Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Department of Civil Engineering

Plaxis Assignment
Interface on Moodle will close at the stipulated time
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1. Figure 1 shows the subsurface profile of a site. Engineering properties of the deposits
obtained from field and laboratory tests are shown in Table 1.
1m
Soft clay

4.0m

y
Dense sand

z
Stiff clay

Bedrock
extending to
infinity ()

Bedrock
Figure not to scale

Note:
y = Last digit of your roll no. plus 1 e.g. if your roll no. is 120040072, then y = 3m
z = Sum of last 2 digits of your roll no. e.g. if your roll no. is 120040072, then z = 9m
Figure 1. Subsurface profile
Table 1 Properties of the deposits at the site
unsat

sat

su /cu

c'

'

Eref

kN/m3

kN/m3

kPa

kPa

degree

MPa

Soft clay

14

16

25

24

Dense sand

15

19

Stiff clay

15

17

110

Bedrock

22.7

Layer

Rinter

'

0.49

0.3

1x10-5

32

40

0.7

0.3

28

10

0.8

0.49

0.3

5x10-5

m/day

Eref = 1x104 MPa; linear elastic nonporous material = 0.15

You may also assume that firm clay, dense sand and stiff clay, all obey the Mohr Coulomb
yield criterion.

A circular water tank is placed at 1m depth. The tank rests on 1.5m thick reinforced
concrete raft of 10m diameter. Empty weight of the tank is 1500kN. If the height of
the water in the tank is 3.5m, determine the factor of safety against failure. Discuss
any one way to improve the safety factor. Re-run the above problem using this
improvement.

You have to model the axi-symmetric tank using PLAXIS and submit a report on the
foundation design. The report should also include the time taken by the tank to reach
95 percent settlement. This settlement would include settlement of the clay and sand
layers.

State all assumptions used in the analysis and discuss your conclusions showing
ONLY relevant outputs using PLAXIS. In essence, your report should be in about 8
to 10 pages and, include introduction to the problem, significant steps used in the
analysis, precautions (if any) used in geometry of the FE mesh, results, figures,
tables, discussion and recommendations.

Important Instructions:
1. Label all dimensions in the figures. Wherever necessary, legend should clearly be
shown.
2. Fig. 1 indicating the soil thickness taken in the design should be shown on the first
page of the report along with your Roll No.
3. The report has to be submitted online on the moodle interface. Only *.pdf documents
are accepted.
4. Please rename your report as your roll no while submitting. e.g. If your roll no is
120040072, then the report should be named as 120040072.pdf.
5. Only one document shall be accepted. Do not submit the video of the output.