Numerical Simulation of the Interaction between Fibre Concrete Slab and Subsoil—The Impact of Selected Determining Factors

Abstract

Shape and material optimization of building structures, including reducing the amount of concrete used, are very important aspects in sustainable construction. Numerical modelling is currently used very effectively to design optimized and sustainable structures, including their interaction with the surrounding rock environment. This paper is focused on the three selected factors of numerical modelling of fibre concrete slab and subsoil interaction: (1) the constitutive model of fibre concrete slab, (2) deformational and strength characteristics of subsoil, (3) effect of interface elements. The specialized geotechnical software Midas GTS NX, based on the finite element method, was used for the modelling of this task. Numerical results were compared with the experimental measurement of vertical displacements on the upper surface of slab. In the presented study, three constitutive models of slab recommended in MIDAS GTS NX code for modelling concrete behaviour (elastic, Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager) were applied. In addition, the sensitivity analysis with respect to the deformational and strength characteristics of subsoil was performed. The numerical study also presents the effect of the interface elements application on the slab behaviour. The numerical results of maximum vertical displacements based on the Drucker-Prager and elastic model underestimated both the experimental results and numerical results based on the Mohr-Coulomb model. From the qualitative point of view (shape of deflection curve), the numerical simulation showed the better agreement of the Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model with the experimental measurements in comparison with the other two investigated constitutive models. The performed parametric study documented that reduction of the strength and deformational characteristics of subsoil leads to the increase of maximum vertical displacements in the centre of slab, but the experimentally measured deflection curve, including uplift of slab and gapping occurrence between the slab and subsoil, was not achieved without the interface application.

Numerical Research of Lightweight Foam Concrete Replacement Method of Deep Soft Foundation Treatment of Low-Filled Embankment

“…MIDAS/GTS is a software program for the stress-strain analysis and design in the construction phase of geotechnical structures [38][39][40][41][42]. In this study, MIDAS/GTS was used for simulation analysis, and the geotechnical parameters and material properties used in the simulation were provided from the design file of the expressway project, so that the simulation results can reflect the characteristics of the treated foundation and better guide the design.…”

The Ultimate Load of the Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Slab Foundations Subjected the Concentrated Load by ANSYS

“…The concrete cover of the bar was set to 30 mm. The subsoil under the slab foundations, qualified as sandy clay CS, is a depth of ten meters [17]. The strength characteristics of the subsoil are shown in Table 3.…”

“…The commercial structural software (SCIA, SAP2000, ETABS), which subsoil is represented by the simple spring model (Winkler or Pasternak), cannot express the actual behavior of soil [15,16]. Meanwhile, the geotechnical software (MIDAS GTX NX, PLAXIS), which has many subsoil model options, is straightforward in the foundation structure model [17].…”

Ground Deformation Characteristics Induced by Mechanized Shield Twin Tunnelling along Curved Alignments

“…is FE code has been applied successfully in solving many geotechnical problems such as slope stability [41], soil-structure interactions [42][43][44], excavations [45][46][47][48], tunnelling [49], and fluid-mechanical interactions [50].…”