Publications

Differential settlements with FLAC3D

G. Inci & J. Glastonbury

ABSTRACT: Structural loads are generally transmitted onto a sand foundation either by use of rigid footings or flexible footings. If the stresses are moderate, settlement of foundations on sand can be estimated by elastic theory. Isotropy and homogeneity in sand layers simplify the constitutive relationship to Hooke’s law with two elastic constants: Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio. On the other hand, settlement calculations for a project can become difficult due to the complex system of loads. Because of the stress influence of the adjacent loads hand calculations can become very cumbersome. During the design phase of an industrial plant, assessment of differential settlements was required. FLAC3D (Itasca 2005) was used to determine the settlements of a variably loaded foundation over deep sand soils. The finite-difference solution was confirmed by hand-calculations using a closed form solution.

Available in Continuum and Distinct Element Numerical Modeling in Geo-Engineering - 2008

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