated that the slope angle,internal friction angle and cohesion have a remarkable effect on the slip surface of the cohesive slope.Also,for stable slopes,the calculation results of the two are relatively close.However,for unstable slopes,the slider volume determined by the UBLA is much smaller than the slider volume determined by the MPM.In other words,for unstable slopes,the critical slip surface of UBLA is very different from the slip surface when the slope failure occurs,and when the UBLA is applied to the stability analysis of unstable slope,it will lead to extremely unfavorable results.

Upper bound analysis of ultimate pullout capacity of shallow 3-D circular plate anchors based on nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion

Based on the nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and the associated flow rules,the three-dimensional(3-D)axisymmetric failure mechanism of shallow horizontal circular plate anchors that are subjected to the ultimate pullout capacity(UPC)is determined.A derivative function of the projection function for projecting the 3-D axisymmetric failure surface on plane is deduced using the variation theory.By using difference principle,the primitive function of failure surface satisfying boundary condition and numerical solution to its corresponding ultimate pullout capacity function are obtained.The influences of nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb parameters on UPC and failure mechanism are studied.The result shows that UPC decreases with dimensionless parameter m and uniaxial tensile strength increases but increases when depth and radius of plate anchor,surface overload,initial cohesion,geomaterial density and friction angle increase.The failure surface is similar to a symmetrical spatial funnel,and its shape is mainly determined by dimensionless parameter m;the surface damage range expands with the increase of radius and depth of the plate anchor as well as initial cohesion but decreases with the increase of dimensionless parameter m and uniaxial tensile strength as well as geomaterial density.As the dimensionless parameter m=2.0,the numerical solution of UPC based on the difference principle is proved to be feasible and effective through the comparison with the exact solution.In addition,the comparison between solutions of UPC computed by variation method and those computed by upper bound method indicate that variation method outperforms upper bound method.

Limit variation analysis of shallow rectangular tunnels collapsing with double-layer rock mass based on a three-dimensional failure mechanism

In the framework of upper bound theorem of limit analysis, the progressive collapse of shallow rectangular tunnels with double-layer rock mass has been theoretically analyzed based on the three-dimensional (3D) velocity discontinuity surfaces. According to the virtual work principle, the difference theorem and the variation method, the collapse surface of double-layer rock mass is determined based on the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. The formula can be degenerated to a single-layer rock collapsing problem when the rock mass is homogeneous. To estimate the validity of the result, the numerical simulation software PLAXIS 3D is used to simulate the collapse of shallow tunnels with double-layer rock mass, and the comparative analysis shows that numerical results are in good agreement with upper-bound solutions. According to the results of parametric analysis, the potential range of collapse of a double-layer rock mass above a shallow cavity decreases with a decrease in A1/A2,σci1/σci2 and σtm1/σtm2 and an increase in B1/B2,γ1/γ2. The range will decrease with a decrease in support pressure q and increase with a decrease in surface overload σs. Therefore, reinforced supporting is beneficial to improve the stability of the cavity during actual construction.

Stability analysis for natural slope by kinematical approach

The stability of natural slope was analyzed on the basis of limit analysis. The sliding model of a kind of natural slope was presented. A new kinematically admissible velocity field for the new sliding model was constructed. The stability factor formulation by the upper bound theorem leads to a classical nonlinear programming problem, when the external work rate and internal energy dissipation were solved, and the constraint condition of the programming problem was given. The upper bound optimization problem can be solved efficiently by applying a nonlinear SQP algorithm, and stability factor was obtained, which agrees well with previous achievements.

Study on Failure Mechanism and Bearing Capacity of Three-Dimensional Rectangular Footing Subjected to Combined Loading

This paper presents two kinematic failure mechanisms of threc-dimensional rectangular footing resting on homogeneous undrained clay foundation under uniaxial vertical loading and uniaxial moment loading. The failure mechanism under vertical loading comprises a plane strain Prandti-type mechanism over the central part of the longer side, and the size of the mechanism gradually reduces at the ends of the longer side and over the shorter side as the corner of rectangular footing is being approached where the direction of soil motion remains normal to each corresponding side respectively. The failure mechanism under moment loading comprises a plane strain scoop sliding mechanism over the central part of the longer side, and the radius of scoop sliding mechanism increases linearly at the ends of the longer side. On the basis of the kinematic failure mechanisms mentioned above, the vertical ultimate bearing capacity and the ultimate bearing capacity against moment or moment ultimate bearing capacity are obtained by use of upper bound limit analysis theory. At the same time, numerical analysis results, Skempton＇ s results and Salgado et al. ＇s results are compared with this upper bound solution. It shows that the presented failure mechanisms and plastic limit analysis predictions are validated. In order to investigate the behaviors of undrained clay foundation beneath the rectangular footing subjected to the combined loadings, numerical analysis is adopted by virtue of the general-purpose FEM software ABAQUS, where the clay is assumed to obey the Mohr-Coulomb yielding criterion. The failure envelope and the ultimate bearing capacity are achieved by the numerical analysis results with the varying aspect ratios from length L to breadth B of the rectangular footing. The failure mechanisms of rectangular footing which are subjected to the combined vertical loading V and horizontal loading H （Vertical loading V and moment loading M, and horizontal loading H and moment loading M respectively are observed in the finite element analysis. ） is explained by use of the upper bound plasticity limit analysis theory. Finally, the reason of eccentricity of failure envelope in H-M loading space is given in this study, which can not be explained by use of the traditional ＇ swipe test＇.

Construction of improved rigid blocks failure mechanism for ultimate bearing capacity calculation based on slip-line field theory

Based on the slip-line field theory, a two-dimensional slip failure mechanism with mesh-like rigid block system was constructed to analyze the ultimate bearing capacity problems of rough foundation within the framework of the upper bound limit analysis theorem. In the velocity discontinuities in transition area, the velocity changes in radial and tangent directions are allowed. The objective functions of the stability problems of geotechnical structures are obtained by equating the work rate of external force to internal dissipation along the velocity discontinuities, and then the objective functions are transformed as an upper-bound mathematic optimization model. The upper bound solutions for the objective functions are obtained by use of the nonlinear sequential quadratic programming and interior point method. From the numerical results and comparative analysis, it can be seen that the method presented in this work gives better calculation results than existing upper bound methods and can be used to establish the more accurate plastic collapse load for the ultimate bearing capacity of rough foundation.