Initial Stresses

Dennis Waterman
Plaxis BV

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Initial stresses
• Initial stresses represent the equilibrium
state of the undisturbed soil and consist of:
• Soil weight
• Loading history
• In Plaxis two possibilities exist:
• K0 procedure
• Gravity loading

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

K0-procedure
• Generation of initial stresses
during input.
• Needed:
Coefficient for lateral earth pressure
K0.
• Disadvantage:
No equilibrium for inclined surface
• Advantage:
No displacements are generated,
only
stresses.
 'h   'v  K 0

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Gravity loading
• Calculation of initial stresses by
weight loading.
• Disadvantage:
Non-physical displacements are
created.
• Advantage:
Equilibrium satisfied in all cases.

 
For 1D compression:  'n   'v  so K0 
1  1   

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Gravity loading

Procedure
• Initial phase
• Skip K0 procedure, ΣMweight remains zero
• Phase 1
• Choose Plastic calculation, Total multipliers
• Set weight multiplier ΣMweight = 1
• Phase 2
• Select Reset displacements to zero to discard
all displacements from raising the gravity

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Gravity loading

Notes
• Undrained material
• Select Ignore undrained behaviour in Phase 1
to prevent the generation of unrealistic excess
pore pressures
• K0 procedure has been used first
• In the Initial phase redo the K0 procedure, but
with ΣMweight = 0; this will reset all initial
stresses to zero.

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Gravity loading
Cases where gravity loading should be used
instead of K0-procedure:

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Safety Factor Analysis

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Safety factor analysis

• Strength reduction method: Phi/c reduction

• Provides a “conventional” safety factor
• Same numerical tool as for serviceability design
• Automatically detects most critical failure
mechanism

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Safety factor analysis
• Phi/c reduction:
• Reduction of strength parameters c and
tan() until failure is reached.
• The factor of safety :

tan  reduced
c tan  Lowered incrementally
Msf  
creduced tan  reduced

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Safety factor analysis
Calculation procedure:
• Create a phi/c reduction phase
• Accept the default increment for Msf=0.1
from the multiplier tab-sheet.
• Calculate
• Carefully examine ΣMsf vs. displacement
curve in Plaxis Curves

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Safety factor analysis
• Notes:
• Select control point within (expected) failing body
• Use sufficient number of load steps
• Use a sufficiently fine mesh
• Limit the maximum structural forces by choosing
elasto-plastic behaviour for walls, anchors and
geotextiles.

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

 Safety factor analysis
Number of load steps

1.16 1.16

1.12 1.12

Sum-Msf
Sum-Msf

1.08 1.08

1.04 1.04

1.0 1.0
0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2
displacement displacement

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Safety factor analysis
Use different plots to check failure mechanisme

1. Arrows of 2. Shadings of 3. Shadings of

incremental incremental incremental shear
displacements displacements strains

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Example 1 – stability of a drained slope

Sf=1.57
1.6
= 16 kN/m³
= 16 kN/m3
=20º
= 20°
c=5
c=kPa
5 kPa
1.4

Sum-Msf
1.2

1
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1
Total displacement node X

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Example 1 – stability of a drained slope
• Bischop analysis:

Bischop analysis: FoS = 1.54

Plaxis analysis: FoS = 1.57

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

 Example 2, undrained stability of a slope:

2
1
H = 12m
D cu = 50 kPa Plaxis:
cu = 100 kPa F = 1,35

cu 50 D (Taylor,1948)
Stability charts: F  N0  6.6  1.38 , N 0  f ( , )
Pd 12  20 H

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Example 2, undrained stability of a slope:
Automatic detection of most critical shear surface:

Plaxis:
F = 1,34 cu = 50 kPa

cu = 60 kPa

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008

Example 2, undrained stability of a slope:
Automatic detection of most critical shear surface:

Plaxis:
F = 1,19 cu = 50 kPa

cu = 50 kPa

Computational Geotechnics - Brisbane, Australia - 2008