Numerical Modelling of Time Dependent Pore Pressure Response Induced by Helical Pile Installation
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NUMERICAL MODELLING OF TIME DEPENDENT PORE PRESSURE RESPONSE INDUCED BY HELICAL PILE INSTALLATION by ALEXANDER M. VYAZMENSKY Diploma Specialist in Civil Engineering (B.Hons. equivalent) St. Petersburg State University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 1997 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Civil Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA February 2005 © Alexander M. Vyazmensky, 2005 Abstract. ABSTRACT. The purposes of this research are to apply numerical modelling to prediction of the pore water pressure response induced by helical pile installation into fine-grained soil and to gain better understanding of the pore pressure behaviour observed during the field study of helical pile - soil interaction, performed at the Colebrook test site at Surrey, B.C. by Weech (2002). The critical state NorSand soil model coupled with the Biot formulation were chosen to represent the behaviour of saturated fine-grained soil. Their finite element implementation into NorSandBiot code was adopted as a modelling framework. Thorough verification of the finite element implementation of NorSandBiot code was conducted. Within the NorSandBiot code framework a special procedure for modelling helical pile installation in 1-D using a cylindrical cavity analogy was developed. A comprehensive parametric study of the NorSandBiot code was conducted. It was found that computed pore water pressure response is very sensitive to variation of the soil OCR and its hydraulic conductivity kr. Helical pile installation was modelled in two stages. At the first stage expansion of a single cavity, corresponding to the helical pile shaft, was analysed and on the second stage additional cavity expansion/contraction cycles, representing the helices, were added. The pore pressure predictions were compared and contrasted with the pore pressure measurements performed by Weech (2002) and other sources. The modelling showed that simulation of helical pile installation using a single cavity expansion within NorSandBiot framework provided reasonable predictions of the pore pressure response observed in the field. More realistic simulation using series of cavity expansion/contraction cycles improves the predictions. The modelling confirmed many of the field observations made by Weech (2004) and proved that a fully coupled NorSandBiot modelling framework provides a realistic environment for simulation of the fine-grained soil behaviour. The proposed modelling approach to simulation of helical pile installation provided a simplified technique that allows reasonable predictions of stresses and pore pressures variation during and after helical pile installation. ii Table of contents. TABLE OF CONTENTS. ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................xiii 1.0. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 1.1. CHALLENGES IN AXIAL PILE CAPACITY PREDICTIONS IN SOFT FINE-GRAINED SOILS .........1 1.2. HELICAL PILES ..................................................................................................................2 1.3. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH........................................................................4 1.4. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY..................................................................................4 1.5. THESIS ORGANIZATION .....................................................................................................6 2.0. OVERVIEW OF FIELD STUDY OF HELICAL PILE PERFORMANCE IN SOFT SENSITIVE SOIL ..............................................................................................................8 2.1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................8 2.2. SCOPE OF WEECH'S STUDY.................................................................................................8 2.3. SITE SUBSURFACE CONDITIONS..........................................................................................9 2.3.1. SITE STRATIGRAPHY. ..................................................................................................9 2.3.2. SOIL PROPERTIES ......................................................................................................10 2.3.2.1. FIELD INVESTIGATION BY MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION AND HIGHWAYS .10 2.3.2.2. RESEARCH BY UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (1).................................10 2.3.2.3. RESEARCH BY UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (2). ................................11 2.4. HELICAL PILES AND PORE PRESSURE MEASURING EQUIPMENT .......................................12 2.4.1. TEST PILES GEOMETRY AND INSTALLATION DETAILS...............................................12 2.4.2. MEASURING EQUIPMENT ..........................................................................................13 2.5. SUMMARY OF WEECH’S STUDY RESULTS........................................................................14 2.5.1. PORE WATER PRESSURE RESPONSE DURING HELICAL PILE INSTALLATION..............14 2.5.2. PORE WATER PRESSURE DISSIPATION AFTER HELICAL PILE INSTALLATION. ...........15 2.6. SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................17 3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................30 3.1. INTRODUCTION. ...............................................................................................................30 iii Table of contents. 3.2. PORE PRESSURE RESPONSE INDUCED BY PILE INSTALLATION INTO FINE GRAINED SOIL AND ITS INFLUENCE ON PILE CAPACITY ...........................................................................30 3.2.1. FIELD GENERATION OF EXCESS PORE PRESSURE. ......................................................30 3.2.2. FIELD DISSIPATION OF EXCESS PORE PRESSURE........................................................31 3.2.3. OBSERVED AXIAL PILE CAPACITY AS FUNCTION OF DISSIPATION OF EXCESS PORE PRESSURE..................................................................................................................33 3.3. PREDICTION OF TIME-DEPENDENT PORE PRESSURE RESPONSE ........................................34 3.3.1. PREDICTION METHODS..............................................................................................34 3.3.2. BASIC CONCEPTS BEHIND EXISTING PREDICTION SOLUTIONS. .................................37 3.3.2.1. MODELLING ANALOGUE FOR SIMULATION OF PILE OR CONE PENETRATION ....37 3.3.2.2. MODELLING FRAMEWORK .............................................................................38 3.3.3. OVERVIEW OF EXISTING PREDICTION SOLUTIONS.....................................................39 3.3.3.1. CAVITY EXPANSION SOLUTIONS ....................................................................39 3.3.3.2. SOLUTIONS BASED ON STRAIN PATH METHOD ..............................................42 3.4. SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................42 4.0. FORMULATION OF MODELLING APPROACH ....................................................49 4.1. INTRODUCTION. ..............................................................................................................49 4.2. MODELLING APPROACH TO SIMULATION OF HELICAL PILE INSTALLATION INTO FINE GRAINED SOIL .................................................................................................................49 4.2.1. MODELLING FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................49 4.2.2. MODELLING PROCEDURE FOR SIMULATION OF HELICAL PILE INSTALLATION. .........50 4.3. NORSANDBIOT FORMULATION. ......................................................................................52 4.3.1. NORSAND CRITICAL STATE MODEL .........................................................................52 4.3.1.1. MODEL DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................52 4.3.1.2. MODEL PARAMETERS......................................................................................55 4.3.1.3. BEYOND SAND ................................................................................................56 4.3.2. BIOT COUPLED CONSOLIDATION THEORY.................................................................57 4.3.3. FINITE ELEMENT IMPLEMENTATION OF NORSANDBIOT FORMULATION....................58 4.3.4. FINITE ELEMENT CODE VERIFICATION ......................................................................58 4.4. SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................59 5.0. SELECTION OF SITE-SPECIFIC SOIL PARAMETERS FOR MODELLING .....67 5.1. INTRODUCTION.