Stochastic analysis of excavation-induced wall deflection and box culvert settlement considering spatial variability of soil stiffness

In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element modelling (FEM) analysis is carried out to investigate the effects of soil spatial variability on the response of retaining walls and an adjacent box culvert due to a braced excavation. The spatial variability of soil stiffness is modelled using a variogram and calibrated by high-quality experimental data. Multiple random field samples (RFSs) of soil stiffness are generated using geostatistical analysis and mapped onto a finite element mesh for stochastic analysis of excavation-induced structural responses by Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that the spatial variability of soil stiffness can be described by an exponential variogram, and the associated vertical correlation length is varied from 1.3 m to 1.6 m. It also reveals that the spatial variability of soil stiffness has a significant effect on the variations of retaining wall deflections and box culvert settlements. The ignorance of spatial variability in 3D FEM can result in an underestimation of lateral wall deflections and culvert settlements. Thus, the stochastic structural responses obtained from the 3D analysis could serve as an effective aid for probabilistic design and analysis of excavations.

Cyclic Lateral Responses of Monopiles Considering the Influence of Pile−Soil Relative Stiffness in Sand

The existing studies have primarily focused on the effect of cyclic load characteristics(namely,cyclic load ratio and amplitude ratio)on cyclic lateral response of monopiles in sand,with little attention paid to the effect of pile−soil relative stiffness(K_(R)).This paper presents a series of 1-g cyclic tests aimed at improving understanding of the cyclic lateral responses of monopiles under different pile−soil systems.These systems are arranged by two model piles with different stiffness,including four different slenderness ratios(pile embedded length,L,normalized by diameter,D)under medium dense sand.The K_(R)-values are calculated by a previously proposed method considering the real soil stress level.The test results show that the lateral accumulation displacement increases significantly with the increment of the K_(R)-value,while the cyclic secant stiffness performs inversely.The maximum pile bending moment increases with the cycle number for the rigid pile−soil system,but shows a decreasing trend in the flexible system.For an uppermost concern,an empirical model is proposed to predict the accumulated displacement of arbitrary pile−soil systems by combining the results from this study with those from previous experimental investigations.The validity of the proposed model is demonstrated by 1-g and centrifuge tests.

A numerical model for pipelaying on nonlinear soil stiffness seabed

The J-lay method is regarded as one of the most feasible methods to lay a pipeline in deep water and ultra-deep water. A numerical model that accounts for the nonlinear soil stiffness is developed in this study to evaluate a J-lay pipeline. The pipeline considered in this model is divided into two parts： the part one is suspended in water, and the part two is laid on the seabed. In addition to the boundary conditions at the two end points of the pipeline, a special set of the boundary conditions is required at the touchdown point that connects the two parts of the pipeline. The two parts of the pipeline are solved by a numerical iterative method and the finite difference method, respectively. The proposed numerical model is validated for a special case using a catenary model and a numerical model with linear soil stiffness. A good agreement in the pipeline configuration, the tension force and the bending moment is obtained among these three models. Furthermore, the present model is used to study the importance of the nonlinear soil stiffness. Finally, the parametric study is performed to study the effect of the mudline shear strength, the gradient of the soil shear strength, and the outer diameter of the pipeline on the pipelaying solution.

Reliability analysis of large-diameter high-grade-steel natural gas pipelines under fault action

There are a lot of researches on qualitative aseismatic measures for buried gas pipeline crossing movable faults.But a few of them are quantitative,especially in the size and shape of the trench.The paper first established the finite element model of the strain of buried pipeline crossing a fault which effected by the size and shape of the trench.And it obtained new soil spring stiffness which considered different buried depth,bottom width of trench,trench slope and elastic modulus of soil.The mechanical analysis model of pipeline is established,and the limit state equation of pipeline is fitted.The reliability and sensitivity of the natural gas pipeline under fault action are analysed by a Monte Carlo method,and the error and accuracy are verified.When the pipeline is under tension,the sensitivity from large to small is buried depth,sand friction angle,pipe diameter,pipeline displacement,trench bottom width,trench depth,clay cohesion,trench slope and clay friction angle;when the pipeline is under pressure,the trench depth and clay cohesion have great influence.The findings of this study provide a reference for pipeline design and safety evaluation under fault action.