Simulation of an oedometer test

SIMULATION OF AN OEDOMETER TESTS

This exercise has been optimised for PLAXIS 2D 2020

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Simulation of an oedometer test

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 Simulation of an oedometer test

INTRODUCTION
In daily engineering practice soil parameters are obtained from one or more laboratory tests. In order to perform
the best possible Plaxis calculation these soil parameters have to be translated into input parameters for the
constitutive model used, taking into account the possibilities and limitations of the constitutive model. Most
parameters for the constitutive models used in Plaxis can be determined directly from standard laboratory tests
as triaxial tests and oedometer tests. However, due to the complexity of the models it is recommended to
not simply accept the parameters determined from those tests, but to actually model the tests and see if the
parameters found actually give a proper representation of the real laboratory test results within the limits of the
constitutive models. For this purpose the SoilTest module is available in Plaxis with which in a simple manner
laboratory tests can be simulated without the need for making a finite element model.
In this exercise the SoilTest tool will be used for the simulation of an oedometer test on clay.

CONTENT
• Objective

• Simulation of an oedometer test on Clay

• Appendix A: Parameter determination

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this excercise is twofold:

1. Determination of parameters needed for using the Hardening Soil model from standard laboratory tests
2. Using the PLAXIS SoilTest facility to both fine-tune parameters and investigate the influence of parameters
on the results of standard laboratory tests.

Note that the determination of the parameters may require a significant amount of time and therefore, in order to
reach the second objective, the parameter determination is described in detail in Appendix A of this excercise.

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Simulation of an oedometer test

SIMULATION OF AN OEDOMETER TEST

In this exercise results from oedometer and triaxial tests are presented for a clay and the aim is to determine the
parameters for the Hardening Soil model such that a simulation of the test within Plaxis gives the best possible
results compared to the original laboratory tests. In short:

1. Determine soil parameters based on given real laboratory tests results

2. Perform the laboratory tests using SoilTest with the parameters found

3. Match SoilTest results with the original laboratory results to find the best matching model parameters for
the Hardening Soil model.

Parameter determination

On a sample of clay both oedometer tests and undrained triaxial tests have been performed. The results of those
tests are given in the figures below. Use these figures to determine the parameters for the Hardening Soil model
and collect the parameters in Table 2 (see below the figures). Note that it is possible that some parameters
cannot be determined with the given laboratory results, in which case these parameters have to be estimated.

Figure 1: Oedometer test on Clay

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 Simulation of an oedometer test

Figure 2: Undrained triaxial (CU) tests at cell pressures of 100 kPa and 400 kPa

Figure 3: Undrained triaxial (CU) test at cell pressure of 100 kPa

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Simulation of an oedometer test

Collect the soil parameters in table 2:

Table 1: Hardening Soil Parameters of the clay

Parameter Unit Value
ref
E50 [kPa]
ref
Eoed [kPa]
ref
Eur [kPa]
pref [kPa]
0
νur [-]
0
cref [kPa]
ϕ0 [o ]
ψ [o ]
m [-]
K0N C [-]

Oedometer test simulation

• Create a new material set in order to simulate the oedometer test

• Open the SoilTest module

• In the main window of SoilTest select the Oedometer tabsheet and set the parameters as indicated in figure
4.

Figure 4: Setting the oedometer test parameters

Following these steps for the simulation of the oedometer test on clay:

• Vertical preconsolidation stress should be left at zero as we assume normally consolidated clay in this test.

• Apply mobilized relative shear strength should be left deactivated as it’s assumed that no shear strength
has already been mobilized prior to performing the test.

• Phases:

– Duration is only important when using the time-dependent Soft Soil Creep model. Hence, in every
phase the duration can be left unchanged.

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 Simulation of an oedometer test

– Stress increment specifies the (un)load step applied. Please note that in Plaxis compression is
negative!
In this exercise the graphs of the real oedometer tests show that the soil has been loaded up to 300
kPa pressure and then unloaded to about 20 kPa, hence
∗ For the first load step fill in a Stress increment of -300 kPa
∗ Create a second load step by clicking the (+) button and specify a Stress increment of 280 kPa

After defining both the loading and unloading steps press Run to start the test. Evaluate the results of the
oedometer test (see figure 5) and try to reproduce the graphs from the real laboratory test used to determine the
Hardening Soil parameters.

Figure 5: SoilTest results for a triaxial test

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Simulation of an oedometer test

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 Simulation of an oedometer test

APPENDIX A: PARAMETER DETERMINATION

Cohesion and friction angle

We start with the determination of the strength parameters based on the CU triaxial tests.

Figure 6: Determination of soil strength parameters for clay

The black dotted lines is the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterium in the p’-q plane. In principal stresses the Mohr-
Coulomb failure criterium is defined as:

|σ1 −σ3 | σ1 +σ3

2 + 2 sinϕ − c cosϕ = 0

With p0 = (σ10 + 2σ30 )/3 and q = σ10 − σ30 under triaxial test conditions this can be rewritten as:

2p0 + 13 q
 
q 6sinϕ 0 6c cosϕ
2 = 2 sinϕ − c cosϕ = 0 ⇒ q = 3−sinϕ p + 3−sinϕ

Hence, the slope M of the Mohr-Coulomb line in p’-q plane is defined as:

6sinϕ 195
M= 3−sinϕ = 200 ⇒ ϕ = 250

From the intersection between Mohr-Coulomb line and the vertical axis where p=0 the cohesion can be determined:

6c0 cosϕ
q= 3−sinϕ = 0 ⇒ c = 0 kPa

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Simulation of an oedometer test

Reference oedometer and unloading-reloading stiffness

From the results of the oedometer test the oedometer stiffness as well as the unloading-reloading stiffness can
be determined. As the graph is given on logarithmic scale one cannot simply draw a tangent line as was done
for the oedometer test on sand.

Figure 7: Determination of oedometer and unloading/reloading stiffness

Considering that both primary loading and unloading/reloading paths are straight lines in the log(p)-εv graph,
hence they have a relation of the form:

εy = εv = A · log(σy0 )
ε2 −ε1 0.370−0.270
A= log(σ2 )−log(σ1 ) = log(120)−log(30) =0.166

In order to determine the stiffness we calculate the derivative of the strain over the stress and change to natural
logarithm:

ln(σy0 )
εy = εv = A · ln(10)
dεy dσy0 ln(10)
dσy0 =A· 1
ln(10) · 1
σy0 ⇒E= dεy = A · σy0

The E modulus found is the oedometer stiffness can be rewrittens as:

σy0
 
ln(10)
E = Eoed = A · pref − pref
In the Hardening Soil model the oedometer stiffness is defined as (assuming c = 0) :

m
σy0

ref
Eoed = Eoed pref

Hence:

ref ln(10)
Eoed = A · pref and m=1

If we choose pref = 100 kPa and with the previously determined A = 0.166 we get:

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 Simulation of an oedometer test

ref ln(10) 2.3

Eoed = A · pref = 0.166 · 100 = 1.4 MPa.

The determination of the unloading-reloading stiffness follows the same method:

εy = εv = B · log(σy0 )
ε2 −ε1 0.427−0418
B= log(σ2 )−log(σ1 ) = log(120)−log(30) =0.0149
dσy0 ln(10)
Eur = dεy = B · σy0

However, the Eur in the Hardening Soil model is dependent on the smallest principal stress, which is σx0 in an
oedeometer test and not σy0 .
During the unloading process there is no linear relation between horizontal and vertical stress, as in the beginning
of unloading σy0 > σx0 where as after much unloading σy0 < σx0 . Therefore the assumption is made that during
unloading on average σx0 = σy0 .

0
 
ln(10) ln(10) ln(10) σx
Eur = B · σy0 = B · σx0 = B · pref pref

With the definition of Eur in the Hardening Soil model of

 0
m
ref σx
Eur = Eur − pref

ref
Follows, in a similar way as for the Eoed , that

ref ln(10) 2.3

Eur = B · pref = 0.0149 · 100 =15 MPa and m = 1

Stiffness from triaxial test

As only undrained triaxial test data is available it is only possible to determine an undrained E50 and not an
effective E50 . Therefore the only solution is to estimate the E50 with several runs of the SoilTest program using
different input values for the reference E50 until the best fit for the undrained triaxial test data is found. Typically
for normally consolidated clays the effective reference E50 is in the range of 2-5 times the effective reference
ref
Eoed , hence this can be used as a start value for the estimation procedure. By doing so a value E50 ≈ 3.5 MPa
of is found.

K0 value for normal consolidation

The K0-value for normal consolidation can only be obtained if measurements for horizontal stresses have been
performed during the oedometer test. As this is not the case here we can only use the estimation according to
Jaky’s rule:

K0N C ≈ 1 − sinϕ = 1 − sin(250 ) =0.58

Poisson’s ratio

The Poisson’s ratio for unloading and reloading is again estimated as νur = 0.2

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Simulation of an oedometer test

Table 2: Summary of Hardening Soil Parameters for the clay

Parameter Unit Value
ref
E50 [kPa] 3,500
ref
Eoed [kPa] 1,400
ref
Eur [kPa] 15,000
pref [kPa] 100
νur [-] 0.2
c0ref [kPa] 0
ϕ0 [o ] 25
ψ [o ] 0
m [-] 1.0
K0N C [-] 0.58

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