Bearing Capacity Analysis of a Ground by Finite Element Method

Aproposal of an evaluation method of bearing capacity of ground using the consolidation deformation analysis method and an application to undrained bearing capacity analyses

Abstract

A method using the consolidation deformation analysis by the elasto-plastic finite element method based on the infinitesimal deformation theory was proposed in order to evaluate the bearing capacity of saturated clay grounds. Sekiguchi and Ohta's model as the constitutive model of soils and Akai and Tamura's method as the tequnique of consolidation analysis were used in this method.
The proposed method was applied to undrained bearing capacity analyses of normally consolidated and saturated grounds whose mechanical properties were isotropic and homogeneous, and the applicability of the proposed method and the effect of the element type on the results of the analyses were investigated. As a result, it was cleared that the ultimate bearing capacity of the ground obtained by these analyses, in which isoparametric quadrilateral elements using the reduced integration were used, was approximately coincident with Prandtl's solution.