Flac and Numerical Modeling Geomecahnic 2003 PDF

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FLAC AND NUMERICAL MODELING IN GEOMECHANICS
Copyright © 2003 Swets & Zeitlinger B.V., Lisse, The Netherlands

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL FLAC SYMPOSIUM,

21–24 OCTOBER 2003, SUDBURY, ONTARIO, CANADA
FLAC and Numerical Modeling

in Geomechanics
Edited by
Richard Brummer & Patrick Andrieux

Itasca Consulting Canada Inc., Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Christine Detournay & Roger Hart

Itasca Consulting Group Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
A.A. BALKEMA PUBLISHERS LISSE / ABINGDON / EXTON (PA) / TOKYO

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Cover picture:
The “Big Nickel” is a famous landmark and symbol of Sudbury, the “Nickel Mining
Capital of the World”.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written prior permission from the publisher.
Although all care is taken to ensure the integrity and quality of this publication and the information
herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers nor the author for any damage to property or
persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein.
Published by: A.A. Balkema, a member of Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers

www.balkema.nl and www.szp.swets.nl
ISBN 90 5809 581 9
Printed in the Netherlands

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FLAC and Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics, Brummer et al. (eds)

© 2003 Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse, ISBN 90 5809 581 9
Table of contents
Preface IX
Organisation XI
Constitutive models
Compensation grouting analysis with FLAC3D 3
X. Borrás, B. Celada, P. Varona & M. Senís
An automated procedure for 3-dimensional mesh generation 9
A.K. Chugh & T.D. Stark
A new constitutive model based on the Hoek-Brown criterion 17
P. Cundall, C. Carranza-Torres & R. Hart
A study of compaction band formation with the Double-Yield model 27
C. Detournay, P. Cundall & J. Parra
A new viscoplastic model for rocks: application to the Mine-by-Test of AECL-URL 35
F. Laigle
Prediction of deformations induced by tunneling using a time-dependent model 45
A. Purwodihardjo & B. Cambou
Modeling of anhydrite swelling with FLAC 55
J.M. Rodríguez-Ortiz, P. Varona & P. Velasco
Scenario testing of fluid-flow and deformation during mineralization: from simple to
complex geometries 63
P.M. Schaubs, A. Ord & G.H. German
Constitutive models for rock mass: numerical implementation, verification and validation 71
M. Souley, K. Su, M. Ghoreychi & G. Armand
Slope stability
A parametric study of slope stability under circular failure condition by a numerical method 83
M. Aksoy & G. Once
Numerical modeling of seepage-induced liquefaction and slope failure 91
S.A. Bastani & B.L. Kutter
Complex geology slope stability analysis by shear strength reduction 99
M. Cala & J. Flisiak
Analysis of hydraulic fracture risk in a zoned dam with FLAC3D 103
C. Peybernes
Mesh geometry effects on slope stability calculation by FLAC strength reduction method –
linear and non-linear failure criteria 109
R. Shukha & R. Baker
3D slope stability analysis at Boinás East gold mine 117
A. Varela Suárez & L.I. Alonso González

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Underground cavity design

The effect of tunnel inclination and “k” ratio on the behavior of surrounding rock mass 127
M. Iphar, M. Aksoy, M. Yavuz & G. Once
Numerical analysis of the volume loss influence on building during tunnel excavation 135
O. Jenck & D. Dias
Application of FLAC3D on HLW underground repository concept development 145
S. Kwon, J.H. Park, J.W. Choi & W.J. Cho
Numerical simulation of radial bolting: Application to the Tartaiguille railway tunnel 153
F. Laigle & A. Saïtta
Recent experiences of the prediction of tunneling induced ground movements 161
C. Pound & J.P. Beveridge
Numerical modeling of remedial measures in a failed tunnel 169
Y. Sun & P.J.N. Pells
Mining applications
Sill pillar design at the Niobec mine using FLAC3D 181
P. Frenette & R. Corthésy
Stability analyses of undermined sill mats for base metal mining 189
R.K. Brummer, P.P. Andrieux & C.P. O’Connor
FLAC numerical simulations of tunneling through paste backfill at Brunswick Mine 197
P. Andrieux, R. Brummer, A. Mortazavi, B. Simser & P. George
FLAC3D numerical simulations of ore pillars at Laronde Mine 205
R.K. Brummer, C.P. O’Connor, J. Bastien, L. Bourguignon & A. Cossette
Modeling arching effects in narrow backfilled stopes with FLAC 211
L. Li, M. Aubertin, R. Simon, B. Bussière & T. Belem
FLAC3D numerical simulations of deep mining at Laronde Mine 221
C.P. O’Connor, R.K. Brummer, P.P. Andrieux, R. Emond & B. McLaughlin
Three-dimensional strain softening modeling of deep longwall coal mine layouts 233
S. Badr, U. Ozbay, S. Kieffer & M. Salamon
FISH functions for FLAC3D analyses of irregular narrow vein mining 241
H. Zhu & P.P. Andrieux
Soil structure interaction

A calibrated FLAC model for geosynthetic reinforced soil modular block walls at end
of construction 251
K. Hatami, R.J. Bathurst & T. Allen
Three-dimensional modeling of an excavation adjacent to a major structure 261
J.P. Hsi & M.A. Coulthard
Pile installation using FLAC 273
A. Klar & I. Einav
Axial tension development in the liner of a proposed Cedar Hills regional municipal solid
waste landfill expansion 279
F. Ma
VI

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The usability analyses of HDPE leachate collection pipes in a solid waste landfill 287
F. Ma
FLAC numerical simulations of the behavior of a spray-on liner for rock support 295
C.P. O’Connor, R.K. Brummer, G. Swan & G. Doyle
A numerical study of the influence of piles in the passive zone of embedded retaining walls 301
T.Y. Yap & C. Pound
Dynamic and thermal analysis

A practice orientated modified linear elastic constitutive model for fire loads and its
application in tunnel construction 313
E. Abazović & A. Amon
Seismic liquefaction: centrifuge and numerical modeling 321
P.M. Byrne, S.S. Park & M. Beaty
Modeling the dynamic response of cantilever earth-retaining walls using FLAC 333
R.A. Green & R.M. Ebeling
VII

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Preface
The first two International FLAC Symposia were held in Minneapolis (USA) in September 1999, and in Lyon
(France) in October 2001. In 2003, the third International Symposium on FLAC and Numerical Modeling in
Geomechanics returned to North America and was held in Sudbury (Ontario, Canada) from October 21 to
October 24, 2003, with two days of short courses before the symposium.
Technical contributions to the conference were received from a wide range of different disciplines, repre-
senting virtually the entire globe. A volunteer Technical Committee reviewed the papers, and where necessary
clarifications were suggested to the authors prior to finalization of their manuscripts.
The contributions in this volume cover seven main topics:
• Constitutive Models
• Slope Stability
• Underground Cavity Design
• Mining Applications
• Soil Structure Interaction
• Dynamic Analyses
• Thermal Analyses
The FLAC conferences provide all FLAC and FLAC3D users with an opportunity to meet and learn from each
other and from the people who develop the code. Conversely, they also allow Itasca staff members to learn from
the practical experiences of code users “out there in the real world”. These interactions improve our collective
knowledge and allow us to improve the performance of these numerical models in simulating the behavior of
geomaterials. These proceedings contain a comprehensive collection of FLAC & FLAC3D applications – case
studies as well as research presentations. We believe that this publication will help users by documenting a valu-
able resource for the solution of geomechanical problems.
The compilation presented here would not have been possible without the efforts of our authors and our Technical
Committee, and we thank them. We particularly thank and recognize the efforts of Michele Nelson, who served as
an extremely capable and efficient Technical Editor.
Richard Brummer Roger Hart

Patrick Andrieux Christine Detournay
Itasca Consulting Canada Inc. Itasca Consulting Group Inc.
IX

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Organisation
Conference Technical Committee:

The following individuals provided technical input to the conference, and scientific
overview and reviews of the abstracts and papers.
Patrick Andrieux, Itasca Consulting Canada Inc.
Daniel Billaux, Itasca Consultants SA
Richard Brummer, Itasca Consulting Canada Inc.
Peter Cundall, Itasca Consulting Group Inc.
Christine Detournay, Itasca Consulting Group Inc.
Samantha Espley, INCO Limited
Roger Hart, Itasca Consulting Group Inc.
Ugur Ozbay, Colorado School of Mines
Chris Pound, Mott MacDonald Limited
Graham Swan, Falconbridge Limited
XI

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Constitutive models

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Compensation grouting analysis with FLAC3D
X. Borrás
Gestió D’Infrastructures SA (GISA), Barcelona, Spain
B. Celada
Geocontrol SA, Madrid, Spain
P. Varona & M. Senís

Itasca Consultores SL, Asturias, Spain
ABSTRACT: The Barcelona Metro Line 3 extension was excavated crossing 6.5 meters below a main water
supply pipe. Compensation grouting was used to minimize the deformations in the gallery. A FLAC3D model
was developed to investigate the efficiency of this process. The model was first calibrated to reproduce the
extensometer measurements and was later re-run without the compensation grouting in order to assess the
effectiveness of such treatment.
1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 Excavation sequence

The numerical model considers the sequential exca-
The Barcelona Metro Line 3 extension was excavated
vation of the metro tunnel:
crossing 6.5 meters below a main water supply pipe
(Borrás et al. 2001). This is one of the two pipes of
– Excavation of the heading in steps of 1 m length
Aigües Ter-Llobregat (ATLL) which supply water to
the city of Barcelona.
Due to the importance of this water pipe, during
the construction of the tunnel, compensation grouting
was used to minimize the deformations induced by
the excavation process in the existing gallery that
contains the water pipe.
A FLAC3D model simulating the whole excavation
sequence and the compensation grouting process has
been developed in order to evaluate the effects of the
construction and the treatment in the pipe, calibrating
the model with the actual instrumentation results RodExtensometer
t er 20
20m
m
obtained during the excavation. The instrumentation location
i
0.5 m
0.5 m
installed consisted of 17 rod extensometers located
0.5 m below the bottom of the ATLL gallery.
6.5
6.5mm
2 FLAC 3D
MODEL In 4.7 m
4.7 m
Injection depth
2.1 Geometry of the model

Figure 1 presents the problem geometry with the
dimensions of both tunnels and their location. The
FLAC3D model (Figs. 2 & 3) reproduces this geometry.
In plan view the pipe gallery forms a 35° angle with
the axis of the tunnel (Fig. 4). Figure 1. Problem description.

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Figure 2. FLAC3D model. General view.
Figure 4. FLAC3D model. Plan view.
Figure 3. FLAC3D model. Tunnels geometry.
Figure 5. Excavation sequence.

– Installation of the support: shotcrete with a thickness
of 30 cm and TH-29 steel arches.
– Installation of a 15 cm thick shotcrete lining and
provisional invert, 10 m behind the excavation face.
Figure 5 shows a detail of the excavation sequence
followed in the model.
2.3 Material properties

The geological profile assumed is shown in Figure 6.
The Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model has been
assigned to all the soils. The properties assumed are
shown in Table 1.
Both the shotcrete and the lining have been mod-
eled using regular elements with an elastic constitu-
tive model. The aging of the shotcrete has been
simulated by the Young Modulus evolution law shown
in Figure 7 (based on Estefanía 2000). Figure 6. Geological profile.

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Table 1. Geotechnical properties assigned to the soils.
E c
(MPa) v (°) (t/m2) (t/m3)
Quaternary 50 0.33 25 1.5 2.1

Natural fills 30 0.35 32 1.0 2.0
Weathered Granite (V) 75 0.30 37 1.5 2.2
Weathered Granite (IV) 100 0.30 37 2.8 2.3
Weathered Granite (II/III) 300 0.25 37 7.5 2.6
4.0E+04
3.5E+04
3.0E+04
y = 6644.4Ln(x) + 11076
R2 = 0.9262
2.5E+04
E (MPa)
2.0E+04
1.5E+04
1.0E+04
5.0E+03
0.0E+00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Distancia al frente (m)
Figure 7. Hardening law applied to the concrete.
Figure 9. Location of drills and sleeves in the model.

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19
03
20
The methodology used for the simulation of the
21
injection process is based in the bulb expansion
model proposed by Buchet et al. (1999). According to
02 them the injection effect can be modeled by increas-
ing the volume of the elements in which the injection
01 is made. This volume increment is carried out applying
some “fictitious” hydrostatic stresses in the element,
which makes it expand.
These stresses are applied instantaneously, initial-
izing an hydrostatic stress increment of the element as
pulses and then reaching a mechanical equilibrium.
Figure 8. Drills and sleeves location. This process is repeated until the volumetric strain
induced in the element is the one corresponding to a
fraction of the volume injected. The volumetric strain
2.4 Simulation of the compensation grouting increment due to the injection is defined by:
Compensation grouting injections consist of a mix-
ture of cement and bentonite. To simulate these injec-
tions a methodology which reproduces the injection (1)
process carried out during the real construction has
been developed. Figure 8 shows a plan view of the
treatment area with the location of the drills and where Vi is the injected volume, V0 is the initial vol-
sleeves used. ume of the element and is the efficiency of the
This real geometry has been reproduced in the injection. The process followed during the injection
FLAC3D model. Figure 9 shows the location of all modeling is shown in Figure 10.
the drills considered and the sleeves used in one of Figure 11 shows, as an example of the process, the
the injection cycles. increments applied to the vertical stress and their later

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T Vi FLAC 3D 2.00 Deformacion volumetrica ⴛ10^-2

v Step 9271
V0 18:48:40 Mon Nov 13 2000
5.0
History
1Volumetric Strain Inc. Zone 113 4.5
Line style
1.347e-003 <-> 5.443e-002
Vs. 4.0
INI Hydrostatic stress Step
1.000e+001 <-> 9.270e+003
3.5
Calculation of v produced 3.0
2.5
2.0
T no
v v 1.5
1.0
yes
0.5
End of injection Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
Minneapolis, MN USA NⴗPasos ⴛ10^3
Figure 10. Modeling the injection process.

Figure 12. Evolution of the volumetric strain.
FLAC3D 2.00 Tension Vertical ⴛ10^5

Step 9271
18:50:04 Mon Nov 13 2000
1.394 FLAC 3D 2.00
Step 54106 Model Projection
History 09:45:05 Tue Nov 14 2000
Rev 5 tension_media (FISH function) 1.392
Line style Center: Rotation:
1.375e+005 <-> 1.396e+005 X: 0.000e+000 X : 90.000
Y: 4.000e+001 Y : 0.000
Vs.
Step
1.390 Z: 4.885e+000
Dist: 2.964e+002
Z : 0.000
Size: 4.830e+001
1.000e+001 <-> 9.270e+003
1.388 Plane Origin: Plane Orientation:
X: 0.000e+000 Dip: 0.000
Y: 0.000e+000 DD: 0.000
Z: 1.077e+001
1.386
Contour of Z-Displacement
Plane: on
1.384 0.0000e+000 to 5.0000e-004
5.0000e-004 to 1.0000e-003
1.0000e-003 to 1.5000e-003
1.382 1.5000e-003 to 2.0000e-003
2.0000e-003 to 2.5000e-003
2.5000e-003 to 3.0000e-003
3.0000e-003 to 3.5000e-003
1.380 3.5000e-003 to 4.0000e-003
4.0000e-003 to 4.5000e-003
4.5000e-003 to 5.0000e-003
1.378 5.0000e-003 to 5.5000e-003
5.5000e-003 to 5.6775e-003
Interval = 5.0e-004
1.376 Taladros
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN USA NⴗPasos ⴛ10^3 Minneapolis, MN USA
Figure 11. Vertical stresses during the injection process. Figure 13. Vertical displacement increments in one of the
injection cycles, at extensometer depth.
relaxation until the equilibrium is reached. Figure 12

presents the evolution of the volumetric strain, show- FLAC 3D 2.00
Step 54106 Model Projection
ing the successive increments produced until the 09:46:43 Tue Nov 14 2000
strain corresponding to the injected volume is reached. Center:

X: 0.000e+000
Rotation:
X: 90.000
Y: 4.000e+001 Y: 0.000
Following the real injection scheme, the drills and Z: 4.885e+000
Dist: 2.964e+002
Z: 0.000
Size: 4.830e+001
sleeves that are injected every cycle are reproduced in Plane Origin:
X: 0.000e+000
Plane Orientation:
Dip: 0.000
the FLAC3D model, finding the closest element to the Y: 0.000e+000

Z: 2.470e+001
DD: 0.000
position of the sleeve and proceeding in the way Contour of Z-Displacement

Plane: on
described above. As an example of the modeling, 0.0000e+000 to 2.5000e-005
2.5000e-005 to 5.0000e-005
Figure 13 shows the increment of the vertical dis- 5.0000e-005 to 7.5000e-005

7.5000e-005 to 1.0000e-004
1.0000e-004 to 1.2500e-004
placements (at extensometer depth) produced during 1.2500e-004 to 1.5000e-004
1.5000e-004 to 1.7500e-004
1.7500e-004 to 2.0000e-004
one of the injection cycles (the location of the sleeves 2.0000e-004 to 2.2500e-004
2.2500e-004 to 2.5000e-004
injected in the cycle is shown too). Figure 14 shows, 2.5000e-004 to 2.7500e-004

2.7500e-004 to 3.0000e-004
3.0000e-004 to 3.2500e-004
for the same cycle, the heave produced at the ground 3.2500e-004 to 3.5000e-004
3.5000e-004 to 3.5961e-004
surface. Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN USA
These two figures show how the heave is less pro-

nounced but affects a larger area as the distance from Figure 14. Vertical displacement increments in one of the
the sleeves increases. injection cycles, at ground surface.

09069-01.qxd 08/11/2003 20:13 PM Page 7
3 RESULTS 3.2 Calculation of the efficiency

An average grouting efficiency can be defined as
3.1 Comparison with instrumentation
the ratio of difference between the volume of the set-
Figure 15 shows the location of the 17 rod exten- tlement trough without (VNI s ) and with compensation
someters used to monitor the compensation grouting VsWI to the injected volume:
process. The model was first calibrated varying the
grout efficiency , in order to match the actual mea-
surements with the calculated values, achieving a (2)
good fit. A second run was made without the com-
pensation grouting in order to calculate what defor-
mations would have been induced without any In the present analysis the efficiency obtained has been:
treatment.
Figure 16 shows the evolution of extensometer E4
located outside the treated area. A vertical displace- (3)
ment of 10 mm was measured and without grouting,
12 mm are predicted.
Figure 17 shows the evolution of extensometer E6 This empirical parameter is crucial for predictive stud-
located in a relatively stiff material within the treated ies, and a sufficient database for a given soil type is
area. Here 8 mm settlement was recorded compared necessary before such analysis should be attempted.
to 18 mm predicted without compensation grouting.
In a softer material, extensometer E10 (Fig. 18), the 3.3 Calculation of volume loss
difference between measured (8 mm) and predicted The volume loss can be defined as the ratio of the vol-
without treatment (22 mm) is even larger. ume of the settlement trough to the excavated volume.
Figure 19 shows the volume loss calculated along
FLAC3D2.00 the tunnel axis for both hypotheses (with and without
Step 17228 Model Projection E1
10:34:27 Wed Nov15 2000 grouting). In both cases the volume loss depends on
Center: Rotation: E4 E2
X: 0.000e+000 X: 90.000
Y: 4.000e+001 Y:0.000
Z: 4.885e+000 Z: 0.000
Dist: 2.964e+002 Size: 4.830e+001 E3
E5
Plane Origin: Plane Orientation:
X: 0.000e+000 Dip: 0.000 Extensometer E6
Y: 0.000e+000 DD: 0.000
Z: 1.077e+001 Date
10/10
11/10
12/10
13/10
14/10
15/10
16/10
17/10
18/10
19/10
20/10
21/10
22/10
23/10
E13 E6
10/9
11/9
12/9
13/9
14/9
15/9
16/9
17/9
18/9
19/9
20/9
21/9
22/9
23/9
24/9
25/9
26/9
27/9
28/9
29/9
30/9
1/10
2/10
3/10
4/10
5/10
6/10
7/10
8/10
9/10
Geología
Plane: on E7 0.002
E9
1.111000e+007 E11 0.000
Vertical displacement (m)
1.880000e+007
2.884500e+007 -0.002
Taladros E10 E8 -0.004
Extensometros -0.006
E12 -0.008
E1B
Tunel -0.010
GaleriaATLL E2B -0.012
E14
-0.014
E3B -0.016
-0.018
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN USA -0.020
-0.022
Measured FLAC FLAC No Injections
Figure 15. Location of the rod extensometers.
Figure 17. Results obtained for extensometer E6.
Extensometer E4
Date Extensometer E10
10/10
11/10
12/10
13/10
14/10
15/10
16/10
17/10
18/10
19/10
20/10
21/10
22/10
23/10
Date
10/9
11/9
12/9
13/9
14/9
15/9
16/9
17/9
18/9
19/9
20/9
21/9
22/9
23/9
24/9
25/9
26/9
27/9
28/9
29/9
30/9
1/10
2/10
3/10
4/10
5/10
6/10
7/10
8/10
9/10
10/10
11/10
12/10
13/10
14/10
15/10
16/10
17/10
18/10
19/10
20/10
21/10
22/10
23/10
10/9
11/9
12/9
13/9
14/9
15/9
16/9
17/9
18/9
19/9
20/9
21/9
22/9
23/9
24/9
25/9
26/9
27/9
28/9
29/9
30/9
1/10
2/10
3/10
4/10
5/10
6/10
7/10
8/10
9/10
0.002 0.002
0.000 0.000
-0.002
- 0.002
-0.004
- 0.004
-0.006 - 0.006
-0.008 - 0.008
-0.010 - 0.010
-0.012 - 0.012
-0.014 - 0.014
-0.016
-0.016
-0.018
- 0.018
-0.020
- 0.020
-0.022
- 0.022
Measured FLAC FLAC No Injections Measured FLAC FLAC No Injections
Figure 16. Results obtained for extensometer E4. Figure 18. Results obtained for extensometer E10.

09069-01.qxd 08/11/2003 20:13 PM Page 8
0.0
maximum values of 19 mm in the hypothesis without
Vsubsidence/Vexcavated (%)
-0.3
-0.5
NoNoinjections
injections
Injections
Injections
treatment and 15 mm in the one with compensation
-0.8
-1.0
grouting. In the same figure the corresponding hori-
-1.3 zontal strains have been represented too. These
-1.5
-1.8 horizontal strains have been calculated as:
-2.0
-2.3
-2.5
1668 1673 1678 1683 1688 1693 1698 1703 1708 1713 1718 1723 1728 1733 1738 1743 1748
Chainage (4)
Quaternary
Quaternary
Natural
Natural where L is the initial distance between two points
A.
A.Granite
GraniteVV Fills
Fills
along the gallery, and L is the distance once the dis-
placement has occurred. The strains show low values
A.A.Granite
GraniteIIVV
in both cases, although the induced tensile strains are
higher in the hypothesis with injections.
A.A.Granite
anit II–III
Granite III
4 CONCLUSIONS
Figure 19. Volume loss analysis.
The main conclusions that can be obtained from this
analysis are:
0 0.050
-2 0.025 – The expected grout efficiency (30%) was much

-4 0.000
higher than the actual efficiency (10%).
– The expected volume loss (0.07–0.2%) was much
Vertical displacement (mm)
-6 -0.025
lower than the actual volume loss (1–2%).
Strain (mm/m)
-8 -0.050
-0.075
– The expected volume to inject (13.7 m3) was much
-10
lower than the actual volume injected (68 m3). Still
-12 -0.100
only partial compensation was achieved.
-14 -0.125
– According to the comparison between the model
-0.150
-16
with compensation grouting and the model with-
-18 -0.175
out the treatment area has been insufficient.
-20
-50 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
-0.200
– Numerical models should play an important role
Distance to the cross measured on the ATLL (m) in the design of compensation grouting providing
Injections No Injections Strain I. Strain N.I.
accurate estimates of the ground loss and of the
required treatment area.
Figure 20. Horizontal strains in the ATLL gallery bottom.
the characteristics of the soil above the tunnel. So in the REFERENCES

area in which the tunnel is excavated in natural fill the
Borrás, X., Pérez, A., Magro, J.A., Celada, B. & Varona, P.
volume loss is about 2.4%; and as the tunnel runs
2001. Construcción del tramo Montbau-Canyelles de la
towards stiffer soils (weathered granite) this relation Línea 3 del Metro de Barcelona. In Ingeopres N° 92,
decreases to 0.8%. These values agree with the ones Abril 2001, Madrid: 54–64.
described in the literature. For example, Oteo (2000) Buchet, G. & Van Cotthem, A. 1999. 3D “Steady State”
reports values of 1–2% for stiff clays and 1–5% for numerical modeling of tunneling and compensation
granular soils above the water table. grouting. In Detournay & Hart (eds), FLAC and
The maximum effect of the compensation grouting Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics; Proc. intern.
is a reduction of the volume loss of 0.4% from 1.2% symp., Minneapolis, MN, 1–3 September 1999: 255–261.
to 0.8% at chainage 1708. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Estefania, S. 2000. Utilización de Métodos Numéricos en el
Proceso Constructivo. Proc. III Curso sobre Ingeniería
3.4 Effects on the gallery de Túneles. Madrid, 12–14 June 2000.
Oteo, C. 2000. Subsidencia producida por los túneles. In
Figure 20 shows the vertical displacements produced Jimeno (ed), Manual de túneles y obras subterráneas.
on the bottom of the ATLL gallery along its axis, with U.D. Proyectos, E.T.S.I. Minas, U.P.M., Madrid.

09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 9

An automated procedure for 3-dimensional mesh generation
A.K. Chugh
Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO, USA
T.D. Stark
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
ABSTRACT: An automated procedure is presented to generate a 3-dimensional mesh for numerical analysis
of engineering problems. The procedure is simple, effective and efficient, and can be applied to represent complex
geometries and material distributions. A listing of the program that was used for the sample problem of a landfill
slide is included.
1 INTRODUCTION 2 CONCEPTUAL MODEL
One of the essential tasks in a 3-dimensional (3-D) The conceptual model for the generation of a 3-D
numerical analysis is to represent the geometry and dis- mesh follows the conventional procedure of portraying
tribution of materials in the numerical model. FLAC3D spatial variations of materials in 3-D via a series
provides means to facilitate mesh generation and the of 2-dimensional (2-D) cross-sections. This technique
built-in programming language FISH can be used to is commonly used by engineers and geologists in
develop and implement additional program instruc- constructing visual models of complex geologic sites
tions during execution of a data file. where a number of 2-D cross-sections are used to repre-
In geotechnical engineering, surface geometry, sent the field conditions. In these representations, linear
distribution of materials, and water table conditions variations between material horizons in consecutive 2-
usually vary from one location to the next and pose a D cross-sections are used to depict the 3-D spatial vari-
difficult set of conditions to represent in a numerical ability of a site. The accuracy of the representation is
model. In order to facilitate the analysis of landslides, improved by using closely spaced 2-D cross-sections.
a simple procedure was devised to represent complex The 3-D mesh generation procedure presented
surface geometry, subsurface material horizons, and herein follows the conventional practices used by engi-
water table conditions. The objectives of this paper are neers in constructing 2-D numerical meshes by hand
to present: for geotechnical problems to be solved using methods
other than FLAC3D. For example, in the creation of a
1 a simple method to describe field geometry and
2-D numerical model of a slope to be analyzed using
conditions for a 3-D numerical model of a slope
a limit-equilibrium based procedure, it is a common
problem;
practice to define profile lines via a set of data points
2 a simple procedure for automatic generation of a
followed by specifications of their connectivities.
3-D mesh; and
Also, in the creation of a 2-D model of a continuum to
3 an illustration of the use of the procedure for analy-
be solved by a finite-element based procedure, it is a
sis of a large slide in a landfill.
common practice to discretize the continuum into
A listing of the program for the landfill slide is included a network of zones; assign identification numbers
in the paper. This program listing is in the FISH lan- to the grid points; define the coordinates of the
guage and uses some of the functions available in the grid points; and then specify the connectivity of
FISH library. grid points.

09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 10
Thus, in the conceptual model for the generation of each profile line and the water table (for parallel
a 3-D mesh in FLAC3D, use is made of defining a 2-D cross-sections, y-coordinate shall have same
series of 2-D cross-sections at representative locations constant value between two consecutive cross-
of a site; defining each of the 2-D sections as an sections).
assemblage of data points with line-segment connec- 2 The following steps are used for creating similar
tions; and organizing the data for an efficient and sets of data at each of the 2-D cross-sections:
effective discretization of the volume. a From the data in step 1(c) above, select control
points that are of significance in defining the
profile lines in all of the 2-D cross-sections.
3 WATER TABLE Tabulate the x-coordinates of these control points
in increasing order. For reference purposes, this
The water table surface is specified using the water table is referred to as Table 100.
table data of individual 2-D cross-sections and through b Use of the “Interpolate” function expands the 2-D
the use of 3-point planar polygons between consecutive cross-sectional data of step 1(c) by linear inter-
2-D cross-sections. This scheme allows incorporation polation for all of the control points listed in
of non-coplanar variations in the water table surface Table 100 for all of the profile lines and stores
in the entire 3-D model. the data in separate tables; assigns Table num-
bers in increasing order starting with the user
4 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCEDURE specified starting number and incrementing it by
1; assigns an identification number to each
In geotechnical engineering, the ground-surface point; and positions the points in the 3-D model
geo-metry is obtained using contour maps that are space. These tables contain the (x,z) coordinates
prepared from land or aerial survey of the area. The of expanded 2-D cross-sectional data. A sample
subsurface material horizons are estimated from geo- listing of the “Interpolate” function and its
logic data and information obtained from exploratory dependency function “zz” in FISH language is
boring logs. The subsurface water conditions are esti- given in Figure 1. The starting table number used
mated from field observations, piezometers installed in the sample problem data file is 200.
at various depths, and/or from water levels in borings. 3 The following steps are used for creating zones in
Subsurface data are used to develop contour maps of the 3-D model space:
the subsurface geology and water conditions.
From these contour maps, the region-of-interest,
and the locations of significant cross-sections are def zz
identified; information for 2-D cross-sections are zz=table(t_n,xx)
end
read and tabulated; and 2-D cross-sections are drawn
for an understanding of the site details and preparation def interpolate
of input data for a 2-D analysis. In general, the cross- loop j (js,je); profile line #s -
sectional data for a site varies from one location to ; js is for the bottom, je is for top
the next. These variations may be caused by changes dt_n=dt_n_s+j; dt_n is destination table number
in the ground surface and (or) in subsurface material loop i (is,ie); is is the first interpolation #,
; ie is the last interpolation #
horizons, discontinuity of some materials, or a com- xx=xtable (100,i); x-coordinate of the
bination of these or some other variations. ;interpolation point
In the proposed procedure, the following steps are command
followed: (For ease of presentation, 2-D cross-sections set t_n=j
are assumed to lie in x-z plane and the x,y,z coordi- end_command
nate system follow the right hand rule.) table(dt_n,xx)=zz
id_pt=id_pt+1
1 The following steps are used for creating an x_pt=xtable(dt_n,i)
orderly assemblage of field data for 3-D discretiza- y_pt=y_pt
tion of the continuum of the region-of-interest: z_pt=ytable(dt_n,i)
command
a On the site map, select values of x, y, and z coor- generate point id id_pt x_pt y_pt z_pt
dinates that completely circumscribe the 3-D end_command
region-of-interest; endloop
b Mark locations of all significant 2-D cross- endloop
sections oriented in the same and preferably par- end
allel direction;
c For each 2-D cross-section, tabulate (x,y,z) coor- Figure 1. Listing of the “Interpolate” function and its
dinates of end-points of all line segments for dependency function “zz” in FISH language.
10

09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 11
a Tabulate the y-coordinates of the 2-D cross- zones desired for each interval in the x-direction.
sections in increasing y-direction. For reference Tabulate these values for all of the intervals in
purposes, this table is referred to as Table 101. the increasing x-direction. For reference purposes,
The number of entries in Table 101 should equal this table is referred to as Table 102. The number
the number of 2-D cross-sections marked in of entries in Table 102 should be one less than
step 1(b). those in Table 100.
b Considering the spacing of x-coordinates of the c Considering the spacing between the 2-D cross-
control points in step 2(a), select the number of sections in the y-direction, select the number of
zones desired for each interval in the y-direction.
Tabulate these values for all of the intervals in the
def fill_grid increasing y-direction. For reference purposes,
i_n=table_size(102) this table is referred to as Table 103. The number
j_n=table_size(103)
of entries in Table 103 should be one less than
k_n=table_size(104)
loop jy (1,j_n) the number of 2-D cross-sections.
ny=xtable(103,jy) d Considering the spacing of the profile lines in
p0_d=(jy-1)*(i_n+1)*(k_n+1) the z-direction, select the number of zones desired
loop kz (1,k_n) for each material horizon in the z-direction.
nz=xtable(104,kz) Tabulate these values for all of the intervals in
if kz=1 then the increasing z-direction. For reference purposes,
material='shale' this table is referred to as Table 104. The number
endif
if kz=2 then of entries in Table 104 should be one less than the
material='ns'; native soil number of profile lines.
endif e Use of the “Fill_grid” function generates a
if kz=3 then brick mesh and assigns a group name to each 3-
material='msw'; municipal solid waste D volume zone. A sample listing of the
x_toe=xtable(105,jy) “Fill_grid” function in FISH language is given
endif in Figure 2.
loop ix (1,i_n)
if kz=3 then
xx_toe=xtable(100,ix)
if xx_toe < x_toe then 5 COMMENTS
material='mswt'
endif 1 Use of a Brick mesh with an 8-point description is
endif versatile and allows for creation of degenerated brick
nx=xtable(102,ix) forms through the use of multiple points with dif-
p0_d=p0_d+1 ferent identification numbers occupying the same
p3_d=(p0_d+i_n+1)
p6_d=(p3_d+1) (x,y,z) coordinate location in the 3-D model space.
p1_d=(p0_d+1) 2 During the development of the grid, it is possible to
p2_d=((i_n+1)*(k_n+1)+p0_d) assign group names to different segments of the
p5_d=(p2_d+(i_n+1)) model. This information can be useful in modifying
p7_d=(p5_d+1) the generated grid.
p4_d=(p2_d+1) 3 Expanding the (x,y,z) location data for all 2-D cross-
command sections to a common control number of locations
generate zone brick size nx,ny,nz ratio 1,1,1 &
p0=point (p0_d) p3=point (p3_d) &
via interpolations facilitates the programming of
p6=point (p6_d) p1=point (p1_d) & the automatic grid-generation procedure.
p2=point (p2_d) p5=point (p5_d) & 4 In engineering practice, it is generally desirable
p7=point (p7_d) p4= point(p4_d) group material to analyze a few 2-D cross-sections at select loca-
end_command tions prior to conducting a 3-D analysis. Because
if kz=3 then development of data for 2-D cross-sections is
material='msw' one of the steps for use of the proposed procedure,
endif
end_loop
it is relatively easy to conduct a 2-D analysis using
p0_d=p0_d+1 the 2-D cross-sectional data and the program
end_loop FLAC.
end_loop 5 The program instructions listed in Figures 1 and 2
end can be modified to accommodate geometry and
other problem details that are different or more
Figure 2. Listing of “FILL_GRID” function in FISH complex than those encountered in the sample
language. problem described in Section 6.
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09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 12
6 SAMPLE PROBLEM
The problem used to illustrate the proposed 3-D mesh

generation procedure is the 1996 slide in a waste con-
tainment facility near Cincinnati, Ohio (Stark & Eid
1998, Eid et al. 2000). Figure 3 is an aerial view of the
slide. Figure 4 is the plan view of the landfill and
shows the location of the sixteen cross-sections used
to construct a FLAC3D model of the site (the project
data shown are in Imperial units). There are three
material horizons bounded by four profile lines, and a
liquid level present at this site. Figure 5 shows the 2-D
cross-sectional views of the site at the 16-locations
prior to failure (the available project data were con-
verted to SI units and this conversion lead to nume-
rical values with fractional parts). Figure 6 shows a
partial listing of the data file for the sample problem
with the following details:
– Table 100 lists the x-coordinates of the 22 control
Figure 3. Sample problem – aerial view of Cincinnati
points considered significant from the sixteen 2-D landfill failure (from Eid et al. 2000). (Reproduced by per-
cross-sectional data. mission of the publisher, ASCE).
– Table 101 lists the y-coordinates of the sixteen 2-D
cross-section locations.
– Table 102 lists the number of zones desired in each
of the 21 segments in the x-direction.
of the 15 segments in the y-direction.
of the 3 material horizons at the site.
– Table 105 lists the x-coordinates of the toe loca-
tions of the top profile line in the 2-D cross-sections
in the increasing y-direction.
For each cross-section, x- and z-coordinates for
data points defining the profile lines are recorded in
individual tables numbered as Table 1 for profile line
1 data, Table 2 for profile line 2 data, Table 3 for pro-
file line 3 data, and Table 4 for profile line 4 data in
the data file shown in Figure 6. Profile lines are num-
bered from 1 to 4 in the increasing z-direction and each
profile line uses a different number of data points to
define the line. For cross-sections where the top pro-
file line terminates in a vertical cut at the toe, the top
profile line was extended to x 0.
For each cross-section and for each of the four pro-
file lines, the x-coordinate locations identified in Table
100 are used to create data by interpolation at each of
the 22 control points. For the sample problem, this
amounts to 88 pairs of (x,z) coordinates per cross- Figure 4. Plan view of the sample problem showing locations
section, and the y-coordinate of the data points is read of selected 2-D sections.
from Table 101. Thus, the x-,y-, and z-coordinates
for all of the points defined and (or) interpolated and its listing in FISH language is given in Figure 1.
are known. Each point is assigned a numeric identity At the end of this task, all of the defined and (or)
number (id #) starting with one and incrementing by interpolated points with an assigned id # have been
one. The data points are located in the 3-D model located in the 3-D model space.
space using their id # and x-,y-, z-coordinates. This The connectivity of data points to define volume
task is accomplished using the “Interpolate” function discretization is accomplished in the function named
12

09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 13
Figure 5. 2-D cross-sectional views of the sample problem.
“Fill_grid”. For each interval in the location of cross- x-direction (Table 102), the values of number of
sections in the y-direction (Table 103), and for each zones desired in the x, y, and z-direction and the id #s
material horizon between the profile lines in the z- of points in the 3-D model space are used in the
direction (Table 104), and for each interval in the “GENERATE zone brick p0, p1, … p8” command of
13

09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 14
table 4 0,251.46 91.14,280.42 107.90,283.46

; Rumpke landfill site; Data are in metric units table 4 144.48,286.51 169.77,289.56
set g=0,0,-9.81 table 4 194.46,292.61 332.54,338.33
table 4 348.08,338.33
; table 100 is for the x-coordinates of interpolate
; the desired 3-D grid .
table 100 0,1 13.11,2 15.54,3 22.86,4 34.75,5 .
table 100 42.67,6 49.07,7 57.61,8 63.70,9 .
table 100 64.92,10 72.54,11 78.94,12 92.66,13 ; station at y=307.85 m
table 100 100.89,14 107.90,15 115.21,16 set y_pt=307.85
table 100 158.50,17 199.64,18 284.38,19 table 2 erase
table 100 318.52,20 337.72,21 348.08,22 table 3 erase
table 4 erase
; table 101 is for y-coordinates of the set dt_n_s=dt_n
; 2-D cross-section locations table 2 0,254.08 348.08,254.08
table 101 0,1 15.24,2 20.73,3 28.96,4 42.06,5 table 3 0,259.08 348.08,259.08
table 101 62.48,6 96.93,7 138.07,8 164.29,9 table 4 0,261.08 29.87,265.18 185.93,268.22
table 101 201.47,10 234.09,11 253.29,12 table 4 348.08,307.24
table 101 268.83,13 287.43,14 293.83,15 interpolate
table 101 307.85,16
fill_grid
; table 102 is for the number of zones
; desired in the x-direction delete range group mswt
table 102 2,1 1,2 1,3 2,4 1,5 1,6 1,7 1,8 1,9
table 102 1,10 1,11 2,12 1,13 1,14 1,15 5,16 ; water surface
table 102 5,17 10,18 4,19 2,20 2,21 water den=1 table &
face 0,0,228.60 0,15.24,228.60 &
; table 103 is for the number of zones 332.54,15.24,268.22 &
; desired in the y-direction face 0,0,228.60 332.54,15.24,268.22 &
table 103 2,1 1,2 1,3 2,4 2,5 3,6 4,7 3,8 4,9 348.08,15.24,268.22 &
table 103 3,10 2,11 2,12 2,13 1,14 2,15 face 0,0,228.60 348.08,15.24,268.22 &
348.08,0,268.22 & ;interval # 1
; table 104 is for the number of zones face 0,15.24,228.60 0,20.73,228.60 &
; desired in the z-direction 340.77,20.73,268.22 &
table 104 5,1 3,2 10,3 face 0,15.24,228.60 340.77,20.73,268.22 &
348.08,20.73,268.22 &
; table 105 is for the x-coordinates of the face 0,15.24,228.60 348.08,20.73,268.22 &
; receding toe 332.54,15.24,268.22 &
table 105 0,1 0,2 15.54,3 22.86,4 34.75,5 face 332.54,15.24,268.22 348.08,20.73,268.22 &
table 105 49.07,6 57.61,7 64.92,8 78.94,9 348.08,15.24,268.22 &;interval # 2
table 105 92.66,10 100.89,11 107.90,12 .
table 105 115.21,13 63.70,14 0,15 .
.
set is=1 ie=22 face 0,293.83,259.08 0,307.85,259.08 &
set js=1 je=4 63.70,307.85,259.08 &
set id_pt=0 face 0,293.83,259.08 63.70,307.85,259.08 &
set dt_n_s=200 348.08,307.85,268.22 &
face 0,293.83,259.08 348.08,307.85,268.22 &
; Station at y=0 63.70,293.83,259.08 &
set y_pt=0 face 63.70,293.83,259.08 348.08,307.85,268.22 &
table 1 -100,200 500,200 348.08,293.83,268.22;interval # 15
table 2 0,223.60 154.23,223.60 307.24,238.84
table 2 348.08,239.14 save cin_3D_grid.sav
table 3 0,228.60 154.23,228.60 307.24,243.84
table 3 348.08,244.14
table 4 0,260.00 66.45,280.42 98.15,283.46
table 4 156.67,286.51 187.15,289.56
table 4 348.08,332.54
interpolate
; station at y=15.24 m
set y_pt=15.24
table 2 erase
table 3 erase
table 4 erase
set dt_n_s=dt_n
table 2 0,223.60 163.07,223.60 306.02,238.84
table 2 348.08,240.67
table 3 0,228.60 163.07,228.60 306.02,243.84
table 3 348.08,245.67
Figure 6. Partial listing of the data file for the sample problem for FLAC3D.
14

09069-02.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 15
Linear variation in geometry, material horizons,

and groundwater descriptions between known data
points is generally accepted.
2 Changes in field data can be incorporated in
the numerical model by updating the affected
tables.
3 New cross-sections can be introduced or old cross-
sections deleted and a new discretization of the
continuum made quickly.
4 Describing the spatial location of data in a 3-D
space followed by descriptions of their connectivity
is a simple yet powerful way of constructing a 3-D
numerical model for analysis purposes.
5 The proposed procedure produces regions with
acceptable geometries, i.e. no conflicts in connec-
tivity.
6 Changes in discretization due to changes in field
data or due to numerical considerations can be
included in the proposed procedure efficiently and
a new discretization accomplished.
7 Number of discretized volume units in different
parts of the numerical model is estimated at the
start of the problem solving effort. If it becomes
necessary to change or refine the discretization,
very little effort is needed to change the tabular
data and the procedure is then rerun to obtain an
updated 3-D mesh.
8 A complete brick element is used to generate other
degenerated volume element shapes.
9 Because the proposed procedure is based on sim-
Figure 7. 3-D mesh for the sample problem.
ple and commonly used ideas, it should be adapt-
able when using computer programs or procedures
FLAC3D for a regular 8-noded brick mesh. The material other than FLAC3D to perform numerical analysis
between the profile lines is assigned a group name for work. The program instructions can be rewritten in
ease of modifying the grid and for convenience in other programming languages.
assigning material properties and/or addressing them
for some other reason. This task is also accomplished
in the function named “Fill_grid” and its listing in FISH 8 SUMMARY
language is given in Figure 2. Table 105 data are used
to assign a group name “mswt” to the zones past the To facilitate 3-D analyses using FLAC3D or other soft-
vertical cut which are later deleted using the DELETE ware, an automated procedure is presented to create
command with the range defined by the group name a 3-D mesh. The procedure utilizes commonly
“mswt”. At the end of this task, a 3-D grid of specifi- used techniques for drawing 2-D cross-sections
cation exists in the region-of-interest. For the sample and interpolation between 2-D cross-sections to
problem, the generated 3-D grid is shown in Figure 7. portray spatial variations of geometry and distribu-
The representation of continuity of the vertical cut at tion of materials in 3-D.
the toe of the slope (as seen in 2-D cross-sections,
Figure 5) in the 3-D model can be improved by
increasing the number of 2-D cross-sections.
REFERENCES
7 ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED Eid, H.T., Stark, T.D., Evans, W.D. & Sherry, P.E. 2000.
PROCEDURE Municipal solid waste slope failure. II Stability analyses.
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engi-
neering 126(5): 408–419.
1 The proposed procedure for describing 3-D field Stark, T.D. & Eid, H.T. 1998. Performance of three-
conditions utilizes 2-D cross-sections, which are dimensional slope stability methods in practice. Journal
essentially the same as commonly used by geolo- of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
gists and engineers to describe the field conditions. 124(11): 1049–1060.
15

09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 17

A new constitutive model based on the Hoek-Brown criterion
P. Cundall, C. Carranza-Torres & R. Hart

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA
ABSTRACT: A new constitutive model is proposed based on the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. This model
incorporates a plasticity flow rule that varies as a function of the confining stress level. For a low confining
stress, at which a large rate of volumetric expansion at yield is anticipated, an associated flow rule is applied.
For high confining stress, at which the material no longer dilates at failure, a constant-volume flow rule is pre-
scribed. A composite flow rule, which provides a linear variation from associated to constant-volume limits, is
used between the low and high confining stress states. Using an appropriate softening relation, the model can
also represent the transition between brittle and ductile rock behavior. The new model is programmed in
C
and compiled as a DLL file (dynamic link library) that can be loaded directly into either FLAC or
FLAC3D. This paper describes the model and its implementation as a DLL. Physical justification is provided for
the formulation and, specifically, the representation of the volumetric behavior during yield, which depends on
confining stress. A verification example is provided.
1 INTRODUCTION failure of the material. However, numerical simula-

tions of elasto-plastic problems allow continuing the
The Hoek-Brown failure criterion is an empirical rela- solution after failure has taken place, and the failure
tion that characterizes the stress conditions that lead condition itself may change as the simulation pro-
to failure in intact rock and rock masses. It has been gresses (by either hardening or softening). In this event,
used very successfully in design approaches that use it is more reasonable to speak of yielding rather than
limit equilibrium solutions, but there has been little failure. There is no implied restriction on the type of
direct use in numerical solution schemes. Alternatively, behavior that is modelled – both ductile and brittle
equivalent friction and cohesion values have been behavior may be represented, depending on the soft-
used with a Mohr-Coulomb model that is matched to ening relation used.
the nonlinear Hoek-Brown strength envelope at partic-
ular stress levels. Numerical solution methods require
full constitutive models, which relate stress to strain in a 2 GENERAL FORMULATION
general way; in addition to a failure (or yield) criterion,
a flow rule is also necessary, in order to provide a rela- The generalized Hoek-Brown criterion (Hoek & Brown
tion between the components of strain rate at failure. 1998), adopting the convention of positive compressive
There have been several attempts to develop a full stress, is
constitutive model from the Hoek-Brown criterion: e.g.
Pan & Hudson (1988), Carter et al. (1993) and Shah
(1992). These formulations assume that the flow rule (1)
has some fixed relation to the failure criterion, and that
the flow rule is isotropic, whereas the Hoek-Brown cri-
terion is not. In the formulation described here, there is where 1 and 3 are the major and minor effective
no fixed form for the flow rule; it is assumed to depend principal stresses, and ci, mb, s and a are material con-
on the stress level, and possibly on some measure of stants that can be related to the Geological Strength
damage. Index (GSI) and rock damage (Hoek et al. 2002). For
In what follows, the failure criterion is taken as a interest, the unconfined compressive strength is given
yield surface, using the terminology of plasticity theory. by c ci sa and the tensile strength by t
Usually, a failure criterion is assumed to be a fixed, ci s/mb. Equation (1) and the stresses c and t are
limiting stress condition that corresponds to ultimate represented in Figure 1.
17

09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 18
(2)
where E1 K
4G/3 and E2 K 2G/3 and (e1,
e2, e3) is the set of principal strain increments. If
the yield criterion (equation 1) is violated by this set
of stresses, then the strain increments (prescribed as
independent inputs to the model) are assumed to be
composed of elastic and plastic parts, i.e.,
(3)
Note that plastic flow does not occur in the inter-

mediate principal stress direction. The final stresses
(1f , 2f , 3f ) output from the model, are related to the
elastic components of the strain increments; hence,
(4)
Eliminating the current stresses, using equations
(2) and (4),
(5)
We assume the following flow rule,
(6)
where the factor depends on stress, and is recom-

puted at each time step. Eliminating ep1 from equa-
tion (5)
Figure 1. Graphical representation of the generalized
Hoek-Brown failure criterion (equation 1) in the (a) com-
pressive and (b) tensile region of the principal stress space (7)
(1, 3).
It should be noted that the failure criterion (equa- At yield, equation (1) is satisfied by the final
tion 1) does not depend on the intermediate principal stresses; that is,
stress, 2; thus, the failure envelope is not isotropic.
Assume that the current principal stresses are (1,
2, 3) and that initial trial stresses (1t , 2t , 3t ) are (8)
calculated by using incremental elasticity, i.e.,
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09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 19
By substituting values of 1f and f2 from equation 3.2 Constant-volume flow rule
(7), equation (8) can be solved iteratively for ep3, As the confining stress is increased, a point is reached
which is then substituted in equation (7) to give the final at which the material no longer dilates during yield.
stresses. The method of solution is described later, but A constant-volume flow rule is therefore appropriate
first the evaluation of is discussed. when the confining stress is above some user-
prescribed level, 3 cv3. This flow rule is given by
3 FLOW RULES (11)
We need to consider an appropriate flow rule, which The constant-volume flow rule defined by equation
describes the volumetric behavior of the material dur- (11) is represented graphically by point C in Figure 1a.
ing yield. In general, the flow parameter will depend The normal to the vector ep at point C has a slope equal
on stress, and possibly history. It is not meaningful to to unity, and therefore the rate of volumetric expansion
speak of a dilation angle for a material when its confin- in the plastic regime is null.
ing stress is low or tensile, because the mode of failure
is typically by axial splitting, not shearing. Although
the volumetric strain depends in a complicated way on 3.3 Radial flow rule
stress level, we consider certain specific cases for which Under the condition of uniaxial tension, we might
behavior is well known, and determine the behavior for expect that the material would yield in the direction
intermediate conditions by interpolation. of the tensile traction. If the tension is isotropi-
Three cases are considered below. cally applied, we imagine (since the test is practi-
cally impossible to perform) that the material would
deform isotropically. Both of these conditions are
3.1 Associated flow rule
fulfilled by the radial flow rule, which is assumed
It is known that many rocks under unconfined com- to apply when all principal stresses are tensile. For a
pression exhibit large rates of volumetric expansion flow-rate vector to be coaxial with the principal stress
at yield, associated with axial splitting and wedging vector, we obtain
effects. The associated flow rule provides the largest
volumetric strain rate that may be justified theoretically. (12)
This flow rule is expected to apply in the vicinity of
the uniaxial stress condition (3 ≈ 0). An associated
flow rule is one in which the vector of plastic strain The radial flow rule defined by equation (12) is
rate is normal to the yield surface (when both are represented graphically by points D1, D2 and D3 in
plotted on similar axes). Thus, Figure 1b. The directions of vectors ep at these points
intercept all the origin of the diagram.
(9)
3.4 Composite flow rule
We propose to assign the flow rule (and thus, a value
where the subscripts denote the components in the for ) according to the stress condition. In the fully ten-
principal stress directions, and F is defined by equa- sile region, the radial flow rule, rf, will be used. For
tion (8). Differentiating this expression, and using compressive 1 and tensile or zero 3 the associated
equation (6), flow rule, af, is applied. For the interval 0 3 cv3,
the value of is linearly interpolated between the asso-
ciated and constant-volume limits, i.e.,
(10)
(13)
The associated flow rule used in the constitutive

model is graphically represented in Figure 1a.
The normal to the plastic strain-rate vector ep at point Finally, when 3 3cv, the constant-volume value,
A is tangent to the yield envelope (equation 1) at cv, is used. It is noted that if cv
3 is set equal to
3 0. The slope of the normal to ep, denoted as zero, then the model uses a non-associated flow rule
k0 in the figure, is inversely related to the coefficient with a zero dilation angle, for 3 0. If 3cv is set
af defined by equation (10) – i.e., k0 1/af at to a very high value relative to ci, the model uses an
3 0. associated-flow rule for 3 0.
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09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 20
The composite flow rule defined by equation (13) high confining stresses, the iteration converges in one
in the case of compressive stresses is represented step, but at low confining stresses, up to ten steps are
graphically by point B in Figure 1a. The slope of the necessary (the limit built into the code is presently 15).
normal to ep at point C is the linear interpolation of the
slopes at points A and B.
5 MATERIAL SOFTENING
4 IMPLEMENTATION In the Hoek-Brown model, the material properties,

ci, mb, s and a, are assumed to remain constant, by
The equations presented above are implemented in a default. Material softening, after the onset of plastic
DLL (dynamic link library) written in C
, with yield, can be simulated by specifying that these

the model name hoekbrown. One difficulty with the mechanical properties change (i.e., reduce the overall
failure criterion (equation 8) is that real values for F material strength) according a softening parameter.
do not exist if 3 sci/mb. During an iteration The softening parameter selected for the Hoek-Brown
p
process, this condition is likely to be encountered, so model is the plastic confining strain component, e3.
p
it is necessary that the expression for F, and its first The choice of e3 is based on physical grounds. For
derivatives, be continuous everywhere in stress space. yield near the unconfined state, the damage in brittle
This is fulfilled by adapting the following composite rock is mainly by splitting (not by shearing) with crack
expressions: normals oriented in the 3 direction. The parameter ep3
is expected to correlate with the microcrack damage
• if 3 sci /mb then
in the 3 direction.
The value of ep3 is calculated by summing the strain
(14) increment values for ep3 calculated by equation (16).
Softening behavior is provided by specifying tables
that relate each of the properties, ci, mb, s and a, to ep3.
Each table contains pairs of values: one for the ep3
• if 3 sci /mb then value and one for the corresponding property value. It
is assumed that the property varies linearly between
two consecutive parameter entries in the table.
A multiplier, (denoted as mult in FLAC and
(15) FLAC3D), can also be specified to relate the softening
behavior to the confining stress, 3. The relation
between and 3 is also given in the form of a table.
To illustrate the definition of softening parameters
To initialize the iteration, a starting value for, ep3
in the constitutive model proposed in this paper, we
is taken as the absolute maximum of all the strain
analyze the idealized response of a cylindrical sample
increment components. This value, denoted as 1, is
of homogeneous-isotropic material in a typical tri-
inserted into equation (7), together with the value for
axial experiment – as represented in Figure 2a.
found from the flow-rule equations, and the result-
For example, Figure 2b shows a piecewise-linear
ing stress values inserted into equations (14) and (15).
stress–strain relationship expressed in terms of the
The resulting value of F is denoted by F1. Taking the
deviator 1 3 and the shear strain e1 e3.
original value of F as F0 (and the corresponding plas-
The different curves in the diagram correspond to
tic strain increment of zero as 0), we can estimate
increasing values of confinement 3 in the triaxial
a new value of the plastic strain increment, using a
experiment of Figure 2a.
variant of Newton’s method,
Two cases of practical interest will be considered
here. The first case assumes that the slope of the soft-
(16) ening branch is maintained for increasing values of
confinement 3. In Figure 2b the case is represented
by continuous curves (e.g., the line OPR). The second
From this, we find a new value of F (that we call F2), case assumes that the slope of the softening branch
and if it is sufficiently close to zero, the iteration stops. decreases (in absolute value) as confinement increases,
Otherwise, we set F0 F1, F1 F2, 0 1 and and that the material behaves in a ductile manner (i.e.,
1 2, and apply equation (16) again. the slope of the softening branch becomes zero) for a
Tests show that the iteration scheme converges for all confinement level 3 dc 3. In Figure 2b this case is
stress paths tried so far, including cases in which s 0 represented by the dashed curves (e.g., the line OPR ).
(material with zero unconfined compressive strength), To illustrate the definition of input parameters in
which led to problems in previous implementations. For the constitutive model we need to consider in some
20

09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 21
(17)
(18)
The residual parameters Rci and mRb in equation (18)

are decreased in the same proportion, multiplying the
initial (peak) parameters by the factor (1 ), i.e.,
(19)
(20)
The parameter in the equations above, that lie in the

range 0 1, controls the jump of strength from
the peak to residual stages. If 0, then the peak
and residual strength are the same and the material
behaves in a ductile manner (see Figure 2b). If 1
then the material behaves in a brittle manner, with the
minimum possible value for the residual strength
(i.e., 1 3 in equation 18).
In the simplest case we can consider that the loss of
strength in the softening branch in Figure 2b is lin-
early related to the plastic shear-strain p as follows,
(21)
Note that in the equation above, crp is the critical value

of plastic shear-strain for which the residual stage is
reached (see point R in Figure 2b).
The loss of strength can also be expressed in terms
of the drop modulus 2G. indicated in Figure 2b (the
definition of drop modulus used here is as in Linkov,
1992). This parameter controls the ductile/brittle
behavior of the material. For example, when 0 the
material behaves in a perfectly-plastic manner and
when → the material behaves in a perfectly-
brittle manner. The relationship between cr p and is,
Figure 2. (a) Idealized triaxial experiment of a cylindrical
sample of isotropic-homogeneous Hoek-Brown material.
The diagrams (b) and (c) represent an idealized piecewise (22)
linear response obtained from the triaxial experiment.
In the constitutive model discussed in this paper, the

plastic strain ep3 (rather than the plastic shear-strain
detail the relationships that govern the response of the p) is taken as a softening parameter. The relationship
material represented in Figure 2. between ep3 and p can be constructed from the
We assume that the peak and residual strength of analytical-solution of the triaxial experiment of
the material are given by the following equations, Figure 2a. This relationship, that is represented in
21

09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 22
Figure 2c, depends on the flow rule assumed for the From equation (23), again considering 3 0, the
material as follows, critical value of plastic strain is,
ep3 cr (0) 0.013
In the FLAC model, the tables for the softening
(23) parameters should be defined as follows:
In the equation above the parameter K is related to e3p ci [MPa] mb s a

the instantaneous dilation angle as
0.000 0.10 5.0 1.0 0.5
0.013 0.05 2.5 1.0 0.5
(24) 0.05 2.5 1.0 0.5
For interest, we list here the expressions for the In addition to the table above, a table defining the
slopes corresponding to the elastic, softening and resid- relationship between the multiplier and the confin-
ual branches in the e3 vs. e1 – e3 diagram of Figure 2c, ing stress 3 will be normally defined. The type of
relationship to consider depends on how the drop mod-
(25) ulus of the softening branch is assumed to vary with
the level of confinement.
To illustrate the definition of the multiplier we
(26) consider first the case in which the drop modulus of
the softening branch, 2G, is maintained for increasing
values of confinement 3 (see line OPR in Figure 2b).
For this case, the multiplier is defined as follows,
(27)
(28)
We consider now a practical case of definition of
softening parameters in a FLAC model.
Let us assume the following values for the param-
eters that control the response of the material in Assuming an upper limit for the confining stress
Figure 2: equal to 10 ci, and taking 5 points to represent this
relationship, the definition of the multiplier in
ci 0.1 MPa FLAC will be as follows:
mb 5
s 1
a 0.5 3 [MPa]
0.5
0.00 1.0000
0.2 (for 3 0) 0.25 3.6742
E 100 ci 0.50 5.0990
0.3 0.75 6.2048
0o 1.00 7.1414
[Note that the condition 0o implies that the
material does not dilate in the plastic regime; in the Note that in the table above, the second column is
FLAC model this condition is satisfied by specifying computed using equation (28).
cv3 0.] As a second example of the definition of the mul-
For the value of defined above, the residual tiplier we consider now the case for which the drop
parameters Rci and mRb are computed with equations modulus of the softening branch, 2G, decreases (in
(19) and (20) and result to be, absolute value) for increasing values of confinement
3 (see line OPR in Figure 2b). To achieve the ductile
Rci 0.05 MPa behavior ( 0) at the confinement level 3 dc 3,
mRb 2.5 we can use the following relationship between the
From equation (23), and considering 3 0 the critical multiplier and the confining stress 3,
value of plastic shear-strain for which the residual
stage is achieved is, (29)
cr
p (0) 0.039
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09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:14 PM Page 23
(30)
Assuming then a value of dc 3 ci, and an upper

limit for the confining stress equal to 10 ci, the def-
inition of the multiplier in FLAC will be as follows:
3 [MPa]
0.000 1.0
0.033 1.5
0.067 3.0
0.100
1.000
Note that in the table above, the second column is

computed using equations (29) and (30).
6 VERIFICATION
Stresses and displacements are calculated for the case

of a cylindrical tunnel in an infinite brittle Hoek-Brown
medium subjected to an in-situ stress field. A uniform
compressive stress of 0 15 MPa is assigned as the
far-field stress, and an internal pressure pi 2.5 MPa
is applied inside the tunnel (see Figure 3a).
The problem is based on an example posed by
Hoek & Brown (1980). The closed-form solution in
that example only provided the stress distribution cal-
culation, and is extended here to include the displace-
ment solutions for both associated and non-associated
plastic flow. (A description of the equations that sum-
marize the solution is provided in the Appendix A.)
The properties and conditions selected for this test
are also listed in Figure 3a. Both initial rock and bro-
ken rock properties for the Hoek-Brown model are
specified.
The brittle behavior of the rock is simulated by
instantaneous softening – i.e. the Hoek-Brown prop-
erties are changed from initial values at e p3 0 to bro-
ken values at a small value of e p3 0 (an arbitrarily
small value for e p3 equal to 1020 is assumed).
The comparison of the results from the FLAC
model using model hoekbrown to the analytical solu-
tion (given in the Appendix A) is shown in Figure 3b
for the calculation of hoop stress and radial stress
around the tunnel, and in Figure 3c for the calculation
of radial displacements for both the associated and
Figure 3. Elasto-plastic solution for excavation of a cylin-
non-associated flow cases. In all cases, the agreement drical tunnel in a brittle generalized Hoek-Brown material.
between FLAC and analytical results is characterized
by an error of less than 1%.
FLAC3D. The flow rule is based on general knowledge
of the volumetric behavior of rock, which usually
7 CONCLUDING REMARKS exhibits large dilation at low confining stresses and
small or zero dilation at large confining stresses, as
A full constitutive model based on the Hoek-Brown the failure condition is approached. Although this
criterion has been implemented for use in FLAC and assumption conforms to practical experience, it will be
23

09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:15 PM Page 24
necessary to compare the response of the new model A.1 Plastic region, r Rpl
with actual measurements of rock behavior, both in the The critical internal pressure below which the failure
laboratory and in the field, and calibrate the parameter zone develops is computed from the following tran-
cv
3 from observations of volumetric strain. Further, the scendental equation,
softening behavior is assumed to depend on the confin-
ing stress, not on deviatoric stress, which is the more
usual assumption. This decision was made on a gen- (A.1)
eral knowledge of rock behavior, but it will need to be
verified (or falsified) by comparing model predictions
with measurements of rock response under post-peak
conditions. The extent Rpl of the failure zone is,
REFERENCES
Carranza-Torres, C. & Fairhurst, C. 1999. The elasto-plastic

response of underground excavations in rock masses that
satisfy the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36(6),
777–809.
Carter, T., Carvalho, J. & Swan, G. 1993. Towards the prac-
tical application of ground reaction curves. In W.F.
Bawden & J.F. Archibald (Eds), Innovative mine design
(A.2)
for the 21st century, pp. 151–171. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: The Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. The solution for the radial stress field is
Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1997. Practical estimates of rock
mass strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics (A.3)
and Mining Sciences 34(8), 1165–1186.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion – 2002 edition. In H.R.W. Bawden,
J. Curran & M. Telesnicki (Eds), Proceedings of the 5th The solution for the hoop stress field is
North American Rock Mechanics Symposium and the 17th
Tunnelling Association of Canada Conference: NARMS-
TAC 2002. Mining Innovation and Technology. Toronto – 10
July 2002, pp. 267–273. University of Toronto.
Linkov, A.M. 1992. Dynamic phenomena in mines and the
problem of stability. MTS System corporation. 14000
Technology Drive, Eden Praire, MN 55344, USA. Notes
from a course of lectures presented as MTS visiting pro-
fessor of Geomechanics at the University of Minnesota, (A.4)
Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Pan, X.D. & Hudson, J.A. 1988.A simplified three dimen-
sional Hoek-Brown yield condition. In M. Romana (Ed.),
Rock Mechanics and Power Plants. Proc. ISRM Symp., For the case of non-associated flow rule (with dila-
pp. 95–103. Balkema. Rotterdam.
tion angle equal to zero) the solution for the radial
Shah, S. 1992. A study of the behaviour of jointed rock masses.
Ph. D. thesis, Dept. Civil Engineering, University of stress field is computed from integration of the fol-
Toronto. lowing second-order differential equation,
APPENDIX A. CLOSED-FORM SOLUTION

FOR A CYLINDRICAL HOLE IN AN INFINITE
BRITTLE HOEK-BROWN MEDIUM
(A.5)
The solution presented in thisAppendix is based on a
scaled solution for cylindrical tunnels in Hoek-Brown
media discussed in Carranza-Torres and Fairhurst where
is defined as,
(1999). Analytical expressions to compute the field
quantities r, and ur are presented here for the (A.6)
plastic and elastic regions around the tunnel.
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09069-03.qxd 08/11/2003 20:15 PM Page 25
The functions dr/d

and d/d
in the differential the following non-linear second-order differential
equation above are equation,
(A.14)
(A.7)
The only difference with the case of non-associated

flow rule (zero dilation angle) is that the coefficients
and
A1, A2 and A3 depend now on the solution of the stress
field r as follows,
(A.15)
(A.16)
(A.8) (A.17)
while the coefficients A1, A2 and A3 are

A.2 Elastic region, r Rpl
(A.9) The solution for the radial stress field is
(A.10) (A.18)
(A.11)
The solution for the hoop stress field is
The boundary conditions to integrate the differential
equation (A.5) above are
(A.19)
(A.12)
The solution for the radial displacement field is
and
(A.20)
(A.13) The plastic and elastic solutions for the field quanti-
ties r and ur presented above are continuous at the
elasto-plastic boundary (i.e., at r Rpl). The solution
for the field quantity is discontinuous when there is
In the case of associated flow rule, the solution for a jump of strength from peak values (ci, mb, s and a) to
the radial stress field is obtained from integration of residual values (Rci, mbR, sR and aR) – see Figure 3b.
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09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 27

A study of compaction band formation with the Double-Yield model
C. Detournay & P. Cundall

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA
J. Parra
PDVSA – Intevep, S.A., Los Teques, Venezuela
ABSTRACT: The occurrence of thin localized bands associated with concentration of compressive strain has
recently been reported in very porous rocks, both in field and laboratory settings. These structures exhibit a
reduction of porosity, and are of importance to the petroleum industry because they can impact reservoir perme-
ability. Compaction bands have been the object of both theoretical and experimental studies by Olsson (1999),
Issen & Rudnicki (2000), Bésuelle (2001) and others. In this paper, we examine, in a simple theoretical framework,
the basic conditions for a band to appear. We consider the case of the Double-Yield model, identify conditions for
localization related to the volumetric cap, and give examples of numerical simulations that illustrate band formation.
1 INTRODUCTION with the presence of a cap in the yield surface. We

consider the case of a strain softening/hardening cap,
Mollema & Antonellini (1996) recently identified the normal to the mean pressure axis in effective stress
presence of thin compacted bands in porous sandstone, space, and examine the conditions on the cap for
and made reference to these features as “compaction compaction bands to appear.
bands”. Although these structures are sometimes asso- For numerical investigation with FLAC, we use the
ciated with the presence of shear bands, they have Double-Yield constitutive model. This model is charac-
individual characteristics, which are outlined in these terized by a strain softening Mohr Coulomb behavior
definitions, found in the literature: for shear yielding, and by an independent strain harden-
ing cap behavior for volumetric yielding.
– Compaction bands are narrow planar zones of
The theoretical conditions for compaction band
localized compressive deformation perpendicular
formation associated with stress states on the volu-
to the maximum compressive stress (Issen &
metric cap of the Double-Yield model are derived in
Rudnicki 2000).
section 2. The results of numerical experiments are
– A compaction band is a tabular zone that exhibits
presented in section 3. Conclusions for the work are
normal closure but no shear offset (Olsson 1999).
given in section 4.
– Pure compaction bands are bands that exhibit a
normal compacting strain and a zero shear strain
(Bésuelle 2001).
2 EXISTENCE CRITERIA FOR
Compaction bands have attracted attention because COMPACTION BAND
of the potential impact that the reduced porosity of
these features may have on oil reservoir exploitation. As a convention in this paper, tension and extension
The authors cited above are among those who have are positive for stress and strain, respectively, compres-
investigated the condition for their formation in theoret- sion is positive for pressure, and effective stresses are
ical, laboratory and field settings. denoted without a dash. Stresses are denoted as ij,
In this paper, we work in a basic theoretical frame- and strains as ij with i 1, 2, 3 and j 1, 2, 3.
work. The change of porosity localized in the band is Volumetric strain, ev, is defined by ev 11
interpreted as an inelastic volume deformation, which 22

33, and mean pressure, by p (11
can occur as an alternative to the homogeneous mode. 22

33)/3. Rates are denoted by a superscript dot.
Irrecoverable volumetric deformations are associated First, we derive the stress-rate/strain-rate relations
27

09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 28
for evolution of a stress point on the Double-Yield where

volumetric cap, and then, we express the condition for
volumetric localization.
(5)
2.1 Cap constitutive relations

and Kc, Gc are current values of tangent bulk and
In the Double-Yield model, the volumetric yield shear modulus.
function is: The cap pressure is a function of plastic volumetric
strain, evp, and the hardening rule is:
(1)
(6)
where pc is the cap pressure, and F v 0 for elastic The coefficient a is the hardening modulus (positive
conditions. for softening) which is a function of total plastic volu-
The cap F v 0 is represented by a straight line in metric strain. An example of volumetric hardening
the plane of shear stress, q, versus mean pressure, p, behavior is represented in Figure 2.
shown in Figure 1. The flow rule gives the direction of plastic strain rate,
The flow rule for volumetric yielding is associated; which is parallel to the gradient of Gv in stress space:
thus, the potential function is:
(7)
(2) .
The plastic multiplier , gives the magnitude of plas-
tic strain rate. It may be found from the consistency
The total strain rates are partitioned into elastic and condition:
plastic parts:
(8)
(3)
Substitution of the expression 2 for plastic potential
The stress-strain relations are, in rate form: in Equation 7 gives, after differentiation:
(9)
(4)
Using Equation 9 for the plastic strain rate, the
hardening rule in Equation 6 takes the form:
(10)
Figure 1. Volumetric cap for the Double-Yield model. Figure 2. Example of volumetric hardening rule.
28

09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 29
After substitution of this expression in the consis- met within the material sample. First, equilibrium at
tency condition, we obtain: the interface of the band only allows a stress disconti-
nuity for the direct stress parallel to the band. Second,
the direct strain parallel to the band must remain con-
(11)
tinuous.
We analyze the situation at the onset of band forma-
The plastic strain increments in Equation 9 may tion, and denote as ni the unit normal to the potential
now be expressed as: planar band in which localized deformation occurs.
Mathematically, the condition for non-uniqueness
translates as (see e.g. Issen & Rudnicki 2000):
(12)
(17)
From Equation 3, elastic strain rate may be where the components of the stiffness matrix may be
expressed as total rate minus plastic rate: found in Equation 14.
We look at the case when the out of plane component
(13) of the normal to the band is zero, or n3 0. Band for-
mation is predicted to occur when the condition
Finally, after substitution of Equation 13 in
Equation 4, using Equation 12 and some manipulations,
the cap constitutive behavior may be written in the form:
(18)
is first met in a program of deformation. By using the

relations
(14) for unit length of the vector ni, and 2 1 2Gc in

Equation 5, the condition may be expressed as:
where
(19)
(15)
A symbolic way to write this expression is:
(16)
where Lijkl is the stiffness matrix, and Einstein summa-

tion convention on repeated indices is used.
2.2 Condition for localization

We consider the deformation of a homogeneous sample
of material under gradual application of prescribed uni-
form stresses, as shown in Figure 3. We will assume that
the major compressive stress, 1 is vertical. Prior to
the occurrence of a band, the sample deforms uni-
formly. After appearance of the band, stress and strain
rates will be uniform inside and outside the band, but
they will be different from each other. A bifurcation
from homogeneous deformation has occurred. The
non-homogeneous solution can only exist provided that Figure 3. Material sample, prescribed stresses, and potential
some continuity requirements on stress and strain are compaction band.
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09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 30
Figure 4. Example of cap softening behavior. Figure 5. Plateau corresponding to pore collapse in a
schematic porous material stress–strain curve.
The possible band orientations, given by the roots

of a quadratic equation, are given by: for the occurrence of compaction band. A relation
between hardening modulus and stiffness properties
must also be satisfied for the bands to appear: according
(20) to Equation 25, the hardening modulus, (which is posi-
tive for softening of the cap) must be equal or larger
where than 4Kc/(4
3Kc/Gc).
In a uniaxial compression test (oedometric test),
. .
with 11 33 . 0, the constitutive relation,
.
(21) Equation 14, yields 22 (1
b) 22, so the localization
condition, Equation 24, which may also simply be
derived using the compliance approach of Vermeer
For a real solution, we must have:
(1982), corresponds to the first occurrence of a plateau
(22) in the plot of vertical stress versus strain, see Figure 5.
It is interesting to note that, according to Equation 19,
Using the definition of b, c, and 1 given above, the condition for band formation in the direction paral-
the condition takes the form: lel to the maximum compressive stress is also given
by Equation 24. So the same condition predicts band
formation in two perpendicular directions.
(23)
3 NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS
This condition can only be satisfied if a 0, that
is when softening of the cap occurs, see Figure 4. Our theoretical derivation shows that cap softening
Physically, cap softening can correspond to grain col- is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the
lapse or breakage of cemented grains. formation of compaction bands. A relation between
By definition, a pure compaction band is oriented hardening modulus (a) and stiffness properties (Kc,
perpendicular to the maximum compressive stress. Gc) must also be satisfied for the bands to appear. In an
According to our convention, we must have: n1 0, oedometric test, two sets of bands (one horizontal, and
in which case Equation 19 implies: one vertical) are predicted to occur for
(24)
(26)
Finally, using Equation 5 for 1, and Equation 15
for b, the localization condition may be expressed as:
Numerical experiments are carried out to validate
(25) this prediction, and illustrate band formation.
Numerical simulations of an oedometric test are per-
formed using the finite difference code FLAC. The con-
From the above consideration it follows that soften- figuration is axi-symmetric. The grid contains a total of
ing of the cap is a necessary but not sufficient condition 400 elements. The boundary conditions correspond to
30

09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 31
Figure 7. Seed 1 – Contours of 11 at 7000 steps.
roller boundaries at the bottom and lateral side of the

model. A Double-Yield constitutive model is assigned
to the zones in the grid. Friction is zero, and cohesion
is assigned a large value (compared to maximum mean
stress in the simulation). We consider the state of the
model at the onset of band formation. The initial
stress field is isotropic, and the material is normally
consolidated. Several cases are considered, corre-
sponding to hypothetical values of current hardening
modulus. The test is strain-controlled: a compressive
velocity is applied at the top of the model.
The stiffness properties for the simulation are cho-
sen such that Kc/Gc 2, and Equation 26 translates to
a 0.4 Kc. To trigger the localization process, the
material bulk modulus is given a random deviation of
1%. The simulations are performed using the data file
cb.dat, listed in the Appendix. In cases when the ini-
tial hardening modulus is equal to 0.2Kc or 0.3Kc,
(softening of the cap occurs, but the criteria for band
formation is not met), no band is observed. In the case
when a 0.405Kc (a value slightly larger than the
threshold for band formation), two sets of bands
develop in the model: one normal, and one parallel to
the major compressive stress. Simulation results at
three different stages, and for two different random
seeds (used for assignment of a small deviation
around an average value for the bulk property) are
presented below.
Figure 6 show the results obtained for seed 1: a first
horizontal band appears, then a second one starts to
grow, and a third one develops. At each step, the addi-
tional deformation is seen to localize in the new band.
The behavior of the normal stress parallel to the bands,
at the end of the simulation is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 6. Seed 1 – Contours of volumetric strain incre- When the simulation was repeated, this time with
ments and displacement vectors at: a) 4000, b) 5000 and another seed, the results in Figure 8 were obtained. The
c) 7000 steps. first band to appear is vertical and it grows across the
31

09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 32
Figure 9. Seed 2 – Contours of 22 at 7000 steps.
grid before a second horizontal compaction band

appears. Contours of vertical stress at the end of the
simulation are shown in Figure 9. Apparently it is ran-
dom whether horizontal or vertical bands appear first.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A simple theoretical framework has been adopted to

derive the basic conditions for compaction band forma-
tion. The Double-Yield constitutive model in FLAC was
considered, and conditions for localization related to
the volumetric cap were identified using the approach
of Issen & Rudnicki (2000). It was found that soften-
ing of the cap, which can correspond to grain collapse
or breakage of cemented grains, was a necessary con-
dition for the occurrence of compaction band. But the
condition is not sufficient; in addition, the hardening
modulus (positive for softening of the cap) must exceed
a critical value, which is a function of material bulk
and shear moduli. The critical value, which may also
be derived using the compliance approach of Vermeer
(1982), corresponds to the first occurrence of a plateau
in a plot of major compressive stress versus strain.
The analysis predicts the occurrence of two sets of
bands, normal and parallel to the direction of major
compressive stress. Examples of numerical simulations
are given that illustrate band formation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work related in this paper was performed as part of

Figure 8. Seed 2 – Contours of volumetric strain incre- a research project carried out for INTEVEP. Chad
ments and displacement vectors at: a) 4000, b) 5000 and Sylvain is thanked for editing of the figures and Michele
c) 7000 steps. Nelson for her help in formatting the manuscript.
32

09069-04.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 33
REFERENCES prop bul 1110e6 rdev 1110e4 ;--- 1% deviation

; case 1 a0.2K
Bésuelle, P. 2001. Compacting and dilating shear bands in ;table 1 0 5e6 1e-3 47.78e5 1e-2 2.78e6 1 0.5e5 ; no cb
porous rock: Theoretical and experimental conditions. ;ini yvel 0 var 0 -1e-6
Journal of geophysical Research, 106(B7): 13,435–13,442. ; case 2 a0.3K
Issen, K.A. & Rudnicki, J.W. 2000. Conditions for compaction
bands in porous rock. Journal of Geophysical Research
;table 1 0 5e6 1e-3 46.67e5 1e-2 1.70e6 1 0.5e5 ; no cb
105(B9): 21,529–21,536. ;ini yvel 0 var 0 -1e-6
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2000. FLAC Ver. 4.0 User’s ; case 3 a0.405K
Guide. Minneapolis: Itasca. table 1 0 5e6 1e-3 45.5e5 1e-2 0.5e6 1 0.5e5 ; cb
Mollema, P.N. & Antonellini, M.A. 1996. Compaction bands: ini yvel 0 var 0 -1e-7
A structural analog for anti-mode I cracks in Aeolian ; case 4 a0.5K
sandstone. Tectonophysics 267: 209–228. ;table 1 0 5e6 1e-3 44.45e5 0.8e-2 0.56e6 1 0.5e5 ; cb
Olsson, W.A. Theoretical and experimental investigation of ;ini yvel 0 var 0 -1e-7
compaction bands in porous rock. Journal of Geophysical
Research 104(B4): 7219–7228. fix x i21
Vermeer, P.A. 1982. A simple shear-band analysis using com- fix y j1
pliances. IUTAM Conference on Deformation and Failure fix y j21
of Granular Materials, Delft. 31Aug–3 Sept, 1982. ini sxx -5e6 syy -5e6 szz -5e6
step 4000
APPENDIX A: DATA FILE
save cb1.sav
plot hold vsi fill
new
step 1000
title
save cb2.sav
Oedometric test with DY model
plot hold vsi fill
config axi
g 20 20 step 2000
gen 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 save cb3.sav
mo dy plot hold cap_pressure fill
pro bu 1110e6 sh 555e6 cap_pressure 5e6 cptable 1 plot hold vsi fill
mul 10 plot hold sxx fill
pro den 1000 coh 1e10 ten 1e10 ret
33

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A new viscoplastic model for rocks: application to the Mine-by-test of

AECL-URL
F. Laigle
Electricité de France, Hydro Engineering Centre, France
ABSTRACT: A new viscoplastic constitutive model has been developed by EDF-CIH. Its aim is able to take
into account delayed behavior of rock materials in the framework of nuclear waste repository studies. In this
case, it’s important to predict the rock damage evolution in time in the neighboring storage tunnels. The main
assumptions of the constitutive model are presented in this paper. One application to the Mine-by-Test done by
the AECL in the Lac de Bonnet granite is shown. The low field strength of the granite in comparison with
laboratory measurements may be justified by the delayed behavior of this granite. Failure with v-shape notches
is well shown by the simulation. A prediction of the hydraulic permeability increasing around the tunnel versus
time is presented.
1 INTRODUCTION The Mine-by test has been done at the level – 420, in
an undamaged granite mass (Lac de Bonnet Granite).
In the framework of studies of underground nuclear This experiment consists of digging a gallery in well-
waste storage, it’s important to predict the evolution known conditions in a previously monitored part of
in time and at very long term of the ground surround- the rock mass. The major aim is to observe the behav-
ing the excavations. One objective of these studies ior of the granite during the excavation phase and at
is to assess the evolution of the EDZ (Excavation long-term.
Damage Zone) in the time. This EDZ is assumed to The direction of the gallery has been defined in
be the zone where rock is fractured and where the accordance with initial stresses in the ground. At this
permeability increasing is large. depth, the major compressive principal stress is more
In this aim, a viscoplastic constitutive model has or less horizontal, and is about 55 MPa. This stress
been developed by EDF and integrated in FLAC. This is 3.9 times the vertical stress corresponding at the
model will be briefly presented in the paper. weight of overburden. The intermediate principal
The application is about the Mine-by-Test done in stress is about 48 MPa.
the AECL-URL. The evolution in time of the failure
zone in the roof and invert of the gallery is well sim-
ulated. Assumptions of this model allow to assess the
damage zone (fissured rock) and the fractured zone
(continuous fissure) associated with a strong perme-
ability increasing.
2 THE MINE-BY TEST EXPERIMENT
The Underground Research Laboratory (URL) of

the Atomic Energy of Canada Laboratory (AECL) has
been dug in the framework of the Canadian nuclear
waste management program launched in the 70’s. This
underground laboratory is located in the state of
Manitoba. It’s composed of a main shaft of 443 m
depth, reaching two experimental levels excavated at
240 m depth and 420 m depth. Figure 1. Location and view of the URL.
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09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 36
Figure 2. Location of v-shaped notches in the Mine-by test Figure 3. Stress–strain curve for Lac de Bonnet granite.
tunnel.
Bonnet Granite, it seems that the cracking and

2.1 Observed and monitored behavior
existing damage is not enough to justify a suffi-
In these conditions, during digging process and after cient decrease in the strength.
that, a stress-induced fractured zone has been observed – A “structural effect” as suggested by Diederich
above the crown and below the floor of the gallery, (2002), taking into account some geometrical and
corresponding to a brittle failure mechanism generat- shape differences between laboratory and field
ing a classical v-shape notches. conditions.
Outside of these highly stressed zones, some Micro- – A softening effect due to the stress path generated
seismic events could be monitored (Cai et al. 2001) by the digging process. Some 3D simulations
but no major damage could be observed. (Eberhardt 2001) show that there is a stress rota-
tion forward the face heading which can induce
additional damage in rock not taken into account in
2.2 Laboratory tests
a 2D approach.
Some usual unconfined compressive tests have been – A progressive damage of the rock structure in time.
done by Read et al. (1998) on the Lac du Bonnet Some creep tests and UCS tests have been done by
granite. These tests provided following mechanical Schmidtke & Lajtai (1985) showing that this granite
characteristics (Fig. 3): presents an apparent “viscous” behavior. This phe-
nomenon corresponds to a decrease in the strength
– short term UCS strength: f 213 MPa
in accordance with the loading rate. So, Martin
– compressive stress corresponding to the volumetric
shows that the UCS can decrease 30% if the loading
strain reversal: cd 160 MPa
rate reduces from 0.75 MPa/s to 0.0075 MPa/s. At
– compressive stress corresponding to the initiation
this low loading rate, the measured strength is
of the crack growth: ci 90 MPa.
about 150 MPa. This does not seem enough to jus-
If we only consider the short term strength, it’s tify the field failure, however, we have to be con-
impossible to justify the appearance of the broken scious that field loading rates are much lower than
zone in highly compressive zones, considering initial those applied in laboratory conditions. The previ-
state of stresses. Martin shows if we want to find by ous strength measured at 0.0075 MPa/s is still not
simulation the occurring of the failure, it’s necessary representative of the in situ characteristic.
to consider a limit strength threshold around 100 MPa.
Some other observed phenomena on site suggest
So some reasons have to be found to explain this
that there is a significant time behavior of the ground.
strong decreasing of the strength in field in compari-
As we see on the Figure 2, the roof spalling failure
son with laboratory measurements. These explana-
appeared progressively during several months. Simi-
tions could be:
larly, some acoustic emissions have been registered
– The well-known “scale effect”. A decrease in several years after the digging of this gallery. Time
strength is generally observed with increasing behavior seems to be the major phenomenon, which
elementary size of rock. In the case of the Lac de can explain and justify the reduction of laboratory
36

09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 37
strength from 213 MPa to a field strength less than

100 MPa.
2.3 Definition of the in situ strength The elastoplastic strain component ensues from the
In the case of an undamaged rock like the Lac de following non-associated rule function:
Bonnet Granite, the apparent in situ strength under a
specific confinement state is function of the loading
rate. As this loading rate is much lower than these (3)
applied in laboratory conditions, it seems reasonable
to assume that the in situ strength could be assimi-
lated to the long term strength of the rock. From lab- The hardening of the elastoplastic mechanism is only
oratory tests, this “long term strength” could have negative. Some specific hardening laws were defined
several definitions: for each of the internal parameters m, s and a, allow-
– From Sangha et al. (1972), the long term strength ing to describe the evolution of the rock sample
corresponds to the volumetric strain reversal. strength from maximum peak value to the residual
Above this threshold, the crack growth is assumed state. The softening behavior domain reached after
to be “unstable”. This notion of “instability” seems the peak strength, is assumed to be divided in three
totally subjective because is related to the delay phases:
allowed by experimental testing in laboratory 1. The first phase of softening corresponds to a dete-
conditions. rioration of the rock’s cementation illustrated by
– From Morlier (1966) or Wiid (1970), the long term a progressive disappearance of the cohesion at the
strength of rocks is assumed to be correlated to the macroscopic scale. This first phase is associated
beginning of the crack initiation. Assuming that with an increasing of the dilatancy.
the time behavior of cohesive materials like rocks 2. The second phase corresponds to the shear of an
is associated with a crack growth, this definition induced fracture. It’ s associated with a decreasing
appears more physical. It’s in accordance with of the dilatancy at the macroscopic scale.
experimental results carried out by Schmidtke 3. Finally, the last domain corresponds to a purely
which show that the long term strength of the Lac frictional behavior, which defines the residual
de Bonnet granite could be estimated to 90 to strength. The shear occurs without any volumetric
100 MPa. This threshold corresponds to the crack strain.
initiation under unconfined conditions.
A viscoplastic version of the model has been devel-
oped after that. This version is based on the Perzyna’s
theory, which assumes that the viscoplastic strain
3 CONSTITUTIVE MODEL
rate is a function of the distance between the loading
point representative of the state of stresses and a yield
3.1 General principles
viscoplastic surface, in accordance with the following
A new constitutive model has been suggested by flow rule:
Laigle (2003) aiming at accurate simulation of the
rock behavior in the averaged and large strains
domain. A first version of the model has been initially
developed in the framework of the elastoplastic theory. (4)
In this case, the yield surface corresponds to a gener-
alized form of the Hoek-Brown criterion. Internal
parameters “m”, “a” and “s” change according to an O(F) is a flow function and F is the overstress func-
hardening variable p: tion. Their expressions are followings:
(5)
(1)
(2)
(6)
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09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 38
An important assumption is to assume that the hard- Figure 7 shows simulations of a triaxial test with
ening parameter rate p corresponds to the total irre- 10 MPa of confinement at several strain rates. In
versible strain as follows: accordance with the increasing of the strain rate, we
may observe both an increasing of the peak strength
(7) and a changing of the behavior. It appears that the
lower the rate, the more the rock behaves like a duc-
tile material.
and the global strain rate is the following:
1000
(8) 900
Deviatoric stress (MPa)

800 Initial elastoplastic loading surface
el is the elastic strain rate. 700
ep is the elastoplastic strain component. 600 Residual strength criterion

vp is the viscoplastic strain component.
500 Strength criterionfor a
-5
400 Strain rate of 10 /s
300
3.2 Identification of parameters 200
100 Viscoplastic yield surface
Three main sets of rheological parameters are needed 0
for the constitutive model: 0 20 40 60 80 100
Minimal principal stress (MPa)
1. Parameters describing the elastic reversible behav-
ior which is assumed to not be time dependent. Figure 4. Stress criteria held for the Lac de Bonnet granite.
2. Parameters affected to the elastoplastic instanta-
neous mechanism: Four variables c, mpeak, speak
300
and apeak are needed to describe the initial elasto- Simulation
plastic loading surface. This yield surface charac- 250
terizes the rock strength for a very large loading Experimental results
200
rate. An additional parameter defines the residual
UCS (MPa)
strength criterion. Some few additional parameters 150

describe the hardening kinetic of the loading
surface from its initial position to the residual state. 100
Another set of variables describes an intermediate 50
criterion corresponding to the stress threshold
when the apparent cohesion vanishes. 0
1,E-12 1,E-10 1,E-08 1,E-06 1,E-04 1,E-02 1,E+00
3. Parameters affected to the viscoplastic time -1
Strain rate (s )
dependent mechanism: Two parameters are needed
to describe the yield viscoplastic surface. This Figure 5. UCS vs. strain rate – comparison simulation–
yield corresponds to the damage criterion, which is experience.
the initiation of cracking and so of the dilatancy.
Up to now, in this constitutive model, it has been
1hour 1day 1month 1year
assumed to be a Tresca surface described by the 100
parameters c, m0, and s0. 90
80
Deviatoric stress level (%)
The kinetic of viscous behavior is adjusted by 2 70

Experimental results
parameters “n” and “A” intervening in the flow rule 60
(equation 5). These 2 parameters are identified using 50
Simulation
2 types of experimental results: 40
30
– Evolution of the strength in accordance with the
20
loading rate (Martin & Read 1992). Comparison of
10
these experimental results and simulations is
0
shown in Figure 5. 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000 1E+08 1E+09
– Evolution of the creep time to failure versus the Time to failure (s)
deviatoric creep level (Schmidtke & Lajtai 1985).
The adjustment of the theoretical curve is shown in Figure 6. Time to failure vs. deviatoric stress level –
Figure 6. comparison simulation–experience.
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09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 39
300 . Table 1. Definition of domains in accordance with the

ε =1.5.10-4/s
rock damage.
250
.
ε =1.5.10-5/s
200 .
ε. =1.5.10-6/s
ε =1.5.10-7/s
.
150 ε =1.5.10-8/s
.
ε =1.5.10-9/s
100
50
0
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5
Axial strain(%)
Figure 7. Simulation of triaxial tests at several strain rates

(confinement: 10 MPa).
3.3 Results interpretation

The formulation of the constitutive model and some
initial assumptions allow interpretation of computa-
tional results in accordance with physical criteria. For
example, it’s not always interesting and useful to
estimate accurately ground displacements induced by
a tunnel excavation in a hard rock. In this case, the
collapse mechanism is a brittle failure, which occurs
violently and rapidly without any significant advance
movements.
In the framework of studies for underground
nuclear waste repositories in hard rock masses, it
seems more accurate to interpret numerical simula-
tions using 2 kinds of results: of the dilatancy. As long as the rock stays only fis-
1. The physical state of the rock. sured, the dilatancy increases. As soon as the rock is
2. The evolution and increasing of the rock mass per- fractured, the dilatancy starts to decrease. It’s an
meability. important aspect because we assume that the evolu-
tion of the rock mass water permeability is a function
Depending on the hardening level, which is char-
of this irreversible volumetric strain, in accordance
acterized by the hardening variable p, it’s possible to
with the following equation:
estimate qualitatively the local damage of the rock
(see Table 1).
(9)
– If p 0, the rock is assumed to be intact.
– During the first phase of softening, as long as the
parameter s(p), so the cohesion, is not null, the where k is the current permeability, k0 is the ground’s
rock is assumed to be fissured. This cracking may initial permeability, pv is the volumetric plastic strain
be generated by a stress variation (activating of the induced by the load, and is an adjustment parameter
plastic mechanism) or/and the delayed behavior for the model.
(activating of the viscoplastic mechanism). Figure 8 shows the theoretical evolution of the
– As soon as the parameter s(p) becomes equal to zero, relative permeability in accordance with the deviatoric
it’s assumed that the cohesion at a macroscopic scale stress for a triaxial test under 10 MPa of confinement.
is null. Physically, this corresponds to the creation of The strain rate is assumed to be 1.5 105/s.
a continuous fracture crossing the elementary vol-
ume of rock. The global mechanical behavior is gov-
erned by the mechanical response of the fracture 4 SIMULATION OF THE GALLERY
under a shear loading. During the fracture slide, the
dilatancy will involve until a residual state is reached. The excavation of the gallery is simulated in two phases:
The main difference between these two last physical – Phase 1: Simulation of the short term behavior
configurations of the rock is the associated evolution during excavation phase using the elastoplastic
39

09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 40
version. The excavation is simulated by a progres- Two domains may be observed:

sive reducing of initial stresses existing on the
1. An intact zone rock: In this area, the stress level
gallery perimeter.
is enough low to be under the damage criterion.
– Phase 2: Simulation of the long term behavior of
No viscoplastic strains will appear in this domain
the gallery, using viscoplastic version of the consti-
without significant change of the stress diagram
tutive model. Initial state of stresses and hardening
around the tunnel.
parameters at the beginning of this phase are issued
2. A fissured rock zone: At the roof and under the
from the previous elastoplastic step. This long term
invert, one part of the rock mass is fissured. In this
analysis is continued until a stabilization of mechan-
domain, the state of stresses is sufficient to be
ical phenomena.
above the damage criterion. Some viscoplastic
strains may be created in time in these zones. With
the time, viscoplastic strains will appear in these
4.1 Damage of rock at short term
zones, generating a negative hardening of the peak
The Figure 9 shows the state of the rock around the criterion. If this hardening is sufficient, the rock
gallery at the end of the excavation process. will locally loose its cohesion. At this moment, it
could assume that a macroscopic induced fracture
has been created.
350
300 Simulation
4.2 Evolution of the damage in time

250
Experimental results Figures 10–13 show the increasing of a fractured
200
zone above and below the gallery in time. There is an
150 Strain rate: 1.5e-5/s
Confinement: 10MPa
100
Fractured rock
50
0
0,1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Relative permeability k/k0
Figure 8. Lac de Bonnet granite – evolution of the per-

meability during a triaxial test in the pre-peak domain
(confinement: 10 MPa). Tension zone
Fissured rock
2 months
Figure 10. Theoretical damage state of rock after 2 months.
Fractured rock
Fissured rock
Tension zone
Intact rock Fissured rock
2 years
Figure 9. Damage state of rock around Mine-by test tunnel

at the end of the excavation. Figure 11. Theoretical damage state of rock after 2 years.
40

09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 41
expansion of the fracturing in the vicinity of the the fracturing process over several years. From these
tunnel in time. This expansion is located in highly theoretical results, it’s only after several hundred
stressed zone. Table 2 presents the depth of the frac- years that this fracturing will stop.
tured zone at the crown versus time. From available information, it seems that the
In accordance with rheological parameters esti- expansion rate of the fractured zone is too slow and
mated before, the simulation shows an evolution of that this evolution has been more rapid (apparently,
few months). However, we have to precise that only
one simulation has been done using set of parameter
Fractured rock coming from an adjustment with few laboratory tests.
It could be now possible to do a back analysis and
to adjust some parameters like “n” and “A” which
govern the kinematic viscoplastic strains creation.
Despite this, after several years, when the stabilization
is reached, the shape of the fractured zone is similar to
these which has been observed on site (Fig. 14).
Tension zone Figure 15 shows the evolution of the parameter “s”
versus time. This variable represents the cohesion of
Fissured rock
4 years
Figure 12. Theoretical damage state of rock after 4 years.
Fractured rock
Tension zone
Fissured rock
10 years
Figure 14. Theoretical damage state of rock at long term.
Figure 13. Theoretical damage state of rock after 10 years.
1
0,9
Parameters ⇔ Damage indicator
0,8
Table 2. Depth of the fracture zone versus time.
0,7
Thickness of the 0,6

Time fractured zone in roof (cm) 0,5
0,4
2 months 15 0,3 Distance to the crown 71 cm
1 year 20
0,2
2 years 25
0,1 Distance to the crown 60 cm
4 years 35 50 cm
10 years 43 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
100 years 54
Years
500 years 65
1,000 years 65
10,000 years 65 Figure 15. Evolution of the damage indicator versus time
above the crown.
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09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 42
the rock. As long as it isn’t null, the rock is intact or 4.3 Evolution of the permeability in time
only fissured. So, this value is a damage indicator.
Damage of the rock results in a local increasing of the
According to rheological parameters retained, Figure 15
rock macroscopic hydraulic permeability. This increas-
show that the damage continues to involve during a
ing is in accordance with the suggested Equation (9).
long time. This is the case at a distance of 71 cm
Considering the parameter , which has been adjusted
above the crown. Even if the kinematic is not correct
on triaxial test results, this increasing could be about
in our simulations, the results are similar to monitor-
several order of magnitude in the fractured zone.
ing results. Several years after the end of excavation,
Figures 16–19 show increasing of the permeability
some acoustic emissions have still been registered
around the mine-by test tunnel.
while fracturing process is stopped.
20 days
2 ans
Log(k/k0) Log(k/k0)
Figure 16. Increasing of the hydraulic permeability after Figure 18. Increasing of the hydraulic permeability after
20 days. 2 years.
2 months 1000 years
Log(k/k0) Log(k/k0)
Figure 17. Increasing of the hydraulic permeability after Figure 19. Increasing of the hydraulic permeability after
2 months. 1000 years.
42

09069-05.qxd 08/11/2003 20:16 PM Page 43
k/k0=10 Considering there is little published information

about creep behavior of the Lac de Bonnet granite, a
Fractured zone simulation has been done using this model. It seems
k/k0=100
that this time behavior could justify the apparent low
field strength of the granite in comparison with the
laboratory strength. Only one computation has been
done and parameters of the model have not been
adjusted after this first simulation. However, even if
the kinetic seems too slow, this computation allows
us to find the observed failure mechanism in high
stressed zones, associated with an increase of
hydraulic permeability.
REFERENCES
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K. & Martin, C.D. 2001. Quantification

of rock mass damage in underground excavation from
Figure 20. Increasing of the hydraulic permeability at very microseismic event monitoring. Int. J. Rock Mech. &
long term. Min. Sci. 38, 1135–1145.
Diederichs, M.S. 2002. Stress induced damage accumula-
tion and implications for hard rock engineering. In
Hammah et al. (eds), NARMS-TAC 2002, 7–10 July 2002.
Figure 20 shows that the increasing of hydraulic University of Toronto press.
permeability is not only located in the fractured zone, Eberhardt, E, 2001. Numerical modelling of three-dimension
but also in the fissured zone. Possible permeability stress rotation ahead of an advancing tunnel face. Int. J.
changes in tension zones are not taken into account in Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 38, 499–518.
the presented approach. Laigle, F. 2003. Modélisation rhéologique des roches adap-
tée à la conception des ouvrages souterrains. Ph.D. Ecole
Centrale de Lyon, in prep.
Morlier, P. 1966. Le fluage des roches. Annales de l’institut
5 CONCLUSION technique du bâtiment et des travaux publics: 80–111.
Read, R.S., Chandler, N.A. & Dzik, E.J. 1998. In situ
Even in very hard rock like granites, a delayed behav- strength criteria for tunnel design in highly-stressed rock
ior could exist. This phenomenon could result in a masses. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 35, 261–278.
progressive damage of rock and delayed failure. Sangha, C.M. & Dhir, R.K. 1972. Influence of time on the
Several microscopic theories have been suggested to strength, deformation and fracture properties of a lower
physically justify this delayed behavior in cohesive Devonian sandstone. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 9,
343–354.
rocks. One explanation could be a “stress corrosion”
Schmidtke, R.H. & Lajtai, E.Z. 1985. The long-term strength
in high stressed zones around existing and induced of Lac du Bonnet Granite. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. &
cracks. The aim of the presented work here was to Geomech. Abstr. Vol. 22, N°6, 461–465.
suggest a macroscopic and phenomenological model Wiid, B.L. 1970. The influence of moisture on the pre-
taken into account this behavior. This model has been rupture fracturing of two rock types. Proc. 2nd Cong. Int.
integrated in EDF’s local version of FLAC. Soc. Rock Mech., Belgrade. 239–245.
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Prediction of deformations induced by tunneling using a

time-dependent model
A. Purwodihardjo & B. Cambou

Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France
ABSTRACT: Since the past 30 years, the research for estimating an accurate prediction of deformations
induced by tunneling has been a major engineering challenge all around the world. The in situ measurements
have shown that deformations of the soil on the vicinity of a tunnel show a strong evolution with time. Three
essential phenomena, actually, can be related to this evolution: the evolution with time of the distance to the
working face, the distance of the lining to the working face and the viscous effects occurring in the soil.
The objective of this paper is to propose a procedure for predicting the deformations induced by tunneling,
by taking into account these three essential phenomena, particularly the third phenomenon. Therefore, in this
study, a constitutive model for the time-dependent behavior of cohesive soil has been developed within the
framework of elastoplasticity–viscoplasticity and critical state soil mechanics. The consideration of viscoplas-
tic characteristic sets the current model apart from the CJS model, and introduces an additional viscous mech-
anism. The evolution of the viscous yield surface is governed by a particular hardening called “viscous
hardening” with a bounding surface.
To describe this procedure and the capability of the model, a comparison between numerical calculations and
monitoring the progressive closure of tunnel conducted in the TGV tunnel of Tartaiguille, is performed. The
finite difference software, Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC), has been used for the numerical sim-
ulation of the problems. The comparison results show that the observed deformations could have been reason-
ably predicted by using the proposed excavation model.
1 INTRODUCTION been developed in the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, to ana-

lyze the influence of these essential phenomena in the
The behavior of a tunnel is greatly influenced by the prediction of deformations induced by tunneling by
characteristics of the soils and the tunneling procedure. using numerical methods. This model is within the
They will give a strong influence to the initial and long framework of elastoplasticity–viscoplasticity from
term deformations on the vicinity of a tunnel and on the the basic elastoplastic model (CJS model) including
ground surface, particularly when the ground traversed an additional viscous mechanism.
by tunnels has poor geotechnical characteristics: little
or no cohesion, medium-high deformability and high
viscosity. In this area, more considerations should be 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL
taken because deformations of the soil on the ground
surface and on the vicinity of a tunnel show generally a The CJS model is a constitutive model with different
strong evolution with time. This evolution is essentially hierarchical levels which has been developed 16 years
related to three phenomena, i.e. the evolution with time ago in the Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Cambou & Jafari
to the distance from the working face (the advance rate 1987, Maleki 1998). This model is based on nonlinear
of tunneling), the distance of the lining to the working elasticity and two mechanisms of plasticity. It also
face and the viscous effects occurring in the soil. takes into account the dependency on density of geo-
To predict the deformations induced by tunneling materials through the critical state. The rate of the
by considering these three phenomena, a better under- strain tensor can be decomposed into an elastic part
standing of these influences and proper considerations and a plastic part. The plastic deformations consist of
of their effects on the support design and installation an isotropic and a deviatoric mechanism. Figure 1
are required. Therefore a time-dependent model has shows the two plastic mechanisms in the CJS model.
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The yield surface’s evolution is defined by an

isotropic hardening mechanism depending on a scalar
variable Q and Tr is a parameter of the model to take
into account the cohesion. The hardening rule has the
form:
(5)
The isotropic flow rule is described as:
(6)
Figure 1. Plastic deviatoric mechanism and plastic
isotropic mechanism in CJS.
Kp is the plastic bulk modulus and n is a parameter of

The total strain of the model is decomposed in four the model which can be determined by experimental
parts: test. i is a plastic multiplication for the isotropic
plastic mechanism.
(1)
2.1.3 Deviatoric plastic mechanism
The first part is an elastic mechanism, the second part In the deviatoric plastic mechanism, for the sake of
is an isotropic plastic mechanism, the third part is a simplicity no kinematic hardening but only isotropic
deviatoric plastic mechanism and the last part is con- hardening is taken into account (CJS level 2). The
cerned with an added viscous mechanism. yield surface can be written as:
2.1 Brief description of the basic elastoplastic (7)

model of CJS
2.1.1 Elastic mechanism
The elastic law is given by the following incremental
nonlinear relation:
where is a parameter of the model and Tr is a param-

(2) eter of the model to take into account the cohesion.
The evolution of the yield surface is characterized
where I1 and S are the first invariant and the devia- by the evolution of R with the internal variable p. The
toric part of stress tensor while K and G are the bulk relationship between R and p is written as:
and shear modulus, respectively, which depend on the
stress state through a power law: (8)
(3) where Rm is a parameter that corresponds to a radius

of the rupture surface and A is a parameter of the
model. The evolution of p is defined by:
K oe , Go and n are parameters while Pa is a reference
pressure which equals to 100 kPa.
(9)
2.1.2 Isotropic plastic mechanism
The yield surface associated to this mechanism is a
plane perpendicular to the hydrostatic axis. The yield The deviatoric flow rule is given by:
surface is given by:
(4) (10)
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where d is a plastic multiplication for the deviatoric S11

plastic mechanism. The deviatoric potential function
(gd) used in relation (10) corresponds to a non-associ- rupture surface (Rm)
ated plastic mechanism. Tensor nij is a symmetrical
characteristic
tensor so that tr(n2) 1 and is a tangential tensor to surface (Rc)
the surface corresponding to the potential function. It
is defined by: yield surface (R)
(11) S22 S33
Figure 2. Different surfaces in the deviatoric mechanism

of the CJS model.
c
where SII represents the second invariant of the devia- SII
toric part of stress in the characteristic state and is a
parameter of the model. The characteristic surface is
defined by:
(12)
where Rc represents the radius of the characteristic e°II e IIf eII

surface. Figure 2. shows the deviatoric mechanism in
the CJS. Figure 3. Strain softening behavior in the CJS model.
2.1.4 Critical state

Two important phenomena can be noted from the
2.1.5 Strain softening model
drained triaxial tests:
The CJS model takes into account the strain softening
– an increase of the peak resistance with the initial behavior of the soil which depends on the accumu-
density of material lated deviatoric strain. This model is made up of three
– the material tends to the state called the critical state portions, an elastoplastic portion up to the peak
characterized by a null volume variation and a ratio strength, a softening portion in which the strength (Rc
q/p constant independent to the initial density. and Tr) reduces from the peak to residual, and finally,
a constant residual strength portion. Figure 3 shows
To take into account these phenomena and be
the strain softening behavior in the CJS model.
inspired by the formulation developed by the
Cambridge University (Roscoe et al. 1968), in this
model, the radius of rupture surface varies as a func- 2.2 Viscous hardening with a bounding surface
tion of the mean effective stress and the density of
The viscous effect of the soil is connected with an
material. For simplifying the problem, we take the
internal characteristic. This internal characteristic is
critical state similar to the characteristic state. Hence,
represented by a creep surface which is bounded by a
the evolution of rupture surface is defined by:
(current) state of stress surface defined by Equation
20. It means that the creep surface can evolve but the
(13) evolution is limited by the state of stress surface. So
we call this function as a viscous hardening with a
bounding surface, where the bounding surface in this
where is a parameter of the model, and pc is a criti- case is the state of stress surface. Meanwhile, the evo-
cal pressure which is defined by: lution of state of stress surface is limited by the yield
surface (elastoplastic concept). The evolution of the
(14) yield surface is limited by the rupture surface. Figure 4
shows an illustration of viscous evolution concept
where c is a parameter of the model, pco is a critical with a bounding surface.
pressure corresponding to the initial density and v is The basic formulation for this viscous mechanism
an accumulated volume strain. is inspired by the overstress model of Perzyna (1966).
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S11 reduced as a passing point between the primary creep

and the tertiary creep. This idea has been selected for
rupture surface (Rm) the sake of simplicity in the measurement of the dis-
yield surface (R) tance in the stress space. This function is defined by:
state of stress
artificial state of stress
surface (Re) (17)
creep surface
where Rv corresponds to the radius of the creep sur-
S22 S33 face. The power m in relation (16) is defined as:
Figure 4. Illustration of viscous evolution concept with a (18)

bounding surface.
where m1 and m2 are parameters of the model.
To keep on near to the framework of elastoplasticity is Lade (1998) has shown in his laboratory test
the reason of the use of this formulation. The idea is, results that the potential plastic surfaces for the elasto-
then, starting from the general framework of elasto- viscoplastic and the elastoplastic are homothetic.
plasticity and introducing the viscosity of material Based on this idea, it means that the direction of the
and the retardation function. plastic strain in the elastoplastic is similar to the vis-
Many authors, (Katona 1984, Adachi 1982, coplastic one. Thus, the direction of viscoplastic
Sekiguchi 1984, etc.), have employed this formula- strain is defined as:
tion, and they have shown that this model is incapable
to introduce the acceleration deformation phenome- (19)
non in the case of tertiary creep. Therefore the ambi-
tion of the proposed model is to take into account the
tertiary creep. where f e is the artificial state of stress surface which
Thus, three important terms have to be defined in is homothetic to the yield surface for the deviatoric
the framework of this model. The first one is the vis- mechanism. It is defined by:
cosity of the material, the second one is the function
of retardation and the last one is the direction of the (20)
viscoplastic strain. The function is as follows:
The rupture surface is defined by:
(15)
(21)
The creep surface is defined by:

where 1/ is the viscosity of the material, (v/r) is
the function of retardation and Gijvd is the direction of (22)
the viscoplastic strain.
The viscosity of the material in this model is a The evolution of the creep surface is given by:
function of the distance of the state of stress surface
(Re) to the rupture surface (Rm). This function is
defined by:
(23)
(16)
Av is a parameter of the model and eIIvd is an accu-

where 0 is a parameter of the model, Re is the radius mulated deviatoric viscoplastic strain, which is
of the current state of stress surface, Rm is the radius of defined by:
the rupture surface and k is a parameter of the model.
The function of retardation, (v/r), is inspired by
(24)
the bounding surface theory (Kaliakin & Dafalias
1990). This function will drive the evolution of the
three types of creep. The secondary creep will be where eII is the deviatoric viscoplastic strain rate.
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2.3 Parameter identification

The identification of elastoplastic mechanism param-
eters can be determined by using classical laboratory
tests. The procedure for calibrating the model param-
eters is briefly defined by Maleki (1998). Drained or
undrained creep tests with different levels of stresses
have to be achieved, for identifying the viscoplastic
mechanism parameters.
3 CALCULATIONS
3.1 Presentation of the case studied

The tunnel of Tartaiguille is located on the new
Méditerranée high-speed line between Valence and
Montélimar (France). All these structures are double Figure 5. Dimensions of tunnel and the measurement
track single tube, allowing a speed of 300 km/h. It position.
crosses fractured limestones on the north sides, stiff
marls and sandstones in the south and stampian clays
in the central parts.
Convergence measurement devices had been
installed by CETU (Centre d’Etudes des Tunnel) dur-
ing construction processes in this tunnel. PM 1168
has been selected as the simulation data in the defor-
mation analysis. From the cross section of the tunnel,
we can see that the support of the tunnel is a shotcrete
(thickness 300 mm) and a steel frame every 1.5 m.
Five samples of soil blocks have been obtained and
these blocks have been studied in detail by Serratrice
(1999) (Laboratoire Regional des Ponts et Chaussées
d’Aix en Provence). From the five samples of soil
blocks, three layers of soil can be concluded at that
section. The upper one is the black marl, the middle
one is the calcareous marl and the lower one is the
grey marl. The soil characteristics for the black marl
and the grey marl are almost similar, on the other Figure 6. Soil stratigraphy at section PM 1168 (Lunardi
hand the soil characteristics of the calcareous marl is 2000).
significantly different. The calcareous marl is stiffer
than the black marl and the grey marl. For the sake of
the elastoplastic and viscoplastic behavior of the soils
simplicity, only two types of soil will be considered,
quite satisfactory.
for the upper one and the lower one, we will use the
same parameters of soil.
3.3 Plane strain calculations
Figure 5 shows the dimensions of the tunnel and
Figure 6 shows the soil stratigraphy at section PM 1168. The convergence curves of the unsupported tunnel
are derived by using virtual support pressures in plane
strain calculations (Panet et al. 1982, AFTES 2002).
3.2 Model parameters
Two types of calculation have been achieved. The
Elastoplastic and viscoplastic model parameters iden- first one is by using the circular shape of tunnel with
tified in this analysis can be seen in Table 1. Figure 7 R 7.65 m, Ko 1.0, only used one soil layer (black
shows the simulation results of triaxial tests by using and grey marl parameters) and the second one is by
elastoplastic soil parameters. Figure 8 shows the sim- using the actual shape of the tunnel, the actual value
ulation results of creep tests by using elastovisco- of Ko 1.2 and the actual soil layers. The objective of
plastic soil parameters. this calculation is to get the result comparison
It can be seen from Figures 7 & 8 that the simula- between those two shapes for the reason that the cal-
tion results are closely match to the experimental culation taking into account the distance from the
results. It means that this model can take into account working face and the progressing of the tunneling
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Table 1. Parameters of the model.
Parameter Black and grey marl Calcareous marl
Density (kN/m3) 22.15 24.34

Elastoplastic parameters
Go (MPa) 27 96.15
K oe (GPa) 139 208.33
Rm 0.103 0.2661
0.3616 0.7852
Rc pic(Rc res 0.0784 0.213
A (kPa1) 2 25
n 0.7 0.6
p
K o (MPa) 139 208.33
c 60 75
0.033 0.05
pco (MPa) 17 40
0.005 0.38
Tr pic (MPa) 11.825 8.768
Tr res (MPa) 7.112 5.273
e°II 0.02 0.02
ef 0.065 0.065
II
Viscoplastic parameters
Av 125 450
0 108 106.69
k 6.0 30.673
m1 0.3 0.4083
m2 0.0 8.0214
Figure 8. Simulation results of drained creep tests.
On the other hand, in the second calculation, the two

type parameters of soil have been employed. The
overburden pressure height is 100 m from the crown
of the tunnel and the ground water table is 6.6 m from
the ground level.
3.4 Axisymmetric calculation

This computation is performed by using the sequen-
tial excavation method (SEM) in the axisymmetric
condition. Distance to the working face is defined by d
and the advance rate of the excavation is defined by p.
Figure 12 shows the geometry of the tunnel in the
axisymmetric calculation and Figure 13 shows the
mesh used in the axisymmetric calculation.
Figure 7. Simulation results of triaxial tests. Figures 9 and 10 show the mesh used in the plane
strain calculations and Figure 11 shows the compari-
will be performed using an axisymmetric calculation son results of the convergence analysis between the
(see section 3.4). The result comparison obtained in two shapes. From that figure, the ratio between the
the plane strain calculation allows the results obtained actual shape and the circular shape can be deter-
in the axisymmetric condition to be transformed to mined, and we get the ratio of convergence (RT) at
take into account the actual conditions of the tunnel position F-G equal to 0.885. This ratio will be used
section. This approximation has been taken because for adjusting the axisymmetric calculations, since in
those two shapes are almost similar and the calcare- the axisymmetric calculations, we can only use the
ous marl is not dominant. circular shape, Ko 1.0 and one layer of the soil.
In the first calculation, a quarter of tunnel geome- The lining support in this tunnel is a combination
try has been modeled, and for the soil parameters, the of shotcrete ring and steel frame. So for simplifying
black and grey marl parameters have been employed. the analysis, the equivalent stiffness of the lining of
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Figure 11. Comparison of convergence analysis.
Figure 9. Mesh used in the circular shape.
Figure 12. Geometry of the tunnel in the axisymmetric

calculation.
In this calculation, the black and grey marl param-

eters have been used because they are more dominant
than the calcareous marl in the soil stratigraphy. For
Figure 10. Mesh used in the actual shape. the SEM analysis, we use d 1.5 m and p 1.5 m
(the advance length of tunneling).
The convergence of the tunnel is determined by:
the combined lining support has been used. The elas-
(26)
tic model is used for this lining.
For modeling the ground anchor on the working
face, the equivalent pressure on the working face has where U(x) is the deformation of the tunnel as a func-
been used (Peila 1994). This pressure is determined by: tion of the distance from the working face, U(o) is the
deformation of the tunnel on the working face and RT
is the shape ratio of the tunnel.
(25) In the first simulation, the influence of the advance
rate of the tunneling is illustrated. Three types of the
advance rate are used, i.e. 1.5 m per 0.5 day, 1.5 m per
where n is the number of the anchor, Tb is the tensile 1.0 day and 1.5 m per 2.0 day. The elastoplastic calcu-
strength of the anchor, Sb is the shear strength of lation is used to represent the infinite advance rate
the anchor, and S is the working surface area. In this of tunneling. The tunneling simulation results can be
tunnel, 120 fiberglass anchors with 800 kN tensile seen in Figure 14.
strength have been installed on the working face to From that figure, we can see that the convergence
stabilize the working face. of the tunnel can be reduced by increasing the
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Figure 13. Mesh used in the axisymmetric calculation.
Figure 15. Convergences of the tunnel as a function of the

distance from the working face.
also in the case of viscous materials, a time-dependent

model is very essential.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of deformations due to tunneling using the

elastoplastic–viscoplastic constitutive model has been
performed in this study.
Figure 14. Tunneling simulation results in elastoplastic– It has been demonstrated that the influence of vis-
viscoplastic calculation. cous effects cannot be neglected in the soil which has
been analyzed. It means that the role of the time-
dependent model in this case is very important and a
advance rate of tunneling. Actually, in this case, we necessity. The influence of viscous effects can be
prevent the evolution of the creep deformation. If we reduced by increasing the advanced rate of tunneling
only use the elastoplastic constitutive model, we can- but an attention to the lining should be taken because
not illustrate this phenomenon. The total elastovis- the load transfer to the lining will be higher. This
coplastic deformation of the tunnel could be two or becomes significant when there is a large distance
three times bigger than the elastoplastic deformation. between the installation point of the lining and the
In the second simulation, the actual advance rate of working face, and could induce plastic deformation
tunneling at section PM 1168 is used. The sequences around the tunnel.
of the actual excavation are as follows: The calculation procedure proposed has provided an
effective approach for analyzing the ground-structure
1. Excavating the upper section with the advance
interaction situation and offers a systematic way of
rate: 1.5 m per 0.5 day until 6 m.
optimizing lining design. This kind of calculation can
2. Stopping for one day (to represent the excavation
be improved by using a complete 3D approach.
of the lower section).
However, this is a rather difficult calculation and the
3. Continuing the excavation of the upper section
computation time will be long. In practice, the 2D and
with the advance rate: 1.5 m per 0.5 day until 6 m.
the axisymmetric analysis can be successfully used to
4. Stopping for three days (to represent the excava-
develop a pragmatic solution.
tion of the lower section and the installation time
The constitutive model, which has been presented,
of the anchors on the working face).
is quite satisfactory to model the elastoplastic–
5. Continuing the four sequences above.
viscoplastic behavior of the soils. The parameters of
The measurements at position F-G (see Figure 5) the model can be identified by using the classical lab-
are started after 6 m from the working face. Figure 15 oratory tests such as, triaxial tests and creep tests.
shows the comparison results between the calcula-
tions and the measurements started from the first
measurement (6 m from the working face). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
From those figures we can see that the model pro-
posed can model acceptably the viscous behavior of The authors gratefully acknowledge the information on
the soil in the tunneling. It has been demonstrated the geotechnical data and the convergence data provided
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by Mr. Alain Robert and Mr. Adrien Saïtta from Lunardi, P. 2000. The design and construction of tunnels
CETU (Centre d’Etudes des Tunnel), Lyon, France. using the approach based on the analysis of controlled
deformation in rocks and soils, ADECO-RS.
Maleki, M. 1998. Modélisation hiérarchisée du com-
portement des sols, Phd. Thesis, École Centrale de Lyon.
REFERENCES Panet, M. & Guenot, A. 1982. Analysis of convergence
behind the face of a tunnel, Tunneling’ 82: 197–204.
Adachi, T. & Oka, F. 1982. Constitutive equations for nor- Peila, D. 1994. A theoretical study of reinforcement influ-
mally consolidated clays based on elasto-viscoplasticity, ence on the stability of a tunnel face, Geotechnical and
Soils and foundations, Vol. 22, No. 4: 57–70. Geological Engineering, 12.
AFTES. 2002. La méthode convergence-confinement, Perzyna, P. 1966. Fundamental Problems in viscoplasticity.
Tunnels et ouvrages souterrains, No 170: 79–89. Advances in Applied Mechanics, Vol. 9: 243–377.
Cambou, B. & Jafari, K. 1987. A constitutive model for gran- Roscoe, K. H. & Burland, J. B. 1968. On the Generalised
ular materials based on two plasticity mechanisms. Stress-Strain Behavior of ‘Wet Clay’, Engineering
Constitutive equations for granular non-cohesive soils, Plasticity, J. Heyman and F. A. Leckie (Eds). Cambridge:
Saada & Bianchini (Eds), Balkema, Rotterdam: 149–167. Cambridge University Press: 535–609.
Kaliakin, N. & Dafalias, F. 1990. Theoretical aspects of the Sekiguchi, H. 1984. Theory of undrained creep rupture
elastoplastic-viscoplastic Bounding surface model for of normally consolidated clays based on elasto-
cohesive soils, Soils and foundations, Vol. 30, No. 3: 11–24. viscoplasticity, Soils and foundations, Vol. 24, No. 1:
Katona, M. G. 1985. Evaluation of viscoplastic cap model, 129–147.
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 110, No. 8: Serratrice, J.F. 1999. Tunnel de Tartaiguille (Drôme) TGV
1107–1125. Méditerranée, Essais de laboratoire sur la marne, LRPC
Lade, P. V. 1998. Experimental Study of Drained Creep d’Aix en Provence.
Behavior of Sand, Journal of Engineering Mechanics,
Vol. 124, No. 8, August: 912–920.
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Modeling of anhydrite swelling with FLAC
J.M. Rodríguez-Ortiz
Gamma Geotécnica SL, Madrid, Spain
P. Varona & P. Velasco

Itasca Consultores SL, Asturias, Spain
ABSTRACT: Anhydrite and rocks containing argillaceous minerals experience swelling phenomena when
they come into contact with water. In tunneling, this can lead to a strong heave of the floor and to a high level
of stresses in the lining. Although characterization of swelling potential, monitoring of swelling process, and a lot
of relevant case histories of tunnel construction in swelling rocks are currently available, the design of the support
in swelling rocks usually do not consider an accurate stress–strain relationship for the swelling. Current trend
in tunneling design considers numerical modeling of the rock-support interaction, but the available geotechni-
cal codes do not include the swelling formulation. This paper presents the implementation in FLAC (via FISH
routines) of the analytical stress–strain formulation for the swelling presented by Wittke (1999) and the valida-
tion of this algorithm against the swelling tests carried out by different authors and presented by Wittke (1999).
1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ANHYDRITE created at the surface of the grains inhibits the water
SWELLING PHENOMENA penetration stopping the process. In the case of inter-
bedded anhydrite-mudstone the swelling process
1.1 Chemical description leads into the disintegration of the rock, reducing its
strength. Steiner (1993) quantifies this reduction of
Calcium sulphate appears naturally as two different
strength with an angle of friction of 20°.
minerals: gypsum (CaSO4.H2O), in which water
appears within the crystalline structure, and anhydrite 1.2 Characterization of the swelling behavior
(CaSO4). The hydration of anhydrite is a complex
process that depends on the pressure and the temper- The International Society of Rock Mechanics has pro-
ature. For ambient conditions the chemical reaction is posed a set of tests to quantify the swelling of argilla-
illustrated in Table 1. ceous rocks: the Maximum Axial Swelling Stress test,
With an external inflow of water, the volumetric the Axial and Radial Free Swelling Strain test, and the
increment associated to this process is presented in Axial Swelling Law test (axial swelling stress as a
Equation 1: function of axial swelling strain, or Huder-Amberg
swelling test).
(1) An illustration of the results from the Huder-
Amberg swelling test (total vertical strain of the sample,
z in %, versus vertical load, z in kPa) is presented in
Transformation of anhydrite into gypsum can be Figure 1, taken from Wittke (1999). Stages 1, 2 and 3
inhibited at 20°C with a pressure of 1.6 MPa; this pro correspond to the initial loading phase with 2 load
cess is reversible, being necessary a pressure of 80 MPa cycles; stage 4 corresponds to the watering of the
at 58°C to transform gypsum into anhydrite. sample (no stress increment but strain increment),
Previous data refer to pure anhydrite, but in case of and finally stage 5 corresponds to the different points
interbedded mudstone-anhydrite the maximum swelling of the unload-swelling process. The swelling strain
volume is lower but the swelling stress is larger (in the equals the total strain (stage 5 of the test) minus the
order of 2 to 5 MPa). elastic strain (stages 2 and 3 of the test).
In the case of pure anhydrite, as the hydration pro If the strain due to swelling is plotted against
cess begins, the thin layer of impervious gypsum the stress in a semi-logarithmic scale (Figure 2) a
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Table 1. Transformation of anhydrite into gypsum. swelling process); Kq swelling deformation parame-
ter; z axial effective stress; and 0 axial swell-
Anhydrite water Gypsum
ing stress (as showed in Figure 2, it is intersection of
Equation CaSO4 H2O CaSO4.2H2O the straight line with qz 0).
Mass (gr) 136.14 36 172.14
Density (gr/cm3) 2.96 1 2.32
Volume (cm3) 46.2 36 74.3 2 ANHYDRITE SWELLING LAW
The following description of swelling law is taken from

Wittke (1999), and starts from the axial stress–strain
relationship previously presented (Equation 2). The
swelling law only applies for compressive effective
stresses, where c (Figure 2) is a minimum stress rep-
resenting the lower limit of validity of the swelling law.
As the swelling strain equals to zero for compressive
stresses larger than the swelling stress, the swelling law
can be finally formulated as Equation 3:
(3)
where qi final axial strain due to swelling in the

direction i; Kq swelling deformation parameter;
i axial stress in the direction i; 0 axial
swelling stress; and c minimum limit for the axial
Figure 1. Swelling test of an interbedded anhydrite- stress.
mudstone sample (Wittke 1984, in Wittke 1999). Equation 3 represents the 3D (i 1,2,3, means
the 3 directions in the space) isotropic (the same Kq
parameter is considered for the 3 directions) swelling
law, where the final axial strain is reached at the end
of the swelling process.
This swelling law considers that the principal
directions of swelling qi (i 1,2,3) are coaxial with
the principal stresses i (i 1,2,3), and therefore the
value of the swelling principal strain depends only on
the value of its coaxial principal stress.
Previous relations refer to the strain reached at
the end of the swelling process. Furthermore, for the
kinetics of the process Wittke (1999) presents the fol-
lowing Equation 4 for the swelling strain rates at time t:
(4)
Figure 2. Axial swelling law (Grob 1972, in Wittke 1999).
where q swelling time parameter; qi principal

straight line is obtained which may be described by swelling strains for t ; and qi(t) principal
the relationship presented in Equation 2. swelling strains which already occurred until time t.
According to Wittke (1999), the time dependence
of swelling is adequately described by Equation 4 as
(2) long as the strength of rock is not exceeded. The plas-
tic deformations occurring if the rock strength is
exceeded lead to a volume increase and to an increase
where qz final axial strain due to swelling (final of permeability that accelerates the penetration of
deformation means deformation at the end of the water, increasing the swelling strain rate.
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To consider this effect in the formulation, Wittke t=0

(1999) includes the following relationship for the
swelling time parameter q, Equation 5: σi=1,2 = f(σxx ,σyy ,τxy,θ) Principal
σ3 = σZZ stresses
(5)
t< T_fin
where a0, ael, avp constant values. The parameter a0
represents the dependence of the swelling velocity on
the anhydrite content, regardless of whether a strain εqi` = Kq log  σi  Swelling strains
 σ0 
Associated stress
occurred before or not; elv is the elastic volumetric
increment
strain occurred prior to the beginning of swelling that ∆σi = f(εqi` ;λ,G)
also influence the permeability; plv is the volumetric
plastic strain; and maxEVP represents an upper limit
1
of the plastic volume strain with regard to an eventual =a +a . εelv +a . min{εplv , maxEVP} Swelling time
acceleration of swelling. According to Wittke (1999), ηq 0 el vp
parameter
plastic volumetric strains larger than maxEVP do not
lead to a further increase of the swelling velocity
10%. σi
because the penetration of water into the rockmass
cannot be further accelerated by these.
∆t = ηq . min
i=1,2,3 { {∆σi Minimum
timestep
Following Equation 5 the swelling time parameter ∆t = min{∆t}
min
is no longer constant but dependent on time as elastic –

plastic volumetric strains varies during the swelling
σi = σi + ∆σi ∆tη
min
process.
q
“Injection” of a
σxx ,σyy , τxy = f(σi=1,2,θ) fraction of the
3 FINITE DIFFERENCES CALCULATION stress increment
ALGORITHM σzz = σ3
The swelling law presented in previous paragraphs Solve to
has been implemented in FLAC, coupling the swelling Mechanical equilibrium mechanical
phenomena with the built-in elastic–plastic constitu- equilibrium
tive relationships via FISH routines. The principal
concept of this algorithm is that the volumetric strain is t = t + ∆t min
Accumulation of
ε = ε + (ε − εiq) ∆t
min
q q q swelling time and
reached in the zones of the model introducing of i i ηq i`
swelling strains
small increments of isotropic stress within them,
Noorany et al. (1999).
The sketch of the algorithm is to calculate the final END
swelling strain tensor for all the zones of the model,
transform the strains into an increment of stresses, Figure 3. Flowchart of the calculation algorithm.
and then “inject” the stresses in small increments into
the zones. The flowchart of the calculation algorithm
is presented in Figure 3, and can be resumed in the – Solve to mechanical equilibrium of the current
following points: timestep.
– Accumulation of swelling strains and time.
– Determination of the principal effective stresses.
– Repetition of the algorithm until the expected age
1 and 2 are principal stresses in the calculation
of the simulation is reached.
plane, and 3 is the out-of-plane stress.
– Determination of the swelling principal strains After initiation of swelling time to zero, the princi-
and of the stress increments associated with these pal stress tensor for all the elements is calculated
strains. from the current stress state. As the routine has been
– Determination of the swelling time parameter. implemented in a 2D model, the out-of-plane stress,
– Determination of the minimum timestep necessary zz in FLAC, is a principal stress (3 in the formula-
for numerical convergence of the algorithm and tion) but not strictly the minor principal stress.
to synchronize the swelling rate of all the elements Then, a loop is performed until the swelling time
in the model. reaches the expected simulation age. Within this loop,
– “Injection” of a fraction of the stress increment the strain tensor due to complete swelling is calcu-
associated to the swelling strain. lated according to Equation 3. The stress increments
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09069-07.qxd 08/11/2003 20:43 PM Page 58
associated to these strains are calculated with the fol- To determine a value of t small enough, only a
lowing lineal elastic relationship, Equation 6: fraction of the stress increment associated to the
remaining swelling strain should be “injected” in the
elements of the model.
A criterion of a maximum of 1% of the current
(6) stress state has been adopted to determine de frac-
tion of i to “inject”. The minimum fraction obtained
from the 3 principal directions in each element is
adopted. These relationships are illustrated in
where and G are constants known as Lamé’s Equation 11 for every element in the model.
parameters ( K
2/3G; K is the bulk modulus and
G is the shear modulus).
Previously to the calculation of the swelling time
parameter the plastic component of the volumetric (11)
strain has to be determined.
The total volumetric strain, addressed in FLAC with
a FISH variable, is the sum of the following compo-
nents, Equation 7:
where ri fraction of the stress increment i;
(7) i stress state; and r minimum fraction of the
3 principal directions.
From Equations 6 and 11 the fraction r of the stress
where totv total volumetric strain; v elastic vol-
el0
increment that are going to be “injected” in the ele-
umetric strain produced in the model previous to any ments of the model can be expressed with the follow-
calculation; elv elastic volumetric strain produced ing Equation 12:
during the calculation; it can be calculated as
vel (1 2 3)/(3 K), being K the bulk modulus;
qv swelling volumetric strain accumulated during (12)
calculation, qv q1 q2 q3; therefore, the plastic
volumetric strain, plv, can be calculated with the fol-
lowing Equation 8: and therefore, the timestep for each element can be
obtained as, Equation 13,
(8)
The swelling strain does not occur instantaneously (13)

but following the kinetics formulated with Equation 4.
Expressing this differential equation in finite differ-
ences we obtain the following Equation 9: It is necessary to synchronize the rate of swelling
for all the elements of the model adopting the same
timestep for all; the minimum timestep of all the
(9) elements is the searched,
(14)
and therefore,
The “injection” of stresses associated to the swel
(10) ling behavior can be expressed with the following
Equation 15,
As in all finite difference algorithm schemes, this

equation applies only for values of t that are signifi- (15)
cantly low. This means that the swelling strain at time
t that still remains to produce, [qi(t) – qi(t)] cannot
be induced in the model instantaneously because the that gives, the relationship between the current stress
model would degenerate. Thus, the next phase is to state – i(t), the total increment of stresses due to
determine a critical value of t to use in the finite swelling – i, the minimum timestep – tmin, and
difference scheme. the swelling time parameter – q.
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These stress increments have to be transformed from

the principal axes reference to the coordinated axes ref-
erence, assuming that the principal stresses have not
rotated during the swelling processes, and the angle
between the principal stresses and the horizontal
remains the same.
Finally, once the mechanical equilibrium has
been reached for this fraction of stresses injected into
the elements of the model, it is necessary to actualize
the accumulated swelling strain of each element of the
model, Equation 16:
(16)
and for the swelling time, Equation 17.
(17)
This procedure is repeated until the accumulated Figure 4. Swelling pressure test (in Wittke 1999).
swelling time reaches the expected age of the swelling
simulation.
500
400
4 VALIDATION OF THE ALGORITHM
␴ (kN/m )
2
300
The algorithm introduced in previous paragraphs has
been implemented in FLAC via FISH routines. Now, 200
the validation of this algorithm against the swelling
tests presented in Wittke (1999) is presented. 100
4.1 Swelling pressure test 0

0 5 10 15
The first validation test is a swelling pressure test of t (horas)
a cubic sample of swelling mudstone carried out in a sx sy sz FLAC

triaxial test apparatus. After a load–unload cycle the
sample was flooded. Preventing the strains in the 3 Figure 5. Swelling pressure test simulation with FLAC.
directions the swelling pressures were measured in
function of time. Figure 4 presents the evolution of
the swelling pressure, in the 3 directions, versus time, v 0.33. The results from FLAC simulation are pre-
and the parameters for the swelling law. sented in Figure 7 (strain in % versus time in days)
To simulate this test, a FLAC model has been set against the results of the test.
up; the constitutive model is elastic with the same
properties presented in Figure 4. The results from 4.3 Huder-Amberg swelling test in plasticity
FLAC simulation are presented in Figure 5 (stress in
kPa versus time in hrs). The objective now is to validate the algorithm against
As the model is isotropic, the 3 components of the a test in which the strength of the sample is exceeded
stress are identical in the simulation. and therefore, plastic strains develop in addition to
the elastic and swelling deformations.
The test was carried out following the Huder-
4.2 Huder-Amberg swelling test in elasticity
Amberg procedure. The initial vertical load (applied
Figure 6 shows the swelling strain-time curves obtained in two cycles) is 15 MPa; the sample is then flooded
for the different stages of loading in a Huder-Amberg and unloaded to a vertical pressure of 6.5 MPa. The
swelling test on an anhydritic mudstone from de results for this test are presented in Figure 8.
Gypsum Keuper. The elastic constants of the material are
A FLAC model with 1 element has been set up; the E 2800 MPa and v 0.33, and swelling parame-
constitutive model is elastic with E 1000 MPa and ters are Kq 6.4% and 0 89.2 MPa.
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Figure 8. Huder-Amberg swelling test in plasticity (in

Wittke 1999).
-24
-20
-16
-12
ez (%)
Figure 6. Huder-Amberg swelling test in elasticity (in -8

Wittke 1999).
-4
-5 4
0.1 1 10 100
sz (MPa)
-4
Ensayo: Carga-descarga inicial Ensayo: hinchamientos
Wittke elástico Wittke plástico
FLAC elástico FLAC plástico
ε zq (%)
-3
-2 Figure 9. Huder-Amberg swelling test in plasticity simu-

lated with FLAC.
-1
0 with the results from the tests and the values fitted by
0 5 10 15
t (días)
Wittke (1999).
sz = 520 kN/m2 sz = 260 kN/m2 sz = 130 kN/m2 sz = 65 kN/m2 sz = 32.2 kN/m2
FLAC sz=520 kPa FLAC sz=260 kPa FLAC sz=130 kPa FLAC sz=65 kPa FLAC sz=32.2 kPa
4.4 Combined swelling pressure and

Figure 7. Huder-Amberg swelling test in elasticity simulated swelling strain test
with FLAC.
This is a swelling test on a sample taken from Gypsum
Keuper. The test was carried out in a confined
compression test apparatus (horizontal strains of the
Wittke (1999) suggests that it is necessary to con- sample were prevented during the test) with boundary
sider the plastic strain of the sample to reproduce this conditions, which were variable with time for a period
test, as it is shown in Figure 8 where the back-analysis of more than 14 years. The test sequence and the test
with elastic–plastic stress–strain relationship fits bet- results are presented in Figure 10.
ter with the measured values than the back-analysis The description of the test, taken from Wittke (1999)
with elastic stress–strain relationship. The plastic is as follows. Phase 1 may be divided into 4 partial
constants are c 0, 11° and 5.5°. stages, form 1a to 1d. In phase 1a strains in the vertical
Figure 9 presents the results from the FLAC model, direction were also prevented and the vertical stress was
also for elastic and elastic–plastic behaviors, together monitored. After 2.7 years, a vertical stress of 4.2 MPa
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09069-07.qxd 08/11/2003 20:44 PM Page 61
Table 2. Elastic–plastic parameters used in Wittke (1999)

to reproduce the test.
Elastic Plastic
Parameter E (MPa) v c (MPa) (°) (°)
Gypsum keuper 4000 0.2 0.65 30 30
Table 3. Swelling kinetics parameters used in Wittke

(1999) to reproduce the test.
a0 ael avp maxEVP

(year
1) (year
1) (year
1) (%)
1a
2 0.0018 0.0 40.0 0.1
Figure 10. Combined swelling pressure and swelling strain 3 0.0018 0.0 2.0 0.1
test on a sample from Gypsum keuper (in Wittke 1999).
5
was reached. Starting phase 1b it was allowed for a
small vertical strain (that is not recognizable in Figure 4
10 because of the chosen scale) that results in a reduc-
tion of the vertical stress to approximately 3.8 MPa.
␴z(MPa)
3
Following to this, the vertical deformation of the
sample was again prevented, and consequently, the
vertical stress increased again to the same value of 2
4.2 MPa.
The course of phase 1c was equivalent to the one of 1
phase 1b. During phase 1d it was allowed for a vertical
strain slightly larger than during the preceding phases.
0
At the beginning this led to decrease the vertical stress 0 5 10 15
to less than 0.5 MPa. Subsequently, the vertical stress t (años)
was increased to 2.5 MPa over a period of 0.3 year Ensayo FLAC
without stabilization of the vertical stress.
During phase 2 of the test, the vertical stress was Figure 11. Combined swelling pressure–strain test simu-
lowered to 0.5 MPa keeping it constant for more than lated with FLAC; comparison of stresses.
5 years. The vertical strain was measured as a function
of time. Phase 2 was stopped after a vertical strain of
approximately 28% had occurred without stabilization of the coefficient avp from 40 year
1 to 2 year
1, that
of the deformations. is equivalent to a reduction of the permeability of the
During the phase 3 of the test, a further increase sample during phase 3 due to the increment of the
of the vertical strain was prevented and the increase vertical stress in this phase of the test.
of the vertical stress was registered as a function of Changes in permeability of the sample during
time. The slope of the stress–strain curve decrease the load process are not taken into account in the
continuously with time and after a period of 5.7 years a formulation of the kinetic, thus Wittke (1999) suggests
vertical stress of 4 MPa was measured. that the coefficient avp should vary during the calcula-
Wittke (1999) reproduced this test with the elastic– tion for an accurate simulation of the swelling process.
plastic properties presented in Table 2. The test described in this paragraph has been sim-
For the swelling parameters, Wittke (1999) uses ulated with FLAC, considering the same parameters
the following values, 0 16 MPa and Kq 15%. (in Table 2 and Table 3). Figure 11 presents the evo-
Nevertheless, regarding on the kinetics of the swelling, lution of the vertical stress (in MPa) versus time (in
Wittke found necessary to change the swelling time years), comparing the results from FLAC simulation
parameter during the course of the test. The parameters against the test.
proposed are presented in Table 3. Figure 12 presents the evolution of the vertical
As Wittke (1999) refers, to reproduce accurately the strain (in %) versus time (in years), comparing the
phase 3 of the test it is necessary to reduce the value results from FLAC model against the test.
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40 – All the elements of the model are susceptible to

swell; this means that the whole rockmass is satu-
rated and the penetration of water is enough to per-
30 mit the complete swelling of the anhydrite.
– The proposed kinetics describe adequately the
swelling process when the strength of the rock is
εz (%)
20 not exceeded, but the parameters of the formula-

tion need to be changed in case of large plastic
deformations.
10
0
0 5 10 15 REFERENCES
t (años)
Ensayo Cálculo FLAC ISRM 1989. Suggested Methods for Laboratory Testing of
Argillaceous Swelling Rocks. In Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Figure 12. Combined swelling pressure–strain test simu- Sci. & Geomech. Abstr, Vol. 26, No. 5: 414–426.
lated with FLAC; comparison of strains. Huder J. & Amberg G.1970. Quellung in Mergel, Opalinuston
und Anhydrit. Schweizer, Bauzeit, 83: 975–980.
5 CONCLUSIONS Noorany I., Frydman S. & Detournay C. 1999. Prediction of
soil slope deformation due to wetting, In Detournay & Hart
(eds), FLAC and Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics:
The formulation for the swelling behavior presented 101–107. Rotterdam: Balkema.
by Wittke (1999) has been reviewed and a calculation Saïta A., Robert A. & Le Bissonnais H. 1999. A Simplified
algorithm, based in this formulation, has been imple- Finite Element Approach to Modeling Swelling Effects
mented in FLAC, via FISH routines. This algorithm in Tunnels. In Alten et al. (eds), Challenges for the 21st
allows the simulation of the swelling behavior with Century: 171–178. Rotterdam: Balkema.
FLAC code. Steiner W. 1993. Swelling Rock in Tunnels: Rock Charac-
The algorithm has been checked against different terization, Effect of Horizontal Stresses and Construction
swelling tests presented by Wittke (1999), and the Procedures. In Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr. Vol. 30. No. 4: 361–380.
results from the model fit quite well to the results of Wittke W. 1999. Stability Analysis for Tunnels. Fundamentals.
the different tests. Therefore, these routines can be used Geotechnical Engineering in Research and Practice.
to simulate the swelling behavior of expansive grounds WBI-Print 4. Ed. WBI Prf.Dr.Ing. W. Wittke. Consulting
in real engineering problems. engineers for Foundation and Construction in Rock Ltd.
Nevertheless, when using these routines to simu- Verlag Glückauf GmbH. Essen.
late a swelling behavior, the following limitations of
the formulation have to be remembered:
– The direction of the principal stresses does not
change during the swelling process.
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Scenario testing of fluid-flow and deformation during mineralization: from

simple to complex geometries
P.M. Schaubs, A. Ord & G.H. German

CSIRO Exploration and Mining, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
ABSTRACT: We present the use of FLAC3D in conjunction with Gocad and the CSIRO-developed software
3DMACS to model deformation – fluid processes during mineralization. Simple idealized geological models
containing one planar fault are used to determine the effects of a number of deformation scenarios on volume
strain, pore pressure and resultant fluid flow patterns. Our results show that whether fluid flows up or down the
fault is strongly controlled by the dip of the fault; steep faults cause fluids to flow up the fault, while more shal-
low faults dilate and draw in fluid from the overlying sedimentary unit as well as the surrounding host rocks.
Geometrically complex models, which more closely resemble the geology surrounding an ore deposit, are
aimed at determining how the shape of a doubly plunging dome affects fluid flow patterns and the location of
sites of dilation. Areas of maximum dilation occur on the flanks of the dome near its crest. Complex meshes are
constructed using Gocad, which is then translated into FLAC3D using 3DMACS. This software may also be used
to set model parameters and properties, and for coupling FLAC3D to other numerical codes.
1 INTRODUCTION number of parameters and only require one or two

models. Simple models are aimed at determining
An understanding of the relationship between fluid what causes fluid to flow up or down faults and where
flow and deformation is important for determining how areas of high positive volume strain and low fluid
hydrothermal ore deposits form. Deformation may pressure occur. This has implications for the location
lead to the development, or reactivation, of structures of fluid mixing and mineralization if it is assumed
such as faults, fractures and veins which may host ore that there are two distinct fluid reservoirs within the
deposits or may act as conduits for mineralizing flu- model. The geometrical complex model is concerned
ids. Deformation may also induce volume changes more with the effect of the irregular shape of the geo-
(dilatancy) that further affect rock permeability and logical units on fluid flow patterns and the location of
pore pressure gradients. sites of dilatancy.
Here we present two methodologies for determin-
ing the relative importance of certain parameters
and processes during deformation and mineralization. 2 MODEL BUILDING AND VISUALIZATION
The first method involves simplifying the geometry THROUGH THE USE OF ADDITIONAL
of the structures involved and is aimed at determining SOFTWARE
the effects of various parameters. In this way we are
able to narrow down the effects of one parameter and 2.1 Simple and complex model generation
reduce the uncertainty caused by geometrically com-
plex models. For this reason the geometry of the model Simple single fault models are constructed using
is rather simple and number of zones in the model is FLAC3D “generate” commands. The use of FISH
low (12500). This allows us to run a large number of allows for the rapid construction of models with dif-
models with different parameters in a short period ferent fault dips and strikes. Geometrically complex
of time. meshes are constructed using Gocad. This is done
The second type of model is aimed at testing the first by building or importing tri-surfaces, which
effects of complex geometry, which more closely represent the contacts of the various geologic units.
approximates that of the geology we see in the field. These surfaces are then used to “distort” the initially
Here we are not concerned with changing a large orthogonal and regular Gocad mesh (stratigraphic grid)
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Figure 1. Screen shot of web-browser interface of 3DMACS showing how properties and boundary conditions are applied.
so that the zones become parallel to the surfaces. The – Allows the user to set group properties imported
CSIRO-developed software 3DMACS (Fig. 1) is then from an external properties database, which can
used to import this model, along with a set of proper- then be edited by the user. These properties can be
ties, into FLAC3D. from any of the 4 domains above.
– Allows the user to set model parameters and choose
2.2 The 3DMACS software suite visualization outputs.
– Due to its underlying XML character, users can
Primarily, 3DMACS is used for the importation, use a web browser (or the built-in 3DMACS GUI)
parameter-selection/editing and running of 3D geolog- from any machine connected to the internet and run
ical models. It is a suite of software modules that at their simulations remotely via 3DMACS. Multiple
its core, leverages an XML data model. It harnesses processes can be distributed amongst various
various vendor-provided software, such as FLAC3D, machines.
to provide the background simulation capabilities. – Allows for the storage of all user parameters and
Overall, it provides the following functionality: selected properties within a nominated repository,
– Allows for the importation of 3D models such as so that the user can re-run prior defined problems.
those produced by Gocad or FracSIS. The above functionality allows the simulation to be
– Can “couple” a simulation across 4 phenomeno- fully specified within the user-domain, rather than the
logically distinct domains: mechanical/deformation, process domain, which normally requires specialized
thermal, fluid and chemical. Currently FLAC3D knowledge of syntax and macro languages such as
and FastFlo (a CSIRO package for partial differential FISH. By providing basic problem “templates” for
equation solving) are used to provide modeling scenarios such as mechanical/fluid, mechanical/fluid/
across these domains. thermal and mechanical/fluid/chemical modeling,
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users without particular expertise in FLAC3D can still

build and run a model. However, expert users can
interact directly with the underlying processes and
override any presets set in the templates.
As 3DMACS has the ability to couple FLAC3D to
other software packages, we are able to create models
which simulate deformation, fluid flow, thermal and
chemical processes, all of which may be important for
mineralization.
2.3 Visualizing results Figure 2. Typical simple fault model. Arrows indicate
applied fluid discharge.
3DMACS provides for the visualization of FLAC3D
results in Gocad or the commercial software FracSIS,
via the export of scalar and vector data as 3D point-
cloud sets. Gocad allows for the creation of isosur-
faces from scalar point data. Both Gocad and FracSIS
can be used for volume rendering of scalar data.
FracSIS also allows the user to control the opacity of
certain color values in both scalar and vector data. By
“hiding” certain values we are able to see inside the
FLAC3D model more easily and are not required to Figure 3. Examples of initial geometries of simple fault
use cross-sections or cut planes. models.
Using FISH from within FLAC3D, we are also able
to create VTK files of scalar and vector data, which
are used by the freeware software MayaVi. MayaVi is
able to visualize isosurfaces, and scalar and vector cut
planes as well as fluid flow vectors so that their color
varies with magnitude.
All of these software packages are able to create
VRML files which, given the appropriate plug-in,
allows one to use a web-browser to view results.
3 SIMPLE FAULT MODELS
3.1 Model setup, properties and boundary

conditions
In this group of models we present a number of sce-
narios with a simple geometry. The initial model is
made up of a simple fault region bounded by steeply
dipping hangingwall and footwall rocks. These rocks
are truncated by a horizontal interface and flat-lying
sedimentary unit (Fig. 2). We test different orientations
of far-field stresses, various dip and strike angles, for
the fault and different hanging wall and footwall per-
meabilities (Fig. 3). The types of deformation applied
include (Fig. 4):
– compression and extension, where the bottom
boundary is fixed and initial velocities are horizontal
and perpendicular to the left and right boundaries,
– strike slip, where initial velocities are horizontal
and parallel to the left and right boundaries but in Figure 4. Different styles of deformation applied to simple
opposite directions, fault models. a) compression, b) extension, c) dextral strike-
– reverse and normal movement, where initial veloc- slip, d) sinistral strike-slip, e) reverse movement, f) normal
ities are parallel to the dip of the fault and the base movement, g) transpression, and h) transtension.
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of the model is allowed to move in the vertical direc- of extension pore pressure is 30 MPa lower than those,
tion, and which are essentially compressional. In all models,
– transpression and transtension, which are similar contours of pore pressure in the sedimentary unit slope
to the reverse and normal models but contain a towards the right due to the application of a fluid flux
strike slip component of movement. (discharge) at the left boundary.
By changing the dip and strike of the fault we have 3.2.2 Volume strain
a number of scenarios which range from a model with In all models the fault region is an area of high positive
a shallow dipping faults with a dip of 30° and com- volume strain (dilation) and a zone of significant dila-
pression at right angles to the strike of the fault to a tion propagates from the tip of the fault into the sedi-
model with a steeply dipping fault (60°) where the mentary (Fig. 5). In the compression, reverse and
compression direction is at 45° to the strike of the fault. transpression models this zone is oriented roughly
Constant fluid fluxes of 1m/yr are applied at the parallel to the strike of the fault. In the extension, nor-
base of the fault and the left boundary of the sedi- mal and transtension models this zone is much steeper,
mentary unit. Permeability is isotropic and remains and in the strike-slip models it is close to vertical.
constant during deformation. Mechanical anisotropy Positive volume strain in the fault is greatest in
is modeled using the ubiquitous joints constitutive models with an extensional component. In the reverse
model. In the sedimentary unit these are oriented hor- model only the fault is a region of significant positive
izontally and represent bedding, while in the base- volume strain and therefore is also a region of low
ment units they are oriented roughly parallel to the pore pressure relative to the other basement units. The
contacts of the units and represent a pervasive cleavage. transpression model is similar; however, it contains
These fabrics are given 90% of the strength (cohe- regions of dilation in both the hangingwall and foot-
sion, tensile strength) of the rock type. Mechanical wall. In the normal and transtension models the fault
properties are listed in Table 1. The size of the model is also a region of significant dilation (higher than the
varies depending on the dip of the fault. All models reverse and transpression models). As with volume
are 2 km tall (z-direction) and 2 km deep (y-direction) strain (dilation/contraction) the fault region records
but the width (x-direction) changes. In all cases the the highest shear strain in all models. The location
bottom of the fault is a minimum of 1500 m away and orientation of the zones of high shear strain are
from either boundary. All models are deformed to 5% coincident with those of significant dilation in all
shortening or the equivalent amount of displacement models.
for those models with a strike-slip component.
3.2 Results
3.2.1 Pore pressure
Models which have an extensional component of
deformation (extension – pure shear, normal faulting,
transtension) cause the greatest decrease in pore
pressures because they have the greatest dilation
(positive volume strain). The normal and transtension
models also have the steepest pore pressure gradients
and therefore fluid flow rates in the fault are highest in Figure 5. Volume strain increment and fluid flow vectors in
these models. Pore pressure at the bottom of all models compression model (cross-section view through middle of
is similar; however, in the models with a component model). Maximum fluid flow velocities are 2.02 108 m/s.
Table 1. Mechanical and fluid flow properties used in simple fault models.
Property Units Sandstone Granite Fault Pelitic gneiss

3
Density kg/m 2400 2700 2600 2600
Bulk modulus Pa 2.40E
10 5.0E
10 9.5E
09 1.9E
10
Shear modulus Pa 2.60E
10 3.0E
10 9.6E
09 2.0E
10
Cohesion Pa 2.70E
07 4.0E
07 1.8E
07 3.5E
07
Tensile strength Pa 1.20E
06 2.0E
07 2.8E
06 5.5E
06
Friction angle deg 28 30 15 20
Dilation angle deg 4 6 5 5
Permeability m2 1.00E 14 1.01E 16 2.02E 15 2.02E 15
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3.2.3 Fluid flow vectors more because they are oriented at an angle which is
Fluid flows towards the center of the fault in the com- parallel to the direction of maximum compression.
pression, reverse and transpression models (Fig. 6). Steeply dipping faults and those oriented normal to
This is a result of the fault being an area of significant the maximum compression direction are more likely
dilation, and low fluid pressure, relative to the sur- to contract.
rounding rocks. In the extension, normal and transten- In models where the compression direction is nor-
sion models, fluid flows up and out of the fault into mal to the strike of the fault, the dip of the fault has
the hanging wall. This occurs despite the fault being little affect on the orientation of the high strain zone,
an area of higher positive volume strain (dilation) which propagates into the sedimentary unit. In all
than the surrounding rocks. Fluid flows up because models where the compression direction is normal to
pore pressure gradients are much steeper than in the the strike of the fault, this zone of high strain takes on
compressional models. In the strike-slip models fluid a dip of 45°. In models where the fault dips 60° and
flows up and parallel to the boundaries of the fault. In the hanging and footwall are both pelitic gneiss the
the extension, normal and transtension models fluid orientation of the high strain zone in the basement is
on the right side of the sedimentary unit flows to the also 45°. When the footwall rock type is made for
right towards the zone of significant dilation which rigid, the high strain zone in the basement is nearly
propagates from the tip of the fault. parallel to the dip of the fault. In models where the
fault dips 30° and the high strain zone and the foot-
3.2.4 Dip and strike of fault wall is more rigid the high strain zone in the basement
The dip angle of the fault strongly controls whether is parallel to the fault. This high strain zone becomes
fluid flows up and parallel to the fault boundaries. steeper (close to 45°) in the sedimentary unit.
Models with the fault dipping 60° allow fluid to flow Changing the orientation of the fault with respect
up the fault. Fluid will flow up a steep fault whether to the model boundaries and direction of compression
the footwall rocks are quartzite or pelitic gneiss. results in different orientations for the high strain
Similarly when the fault dips 45°, fluid flows into the zones. In the models where the strike of the fault is ori-
fault from the foot and hanging walls whether the ented at 45° to the maximum compression direction
footwall rocks are quartzite or pelitic gneiss. In mod- (and the dip is 60°), close to the fault the high strain
els where the fault is steep (60°), the fault does not zone is parallel to both the dip and strike of the fault
dilate as much and therefore pore pressure does not in both the basement units and the sedimentary unit.
decrease in the fault as much as it does in models Away from the fault zones, high strain zones form
where the fault has a shallower angle. Decreasing the with a strike normal to the maximum compression
dip angle of the fault to 30° causes the fault to dilate direction and a dip of 45°. When the angle between
more than models where the fault dips at 45°. This the strike of the fault and the maximum compression
however does not significantly affect the pore pressure direction is increased to 67.5°, the orientation of the
values in the fault and fluid still flows towards the high strain zone in the basement is nearly parallel to
center of the fault from the hanging and footwalls. the fault. As this zone propagates into the sedimen-
Moderate to shallowly dipping faults are able to dilate tary unit its orientation rotates towards a strike which
is normal to the maximum compression direction and
a dip closer to 45°. Therefore, both the strike and dip
of the fault, with respect to the maximum compres-
sion direction as well as the strength of the rocks, may
control the orientation of the high volume and shear
strain zones.
In models where the direction of maximum com-
pression is oriented less than 90° to the strike of the
fault, fluid flow vectors change along a line stretching
from the top west end to the bottom east end of the
fault. On the west side flow is directed up and out into
the hanging wall, while on the east side fluid flows
down and into the footwall side of the fault.
Increasing the permeability of the fault marginally
does not change the values of volume strain or pore
pressure in a significant manner. Fluid flow patterns
remain the same however fluid flow velocities are
increased slightly.
Figure 6. Fluid flow vectors in and around the fault Decreasing the strength of bedding and cleavage
(compression model). fabrics from 90 to 75% of the strength of the host
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rocks has little effect on the fluid flow patterns. In the

model where the joint strength is 90% of the host rocks
strength, slip along bedding planes occurs within the
sedimentary unit above the fault and may indicate that
some flexural slip has occurred. In the model where
joint strength is 75% of the host rocks strength, slip
also occurs along bedding planes in the sedimentary
unit as well as along cleavage planes within the fault.
4 COMPLEX GEOMETRIES
4.1 Model setup, properties and boundary

conditions
The geometry of the model is reasonably complex
(Fig. 7) and contacts between different units are
smooth curved surfaces. The objective of this model
is to determine what affect the shape of a basalt dome
has on fluid flow patterns and the position of regions
of dilation in relationship to the formation of gold Figure 7. Outline of basalt unit in geometrically complex
deposits. The model is made up of rigid doubly plung- model (in FLAC3D).
ing basalt dome which is blanketed by a thin weak
altered metasedimentary unit and surrounded by a
moderately stiff metamorphic rocks (Fig. 8). Mechan-
ical properties are listed in Table 2. Deformation is
applied so as to simulate horizontal compression per-
pendicular to the long axis of the dome.
4.2 Results
The altered metasedimentary unit contains regions of
negative volume strain (contraction) on the flanks of
the basalt dome where the dip is steep and at a high
angle to the compression direction. Towards the top
of the dome (but not at the crest) the weak altered
metasedimentary unit contains regions of high posi-
tive volume strain (dilation) above the areas of con-
traction (Fig. 9).
This causes fluid flow rates to be highest close to
the top of the dome where areas of contraction and
maximum dilation are in close proximity (Figs. 10 &
11). Contraction occurs within the matrix above the
highest point of the dome. Regions of high positive
volume strain are also regions that have failed in
tension. These areas are more likely to have formed
quartz veins, which commonly host gold.
5 CONCLUSIONS Figure 8. Cross-section through center of model showing

outline of the main basalt dome in light grey, the thin altered
FLAC3D has been used to test the effects of fault and metasedimentary unit in dark grey and the surrounding
far-field stress orientation and the shape of irregularly metamorphic matrix in white.
shaped bodies on fluid flow in regions of mineraliza-
tion. In geometrically simple models with a single pla- down from the sandstones into the fault. Steeply ori-
nar fault the results of the models show that a low ented faults, strike-slip deformation and high perme-
angle fault with permeability similar to the surrounding ability faults cause fluid to flow up the fault. This
host rocks causes the fault to dilate and fluid to flow has implications for the location of fluid mixing and
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Table 2. Mechanical and fluid flow properties used in geometrically complex model.
Property Units Basalt Matrix Altered unit
Density kg/m3 2700 2700 2700

Bulk modulus Pa 5.00E
10 4.0E
10 3.0E
10
Shear modulus Pa 3.00E
10 2.0E
10 1.0E
10
Cohesion Pa 4.00E
07 3.0E
07 2.0E
07
Tensile strength Pa 2.00E
07 1.0E
07 9.0E
06
Friction angle deg 30 25 20
Dilation angle deg 2 3 3
Permeability m2 1.00E 16 1.00E 15 5.00E 15
Figure 9. Isosurface of high positive volume strain (black)

occurs on flanks of the basalt within the weak altered
metasedimentary unit. Surface of basalt exported from
Gocad is shown in grey. Visualized in MayaVi.
Figure 11. Cut plane of fluid flow vectors through highest

portion of the basalt dome. Surface of basalt is shown in
grey. Visualized in MayaVi.
mineralization, if it is assumed that the horizontal

interface represents a boundary between two distinct
fluid reservoirs.
Figure 10. Fluid flow vectors as visualized in FracSIS. In the geometrically complex model of a basalt
Vectors are shaded using greyscale where black is highest
and white is lowest fluid velocity. Only the highest values
dome, the area of maximum dilation occurs on the
are shown (others remain transparent). The highest values flanks of the dome near its crest. Areas of maximum
are coincident with areas of high positive volume strain on positive volume strain are coincident with maximum
flanks of the basalt within the weak altered metasedimentary fluid flow velocities and occur within the weak altered
unit. Surface of basalt is shown in grey. metasedimentary unit which blankets the dome. Sites
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of high volume strain or dilation are likely sites of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

quartz vein formation and gold mineralization.
GoCAD has been used to construct models of We would like to thank Irvine Annesley, Michel
significant geometrical complexity and the CSIRO- Cuney, Jon Dugdale, Nick Fox, Peter Hornby,
developed software 3DMACS has been used to trans- Catherine Madore, Phillipe Portella, Dave Quirt, Tim
late the resultant mesh to FLAC3D. Numerical model- Rawling, Dave Thomas, Chris Wilson and Rob
ing results are visualized in either Gocad, MayaVi or Woodcock for their advice and input into the models
FracSIS any of which allow for the creation of isosur- presented here and with help visualizing the results.
faces of scalar data and the export of VRML files.
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Constitutive models for rock mass: numerical implementation,

verification and validation
M. Souley
INERIS, Ecole de Mines de Nancy, Nancy Cedex, France
K. Su
ANDRA, Châtenay-Malabry, France
M. Ghoreychi
INERIS, Parc Technologique ALATA, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
G. Armand
ANDRA, Laboratoire de Recherche Souterrain Meuse/Haute-Marne, Bure, France
ABSTRACT: This paper deals with numerical implementation of non-linear constitutive models of rock mass
and its verifications and validations. In the 3-dimensionnal code, FLAC3D, an elasto-damage-plastic model
(damage is approached through the theory of plasticity) for Hoek-Brown media has been implemented.
Simulations of triaxial compression tests provide a verification of the numerical implementation with a good
agreement between predictions and theoretical values of peak and residual strengths. The applicability of the
implemented model to predict the damage and/or failure development around a circular opening is checked.
Finally a validation of poroplastic calculations based on the drainage of a cylindrical hole in poroplastic media
is achieved by comparison to an existing semi-analytical solution.
1 INTRODUCTION progressive damage as microcracks initiate and grow

at small scale and coalesce to form large-scale fractures
Analysis of stresses and displacements around under- and faults. The involved mechanisms include sliding
ground openings in rock mass is required in a wide along pre-existing cracks and grain boundaries, pore
variety of civil and geotechnical, petroleum and min- collapse, elastic mismatch between mineral grains,
ing engineering problems such as tunnels, boreholes, dislocation movement, etc.
shafts, disposal of radioactive waste and mines. In In the model considered in this study, the initiation
addition, an excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is gen- and growth of cracks as well as failure and the post-
erally formed around underground openings exca- peak behavior are approached through the theory of
vated in rocks in relation to high in situ stresses and/or plasticity. Furthermore, the transition between the
high anisotropic stress ratios even without blasting. brittle failure and the ductile behavior depending on the
The mechanical and hydraulic properties are then mean stress is generally observed on rock samples.
changed within EDZ. The failure mechanism in the The purpose of this paper is to present: (a) a numer-
damaged zone is the initiation and growth of cracks ical implementation of an elasto-damage–plastic model
and fractures, and is directly related to the constitu- obeying to the Hoek-Brown criterion and taking into
tive behavior of the rock mass. Several experimental account the brittle/ductile transition, (b) the corre-
studies on rocks have shown that there are many dif- sponding verification based on simulation of triaxial
ferent mechanisms through which cracks can be initi- compression tests and the prediction of the extent of
ated and grown under compressive stresses (Wong damaged/failed zone around a hypothetical circular
1982, Steif 1984, Martin & Chandler 1994, etc.). opening, (c) validation of poroplastic calculations based
Indeed, irreversible deformations and failure of rocks on a variant of the previous implemented model and
subjected to compressive stresses occur through an existing semi-analytical solution.
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2 MECHANCICAL SHORT TERM BEHAVIOR For instance, the initiation of damage (Fsend), the
peak (Fsrup) and residual (Fsres) strengths are given by:
2.1 Brief mathematical description
Based on several triaxial laboratory tests performed
on the argillite rock samples, the typical characteris-
tics of stress–strain curves are displayed in Figure 1:
Phase 1: linear isotropic and elastic behavior after
a short non-linear phase corresponding to the closure
of microcracks;
Phase 2: strain-hardening in the pre-peak region
corresponding to the initiation and the growth of
microcracks assumed to be described by plasticity,
contrary to the concept of effective stress and the
hypothesis of strain equivalence (Lemaitre 1995, Ju (1)
1989) that is generally used;
Phase 3: softening after the peak (failure) associated where mend, send and mrup, srup are Hoek-Brown con-
with a progressive loss in material cohesion and then a stants respectively corresponding to onset of damage
decrease in strength; and the peak; cend and crup are uniaxial compressive
Phase 4: residual phase where the rock strength strength at the onset of damage and peak; uniaxial
remains practically constant. residual strength; 3bd confining pressure for
Based on these observations, a constitutive model brittle/ductile transition; 1 and 3 major and minor
for this material was firstly developed in the framework principal stresses (compressive stress is negative and
of the European project: EURATOM MODEX-REP 1 2 3).
and recently compiled by Su (2003).
The features of this model are: 2.2 Constitutive equations
(a) linear elasticity to model the Phase 1; In order to obtain a simple but general constitutive
(b) damage initiation and growth are approached by a model, an extended Hoek-Brown yield function is used.
strain-hardening based on Hoek-Brown criterion The general form of the yield function is expressed in
where the Hoek-Brown constants and the uniaxial the following equation:
compressive strength are plastic strain dependent;
(c) the peak, post-peak (Phase 3) and residual (Phase
4) are also based on Hoek-Brown criterion with (2)
respect to brittle/ductile transition in accordance
with the experimental data.
where softening flow function (parabolic form
with respect to the internal plastic variable, in phase
3, and null elsewhere); m, s Hoek-Brown constants
(linearly varying with in phase 2, and constants
1 2 3 4 in phase 3 and 4); c uniaxial compressive strength
(linearly varying with in phase 2, and constant in
Peak
phase 3 and 4).
Deviatoric stress (σ1-σ3)
It is assumed that the material damage (hardening)

and failure (up to the peak) depend on the generalized
plastic strain, :
Onset of damage
Residual
(3)
where d
p
increment of total damage/plastic strain
tensor in phases 2, 3 and 4.
Axial strain( ε1) For simplicity, an associated flow rule is used (the
plastic potential is identical to the yield function given
in Equation 2). In addition, in order to take into account
Figure 1. A typical stress–strain curve provided by a triaxial the geometry of stresses (compression differing to
test. extension), the previous yield function is generalized
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in terms of the three stress invariants (J1, J2 , J3 ). By substituting Equations (4), (7) and (5) in Equation
Then, principal stresses are expressed in terms of mean (8), we can express the plastic multiplier:
stress (p), generalized deviatoric stress (q) and Lode’s
angle () according to:
(9)
(4a) and then, the elasto-damage-plastic behavior:
where
(10)
2.3 Numerical implementation

(4b)
In the three-dimensional explicit finite-difference code,
FLAC3D, we have implemented the elasto-damage-
plastic model described above. The main procedure is
summarized below.
– The first approximation of stress tensor I, is eval-
uated by adding to the previous stress tensor the
stress tensor.

stress increments computed from the total strain
Assuming that only small strain occurred, the total increments and the Hooke’s law.
strain increment, d , can be subdivided in elastic part, – Computation of the corresponding mean stress pI,

d e
and damage/plastic part, d p
: deviatoric stress qI and Lode’s angle I correspond-

I.
ing to
– Compute the generalized yield function, Fs(pI, qI,
(4c)
I). If I verifies the yield function (Fs(
I
) 0),
and of m, s
the derivatives of Fs with respect to
and c (phase 2) or (phase 3) with respect to ,
(5)
are evaluated, and then Equation 10 is used to
compute the current increment of stress tensor.
– Current stress tensor, generalized plastic strain and
where plastic multiplier. This leads to: flow functions are updated. It should be noted that,
in FLAC3D, zones are internally discretized into
tetrahedra and the current flow functions (damage/
(6) plastic) and, stress and strain tensors for each zone
are evaluated as a volumetric average for the zone.
This routine has been written in C
and compiled
The incremental expression of Hooke’s laws in terms as DLL file (dynamic link library) that can be loaded
of generalized stress and strain tensors has the form: whenever it is needed.
(7)
2.4 Verification and validation
where C isotropic linear tensor. In order to verify the implemented model, seven triaxial
compression tests with confining pressures of 2, 5,
The consistency condition, dFs() 0 leads to:
10, 12, 16, 20 and 25 MPa have been simulated. They
are the part of the wide number of triaxial compression
(8) tests used to characterize the non-linear behavior of
the studied materials.
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Table 1. Values of input parameters.
Onset of damage Peak Residual
mend send cend (MPa) mrup srup crup (MPa) 3bd (MPa)
1 0.9 15 0.43 2.5 33.5 20.01 3
55 80
25 MPa
Deviatoric stress 13(MPa)
50
20 MPa 45
70
Principal major 1
16 MPa 40 60
35 50
12 MPa
30
(MPa)
25 40
10 MPa
20 30
5 MPa
15
20
10 2 MPa
5 10
Lateral strain [-]
0
Axial strain [-] Principal minor stress 3 (MPa)
-0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
0
-10 0 10 20 30
Figure 2. Numerical result of triaxial compression tests. Peak [Eq. 1]
Residual [Eq. 1]
Onset of damage [Eq. 1]
Peak - Flac3d
The input parameters needed are derived from Residual - Flac3d
Onset of damage - Flac3d
standard laboratory tests and based on the identification
of model parameters. These parameters are summarized
in Table 1. The isotropic elastic characteristics used Figure 3. Onset of damage, peak and residual strengths:
numerical and analytical solutions.
are E 4500 MPa and 0.3. The generalized peak
and residual plastic strain were also identified from
triaxial laboratory tests. These are: rup 0.0063 and the beginning of phase 2). This validates the numerical
res 0.0175. implementation of the elasto-damage-plastic model
FLAC3D simulations are carried out on a single in FLAC3D.
zone of unit dimensions: fixed normal displacements
are applied to 3 perpendicular planes (bottom and two 2.5 Application to a circular opening
perpendicular vertical faces). First, the three other
The aim of this section is to provide a verification of
faces of model are subjected to an isotropic stress state
the implementation for non-triaxial stress paths and to
corresponding to the given confining pressure.
show numerically the ability of the implemented
Secondly, the deviatoric stress is exerted by applying
model to evaluate the extent of damaged and/or failed
a constant displacement rate at the top of model.
zones around a circular underground excavation.
Figure 2 presents the deviatoric stress–axial and lat-
We then consider an infinite circular opening in an
eral strain curves for different confining pressure. From
infinite elasto-damage-plastic medium initially sub-
this figure, we note that the post-peak behavior is con-
jected to an anisotropic initial stress in order to maxi-
fining pressure dependent: the transition stress between
mize the deviatoric stress and then, the risk of damage
brittle failure and ductile behavior is clearly marked
and/or failure. The axis of gallery is parallel to the
and the numerical transition stress, bd 3, is approxi-
horizontal minor stress leading to a maximum devia-
mately about 20 MPa. These curves are qualitatively
toric stress in the gallery section.
similar to the experimental ones (not reported herein).
The 2D-plane strain geometry as well as the initial
Figure 3 shows a comparison in terms of the damage
in situ stresses and model geometry including a cir-
threshold, the peak and residual strengths between the
cular gallery are plotted in Figure 4. The modeling
predictions (corresponding values in Fig. 2) and theory
sequence was performed as follows:
(Eq. 1).
The match is very good as may be seen in this fig- (1) the model without excavation was consolidated
ure, where numerical and analytical solutions coincide. under the previous in situ stresses, and
More precisely, the relative error for peak and residual (2) the circular excavation was carried out using
strengths is less than 0.3%, and 0.9% for the onset of roller boundaries to the model sides respectively
damage (dependent on the magnitude of loading at parallel to x- and z-axis for seeking symmetry.
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v v 0
v r*
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10
radius of gallery: 3 m -4 radial
model length : 30 m -6
model heigth : 30 m
-8
model thickness : 1 m
gallery axis : // à h(// à Oy) -10 axial
H
H -12
v= h= 10.8 MPa
H= 15.1 MPa -14
-16 orthoradial
-18
Stresses (MPa) (a)
-20
0
0 2 4 6 8 r* 10
-5 radial
Figure 4. Model geometry, initial stress state and boundary -10
conditions. axial
-15
-20
-25
orthoradial
-30
Stresses (MPa) (b)
-35
Figure 6. Radial, orthoradial and axial stresses along

radial lines (a) at 4.5° (b) at 85.5° (elastic lines; elasto-
plastic circles).
Damaged
Failed
to damage models based on the concept of effective

stress and assuming the strain equivalence (Shao et al.
1998, Souley et al. 1998, Homand et al. 1998, Souley
et al. 1999, etc.).
Figure 5. Extent of damaged and failed zones around cir- Figure 6 shows the profiles of radial, orthoradial
cular opening. and axial stresses along two radial lines at 4.5° and
85.5° with respect to x-axis as a function of the adi-
Figure 5 shows the extent of damaged and failed mensional radial distance (r* r/a; where r radial
zones around the circular opening. Damaged zones distance and a gallery radius). In addition, the corre-
correspond to the set of elements where the behavior sponding stresses for elastic calculations are also plot-
is associated within the pre-peak region; the peak ted. From the profile of orthoradial and axial stresses,
strength is not yet reached. Failed zones correspond one can distinguish three different regions (elastic,
to the model region where the peak strength was damaged and failed) through the slopes of curves.
reached: it should be noted that, in the direction of the At 4.5°, only one loss of slope can be noticed
initial major principal stress (Ox), the extent of damage along the profile of orthoradial stress: the correpond-
is about 17 cm: the radius of damaged zone in this ing radial distance (approximately 3.2 m) is in accor-
direction is 1.06 times greater than the gallery radius. dance with the previous investigation of damage extent.
The extent of failed areas is concentrated in the Up to this radial distance, the orthoradial stress pro-
compressive region where the maximum deviatoric file is qualitatively similar to the elastic ones.
stress is located. Then, in the direction of the initial At 85.5°, the first failure of curve slopes is
minor principal stress (Oz), the maximum extent of noted at a radial distance of 3.3 m from the gallery wall,
failed zone reaches 26 cm, whereas the damaged areas as well as for orthoradial stress profile (major principal
are ranged between the failed and elastic regions with stress) than axial stress (intermediate principal stress).
an extension about 1.5 m. This radial distance corresponds to the extent of failed
Finally, in the case of a circular opening created in zones in the direction of initial principal minor stress.
an infinite elasto-damage-plastic medium initially The second failure of orthoradial and axial stress slopes
subjected to an anisotropic initial stress, the damaged can be shown at a radial distance of 1.5 m from the
zone has an elliptical form (big axis is parallel to the gallery wall. This corresponds to the damaged region
direction of the initial minor principal stress) similarly located between the failed zone and the elastic zone.
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3 HYDROMECHANICAL VALIDATION 35
Deviatoric stress 13(MPa)

30 3 = 20 MPa
Generally, validation of poroelastic calculations with 3 = 15 MPa
25
FLAC3D for which the formulation of hydromechanical
3 = 10 MPa
coupling is used within the framework of the quasi- 20
static Biot theory, has been undertaken by several 3 = 5 MPa
15
examples and studies:
10
3 = 1 MPa
– one-dimensional filling of an initially dry porous 5 3 = 0.5 MPa
media compared with the analytical solution devel- Lateral strain [-]
0
Axial strain [-]
oped by Voller et al. (1996); -0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
– one-dimensional consolidation compared with the
analytical solution developed by Detournay & Figure 7. Verification – simulated triaxial compression tests.
Cheng (1993);
– two-dimensional consolidation of a borehole in an
elastic medium compared with the analytical solu- where c uniaxial compressive effective strength
tion developed by Detournay & Cheng (1988). of the intact rock; m peak value of Hoek-Brown
constant; residual strength parameter.
Validation of hydromechanical coupling in the For softening phase, the yield function is assumed
framework of poroplasticity is specific to each non- to be:
linear model and each numerical code. The aim of this
section is to provide an example of validation of poro-
(13)
plastic calculations in Hoek-Brown media. This exam-
ple concerns the drainage of an infinite medium by a
cylindrical hole for which a semi-analytical solution is where softening internal variable, representing
developed by Vouille et al. (2001). In this solution, the the opposite value of the plastic strain 1p associated
mechanical model is based on the Hoek-Brown yield with the major principal stress 1; R (0
function and can be viewed as an extension of R) value of the softening internal variable for
Carranza-Torres and Fairhust works and, also a partic- which residual phase is reached.
ular case of the previously described constitutive model Finally, the potential function is given by:
in the sense that neither damage (hardening in pre-peak
region) nor brittle/ductile transition are considered.
(14)
3.1 Brief mathematical description of mechanical This formulation slightly differs from the elasto-
model damage-plastic model detailed in section 2 by the
The mechanical behavior is described by an elasto- absence of hardening in the pre-peak region and brit-
plastic model with a post failure softening phase. The tle/ductile transition. Based on the previous imple-
model is based on the Hoek-Brown criterion with mentation, this variant of the elasto-damage-plastic
associated plastic potential. The main characteristics model is implemented in FLAC3D. As verification, tri-
of this model are: (a) linear and isotropic behavior in axial com-pression tests were simulated. The results
the pre-peak region; (b) peak strength governed by the are shown in Figure 7. In addition, the corresponding
Hoek-Brown criterion; (c) a softening phase based on a numerical residual and peak strengths are represented
Hoek-Brown yield function and an associated flow rule; in Figure 8 and compared with the analytical expres-
(d) a perfectly plastic behavior in the residual phase. sions (Eq. 12 & 13). From Figure 7, it should be noted
Assuming that compressive stress is negative and that for a given level of confining pressure, the three
1 2 3, the peak strength and residual strength phases (elastic before failure, softening for post-peak
are given by: behavior and perfect plastic for residual behavior) are
clearly distinguished.
The match is very good as may be seen in Figure 8,
(11) where numerical and analytical solutions coincide.
The relative error for strengths is less than 0.5%.
3.2 Definition of hydromechanical problem

Problem definition consists of a cylindrical hole cre-
(12) ated in an infinite poroelastoplastic medium initially
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60 Table 2. Initial and boundary conditions of the 1D problem.
50 Initial conditions
Major principal stress 1
Total stresses (MPa) 11.5 ij

40 Pore pressure (MPa) 4.7
(MPa)
30 Peak [Eq. 11] Boundary conditions

Residual [Eq. 12] Normal displacement (P9; PY; PZ0; PZ1) null
20 Hydraulic flux (P9; PY; PZ0; PZ1) null
Peak - Flac3d
Radial total stress at the outer radius r30 (MPa) 11.5
10 Residual - Flac3d
Pore pressure at the outer radius r30 (MPa) 4.7
Minor principal stress 3 (MPa)
0
Radial total stress at the inner radius Eq. 15
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Pore pressure at the inner radius Eq. 16
Figure 8. Peak and residual strengths: numerical and ana-

lytical solutions.
Table 3. Hydromechanical properties used in poroplastic-
ity validation.
P9 E0 (MPa) 0 c (MPa) m R
5800 0.3 14.8 2.62 0.015 0.01
r30 h (m/s) b M (MPa) w (kN/m3)
9º
10 12 0.8 6000 10
3m PY
30 m
PZ1 and pore pressure p, along the inner wall are expressed
as follows:
r3
PZ0 (15)
0,1 m
Figure 9. FLAC3D geometry of the 1D problem.
(16)
subjected to a uniform and isotropic stress state and a
uniform pore pressure. The induced mechanical and
hydraulic perturbations are examined during and after where t time; T 1.5 106 s represents the exca-
excavating. The main assumptions are: vation duration.
A semi-analytical solution of this H-M 1D problem
– gravity forces are neglected; has been developed in the framework of the European
– mechanically, the medium behaves as an isotropic project: EURATOM MODEX-REP (Su 2002).
and elastoplastic material according to the model Finally, the geometry shown in Figure 9, initial and
described in §3.1; boundary conditions reported in Table 2 are used in
– hydromechanical coupling process is expressed by our FLAC3D model. Hydromechanical properties are
Biot’s theory; shown in Table 3, where E0 and 0 denote the drained
– hydraulic and mechanical boundary conditions at the elastic properties; h is the hydraulic conductivity;
hole walls are time-dependent: continuous reduc- b the Biot coefficient; M the Biot modulus and w
tion of normal stress and pore pressure at the hole the specific weight of water.
boundaries from their initial values to zero. For both semi-analytical and numerical solutions
The geometry of this 1D problem is shown in the required results are:
Figure 9. It consists of a thick wall cylinder with – the radial displacement;
internal radius of 3 m and external radius of 30 m. The – the pore pressure;
initial and boundary conditions are summarized in – the radial; orthoradial and axial effective stresses.
Table 2.
As previously mentioned, the hydraulic and mechan- as a function of radial distance from the hole center
ical boundary conditions along the inner wall are time- (r ranged from 3 to 30 m) and time (ranged from 0
dependent. More precisely, the total radial stress r to 100 Ms) in this paper.
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Height radial distances are considered for output. to negative pore pressure) are well reproduced by
They are: 3, 3.05, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.7, 5, and 10 m. Ten numerical results for radial distance and time ranged
time periods are also considered for result output. The respectively from 3.05 to 3.2 m, and from 1.5 to
involved times are: 1.2, 1.5, 1.6, 2.5, 10, 50, and 1.6 Ms (corresponding to the start of full drainage).
100 Ms (million of seconds). Due to null and negligible values of pore pressure
In the case of the semi-analytical, all of these in the vicinity of the inner radius; relative errors
required results are given at the previous radial between semi-analytical and numerical solutions are
distances. Because of displacements and pore pres- not evaluated for radial distance inferior to 3.7 m; so
sure are gridpoint variables whereas stresses are zone the difference in results of pore pressure does not
variables and evaluated at the zone centroid, numerical exceed 0.02 MPa. For radial distance superior to 3.7,
solutions are checked at the following set of radial the maximum relative error between semi-analytical
distances: and numerical solutions is about 1.2%.
Comparison of radial and orthoradial effective
– 3, 3.05, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.7, 5, and 10 m for radial dis-
stresses between the semi-analytical and numerical
placement and pore pressure;
solutions is plotted in Figures 12 & 13. It should be
– 3.0125, 3.0625, 3.1125, 3.2125, 3.5625, 3.725,
noted that the profiles of principal effective stresses
5.05, and 10.05 m (centroid of the closest zone) for
are qualitatively returned.
stresses.
From a quantitative point of view and for a radial
Therefore, small differences in the results of stresses distance superior to 3.1 m; the absolute error on the
compared to the semi-analytical solution are to be
expected. r=3 - Anal
5 r=3,05 - Anal
r=3,1 - Anal
r=3,2 - Anal
3.3 Comparison with the semi-analytical solution 4 r=3,55 - Anal
r=3,7 - Anal
Pore pressure (MPa)
Figure 10 presents a comparison of normal displace- r=5 - Anal

ment between the semi-analytical solution and the 3 r=10 - Anal
numerical ones. This shows a very good agreement r=3 - Flac3D
r=3,05 - Flac3D
between both the solutions. In particular, the maximum 2 r=3,1 - Flac3D
of relative error between semi-analytical solution and r=3,2 - Flac3D
r=3,55 - Flac3D
FLAC3D results is about 0.7% and corresponds to 1 r=3,7 - Flac3D
radial distance inferior to 3.2 m and t 5 Ms. In the r=5 - Flac3D
other cases, the relative error is about 0.2%. r=10 - Flac3D
0
Figure 11 illustrates the comparison of pore pressure 0 20 40 60 80 100
between the semi-analytical solution and the numerical -1
ones. For a given radial distance, both numerical and Time (Ms)
semi-analytical solutions are quantitatively and qualita-
tively similar. In particular, it should be noted that some Figure 11. Numerical and semi-analytical solutions: pore
underpressures (i.e. “unsaturated” zones corresponding pressure.
Time (Ms) 0 20 40 60 80 100

0 0
r=3 - Anal
-1 0 20 40 20 r=3 - Anal
20 100 r=3,05 - Anal
Radial effective stress (MPa)
r=3,05 - Anal
r=3,1 - Anal
-2 -2
Radial displacement (mm)
r=3,1 - Anal
r=3,2 - Anal
r=3,2 - Anal
-3 r=3,55 - Anal
r=3,55 - Anal
r=3,7 - Anal
-4 r=3,7 - Anal -4
r=5 - Anal
r=5 - Anal
-5 r=10 - Anal
r=10 - Anal
r=3 - Flac3D -6 r=3,013 - Flac3D
-6 r=3,063 - Flac3D
r=3,05 - Flac3D
r=3,1 - Flac3D r=3,113 - Flac3D
-7
r=3,2 - Flac3D -8 r=3,213 - Flac3D
-8 r=3,55 - Flac3D r=3,563 - Flac3D
r=3,7 - Flac3D r=3,725 - Flac3D
-9 r=5,05 - Flac3D
r=5 - Flac3D -10
-10 r=10 - Flac3D r=10,05 - Flac3D
Figure 10. Numerical and semi-analytical solutions: radial Figure 12. Numerical and semi-analytical solutions: radial
displacement. effective stress.
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09069-09.qxd 08/11/2003 20:19 PM Page 79
0 20 40 60 80 100 – The plastic radius rp for the semi-analytical solution

-8 is about 3.55 m whereas rp equals 3.7 in numerical
r=3 - Anal
Orthoradial effective stress (MPa)
r=3,05 - Anal model. However, for numerical solution the ortho-

-10 r=3,1 - Anal radial and radial plastic strain are respectively 5
r=3,2 - Anal
r=3,55 - Anal and 12 , and reached at the beginning of full
-12 r=3,7 - Anal drainage (t 1.5 Ms). Note that similarly to the
r=5 - Anal
-14 r=10 - Anal stress tensor, strain tensor and principal plastic
r=3 - Flac3D strains are zone variable.
r=3,05 - Flac3D
-16 r=3,1 - Flac3D – For radial distance ranged between the hole wall
r=3,2 - Flac3D and the elastic/plastic transition region, the maxi-
r=3,55 - Flac3D
-18 r=3,7 - Flac3D mum relative error between the semi-analytical
r=5 - Flac3D and numerical solution is about 8%.
r=10 - Flac3D
-20
Time (Ms)
4 CONCLUSION
Figure 13. Numerical and semi-analytical solutions:
orthoradial effective stress. This paper presents numerical implementation of
non-linear constitutive model of rock mass in the
orthoradial and radial is respectively about 0.3 and three-dimensional code FLAC3D, as well as its verifi-
0.2 MPa; that corresponds to a relative error of 2%. cation and validation. Firstly, a non-linear elasto-
However in the vicinity of the inner wall (3 m for the damage-plastic model based on the Hoek-Brown
semi-analytical solution and 3.0125 m in FLAC3D), the failure criterion and for which hardening in pre-peak
maximum difference between both solutions is 0.6 MPa. (characterizing the material damage), softening (char-
In order to capture the magnitude of error in terms acterizing the post-peak behavior and the failure of
of stresses due to the difference in the radial distances sample) is implemented in FLAC3D.
where the principal effective stresses were computed Simulation of triaxial compression tests at differ-
respectively for semi-analytical and numerical solu- ent level of confining pressure provides a verification
tions, the closed-form solution for prediction dis- of the implemented model. The resulting curves dis-
placements and stresses around circular openings in play four regions (elastic, damage in pre-peak, soften-
elasto-brittle-plastic rock (based on Hoek-Brown cri- ing in post-peak and residual phase) when the confining
terion) recently developed by Sharan (2003) is used. pressure is below the transition stress, and three regions
This closed-form solution is only valid for the mechan- (elastic, damage and perfect plastic phase) under high
ical configuration. confining pressure. In addition, the onset of damage
For Sharan closed-form solution, the previous hole (limit between elastic/damage region), the peak and
geometry, mechanical properties, mechanical initial residual strengths derived from these simulations are
and boundary conditions are used. In addition, it was compared with the theoretical envelops: the corre-
assumed that the 3 m-radius hole is instantaneously sponding relative error does not exceed 0.3%.
excavated. Under these conditions, the orthoradial and The ability of the implemented model to predict
radial stresses are calculated based on the closed-form the damaged and failed regions around an underground
solution for these pairs of radial distances (in meters): excavation is successfully tested. In this verification,
3–3.0125, 3.05–3.0625, 3.1–3.1125, 3.2–3.2125, 3.5– a circular and an initial anisotropic stress (in order to
3.5625, 3.7–3.725, 5–5.05 and 10–10.05. The maxi- maximize the extent of damage and failure) are con-
mum of difference for each pair is about 0.2 MPa. sidered. The extent of failed areas is concentrated at
In relation to the previous discussion on the radial the gallery wall in the compressive region where the
and orthoradial effective stresses, we can say that the maximum deviatoric stress is prescribed (direction of
difference between the semi-analytical and numerical the initial minor principal stress), whereas the damaged
solutions for radial distance superior to 3.1 m remains areas are ranged between the failed and the elastic
in an acceptable order of magnitude while in the regions. As a result, the damaged zone has an elliptical
vicinity of the inner radius, numerical results derived form similarly to the prediction of damage models based
from FLAC3D can be ameliorated by increasing the on the concept of effective stress (damage theory).
mesh density (unfortunately, this will considerably Secondly, a variant of the elasto-damage-plastic
decrease the FLAC3D hydraulic characteristic time, and model, for which a semi-analytical solution of drainage
then increase the calculations duration). of an infinite medium by a cylindrical hole exists, is
Finally, the investigation of orthoradial and radial used in order to validate the poroplastic calculations
plastic strains (not reported herein) between the semi- in FLAC3D. The previous implementation has been
analytical and numerical solutions leads to the fol- slightly modified for the variant version, and firstly
lowing comments. tested on triaxial compression tests with a good
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agreement between predicted peak and residual Martin, C.D. & Chandler, N.A. 1994. The progressive fail-
strengths and theoretical ones. ure of Lac du Bonnet granite. International Journal of
Comparison of normal displacement between the Rocks Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 31(6): 643–659.
semi-analytical solution and the numerical ones indi- Shao, J.F., Chiarelli, A.S. & Hoteit, N. 1998. Modeling of
coupled elastoplastic damage in rock materials. Interna-
cates a very good agreement: the relative error is glob- tional Journal of Rocks Mechanics and Mining Sciences.
ally about 0.2%. Also, for a given radial distance, 35(4–5): Paper No. 115.
both numerical and semi-analytical solutions are Sharan, S.K. 2003. Elastic-brittle-plastic analysis of circu-
quantitatively and qualitatively similar in terms of lar openings in Hoek-Brown media. to appear in
pore pressure results with a neglected difference International Journal of Rocks Mechanics and Mining
(0.02 MPa) compared to the initial field of pore pres- Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts.
sure (4.7 MPa). Souley, M., Homand, F., Hoxha, D. & Chibout, M. 1999.
In terms of radial and orthoradial effective stresses, Damage around a keyed URL excavation: change in per-
the semi-analytical and numerical solutions are qual- meability induced by microcracks growth. In Detournay
& Hart (eds), FLAC and Numerical Modeling in Geo-
itatively the same. Far to the gallery wall, the stress mechanics: 205–213. Rotterdam: Balkema.
difference does not exceed 0.3 MPa (that corresponds Souley, M., Hoxha, D. & Homand-Etienne, F. 1998. Distinct
to a relative error of 2%). element modelling of an underground excavation using a
continuum damage model. International Journal of Rocks
Mechanics and Mining Sciences. 35(4–5): Paper No. 6.
Steif, P.S. 1984. Crack extension under compressive load-
REFERENCES ing. Engineering Fracture Mechanics. 20(3): 463–473.
Su, K. 2002. Analysis of the capacity of numerical models
Carranza-Torres, C. & Fairhurst, C. 1999. The elasto-plastic to simulate excavation in deep argillaceous rock,
response of underground excavations in rocks masses 5th EURATOM framework programme, MODEX-REP
that satisfy the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. Interna- project contract FIKW-CT2000-00029 – Deliverable 1,
tional Journal of Rocks Mechanics and Mining Sciences. August 2002.
36(6): 777–809. Su, K. 2003. Constitutive models of the Meuse/Haute-
Detournay, E. & Cheng, A.H.-D. 1993. Comprehensive Rock Marne Argilites, MODEX-REP project contract FIKW-
Engineering. Pergamon Press Ltd. CT2000-00029 – Deliverable 2&3, February 2003.
Detournay, E. & Cheng, A.H.-D. 1988. Poroelastic Response Voller, V., Peng, S. & Chen, Y. 1996. Numerical Solution of
of a Borehole in a Non-Hydrostatic Stress Field. Interna- Transient, Free Surface Problems in Porous Media.
tional Journal of Rocks Mechanics and Mining Sciences. International Journal of Numerical Methods in Engi-
25(3): 171–182. neering. 2889–2906.
Homand-Etienne, F., Hoxha, D. & Shao, J.F. 1998. A contin- Vouille, G., Tijani, M. & Miehe, B. 2001. Hydro-mechanical
uum damage constitutive law for brittle rocks. Computers theoretical problem: Drainage of an infinite medium
and Geotechnics. 22(2): 135–151. by a cylindrical hole. In EC-5th EURATOM framework
Ju, J.W. 1989. On the energy based on coupled elastoplastic programme 1998–2000 MODEX-REP project: contract
damage theories: constitutive modeling and computa- FIKW-CT-200-00029, NOT-EMP-01-02, Technical Note,
tional aspects. International Journal of Solids Structures. fevrier 08.
25(7): 803–833. Wong, T.F. 1982. Micromechanics of faulting in Westerly
Lemaitre, J. 1985. A course on damage mechanics. 2nd edi- granite. International Journal of Rocks Mechanics and
tion. Springer. Mining Sciences. 19(1): 49–62.
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Slope stability

09069-10.qxd 08/11/2003 20:20 PM Page 83

A parametric study of slope stability under circular failure condition

by a numerical method
M. Aksoy & G. Once

Osmangazi University, Mining Engineering Dept., Eskisehir, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Slope failures can cause delay in the production schedule and the loss of life and equipment. In
this study, slopes excavated in very weak rock masses where expected failure mode is circular failure have been
studied. The effects of slope height, slope angle, water saturation, cohesion, internal friction angle and density
on slope stability under circular failure conditions have been investigated by three methods: Hoek and Bray stabil-
ity diagrams, Bishop’s simplified method of slices, and finite difference numerical code, FLAC3D (Itasca 1997).
Safety factor calculations have been carried out for the various values of parameters and obtained values are
compared with each other. However, the main focus is on the results of the numerical modeling. The presence
of correlation between the studied parameters and the factors of safety obtained from numerical models has
been searched and the fitted equation has been given.
1 INTRODUCTION Factor of safety is used as an index to define the

slope stability and it can be simply described as the ratio
Slope stability is one of the most important subjects of the total resisting force to the total inducing force.
in mining and civil applications. In open pit mining, In this study, the investigation of circular (rotational
especially, the design of a stable slope has become shear) failure usually observed in the altered rock or
important to meet the safety regulations in addition to soil slopes has been based on the effects of geomechan-
the profitable extraction of the deposit. This can be ical properties of rock or soil and the shape of the
achieved by the proper selection of slope angle, shape slope on the slope stability. How the safety factor values
and height. are affected with the variation of the parameters values
The factors governing the stability of an open pit have been searched by three methods and calculated
slope can be listed as follows (Stacey 1968): safety factors have been compared.
– Geological structure
– Rock stresses and ground water conditions 2 METHODS APPLIED IN THE STUDY
– Strength of discontinuities and intact rock
– Pit geometry including both slope angles and slope As mentioned before, safety factors have been calcu-
curvature lated by three different approaches:
– Vibrations from blasting or seismic events
1. Hoek and Bray stability diagrams
– Climatic conditions
2. Bishop’s simplified method of slices
– Time
3. Numerical modeling in FLAC3D
The failure mode of a pit slope is also determined
It should be emphasized that the assumptions of
by these factors. It can be said that a pit slope is
each of these three methods are quite distinct and
designed according to the failure mode expected to
clearly stated in the literature. In fact, one of the main
occur (Sjöberg 1999). The main failure modes observed
differences of these methods is that Hoek and Bray
in slopes can be listed as:
and Bishop’s simplified method of slices are based
– Plane failure on 2-dimension limit equilibrium analysis whereas
– Wedge failure FLAC3D is based on 3-dimension numerical analysis.
– Circular failure Therefore, in order to compare the results of these
– Toppling failure methods, the location of critical failure surface
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determined from the chart given by Hoek and Bray Table 1. Parameter values used in all approaches.
(1981) was chosen as a basis for comparison purpose.
In other words, safety factors have been calculated for Parameters Values Parameters Values
this critical failure surface by these three methods.
Cohesion (kPa) 50 Cohesion fully 50
However, the main focus of this study is on the results
90* saturated (kPa) 90
of numerical modeling. 130 130
Geomechanical properties of rock and the shape of 170 170
the slope used in this study can be listed as:
Internal friction 20 Slope angle (°) 30
– Cohesion angle (°) 25* 40
– Internal friction angle 30 50
– Density 35 60*
40 70
– Water condition
– Slope angle Density (t/m3) 1.6 Slope height (m) 20
– Slope height 1.9 50*
2.2 80
All these factors have been taken as parameters 2.5* 140
and safety factors have been calculated. For all three 2.8 200
methods, the value of the parameter whose effect on
safety factor will be investigated has been changed *Constant values.
while the other parameters have been kept constant.
The parameters and values used are given in Table 1.
2.1 Hoek and Bray stability diagrams

Hoek and Bray have adopted an approach in which a
series of the slope stability charts have been presented
for circular failure (Hoek & Bray 1981). These stability
diagrams have been used to find safety factor values.
2.2 Bishop’s simplified method of slices

For the safety factor calculations, models have been
formed in SLOPE/W program (Geo-soft, student edi-
tion). The search for the critical failure surface could Figure 1. A model formed in the SLOPE/W.
be carried out in the program. But as mentioned
before, instead of this, these calculations have been numerical models have been performed by means of a
done for the critical failure surfaces whose locations fish function written for this purpose (Aksoy 2001). The
have been determined from the Hoek’s chart. A model safety factor definition used has been based on the first
used in the analysis is shown in the Figure 1. approach proposed by Kourdey et al. (2001), but it has
been modified and these modifications are as follows:
2.3 Numerical modeling in FLAC3D – The mohr-coulomb failure criteria is directly used
According to the methodology proposed by Starfield & – The state of stress of zones are obtained from elastic,
Cundall (1998), numerical modeling can be used to isotropic models
determine how different variables affect the slope sta- – Normal and shear stresses are calculated on the
bility. In this study, FLAC3D, a commercial finite differ- critical plane of each zone
ence code by Itasca, was selected for the purpose The stresses developed on the any zone in the
of numerical modeling and analysis. It is a three- numerical model can be expressed in terms of 1 and 3
dimensional explicit finite difference program for engi- and these stresses can be plotted on the mohr diagram
neering mechanics computations and it offers an ideal as seen in Figure 2.
analysis tool for the solution of three-dimensional To make safety factor definition clear, it is explained
problems in geotechnical engineering (Itasca 1997). below in detail for the case in which the value of
cohesion is changed while the value of internal friction
2.3.1 Safety factor calculations in FLAC3D angle is kept constant.
FLAC3D does not calculate factor of safety directly (in There will be a critical plane on which the avail-
version 2.0). However, it can be done by writing a fish able shear strength will be first reached as 1 is
function. In this study, safety factor calculations for increased. The orientation of this critical plane for
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Figure 3. The general slope model and initial vertical

Figure 2. Mohr diagram. stress state in FLAC3D.
each zone can be calculated from the Equation 1 where si shear strength; n normal stress;
(Brady & Brown 1993): internal friction angle.
Local safety factor is described as the ratio of shear
strength to shear stress developed on the critical plane
(1)
for each zone:
where angle between critical plane and the hori- (7)

zontal; internal friction angle.
Normal and shear stresses developed in this plane
can be expressed as follows: where F1 local safety factor; si shear strength;
st shear stress.
(2) For the calculation of general safety factor Fg, the
zones on the critical failure surfaces whose locations
have been determined from the Hoek’s chart are used
(3) and general safety factor defined as:
where n normal stress; 1 major principal stress; (8)

3 minor principal stress; angle between critical
plane and the horizontal; st shear stress.
For the critical plane, these equations are rewritten where Fg general safety factor; Fli local safety
due to sin2 cos and cos2 sin (Brady & factor of the zone I; and vi volume of the zone i.
Brown, 1993): This approach is used for all parametric studies.
But, in the case of different internal friction angle val-
(4) ues, the orientation of critical plane for which shear
and normal stresses are calculated is taken as constant
at the value found for internal friction angle 25°. In
(5) other words, it is assumed that the orientation of critical
plane has not been affected by the change of internal
friction angle value. The reason for this is to compare
where st shear stress; 1 major principal stress; safety factor values at the same normal stress level.
3 minor principal stress; internal friction
angle; n normal stress.
As it can be seen on Figure 3, mohr failure envelopes 3 NUMERICAL MODEL STUDIES AND
that have different cohesion values with the same inter- PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
nal friction angle are drawn. Shear stress values at the
intersection points (A1, A2) of mohr failure envelopes Rock mass has been assumed as isotropic and homoge-
with the A2 D line are accepted as the shear strength neous material through the study and the stresses in the
values (s1, s2) of the zone depending on the value of numerical models have been initialized by taking the
cohesion and internal friction angle. And these shear slope geometry into consideration. The general slope
strengths can be calculated from the Equation 6: model and initial stress state is given in the Figure 3.
In addition to cohesion, internal friction angle and
(6) density properties given in Table 1, the other material
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properties used in numerical modeling are given in models has been searched. For this purpose, a R factor
Table 2. k ratio, the ratio of horizontal stress to vertical has been proposed and calculated from the Equation 11:
stress, has been found from the Equation 9:
(11)
(9)
where c cohesion; internal friction angle;

where h horizontal stress; v vertical stress; H slope height; slope angle; rock mass
Poisson ratio. density; and v Poisson ratio.
The procedure followed in numerical modeling
can be described as follows; first, material model for
all numerical models has been selected as elastic, 4 RESULTS
isotropic model. Safety factors have been calculated
by using the results of these model runs. After safety Results of three methods and failure conditions of
factor calculations, all numerical models have been numerical models are summarized in Tables 3 & 4.
modified in such way that their material models have During the evaluation of the numerical models in
been changed from elastic, isotropic model into the terms of failure, it should be noted that FLAC3D does
mohr-coulomb plasticity model. Modified models not produce a solution at the end of its calculation.
have been run again and evaluated to determine the However, several indicators such as unbalanced force,
failure condition (Aksoy 2001). gridpoint velocities, plastic indicators and histories
As it can be seen in Table 2, it has been assumed are used to asses the state of the numerical model in
that rock mass has no tensile strength. However, in terms of stable, unstable, or in steady-state plastic
order to observe the effect of tensile strength on the flow (Itasca 1997).
safety factor values of numerical models, new models
have been formed. In these models, tensile strength of Table 3. Safety factors by Bishop and Hoek and Bray.
rock mass has been calculated from the Equation 10
(Brady & Brown 1993). Safety factor
Parameters Values Bishop Hoek and Bray

(10)
Cohesion 50 0.752 0.695
(kPa) 90 0.952 0.895
where t tensile strength; c cohesion; internal 130 1.156 1.070
friction angle. 170 1.361 1.236
It has been also considered that changing the Internal fric- 20 0.849 0.800
Poisson ratio taken as 0.25 for all models will change tion angle (°) 25 0.952 0.895
the magnitude of the horizontal stress and this will 30 1.088 1.014
differentiate the stress state developed within the 35 1.222 1.152
slope. As a result, this will affect the safety factor val- 40 1.371 1.263
ues of the slopes and to observe this effect, new mod- Density (t/m3) 1.6 1.210 1.108
els having different Poisson ratios have been run for 1.9 1.097 0.990
different cohesion values. 2.2 1.015 0.960
2.5 0.952 0.895
At the final stage of this study, the presence of a
2.8 0.904 0.859
relationship between the parameters with the addition
Cohesion 50 0.364 0.498
of Poisson ratio and safety factors in the numerical
(fully satu- 90 0.561 0.695
rated) 130 0.751 0.848
Table 2. Material properties. (kPa) 170 0.943 0.990
Slope angle 30 1.866 1.630
Properties Values (°) 40 1.375 1.306
50 1.114 1.070
Elastic modulus 1.70 GPa 60 0.952 0.895
Bulk modulus 1.13 GPa 70 0.802 0.760
Shear modulus 0.68 GPa Slope height 20 1.589 1.485
Tensile strength 0.00 Pa (m) 50 0.952 0.895
Poisson ratio 0.25 80 0.781 0.733
k Ratio 0.33 140 0.666 0.593
Dilation angle 0.0 200 0.614 0.522
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09069-10.qxd 08/11/2003 20:20 PM Page 87
These indicators are shown in Figure 4 for one of the In the light of the evaluation of the numerical models
numerical models. The displacement vectors and the having the mohr-coulomb plasticity model, safety fac-
contours of shear strain increment of the same numeri- tors of numerical models have been classified in terms
cal model are given in Figure 5. of failure, and given in Figure 6.
Safety factor values obtained from the models hav-
ing different Poisson ratios for cohesion parameter
Table 4. Safety factors and failure conditions of numerical are given in Figure 7.
models in FLAC3D. Results of the safety factor calculation for numeri-
cal models with different tensile strengths calculated
Parameters Values Safety factor Failure according to Equation 10 are shown in Figure 8 for
the cohesion parameter.
Cohesion 50 0.551 YES A correlation has been established between R fac-
(kPa) 90 0.705 YES
130 0.859 NO
tor and safety factors of numerical models. According
170 1.013 NO to this, the obtained linear regression model and cor-
relation coefficient are as follows:
Internal fric- 20 0.641 YES
tion angle (°) 25 0.705 YES
30 0.750 NO (12)
35 0.788 NO
40 0.821 NO
Density (t/m3) 1.6 0.900 NO where F safety factor; r correlation coefficient.
1.9 0.815 NO It can be said that there is a very strong positive
2.2 0.753 YES linear relationship between R factor and safety factor
2.5 0.705 YES and it is shown in the Figure 9.
2.8 0.668 YES
Cohesion 50 0.103 YES
(fully satu- 90 0.141 YES
rated) 130 0.180 YES 5 CONCLUSIONS
(kPa) 170 0.218 YES
For all parameters high safety factor values have been
Slope angle 30 1.450 NO
(°) 40 1.038 NO
given by Bishop Approach and it has been followed
50 0.856 NO by Hoek and Bray and FLAC3D approaches. But in
60 0.705 YES full saturated condition, high safety factor values are
70 0.551 YES given by Hoek and Bray approach and it is followed
Slope height 20 1.094 NO by Bishop and FLAC3D approaches.
(m) 50 0.705 YES It was considered that the reason for low safety
80 0.597 YES factor values in numerical models was the assumption
140 0.533 YES of no tensile strength. Then new numerical models in
200 0.472 YES which tensile strength was calculated depending on the
cohesion and internal friction angle have been run and
Figure 4. Indicators used to assess the state of the numerical model.
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Figure 5. The displacement vectors and the contours of shear strain increment of the numerical model.
1.6 1.8
1.4 1.6
1.2 1.4
Safety Factor
Safety Factor
1.0 1.2
1.0
0.8
0.8
0.6 0.6
0.4 Failure 0.4 στ = 0
0.2 No failure 0.2 στ # 0
0.0 0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 50 90 130 170
Cohesion (kPa)
Figure 6. Safety factor values classified in terms of failure.
Figure 8. Safety factors at two different tensile strength
1.4
conditions.
1.2
2
1.0
Safety Factor
1.5
Safety Factor
0.8
0.15 1
0.6 0.20 0.5
0.4 0.25
0
0.2 0.30 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02
0.35 R Factor
0.0
50 90 130 170
Figure 9. The relationship between R factor and safety factor.
Cohesion (kPa)
Figure 7. Safety factors calculated for different cohesion

values with the different Poisson ratio. When safety factor values of numerical models
given in Figure 6 are considered, no failure has been
safety factor values have been calculated. As it can be observed in the models whose safety factors are higher
seen in Figure 8, the new values are higher. than 0.8.
It can be also said that another reason for low safety Finally, a preliminary estimate value of the safety
factor values in numerical models can be the numerical factor can be obtained before numerical modeling by
discretization chosen in this study. using proposed regression model (equation 12). It can
88

09069-10.qxd 08/11/2003 20:20 PM Page 89
be useful during the design stage. But it should be Hoek, E. and Bray, J.W. 1981. Rock Slope Engineering.
noted that this regression model should be used with London Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, 358 p.
great caution. The reason for this is that safety factors Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1997. FLAC3D – Fast
calculated by using equation 12 will depend on numer- Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions, Version
2.0 User’s Manual. Minneapolis, MN: Itasca.
ical models formed in this study. Because, equation 12 Kourdey, A., Alheib, M. and Piguet, J.P. 2001. Evaluation of
has been obtained from regression analysis carried out Slope Stability by Numerical Methods, 17th Int. Mining
on the results of numerical modeling studies. These Congress and Exhibition of Turkey, IMCET 2001. Ankara.
results are greatly affected by numerical discretization Sjöberg, J. 1999. Analysis of Large Scale Rock Slopes,
chosen for numerical models in this study. Doctoral Thesis, Lulea University of Technology.
Stacey, T.R. 1968. Stability of Rock Slopes in Open Pit Mines.
National Mechanical Engineering Research Institute.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR
REFERENCES Report MEG 737, Pretoria, South Africa, 66 p.
Starfield, A.M. and Cundall, P.A. 1988. Towards a Method-
ology for Rock Mechanics Modeling. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Aksoy, M. 2001. A Study on the Effect of Parameters
Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 25(3): 99–106.
Affecting safety Factor of Slopes under Circular Failure
Condition, MSc Thesis, Osmangazi University, Turkey.
Brady, B.H.G. and Brown, E.T. 1993. Rock Mechanics for
Underground Mining. London Second Edition, Chapman &
Hall.
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Numerical modeling of seepage-induced liquefaction and slope failure
S.A. Bastani
Leighton Consulting, Inc., Irvine, California, USA
B.L. Kutter
University of California, Davis, California, USA
ABSTRACT: Several earth dams, tailings dams, and slopes failed or were severely damaged due to liquefaction
during or after earthquakes. In seismic areas, earth structures such as embankments may be subjected to two forces:
the static loads due to gravity and the inertia forces caused by earthquakes. In a significant number of cases, lique-
faction-induced failure of embankments occurred from seconds to hours after an earthquake. In these cases, lique-
faction reduced the material strength and the failure occurred only under static loads. A finite slope was modeled at
UC Davis National Geotechnical Centrifuge to evaluate post-earthquake deformations with an injection-induced
liquefaction system. A constitutive model was developed to capture the behavior of sands with a minimum number
of physically meaningful parameters to enable prediction of post-earthquake liquefaction and/or seepage-induced
liquefaction. This constitutive model is based on the Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model and the Critical State con-
cept by adding three parameters to the conventional Mohr-Coulomb model. The constitutive model performed ade-
quately for modeling the sand behavior under monotonic drained and undrained triaxial loading and water injection
for a simple shear test under a constant shear stress. Using the new constitutive model, the failure mode of the cen-
trifuge model due to seepage-induced liquefaction was studied utilizing FLAC. Stress and strain paths for specific
elements in the embankment are studied and presented in this paper.
1 INTRODUCTION The centrifuge test was modeled by Fast Lagrangian

Analysis of Continua (FLAC) computer code utilizing
Examples of post-earthquake liquefaction-induced fail- a new constitutive model as presented in this paper. For
ures of embankments are reported by Dobry & Alvarez more details on the centrifuge and numerical models
(1967), Seed et al. (1975), Okusa et al. (1978), and Finn refer to Bastani (2003).
(1980). In these cases, liquefaction reduced the material
strength and the failure occurred under static forces
after the earthquake shaking. One mechanism for the 2 CENTRIFUGE MODEL
delayed failure is the softening associated with redistri-
bution of void ratio caused by gradients of pore water The centrifuge model consisted of three layers:
pressure in sloping ground with non-uniform perme-
1. A uniform 51 mm thick layer of Monterey Sand
ability. This mechanism has been studied by Malvick
(mean grain size 1.25 mm);
et al. (2003) and Kokusho & Kojima (2002).
2. A fine sand (Nevada Sand, mean grain size
For the present study, the post-earthquake
0.12 mm) embankment with a minimum thickness
liquefaction-induced failure of granular embankments
of 102 mm at its toe and a maximum thickness of
was investigated by a static centrifuge test in which the
356 mm at the slope crest; and
water that might be produced during an earthquake due
3. A uniform 51 mm thick layer of Yolo Loam that
to densification of deep saturated soil was simulated by
capped the Nevada Sand embankment.
injecting a similar volume of water at the base of the
model as presented in detail by Bastani (2003). This The horizontal lengths of the embankment toe, the
centrifuge model consisted of a coarse sand layer with slope, and the crest were 356, 584, and 533 mm, respec-
a constant thickness at its base to spread the injected tively. The slope angle was 23.5 degrees. The average
water beneath an embankment composed of a fine void ratio of the Nevada Sand was 0.77 corresponding
sand capped by a layer of low permeability clayey silt. to a relative density of 33 percent; at this density,
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(15,19)
(40,16)
where e is the void ratio, (ecs)a is the critical state void
(34,12)
(15,16) (28,16)
ratio at one atmosphere, is the virgin compression
(18,4)
(20,13) Yolo Loam
slope, p is the mean effective stress, and pa is the
(13,9) atmospheric pressure.
(18,6) As explained by Been & Jefferies (1985), the grad-
Nevada Sand (47,6)
ual change from dilative to contractive behavior can be
quantified in terms of the state parameter . The dila-
tion angle (dilation) was modified based on the state
Monterey Sand
parameter and its changes according to the equation:
0 0.5
Grid plot
(2)
Figure 1. FLAC grid.
where dilation is the updated dilation angle, (dilation)0

the sand was highly dilative at the confining pressures is the initial dilation angle, is the state parameter, and
experienced in the experiment. The Yolo Loam had an is the variation of the state parameter. The soil’s
average undrained shear strength of about 10 kPa and bulk and shear moduli are also modified in the model.
a water content of 33 percent. An additional overbur- The bulk modulus (K) is evaluated using the relation:
den pressure equivalent to 90 mm of water head was
applied over a plastic membrane on the Yolo Loam
layer. All dimensions are provided in the model scale (3)
and the embankment’s configuration is presented in
Figure 1. The centrifuge model was consolidated in
several stages as the centrifuge speed was increased up where is the unloading slope and p and e are
to 37.9 g. defined as above. The shear modulus (G) was conse-
quently determined based on the bulk modulus (K)
and their elastic relationship:
3 CONSTITUTIVE MODEL
A constitutive model was developed to simulate (4)

behavior of Nevada Sand in the FLAC program
framework, and it was incorporated in the numerical
modeling of the centrifuge test. The purpose of this where v is Poisson’s ratio.
model was to predict the principal behavior of Nevada The behavior of the constitutive model under
Sand with a minimum number of parameters that are selected load paths are presented in Figure 2 conven-
physically defined and measurable. tional drained triaxial compression, conventional
The failure envelope for this constitutive model cor- undrained triaxial compression, and a simple shear
responds to the Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model element subjected to a constant applied shear stress
(shear yield function) with tension cutoff (tensile yield and water injection. Results are shown for deviator
function). The shear flow rule is non-associated and the stress (q), p , volumetric strain (v), void ratio (e), and
tensile flow rule is associated. The shear potential func- shear strain ().
tion corresponds to a non-associated flow rule. Details This constitutive model predicted the strain hard-
of Mohr-Coulomb model implementation are explained ening behavior of the Nevada Sand during undrained
in the FLAC manual published by Itasca (2001). shearing until cavitation occurred prior to reaching
Several modifications are made to the Mohr- the critical state line. The undrained path in Figure 2
Coulomb model. The mobilized friction angle approximately simulated the triaxial test data. Bastani
(mobilized cs
dilation) is represented as a sum (2003) compared the calculated undrained stress
of the critical state friction angle (cs) and the dilation paths with experimental data (not shown here). The
angle (dilation) as described by Bolton (1991). cs is model behaved more stiffly under the undrained con-
considered constant, while, the dilation is assumed to dition, approximately 2 times more than what was
be variable depending on the distance of the material observed in the triaxial experiments for the Nevada
state from the critical state line in e-log(p ) space, Sand with a relative density of 26%; but the model
defined by the state parameter: reasonably matched test results for the Nevada Sand
with a relative density of 39.4%.
The model behavior exhibited elastic contraction
(1) under the drained condition up to the peak shear
stress. Dilation started after the peak shear stress and
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0.92
300 (')cs 300
(')cs+(')dilation
0.88
250 250
0.84
e
200 200
0.8
q (kPa)
q (kPa)
150 150
0.76
100 100 1 10 100
p'(kPa)
50 50
0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
p'(kPa) γ
150 0.04
100 0.03
Pore Water Pressure (kPa)
50 Model Behavior: 0.02

εv
Drained Triaxial Test

Undrained Triaxial Test
0 Simple Shear (Khc =0.6, τxy =62 kPa) 0.01
-50 0
Cavitation
-100 -0.01
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
γ γ
Figure 2. Behavior of the new constitutive model.
continued up to the critical state condition. Finally, the Table 1. Model parameters.
model behavior was studied under a constant shear
Parameters Value
stress and pore water pressure increase, modeling a
simple shear test with pore fluid injection. The consti- * 0.022
tutive model slightly dilated prior to reaching the fail- ( /5) 0.0044
ure envelope; thereafter, the sample dilated with the cs (degree) 32
increase of pore water pressure and the stress path (dilation)max (degree) 10
approached the origin along the failure envelope in the 0.25
p -q space until it reached the critical state condition e0 (initial void ratio) 0.77
similar to the stress path suggested by Boulanger (ecs)a* 0.809
(1990). The dilation rate was less than that shown by Atmospheric pressure, pa (kPa) 101.2
his experiment (Boulanger, 1990); however, the stress
* Archilleas et al. 2001.
path, boundary condition, and initial condition of the
experiments performed by Boulanger prior to water
injection into his simple shear tests were not known, dynamically under the unbalanced external loads.
and therefore were not completely simulated by this Some oscillation is observed in the q– curves at shear
calibration. As expected, the water injection to the strains greater than 0.12, but the softening behavior can
element led to an unstable condition when the strength still be clearly observed during the dynamic collapse.
of the element dropped below the applied shear The parameters used for this calibration and later
stress. Continued softening caused the stress path to in the numerical modeling based on this constitutive
drop toward the origin while the sample collapsed model are provided in Table 1.
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4 FLAC MODEL BEHAVIOR for the two runs are plotted on Figure 3. This figure
indicates the following behaviors:
FLAC version 4.0 was utilized to model the centrifuge
1. The mobilized friction angle was reduced along
test. The numerical model was run twice. The first
the Nevada Sand interface elements by the new
run used the conventional Mohr-Coulomb constitu-
constitutive model and along a deeper seated fail-
tive model, while the second run utilized the new con-
ure plane as shown by the new constitutive model;
stitutive model (discussed in Section 3) to model the
2. Volumetric strains were concentrated along the
Nevada Sand behavior. This numerical model was
interface of Nevada Sand and Yolo Loam in both
bounded with its and the constitutive model’s limita-
numerical models. However, deeper volumetric
tions; however, it was successfully used to observe the
strains were observed in the modified constitutive
general mechanism of localized increase in void ratio
model, which coincided with the friction angle and
just beneath the less permeable clayey silt layer, and
shear strain patterns;
the failure mechanism; exact predictions were not
3. Shear strains were also concentrated at the slope
expected. The FLAC runs were performed with the
interface within the Nevada Sand layer. Similarly a
large-strain mode.
deeper shear zone was predicted by the new consti-
Figure 1 shows the grid utilized in this model. The
tutive model matching the volumetric strain and
grid nodes and elements are identified in the subse-
mobilized friction angle reduction patterns;
quent figures with their column and row numbers
4. Sand and clay layers moved downward at the slope,
(i,j). The column and row numbers increase from left
which was translated to vertical uplift at the toe.
to right and bottom to top, respectively.
Contours of mobilized friction angle, volumetric It is worthwhile to mention that the pore water pres-
strain, and shear strain and grid deformation patterns sure was mainly increased from the slope toe within
Figure 3. Friction angle, volumetric and shear strains, and deformation patterns at 13 seconds of seepage.
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the Nevada Sand layer toward the slope crest and with the second run due to the ability of the modified con-
a slower rate from the back of the slope crest toward stitutive model to withstand a mobilized friction angle
the slope. greater than the critical state friction angle during dila-
It should also be noted that the development of a tion. The majority of volumetric strains of elements
deep failure mechanism, or not, was affected by the were induced when the mean effective stress (p )
rate at which the water was injected relative to the became less than 10 kPa and close to zero. The volu-
permeability of the soils. For somewhat slower injec- metric strains were stabilized wherever the injection
tion, the deeper mechanism would disappear and slid- did not cause the strength to fall below the applied
ing along the bottom interface of the Yolo Loam shear stress.
would be apparent. For much greater injection rates, a Predicted pore water pressures and deformations
failure mechanism at the interface between the coarse are compared with the experimental results in Figures
Monterey Sand and the fine Nevada Sand was 5 & 6, respectively. In general the predicted pore water
observed (Bastani 2003). pressures are in good agreement with the experimen-
Stress/strain paths of several elements at the toe, tal results for both constitutive models. However, the
along the slope, and at the slope crest are plotted on initial rate of pore water pressure increase is in better
Figure 4. Effective stresses of slope/leaning elements agreement with the new constitutive model. Similar
reduced while oscillating around constant shear stresses trends were obtained by the numerical model, such as
up to the failure envelope. However, shear stresses of stabilization of pore water pressure at the beginning
carrying elements along the slope and its toe increased and its further increase for PPT# 5296 (Fig. 5). Other
during the failure of leaning elements until reaching than deformation at the middle of the slope (LVDT
the failure envelope. Stress paths moved toward the #3), where the experimental result indicated bulging,
origin after reaching the failure envelope and strain deformation rates and magnitudes were predicted very
softening was observed. In general, the elements at the well by both models.
toe and along the slope showed higher shear strengths The numerical model successfully predicted the
prior to their stress paths diving toward the origin in dilatancy to cause a very loose layer of sand below
Figure 4. Stress path and behavior of elements. Solid and dashed lines refer to the results of the new and Mohr-Coulomb
constitutive models, respectively.
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Figure 6. Deformation time histories.
the less permeable layer of Yolo Loam. The calculated

volumetric strains of the dilated sand indicate a negli-
gible residual strength after dilation.
5 CONCLUSION
A modified Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model was

developed based upon critical state theory in conjunc-
tion with a new expression for dilatancy that depends
on the state parameter (the distance between the state
and the critical state). The constitutive model was
shown to enable calculation of strain-softening paths,
and dilation due to water injection.
The constitutive model was implemented in FLAC
and used to analyze results of centrifuge model tests of
layered sloping ground subject to pore fluid injection.
The injection was intended to simulate the upward
flow of water that might be generated by densification
of deep soil deposits during earthquake shaking.
In the past, embankments made of dilative material
were considered to be safe, because the undrained
strength is greater than the driving stress (Poulos et al.
Figure 5. Pore water pressure time histories. 1985). The centrifuge tests and the FLAC analyses
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presented here clearly demonstrate the possibility that Boulanger, R.W. 1990. Liquefaction Behavior of Saturated
layers that impede drainage may cause a significant Cohesionless Soils Subjected to Uni-Directional and Bi-
localized zone of softened material that should be Directional Static and Cyclic Simple Shear Stresses.
considered a possibility in seismic design. To deter- Dissertation presented to University of California, at
Berkeley, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
mine induced deformations due to local drainage of a the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
system, a material model that captures this process Castro & Poulos (ASCE paper circa 1984).
should be incorporated in the numerical model. The Dobry, R. & Alvarez, L. 1967. Seismic Failure of Chilean
mode of failure and local drainage of the centrifuge Tailing Dams. Journal of Soil Mechanics and Founda-
test presented here was successfully predicted utiliz- tions Division, Proceeding of the American Society of
ing the modified Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model Civil Engineers 93(SM6): 237–260.
in conjunction with FLAC numerical framework. Finn, W.D. 1980. Seismic Response of Tailing Dams.
Presented at Seminar on Design and Construction of
Tailing Dams, Colorado School of Mines, Denver,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Colorado, pp. 76–97.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2001. FLAC – Fast Lagran-
The authors would like to thank Dr. Ben Hushmand, gian Analysis of Continua, Ver. 4.0 User’s Manual.
James Ward, and Vivian Cheng for reviewing this Minneapolis, MN: Itasca.
Kokusko, T. & Kojima, T. 2002. Mechanism for Postlique-
paper and providing constructive comments. faction Water Film Generation in Layered Sand. Journal
of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE 128(2): 129–137.
Malvick, E.J., Kulasingam, R., Boulanger, R.W. & Kutter, B.L.
REFERENCES 2003. Analysis of a Void Ratio Redistribution Mech-
anism in Liquefied Soil. To be Published in Proceedings
Archilleas, G.P., Bouckovalas, G.D. & Dafalias, Y.F. 2001. of the June 2003 Soil and Rock America Conference.
Plasticity Model for Sand Under Small and Large Cyc- Okusa, S., Anma, S. & Maikuma, H. 1978. Liquefaction of
lic Strains. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE Mine Tailing in the 1978 Izu-Ohshima-Kihkai Earth-
127(11):.973–983. quake, Central Japan. Engineering Geology Vol. 16, pp.
Bastani, S.A. 2003. Evaluation of Deformations of Earth 195–224, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co.
Structures due to Earthquakes. Dissertation presented to Poulos, S.J., Castro, G. & France, J.W. 1985. Liquefaction
University of California, at Davis, in partial fulfillment of Evaluation Procedure. Journal of the Geotechnical Engi-
the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. neering Division, ASCE 111(6): 772–792.
Been, K. & Jefferies, M.G. 1985. A State Parameter for Seed, H.B., Lee, K.L., Idriss, I.M. & Makdisi, F.I. 1975. The
Sands. Geotechnique 35(2): 99–112. Slides in the San Fernando Dams during the Earthquake
Bolton, M. 1991. A Guide to Soil Mechanics. Published by of February 9, 1971. Journal of the Geotechnical Engi-
M D & K Bolton, Printed by Chung Hwa Book Company, neering Division, ASCE 101(GT7): 651.
pp. 63–92.
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Complex geology slope stability analysis by shear strength reduction
M. Cala & J. Flisiak

Dept. of Geomechanics, Civil Engineering & Geotechnics, AGH University of Science & Technology, Poland
ABSTRACT: The stability of slopes may be estimated using 2D limit equilibrium methods (LEM) or numerical
methods. Due to the rapid development of computing efficiency, several numerical methods are gaining increasing
popularity in slope stability engineering. A very popular numerical method of slope stability estimation is the shear
strength reduction technique (SSR). It’s a well known fact that for a simple slope factor of safety (FS) obtained from
SSR is usually the same as FS obtained from LEM. However for slopes of complex geology, considerable differ-
ences between FS values may be expected. Application of SSR for such slopes is usually restricted to the weakest
link estimation – that part of the slope with the lowest FS. Finite Difference Method code, FLAC (Itasca 2000), gives
the opportunity to analyze several slip surfaces by using the modified SSR technique (MSSR). The method is based
on reducing shear properties of soils after identification of the first slip surface. MSSR allows a complete estima-
tion of stability for any type of slope.
1 INTRODUCTION geometry (and geology) it’s not possible to analyze FS

for other parts of the slope. This may sometimes lead
The stability of slopes may be estimated using 2D limit to serious mistakes.
equilibrium methods (LEM) or numerical methods.
Due to the rapid development of computing efficiency,
several numerical methods are gaining increasing pop- 2 STABILITY OF SLOPE WITH WEAK
ularity in slope stability engineering. A very popular STRATUM
numerical method of slope stability estimation is shear
strength reduction technique (SSR). In that procedure, To investigate the influence of a weak stratum on FS
the factor of safety (FS) of a soil slope is defined as the some 350 models were analyzed. The thickness of the
number by which the original shear strength parame- weak stratum was changed from 1.0 to 10.0 m and it
ters must be divided in order to bring the slope to the was localized from 0 to 50 m from the top of the slope
point of failure (Dawson & Roth 1999). (Fig. 1).
It’s a well known fact that for simple slopes FS All slopes in this paper were simulated with FLAC/
obtained from SSR is usually the same as FS obtained Slope (Itasca 2002) or FLAC in plane strain, using
from LEM (Griffiths & Lane 1999, Cala & Flisiak small-strain mode.
2001). However for complex geology slopes consid- It was assumed that embankment is 25 m high and
erable differences between FS values from LEM and has a slope angle of 45°. It consists of two different geo-
SSR may be expected (Cala & Flisiak 2001). Several logical units. The soil was given friction angle 30°
analyses for the slope with weak stratum were per-
formed to study the differences between LEM and SSR.
It must be also stated that classical SSR technique
g h
25 m
has several limitations. Application of SSR requires

advanced numerical modeling skills. Calculation time,
in case of complicated models, can last as long as sev- 45°
eral hours.
25 m
However, the most fundamental limitation of SSR is

identification of only one failure surface (in some cases
it may identify more than one surface, but with the same
FS value). This is not a significant limitation in case
of simple geometry slope. But in case with complex Figure 1. Slope with weak stratum.
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09069-12.qxd 08/11/2003 20:21 PM Page 100
2 2
1.9
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.8
FS
1.6
FS
1.7 1.5
1.4
1.6
1.3 Weak layer 5 m thick
Weak layer 1 m thick
FLAC
FLAC
Fellenius
1.2 Fellenius
1.5 Bishop
Bishop
1.1 Janbu
Janbu
1.4 1
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40 50
Distance of weak layer from slope crest
Distance of weak layer from slope crest
Figure 2. FS values for a 1.0 m thick weak layer.

Figure 3. FS values for a 5.0 m thick weak layer.
and cohesion c 75 kPa. The weak, thin layer had

friction angle 10° and cohesion c 25 kPa. Both FLAC
Bishop
soils had unit weight 20 kN/m3. The thickness “g” FS = 1.54
FS = 1.731
of the horizontal weak layer was changed from 1.0 m to
10.0 m and its distance “h” from the top of the slope
changed from 0 to 50 m.
Figure 2 shows the FS values for a 1.0 m thick weak
20 m
layer and Figure 3 for a 5.0 thick one. The decrease of

FS is quite small if the thin weak layer is located close
to the top of the slope.
Increasing the weak layer thickness produces con-
siderable decrease of FS. The differences in FS values
1m
are significant especially in case of small thickness

(1 m–3 m) of weak stratum
Increase of weak layer thickness (irrespectively of its Figure 4. Critical slip surfaces identified by SSR and LEM.
localization) reduces differences between FS values
from LEM and SSR. Especially FS values estimated localization below slope toe. It shows the influence of
with Bishop’s are within 8 % of the FS obtained from weak layer on FS values even if the roof of the stratum
SSR. lays 15 m below the slope toe.
For the thickness of the weak layer less than or equal It must be also pointed out that failure surfaces iden-
to 5 m SSR produces lower FS values than any of the tified by SSR technique are sometimes considerably
LEM methods. For the weak layer 5 m thick Bishop’s different than surfaces identified by LEM (Fig. 4).
method produces FS 1.114 and SSR shows FS Figure 4 shows the situation when FS computed by SSR
1.07. is considerably lower and unit volume of failed slope
Further increase of weak layer thickness (7.5 m and is significantly higher than estimated from LEM.
10 m) produces lowest FS values from Bishop’s method
(FS 0.926 and FS 0.811 respectively). SSR tech-
nique shows respectively FS 0.95 and FS 0.87 in 3 MODIFIED SHEAR STRENGTH
this case. REDUCTION TECHNIQUE (MSSR)
It seems that application of Bishop’s method pro-
duces the most reliable results among LEM. These 3.1 Benched slope stability case
results are simultaneously closest to the FS values
obtained from SSR. Application of Fellenius’s method Application of SSR for complex geology slopes is usu-
produces unreliable FS values in case of weak layer ally restricted to the weakest “link” estimation – part
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09069-12.qxd 08/11/2003 20:21 PM Page 101
of the slope with the lowest FS. However the Finite classical SSR technique – especially with application
Difference Method code FLAC gives the opportunity of any Finite Element Method code. However FLAC is
to analyze several slip surfaces using modified shear created especially for modeling physical instability (in
strength reduction technique – MSSR (Cala & Flisiak this case – physical instabilities would be better term).
2003a, b). This allows to continue shear strength reduction
This method is based on reducing shear properties of and to identify another possible slip surfaces. In ana-
soils after identification of first slip surface (FS1). It lyzed case, next identified failure surface is located
is simply the continuation of classic SSR, but after in the upper part of the slope. FS2 1.00 calculated
first instability occurrence. It is possible only using by MSSR is again very close to FS 1.008 given by
Finite Difference Method. The FLAC program uses Bishop’s method. And finally application of MSSR
the explicit, Lagrangian calculation scheme. The full allowed to evaluate FS for entire slope – FS3 1.24 is
dynamic equations of motion are used, even when also very close to FS 1.228 given by Bishop’s
modeling systems that are essentially static. This method.
enables FLAC to follow physically unstable processes It seems that FS calculated with MSSR are within a
(i.e. several processes simultaneously) without numer- few percent of the FS obtained from LEM for simple
ical distress. In fact, FLAC is most effective when cases. It must be however underlined that effectiveness
applied to nonlinear or large-strain problems, or to sit- of MSSR must be verified on real cases.
uations in which physical instability may occur. This
may lead to identification of several other slip sur-
3.2 Large scale, complex geology slope
faces. The same criterion is used to identify secondary
stability case
(and further) failure surfaces. The primary and the fol-
lowing identified failure modes are constantly active Let’s consider a slope consisted of eight different geo-
(not suppressed) during entire calculation process. logical units (from a Polish lignite open pit mine).
Let’s consider benched slope stability (Fig. 5). The mechanical properties of the soil units involved
Figure 6 shows the slip surfaces identified in in the slope are given in Table 1.
benched slope by MSSR and LEM. Failure of the lower Figure 7 shows geometry and geology of the ana-
part of the slope was detected first. FS1 0.90 cal- lyzed slope. The overall sloping angle was equal
culated by SSR is very close to FS 0.921 given by ! 7.477°.
Bishop’s method. And precisely here ends the range of Figure 8 presents the slip surface identified by
MSSR and LEM. Again SSR finds the location of the
lowest safety factor FS1 0.67. Application of MSSR
identifies four new slip surfaces in several parts of the
10 m
40º slope. FS2 0.87 also shows the local failure surface
which, in fact, does not affect the overall slope stabil-
10 m
3
= 20 kN/m
45º
= 20º ity (precisely like previous one). Another possible
C = 10 kPa
failure surface with FS3 1.02 is based on layer 5
(very thin and weak one) and broken line upward.
15 m
Further analysis showed development of previous

failure surface with FS4 1.17 occurring mainly in
15 m 15 m 20.918 m layer 5. Bishop’s method applied to the upper part of the
slope shows cylindrical failure surface with FS 1.351.
Figure 5. Benched slope case geometry. It must be noted that due to cylindrical shape
Bishop’s slip surface covers a little more soil volume.
Bishop
Bishop FS = 1.008 Table 1. Mechanical properties of soil units.
FS = 1.228 FS2 = 1.00
Bishop FS3 = 1.24 Cohesion Friction angle Unit weight
FS = 0.921 Unit c, kPa , deg , kN/m3
FS1 = 0.90
1 14.0 6.5 18.3

2 90.0 10.9 19.5
3 11.4 7.9 19.5
4 90.0 10.9 19.5
5 11.4 7.9 19.5
6 90.0 10.9 19.5
7 28.0 8.5 20.0
Figure 6. Several slip surfaces identified in benched slope 8 1000 30.0 23.0
by MSSR and LEM.
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09069-12.qxd 08/11/2003 20:21 PM Page 102
2 3 4
168 m
63 m 5 6
7 8
800 m
Figure 7. Slope geometry and geology.
FS3 = 1.02 FS4 = 1.17

Bishop FS1 = 0.67
Bishop
FS = 1.255 FS = 1.351 FS2 = 0.87
FS5 = 1.29
Figure 8. FS values and critical slip surfaces identified with MSSR and LEM.
FS 1.351 is however considerably higher than ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FS4 1.17 from MSSR.
And finally an overall slope failure surface with Support for this research by the State Committee for
FS5 1.29 is identified. Bishop’s method shows Scientific Research (Project No. 5 T12A 022 24) is
FS 1.255, but it covers considerably lower soil vol- gratefully acknowledged.
ume. Generally, the results obtained from LEM are not
that close to MSSR as in the simple case discussed
before. REFERENCES
It’s a well-known fact that application of LEM
requires assumption about shape and location of slip Cala M. & Flisiak J. 2001. Slope stability analysis with
surface. Circular failure surfaces were assumed here for FLAC and limit equilibrium methods. In Billaux,
calculation purposes. Critical slip surface with lowest Rachez, Detournay & Hart (eds) FLAC and Numerical
FS value was estimated from 20,000 circles. Modeling in Geomechanics; Proc. Intern. Symp., Lyon,
In MSSR there is no need for such assumptions. France, 29–31 October 2001: 111–114. Rotterdam:
Stress and strain field in analyzed soil determines the Balkema.
Cala M. & Flisiak J. 2003a. Analysis of slope stability with
shape and location of the slip surfaces. modified shear strength reduction technique. XXVI
Winter School of Rock Mechanics: 348–355. Wroclaw.
IGiH, (in polish).
4 CONCLUSIONS Cala M. & Flisiak J. 2003b. Slope stability analysis with
numerical and limit equilibrium methods. Computational
For a simple, homogeneous slope FS calculated with Methods in Mechanics; Proc. Intern. Symp., 3–6 June
SSR are usually the same as FS obtained from LEM. 2003 (in press).
In the case of a simple geometry slope consisting of Dawson E.M. & Roth W.H. 1999. Slope stability analysis
two geological units, FS calculated with SSR may be with FLAC. In Detournay & Hart (eds) FLAC and
Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics; Proc. intern.
considerably different than FS from LEM. symp., Minneapolis, MN, 1–3 September 1999: 3–9.
In the case of complex geometry and geology Rotterdam: Balkema.
slopes SSR technique is much more “sensitive” than Itasca Consulting Group. 2000. FLAC – Fast Lagrangian
LEM. Another step forward is the modified shear Analysis of Continua, Ver. 4.0 User’s Manual.
strength reduction technique – MSSR. Application of Minneapolis, Minnesota: Itasca.
SSR with FLAC may be recommended for the large- Itasca Consulting Group. 2002. FLAC/Slope Ver. 4.0 User’s
scale slopes of complex geometry. Manual. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Itasca.
Such a powerful tool as MSSR with FLAC gives Griffiths D.V. & Lane P.A. 1999. Slope stability analysis by
the opportunity for the complete stability analysis for finite elements. Geotechnique. 49(3): 387–403.
any slope.
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Analysis of hydraulic fracture risk in a zoned dam with FLAC3D
C. Peybernes
Electricité de France, Centre d’Ingénierie Hydraulique, France
ABSTRACT: The construction and first filling of a 150 m high zoned dam are modeled with FLAC. The site is
a deep and curved canyon under the dam. The aim of this study is the understanding of the dam behavior and the
assessment of the dam safety. A lot of attention is put on the hydraulic fracturing risk during construction or during
first filling due to the core arching in the deep canyon. 2D and 3D models are compared. The 2D model is unable
to explain the monitoring data, but the 3D model fits more accurately the monitoring measurement. Although a
high contrast of modulus exists between core and shell, no hydraulic fracturing is observed in the core.
1 DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE 2.1 Two-dimensional model

The section is the deepest one in the canyon perpen-
The zoned dam has a clayey core with vertical down-
dicular to the dam axis (Fig. 2). It is 1 m wide mod-
stream face, gravely downstream and upstream filters
eled by FLAC3D. The mesh has 1861 3D elements and
and shells. The canyon in the bottom of the valley is
3890 nodes. The constitutive equations of material
60 m deep, narrow, and turns under the dam. Main fea-
are programmed for both 2D and 3D files.
tures are (Fig. 1):
– Maximum height of dam: 137.00 m, 2.2 Three-dimensional model
– Maximum elevation: 1000.00 m,
– Minimum elevation: 863.00 m, The mesh has 66,054 3D elements and 71,828 nodes.
– Slopes of the faces: H/V 2/1. The geometry of the contact dam foundation, in par-
ticular the canyon is rather faithful to reality.
The downstream toe is submerged by the reservoir This model has great advantages over the 2D. It
of the downstream dam from elevation 890.0 to takes into account the following items:
906.0 m.
– load transfer from dam body to the canyon,
– turn on the left of the valley (Fig. 3),
2 TWO GEOMETRICAL MODELS – dissymmetry between the banks (Fig. 4),
– plating of the filter against left bank (Fig. 5).
Two geometrical models were meshed by Itasca
Consultant Spain office. The strategy was to use the
2D model to set the characteristics of the materials, 3 SETTING OF MATERIAL PROPERTIES
the loading scenario and the boundary conditions,
and to use the 3D model to analyze the arching effects The model is fitted on several indicators from the
caused by the stiff banks. monitoring measurement.
Figure 1. Standard profile. Figure 2. Two-dimensional mesh (“section”).
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09069-13.qxd 08/11/2003 20:24 PM Page 104
– Settlements in the core measured at the end of the 4 CONSTITUTIVE EQUATIONS FOR SOIL
construction (up to 80 cm).
– total stresses in the core Two different constitutive models are used:
– pore water pressures in the core
– deformations in the downstream shoulder recorded 1. elastic model, for first parameter setting,
by three tassometers and two extensometers. 2. plastic law: Mohr-Coulomb.
5 SCENARIO OF LOADING
5.1 Initialization of the model

The initial stress state is calculated in the foundation,
alluvium filling and excavation at the core location.
The initial equilibrium calculation is only mechanical
(zero pore pressure).
5.2 Construction
The construction period is 4 years and the embankment
Figure 3. Global sight of the model. is placed in 4 m layers.
5.2.1 Hydraulic boundary conditions

At the boundary of the core, the water pressure (Pw)
is fixed at zero to dissipate pore pressures in the core
to allow drainage due to the filter and shell.
5.2.2 Mechanical boundary conditions

With every placed layer, the increase of vertical and
horizontal stresses is given by the weight of the layer,
zz 0.5 * h * and xx 0.5 * zz.
5.2.3 Hydraulic-mechanic coupling

The pore pressure is assumed to be generated by
Skempton’s B coefficient via the water modulus,
Kw (B * n * Kcore)/(1 – B).
5.3 First filling and steady state

5.3.1 Hydraulic boundary conditions
The pore pressure is fixed by the value of the hydraulic
load caused by the reservoir filling, Pw (Hw – h) *
w, if Hw h where Hw storage level; h node
Figure 4. Sight of top of the valley, with studied sections. level; and w unit weight of water.
Figure 5. Section right bank – left bank. Figure 6. Boundary conditions to construction.
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09069-13.qxd 08/11/2003 20:24 PM Page 105
Two storage versus time curves are used: one for 6 COMPARISON OF 2D AND 3D MODELS
the downstream shell and one for the upstream storage
(Fig. 7). In this section, the results of the model analyses are
compared to measurements at the end of construction
5.3.2 Mechanical boundary conditions (Fig. 9).
On the upstream and downstream faces of the dam,
mechanical pressure caused by the impounding is
modeled by normal stresses on the dam faces. The 6.1 2D Model
specific weights of materials are modified when they
are saturated. The calculated stresses are too high at the base of
the core compared to the measured ones. A parametric
First filling dates
study of mechanical properties could not solve the dis-
crepancy. It is speculated that the arching effect unloads
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
1000
the central section and transfers stresses to the banks.
No realistic calculation could be reached using the 2D
980 model.
960
cote (m)
940
6.2 3D Model
920
For this model, the calculated settlements in the core
900 are in good agreement with the measured ones. The
stresses are smaller than the 2D problem, because of
880
upstream downstream arching. Nevertheless, the deformation of the shells is
still larger than measured. A parametric study of core
and shell moduli was undertaken to reconcile the
Figure 7. Curves of upstream and downstream fillings. discrepancy.
7 PARAMETRIC STUDY OF THE 3D MODEL

DURING CONSTRUCTION
Several simulations were studied varying the

mechanical properties (moduli) and flow parameters
(saturation). The initial and final mechanical proper-
ties are presented in Table 1. A comparison of results
Figure 8. Boundary conditions during the filling. is made at the end of construction.
Figure 9. Comparison between effective stresses with 2D and 3D models.
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09069-13.qxd 08/11/2003 20:24 PM Page 106
7.1 Displacements carried out (dry or very dry of optimum) results in

very low pore pressure generation. This lowers the risk
Vertical and horizontal displacements are in good agree-
of hydraulic fracturing during first filling.
ment with the measurements. The shell modulus shown
gave results that agreed with the deformations measured
downstream, but decreased the core settlements. The 7.3 Stresses
simulation carried out using a decreased modulus of the
core gave the closest values to the measurements. The results that best agree with cell measurements
were obtained with a relatively high shell modulus,
7.2 Pore pressures and low core modulus. On the other hand, the cal-
culated total vertical stresses near the left bank were
Pore pressures are very low, like the measurements at far from the measured stresses. This phenomenon is
the end of construction (Fig. 10). The clay compaction not clearly understood. The most important conclu-
sion is that hydraulic fracture was not indicated in any
Table 1. Initial and final mechanical properties. calculated case, even though the base of the core
is heavily unloaded in the narrow canyon (Fig. 11
C Phi E Area 1). The load transfer is clearly observed in
Material (kPa) (°) (Mpa) v B the core section parallel to the dam crest (Fig. 11
Core initial 20 25 40 0.35 0.6
Area 2).
Core final 20 25 20 0.35 0.1 After completing the parametric study at the end of
Shell initial 0 40 120 0.30 – construction, calculation was continued for the first
Shell final 0 40 240 0.30 – filling case.
Figure 10. Pore pressure at the end of construction.
Figure 11. Vertical effective stresses at the end of construction.
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09069-13.qxd 08/11/2003 20:24 PM Page 107
8 3D MODEL FOR FIRST FILLING CASE two reservoirs, and finally a steady state was reached
(Fig. 14).
8.1 Pore pressures The values from the simulation and from measure-
The pore pressures calculated in the core at the level ments are rather close until the date 1981 for the
925 are close to the measured values (Fig. 13). It cells to the level 925, and 1983 for the cells of level
was difficult to get agreement between the measured 905 (Figs. 15 & 16). These dates correspond to the
and calculated values below this level. Variations of sudden drop of measured stress values. Then the sim-
permeability in the core were not represented in the ulations and measured values disagree. It is specu-
modeling. Spatial variation of the hydraulic properties lated that this phenomenon was induced by water
in the core may improve the correlation, but this was infiltration at the cell level, collapsing the clay and
not done. lowering the stress. This phenomenon should be inte-
grated in the future and modeled by the clay collapse
8.2 Stresses after wetting.
Some hydraulic fracturing can be observed in the
Generally the shapes of the calculated and monitored upstream shell, but this is not of concern. The shell is
stresses versus time were similar. The construction drained and the water tightness of the core is not
phase is apparent in the plots, then the filling of the altered.
Figure 12. Pore pressures at steady state.
420
380
340
300
260
220
180
140
100
60
20
-20
01/01/76 31/12/77 01/01/80 31/12/81 01/01/84 31/12/85 01/01/88 31/12/89 01/01/92 31/12/93 01/01/96 31/12/97 01/01/00 31/12/01
125-E11-905 E11-calcul elastique
125-E15-914 E15-calcul elastique
First filling 125-E17-925 E17-calcul elastique
Figure 13. Pore pressures in kPa in the core (calculation: full features).
107

09069-13.qxd 08/11/2003 20:24 PM Page 108
Figure 14. Vertical effective stresses during steady state.
10e2 kPa 10e2 kPa

11 10
10 9
9 8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
-1 -1
01/01/76
31/12/77
01/01/80
31/12/81
01/01/84
31/12/85
01/01/88
31/12/89
01/01/92
31/12/93
01/01/96
31/12/97
01/01/00
31/12/01
01/01/76
31/12/77
01/01/80
31/12/81
01/01/84
31/12/85
01/01/88
31/12/89
01/01/92
31/12/93
01/01/96
31/12/97
01/01/00
126-T2-905 126-T3-905 126-T4-905 126-T6-905 31/12/01

T2 Szz calcul 127-T5-905 T4 Srd-rg calcul T6 Sami-avl calcul 125-T7-925 125.5 T8-925 124.5-T9-925 126-T10-925
T7 Szz calcul T8 Srd-rg calcul T9 Samt-avl cal cul 125-T11-925
Figure 15. Comparison between measured and calculated

total stresses at level 905. Figure 16. Comparison between measured and calculated
total stresses at level 925.
9 CONCLUSION
according to this calibration, hydraulic fracturing of
Detection of hydraulic fracturing in the core is the core was not indicated.
the objective of the analysis of this zoned dam. The
three-dimensional modeling appears to be the only
way to model the problem. The real geometry of the REFERENCES
foundation has to be carefully modeled to represent
the phenomenon of stresses transferred to the banks Varona P. 2001. Curso de FLAC3D, Itasca Consultant Spain,
and the unloading of the core in the canyon. January 15–19, 2001.
The parametric study of the mechanical properties Laigle, F. & Boymond, B. 2001. CERN-LHC Project –
of the materials was required to fit the monitoring Design and excavation of Large-Span Caverns at Point 1,
data and ensure the accuracy of the analysis. Finally, EDF-CIH France.
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Mesh geometry effects on slope stability calculation by FLAC strength

reduction method – linear and non-linear failure criteria
R. Shukha & R. Baker

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion I.I.T., Haifa, Israel
ABSTRACT: Results of FLAC’s strength reduction technique are compared with conventional limit equilib-
rium analysis for both linear and non-linear strength criteria. The comparison includes both safety factors and
failure modes (critical slip surfaces and normal stress functions). The collection of FLAC’s plastic points is not
a reasonable criterion for estimating the potential failure zone and it is necessary to establish this zone by post-
processing FLAC’s results. It is shown that failure modes implied by FLAC analysis are sensitive to mesh geom-
etry effects and, in order to obtain reasonable results, it is necessary to use meshes consisting of nearly square
elements. Safety factors are much less sensitive to mesh geometry effects than failure modes. FLAC’s mesh sen-
sitivity is more pronounced for non-linear failure criterion than in the linear case. Using acceptable mesh geom-
etry, FLAC’s strength reduction technique and limit equilibrium procedures yield comparable results (failure
modes and safety factors) for both linear and non-linear strength criteria. Engineering implications of linear and
non-linear failure criteria in the context of slope stability analysis are presented and discussed. It is shown that
equally valid interpretations of the same experimental information may, under certain conditions (e.g. steep
slopes), lead to very different engineering implications. Under such conditions the choice between alternative
strength models must be based on the practical implications of these laws.
1 INTRODUCTION Strm(f) which is defined as:
Almost all practical slope stability calculations quan-

tify the stability of a given slope using the notion of (1)
safety factor with respect to shear strength. This quan-
tity is commonly defined as a reduction constant by
which the available shear strength function of the soil where f is the normal (in general effective) stress
needs to be factored down in order to bring the slope acting at failure on the failure plane, Str(f) is the
to failure. In conventional limit equilibrium (L-E) strength function (Mohr envelope) of the material,
calculations, safety factors are associated with “test and F is the slope’s safety factor.
bodies” and it is necessary to search for the critical Equation 1 is used by both the S-R technique and
test body that yields the minimal safety factor for a conventional L-E procedures. However, the conceptual
given slope. Incorporation of safety factor, with respect framework employed in these two approaches is not
to strength, in a general continuum mechanics frame- equivalent. In particular:
work results in a class of slope stability procedures 1. Application of the S-R technique requires com-
known as strength reduction (S-R) methods. This plete specification of the soil’s constitutive relation
approach was used as early as 1975 by Zienkiewics while the L-E framework does not depend on
et al. (1975) and has since been applied by Naylor deformation parameters.
(1982), Donald & Giam (1988), Matsui & San (1992), 2. L-E procedures include a minimization stage, which
Ugai (1989), Ugai & Leshchinsky (1995) and others. establishes the critical slip surface and its associ-
ated minimal safety factor. In S-R techniques on
2 COMPARISON OF THE L-E AND the other hand, existence of a unique slip surfaces
S-R FRAMEWORKS is not a priori assumed, but such a surface can be
established after completion of the basic analysis.
Both L-E and S-R techniques analyze an equivalent 3. S-R methods define failure at a point (element).
material characterized by a mobilized strength function However yielding of a single element does not
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mean global failure of the slope. The local defini-

tion of failure embedded in all S-R methods is
probably the main disadvantage of these procedures
compared with the inherently global L-E approach.
The L-E and S-R techniques have their strengths
and weaknesses. A number of previous studies (e.g.
Naylor 1982, Dawson et al. 1999, Griffith & Lane
1999) showed that both methods yield approximately
the same safety factors. The present work extends this
comparison to critical slip surfaces and distribution of
normal stress acting along such surfaces.
Figure 1. Experimental strength functions for compacted
Israeli clays.
3 STRENGTH FUNCTIONS FOR A GIVEN
STATE OF INFORMATION
functions (strength models) on results of slope stabil-
Most practical slope stability calculations are based on ity calculations it is necessary to consider a given
the linear Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) strength function: state of experimental information (given data set).
Jiang et al. (2003) and Baker (2003b) performed such
(2) studies using approximate L-E procedures and
showed that, under certain conditions, the strength
functions non-linearity may have very significant
where {c, } are the conventional M-C strength effect on results of slope stability calculations. One of
parameters cohesion and angle of internal friction the purposes of the present work is to study the same
respectively. Experimental studies by Penman (1953), effect using a FLAC based S-R slope stability analy-
Bishop et al. (1965), Day & Axten (1989), and sis. The points in Figure 1 show results of 103 consol-
Maximovic (1989) have indicated that actual failure idated undrained triaxial tests with pore pressure.
envelopes of most soils are not linear, particularly in Measurements were performed on compacted Israeli
range of small normal stresses. There exists a number clays. These tests were done as part of routine test-
of studies incorporating non-linear (N-L) failure crite- ing programs for design of small water reservoirs.
ria in conventional L-E calculations such as Maximovic Additional information about the clays and tests is
(1979), Charles & Soares (1984), and Perry (1994). given by Frydman & Samoocha (1984). The lines in
The N-L strength function used in most of these stud- Figure 1 are the M-C and H-B strength envelopes fit-
ies is the Mohr form of the Hoek-Brown (H-B) empir- ted to the experimental data set, using the iterative
ical failure criterion (Hoek & Brown 1980). This least square procedure described by Baker (2003a).
criterion can be written as: The fitting process resulted in 25°, c 11.7 kPa,
SOSMC 31908 kPa2 and A 0.58, n 0.86, T 0,
SOSHB 30263 kPa2, where SOSMC and SOSHB are
(3) the sum of squares associated with the M-C and H-B
models respectively.
The following comments are relevant with respect
where Pa stands for atmospheric pressure and {A,n,T}
to the above results:
are non-dimensional strength parameters. This non-
dimensional form was introduced by Jiang et al. 1. T 0 is a result of the estimation process, not an
(2003), where it was shown that the parameters {A,n,T} a priori assumption. This result implies that the
must satisfy the requirements {A 0, 1⁄2 n 1, optimal H-B model represents a zero tensile
T 0} and T represents a non-dimensional tensile strength material. The M-C model on the other
strength. Baker (2003a) demonstrated that Equation 3 hand predicts a non-negligible tensile strength of
provides a reasonable representation of experimen- t c/Tan() 25 kPa.
tal results for a wide range of different geological 2. The sum of squares associated with the M-C and
materials. H-B models are nearly equal SOSHB/SOSMC
It is important to realize that a physically signifi- 0.95. This result implies that the M-C and H-B
cant assessment of the effect of strength functions models provide equally valid descriptions of the
non-linearity of the results of slope stability calcula- experimental information (data points).
tions is possible only if the linear and N-L strength 3. Inspection of Figure 1 shows that the M-C and
functions are fitted to the same data set. Stated differ- N-L criteria predicts almost identical strength val-
ently, in order to asses the effect of different strength ues in the range of experimental normal stresses
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33.4 f 351.2 kPa. The predictions of these

models differ from each other only at very low and
very high normal stresses. In both of these ranges
the H-B model predicts smaller strength values
than M-C (convexity of the H-B criterion guar-
anties that this will always be the case). In fact the
main practical significance of the H-B criterion is
that it delivers conservative (compared with M-C)
strength estimates in normal stress ranges in which
there are no direct experimental information.
4 FLAC IMPLEMENTATION OF
H-B CRITERION
FLAC has a feature allowing a direct use of the H-B

criterion in slope stability calculations. However in
FLAC this criterion is formulated in the principle
stress space and for the present purpose it is conven-
ient to use the Mohr form of this criterion (Eq. 3).
Formally this is done by considering a M-C model
with the following stress dependent tangential
strength parameters t and ct:
Figure 2. FLAC results for the M-C criterion. (a) Square
mesh. (b) Inclined mesh.
(4.1)
(4.2)
Equations 4.1 & 4.2 were programmed as a simple

FISH routine, and using the “whilestepping” option
embedded in FLAC, this routine updates the tangen-
tial M-C parameters in each FLAC’s time step. The S-R
technique was applied using the definition of mobi-
lized strength function in Equation 1, i.e. FLAC was
run with a sequence of progressively increasing trial
safety factors until the slope failed, (i.e. until FLAC
fails to converge to a static equilibrium configura-
tion). Attempting to apply FLAC’s SOLVE FOS com-
mand with the mobilized H-B criterion we have
encountered convergence difficulties, and all the fol-
lowing results were obtained by manual change of trial
safety factors.
5 EFFECT OF MASH GEOMETRY ON

RESULTS OF THE S-R TECHNIQUE
Figure 3. FLAC results for the H-B criterion. (a) Square
The calculation framework presented above was mesh. (b) Inclined mesh.
applied to a simple homogeneous slope stability prob-
lem without pore pressure or external loads. The
mesh shown in Figure 2b. Figures 3a, b show the cor-
slope is defined by an inclination 30°, slope
responding results for the H-B model.
height H 6 m, unit weight 18 kN/m3, and the two
The following observations are relevant with
strength functions shown in Figure 1. Figures 2a, b
respect to the results in Figures 2 & 3:
show FLAC results the for the M-C criterion using
two different mesh geometries; a mesh including 1. The H-B model resulted in significantly lower safety
essentially square elements (Fig. 2a), and the inclined factors then the linear M-C model (FHB 1.4
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compared with FMC 1.95). The previous discus- the collection of all such elements represents a L-E
sion showed that these two strength models are definition of the critical slip surface function implied
supported equally well by the available experimen- by the S-R technique. Mesh elements defined by the
tal information (Fig. 1). Faced with a situation in above process are shown as the open circles in
which two material models are equally justified by Figures 2 & 3, and critical slip surfaces defined by
the data, the choice between these models must be this process are shown as the heavy dashed lines in
based on their engineering consequences. In the those figures. In principle, the above identification of
present problem the H-B model delivered smaller failed elements is not different from FLAC’s defini-
safety factors than M-C and this model should be tion of plastic points. Nevertheless the set of failed
used in order to ensure a safe design. elements shown in Figure 3b is quite different from
2. For the M-C criterion the two meshes result in prac- the set of FLAC plastic points. The source of this
tically the same safety factor. The corresponding difference is probably related to an internal pro-
difference for the H-B model (F 0.1) is small, gramming detail in the FLAC program. More detailed
but it is not negligible. investigation appears to indicate that the internal
3. Figures 2 & 3 show that the square and inclined FLAC criterion used for definition of plastic points
meshes resulted in very different failure mecha- employs a too-large tolerance in the definition of
nisms. This difference is seen in terms of both dis- these points, resulting therefore with inclusion of ele-
tribution of FLAC’s plastic point, and contours of ments which are not really at failure. Controlling the
shear strain increments. Plastic points identify ele- accuracy with which the tangency requirement is
ments, which are at yield (failure). However yield- enforced provides a convenient numerical mechanism
ing of a particular element does not imply that the eliminating at least some failed elements, which are
slope as a whole is at failure. Consequently, the not relevant for definition of global slope failure (crit-
collection of FLAC’s plastic points does not pro- ical slip surface).
vide a clear indication of the global failure mecha- The following comments are relevant with respect
nism. In particular, some of the plastic points for to the process of identifying failed elements:
the inclined mesh are located deep in the interior of
1. Inferred critical slip surfaces defined by the above
the slope, and they are obviously not relevant for the
process are consistent with the shear strain incre-
purpose of identifying the slope’s failure mecha-
ment contours shown in Figures 2 & 3, but they pro-
nism. The distribution of plastic points and shear
vide a clearer definition of the global failure mode.
strain increments in the square meshes appears to
2. In some cases the set of failed elements includes a
indicate that very large area of the slope is in a
group of elements located in the vicinity of the
state of simultaneous failure. The inclined meshes
high entry point of the critical slip surface. This
imply failure mechanisms of the type postulated in
group represents elements failing in tension rather
conventional L-E calculations; namely an essentially
than shear. The L-E critical slip surface is not well
rigid body sliding along a narrow transition zone.
defined in such zones.
It is noted however that the “critical slip surface”
3. Tangency points between Mohr circles and the
implied by Figure 3b emerges above the toe of the
mobilized strength envelope define the normal
slope. From a L-E perspective, such a surface can-
stress acting on the critical slip surface passing
not be critical, corresponding essentially to a slope
through a given element. Consequently, the above
with a “reduced height”. Yet, this “unreasonable”
process results with L-E definition of both critical
slip surface is associated with a smaller safety fac-
slip surfaces and normal stress functions.
tor than the reasonable (but ill-defined) critical slip
surface in Figure 3a. The inferred L-E critical slip surfaces and normal
stress functions resulting from the above process are
shown in Figures 4 & 5, which correspond to Figures
6 FAILURE MODES IMPLIED BY FLAC’S 2 & 3 respectively. In those figures we have super-
S-R TECHNIQUE imposed also critical slip surfaces and normal stresses
functions resulting from the following approximate
Following a FLAC run, the state of stress (Mohr circles) L-E analyses:
is known at each element of the mesh. The state of
stress in failed elements satisfies Equation 1, and such 1. Simplified Bishop’s method. The original formula-
stress states are represented by Mohr circles, which tion of this procedure was based on the linear M-C
are tangential to the mobilized strength envelope. The strength functions. For the present purpose we
tangency requirement has to be satisfied with a cer- have modified this classical procedure incorporat-
tain tolerance in order to prevent exclusion of all ele- ing in it also the H-B criterion.
ments. Each tangential Mohr circle is associated with 2. The local linear approximation (LLA) technique
a certain mesh element, which can be identified; and presented by Baker (2003b). This approximation is
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based on classical Taylor analysis in which the effect

of strength functions non-linearity is accounted for
by an iterative procedure which utilizes Janbu’s
approximation (Janbu 1957) of the normal stress
function. When applied to M-C material the LLA
technique is identical to Taylor’s analysis.
It is noted that both of the above L-E procedures
are based on the a priori assumption that critical slip
surfaces can be approximated by a circular arc. Critical
slip surface inferred based on FLAC’s results do not
include such a restriction. The following comments
are relevant with respect to Figures 4 & 5:
1. Using the square mesh; FLAC’s S-R technique
results with safety factors which are very close to
those based on both Bishop’s analysis and the LLA
technique. Critical slip surfaces and normal stress
functions inferred based on the S-R technique are
similar but not identical, to the corresponding L-E
functions. The difference between the critical slip
surfaces inferred based on FLAC analysis and the
corresponding L-E surfaces is mainly due to the
circular arc restriction used in the present approxi-
mate L-E methods. It is frequently stated that the
circular arc restriction provides a reasonable approx-
imation for homogeneous slopes. The results in
Figure 4. Normalized critical slip surfaces and normal Figures 4 & 5 do not support such a far-reaching
stress functions for the M-C criterion. (a) Square mesh. conclusion. The variational formulation of L-E
(b) Inclined mesh.
problems (Baker & Garber 1978, Baker 2003c)
provides a means of avoiding a priori assumptions
with respect to the form of critical slip surfaces. Such
advanced L-E procedures are not widely used, and
they are not considered in the present work. Both
Janbu’s normal stress approximation and the normal
stress function implied by Bishop’s analysis appear
to be consistent with FLAC’s results. Those obser-
vations are valid for both M-C and H-B criteria.
2. Using the inclined mesh; there is a small but not
negligible difference between safety factors based
on the S-R technique and L-E safety factors.
However the failure mechanisms implied by these
two approaches are significantly different. Figure 6
illustrates the extent of FLAC’s mesh sensitivity
with respect to inferred critical slip surfaces and
normal stress functions for the case of H-B failure
criterion. It is noted again that the inclined mesh
resulted with an unreasonable critical slip surface
emerging above the toe, while the squared mesh is
consistent with the L-E based argument that slip
surfaces emerging about the toe correspond in effect
to a slope having a reduced height, and such sur-
faces cannot be critical.
Using an inclined mesh the discrepancies between
Figure 5. Normalized critical slip surfaces and normal results based on S-R and L-E techniques are more
stress functions for the H-B criterion. (a) Square mesh. pronounced for the H-B model than the M-C crite-
(b) Inclined mesh. rion, but they exist in both cases. Based on the above
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the H-B strength law is significantly smaller than the

safety factor FMC 1.96 associated with the M-C cri-
terion. This result depends however on the slope sta-
bility problem under consideration and in the following
section we establish a more general perspective for
investigating the effect of strength functions on results
of slope stability calculations.
7 THE CRITICAL HEIGHT FUNCTION
Safety factors are practically useful abstractions.

However, the physical significance of results obtained
Figure 6. Mesh effect on inferred critical slip surfaces by S-R or conventional L-E techniques is clear only at
implied by the S-R technique (H-B failure criterion). failure when F 1. At any other value of F such cal-
culations deal with failure conditions of an equivalent
material with a reduced strength, rather than the
actual physical problem. In order to avoid this con-
ceptual difficulty it is convenient to study the effect of
strength criteria on results of slope stability calcula-
tions in terms of critical heights rather than safety
factors. The critical height of a slope is defined as a
height for which the minimal safety factor is equal to
one. Critical heights depend on the inclination of the
slope, i.e. Hcr Hcr(). Figure 8 show critical height
functions resulting from following analyses:
1. FLAC S-R technique based on the H-B criterion
(triangles).
2. Bishop analysis based on the H-B criterion (crosses).
Figure 7. Critical failure mechanisms associated with the 3. The LLA technique (Baker 2003b) (solid heavy
M-C and H-B criteria. line) based on the H-B criterion.
4. FLAC S-R technique based on M-C criterion.
(open circles).
discussion it is clear that FLAC results are sensitive to 5. The LLA technique based on the linear M-C crite-
mesh geometries. Using a square mesh yields more rion (light solid line). It is noted that for homoge-
consistent results than use of the inclined mesh. This neous slopes and a M-C strength criterion this
is not really surprising; some elements in the inclined technique is reduced to classical Taylor analysis.
mesh have relatively high aspect ratios, and it is well
It is noted that both the H-B and M-C criteria are fit-
known that results based on such meshes should be
ted to the same experimental data set obtained for
viewed with suspicion. Safety factors are relatively
compacted Israeli clays (Fig. 1), and both models rep-
insensitive to mesh geometries. However mesh geome-
resent this data equally well (sum of squares ratio is
tries have quite a significant effect on failure mecha-
equal to 0.95).
nisms. In the following we restrict attention to results
The following comments are relevant with respect
obtained using only square meshes of the type shown
to the results in Figure 8:
in Figure 2a.
Figure 7 compares FLAC’s failure mechanisms 1. In the linear M-C framework the safety factor of
(critical slip surfaces and normal stress functions) slopes with is always larger than 1.
obtained for the M-C and H-B strength functions in Consequently a critical height function based on
Figure 1. It is seen that the critical slip surface associ- this criterion is asymptotic to a vertical line located
ated with the H-B strength function is shallower than at . It can be verified that the non-linear H-B
the one associated with the M-C criterion. As a result, criterion implies finite critical heights for all non-
normal stresses acting on the H-B slip surface are zero slope inclinations.
smaller than those operating along the M-C slip sur- 2. Using the linear M-C criterion corresponding to the
face. Inspection of Figure 1 shows that, in the range data set in Figure 1, Taylor’s analysis shows the crit-
of small normal stresses, the H-B criterion predicts ical height of a vertical slope is 3.9 m. On the other
smaller strength than M-C. It is not surprising there- hand, analysis based on the H-B criterion fitted to
fore that the safety factor FHB 1.45 obtained using the same data set implies that slopes steeper than
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8. It is important to realize that the critical height

functions shown in Figure 8 are relevant for the
compacted Israeli clays data set (Fig. 1), and this
figure does not represent a general relations.
However, qualitatively similar results were obtained
also for a number of other data sets.
8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Two general approaches (FLAC’s strength reduction

technique and conventional limit equilibrium calcula-
tions) for analysis of slope stability are discussed and
Figure 8. Critical slope heights for compacted Israeli clays. compared. The present work extends previous presen-
tations on this subject in number of respects:
1. The comparison includes failure mechanisms (crit-
approximately 55° are not stable. The very signifi-
ical slip surfaces and normal stress functions) in
cant difference between prediction of the two mod-
addition to safety factors.
els illustrate very clearly the importance of using
2. The comparison is done for both the linear Mohr-
non-linear failure criteria in stability calculations
Coulomb failure criterion and the non-linear Hoek
of steep slopes.
and Brown strength function.
3. Recalling that the M-C and H-B failure criteria
provide equally valid descriptions of the compacted Mesh geometry effects on FLAC’s results are pre-
Israeli clay’s data set, the practical implications sented and discussed. It is shown that a mesh consist-
of Figure 8 are worrying. The figure shows that ing of essentially square elements results in more
equally valid interpretations of the same experimen- consistent results than meshes including relatively
tal information may under certain conditions slender elements. Safety factors are relatively insensi-
lead to diverging practical implications (i.e. HCrHB tive to mesh geometries, however failure mechanisms
( 60°) → 0, HCrMC ( 90°) 3.9 m. depend very strongly on mesh geometry, and using
4. The physical basis of the above result is related to a mesh which includes slender elements may lead
the following observations: to wrong conclusions with respect to critical slip
a) Critical slip surfaces for steep slopes are surfaces and normal stress functions inferred on the
shallow, resulting therefore with small normal basis of FLAC’s S-R technique. FLAC’s mesh sensi-
stresses acting on this surface. tivity is more pronounced for non-linear strength
b) A T 0 H-B model predicts significantly functions than in the linear M-C case. It is noted
smaller shear strength at small normal stresses that FLAC’s plastic points do not provide a reason-
than a M-C criterion with a non-zero cohesion. able measure of the potential failure zone. A proce-
5. There is a range of slope inclinations dure which identifies the critical slip surface based
(28° 34°) in which the critical height pre- on FLAC’s calculated stresses is presented and dis-
dicted by the M-C criterion is slightly larger then cussed. Considering results obtained using square
those predicted on the basis of the H-B law. The meshes, FLAC’s strength reduction technique and
physical reason for this behavior is discussed by conventional limit equilibrium procedures yield
Baker (2003b). similar failure mechanisms and safety factors. This
6. The open circles in Figure 8 show results of FLAC conclusion is valid for both linear and non-linear
analysis based on the M-C criterion. Those results failure criteria.
are almost identical with results based on the clas- Engineering implications of linear and non-linear
sical Taylor analysis (light solid line). failure criteria in the context of slope stability analy-
7. For the non-linear H-B criterion, the critical height sis are presented and discussed. In particular it is
functions based on Bishop analysis, and FLAC’s S-R shown that equally valid interpretations of the same
technique are practically identical with results experimental information may under certain condi-
based on Baker’s (2003b) L.L.A. technique. This tions (steep slopes) lead to very different engineer-
observation supports the validities of all three cal- ing implications. Under such conditions the choice
culation methods. It is noted that Bishop’s analysis between strength functions must be based on the
is restricted to circular slip surfaces and it is not practical implications of these laws, which in most
expected to yield good results in non- cases means using the Hoek-Brown criterion rather
homogeneous problems. Both FLAC and LLA can than the conventional linear Mohr-Coulomb strength
be applied to non-homogeneous problems. function.
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REFERENCES Griffith, D.V. & Lane, P.A. 1999. Slope Stability analysis by
finite elements. Geotechnique, 49(3): 387–403.
Baker, R. & Garber, M. 1978. Theoretical analysis of the sta- Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Empirical strength criterion
bility of slopes. Geotechnique, 28(4): 395–411. for rock masses. ASCE Jour. Geotech. Eng., 106(9):
Baker, R. 2003a. Inter-Relation between experimental and 1013–1035.
computational aspects of slope stability analysis. Inter. Jiang, J.C., Baker, R. & Yamagami, T. 2003. The effect of
Jour. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geamech. 27(5): 379–401. strength envelope nonlinearity on slope stability compu-
Baker, R. 2003b. Non-linear strength envelopes based on tri- tations. Can. Geoteh. J., 40(2): 308–325.
axial data. Accepted for publication in J. Geotech. And Matsui, T. & San, K.C. 1992. Finite element slope stability
Geoenvir Engrg., ASCE. analysis by shear reduction technique. Soils and
Baker, R. 2003c. Sufficient conditions for existence of phys- Foundations, 32(1): 59–70.
ically significant solutions in limiting equilibrium slope Maximovic, M. 1979. Limit equilibrium for non-linear fail-
stability analysis. Accepted for publication in Inter. Jour. ure envelope and arbitrary slip surface. Proc. 3rd Intr.
of Solids and structures. Conf. on Numerical Methods in Geomechanics, 769–777.
Bishop, A.W., Webb, D.L. & Lewin, P.I. 1965. Undisturbed Maximovic, M. 1989. Nonlinear failure criterion for soils.
samples of London clay from the Ashford common shaft: J. Geoth. Eng. ASCE, 115(4): 581–586.
strength-effective normal stress relationship. Geotech- Naylor, D.J. 1962. Finite element and slope stability. Nume,
nique, 15(1): 1–31. Meth. un Geomech., Proc. NATO advanced study institute.
Charles, J.A. & Soares, M.M. 1984. The stability of slopes Lisbon, Portugal, 229–244.
with nonlinear failure criterion. Cand. Geoth. J., 21(3): Penman, A. 1953. Shear characteristics of saturated silt in
397–406. triaxial compression. Geotechnique. 15(1): 79–93.
Day, R.W. & Axten, G.W. 1989. Surficial stability of com- Perry, J.A. 1994. A technique for defining non-linear shear
pacted clay slopes. J. Geoth. Eng. ASCE, 115(4): 577–580. strength envelopes and their incorporation in slope stabil-
Dawson, B.M., Roth, W.H. & Drescher, A. 1999. Slope sta- ity method of analysis. Quart. J. of Eng. Geology, 27(5):
bility factors of safety by strength reduction. Geotechnique, 231–241.
49(6): 835–840. Ugai, K. 1989. A method of calculation of total factor of
Donald, I.B. & Giam, S.K. 1988. Application of nodal dis- safety slopes by elasto-plastic FEM. Soils and Foundations,
placement method to slope stability analysis. Proc. 5th 29(2): 190–195.
Australia-New Zealand Conf. on Geomech., Sydney, Ugai, K. & Leshchinsky, D. 1995. Three-dimensional limit
Australia, 456–460. equilibrium and finite element analyses: a comparison of
Frydman, S. & Samoocha, Y. 1984. Laboratory studies on results, Soils and Foundations, 35(4): 1–7.
Israeli clays for reservoir embankment design. Proc. 5th Zienkiewicz, O.C., Humpheson, C. & Lewis, R.W. 1975.
Inter. Conf. on Expansive soils, Adelaide, South Associated and non-associated visco-plasticity and plas-
Australia, 94–98. ticity in soil mechanics. Geotechnique, 25(4): 671–689.
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3D slope stability analysis at Boinás East gold mine
A. Varela Suárez & L.I. Alonso González

Río Narcea Gold Mines, S.A., Belmonte de Miranda, Principado de Asturias, Spain
ABSTRACT: The Boinás East open pit mine has been exploited by the gold producer Río Narcea Gold Mines
in Northwest of Spain. Considering the influence of the radius of curvature on the factor of safety for slope
angle, and taking into account that a small increase in the overall angle will result in a very high increment in
the total amount of the ore mined, the slope stability analysis was made using the finite difference code FLAC3D
to calculate the factor of safety by reducing the rock shear strength. Due to the existing complicated geology
and the complexity of the 3D geometrical modeling, a “FISH routine” was used to import the block model of
the mine into the FLAC3D program. This block model is the database commonly used in the mine works and was
generated with Datamine. This method is a very good tool to generate a complex model in FLAC3D.
1 INTRODUCTION mining techniques, being at the present time solely in

production the deposit of El Valle. The present article
Río Narcea Gold Mines has been operating from tries to develop the methodology used for the design
1997 the gold deposit El Valle-Boinás, located in the of stable slopes in the deposit of Boinás East, doing
Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, within the well- analysis of stability by means of FLAC3D software.
known Rio Narcea Gold Belt (Fig. 1).
The deposit is in the environs of the town of
Boinás, Belmonte de Miranda, in the Principality of
2 SITE GEOLOGY
Asturias. It’s formed by five separated bodies located
around a granitic stock. The mineralization consists
The Rio Narcea Gold Belt structure of 17 km in length
of various skarn types and zones with silicifications
has an approximate direction N 35° E and includes, in
and significant epithermal oxidation.
addition to the mentioned deposit Valle-Boinás, at least
Of these five ore bodies, three have been operated
five other gold mineralizations, some of them widely
(El Valle, Boinás East and Boinás west) by open pit
operated during the rule of the Roman Empire.
Geologically the gold belt consists of an anticline
of Hercynian age, in the core of which there are the
carbonate materials of the Láncara Formation (Middle
Cambrian), above which are shale and sandstone of the
Oville Formation (Middle-Upper Cambrian). Gold
mineralization was initially deposited as calcic and
magnesic copper-gold skarns at the contact between
the Boinas granodiorite and limestone and dolomite
of the Lancara Formation (Martin-Izard et al. 1998,
Cepedal 2001).
The auriferous mineralization mainly occurred dur-
ing the phase of retro-gradation of the metamorphic
process, to temperatures between 450°C and 250°C,
separated in two stages (Cepedal 1998, 2001). During
the Lower Permian, after an important dismantling of
the hercynic relief, takes place the location of subvol-
canic and porphyritic dikes that originate hydrothermal
Figure 1. 3D diagram of E1 Valle-Boinás deposit. alterations with important silicification of pre-existing
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Figure 2. Geological scheme of the Rio Narcea Gold Belt.
rocks, to temperatures between 150°C and 250°C and Table 1. Feasibility study data.
smaller pressure of 0.2 kbar. This process gives rise to
the formation of oxidized and very brecciated materi- Overall slope angle(°) Factor of safety
als, with bad geotechnical quality and that approxi-
mately constitute 90% of the operated material in the 55 0.91
50 1.03
open pits.
45 1.15
The gold mineralization remained hidden by Tertiary
lacustrine deposits, which as well were partially hidden
by Alpine thrusts that placed an important repetition
of limestone of the Láncara Formation above the The analyses were carried out using the XSTABL
Tertiary and the sandstone of the Oville Formation. software over sections with simplified geology and
Figure 1 shows a scheme of the zone of the deposit El considering different overall slope angles. Considering
Valle-Boinás and Figure 2 a scheme of the whole Rio the slope totally drained, 330 meters of vertical height,
Narcea Gold Belt. the Bishop’s method and circular surfaces of failure,
were obtained the factor of safety showed in the Table 1
(SRK 1996, 1999).
3 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS The geology and the rock mass properties used by
SRK in their analysis are summarized in Table 2.
From the geotechnical data of the different materials
taken in from the geological exploration holes, the
shear strength of the different lithologies were deter-
mined following the Bieniawski (1989) classification 4 NUMERICAL MODELING WITH FLAC
and the Hoek-Brown 99 methodology.
With the obtained values SRK Ltd. carried out the The holes drilled during the year 1998 defined a new
feasibility study in October 1996, updating it in 1999. mineralized zone amenable to extraction by open pit
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Table 2. Rock mass properties in the SRK model. Table 3. Factor of safety obtained with FLAC.
Cohesion Density Slope angle

Lithology (°) (kPa) (t/m3) Type of Factor of
Phase analysis Upper* Lower* safety
Good Quality Lancara Limestone 37 293 2.70
Fair Quality Lancara Limestone 31 258 2.70 Final Plane 65 45 1.00–1.05
Lower Oville Sandstone 33 275 2.50 Final Axisymmetric 65 45 1.65–1.70
Fair Quality Granite 34 290 2.60 1 Plane 50 50 1.20–1.30
Ore (MIN) 32 265 2.50
Marble 32 265 2.70 * Upper/lower means above or below the main Alpine thrust.
Table 4. Rock-mass properties.
K G Cohesion Density
Lithology (GPa) (GPa) (°) (kPa) (t/m3)
Upper Sandstone 3.75 2.17 49 720 2.65

Upper dolomite 7.92 5.09 43 1120 2.70
Lower Sandstone 1.32 0.75 21 270 2.29
Alterd. Granite 1.17 0.66 20 250 2.28
Ore (MIN) 1.11 0.62 19 250 2.21
Fresh granite 16.99 11.52 65 4770 2.67
Fresh skarn 10.63 6.79 56 2430 3.17
Marble 2.45 1.41 33 500 2.43
Hornfels 23.24 16.39 62 11330 2.77
Tertiary 4.64 2.96 38 650 2.25
Black skarn 10.63 6.79 56 2430 3.17
Figure 3. Plane-strain and axisymmetric analysis with

FLAC.
cone form. The graphical representation of both cases
is indicated in Figure 3.
provided it would be possible to increase the over all Table 3 shows the factor of safety obtained for the
angle of the East slope of the pit. same section and using the same strength parameters.
In the following paragraph will be described in In that table it shows also the factor of safety obtained
detail the stability analysis carried out using more in a back analysis of the slope already excavated in
detailed geological models and two and three dimen- the pit as Phase 1. The strength parameters are those
sional finite-difference programs. given in Table 4, and the slope was considered to be
fully drained.
The breakage mechanism that takes place is very
similar in both types of analysis. It consists of the
4.1 Preliminary analysis
shear failure of the materials located below the main
Considering the effect of the radius of curvature of alpine thrust and tensile failure in the dolomite above
the pit in the global stability (Lorig 1999), different that thrust. In the case of the axisymmetric analysis,
analysis were carried out using the program FLAC the tensile failure is cushioned, increasing in this way
(Itasca 1998). the factor of safety of the slope.
In collaboration with Itasca Consultores S.L., we In following figures show a schematic of the geol-
have made different analysis over a representative ogy (Fig. 4), the failure mechanism in the case of
section, contemplating plane-strain and axisymmetric plane-strain geometry (Fig. 5), and the failure in the
conditions. case of axisymmetric analysis (Fig. 6).
In first of them one assumes that the slope extends Studying at the values of the obtained factors of
indefinitely in the perpendicular direction of the analy- safety it is clear that the analyses of three-dimensional
sis plane and that deformations in the perpendicular geometry provide higher and more realistic factors of
direction of this plane do not exist. This type would be safety, considering the influence of the radii of curva-
compatible with the one made in the feasibility study ture previously mentioned. In any case, the axisym-
with the XSTABL software. In the case of axisymmetric considerations are too optimistic, since in the
metric analysis one assumes that the slope has truncated reality the analyzed topography will not be totally
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09069-15.qxd 08/11/2003 20:26 PM Page 120
was used. This program allows define a more accu-

rate topographical and geological model.
4.2 FLAC3D modeling

Three-dimensional model construction of a geologi-
cally complex deposit such as El Valle-Boinás can be
an arduous task. In this case a “FISH routine” was
designed that allows the geological block model to be
imported directly into FLAC3D.
In a first step, using the DATAMINE program, dif-
ferent block models were created deactivating those
blocks located over the topography that we try to ana-
lyze. The X, Y and Z coordinate of the center of each
block is exported into a data file, as well as its lithology.
Figure 4. Summarized geology. In our particular case the mining blocks were 4
meters side bricks, that were rebuilt to 16 meters side
bricks, with the intention of making the model usable.
The blocks thus obtained were placed in the own local
coordinates, and more blocks were defined around the
model in order to avoid that the artificial contour con-
dition do not affect the results of the stability analysis
(Lorig et al 2000). Figure 7 shows the geology on the
surface of the final pit plotting the DATAMINE block
model, and the Figure 8 shows the geological model
loaded into FLAC3D.
The FISH routine was used to generate the 16
meter side blocks using the coordinates of the center
of the blocks taken from DATAMINE (file
“BE16X16A.txt”). The first line of this file has the
identification of the rest of the parameters, and it will
not be imported to the FLAC3D program. The whole
routine is shown in the appendix.
Figure 5. Mode of failure in a plane-strain analysis.
4.3 Rock-mass properties
The rock-mass properties used in all the stability
analysis are indicated in Table 4. The tensile strength
has been considered to be a tenth of the cohesion of
each material. To obtain the factor of safety of the
proposed model the shear-strength reduction tech-
nique was used. To perform slope-stability analysis,
simulations are run for a series of increasing trial fac-
tors of safety, f, until the slope fails. At failure, the
safety factor equals the trial safety factor (i.e. f F)
(Lorig et al. 2000).
Actual shear strength properties, cohesion (c) and
friction (), are reduced for each trial according to the
following equations:
Figure 6. Mode of failure in an axisymmetric analysis. (1)
(2)
conical and the different lithological units have a very
marked dip towards the East.
For the final design of the stable slope in the The reduction in the shear strength properties is made
Boinás East pit, the FLAC3D software (Itasca 1997) simultaneously for all materials.
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Figure 7. Datamine block model.
Figure 8. FLAC3D block model.
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Table 5. Factor of safety for different slope angles and with

different types of analysis.
Face angle
Deepest Type of Factor
Phase A1 B2 level Program analysis of safety
1 50 50 404 FLAC Plane 1.25

6 65 45 340 FLAC Plane 1.05
6 65 45 340 FLAC Axis 1.70
6 70 45 340 FLAC Axis 1.50
6 50 50 350 FLAC3D 1.45
6 70 50 340 FLAC3D 1.503
6 70 50 300 FLAC3D 1.35
1
A represents the face angle of the slope located above the
main Alpine Thrust. It represents the slope angle in the
Upper Limestones.
2
B represents the face angle in the materials located below
the main Alpine Thrust.
3
The higher value of FoS in the steeper design is due to a
change in the lithology present on that slope.
Figure 9. Zone with the maximum displacement in the
final Boinás East pit.
5 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS It must be take into account that with this system
we are going to have free faces at 90º and the high of
Once analyzed the different proposed models, it was the block size, so we must confirm that the factor of
proposed an open pit with lower level at 340 meters safety obtained corresponds to the slope factor and
ASL, a maximum slope height (in the East wall) of not to the brick face.
345 meters. A factor of safety of 1.45 was obtained
with slope angles of 70° in the dolomite above the main ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
thrust, 60° in upper sandstone, fresh granite, fresh
skarn, tertiary, and black skarn, and 50° in the rest. The authors would like to thank Mr. Manuel G.
A comparison between the factors of safety Fernández of Río Narcea Gold Mines for his great
obtained for the different models and programs used work with Datamine, and Mr. Alan Riles, COO of Río
are provided in Table 5. Narcea Gold Mines Ltd. for the valuable help in the
The minimum factor of safety values are obtained translation of the paper. Finally the authors are grate-
in the East wall of the pit. Figure 9 shows the FLAC3D ful to Mr. Pedro Varona of Itasca Consultores, S.L. for
model with the zone of maximum displacement. These his technical support. Thanks are extended also to Mr.
zone correspond with a convex geometry in the slope, Pedro Velasco and Ms. Montserrat Senís for their help.
therefore steeper slopes could have been considered
in areas where the pit slopes were concaves, but these
was not our case. We only have changed the face angle REFERENCES
according with the geology and not with its geometry.
As we can see in the factor of safety obtained in the Cepedal, A., Martin-Izard, A., Fuertes, M., Pevida, L.,
different model, the influence of the radii of curvature Maldonado, C., Spiering, E., Gonzalez, S. & Varela, A.
in the global stability of a pit is very considerable, 1998. Fluid Inclusions and Hydrothermal Evolution of
specially taking into account that a small increasing the El Valle-Boinas Copper-gold Deposits. In Arias, A.,
in the overall face angle results in a very large amount Martin-Izard, A. & Paniagua, A. (eds), Gold Exploration
of ore recovered, as it was in our case. and mining in NW Spain: 50–58. Oviedo.
On the other hand, the hard work required to design Cepedal, M.A. 2001. Geología, Mineralogía, Evolución y
a model for a complex deposit in three dimensions is Modelo Genético del yacimiento de Au-Cu de El Valle-
Boinas. Belmonte (Asturias). Ph.D. thesis, University of
avoided when we import the block model into FLAC3D.
Oviedo.
With the routine described above, it is easy to create a Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1997. FLAC3D (Fast Lagrangian
block model with DATAMINE, or whatever other Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions), Version 2.0.
program, and delete the block above the surface we Minneapolis: Itasca.
want to analyze, and them import all the model to Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1998. FLAC (Fast Lagrangian
FLAC3D and obtain a factor of safety. Analysis of Continua), Version 3.4. Minneapolis: Itasca.
122

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Lorig, L. 1999. Lessons learned from slope stability studies. z1 zc

In Detournay & Hart (eds), FLAC and Numerical z2 zc
Modeling in Geomechanics: 17–21. Rotterdam: Balkema.
z3 zc
16
Lorig, L. & Varona, P. 2000. Practical Slope-Stability
Análisis Using Finite-Difference Codes. In Hustrulid, W.A., z4 zc
McCarter, M.K. & Van Zyl, D.J.A. (eds), Slope Stability z5 zc
16
in Surface Mining: 115–124. Colorado: Society for z6 zc
16
Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc. z7 zc
16
Martin-Izard, A., Cepedal, A., Fuertes, M., Pevida, L.R., command
Maldonado, C., Spiering, E., Varela, A. & Gonzalez, S. gen zon bri p0 x0 y0 z0 p1 x1 y1 z1 p2 x2 y2 z2
1998. The El Valle Deposit: an example of Koper-gold p3 x3 y3 z3 p4 x4 y4 z4 &
Skarn Mineralization overprinted by late epithermal p5 x5 y5 z5 p6 x6 y6 z6 p7 x7 y7 z7 size 1 1 1
events. Cantabrian Mountains, Spain. In Arias, A.,
group mat
Martin-Izard, A. & Paniagua, A. (eds), Gold Exploration
and mining in NW Spain: 43–50. Oviedo. end_command
Steffen, Robertson & Kirsten (UK) Ltd. 1996. Investigation end_loop
into the Stability of Proposed Excavated Slopes and status close
Excavatability of Materials at El Valle, Boinas West and end
Boinas East. Report to Rio Narcea Gold Mines, S.A. creamalla
Report no. ADM/752MH001.REP, October 1996.
Steffen, Robertson & Kirsten (UK) Ltd. 1999. Boinas East
Open Pit Verification of Overall Slope Angles for pir
Optimisation Studis. Report to Rio Narcea Gold Mines,
S.A., January 1999.
APPENDIX – FISH ROUTINE
new
def creamalla
array aa(11488);(number of lines in file *.txt)
status open(‘BE16x16a.txt’,0,1)
status read(aa, 11488)
loop k(2, 11488); no lee la primera línea
xx parse(aa(k),1)
yy parse(aa(k),2)
zz parse(aa(k),3)
xxmax max(xx,xxmax)
mat parse(aa(k),4)
xc (xx-1)*16
662;put blocks in x local
yc (yy-1)*16
9745;put blocks in y local
zc (zz-1)*16
x0 xc
x1 xc
16
x2 xc
x3 xc
x4 xc
16
x5 xc
x6 xc
16
x7 xc
16
y0 yc
y1 yc
y2 yc
16
y3 yc
y4 yc
16
y5 yc
16
y6 yc
y7 yc
16
z0 zc
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Underground cavity design

09069-16.qxd 08/11/2003 20:26 PM Page 127

The effect of tunnel inclination and “k” ratio on the behavior of

surrounding rock mass
M. Iphar, M. Aksoy, M. Yavuz & G. Once

Osmangazi University, Mining Engineering Dept., Eskisehir, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Rock behavior around tunnels excavated in the same rock with various inclinations and “k” ratios
has been investigated by numerical analysis employing the FLAC3D finite difference code. Stress distributions and
displacements at the critical points of the tunnels in underground mining have been examined. Observed stress and
displacement values with respect to the change in tunnel inclination and “k” ratio have been analyzed by using sta-
tistical methods employing “multiple regression analysis” in order to find out a meaningful correlation between the
stress, displacement values and the inclination and “k” ratios. Statistical analyses have presented meaningful corre-
lations giving mathematical equations whose dependent variable is displacement or stress and independent variables
are tunnel inclination and “k” ratio.
1 INTRODUCTION tunnel inclinations have been varied between 0 and 45

degrees in 5 degrees intervals while the “k” ratios have
Numerical modeling is a very powerful and useful been varied between 0.5 and 2 in 0.5 intervals.
tool used widely in designing underground structures Three points have been selected to observe the dis-
such as tunnels, roadways, caverns etc. The displace- placements around the tunnel. These history points
ments and stresses around the underground openings have been located on the center-line of the tunnel, one
can be predicted by employing numerical modeling in at the roof and one at the floor, and one at axis level in
advance. the sidewall. The stresses in the zones adjacent to the
During a project carried out for the GLI (Western history points have also been monitored. To evaluate
Lignite Company in Turkey), a main roadway inclined the rock behavior properly, the coordinates of the his-
at 8° dip has been designed down to a depth of 500 m tory points have been kept at the same coordinates in
in the underground coal colliery (Once et al. 2001a). each of the models although the tunnel inclination has
The geomechanical properties of the rock mass where been changed.
the roadway will be driven have been obtained from Displacement values and maximum (1) and mini-
laboratory tests (Çekilmez 1988). In the light of this mum (3) principal stresses observed in three direc-
project, a new study has been carried out to investi- tions at the roof, floor and sidewall of the tunnel have
gate the effect of “k” ratio (the ratio of horizontal been subjected to the statistical analysis.
stress to vertical stress) and tunnel inclination on the After carrying out multiple regression analysis for
rock mass behavior in terms of displacements and displacements and 1, 3 principal stresses at the roof,
stresses. To achieve this goal, the FLAC3D finite dif- floor and sidewall in x, y and z directions, regression
ference code has been used. models have been proposed to predict the displace-
After the numerical modeling, statistical analyses ments and stresses.
have been performed to find out a meaningful cor- Displacements in the x-direction at the history
relation explaining the effects of “k” ratios and the points in the roof and the floor have not been included
inclination on the stresses and displacements. because these points lie on the plane of the symmetry
for the models.
2 NUMERICAL MODELING STUDIES
2.2 Rock mass properties
2.1 Applied method
The rock mass in which the tunnel will be driven is
Forty different numerical models have been formed in marl formation. The geomechanical properties of the
FLAC3D (Itasca 1997). During the model formation, the marl were determined from MTA (General Directorate
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Table 1. RMR calculation for marl.
Geomechanical
properties Values Rating
Uniaxial 11.2 MPa 2 3.5 m

compressive strength
RQD 61.4% 13
Spacing of joints 80–200 mm 8
Condition of joints Slightly rough surfaces, 20
separation 1 mm,
soft joint wall rock 4.60 m
Ground water 115.2 lt/min 4
Joint orientation Unfavorable 10 Figure 1. Tunnel geometry.
RMR 37
Table 2. Rock mass properties used in

modeling (Çekilmez 1988).
Property Values
Poisson’s ratio 0.25

Bulk modulus (MPa) 790
Shear modulus (MPa) 475
Tensile strength (MPa) 0.28
Internal friction angle (°) 37
Cohesion (kPa) 70
Density (kg/m3) 2500
of Mineral Research & Exploration Institution) drillings

and discontinuity spacing were obtained using the
approach proposed by Priest & Hudson (1976) because
of the lack of information about discontinuities in the Figure 2. The FLAC3D model with fixity condition and
MTA report (Çekilmez 1987). coordinate system.
The RMR value was calculated using the RMR clas-
sification system described by Bieniawski (1979) and
their ratings are shown in Table 1. One of the models with fixity condition and coor-
dinate system is shown in Figure 2.
2.3 Numerical models in FLAC3D
The rock mass has been assumed to be an isotropic, 3 RESULTS
homogenous material. It has been modeled as a Mohr-
Coulomb material through the study. Displacement and stress values obtained from the
The geomechanical properties used in the numerical modeling studies have been evaluated separately con-
modeling have been taken from the GLI project as men- sidering “k” ratio and inclination of the tunnel.
tioned before and the values of these properties are
given in Table 2 (Once et al. 2001b).
3.1 Evaluation of models in terms of
In-situ stresses have been calculated by using the
displacements
following equations.
The y and z displacements at the roof have been cate-
z h (ton/m2)
gorized in terms of “k” ratio and tunnel inclination. In
x y k z (ton/m2)
Figure 3, it is observed that the magnitude of the
where z vertical stress; density of marl; y displacements was not significantly affected by vary-
h depth, x and y lateral stresses, k “k” ratio ing the “k” ratio but was greatly affected by varying
(Hoek & Brown 1980). the tunnel inclination.
During the modeling, the presence of groundwater It can be seen from the Figure 4 that displacements in
was ignored. The tunnel, whose dimensions are given in the roof in the z-direction generally increase as the
Figure 1, has been simulated as a single step excavation. “k” ratio increases for the case where the inclination
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0.2
0.0
Predicted Values (m)

0.2 -0.2
0.0 -0.4
-0.2
-0.6
-0.4
Ydisprf .6
-0 -0.8
(m)
-0.8
-1.0
-1.0
0 -1.2
2.
0
5
-1.2 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2
10
5
1. 15 Observed Values (m)
20
25
0
30
1.
35
Incline (o)
40
k-ratio Figure 5. Observed vs predicted values in y-direction (roof ).

0.5
45
50
Figure 3. y displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination (roof). 0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
0.0
-0.8
-0.3
-0.6 -1.0
-0.9 -1.2
Zdisprf
1.2
(m) - -1.4
-1.5 -1.4 -1.2 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0
-1.8 Observed Values (m)
0.5
50
45
Figure 6. Observed vs predicted values in z-direction (roof ).

40
1.0
35
30
25
k-ratio 1.5
20
15
Incline (˚)
10
2.0
5
The predicted values obtained from the proposed

0
equation are plotted against the values from the

Figure 4. z displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination (roof ). numerical models in Figure 5. This regression model
shows a strong correlation between the observed and
predicted values (r 0.99).
is constant. On the contrary, displacements in the roof The proposed regression equation for the displace-
in z-direction generally decrease as the inclination ments in the z-direction in the roof is presented
increases for the case where the “k” ratio is constant. below:
Moreover, it should be noted that increasing the
inclination angle has a great effect on the amount of
vertical displacement in the case of a high “k” ratio. (2)
The proposed regression equation for the displace-
ments in the y-direction at the roof utilizing the data
where Zdisprf z-displacement at the roof; k “k”
from the models studied is given in Equation 1:
ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°).
The predicted values are plotted versus the observed
values in Figure 6. This regression model also shows
(1) a strong correlation between the observed and pre-
dicted values (r 0.98).
where Ydisprf y-displacement in the roof; k “k” The magnitude of the y displacements for the history
ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°). point in the floor was greatly affected by the variation
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0.7
0.6
0.5

0.9 0.4
0.6 0.3
0.3 0.2
Ydispfl 0.0
0.1
(m)
-0.3 0.0
-0.6 -0.1
50 5 -0.2
4 0 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
4 5
2.0
3 0 Observed Values (m)
3 5 1 .5
2 0
Incline (˚) 2 15 k-ratio
1 .0
10 5 Figure 9. Observed vs predicted values in y-direction (floor).

0.5
Figure 7. y displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination (floor). 0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
1.8
1.5 0.3
1.2
Zdispfl 0.2
(m) 0.9
0.6 0.1
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
0.3
Observed Values (m)
50
45 0
4 35 Figure 10. Observed vs predicted values in z-direction
2.0
30 5
2 0 (floor).
1.5
Incline (˚) 2 5
1 0
1.0
1 k-ratio
5
5.0
0
where Ydispfl y-displacement at the floor; k “k”
Figure 8. z displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination (floor). ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°).
The predicted values versus observed values in the
floor in the y-direction are shown in Figure 9. This
of “k” ratio and tunnel inclination. As can be seen regression model shows a strong correlation between
from Figure 7, the horizontal (y) displacements the observed and predicted values (r 0.99).
increase with an increase in both the “k” ratio and The regression equation proposed for predicting
tunnel inclination. the z displacements in the floor is as follows:
Figure 8 shows that the magnitude of the vertical
displacements in the floor increased with an increase
in the “k” ratio. On the contrary, the vertical displace-
ments decrease as the tunnel inclination increases.(4)
The regression equation proposed for predicting
the displacements in the y-direction in the floor is where Zdispfl z-displacement at the floor; k “k”
given below: ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°).
floor in the z-direction are shown in Figure 10. This
regression model also shows a strong correlation
(3) between the observed and predicted values (r 0.99).
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0.0 0.60
-0.2 0.45
.4 Zdispsdw 30
Xdispsdw -0 0.
(m)
(m) -0.6
0.15
-0.8
4 50 50 5
4 5
0.5 35 0 4 0
4 5 2.0
1.0 2530 3 0
1.5
2 3 5
k-ratio 1.5 1 0 2 0
10 5 Incline (˚) Incline (˚) 2 15 0 1.0
5
2.0 0 1 5 0.5 k-ratio
0
Figure 11. x displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination

Figure 13. z displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination
(sidewall).
(sidewall).
0.0
-0.1
0.20
0.15 -0.2
0.10
Ydispsdw -0.3
(m) 0.05
-0.4
0.00
-0.05 -0.5
50 5
4 0
4 35
2.0
-0.6
30 5 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0
1.5
2 0
2 Observed Values (m)
Incline (˚) 1510
1.0
5
k-ratio
0
0.
Figure 14. Observed vs predicted values in x-direction

5
(sidewall).
Figure 12. y displacements vs “k” ratio and inclination
(sidewall).
The proposed regression equation for the displace-

The x displacements in the sidewall are not affected ments in the x-direction at the sidewall is given in
by the change in the tunnel inclination. But they are Equation 5:
affected by the change in the value of “k” ratio as seen
from Figure 11.
In the case of the y displacements in the sidewall
shown in Figure 12, they tend to increase as the tunnel
inclination increases. When the change in the “k”
ratio is considered, it should be noted that there is no (5)
significant increase in the y displacements up to 20°
tunnel inclination. After this inclination, y displace- where Xdispsdw x-displacement at the sidewall;
ments have increased as “k” ratio increased. k “k” ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°).
Figure 13 shows that vertical displacements at the The predicted values versus observed values in
sidewall increase due to an increase in the “k” ratio. the sidewall in the x-direction are shown in Figure 14.
However, the vertical displacements decrease due to This regression model also shows a strong correlation
an increase in the tunnel inclination. between the observed and predicted values (r 0.99).
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The regression model recommended to predict the where Zdispsdw z-displacement at the sidewall;
y displacements in the sidewall is given below: k “k” ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°).
sidewall in the z-direction are shown in Figure 16.
This regression model also shows a strong correlation
(6) between the observed and predicted values (r 0.99).
The correlation coefficients of all the proposed
where Ydispsdw y-displacement at the sidewall; regression models for displacements have been sum-
k “k” ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°). marized in Table 3.
sidewall in the y-direction are shown in Figure 15. 3.2 Evaluation of models in terms of stresses
This regression model shows a strong correlation As the observed principal stresses are examined, no
between the observed and predicted values (r 0.99). strong relationship between the principal stresses and
The regression model proposed for predicting the the “k” ratio or the tunnel inclination has been found
z displacements in the sidewall is as follows: except for the principal stresses in the tunnel floor.
Therefore, only principal stresses in the floor are taken
into consideration.
(7) The graphs of maximum and minimum principal
stresses are given in Figures 17 and 18 respectively.
The regression equation proposed for predicting
0.20 the magnitude of 1 in the floor and the correlation
coefficient are given below:
0.15
0.10
(8)
0.05
r 0.95
0.00
Table 3. Correlation coefficients for displacements.
-0.05
Correlation coefficient (r)
-0.10
-0.10 -0.05 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 Direction Roof Floor Sidewall
Observed Values (m)
x – – 0.99
Figure 15. Observed vs predicted values in y-direction y 0.99 0.99 0.99
(sidewall). z 0.98 0.99 0.99
0.5
0.4
0.3 -315
-330
0.2 -345
1 fl (kPa) 60
-3
0.1 -375
0
5
2.0 1510
0.0 2
1.5 25 0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
k-ratio 1.0 3 30
Observed Values (m) 40 5 Incline (˚)
4
50 5
0.5
Figure 16. Observed vs predicted values in z-direction
(sidewall). Figure 17. 1 vs “k” ratio and inclination (floor).
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-10
-15
Predicted Values (kPa)

-16 -20
-20
-24
-25
-28
-30
3 fl (kPa) -32
0
-36 5 -35
1
-40 15 0
2
2 0
0 30 5 -40
2. 3 Incline (˚)
1.
5 4 5
0 4 0 -45
1. 5 50 5 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15
k-ratio 0.
Observed Values (kPa)
Figure 18. 3 vs “k” ratio and inclination (floor).
Figure 20. Observed vs predicted 3 (floor).
Table 4. Correlation coefficients for stresses.

-300 Correlation coefficient (r)
Predicted Values (kPa)
-320 Stress Roof Floor Sidewall
-340 1 0.75 0.95 0.68

3 0.63 0.96 0.68
-360
The correlation coefficients of all proposed regres-
-380 sion models have been summarized in Table 4 for
maximum and minimum principal stresses. As seen,
-400 there is only a meaningful correlation for the history
-400 -380 -360 -340 -320 -300
point in the floor.
Observed Values (kPa)
Figure 19. Observed vs predicted 1 (floor). 4 CONCLUSIONS
When the displacements and stresses in the model

where 1fl max principal stress at the floor; studies have been examined in detail, the results can
k “k” ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°). be stated as follows:
The predicted values versus observed values of 1 1. The y-components of the movements in the roof
at the floor are shown in Figure 19. This regression and the floor increase radially into the tunnel as
model shows a strong correlation between the observed the tunnel is inclined. This trend becomes more
and predicted values. obvious with the increase of the horizontal stresses.
The proposed regression equation and the correla- 2. The z-components of the movements in the roof
tion coefficient for 3 at the floor are as follows: and the floor decrease as the tunnel is inclined. On
the contrary, they increase as the horizontal stresses
increase.
3. Displacements in the x-direction in the sidewall
(9) are not affected by the change of tunnel inclination.
But, they increase towards the tunnel inside as the
r 0.96 horizontal stresses increase.
where 3fl min principal stress at the floor; k “k” 4. The y-component of the movement in the sidewall
ratio and I inclination of the tunnel (°). increases due to the increase of tunnel inclination.
The predicted values versus observed values of 3 This trend becomes more obvious with the increase
in the floor are shown in Figure 20. of horizontal stresses.
This regression model also shows a strong correla- 5. The z-component of the movement in the side-
tion between the observed and predicted values. wall tends to decrease with the increase of tunnel
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inclination. The magnitude of this component REFERENCES

increases as the horizontal stresses increase.
6. The maximum and minimum principal stresses in Bieniawski, Z.T. 1979. The geomechanics classification in
the floor generally increase as the tunnel is inclined. rock engineering applications. Proc. Xth. Congress Int.
But, it should be noted that some model results are Soc. Rock Mech. Vol. 2: 41–48. Montreux.
not consistent with this general trend. Çekilmez, V., Koç, S. & Alemdaroglu, T. 1987. The geo-
technical research of the drills in Kütahya-Tavşanl1-
The results of the numerical model studies have been Tunçbilek District. M.T.A. Institute, Ankara/Turkey.
analyzed to find out the presence of correlation for Çekilmez, V. 1988. The geotechnical research of the JT4 drill
the displacements and stresses at the tunnel boundary in Kütahya-Tavşanl1-Tunçbilek district. M.T.A. Institute,
with the “k” ratio and tunnel inclination. As a result of Ankara.
multiple regression analyses carried out, strong rela- Hoek, E. & Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground excavations in
rock. Institution of Mining Metallurgy, London.
tionships have been found between the “k” ratio, tunnel Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1997. FLAC3D – Fast
inclination and displacements. But the relationship Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions,
between the “k” ratio, tunnel inclination and principal Version 2.0 User’s Manual. Minneapolis, MN: Itasca.
stresses are not as strong as those of displacements Once, G., Iphar, M. & Yavuz, M. 2001a. Design of the main
except for those of principal stresses in the floor. transport road of the deep coal seam panels of GLI
These proposed regression models can be used Tunçbilek mine in Turkey, Osmangazi University Research
especially to predict the displacements around the Fund Project, Eskisehir, Turkey.
boundary of tunnels which will be excavated in simi- Once, G., Iphar, M. & Yavuz, M. 2001b. Study of ground
lar rock masses (marl formation). It should be noted control of the main transport road of the deep coal seam
panels of GLI Tunçbilek mine in Turkey, FLAC and
that these predicted values should be used with great Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics, Lyon, France,
caution. Because they will be preliminary and rough 29–31 October 2001. Rotterdam, Balkema.
estimates of displacements and principal stresses. Priest, S.D. & Hudson, L. 1976. Discontinuity spacings in
Proposed regression equations can easily be affected rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
by the chance of rock properties, size and shape of Sciences. Vol. 13: 135–148.
tunnel, groundwater etc.
Similar analyses can be caried out for different rock
masses. These regression models can be developed
and they can be used for various rock mass conditions.
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Numerical analysis of the volume loss influence on building during

tunnel excavation
O. Jenck & D. Dias

INSA Lyon, URGC Géotechnique, Villeurbanne, France
ABSTRACT: Shallow tunneling performed by a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) induces volume loss, mainly
due to the conical shape of the machine and the consolidation of the injected grout. This excavation volume loss
causes ground movements at the surface that can induce damages to surrounding structures. However, to know
the influence on structures, it is not sufficient to apply the Greenfield strains because of the influence of the
structure’s stiffness. Therefore a computational three-dimensional soil-structure interaction analysis is required
to take into account all the complexity of the problem. This paper presents a FLAC3D analysis of the interaction
between shallow tunnel excavation and surface buildings, applied to the case of the Lisboa subway. A simpli-
fied simulation of TBM tunneling is adopted by imposing volume loss. To highlight the influence of settlements
on a six-floor structure, different cases of volume loss are studied from 0.5 to 5 % of the total excavated volume.
1 INTRODUCTION account of all the complexity of this type of soil-

structure interaction problem.
During the construction of a tunnel at shallow depth Potts & Addenbrooke (1997) used two-dimensional
in urban areas, prediction of the effects induced by the numerical calculations considering the structure as an
excavation on surrounding buildings is very important. equivalent weightless beam with variable stiffness.
In fact, the volume loss in tunnel generates soil dis- They showed the structure’s rigidity influence on sur-
placements on surface that can cause damages to face ground movements induced by tunneling. Franzius
existing structures. The traditional design of the con- & Addenbrooke (2002) have then analyzed the influ-
structions doesn’t take into account this type of loading ence of the structure’s weight. They showed that the
conditions. In order to control the volume loss in the weight has very low influence on ground movements
tunnel and to limit the damages, the tunnel is exca- when rigidity increases. Another two-dimensional cal-
vated, when it is possible, with a TBM. culation coupling the soil with a masonry building
A first approximation to predict the damages was performed by Miliziano et al. (2002). The three-
caused to surrounding structures is done by applying dimensional building is taken into account by an
the soil deformations without any structure on surface, equivalent two-dimensional wall. They demonstrated
called Greenfield deformations, to the structure’s the significant effect of the relative structure stiffness
foundations. This method is recommended by AFTES in reducing differential displacements, and on the
(1999). The Greenfield deformations can be calcu- predicted damage.
lated by an empirical (O’Reilly & New 1982, Peck Nevertheless, with 2D simulations it is worth noting
1969), analytical (Panet 1995, Sagaseta 1987) or that an empirical parameter such as the deconfinement
numerical method (Oteo & Sagaseta 1982, Swoboda ratio or the volume loss in tunnel has to be considered
et al. 1989). as remarked by Benmebarek et al. (1998). Dias et al.
However, it is important to consider the structure (1999) have compared results from 2D and 3D
to estimate the soil movements because it contributes numerical simulations with experimental data. They
to stiffen the ground and consequently to reduce the showed that the surface settlement trough obtained
soil displacements. Then, the determination of the with the 3D calculation is more realistic than the
underground works influence on surrounding structures trough obtained with the 2D calculation, even with a
becomes very difficult with empirical or analytical simple constitutive model for the soil. Moreover, it is
methods. Only the numerical method is able to take impossible to study the damages induced on the
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09069-17.qxd 08/11/2003 20:27 PM Page 136
structure in the tunnel axis direction when using 2D

4m C1
simulations.
Some authors have already used three-dimensional C2
7m
numerical modeling. For instance Mroueh & Shahrour
(2003) have compared the results of a soil-structure
9m 26 m C3
interaction calculation of tunnel excavation below a
structure with the results obtained by imposing the
Greenfield movements upon the structure. They
showed that this last method is very severe in terms of
14 m C4
induced forces in the structure. Netzel & Kaalberg
(2000) have modeled the interaction between TBM
digging and masonry structures in order to obtain
specific damage criteria.
This article presents a three-dimensional numerical C5
analysis of the soil-structure interaction phenomenon 17 m
during shallow tunneling. The tunnel excavation is a
simplified simulation of the real phases of a TBM
based on the concept of volume loss. The soil behavior
is elastic perfectly plastic. The structure is composed Figure 1. Experimental section.
of columns and floors founded on a raft. The para-
metrical study deals with the influence of volume loss
Table 1. Geotechnical properties.
in tunnel. Results are analyzed in terms of ground
surface displacements and of stresses induced in the Name: C1 C2 C3 C4 C5
structure. Soil type Clay Clay Limestone Silty sand Clay
E [MPa] 15 15 266.5 44.7 180

0.35 0.4 0.35 0.35 0.37
2 EXPERIMENTAL DATA c [kPa] 5 5 10 0 250
" [°] 30 32 37 35 30
2.1 Experimental section [kN/m3] 20.5 20.7 20.5 20.65 20.4
The studied model is based on the case of the Lisboa Ko 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.8 1.05
subway. The experimental section (Fig. 1) is located
near the new Ameixoeira station. The geotechnical
properties (Table 1) are given by Ribeiro e Sousa et al. 0
(2003). -0.05
Surface settlements (cm)
S28 S29 S30

Section S28
The excavation is 26 m deep. The tunnel diameter -0.1 Section S29
is equal to D 9.8 m. The section is located in the -0.15 Section S30
silty sand layer, where the mechanical properties are -0.2
relatively poor. -0.25
-0.3
-0.35
2.2 Measured surface settlements -0.4
Measured settlements have been obtained on several -0.45
-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
sections near the Ameixoeira station (Ribeiro e Sousa Distance to the section (m)
et al. 2003). Results are shown in Figures 2 & 3.
Figure 2 presents the settlements measured above Figure 2. Longitudinal settlement troughs.
the tunnel axis in three different sections, for different
positions of the TBM. Figure 2 illustrates experimen-
tal longitudinal settlement troughs. The maximum section, the maximum measured settlement is equal
observed settlement is about 0.4 cm settlements are to 0.3 cm.
observed even when the TBM has not already reached
the instrumented section. On this underground works,
3 NUMERICAL MODEL ADOPTED
an earth pressure shield is used.
Figure 3 shows the observed surface settlements in a
3.1 Ground mass
transversal section (S31), at the final state of the exca-
vation (when the TBM is far away). This curve is called Figure 4 presents the numerical model of the ground-
transverse settlements trough. In this instrumented mass. Due to the symmetry conditions, only half of the
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09069-17.qxd 08/11/2003 20:27 PM Page 137
0
Step n
Z
-0.05
-0.1
20 m
Y
-0.15
-0.2
-0.25
-0.3 Tunnel face
-0.35
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Distance to tunnel axis (m) Step n+1
20 m
Figure 3. Transverse settlement trough.
Y X One element length
Figure 5. Longitudinal tunnel section – excavation process.
have a linear variation on the distance of 20 m. After

this distance, the lateral displacements are constant,
as shown on Figure 5. This process simulates the prin-
cipal excavation phases:
– Conical shape of TBM
– Grout injection
Figure 4. Numerical model. – Grout consolidation
– Setting of the concrete rings
ground mass is modeled (plane of symmetry Y–Z). The initial position of the tunnel is Y 0 m and
The model is 100 m wide in the X direction, 90 m the numerical phases of excavation are as follows:
long in the Y direction (parallel to tunnel axis) and
– excavation on one element length,
51 m high (Z direction). The numerical model con-
– fixation of the tunnel face nodes,
sists of approximately 85,000 nodes.
– convergence of tunnel walls until reaching the given
displacement shape,
3.2 Ground behavior – if a node reaches the limit, it will be fixed,
– when the model equilibrium is reached, all the
The behavior of the soil is set as elastic perfectly plas- nodes are freed,
tic with a Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The flow – translation of the loading system of one element
rule is non-associated and the dilatancy angle is set as length.
# " 30°.
Due to the very fast pore pressure dissipation Hence, there are as many excavation steps as there are
observed, the calculation is done in drained conditions. elements on the model length.
The displacement field imposed at the tunnel walls
corresponds to a volume loss. This volume loss in
3.3 Simulation of excavation tunnel normalized by the total excavated volume is
The adopted excavation process for the calculation is called Vt. The excavation is ended when the model is
a simplification of the confinement-deconfinement entirely bored. Then the tunnel face is at Y 90
phases induced by the boring machine. The hypothe- 20 110 m which corresponds to the entire model
ses are as follows: the soil displacements at the tunnel length added with the distance between the tunnel
face are blocked, simulating a perfect equilibrium of face and the position where the lateral displacement is
confinement pressures. The lateral soil displacements constant.
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4 REFERENCE CASE: EXCAVATION is the point of inflection of the transverse settlement

WITHOUT STRUCTURE ON SURFACE trough.
The reference case corresponds to an excavation of

the numerical model with Vt 5%. 5 INFLUENCE OF VOLUME LOSS IN TUNNEL
According to Benmabarek et al. (1998), this value ON GREENFIELD DISPLACEMENTS
seems to be the higher value obtained with the TBM
excavation method and do not correspond to the In order to study the influence of volume loss in tun-
observed settlements. nel on Greenfield soil displacements, several calcula-
tions are done with Vt from 0.5% to 5%.
4.1 Surface settlements
5.1 Surface settlements
The surface settlement distribution in a transverse
section at the final state is shown on Figure 6. The dis- Figure 8 compares the transversal settlement troughs
tance to tunnel axis is normalized by the tunnel diame- for the different values of Vt, at the final state.
ter D. The maximum settlement is equal to 4 cm; it is All the curves show a Gaussian distribution with
about ten times higher than the observed settlements the same value of i. The maximum surface settle-
(see section 2.2). ments are:
The adopted numerical process for simulating the
– for Vt 3%, Smax 2.5 cm
tunnel excavation with a TBM is able to reproduce a
surface displacement trough in agreement with the – for Vt 1%, Smax 1 cm
Gaussian distribution, which matches very closely – for Vt 0.5%, Smax 0.5 cm
experimental observations. This settlement distribu- These results are reported in Figure 9. A quasi-linear
tion is given by Peck (1969) equation: relation between tunnel volume loss and maximum
surface settlement is observed.
(1)
Distance to tunnel axis (x/D)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0.05
Where S settlement at distance x of the tunnel
axis, Smax maximum settlement obtained in the
Horizontal strain (%)
0.00
trough center, i distance from the inflection point
of the trough to tunnel axis. In this case, i 1.8 D. -0.05
-0.10
4.2 Horizontal surface displacement
Figure 7 presents the horizontal surface soil strains in -0.15
a transverse section, at the final state. In this figure, compression extension
two distinct zones are observed. In the center of the -0.20

trough, the soil is in compression and on the edges the
soil is in extension. The limit between these two zones Figure 7. Horizontal strain in a transverse section.

Distance to tunnel axis (x/D) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0
0
i -0.5
-1
-1 Vt
-1.5
0.5%
0.5%
-2
-2 1%
1%
-2.5
3%
3%
-3
5%
5%
-3 -3.5
-4
-4 -4.5
Figure 6. Transverse settlement trough. Figure 8. Transverse settlement trough.
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5 D/2
Maximum settlement (cm)
Tunnel
4 18m
Smax = 0.82Vt
4m
3
4m
2 Y
1 12m
0 X
0 1 2 3 4 5
Tunnel volume loss (%)
Figure 9. Liner relation between maximum settlement Symmetry axis

and Vt.
Figure 11. Column position.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Z
0.05 Y X
Horizontal strain (%)
0.00
Vt
-0.05
5%
-0.10 3%
1%
-0.15 0.5%
-0.20
Figure 10. Horizontal strain in a transverse section.
Figure 12. Numerical model coupling soil and structure.

The tunnel volume loss of Vt 0.5% corresponds
to the observed surface settlement (Figs. 2 & 3).
(0.4 m 0.4 m), and slabs of 0.3 m thickness, founded
on a 0.3 m raft, which size is 12 m 36 m. The build-
5.2 Horizontal surface displacement ing has seven levels of 4 m height.
Figure 10 compares the horizontal surface dis- Figure 11 shows the column’s position. There is no
placements for the values of Vt, at the final state. eccentricity considered between the structure and the
The limit between the two zones is the same for all tunnel; therefore, only the half of the structure is
values of Vt. As in the previous paragraph, a linear modeled.
relation is observed between Vt and the maximum
soil compression. 6.2 Numerical model coupling soil and structure
Figure 12 shows the numerical model coupling
6 COUPLED CALCULATION: MODELING OF ground mass and structure. The structure is located in
THE STRUCTURE the middle of the model length (Y-axis). Columns are
taken into account as beams, slabs and raft as shells.
In order to study the soil-structure interaction during The structure behavior is elastic with properties of a
shallow tunneling, three-dimensional calculations cou- reinforced concrete: E 19 GPa and 0.2. The
pling ground mass and structure are presented. soil nodes are bound with the structure nodes.
The structure is disposed on the numerical model
in one phase. Then equilibrium of the model is reached.
6.1 Geometry of the structure
The structure is only loaded with its own weight
The studied structure is a simplification of existing ( 25 kN/m3). After that the soil displacements are
buildings. It is composed of columns of square section initialized in order to study only the tunneling effect.
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09069-17.qxd 08/11/2003 20:27 PM Page 140
The forces in the structural elements are not initial- Distance to tunnel axis (x/D)
ized: this step represents the initial state in terms of 0 1 2 3 4 5
internal forces in the structure. Finally, the obtained 0
Building
Surface settlement (cm)

numerical model is excavated.
-1
-2 Greenfield
7 COUPLED CALCULATION: REFERENCE With structure

-3
CASE, Vt 5%
-4
The reference case of the calculation coupling soil
and structure is compared with the reference case -5
without structure, presented in section 4.
Figure 13. Surface settlement trough with and without
structure, Vt 5%.
7.1 Surface soil displacements
Figure 13 compares the surface settlement troughs in Distance to tunnel axis (x/D)
the middle of the model length, at the final state. With 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
a structure on surface, the settlements increase than 0
with the Greenfield calculation. The maximum surface Horizontal displacement (cm)
settlement increase from 4.1 cm to 4.8 cm is equal to
-0.5
15%; and the volume trough increase is equal to 5%.
Nevertheless, the settlement trough remains a Gaussian
curve in the two cases, with appreciatively the same -1
value for i. Greenfield
Figure 14 compares the horizontal surface dis- -1.5 With structure
placements in a transverse section with and without
structure, at the final state. In the first case, the hori-
zontal soil displacements under the structure are neg- -2
ligible compared to the Greenfield case. This is due to
Figure 14. Horizontal displacement with and without
the high axial stiffness of the raft and due to the fact
structure, Vt 5%.
that the raft is bound with the soil.
This is a significant result, which has also been
observed in field monitoring (Standing et al. 2002).
Hence, it is very severe to apply the Greenfield move- MY
ments of soil to this structure to estimate the induced
TY
damages, as recommended in first approximation by
AFTES (1999). Tx Mx
Tunnel axis
Y
7.2 Induced forces in the structure columns X
During the excavation, the forces in the structure
columns are analyzed. Figure 15 defines the shear TY : longitudinal shear force
forces and the bending moments in a column section. Tx : transversal shear force
Figure 16 shows the maximum values of the internal MY : transversal bending moment
forces normalized by the maximum initial values F/Fini,
Mx : longitudinal ending moment
for different excavation length.
The transverse shear forces increase considerably
when the TBM passes below the structure. Then Figure 15. Forces in a column section.
important values are kept until the end of the excava-
tion. Longitudinal shear forces increase when TBM is
located below and just next to the building, and The forces induced in the columns are studied
decrease to their initial values when TBM moves off. more in detail for four specific columns specified on
The axial forces are very lightly affected by digging Figure 17. These columns are chosen because they
compared to the others forces. Then, they are not rep- undergo a great stress increase or are representative
resented here. of the general behavior. Only the evolution of the
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60 20
Column
Longitudinal bending
50 My Tx A
moment (kN.m)
Mx Ty 15 B
40 C
F/Fini
D
30 10
20
10 5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 0
Excavation length (m) 0 20 40 60 80 100
Excavation length (m)
Figure 16. Maximum beam forces.

Figure 19. Maximum longitudinal bending moment on the
four columns.
28
Initial state
D Excavation of 45m
B Column height (m) 24 Excavation of 77m
Y Final state
20
16
X A
C 12
8
Tunnel axis 4
0
Figure 17. Position of studied columns. -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10
Longitudinal bending moment (kN.m)
50 Figure 20. Longitudinal bending moment (Mx) on column C.

Column
Transversal bending
40 A
moment (kN.m)
B
30 C
D The most affected column in both directions is col-
20 umn C. Bending moments and shear forces distribution
in these columns are analyzed for different excavation
10 lengths.
Figures 19 and 20 present the repartition of the
0 longitudinal forces in column C. The most prejudicial
0 2 40 60 80 100
excavation step corresponds to the excavation length
Excavation length (m)
of about 80 m. The maximum longitudinal bending
moment is 19 kN.m, reached between levels 3 and 4
Figure 18. Maximum transversal bending moment in the
(Fig. 19). For a length bored of 45 m, figure 19 shows
four columns.
that the column is affected in the opposite direction,
with a value of 7 kN.m between levels 2 and 3. The
maximum longitudinal shear force is equal to 2.8 kN,
bending moment is studied, because shear forces vary reached at level 5. Level 3 is also affected with
in the same way. TY 2.6 kN (Fig. 20).
Figure 18 presents the evolution of the maximum Figures 21 and 22 present the repartition of the
value of MY for the different studied columns. It can be transversal forces on column C. The most prejudicial
noted that more columns are far from the tunnel axis, excavation step is at the final state. The initial state is
more columns are affected in the transverse direction. not represented because of negligible values. This fig-
Figure 19 presents the evolution of the maximum ure show that the most affected levels in the trans-
value of Mx for the different studied columns. It verse direction are levels 1 and 2. The maximum
seems that the longitudinal stresses are similar in all value of MY is 44 kN.m (Fig. 21) and the maximum
the building’s columns. value of TX is 11 kN (Fig. 22).
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28 28
Excavation of 45m
24 24
Column height (m)
Column height (m)

Final state
20 20
16 16
12 12
8 Initial state
Excavation of 77.5m 8
4 Final state 4
0 0
-4,0 -3,0 -2,0 -1,0 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 -12,0 -8,0 -4,0 0,0 4,0 8,0 12,0
Longitudinal shear force (kN)
Transversal shear force (kN)
Figure 21. Longitudinal shear force (TY) on column C. Figure 23. Transversal shear force (TX) on column C.
28
24 Excavation of 45m
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Column height (m)
Final state 0
20 -0.5
16 Surface settlement (cm) -1
Vt
12 -1.5
-2 0.5%
8 -2.5 1%
4 -3 3%
-3.5 5%
0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 -4
Transverse bending moment (kN.m) -4.5
Building
-5
Figure 22. Transversal bending moment (MY) on column C.

Figure 24. Surface settlement trough with structure on sur-
face for different volume loss in tunnel.
8 COUPLED CALCULATION: INFLUENCE OF

VOLUME LOSS IN TUNNEL 1.2
Ratio = Swith str./Swithout
Influence of tunnel volume loss on a structure is also 1.15 0,5%

1%
studied. Calculations coupling soil and structure are 3%
1.1 5%
done using different volume loss in tunnel.
1.05
8.1 Influence of volume loss on surface settlements 1
Figure 23 compares the surface settlement troughs 0.95

obtained with a structure on surface for different vol- 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
ume loss imposed in tunnel. This figure can be com- Numerical model length (m)
pared with Figure 8. For a volume loss more than 1%,
the surface settlements are greater in the coupled cal- Figure 25. Longitudinal settlements ratio.
culation than in the Greenfield case. All curves pres-
ent a Gaussian distribution of surface settlements.
8.2 Influence of volume loss on induced forces in
Figure 24 presents the ratio between settlements
columns
with structure and without structure according to the
position on the model length, above the tunnel axis, at Figure 25 presents the evolution of the maximum
the final state. A ratio greater than 1 corresponds to value of TX (same evolution for maximum MY) for
settlements higher than values without structure. It is different values of Vt. For each value of Vt, the trans-
always the case, except with a very low tunnel volume versal forces increase when TBM passes under the
loss (Vt 0.5%). This figure illustrates that greater structure and keep important values at the final state.
is the volume loss in tunnel, greater is the settlement Figure 26 presents the evolution of the maximum
increase compared to the Greenfield case. value of TY (same evolution for maximum MX) for
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60 longitudinal forces are obtained for a length bored of

Vt about 80 m.
50
5%
40 3%
9 CONCLUSIONS
F/Fini
30 1%
0.5% This numerical analysis highlights the soil/structure

20
interaction during shallow tunneling with TBM. The
10 attention was focused on the influence of the volume
loss in tunnel.
0 The presence of the structure increases the surface
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
Excavation length (m) settlement for a volume loss in tunnel higher than 1%,
in comparison to the Greenfield case.
Figure 26. Evolution of maximum transversal forces in Due to the presence of a raft with a great axial stiff-
columns. ness and the fact that the raft is bound with the soil,
the horizontal displacements are negligible under the
structure in comparison with the Greenfield case.
9
Vt This study has showed that the more affected direc-
8 tion of the building during tunneling is the transverse
5%
7 direction. Moreover, transversal loads are keeping
3%
6 important values at the final state whereas longitudi-
1% nal loads are coming back to their initial values.
F/Fini
5
4 0.5% The analysis of the volume loss influence showed a
3 linear relation between volume loss in tunnel and forces
2 induced in the structure columns during tunneling.
1
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
Excavation length (m) REFERENCES
Figure 27. Evolution of maximum longitudinal forces in AFTES 1999. Recommandations pour les tassements liés au
columns. creusement des ouvrages en souterrain. Tunnels et
Ouvrages Souterrains: 106–128.
Benmebarek, S., Kastner, R. & Ollier, C. 1998. Auscultation
60 et modélisation numérique du processus de creusement à
l’aide d’un tunnelier. Géotechnique 48 (6): 801–818.
50 Tx - final state Dias, D., Kastner, R. & Maghazi, M. 1999. Three dimensional
y = 1032x
40 Ty - excavation of 77 m simulation of slurry shield tunneling. In International
Symposium on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Con-
F/Fini
30 struction in Soft Ground, Tokyo, Japan, 6p.

Franzius, J.N. & Addenbrooke, T.I. 2002. The influence of
20 building weight on the relative stiffness method of pre-
10 y = 171x dicting tunnelling-induced building deformation. In 4th
Symposium Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Con-
0 struction in Soft Ground, Toulouse, France, 1, 53–58.
0 1 2 3 4 5 Miliziano, S., Soccodato, F.M. & Burghignoli, A. 2002.
Volume loss in tunnel (%) Evaluation of damage in masonry buildings due to tun-
nelling in clayey soils. In 4th Symposium Geotechnical
Figure 28. Maximum forces increase according to Vt. Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground,
Toulouse, 3, 49–54.
Mroueh, H. & Shahrour, I. 2003. A full 3-D finite element
different values of Vt. For each Vt, the shape of the analysis of tunneling-adjacent structures interaction. Com-
F/Fini evolution is similar but with higher values for puters and Geotechnics 30: 245–253.
Netzel, H. & Kaalberg, F.J. 2000. Numerical damage risk
higher Vt.
assessment studies on masonry structures due to TBM-
When reporting the maximum values for the trans- Tunnelling in Amsterdam. In GeoEng 2000, Melbourne,
versal and longitudinal forces according to the volume Australia, 235–244.
loss in tunnel, Figure 27 shows a linear relation. O’Reilly, M.P. & New, B.M. 1982. Settlements above tunnel
Maximum values for the transversal forces are obtained in the United Kingdom – their magnitudes and prediction.
at the final state, whereas maximum values for the In Tunelling 82’, London, IMM, 173–181.
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Oteo, C.S. & Sagaseta, C. 1982. Prediction of settlements Sagaseta, C. 1987. Evaluation of surface movements above
due to underground openings. In Int. Symp. On numeri- tunnels, a new approach. In Colloque International ENPC
cal Models in Geomechanics, Zurich, 653–659. Interactions sol/structure, Paris, Presses ENPC, 445–452.
Panet, M. 1995. Le calcul des tunnels par la méthode Standing, J.R., Gras, M., Taylor, G.R., Gupta, S.C., Nyren,
convergence-confinement. Paris: Presses de l’ENPC. R.J. & Burland, J.B. 2002. Building response to tunnel
Peck, R.B. 1969. Deep excavation and tunnelling in soft step-plate junction construction – the former Lloyds
ground, State of the art report. In 7th International Bank building, St James’s, London. In 4th Symposium
Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engi- Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in
neering, Mexico, 225–290. Soft Ground, Toulouse, France, 3.
Potts, D.M. & Addenbrooke, T.I. 1997. A structure’s influence Swoboda, G., Mertz, W. & Schmid, A. 1989. Three dimen-
on tunnelling induced ground movements. In Instn Civil sional numerical models to simulate tunnel excavation.
Engineers in Geotechnical Engineering. 125, 109–125. Numerical Models in Geomechanics NUMOG III.
Ribeiro e Sousa, L., Dias, D. & Barreto, J. 2003. Lisbon Elsevier. 581–586.
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Ameixoeira Station. In 12ª Conferência Panamerican on
Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Boston.
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© 2003 Swets & Zeitling, Lisse, ISBN 90 5809 581 9
Application of FLAC3D on HLW underground repository

concept development
S. Kwon, J.H. Park, J.W. Choi & W.J. Cho

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Korea
ABSTRACT: For the safe design of a deep underground high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repository, it is
important to understand the thermal–mechanical behavior of the engineering barriers and rock mass around the
repository influenced by the high stress and the heat generated from the waste. In this study, thermal–mechani-
cal coupling analysis was carried out to investigate the reliability of the Korean HLW repository concept using
FLAC3D with the thermal and mechanical properties of rock and rock mass measured at two drilling sites. For
effective thermal–mechanical coupling, a FISH routine was developed and used for the modeling of different
conditions. By using FLAC3D with the FISH routine, the evaluation of the thermal–mechanical stability of the
preliminary disposal concept could be done successfully.
1 INTRODUCTION In this study, FLAC3D was used for investigating

the thermal–mechanical coupling behavior of rock,
The Republic of Korea began operating commercial buffer, backfill, and canister. In order to carry out
nuclear power plants in 1978. Now there are 17 operat- the thermal–mechanical coupling analysis, a FISH
ing plants, 4 CANDU (Canadian Deuterium Uranium routine was developed and used for the modeling to
Reactor) and 13 PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor). investigate the coupling behavior of the rock mass
The current generating capacity is 14,720 MWe with around the disposal tunnel and deposition hole.
a share of 39.3% of the total production of electricity.
The total generating capacity is expected to be about
26.05 GWe by 2015. The cumulative amount of spent 2 HLW REPOSITORY CONCEPT IN KOREA
fuel from existing nuclear power plants reached 5,641
MTU by June 2002. It is expected that approximately The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has been
11,000 MTU and 19,000 MTU will be accumulated developing a reference HLW disposal system since
by the years 2010 and 2020, respectively. 1997. According to the preliminary disposal concept,
In Korea, a reference HLW disposal system is under the repository is located in a crystalline rock mass at
development. According to the previously determined several hundred meters below surface. Like many
disposal concept, the PWR and CANDU spent fuel in other countries such as Sweden, Canada, Finland,
corrosion resistant canister will be emplaced in a deep Switzerland, and Japan, a multibarrier system consist-
underground repository constructed in crystalline rock ing of canister, buffer, and backfill is supposed to be
such as granite. To confirm whether the disposal con- applied for safe containment of the radioactive waste.
cept is reliable or not under certain geological condi- The buffer acts as a barrier to suppress the detrimental
tions, waste type, and operation procedure, computer effects of the corrosive water in the host rock and to
simulations need to be carried out. FLAC3D had been enhance the life of the container and serves as a geo-
widely applied in radioactive waste repository projects chemical filter for the sorption of radionuclides. The
related to different rock types by many researchers buffer dissipates the decay heat from the waste into
(Johansson & Hakala 1995, Berge & Wang 1999, the surrounding rock to avoid the possibility of thermal
Fairhurst 1999, Francke et al. 2001, and Patchet et al. stress on the container. It also provides the mechanical
2001). In Korea, FLAC3D had already been used for strength to support the canisters and isolates the con-
the thermal analysis (Park et al. 1998) and mechanical tainers from detrimental rock mass movements
analysis (Park et al. 2001) for Korean reference reposi- (Selvadurai & Pang 1990). In many countries including
tory design. Korea, bentonite is now considered as the buffer
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40m
TB: Backfill thickness(1.5m)

BT: Upper buffer thickness(1m)
FT: Bottom & side buffer
thickness(0.5m)
6m
7m
6m
2.2m
BT
TB
Backfill
Buffer
Canister Outshell
Spent Fuel
Deposition
Hole
FT
Figure 1. Schematic drawing of the reference Korean repository design.
material because of its low hydraulic conductivity, high Table 1. Material properties of fuel part and outshell.
sorption capacity, self-sealing characteristics, and
Unit Fuel part Outshell
durability in nature.
In the Korean repository concept, the mixture of Material type Fuel
Stainless
bentonite and crushed rock will be used as the back- cast iron steel
filling material. The deposition tunnels are 6 m wide Model type Elastic Elastic
and 7 m high. The canister containing spent fuel is E GPa 190 200
assumed to be emplaced in the vertical boreholes 0.3 0.3
drilled along the center line on the floor as shown in Density Kg/m3 6500 8000
Figure 1. Thermal conductivity W/m°K 43 15.2
Specific heat J/Kg°K 424 504
Thermal expansion /°K 1.2e-5 8.2e-6
3 FLAC3D MODELING
3.1 Materials in the model laboratory tests using Korean bentonite (Kyungju
3.1.1 Fuel part and outshell bentonite), which is considered as a candidate buffer
Four PWR assemblies are inserted in a canister with material for the Korean repository. The other material
outshell thickness of 5 cm. The mechanical and thermal properties, which could not be determined from tests,
properties of the fuel part, which represents the part were chosen from literature review and listed in Table 2.
inside of the outershell, were determined with the In this study, the buffer and backfill materials were
assumption of that the fuel and cast iron were uniformly modeled with a Drucker-Prager plastic model. The
mixed. The average properties of the fuel part were Drucker-Prager parameters in Eq. (1) for buffer and
calculated based on volume ratio and listed in Table 1. backfill could be determined from the triaxial com-
Among the candidate material types for the outshell, pression tests under different confining pressures.
stainless steel was considered in this study. The diam-
eter of the canister is 1.22 m and the length is 4.78 m. (1)
The thermal–mechanical properties of stainless steel
are also listed in Table 1.
where, ! and kshear are material parameters, J1 is
3.1.2 Buffer and backfill the first invariant of the stress tensor, and J2D is the
Some of the thermal and mechanical properties of second invariant of the deviatoric stress tensor
buffer and backfill material could be determined from (Desai & Siriwardane 1984).
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Table 2. Material properties of buffer and back fill.
Rock
Unit Buffer Backfill Kosung Yusung
Material type Bentonite Crushed rock

bentonite Granite Granite
Model type Drucker-Prager Drucker-Prager Mohr-Coulomb Mohr-Coulomb
Modulus GPa Bulk 0.345 Bulk 0.038 E 56.6 E 46.8
Shear 0.258 Shear 0.029 0.25 0.28
Density Kg/m3 Dry 1800 Dry 1800 2650 2660
T. Conductivity W/m°K 1.47 2.04 2.523 3.541
Specific heat J/Kg°K 888 900 1576 1212
T. Expansion /°K 3.1e-4 3.1e-4 19.244e-6 19.312e-6
UCS MPa 7.66 0.93 149.55 132.5
Cohesion MPa 1.1 1.1 22.5 30.4
Friction angle Degree 50 17 61 51
Drucker-Prager Qvol 1.23 Qvol 0.24
parameters
Kshear 944 Kshear 1472
Geothermal gradient °C/km 37.5 25
3.1.3 Rock properties waste. Subsequent heating of the rock mass by the
It is assumed that the underground repository is con- heat-generating waste would increase the stresses in
structed in a granite body at 500 m below surface. The the buffer, canister, and rock mass because of thermal
mechanical and thermal properties of the granites expansion (Simmons & Baumgartner 1994). The
from two drilling sites, Kosung and Yusung, are listed thermal stress due to the thermal expansion can be
in Table 2. The two sites are representing the east and calculated as follows:
west sides of Korean Peninsula. NX size rock cores
were retrieved from the drill holes reached up to 500 m (4)
below surface.
The influence of discontinuities is considered indi-
where, is increase in stress due to the expansion
rectly using the equations proposed by Fossum (1985)
of rock, is thermal expansion coefficient, T
to calculated the modulus of randomly jointed rock
is temperature increase, E is Young’s modulus, and
mass. The effective bulk and shear moduli can be writ-
is Poisson’s ratio. FLAC3D has functions for coup-
ten in terms of the intact and joint properties. Effective
ling behaviors such as hydraulic–mechanical,
bulk and shear moduli are
thermal–mechanical, and thermal–hydraulic couplings.
In FLAC3D, the thermal–mechanical coupling occurs
(2) only in one direction: temperature changes cause ther-
mal strains to occur which influence the stresses, while
the thermal calculation is unaffected by the mechanical
changes taking place (Itasca 1996). As normal in most
modeling situations, the initial mechanical conditions
correspond to a state of equilibrium which must first
be achieved before the coupled analysis is started.
(3) There are the following three suggestions for ther-
mal–mechanical coupling in the FLAC3D manual.
where, E is Elastic modulus of rock, is Poisson’s 1. A thermal only calculation is performed until the
ratio, S is joint spacing, and kn and ks are normal and desired time and then the thermal calculation is to
shear stiffness of joint. Thermal logging was carried out be turned off and the mechanical calculation is per-
to find the geothermal gradients at the two sites (Park formed. When the mechanical equilibrium is
et al. 2001). reached, thermal calculation is performed again.
2. For each thermal time step, several mechanical
steps are taken until detecting equilibrium condition.
3.2 Modeling method
3. The STEP command is used while both mechanical
Thermal–mechanical coupling is important due to the and thermal modules are on. In this approach, one
thermal stress developed by the decay heat from the mechanical step will be taken for each thermal step.
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The first approach is useful for thermal–mechanical In the model, 5 different materials, rock, buffer, back-
analysis of an elastic model. For non-linear models fill, outshell, and fuel part, were included. In the
such as plastic models, the thermal change must be Korean preliminary disposal concept, the backfill
communicated to the mechanical module at closer thickness L1 1 m, upper buffer thickness L2 1.5 m,
time intervals to respect the path dependency of the bottom buffer thickness and side buffer thickness
system. In this case, a certain number of mechanical L3 0.5 m.
steps are taken for each thermal step to allow the sys-
tem to adjust. In this approach, the transition from 3.3.2 Initial and boundary conditions
thermal to mechanical calculation is based on time The in situ stress was assumed to be hydrostatic in
instead of temperature variation. Since the heat gen- this study based on the fact that the stress ratios in
eration is varying with time, the transition based on Yusung and Kosung sites are more or less 1.0 at 500 m
temperature variation is more reasonable in the early depth. The initial temperature in the model was calcu-
stage of the repository. The second and third approaches lated with the geothermal gradients of Yusung and
may be more accurate than the first approach, but the Kosung sites. It was assumed that the average surface
problem is that the calculation will take a long time to temperature is 20°C.
model the long-term behavior of repository. In order
to overcome the disadvantages of the three approaches, 3.4 Decay heat
another technique for thermal–mechanical coupling Decay heat is the thermal energy resulting from the
was developed. In the new approach, the transition radioactive decay of the radioactive materials in the
from thermal to mechanical calculation is based on spent fuel discharged from reactors. In Korea, the PWR
temperature change. A FISH program for the new spent fuel with 45,000 MWd/tHM is now considered
approach was developed for PWR spent fuel. Figure 2 as the reference PWR spent fuel, because that type of
shows the flow chart of the thermal–mechanical cou-
pling adapted in this study.
3.3 Model mesh and boundary conditions

3.3.1 Model mesh
Figure 3 shows the model mesh around the deposition
tunnel and deposition hole. The model mesh around
the disposal tunnel and deposition hole located at the
center of the whole model mesh, which covers from
surface to 1000 m level. The backfilling material in
the disposal tunnel is not shown in the figure to clearly
show the model mesh of the floor and deposition hole.
Figure 2. Flow chart of the TM coupling. Figure 3. Model mesh around the tunnel and deposition hole.
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spent fuel occupies 64% of all spent fuel from Korean be higher than 100°C and thus the disposal design can
reactors. Even though significant amount of CANDU satisfy the thermal criteria.
spent fuel with 7500 MWd/tHM is generated from Because of the higher geothermal gradient in
CANDU reactors, CANDU spent fuel is not considered Kosung area, the temperature around the repository in
in this study, because of its much lower burnup com- the Kosung case is higher than in the Yusung case.
pared to PWR spent fuel. For the spent fuel with 45,000 From Figure 4, it is possible to see when the transitions
MWd/tHM, the heat decays exponentially with time between mechanical and thermal steps had happened.
as following: At the 500 m deep location, the initial temperature in
the Kosung case was 38.75°C while the temperature
(5) in the Yusung case was 32.5°C. The initial tempera-
ture difference due to the difference in geothermal
where, t is time (year) after discharge from reactors. gradient was about 6°C. Table 3 lists the temperatures
at the checking points at 20 years and 200 years after
4 FLAC3D MODELING RESULTS the emplacement of canister. The difference in tem-
perature after 20 years in the Kosung and Yusung
4.1 Temperature cases ranges from 8 to 12.4°C, which is higher than
the initial temperature difference. The increase of
In order not to lose the required properties of ben- temperature difference is due to the lower thermal
tonite buffer, the maximum temperature at the canister conduction in Kosung case, which has lower thermal
surface and throughout the buffer must not exceed conductivity than that in Yusung case. With increase
100°C. As shown in Figure 4, the highest temperature in time, the temperature difference between the two
in the Kosung case was 92.97°C at 15 years after cases decreased and it was about 7–9°C at 200 years
emplacement, while it was about 80.71°C in 20 years after emplacement.
after emplacement in Yusung case. Since the highest
temperatures in the model in both cases are lower
than 100°C, the peak temperature in the buffer cannot 4.2 Displacement
In the deposition hole, the heat from the waste will
lead to thermal expansion of the canister, buffer, and
100
95
backfill. The displacements around the tunnel will also
Temperature (deg. C)
90 be influenced by the heat generation from the deposi-

85
Kosung case tion hole. Since the thermal and mechanical properties
80
75
of rock are different in the Yusung and Kosung cases,
Yusung case the displacements around the disposal tunnel and
70
65 deposition hole are different. Figure 5 shows the dis-
60
55
placement plot around the deposition tunnel at 200
50 years after the emplacement of the canister and buffer.
0 50 100 150 200 250 In Yusung case, the maximum displacement, which is
Time after emplacement (year)
recorded at the upper backfill, was about 19 cm, while
Figure 4. Variation of maximum temperature with time for
it was about 23 cm in Kosung case. The upward dis-
Kosung and Yusung case. placement from the deposition hole to the tunnel is
Table 3. Temperatures (°C) at the checking points and different time for Kosung and Yusung
cases.
20 years 200 years
Check points Kosung Yusung Difference Kosung Yusung Difference
1 92.84 80.72 12.12 81.95 72.68 9.27

2 92.51 80.39 12.13 81.83 72.56 9.27
3 80.62 68.19 12.43 77.70 68.32 9.38
4 72.77 62.45 10.32 74.97 66.33 8.65
5 65.72 57.60 8.12 72.32 64.52 7.80
6 69.42 60.35 9.07 73.66 65.51 8.15
7 89.46 77.73 11.74 80.78 71.65 9.13
8 89.44 77.53 11.91 80.79 71.59 9.20
9 76.42 64.76 11.66 76.29 67.17 9.12
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of the outshell in 20 years is downward while the other

parts show upward displacement. This can be explained
by the tensile stresses developed in the outshell. The
direction change of displacement at the outshell bottom
to upward in 200 years does not mean that the tensile
stresses disappeared, but the difference of displace-
ment along the outshell shows that there are tensile
stresses in the canister. In the Kosung case, the maxi-
mum displacement at the outshell is about 1.1 cm,
which is a little larger than that in Yusung case.
4.3 Stress distribution

Figure 7 shows the principal stress distribution at the
canister in the Yusung case. The minimum principal
stress was compressive and the magnitude was up to
18 MPa. The maximum principal stress was tensile and
it was up to 28 MPa. The tensile stress needs to be
considered as an important factor in the disposal con-
cept design, since it may cause mechanical failure of
canisters. It is important to check von-Mises stress,
because the distribution of von-Mises stress is closely
related to the mechanical stability of rock opening.
Figure 8 shows the von-Mises stresses at the check-
ing points. At the checking points, the calculated von-
Figure 5. Displacement plot around the excavation in Yusung Mises stresses from the Kosung case are higher than
and Kosung sites.
those from Yusung case. In the case of checking point 3,
which represents the borehole surface, the von-Mises
in Kosung case is highest up to 75 MPa, while that in
the Yusung case is about 40 MPa. The higher stress
distribution in the Kosung case might be due to the
higher temperature as well as more stiff rock proper-
ties at the Kosung site.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, thermal–mechanical coupling analysis

for the preliminary Korean disposal concept had been
carried out using FLAC3D. In order to overcome the
disadvantages of the previous approaches for ther-
mal–mechanical coupling, a new method based on
temperature variation was suggested and a FISH rou-
tine was developed. From the studies, the following
conclusions could be drawn:
Figure 6. Displacement plot at outshell.
– In both Kosung and Yusung cases, the maximum
buffer temperature was found to be lower than
thought to be mainly from the thermal expansion of 100°C, which is the most critical criteria for disposal
the materials inside of the deposition hole. concept design.
Buffer movements can cause the canister to move – When using the geological information from the
in the deposition hole. In order to check the displace- Kosung drilling site, it was found that the maximum
ment pattern in the canister, the displacements at the temperature was 92.97°C in 15 years after emplace-
outshell were plotted in Figure 6. The displacements ment, while it was 80.71°C in 20 years when the
in 20 years after emplacement were relatively smaller Yusung data were used. This could be explained with
than those in 200 years. One interesting thing in the the higher geothermal gradient and lower thermal
figure is that the displacement direction at the bottom conductivity in Kosung site.
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Figure 7. Principal stress contours at the canister for Yusung case, 200 years after emplacement.
80
70 Kosung
Yusung
Mises stress (MPa)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Check Points
Figure 8. Comparison of von-Mises stress at different locations for Kosung and Yusung cases.
– From the fact that the peak temperature around the – FLAC3D with FISH function could be successfully
repository is reached in several tens of years after applied to evaluate the thermal–mechanical stabil-
the emplacement of canister, modeling up to sev- ity of the Korean preliminary repository design in
eral tens of years are good enough for the sensitiv- deep underground rock.
ity analysis, which is mainly for investigation the
relative influence of design parameters.
– The stress distribution on the canister surface REFERENCES
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Numerical simulation of radial bolting: Application to the

Tartaiguille railway tunnel
F. Laigle
Electricité de France, Hydro Engineering Centre, France
A. Saïtta
Centre d’Etudes des Tunnels, Lyon, France
ABSTRACT: In this paper, a numerical model is used to predict radial bolting performance in soft rocks crossed
by the Tartaiguille TGV (high speed railway) tunnel located on the new TGV French southeast line. First, a brief
description of results of field investigations and monitored displacements during excavation of this under-
ground tunnel are done. The support system is constituted by shotcrete and radial grouted bars. Because of too
high monitored displacements in some sections in these marls, a modification of the support system has been
decided on site. This modification consists in an increasing of the density of bars in a specific zone. Back analysis
confirmed the very strong efficiency of these additional bars in this case. However, conventional continuous
modeling of the tunnel done up to now, strongly underestimated the real contribution of these extra bolts. Some
new numerical simulations have been done using a constitutive model proposed by Laigle. This constitutive model
integrated in FLAC focuses on the post-peak behavior of rocks. It’s based on a simple and physical description of
the behavior of ground in this domain, with accurate evolutions of the cohesion and the dilatancy. This paper
describes numerical results obtained using this new constitutive model applied to the Tartaiguille tunnel case. The
significant monitored effect of additional grouted bars is well shown by this computation.
1 INTRODUCTION quantify the influence of bolts on the deformations of

the tunnel wall. Beginning with these conclusions, it
Bolting corresponding to grouted bars or friction bolts then became possible to make a comparison with the
is a frequently used component in light support systems results of a numerical modeling.
when driving underground galleries. This technique In a second part of this paper, some numerical sim-
entails reinforcing a ring of ground around an excava- ulations are presented. These simulations are applied
tion by introducing stiffer linear elements. This method, to the Tartaiguille tunnel. Using a new elastoplastic
both effective and inexpensive, is the basis for methods constitutive model developed by Laigle (2003), these
of tunnel driving such as the new Austrian tunneling simulations allow to find by computation the strong
method. contribution of a grouted bars system on stability
Bolt design has been based for a long time on empir- conditions of the tunnel.
ical rules and on an optimization during the works
themselves. At the present time, we notice a very clear
evolution in design practices toward the frequent use
2 EXPERIMENT FEEDBACK FROM THE
of numerical methods to the detriment of empirical
TARTAIGUILLE TUNNEL
ones. However, there is considerable doubt about the
ability of models now used to correctly simulate
2.1 The new TGV southeast (high speed railway)
the effect of bolting. So we wanted to contribute to
line and the Tartaiguille tunnel
this reflection reporting, in an applicable way, the
results obtained during the works on the Tartaiguille After the first “short” Paris-provinces lines, the high-
tunnel. The support system installed in this Aptian speed train network has been extended in France and
marls mainly consisted of grouted bars. In an initial first provincial towns will soon be connected to each
stage, this study has made it possible to accurately other. At the present time, the first line being completed
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stresses. This ratio has been estimated from 1.2 to 1.7

while the project had concluded on lower values. The
major stress is horizontal which explains the crown
breaking mechanism of the shotcrete shell, subjected
to a lateral thrust.
The support system had to be modified to control
strains. The improvements, which made it possible to
significantly reduce convergences, are an increase in
the density of the radial bolting and their integral use
Figure 1. Layout of the Tartaiguille tunnel.
at the face. Convergences were brought to a tolerable
threshold for a double density of bolts when com-
pared with the initial plan.
Our study of radial bolting is restricted to the geo-
logical formation composed of Aptian marls. This is
because of two advantages presented by this facies,
one being the homogeneity of the geology and the other
being the presence of a zone, the support system of
which is composed only of shotcrete and bolts. This
geological description comes from the geological and
geotechnical wrap-up paper, prepared by the engi-
neering firm Coyne and Bellier (1995).
2.2 Study zone and measures carried out

For our study, the support zone is 335 meters length
within which the support system is composed only of
Figure 2. Cross section in Aptian marls.
shotcrete and radial bolts composed of grouted bars
4 meters in length. The reinforcement of the bolting of
is that of the TGV Southeast which should make it the upper half-section takes place in several phases:
possible to go from Paris to Marseilles in three hours.
– Zone 1: One ring of bars every 2 meters (Fig. 2).
After Valence, the Tartaiguille tunnel is the first of
– Zone 2: 2 sets of bars inserted at the springing of
underground structures in the southerly direction. It’s
sidewalls.
a 2340 m long tunnel which has been driven from the
– Zone 3: Return to the initial density (idem zone 1).
north and south extremities (Fig. 1).
– Zone 4: Re-establishing interposed ring (idem
Excavations began in February 1996. In the Aptian
zone 2).
marl geological formation, digging method retained
was the upper half-bench cut method (Fig. 2). In order to monitor the evolution of the ground and
The support system is composed of radial bolts, the efficiency of the support system, measurements of
associated with shotcrete and sometimes with yielding wall displacements were performed. Five measurement
arches. targets were used for each section, a target A, positioned
The tunnel driving cycle was broken down into the at the crown, two targets B and C at the spring lines of
excavation of the upper half-section and the laying of the side walls of the upper half-section, and two targets
the support system. Then, about a hundred meters in D and E at the side walls of the lower half-section
back of the working face, a second station excavated the (Charmetton 2001).
lower half-section. Finally, further in back of the face,
a reinforced concrete invert, then the final concrete
2.3 Results of the measurements
lining was poured.
From the beginning of the driving in the Aptian The effectiveness of the support system during the driv-
marls, major convergences of the tunnel wall were ing was essentially monitored beginning with two val-
measured. The alert thresholds were quickly exceeded ues out of the three targets, which comprise each testing
and the phenomenon grew with the passing of the lower section. These are the measurements of the leveling of
section. Strains of the wall resulted in a loading of the point A and of the convergence of cord BC. The mea-
shotcrete shell that was greater than its breaking limit surements sections called S07, S08, S09 and S10 were
and a consistent cracking in crown, which generated included in the Zone 1. The sections S11, S12, S13,
safety problems for the worksite. S14, S15, S16 and S17 were in the Zone 2. The sec-
Complementary tests then made it possible to esti- tions S18, S19 and S20 measured displacements of
mate the ratio between horizontal and vertical initial the Zone 3 while S21 and S22 were inside the Zone 4.
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Number of days parameters (excavation speeds, steps of advancement,

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 cover height…) varied, but without our being able to
0 establish direct links between their evolution and that
S07 of the two groups of curves of convergences.
-20 S08 The alternation of the two bolt densities along our
S09
S10
study zone is an argument which confirms the role of
Convergences (mm)
-40 S11 the bolts because this assures that the evolution of the
S12
S13
convergences does not result from a modification of the
-60 S14 ground.
S15
S16
-80 S17
S18
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
-100 S19
S20
S21
The aim of these numerical simulations was to simulate
-120 S22 in the framework of usual continuous modeling the
strong effect of a grouted bars system on the stability
-140 conditions of the Tartaiguille tunnel. The particularity
of this work is to use a new constitutive model devel-
Figure 3. Measurements of convergence of cords BC. oped by Laigle. These numerical simulations are done
using the elastoplastic version. A more general elasto-
70 plastic–viscoplastic version has been developed and
: Average convergence -46% presented in another paper (2003).
60 Following phenomena are studied in the frame-
Zone 3
Convergences (mm)
work of these simulations:

50
-37% – What would be the behavior of the tunnel with an
40 Zone 1 under-estimated support and what was the potential
30 Zone 4 failure mechanism?
Zone 2 – Was a support system needed?
20 – What is the effect of a delay in the installation of the
support system?
10
– What is the effect of a local failure of the shotcrete
0 layer?
S07
S08
S09
S10
S11
S12
S13
S14
S15
S16
S18
S19
S20
S17
S21
S22
Measurement sections 3.1 The constitutive model
Figure 4. Measurements of the convergences at 30 m from In general, at least for deep and no-urban tunnels, the
the face. goal of a support system composed with shotcrete and
grouted bars is to prevent mechanical failure within a
So we interested ourselves, for each of the mea- sufficient safety level. In cohesive rocks, which can be
surement sections, in these values, but also in the con- considered as a continuous material, this failure is asso-
text in which they were obtained, that is, everything ciated with the development of a fracturing process
that could have an influence on the results of the induced by the excavation. So, it seems necessary to
measurements. focus the simulation of the mechanical behavior both
The following graphs present the results, which on the pre-peak behavior and the post-peak behavior.
come directly from the worksite of the convergences This new constitutive model has been written in the
of the cords BC for sections S07 to S22 (Fig. 3). framework of the elastoplastic theory The expression
of the yield surface corresponds to the generalized
Hoek and Brown criterion. This surface is governed
2.4 Study of the results of the upper half-section by 4 parameters, which are the unconfined compressive
The calculation of the average convergence at 30 m for strength and three other parameters “m”, “s” and “a”.
each of the zones (see Fig. 4) shows a reduction of 37% These 3 last parameters change in accordance with an
between Zone 1 and Zone 2, and 46% between Zone 3 internal variable p, which is the irreversible shear
and Zone 4. The increase in the number of bolts at the strain defined below:
sidewalls (from 1 bolt/3.3 m2 to 1 bolt/1.6 m2) therefore
resulted in a reduction of at least 37% in short-term hor-
izontal convergences of the BC cord. We may show that (1)
this reduction is directly due to the bolting. All the other
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Deviatoric stress
(2)
Several thresholds for the yield surface are

proposed.
Axial strain
– A first threshold corresponds to the damage crite-
rion. This criterion is assimilated to the crack initi-
ation, so to the beginning of the dilatancy.
Domain 5: Fractured rock in a
– The second threshold corresponds to the peak residual state
Domain 3: Fissured rock in

Domain 2: Fissured rock in
strength criterion.
Domain1: Intact rock

– The third threshold characterizes the strength of a
post-peak domain
pre-peak domain
damage rock sample crossed by an induced shear Domain 4: Fractured rock
Volumetric strain
fracture. In these conditions, cohesion of the rock
at a macroscopic scale is assumed to be null.
Axial strain
– The last criterion corresponds to the residual strength
criterion, which is reached at very large shear strains.
Some specific hardening laws are suggested for each
parameter “m”, “s” and “a” allowing to describe the
evolution of the yield surface from one threshold to Figure 5. Schematic behavior of a rock sample during a
another (Laigle 2003). In the softening domain, the triaxial test.
negative hardening is assumed to be divided into three
phases:
5
– The first phase of softening corresponds to a dete-
4.5
Maximal principal stress (MPa)
rioration of the rock’s cementation illustrated by a erio

n
4 crit
progressive disappearance of the cohesion at the id ual
3.5 Res rion
crite
macroscopic scale. This first phase is associated 3 on Dam
age
Peak criterion riteri
with an increasing of the dilatancy. 2.5 kc
roc
– The second phase corresponds to the shear of an 2 ct ure
d
induced fracture. It’s associated with a decreasing of Fra

1.5
the dilatancy at the macroscopic scale. 1
– Finally, the last domain corresponds to a purely fric- 0.5
tional behavior, which defines the residual strength. 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
The shear occurs without any volumetric strain. Minimal principal stress (MPa)
Figure 5 shows schematically various domains

describing the physical state of a rock sample under a Figure 6. Threshold criteria for the Aptian marl.
mechanical triaxial loading. In the domain 1, the
behavior is elastic linear.
decreasing initial internal stresses applied to the tunnel
Figure 6 presents thresholds retained for the Aptian
perimeter. Excavation is simulated in two phases: the
marl of Tartaiguille. Major mechanical properties are as
vault and the bench. Figure 7 shows the state of the rock
following:
mass at a decrease of 97.8% of these stresses during
– UCS 0.85 MPa the vault excavation (100% corresponds to the end of
– Young’s modulus: E 1000 MPa excavation process of the vault). We may observe an
– Poisson ratio: 0.36 important damage zone near the foot of the tunnel,
This constitutive model has been integrated in progressing behind sidewalls towards the roof.
the EDF’s local version of FLAC V3.4, using FISH Without any support, this mechanism will generate a
procedures. global instability of the gallery in the short term.
3.2 Behavior of the tunnel without support 3.3 Behavior of the tunnel with initial support
A first simulation has been done without considering A second simulation has been done considering the ini-
any support system. The excavation is simulated by tial support system (Zone 1, ring of grouted bars every
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Time (days)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
0
-1
Horizontal convergence of the tunnel (mm)

-2
Fissured rock (Domain 2) -3
-4
-5
-6
-7
Rock in tension -8
-9
-10
Fractured rock (Domain 4) -11
-12
-13 With initial support
-14 Failure
-15
-16
-17
Without any support
Fissured rock in post- -18
-19
peak domain (Domain 3) -20
Figure 9. Horizontal convergence of the vault without and

with an initial support system.
Intact rock (Domain 1)
Deconfinement: 97,8 %
Development of the
Figure 7. Physical state of rock without any support.
induced fractured
zone
Fractured rock
Strains of
bolts (Domain 4)
Fractured rock Fissured rock in the

( Domain 4) post-peak domain
Fissured rock in (Domain 3)
the pre-peak
domain
Fissured rock Fissured rock in (Domain 2)
( Domain 3) the pre-peak
domain Intact rock
( Domain 2) (Domain 1)
Intact rock (Domain1) Figure 10. Physical state of rock during the bench excava-
tion and failure mechanism.
Figure 8. Physical state of rock at the end of the upper-half convergences versus time, assuming an advancing rate
excavation. of 2 m/day. These simulations don’t take into account
the time. Convergences are drawn versus time only to
2 meters). Bars are simulated using structural cable compare with monitored values.
elements and a shotcrete layer using structural beam Without any modification of this initial support, the
elements. These bars and beams are installed after a excavation of the bench can’t be finalized. Because of
deconfinement of 70%, so approximately in the first the bench excavation, the fracturing phenomenon takes
2 meters behind the face heading. off again toward the roof. The initial support is not suf-
Bars are linked to some beam nodes with the goal ficient to stop the development of this damage zone.
to simulate face plates. Despite this, we will observe The stability cannot be demonstrated from this numer-
that the maximum tensile stain is located in the ical simulation (Fig. 10).
ground and not near the wall (Fig. 8) These results seem in accordance with the site
With this support, the stability of the tunnel during engineer’s decision to adapt the support system. Con-
the upper-half excavation can be theoretically justi- sidering high measured displacements and the devel-
fied, even if a damage zone exists near tunnel the foot opment of a local failure of the shotcrete layer at the
of the tunnel (Fig. 8). Figure 9 presents horizontal roof, he decided to reinforce this initial support system.
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09069-19.qxd 08/11/2003 20:28 PM Page 158
Time (days)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0
Excavation of vault Excavation of bench
Horizontal convergence (mm)

-5
-10
-15 With 1 additional

Without additional bolt bolt at 70%
Fractured rock -20 With 2 additional
(Domain 4) bolts at 90%
-25 Failure
Rock at residual state
(Domain 5) Figure 12. Influence of reinforced bolting pattern of hori-
Fissured rock in zontal convergences.
post-peak domain
(Domain 3)
Fissured rock
in the pre-peak shown by numerical computations. With the aim of
domain reinforcing the rock mass, the grouted bars system
(Domain 2) has to be installed as early as possible, before any crit-
Intact rock ical increasing of monitoring displacements. This is
(Domain 1) because the goal of this type of support is to protect
and help the rock to keep a sufficient shear strength to
ensure the global stability.
Figure 11. Physical state of rock at the end of the bench
excavation, considering a reinforced support system.
3.5 Effect of a local failure of the shotcrete lining
During excavation of the vault, a crack appeared and
3.4 Behavior of the tunnel with a reinforced
developed in the shotcrete at the crown of the
support
Tartaiguille tunnel. This same phenomenon has been
The reinforcement of the support system corresponds observed during excavation of one large cavern of
to the installation of additional bolts on sidewalls of the CERN-LHC project in Geneva (Laigle 2002).
the tunnel. In this zone, the bolting density is double. Depending on the support design, a shotcrete failure
In the framework of numerical simulations, several could be critical for the global stability of the tunnel.
patterns are considered: However, in these two previous cases, the support has
been designed with the consideration that one major
– 2 additional grouted bars are installed on each side-
component is the grouted bars system and not only
wall at 6 meters behind the face heading (90% of the
the shotcrete layer. If the shotcrete keeps an essential
vault deconfinement).
function, it can’t be assimilated in these cases to a
– 1 additional grouted bar is installed on each side wall
continuous shell like in the SCL approach.
as soon as possible, about 2 meters from the face
In the case of Tartaiguille tunnels, it was interest-
heading (70% of the vault deconfinement).
ing to know if this crack in the shotcrete was really
In these 2 last cases, it appears that theoretically, critical from a global stability point of view. A simu-
the stability is demonstrated both during the vault and lation has been done, considering the reinforced bolt-
the bench excavation. The local increase of the bolting system on sidewalls. Cracking of the shotcrete
ing density prevents the development of induced frac- layer has been simulated by deleting some structural
tures, which appear on the sidewall during the vault elements near the crown. This deletion is done at 90%
excavation. The precise location of these additional of the vault deconfinement.
bolts is essential. We understand that an increase of Figure 13 shows the physical state of the rock mass
the bolting density on the roof is not useful for the at the end of the tunnel excavation. The local failure
goal to delay and stop the observed mechanics on site. of the shotcrete generates new damage and a frac-
A second interesting aspect is the effect of the time tured zone above the tunnel roof. The growth of this
at which additional bolts are installed. Figure 12 new fractured zone is stopped by grouted bars.
shows that the final horizontal convergence is smaller Figure 14 presents the evolution of the horizontal
with only one additional grouted bar installed earlier convergence in accordance with time, with and with-
rather than 2 bars added later. out failure of the shotcrete. An increase of displace-
These simulations highlight very well what project ment appears at the time of the failure but a new
engineers already knew but which has never been stable configuration is reached after that.
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Time (days)
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
-5
-10

-15
-20
Length 8m
Crack in the shotcrete -25
Length: 6m
-30 Length: 4m
-35
-40 Length: 2m
Fractured rock
-45
(Domain 4)
-50
Fissured rock in the Failure
post-peak domain
(Domain 3) Figure 15. Influence of bolt lengths on horizontal
convergences.
Fissured rock in the
Intact rock pre-peak domain
length in accordance with the span of the tunnel:
(Domain 1) (Domain 2)
L 2
0.2D 4.7 m
L 0.30D 4.0 m
Figure 13. Physical state of rock at the end of the bench
excavation, considering a local failure of the shotcrete.
where D is the tunnel span in meters.
Time (days)
0 4 CONCLUSIONS
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
-5
The study of monitored convergences in the Aptian
-10 Without failure of the shotcrete layer marls of the Tartaiguille Tunnel has made it possible
-15 With failure of the shotcrete layer to approach quantitatively the effect of bolting on the
-20 structure’s stability. We were able to confirm the very
considerable efficiency that a few extra bolts bring to
-25
a mass of non-fractured soft rock. This back analysis
-30 has made it possible to quantify the effect of reinforc-
-35 ing the sidewalls on the reduction of convergences in
-40
the Tartaiguille tunnel.
In the framework of a back analysis, some numeri-
Figure 14. Influence of a local shotcrete failure on horizontal cal computations have been done considering a new
convergences. constitutive model well adapted to underground engi-
neering expectations. Goals of these simulations were
to find with a suited numerical tool major behaviors
observed and monitored during the Tartaiguille tunnel
3.6 Justification of the length of bars digging.
Some computations have been done considering sev- These simulations allow us to identify:
eral lengths for grouted bars. Figure 15 shows hori- – The potential major failure mechanism of the tun-
zontal convergences versus time, in accordance with nel. The knowledge of this mechanism is essential
these lengths. If the length is greater than 4 m, global both during the design phase and during excava-
stability is assured. On the contrary, if this length is tion process.
2 m or less, a stable configuration can’t be obtained – The significant efficiency of a grouted bar system
and stability of the tunnel can not be justified during on tunnel stability conditions.
the bench excavation. – The effect of a local reinforcement of the bolting
From these results, we may conclude that there is system on displacements and safety level during
an optimal length for grouted bars, depending on the the digging.
potential failure mechanism of the tunnel during the – The limited effect of a local shotcrete failure if the
excavation process. These numerical results confirm grouted bar system is sufficient and if the stability
usual formulas, which provide an estimation of the is not only ensured by a shotcrete shell.
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REFERENCES regional Symposium Euorock 2001 – Rock Mechanics – a

challenge for Society – Espoo – Särkkä & Eloranda (eds).
Charmetton, S. 2001. Reinforcement des parois d’un tunnel Balkema Publishers.
par boulons expansifs – retour d’expérience et étude Laigle, F. 2003. Modélisation rhéologique des roches adaptée
numérique. Ecole Centrale de Lyon. Ph.D. Thesis, 2001 à la conception des ouvrages souterrains. Ph.D. Ecole
(In French). Centrale de Lyon, in prep.
Coyne and Bellier. 1995. Geological and geotechnical wrap- Laigle, F. 2003. A new viscoplastic model for rocks – Appli-
up paper. Mediterranean TGV. Tartaiguille tunnel (In cation to the Mine-by-test of AECL-URL. Proc. Intern.
French). Symp., Sudbury, Canada. To be published.
Laigle, F. 2001. CERN-LHC Project – Design and excavation
of Large-Span Caverns at point 1. Proc. of the IRSM
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Recent experiences of the prediction of tunneling induced ground

movements
C. Pound & J.P. Beveridge

Mott MacDonald Ltd, Croydon, Surrey, UK
ABSTRACT: The ability to predict ground movements caused by tunneling is becoming increasingly impor-
tant as more tunnels are constructed in urban areas. It is generally recognized that the ground surface settlement
trough above a tunnel is well represented by a gaussian curve. Data is available from many projects around the
world, which provides guidance on the values to use in the gaussian curve. However, if novel forms of tunnel-
ing are used, if unusual ground conditions are present or if horizontal or subsurface ground movement predic-
tions are required, then these empirical methods are not suitable.
This paper presents the results of a suite of numerical analyses carried out to identify the most appropriate soil
model to use for the prediction of surface settlement troughs. As shown by many other authors linear elastic or
linear elastic perfectly plastic soil models are unsuited to the prediction of realistic surface settlements. Most of
the analyses carried out in the study predict a settlement trough that is wider than observed despite modifica-
tions to the size of the model, the boundary conditions, the in-situ stress conditions and the initial small strain
stiffness. The constitutive model that predicts the most realistic settlement trough was a non-linear anisotropic
soil model with a higher horizontal than vertical stiffness. The soil non-linearity was based on the approach
suggested by Jardine but modified for anisotropy. The shape of the trough was found to be sensitive to the value
of the vertical to horizontal shear modulus and the ratio of the horizontal and vertical Young’s moduli.
1 INTRODUCTION This paper presents the results of a numerical mod-

eling study to identify the factors affecting the predic-
The prediction of ground movements is very important tion of surface settlements above tunnels.
during the planning and design phase of any tunnel
construction project in an urban area. This prediction
is used to identify the risk of damage to adjacent 2 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
structures and utilities and to assess whether the pro-
posed construction method needs to be modified. It Numerical analysis is often used to predict the loads
can also be used to highlight where mitigation meas- on tunnel linings using a variety of finite element and
ures may be necessary in advance or during tunnel finite difference programs. However, unless the ground
construction. movements are predicted accurately it is difficult to
Surface settlements caused by tunneling are nor- be confident that the predicted ground load acting on
mally assessed using empirical methods (O’Reilly & the linings is correct. The prediction of surface settle-
New 1982, Macklin 1999). The method was developed ment troughs caused by tunneling is difficult and even
from review of settlement data from a large number the adoption of sophisticated constitutive models for
of tunneling projects around the world. However, the the soil rarely results in a realistic surface settlement
method is difficult to apply when the ground condi- trough.
tions or construction method is unusual or where more The following sections present a series of analyses
than one tunnel is present. Many attempts have been carried out in an attempt to match the surface settle-
made to use numerical methods to predict ground ment troughs observed above the bored tunnels on
movements due to tunneling but almost without excep- the Heathrow Express project (Pound & Beveridge, in
tion the analyses have predicted unrealistic surface press). A section of single bored tunnel was considered
settlement troughs. where the volume loss was typically 0.8% with a
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09069-20.qxd 08/11/2003 20:29 PM Page 162
Table 1. Basic geotechnical parameters. Earth pressure at rest, ko

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0
Parameter Terrace gravel London clay
Bulk Unit Weight (kN/m3) 20.0 20.0

Porosity (%) 35 50 10
Cohesion (kPa) 0 37.5
6z
Depth below ground level (m)

Friction (°) 38 0
20
trough width factor of 0.5. The back analysis was 30

carried out using the finite difference program FLAC.
The ground conditions comprise 4.4 m of Terrace
Gravel overlying London Clay. The base of the London 40
Clay is at a depth of about 60 m below ground level.
The water table was taken to be 2.1 m above the base
of the Terrace Gravel and initial water pressures were 50
taken to be hydrostatic through the Terrace Gravel Test data
and the London Clay. The tunnel axis was taken to be Mayne and Kulhawy
at a depth of 22.5 m below ground level and the tunnel 60
diameter was taken as 6.115 m.

The basic geotechnical parameters used in the Figure 1. K0 profile.
analysis are given in Table 1. The strength properties for
the London Clay represent the fissured undrained
shear strength and the values vary with depth, z, below
ground level. The stiffness adopted for the Terrace
Gravel and London Clay is described in detail.
The variation of coefficient of earth pressure at
rest, ko, with depth is shown in Figure 1. The values
in the London Clay were derived from assessment of
the results of self-boring pressuremeter tests and pore
suction measurements made on undisturbed samples.
Only the short-term ground movements were
modeled. Throughout the analysis the response of the
Terrace Gravel was taken as drained whereas the res-
ponse of the London Clay was taken to be undrained.
This was achieved by setting the bulk modulus of the
pore fluid to be zero in the Terrace Gravel and 2 GPa in
the London Clay. Figure 2. Mesh.
The mesh for the modeling is shown in Figure 2 and
comprises over 5000 elements. Advantage was taken
of symmetry about a vertical plane through the tunnel Table 2. Segmental lining properties.
axis. The far boundary is located 90 m from the tunnel
centerline, which represents a distance of 4 times the Young’s modulus Thickness Moment of
tunnel depth. The base of the model was located at the (Gpa) (mm) inertia (m4)
base of the London Clay and was fixed against move-
ment in both directions while in most analyses the ver- 20.0 225 3.1 104
tical boundaries were fixed only in the horizontal
directions. Tunnel excavation was modeled by first
replacing the elements within the profile of the tunnel properties given in Table 2. The moment of inertia was
by equivalent grid-point forces and then by progres- reduced to allow for the number of joints in the lining
sively reducing these grid-point forces. The volume in accordance with Muir-Wood (1975).
loss was determined by integrating the vertical dis- Soils are known to have a non-linear stress–strain
placements at the ground surface. Once a volume loss behavior prior to peak with a high initial tangent
of 0.8% was achieved the segmental concrete lining stiffness at very small strains and reducing stiffness
was installed and the remaining grid-point forces with strain. One set of equations often used to represent
removed. The segmental lining was taken to have the this decay of stiffness with strain was developed by
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Jardine et al. (1986). The approximate tangential Table 3. Jardine constants.

version of these equations were presented by Potts &
Zdravkovic (1999) and are given below: Parameter Terrace gravel London clay
A 1104 1260
B 1035 1143
C 5.00E-06 1.00E-06
R 275 618
S 225 570
T 2.00E-05 1.00E-05
! 0.974 1.335
0.94 0.617
1.044 2.069
0.98 0.42
smin 8.80E-06 1.40E-05
smax 3.50E-03 2.00E-03
vmin 2.10E-05 1.00E-04
vmax 2.00E-03 2.00E-03
Distance from centre-line (m)

where s is a generalized shear strain related to the 0 10 20 30 40 50
octahedral shear strain, oct, by the following equation: 0
Settlement / Maximum Settlement .
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
and p is the current mean effective stress.
t1
Throughout the analysis the stiffness was continu- 1 t2
ally updated. Up to a specified minimum strain (smin Gauss Curve
or vmin), the stiffness varies only with p , but thereafter 1.2
the stiffness depends both on the current strain () and

the mean effective stress (p ). It is considered that these Figure 3. Linear elastic/elastoplastic analyses.
equations lead to unrealistically low elastic moduli at
very low stresses and therefore the minimum mean This is significantly higher than is conventionally
effective stress used in calculating the elastic moduli used in tunnel analyses even in overconsolidated
was 50 kPa. materials.
The constants used in the Jardine equations are Figure 3 shows the surface settlement troughs for
given in Table 3. these two analyses and the corresponding gaussian
curve for a volume loss of 0.8% and a trough width
factor, K, of 0.5. The surface settlement troughs from
2.1 Linear elastic analyses the two analyses are clearly unrepresentative of the
Initial analyses were carried out using linear elastic and observed ground settlement showing a maximum
linear elastic perfectly plastic soil models (analyses t1 settlement around 15 m from the tunnel centerline. The
and t2). The elastic moduli were taken as multiples of analysis with the elastoplastic model is worse because
the mean effective stress in order to give a load in the of the ground yielding that is predicted between the
lining of between 35 and 40% of overburden which is tunnel crown and the ground surface resulting from the
considered to be a typical short-term load on a bored high in-situ horizontal stresses. These results clearly
tunnel lining in London Clay. To achieve this criterion show the limitations of using linear elastic ground
the elastic model was taken to be 20% of the small models for the prediction of ground movement
strain stiffness for the linear elastic model and 35% of around tunnels.
the small strain stiffness for the plastic analysis. Thus
for the elastoplastic analysis the shear modulus for the 2.2 Non-linear elastic analyses
London Clay was given by the following equation.
Figure 4 shows the surface settlement trough when
the non-linear behavior given by the Jardine equa-
tions is adopted in the analysis (t3). The maximum
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Distance from centre-line (m) Distance from centre-line (m)
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
0 0
Settlement / Centre-line Settlement .

0.2
0.2
0.4
0.4
0.6
0.6
0.8
t3
0.8 1 t5
t1 t6
t3 t7
1 t4 1.2
Gauss Curve
Gauss Curve
1.2 1.4
Figure 4. Non-linear elastic analyses. Figure 5. Small strain model.
settlement is still not located on the tunnel centerline, In both of these analyses the increase in the soil stiff-
but is offset by about 10 m. The trough is significantly ness made the shape of the settlement trough worse.
narrower than the linear elastic case, but is still much In the third analysis (t7) the small strain stiffness was
broader than the gaussian curve. To investigate the increased by 50%, but the shape of the stress–strain
influence of the high horizontal stress on the shape of curve was the same after the end of the initial plateau
the settlement trough, an analysis was run using a k0 region as in analysis t3. The modifications to the
profile based on the approach suggested by Mayne & small strain stiffness had only a modest influence on
Kulhawy (1982). The k0 profile assumed that 170 m the shape of the settlement trough.
of overburden had been removed from the top of the
London Clay prior to the deposition of the Terrace 2.3 Anisotropic soil model
Gravel. The k0 was taken as 0.4 in the Terrace Gravel.
The shape of the k0 profile is given in Figure 1 and A number of authors have indicated that only with an
shows lower k0 values particularly in the top ten anisotropic soil model can a realistic shaped settlement
meters of the London Clay than the profile used in trough be obtained (Simpson et al. 1996, Addenbrooke
analysis t3. The resulting settlement trough from et al. 1997). There is good evidence that the behavior
analysis t4 is shown in Figure 4. Although the low of London Clay is anisotropic with a higher hori-
point of the settlement trough is nearer to the tunnel zontal than vertical Young’s modulus (Bishop et al.
centerline and the trough is generally narrower, the 1965). Data also exists for other overconsolidated
overall shape of the settlement trough is only slightly clays (Lings et al. 2000).
different. The anisotropic elastic model was modified to allow
To consider the effect that fixity conditions on input of non-linear elastic behavior. No anisotropic
the far boundary have on the shape of the settlement elastoplastic soil model currently exists in FLAC,
trough, analyses were run with the far boundary fixed however with a volume loss of only 0.8%, the strains
both horizontally and vertically and also with a stress in the ground surrounding the tunnel are only suffi-
boundary condition. Neither analysis gave an improved cient for very local plastic yielding of the ground to
shape of settlement trough. occur and therefore there should be only a small error
Analyses were also carried out with wider meshes to in the adoption of an elastic model. In the absence
see if a boundary width of 4 tunnel depths was inade- of any definitive anisotropic constitutive soil model
quate. Analyses were carried out with a mesh width of for the London Clay, the basic Jardine equation was
150 m and 1000 m. The effect of an increased mesh modified as follows:
width was minor with a small reduction in the settle-
ment at 50 m from the tunnel centerline, but a corre-
sponding increase in the settlement 5 m from the tunnel
centerline.
Analyses were carried out to investigate the effect
of modifying the shape of the non-linear model and
the results are presented in Figure 5. In the first analy-
sis (t5) the stiffness was increased by 50% at all
strains compared to the model prediction. In the next
analysis (t6) the strain limit for the plateau region where X is defined as above. The values of the
of the model was extended to a higher strain level. constants in the above equations are given in Table 3.
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Distance from centre-line (m) Distance from centre-line (m)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0 0

0.2 0.2
0.4 0.4
0.6 0.6
0.8 0.8
t9
t8 t11
1 t9 1 t12
t10 t13
Gauss Curve Gauss Curve
1.2 1.2
Figure 6. Anisotropic model. Figure 7. Effect of varying shear modulus.
The small strain stiffnesses are slightly lower as they Distance from centre-line (m)
now relate to the vertical stiffness rather than an 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0

isotropic stiffness given previously. The adoption of
the equations given above relate the variation of the 0.2
stiffnesses only to shear strain and not to volumetric
strain. This model is therefore only suitable for mod- 0.4
eling shear deformations and would need to be modi- 0.6

fied to consider swelling or consolidation. The two
independent Poisson’s ratios were taken as follows: 0.8 t9
t12
t14
1 t15
Gauss Curve
1.2
Figure 8. Effect of varying Poisson’s ratio.

The analysis was first run with a pseudo-isotropic
analysis with both Emul and Gmul set to 1.0. The results
of the analysis are shown in Figure 6 (analysis t8). can also be achieved by setting the horizontal Young’s
The shape of the curve is somewhat improved modulus to be equal to twice the vertical Young’s
compared to the previous isotropic analyses. Two fur- modulus.
ther analyses (t9 and t10) were carried out with higher The settlement at the edges of the settlement
horizontal stiffnesses by setting Emul to 1.6 and 2.0. trough is much greater than that suggested by the
The settlement troughs are also given in Figure 6. gaussian curve and is also greater than observed in
The shape of the settlement trough is significantly practice. The settlement towards the boundary of the
improved as the horizontal to vertical stiffness ratio mesh results from the horizontal ground movements
is increased. The data by Bishop et al. (1965) and by and a corresponding Poisson’s ratio effect. To reduce
Atkinson (1975) suggested that for London Clay the the vertical strains due to horizontal displacements,
ratio of horizontal to vertical Young’s modulus is the Poisson’s ratio in the vertical plane was set to zero.
around 1.6. Analyses t9 and t12 were repeated with a Poisson’s
To investigate the effect of the value of the shear ratio of 0.0 as analyses t14 and t15 and the results are
modulus on the shape of the settlement trough, a set shown in Figure 8. There is a significant narrowing of
of analyses were carried out with the value of Emul set the trough as well as a significant reduction in the far-
to 1.6 and with values of Gmul of 0.5, 0.8 and 1.6 field settlement. However, the settlement 50 m from
(Analyses t11, t12, t13). The results are compared the tunnel centerline is still 10% of the centerline
against the analysis (t9) with a Gmul of 1.0 in Figure 7. settlement.
The shape of the settlement trough is very sensitive Due to the assumed undrained response of the
to the value of the shear modulus. Generally as the London Clay any horizontal movement will result in
shear modulus is increased the width of the settlement an equivalent vertical settlement. To prevent this
trough is also increased. The best fit to the middle surface settlement would require a volumetric change in
part of the settlement trough is achieved when the the soil and thus a drained soil response. To investigate
shear modulus is only one third of the vertical Young’s this effect, analysis t14 was repeated as analysis t16
modulus. However, this shape of settlement trough with the soil more than 20 m from the tunnel centerline
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Distance from centre-line (m) The stress–strain behavior of most rocks is con-
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 trolled not by the elastic behavior of the intact mate-
0
rial but by the orientation and properties of the

0.2 discontinuities. The presence of the discontinuity sets
will inevitably impose an anisotropic response to the
0.4
mass behavior of the rock which it is logical to sup-
0.6 pose will influence the shape of the settlement trough.
It is also reasonable to assume that where ground
0.8
t14
settlements are large, slip on discontinuities will occur.
1
t16
t17
This could explain the narrow settlement troughs
t18
Gauss Curve
observed over many tunnels in rock. The in-situ stress
1.2 conditions could also influence this behavior.
The only way found to prevent the prediction of
Figure 9. Effect of varying the bulk modulus of water. significant settlements at the boundary of the model
was to assume drained behavior for the soil at a dis-
tance from the tunnel. The ratio of bulk stiffness of
the water to that of the soil controls the drained or
assumed to be fully drained. The predicted settlement undrained behavior even where there is no groundwater
trough is shown in Figure 9. As can be seen, the shape flow. Because of the increased strains near to the tunnel
of the surface settlement trough predicted by this and the formulation of the anisotropic model, the bulk
analysis is very similar to the shape of a gaussian stiffness of the soil model nearer to the tunnel is lower
distribution with only a very small surface settlement than that further from the tunnel. With a bulk stiffness
50 m from the tunnel centerline. It is considered that the for the water of 2 GPa, the water is at least one order
shape of this predicted curve is probably as good of magnitude stiffer than even the small strain stiff-
a match to observed tunnel settlements as a gaussian ness of the soil. Reducing the bulk modulus of the
curve. water has the effect of making the response of the soil
apparently partially drained far from the tunnel and
essentially undrained near to the tunnel. The effect
3 DISCUSSION was found to be modest with a bulk modulus of
0.2 GPa (analysis t17) but resulted in a realistic shaped
The results of the series of analyses show that only with settlement trough with a bulk modulus of 0.02 GPa
the adoption of an anisotropic model can a realistic (analysis t18). The results of these two analyses are
settlement trough be predicted. This is similar to plotted in Figure 9. Unfortunately a bulk modulus for
results found by others (Simpson et al. 1996). Three- the water of 0.02 GPa, is unrealistically small. It is
dimensional numerical analyses, which model the possible that the apparent drained response of the
full construction sequence, have also been carried out ground far from the tunnel is due to a combination
and these also demonstrate that an isotropic soil model of a lower bulk modulus of water, a higher bulk
leads to wider surface settlement troughs than those stiffness of the soil than currently assumed and the
observed in practice. Adoption of an anisotropic effect of some drainage of the soil due to the slow
soil model results in surface settlement troughs very small stress changes occurring in the soil far from the
similar to those predicted by the two-dimensional tunnel.
analyses.
The anisotropic behavior of stiff overconsolidated
clays can be explained on the basis of the preferential 4 CONCLUSIONS
alignment of clay particles. There is also some data
from field and laboratory testing to indicate that The numerical analyses show that traditional linear
stiff overconsolidated clays are anisotropic. However elastic analyses with or without a yield criterion
sands have an even narrower settlement trough than cannot predict settlement troughs similar to those
those of clays as indicated by the trough width factor observed. Even non-linear elastoplastic analyses with
normally adopted. There is less justification for the isotropic soil stiffnesses overpredict the width of the
adoption of an anisotropic soil model for sands from surface settlement trough. Only by adopting a non-
field and laboratory testing data. Sands of course linear anisotropic elastic soil model can surface set-
will not respond in an undrained manner during tlement troughs similar to those observed be predicted.
tunneling and it may be that the different pattern of To reduce the predicted settlements at the edges of the
groundwater pressures around the tunnel during exca- trough it is necessary to assume partially drained
vation will result in a different pattern of surface behavior of the soil. It is suggested that this could
settlements predicted by the isotropic soil model. result from a lower bulk stiffness of the water.
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REFERENCES geometry and stability number. Ground Engineering,

32(4).
Addenbrooke, T.I., Potts, D.M. & Puzrin, A.M. 1997. The Mayne, P.W. & Kulhawy, F.H. 1982. K0-OCR relation-
influence of pre-failure soil stiffness on the numerical ships in soil. Proc. ASCE, Journal of the Geotechnical
analysis of tunnel construction. Géotechnique 47(3): Engineering Division, Vol. 108, No. GT6, 851–872.
693–712. Muir-Wood, A.M. 1975. The circular tunnel in elastic
Atkinson, J.H. 1975. Anisotropic elastic deformations in ground. Géotechnique 25(1): 115–127.
laboratory tests on undisturbed London Clay Géotechnique O’Reilly, M.P. & New, B.M. 1982. Settlements above
25(2): 357–374. tunnels in the United Kingdom–their magnitude and
Bishop, A.W., Webb, D.L. & Lewin, P.I. 1965. Undisturbed prediction. Tunnelling ’82, The Institution of Mining and
samples of London Clay from the Ashford Common Shaft: Metalllurgy, 1982 pp. 173–181.
strength-strain relationships. Géotechnique 15(1): 1–31. Potts, D.M. & Zdravkovic, L. 1999. Finite element analysis in
Jardine, R.J., Potts, D.M., Fourie, A.B. & Burland, J.B. 1986. geotechnical engineering: theory. London Thomas: Telford.
Studies of the influence of non-linear stress–strain Pound, C. & Beveridge, J.P. 2002. Recent experiences of
characteristics in soil-structure interaction. Géotechnique the measurement of ground movements around tunnels.
36(3): 377–396. In press.
Lings, M., Pennington, L., Nash, D.S. & Poisson, D.F.T. Simpson, B., Atkinson, J.H. & Jovicic, J.H. 1996. Geotech-
2000. Anisotropic stiffness parameters and their meas- nical aspects of underground construction in soft ground.
urements in a stiff natural clay. Géotechnique 50(2): pp. 591–594. Balkema.
109–125.
Macklin, S.R. 1999. The prediction of volume loss due to
tunneling in overconsolidated clay based on heading
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Numerical modeling of remedial measures in a failed tunnel
Y. Sun & P.J.N. Pells

Pells Sullivan Meynink Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: A FLAC3D analysis was conducted for the investigation of the failure and the design of remedial
works for one tunnel in Melbourne Australia. Failure of an approximately 8 m length of the sidewall of the formed
concrete arch occurred in mid February 2000. The original design of the un-reinforced concrete lining was such
that it just sits on the flat upper surface of the approximately 1.8 m-thick concrete invert. It was generally believed
that the failure was primarily due to the compressive stresses across the arch/invert joint being substantially low,
which means that the compressive stresses in the arch lining induced by the groundwater pressure at time of failure
must have been transferred by 3D action to the west and east of the failure. The purpose of the numerical mod-
eling is to return the failed section to a fully functional arch/invert concept. Key factors in the remediation are
the width and sequence of removal of the panels, which were investigated in details in this paper.
1 INTRODUCTION and 2 are 4 m high, Panels 3 and 4 are 3.2 m high and
Panel 5 is 1.6 m high. The model geometry is shown
The remedial concept is to remove the formed arch in Figures 1a, b & 2.
concrete within and immediately around the failure area
and reinstate the original design. As a precursor to the
3D analysis, 2D analyses using Phase II was carried 2.2 Interfaces
out in PSM office to assess the likely compressive
Interfaces are planes within a FLAC3D model along
and tensile stresses generated above and around panel
which sub-grids can interact, slip and/or separation is
cut-outs, and the effects of flat jack stressing. The
allowed. A total of eight interfaces shown in Figure 3
results were used as a guide in selecting the 1.5 m
are modeled as:
panel width and the excavation sequence proposed in
the design. – Interface 1: between arch and invert.
A FLAC3D model includes a 36 m length of the tun- – Interface 2: between concrete arch/invert and rock
nel and the surrounding rock, which contains interface simulating the membrane.
elements between the arch lining and rock, between – Interface 3: between arches A and B.
the arch lining and floor, and between arch pours A – Interface 4: between panel 1 and arch B.
and B. The model allows an initial 3 mm gap to exist – Interface 5: between panel tops and concrete arch A.
at the arch/invert interface within the modeled failure – Interface 6: between back of panels 1, 3 and 5 and
area, prior to application of groundwater pressures. rock surface simulating the membrane.
– Interface 7: between back of panels 2 and 4 and
rock surface simulating the membrane.
2 NUMERICAL MODELING – Interface 8: between panels and concrete arch A.
2.1 Geometry of model

2.3 Initial conditions
The model includes a 36 m length of the tunnel in the
longitudinal direction that is divided into two equal The initial stresses sxx, syy and szz of 60 m of rock
parts, named as arches A and B. The depth of the tun- load were applied to the model boundary with a gra-
nel is 60 m below the surface. Five vertical panels dient zero as required. A 3 mm gap from arch contact
with a width of 1.5 m each from the contact between extending 6 m along arch A side and tapering off
arches A and B were designed and named as Panels 1 at 7 m was modeled to replicate the field observed
through 5 sequentially along the arch A side. Panels 1 initial stress conditions.
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Figure 1a. Model geometry showing entire model.
Figure 1b. Model geometry showing arch and invert.
2.4 Modeling sequence was initially applied at the interface between the
concrete arch/invert and rock surface. To do so, a
The following stages were developed:
virtual interface inside the tunnel surface has to be
– Stage 0: Initial condition. A 3 mm gap was modeled. set up in order to store the face list for applying the
The pore pressure of pre-leak value of 470 KPa equivalent normal stress to the rock surface.
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Figure 2. Model geometry showing layout of panels.
Figure 3. Plot showing the interfaces.
– Stage 1: Reduce the pore pressure around the tunnel – Stage 2: Remove the Panels 1, 3 and 5. The corre-
to pre-repairing condition that is zero behind the sponding interface element at the back of the pan-
failure area and increases linearly to 470 KPa at 30 m els should be removed from the list and the same
away from the failure. principal applies to the corresponding rock surface
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(virtual interface) that was in contact previously Table 1. Interface properties.

with the back of removed panels.
– Stage 3b: Cast concrete panels 1, 3 and 5 in place. Interfaces Cohesion Friction
The interfaces 1, 5, 6 and 8 for panels 1, 3 and 5 are Type ID No. (KPa) (deg.)
established in the model in addition to the interface 4
Concrete/concrete 1, 3, 4 & 8 0 35
for panel 1, and the bottom gap between new pan- Concrete/membrane 2, 6 & 7 0 10
els and invert is set to zero. Interface 6 has to be Concrete/flat jack 5 0 40
added into the face list for applying the normal
stresses to the back of new panel concrete. The
gravity stresses are initialized in the new panels
and low strength properties were used for the inter- 3 FISH CODING
face 8 first (Stage 3a), and then the properties were
returned to normal values. Various FISH codes were developed to perform the
– Stage 3d: apply flat jack load of 2 MPa at the top of following functions as:
Panels 1, 3 and 5. High strength properties were
used (Stage 3c) for the arch including the new pan- – Storing all zone faces connected to the concrete/rock
els to get rid of the possible dynamic effect, and interfaces (2, 6 and 7) to create a list of all faces
returned to normal afterwards. for “app nstr” late. Generally, there are two inter-
– Stage 4: Remove Panels 2 and 4. Follow the similar face elements that are associated with one zone.
procedure as described in Stage 2. We can pick up the first element and skip the sec-
– Stage 5a: Cast concrete panels 2 and 4 in place. ond one to set up a list where the address of the
Follow the similar procedure as described in zone to which the interface element is attached,
Stage 3b. and the corresponding face ID number are stored
– Stage 5b: apply flat jack load of 2 MPa at the top in a 2-dimensional array.
of Panels 2 and 4. Follow the similar procedure as – Removing faces from the list if zones are changed
described in Stage 3d. to a different model (here anisotropic) prior to being
– Stage 6: Increase all flat jack loads equivalent to made “null”.
pressure of 4 MPa. – Applying the equivalent pore pressure to the zone
– Stage 7: Increase the hydrostatic load to 470 KPa. faces in the current list.
– Shifting the solid back to the tunnel for quick
manipulation.
2.5 Pore pressure – Adjusting the contact between the arch and the
invert slab.
The pore pressures are modeled explicitly by apply- – Setting the gap between arch A and the invert slab.
ing two opposite normal pressures that are equivalent – Calculating the pore pressure distribution at the
to the pore pressures to the interface between the con- pre-repairing condition.
crete arch/invert and rock (interfaces 2, 6 and 7) and to
the corresponding rock surface. For the pre-repairing
condition, it is assumed that the drain center is 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
located at the top center of the panel 3. The region
with a distance of less than 4 m from the drain center Figure 4 shows contours of smin at the initial stage,
has zero pore pressure, while the region with a dis- where the 3 mm gap between the concrete arch A
tance of more than 30 m from the drain center has a and invert slab was maintained. The majority area
full pore pressure of 470 KPa. The region that falls in immediately adjacent to the gap has a compressive
between has a linear distribution of pore pressure. stress up to 5 MPa, while elsewhere has a notably
higher compressive stress.
Figures 5a & b show contours of major and minor
2.6 Parameters principal stresses when panels 1, 3 and 5 were
excavated. Figure 6 shows the tensile crack at the top
The concrete is assumed to have a Young’s modulus of panel 1 and bottom between panel 3 and 5.
of 32000 MPa, an unconfined compressive strength Figures 7a & b show contours of major and minor
of 50 MPa and a tensile strength of 2.5 MPa. The total principal stresses when panels 2 and 4 were excavated
zone elements of rock and concrete are 10624 and and the flat jacks above panels 1, 3 and 5 are stressed
12104, respectively. The surrounding rock is modeled to 2 MPa. Tensile stresses above these panels were
as elastic material and the concrete arch and invert dropped from 1 MPa to less than 500 KPa. The maxi-
are modeled as Mohr-Coulomb material. The shear mum compressive stresses show quite a complex
strength parameters adopted for the various interfaces distribution with a maximum less than 8 MPa. Tensile
are summarized in Table 1. failure (Fig. 8) remains at the top corner of panel 1
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Figure 4. Contour of smin at stage 0 showing the arching effect due to 3 mm gap between arch and invert.
Figure 5a. Contour of smax at stage 2 where panels 1, 3 and 5 (from the right) were excavated.
and develops between panels 4 and 5, where a stress Figure 9 shows the cracking pattern after all
concentration is noticed due to the difference in flat jacks are stressed to 4 MPa with groundwater
height. It should be noted that tensile cracking in pressure at low values, corresponding to the pro-
these locations is not of a particular concern. cess during the repair work. In general, the stresses
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Figure 5b. Contour of smin at stage 2 where panels 1, 3 and 5 (from the right) were excavated.
Figure 6. Plasticity plot at stage 2.
are benign and there is no new cracking. Figure 10 arch about 2.5 m above the panels vertically. This
shows the crack pattern when the groundwater indicates the need to increase the flat jack pressures
pressures are returned to a high value at 470 KPa. progressively as the groundwater pressures are
A tensile crack is predicted on the rock side of the allowed to recover.
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Figure 7a. Contour of smax at stage 4 where panels 2 and 4 (from the right) were excavated.
Figure 7b. Contour of smin at stage 4 where panels 2 and 4 (from the right) were excavated.
As an alternative, one more model was run from hydrostatic load around the tunnel to a lower and uni-
the end of stage 6. Instead of increasing the hydro- form load of 400 KPa. Then increase the hydrostatic
static load to 470 KPa in one go, a progressive load to 425 KPa, 450 KPa and finally to 470 KPa
approach was adopted this time. First adjust the progressively. An improved cracking was noticed as
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shown in Figure 11. Clearly it indicates that both 5 CONCLUSIONS

slowly and uniformly recovering of the groundwater
pressure will reduce the final cracking on the con- The results provide confirmation that 1.5 m panel
crete arch remarkably. width, and the sequence of excavation of panels
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Figure 11. Plasticity plot at stage 7 for the alternative approach.
(excavate panels 1, 3 & 5 first and then panels 2 & 4) is recommended that the measures of progressively
is reasonable design assumptions. Tensile cracking is increasing the flat jack pressures as well as slowly
predicted at the eastern top corner of Panel 1 adjacent recovering the groundwater pressure to a full uniform
to the frictional joint between arches pours A and B. It value of 470 KPa are to be taken to minimize the
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tensile cracks in the concrete arch region above the assistance in developing FISH coding. The authors also
repaired section. benefited from many discussions with him as well.
It also demonstrates that the FLAC3D is a useful
tool and can be well applied to solve the complicated
engineering problem. REFERENCES
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1997. FLAC3D – Fast

Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Version 2.0 User’s Manual. Minneapolis: Itasca.
Internal Report, PSM500.R3, April 2001. Design report for
The authors would like to thank Dr. Mike Coulthard structural and water inflow remediation at CH 11945m,
from M.A. Coulthard & Associates Pty Ltd for his Appendix C, Three-dimensional analysis.
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Mining applications

09069-22.qxd 8/18/03 1:06 PM Page 181

Sill pillar design at the Niobec mine using FLAC3D
P. Frenette & R. Corthésy

Département des Génies Civil, Géologique et des Mines, École Polytechnique, Montréal, Canada
ABSTRACT: The paper presents the numerical analyses performed with FLAC3D to study the stability of the
rock mass surrounding the stopes at the Niobec mine in Chicoutimi, Québec. Since the mine expansion is done
at depth, the stability of the planned stopes had to be evaluated in order to determine the support requirements
linked to an increase of the in situ stresses. The paper focuses on the dimensioning of the sill pillar between
mining blocks 3 and 4 using FLAC3D. A rock mass characterization of the site has been made prior to the numer-
ical modeling. The characterization consisted of structural geological mapping, laboratory testing of rock sam-
ples and in situ stress measurement. All the stopes were then modeled and the parameters obtained from the site
characterization were used in the FLAC3D model. Various alternatives have been analyzed, including the use of
backfill and variations of pillar thicknesses for the third pillar.
1 INTRODUCTION depth, as confirmed by in situ stress measurements,

will increase the potential for failure which has to be
Safe and economical dimensioning of underground investigated. Moreover, the stope geometry being rela-
excavations is often hard to achieve because of the tively massive, a two-dimensional model was not con-
numerous parameters involved. These parameters sidered realistic for the Niobec mine. Although the
include rock mass characteristics, orientation and mag- authors did not find applications of FLAC3D for the
nitude of stresses, excavation method and sequencing. modeling of a complete mine in the literature, they
Any combination of these factors may change from found it would be interesting to use the software for
one point to another, requiring a reevaluation of the that purpose, since it could efficiently model rock mass
mine design. This is the case at the Niobec mine, failure and, if required, the use of backfill in the open
located near Chicoutimi, Québec, were underground stopes.
production is soon reaching the fourth mining block. In order to gather the data for the numerical model,
The increase in stresses with depth requires calculat- a rock mass characterization program including
ing the dimension of the sill pillar between the third structural geological mapping, laboratory testing and
and fourth mining blocks. At the present time, Niobec in situ stress measurements was conducted. The work
mine has 3 horizontal pillars. The crown pillar with was facilitated by the fact that the rock mass includ-
a thickness of 90 m (300 feet), the pillar between ing the ore bearing zones and host rock are relatively
mining blocks 1 and 2 with a 30 m (100 feet) thick- homogeneous and can be considered as a single zone.
ness and the pillar between mining blocks 2 and 3
being 45 m (150 feet) thick. These pillars are neces-
sary for the stability of the excavations and absorb
2 SITE INVESTIGATION
part of the stresses caused by the mining of the stopes
which remain open after being mine out.
2.1 Niobec mine
As for any rock mechanics design, there is no direct
method for dimensioning horizontal pillars in hard Niobec mine is located near Chicoutimi in Québec
rock mines as each mine has its own geometric and and has been producing niobium since 1976. It is
geomechanical settings, which make it difficult to owned in equal part by Cambior and Mazarin. The
have a universal recipe that allows an optimal pillar mine produces 3500 tons of ore each day by long hole
design. Consequently, numerical modeling was con- stoping. Each stope is 45 m deep, 25 m wide and 90 m
sidered the best tool for the project. high. Mining is done using primary and secondary
Although the overall quality of the rock mass at the stopes, creating openings up to 200 m wide. The mine
Niobec mine is good, the increasing stress levels with has 3 mining blocks and 8 levels, the lowest production
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Table 1. Principal stresses tensor. Table 3. Mohr–Coulomb parameters for the

rock substance.
Stress Strike Plunge
Parameter
1 29.5 MPa 45° 04° Unconfined compressive strength 124 MPa
2 16.0 MPa 138° 38° Tensile strength 8.1 MPa
3 9.1 MPa 310° 51° Young’s modulus 55 GPa
Poisson’s ratio 0.254
Table 2. Stress gradients.

along 1370 m of drift using the scanline method. Major
850 joints of over 1m were plotted for both level 1150 and
1450. The results were compared with two other stud-
Level (Mpa/m) (hole #1) (hole #2) 1000 1450 ies made on the previous levels and the comparison
showed the persistence of two major families of joints
Mean horizontal 0.0642 0.0454 0.0466 0.0484
stress gradient on all levels with the appearance of a third family with
Vertical stress 0.0386 0.0194 0.0274 0.0267 increasing depth.
gradient
2.4 Rock mass classification
Once all the required parameters were obtained, the
level being 1450 feet deep. A fourth mining block is rock mass was classified according to the RMR and
scheduled to open in 2011. Q indexes. The RMR value was found to be 77 and the
Q index was estimated at 40, which corresponds to a
good rock mass in both cases. These results were also
2.2 In situ stress measurements
used to obtain the failure envelope of the rock mass
Stresses were measured at the 1450 level (Corthésy for the Mohr–Coulomb criterion.
2000) using the modified doorstopper method (Leite
et al. 1996). Unlike the conventional doorstopper
method, the modified method allows continuous 2.5 Laboratory testing
reading of the strains at the bottom of the hole includ- Laboratory tests were conducted on rock samples.
ing temperature readings. These continuous readings Seventeen samples were tested to obtain the unconfined
allow evaluating the quality of each measurement. compressive strength of the rock while seventeen other
These are performed in three differently oriented holes samples were tested to determine the tensile strength
in order to obtain the three-dimensional stress tensor. of the rock. Three triaxial compression tests were also
Table 1 shows the principal stress tensor obtained by conducted to verify the adjustment of the data to empir-
combining the data obtained from the three holes ical strength criterion. The deformability parameters
using the least squares approach. The stress calculation were obtained indirectly from the stress measure-
procedure allows considering both local anisotropy ment campaign as they were required to interpret the
and heterogeneity. results following a procedure suggested by Corthésy
Those results were compared with another in situ et al. (1993). Table 3 shows the mechanical parameters
stress measurement campaign made by Canmet obtained for the rock substance.
(Arjang 1986) using the CSIR triaxial cell (Leeman
1967). In this earlier campaign, stress tensors were
calculated on levels 850 and 1000. Two holes were used 3 NUMERICAL MODELING
on level 850 and one on level 1000. Principal stress
gradients on levels 1450 and 1000 are similar, but 3.1 Model geometry
results from the 850 level are not, probably because
the measurements were made in the influence zone of Autocad files representing all the stopes mined
a stope. Table 2 shows the stress gradients for level before 2000 were used as a database to build the
850, 1000 and 1450. geometry of the model. Unfortunately, no interface
allowing the importation of dxf files is available
with FLAC3D, so the dxf file containing all the stopes
2.3 Structural geological mapping coordinates was used to build the model (see Fig. 1).
Structural geological mapping was conducted on The three existing mining blocks were divided into
levels 1150 and 1450. Over 8000 joints were identified separate entities that were later merged. Each block
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Figure 1. Isometric view of the three mining blocks.

Figure 3. Perspective view showing the modelling of the
walls surrounding a stope.
Figure 2. View of part of the first mining block showing the

20 m 20 m grid and the simplifications made to the stopes.
was subdivided into smaller sections to model the

excavations using a 20 m 20 m 20 m mesh at
the outer edge of the sections (Fig. 2). These sections
were made from 7 different parts, the 4 walls along
with the floor, the roof and the stope itself. This
method allowed modeling all the excavations, but
some simplifications were necessary in order to keep Figure 4. View showing the zone added to the model so the
the number of zones and time spent to building the stresses can be applied at 45°.
model geometry to reasonable values (Fig. 3). All the
stopes were modeled this way and adjacent sections
were merged to obtain a uniform mesh. A transition the model. The solution was to make a simplifying
zone had to be inserted between each mining block to assumption stating that the principal stresses 1 and
merge them together without creating a discontinuity 2 were horizontal with an azimuth of 45° and 135°
in the model. respectively and that 3 was vertical (Fig. 4). The cen-
ter part of Figure 4 (the small square) is the area
containing the stopes while the rest of the model
3.2 Boundary conditions
allows the boundaries to have the required orientation
Some problems were encountered for applying the for applying the principal stress gradients and also
stresses on the model. Since means of applying shear insure these boundaries are not in the zone of influence
stress gradients on the boundary of the model were of the excavations. This buffer zone was considered to
not found, the principal stresses with their orienta- have an elastic behavior since no failure around the
tions as shown in Table 1 could not be applied to excavations should extend that far and this would also
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speed up the run time of the analyses. In order to eval- 4 FLAC3D SIMULATIONS
uate the influence of the principal stress tensor reori-
entation, two analyses were done using the Examine 3D Before running the analyses used to estimate what sill
boundary element program developed by Rocscience. pillar size would be optimal, various scenarios were
This software allows us to apply the in situ major studied in order to perform the numerical analyses
principal stresses with any orientation relative to the more efficiently and to verify if the use of certain
model. In one analysis, the measured in situ stress support elements such as backfill would have an
tensor (Table 1) was input and in the other, the modi- effect on the local and overall stability of the mine. It
fied stress tensor with 1 and 2 in the horizontal should also be stated that a validation of the model by
plane was used. As expected, the second model gave comparing its results with in situ observations was
lower strength factor values, which confirms the sim- difficult for various reasons. First, no in situ monitoring
plifying assumption related to the reorientation of the of displacements was available. Secondly, as the rare
stresses puts the model on the safe side. The strength instabilities around the excavations in the mine are
factor given by Examine 3D compares the stress state mostly controlled by the presence of discontinuities
at every point of the model with the strength enve- which are not considered in FLAC3D, it is difficult to
lope. A strength factor of 1.0 means the stress state is perform a direct comparison between the extent of
on the strength envelope while a lower value means instabilities in the numerical model and the ones
the stress state exceeds the strength of the rock mass. observed in the field. This only emphasizes the fact
These strength factors must be considered with care that in the absence of field monitoring and in the
since they tend to underestimate the extension of presence of a good quality rock mass, validation of
potentially failed zones, since the elastic analysis the numerical models is difficult.
software performs does not consider the post failure
stress redistribution.
4.1 Mining sequence
3.3 Constitutive laws and material properties The influence of the mining sequence (excavating
In the analyses shown in this paper, the rock mass was the stopes in the same sequence they were mined out
assumed to present an elastic perfectly plastic behav- in blocks 1 and 2) on the results of the analyses was
ior, so no post peak strength values are given. Table 4 studied. This was an important point to verify since the
shows the strength and deformability parameters of mining sequence for the new mining blocks (3 and 4)
the rock mass used in the model. These parameters was unknown and excavating the stopes all at once in
were obtained by combining the laboratory test results the numerical model was an interesting alternative as
with the rock mass classification parameters presented it would allow important time savings. Consequently,
in section 2.4. two analyses were run, one by excavating the stopes
The authors are aware that for fragile hard rock one after the other and waiting for the unbalanced
such as the one found at the Niobec Mine, perfect forces to stabilize in between and the other by nulling
plasticity is a not realistic assumption, but using a the elements in the stopes all at once. The comparison
strain softening constitutive law would have slowed between the two runs is done by taking the number of
down the runtime of the analyses which already took failed elements in each simulation as shown in Table 5.
over 5 days to run on a 1.0 GHz Pentium PC. Nonethe-
less, now that the model is built, it would be a simple Table 5. Comparison of the number of failed zones on
matter to implement the strain softening parameters different sections of the model for the analyses with and
and perform a sensitivity analysis by varying the post- without sequential mining.
peak strength parameters. The authors are also aware
that perfect plasticity will underestimate the exten- Mining all at Sequential
once (failed mining (failed
sion of eventual failure zones. Section elements) elements) Difference
4410 36 37 1
Table 4. Material parameters used in the 4465 74 80 6
model to simulate the rock mass behavior. 4530 65 64 –1
4575 70 81 11
Uniaxial compressive strength 34.4 MPa 4625 58 71 13
Tensile strength 2.1 MPa 4675 45 35 –10
Cohesion 10.5 MPa 4730 41 37 –4
Friction angle 38.5° 4795 87 92 5
Young’s modulus 47.3 GPa 4830 37 43 6
Poisson’s ratio 0.254 4900 14 15 1
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Most of the failed elements are located around the any significant stresses, so it would not serve the pur-
stopes and their dimensions are small compared to pose of reducing the size of the third horizontal pillar.
the 20 m 20 m 20 m mesh used in areas remote
from the excavations. The section heading refers to var- 4.3 Design of the third horizontal pillar
ious sections in the model that cut through the stopes in
The main objective of this project was to find the
the model. It is considered that the excavation sequence
optimal thickness of the third horizontal pillar. The
has a negligible influence and that no clear pattern is
first pillar between mining blocks 1 and 2 is 30 m
observed. Consequently, it was concluded that for the
thick, the second between mining blocks 2 and 3 is
following simulations, the stopes could be excavated all
45 m thick and the third one between mining blocks 3
at once without much effect on the outcome of the runs.
and 4 was also planned to be 45 m thick. Since the use
of backfill was found of little use, only three simula-
4.2 Influence of backfill tions were made. One optimistic analysis with a 30 m
As the mine had never used backfill, it was decided to thick pillar, another with a 45 m thick pillar identical
see if the use of such support would allow minimizing
the occurrence of local failure around certain stopes. Table 6. Comparison of the number of failed zones on dif-
To estimate the influence of backfill on the stability of ferent sections for the simulations with and without backfill.
the openings, the same methodology as used to evalu-
Without With
ate the influence of the mining sequence was adopted.
Section backfilling backfilling Difference
In these simulations, after a stope was mined out and
the unbalanced forces had stabilized, the null elements 4410 37 37 0
were replaced by zones having properties matching 4465 80 77 3
a backfill with 8% cement. The next stope was then 4530 64 61 3
excavated and the sequence was repeated for all the 4575 81 79 2
openings. The number of failed zones with and without 4625 71 67 4
backfill are presented in Table 6. These simulations 4675 35 33 2
showed the fill to have no significant influence on the 4730 37 34 3
4795 92 88 4
stability of the mine. It is believed that the very low
4830 43 43 0
stiffness of the backfill compared to that of a good qual- 4900 15 15 0
ity rock mass makes it almost impossible for it to absorb
Figure 5. Failure zones for the 30 m (100) pillar for section 4795.
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to the one between blocks 2 and 3 and finally a last Also, if one wishes to fine-tune the model, an opti-
simulation with a 60 m pillar. mization of the element size around the excavations
As the stope layouts for the third and fourth mining could be made.
blocks were not available at the time the simulations In conclusion, the work presented in this paper
were run, the geometry of these blocks was assumed showed that modeling a complete mine with FLAC3D is
to be similar to that of blocks 1 and 2. quite an undertaking since there are no simple ways to
The simulation with a 30 m pillar showed that the create the geometry, although there is now an interface
pillar would be stable, but that only a 20 m thickness with AnsysCivilFEM which should facilitate this
would remain intact (Fig. 5). The two other simula- task (it was not available at the time the project started).
tions showed that a 40 m thick zone would remain There are also difficulties in the application of the
intact with the 45 m pillar (Fig. 6) and 53 m would be boundary conditions as mentioned in section 3.2 since
free from failed zones for the 60 m pillar (Fig. 7). the authors we unable to apply shear stress gradients
The number of failed zones in the pillars were then to the model boundaries. Besides these difficulties,
compared. The direct comparison can be done since once the model is built, it is interesting to be able to
the number of zones remained constant between sim- perform sophisticated sensitivity analyses by modify-
ulations and only the zone thicknesses were changed ing the parameters of various constitutive laws.
to modify the pillar thickness. The analyses showed
the 30 m pillar to have 657 failed zones on a total of
4425 zones in the pillar, while the 45 m pillar had 603 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
failed zones and the 60 m pillar showed 583 failed
zones. Although the 30 m sill pillar showed an overall The authors wish to acknowledge Martin Lancet and
stability, the intact thickness is considered too small the personnel of the Niobec Mine who have contributed
as the presence of planes of weakness not considered to the success of this M.A.Sc project. They also want to
in the analyses may cause important instabilities. acknowledge the National Research Council of Canada
Bearing this in mind, the 45 m pillar would leave an for its financial support (grant # OGP0089752).
intact rock section considered more adequate. The
results show the 60 m thick pillar would not increase
the overall safety factor significantly and the side REFERENCES
effects of having a pillar which is too thick, is the ore
loss and also the fact that a thicker pillar will expose Arjang, J. 1986. In situ stress measurement at Niobec Mine,
Canmet Laboratory Report.
the stopes in the fourth mining block to higher in situ Corthésy, R. 2000. Mesure des contraintes in situ, mine
stresses (due to their increased depth) causing Niobec. CDT report, Ecole Polytechnique.
unwanted dilution. Corthésy, R., Gill, D.E., Leite, M.H. 1993. An integrated
approach to rock stress measurement in anisotropic non
linear elastic rock, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., Vol. 30,
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS no. 3, pp. 395–411.
Leeman, E.R., 1967. The doorstopper and triaxial rock stress
The proposed pillar design presented in this paper measuring instruments developed by the CSIR, J. of the
should, prior to accepting it, be analyzed using a more South Afr. Inst. of Mining and Metall., Vol. 69, no. 7,
1967, pp. 305–339.
realistic constitutive law than perfect plasticity for hard Leite, M.H., Corthésy, R., Gill, D.E., St-Onge, M., Nguyen, D.
rock. The strain-softening model available in FLAC3D 1996. The IAM – A down-the-hole data logger condi-
should be tested with various post-peak strength tioner for the modified doorstopper technique. 2nd North
parameters in order to perform a sensitivity analysis of American Rock Mechanics Symposium, Montréal,
the excavation response to these parameters. pp. 897–904.
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Stability analyses of undermined sill mats for base metal mining
R.K. Brummer, P.P. Andrieux & C.P. O’Connor

ABSTRACT: Mines are often faced with sill extraction situations, and one technique that can be used to extract
a sill is to leave a consolidated fill mat in the sill cut. Several Canadian mines employ this sill extraction technique,
and in this paper the stability of these sills was modeled using two-dimensional FLAC numerical simulations. The
objective of this parametric study was to derive relationships between the required strength of the sill mats and
the maximum stable unsupported undercut span for various orebody dips. The footwall-to-hangingwall spans
described in this paper were 1.2 m (4 ft), 2.4 m (8 ft), 3.6 m (12 ft), 4.8 m (16 ft), 6.0 m (20 ft) and 10.5 m (35 ft), with
mining dips of 60°, 70° and 80°. The range of fill cohesive strength used was from 100 to 500 kPa, a typical range
for most hydraulic or paste fills. Stability charts were derived (one per ore body dip), that can be used to select
the minimum fill strengths required (in terms of cohesion) to maintain stability for different combinations of
spans and dips.
1 INTRODUCTION range 5% to 12% for most fills in common use. A typi-

cal FLAC geometry is shown schematically in Figure 1.
FLAC simulations were set up to examine the behavior The thickness of the sill mat was assumed to be
of a typical backfill sill mat for sill extraction. The 3.3 m (10 ft), which is a typical thickness for a sill mat.
objective of this parametric study was to derive a rela- A surcharge loading of up to 33.3 m (100 ft) above the
tionship between the strength of the sill mat and its mat was used.
maximum stable unsupported span, for various differ- In order to reproduce this geometry, a 60 by 120 ele-
ent orebody dips. ment grid was generated and the appropriate coordi-
The footwall-to-hanging wall spans described here nates applied to its four corner nodes. As a result, each
were 1.2 m (4 ft), 2.4 m (8 ft), 3.6 m (12 ft), 4.8 m (16 ft), element, or individual zone, was 0.3 m by 0.3 m (1 ft by
6.0 m (20 ft) and 10.5 m (35 ft). 1 ft) in size, which is sufficiently detailed for the prob-
lem considered. Interfaces were defined between the
2 FLAC MODEL
2.1 FLAC model geometry

The stability of the fill mats was investigated by carry-
ing out several FLAC analyses, using orebody widths
of 1.2 m (4 ft), 2.4 m (8 ft), 3.6 m (12 ft), 4.8 m (16 ft),
6.0 m (20 ft) and 10.5 m (35 ft). The dips considered
were 60°, 70°and 80° to give a realistic range of dips. It
was assumed that 45° is too flat to allow for a stable
unsupported backfill sill mat to be built because of slip
on the hangingwall.
For each combination of dip and span, the objective
was to determine the cohesive strength required from
the fill to ensure the stability of the sill mat, without
additional support, when fully undercut.
The range of cohesion values used was 100 to Figure 1. Typical FLAC layout for stability analyses.
500 kPa, which corresponds to cement contents in the (Schematic cross-section. Not to scale.)
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fill and each wall, in order to allow movement of the Table 1. Mechanical properties used for the host rock and
backfill along this surface. the ore.
Elastic Poisson’s Shear Bulk

2.2 FLAC model run sequence
modulus ratio modulus modulus Density
The sequence of each FLAC run was as follows: (GPa) ( ) (GPa) (GPa) (kg/m3)
1. Define the grid to reproduce the required stope 40 0.25 16.0 26.7 2700
span and dip. At this point, consider the ore under
the mat to still be in place (i.e. consider the sill mat
to rest on solid rock). Elastic–plastic strain softening constitutive laws
2. Set up eight history points in the center of the allow specifying a transition zone between the peak
backfill column, at 0.7 m (2 ft), 1.3 m (4 ft), 2.3 m and residual mechanical properties of a material. In the
(7 ft), 3.3 m (10 ft), 5.0 m (15 ft), 6.7 m (20 ft), cases where these mechanical properties decrease as
10.0 m (30 ft) and 13.3 m (40 ft) behind the back the material yields (which is the case with typical back-
of the next cut. fills), a strain softening behavior was used to describe
3. Define materials properties with real elastic prop- how the material’s strength is progressively decreased
erties, but very high strengths for the fill, and zero from its peak value to its residual one as irreversible/
friction and cohesion along the interfaces between plastic strain accumulates in it.
the backfill and the two rock walls.
4. Cycle the model to equilibrium. This first part of
the run is required to allow the fill to settle under its 2.4 Host rock
own weight, as would happen in real life. The arti- The properties retained for the rock mass (both the host
ficially high strength of the fill ensures its elastic rock and the ore) are shown in Table 1. The exact elas-
behavior, while the null friction at the interfaces tic and strength properties of a typical host rock are not
prevents the development of artificial stresses important, because the behavior of a sill mat is not very
during this gravity-driven compaction process. sensitive to these properties, as long as they are orders
5. Once at equilibrium, reset the fill material and of magnitude larger than those of the backfill.
wall contacts to realistic strength properties
(these are discussed later).
6. Reset all the displacements tracked by the history 2.5 Fill properties
points, in order to reflect only the changes subse-
The fill properties used in the FLAC analyses were
quent to equilibrium.
based on a large in-house database of fill properties.
7. Remove the restraint below the fill mat by “min-
The main variable for the fill is its cohesive strength,
ing” the stope so that the fill mat takes load from
which, as mentioned, was varied between 100 and
its own weight and the waste fill column above.
500 kPa. As the cohesive strength was changed, so were
8. Apply some convergence to the stope walls as a
the elastic properties (even though not critical, this
result of mining. Because the act of mining will
refinement was useful as a certain degree of conver-
involve some wall convergence a 10 mm incre-
gence between the footwall and hanging wall was con-
mental convergence was assumed to take place.
sidered, which, in turn, induced stresses in the sill mat).
Due to the explicit time-marching scheme used in
In other words, as the cohesive strength of the fill was
FLAC, this movement had to be indirectly applied
increased, so was its stiffness. The overall fill property
to the walls by applying a horizontal velocity to
setting process was carried out in the following
the model boundaries. To obtain the desired
methodology:
10 mm closure, a horizontal velocity of 0.001 mm
per time step was applied inwards on both the left 1. set the cohesive strength, for example 200 kPa;
and right model boundaries for 5,000 steps. 2. set the tensile strength at half the cohesion –
9. Remove the horizontal velocity applied on the 100 kPa for our example;
model boundaries (as the desired closure has been 3. multiply the cohesive strength by 4 (assuming a
reached), and cycle the model to equilibrium. friction angle in the range 30° to 33°) to obtain the
10. Check the history points and displacement results corresponding unconfined compressive strength –
to see if the configuration is stable. 800 kPa for the example considered;
4. derive the corresponding cement content using
Figure 2 (to obtain an 800 kPa UCS, the required
2.3 Constitutive models and material properties
cement content would be around 6.4%);
The constitutive model used for the host rock was 5. derive the corresponding elastic modulus using
elastic, while a strain-softening behavior was retained Figure 3 (for a 6.4% cement content, the elastic
for the backfill. modulus would be near 0.53 GPa);
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1,800 Table 2. Strength and elastic properties used for the back-
1,600 fill sill mat.
1,400
Cement Elastic Shear Bulk
1,200
UCS (kPa)
Cohesion UCS1 content modulus modulus2 modulus2

1,000 (kPa) (kPa) (%) (GPa) (MPa) (MPa)
800
600 100 400 4.2 0.24 92 200
150 600 5.5 0.40 154 333
400
200 800 6.4 0.53 204 442
200 300 1200 8.3 0.84 323 700
0 400 1600 10.0 0.90* 346 750
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 500 2000 11.2 0.90* 346 750
Cement Content (%)
1
Assuming a 30° internal angle of friction.
Figure 2. Typical relationship between UCS and cement 2
Assuming a Poisson’s ratio of 0.30.
content for backfill.
* Value outside of data range – elastic modulus fixed at
0.90 GPa.
PASTE FILL PROJECT
Paste Fill Moduli vs. Cement Content
1.00
0.90
as a function of the plastic strain accumulated in the
0.80
yielding material needs to be explicitly described. For
Elastic Modulus (GPa)
0.70
the purpose of this study, it was assumed that the cohe-
0.60
Confinement
during test
sion and, hence, tensile strength, would decrease lin-
0.50
(kPa)
800
early from their maximum value at zero plastic strain,
0.40
400
Average
down to zero at a cumulative plastic strain of 1.5%.
0.30 The internal angle of friction was set to also vary lin-
0.20 early, but from its maximum value of 33° at zero plas-
0.10 tic strain, down to 30° at a cumulative plastic strain of
0.00 1.5% and beyond. Neither the shear nor the bulk
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
Cement Content (%) moduli are affected by plastic strain and were thus left
unchanged.
Figure 3. Typical stiffness properties for backfill (based on The older waste fill above the sill mat was subjected
triaxial lab tests carried out on a typical paste fill). to the same plastic strain-dependent weakening process.
Cohesion and tensile strength were also decreased lin-
early from their maximum value (set, as mentioned pre-
6. calculate the corresponding shear modulus G and viously, at 90% of those of the sill mat) at zero plastic
bulk modulus K, assuming a Poisson’s ratio of strain, down to zero, also at a cumulative plastic strain
0.30 (for our example G would be 206 MPa while of 1.5%. Similarly to the sill mat, the internal angle of
K would be 442 MPa); and, friction of the weaker fill material was set to decrease
7. use these values as input to the FLAC model. For linearly from its maximum value of 33° at zero plastic
the example, these inputs would be: cohesion strain, down to 30° at a cumulative plastic strain of
200 kPa, tensile strength 100 kPa, G 206 MPa, 1.5% and beyond.
K 442 MPa.
The nominal friction angle was chosen at 30° (friction 2.6 Interface between rock and fill
angle values will be discussed in more detail later). As previously discussed, interfaces between the host
Table 2 summarizes the properties used for the various rock and the fill, along both the footwall and hanging
fill strengths considered. The density of the backfill was wall, had to be specified due to the continuum nature
assumed to be 2.0 t/m3. of the finite difference approach used in FLAC. During
The mechanical properties of the surcharge fill the initial compaction stage of each run, both the inter-
placed on top of the sill mats were lowered by 10% to nal angle of friction and the cohesive strength of these
account for the lower quality of fill typically placed interfaces were set to zero in order to prevent artifi-
on top of sill mats. The properties affected were the cial stresses from developing along them as the back-
cohesion, tensile strength, shear modulus and bulk fill settled. During the later stages of the runs these
modulus – the friction angle was kept the same. values were reset – the internal angle of friction was
As mentioned, the constitutive model used for the set equal to the internal angle of friction of the sill
consolidated fill material was a strain-softening one. In mat, and the cohesion was set equal to the cohesion of
order to simulate this behavior, the decrease in strength the sill mat.
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3 INTERPRETATION OF ANALYSES equilibrium increases). As can be seen, the unbalanced

forces converge to zero for stable configurations, but
Several characteristics of the FLAC analyses were used continue to oscillate, or even increase, for unstable ones.
to determine whether the various sill mats were stable Figures 6 & 7 show examples of the vertical dis-
or had failed. placement history for the control points located
Figures 4 & 5 show the unbalanced force history for within the waste fill or backfill column, as described
a stable layout and an unstable layout, respectively. The earlier. As can be seen, stable spans displace vertically
unbalanced force is a key element of the time-marching by only a finite amount, whereas unstable spans
algorithm used in FLAC as it indicates the degree of continue to deform vertically as they fail.
static equilibrium reached within the model at any given More crudely, the deformation of the FLAC grid
cycle (as the unbalanced force diminishes, the degree of can be examined, as can be seen in Figure 8. Unstable
JOB TITLE : Undermined Sill Mat Stability Analyses
JOB TITLE : Undermined Sill Mat Stability Analyses FLAC (Version 3.30)
+05
(10 )
FLAC (Version 3.30) LEGEND
(10+05 )
LEGEND
step 9000 5.000
step 9000 5.000 HISTORY PLOT
HISTORY PLOT Y-axis : 4.000
Y-axis : Max. unbal. force
4.000
Max. unbal. force X-axis :
3.000
X-axis : Number of steps
Number of steps 3.000
2.000
2.000
1.000
1.000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
+03
(10 )
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Itasca Consulting Canada Inc.
+03
Itasca Consulting Canada Inc. (10 )
Figure 5. Example of a FLAC unbalanced force history

Figure 4. Example of a FLAC unbalanced force history plot plot for an unstable configuration. Note that the maximum
for a stable sill mat configuration. Note that the maximum unbalanced force is not zero and increases without bound as
unbalanced force stabilizes at zero, since the fill panel is stable. the fill panel fails.
Figure 6. Example of a FLAC “y-displacement” (vertical) history plot at the various control points located within the back-
fill column, for a stable configuration. Note that the maximum displacement is finite at about 45 mm.
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Figure 7. Example of a FLAC “y-displacement” (vertical) history plot at the various control points located within the back-
fill column, for an unstable configuration. Note that the maximum displacement increases without bound (up to 1.4 m at the
end of 12,000 cycles in this case).
Figure 8. Example of a FLAC grid plot showing failure of the sill mat at mid span, and especially at the hanging wall
contact. Note that the fill displaces downward by up to 500 mm, indicating failure.
configurations exhibit severe deformation of the 4 SUMMARY OF RESULTS

grids. Stable spans also will deform to some extent
due to settlement, as can be seen in Figure 9, but will Figures 10 & 11 show the FLAC results obtained for a
stabilize and not continue to deform as the runs are 60° dip and a 1.2 m (4 ft) mining width, with a 200 kPa
further cycled. cohesion backfill sill mat.
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Figure 9. FLAC results for a 70° dip, a 400 kPa cohesion sill mat and a 6.7 m (20 ft) span. Most of the movement occurs in
the lower part of the sill mat, and the whole arrangement remains stable.
600 600
500 500
Average Cohesion (kPa)
Average Cohesion (kPa)
400 Stable Stable

400
300 300
200 200
100 Failed 100 Failed
0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
Stope Span (m) Stope Span (m)
Stable 60 Failed 60 Stable 80 Failed 80
Figure 10. Stability Chart for 60° dipping ore showing Figure 11. Stability Chart for 80° dipping ore showing
failed cases and stope spans. Also shown is a crude contour failed cases and stope spans. Also shown is a crude contour
separating the failed cases from the stable cases. separating the failed cases from the stable cases.
Back support in the form of mat reinforcing (e.g., and dips. Since fill strength is normally measured in
screen placed on the floor of the stope to fill, together terms of uniaxial compressive strength, this can be
with vertical bolts) will stabilize the local back when estimated by multiplying the cohesion by a factor of
the sill stopes are extracted and the fill mat is under- 4, i.e. for a cohesion of 200 kPa, a uniaxial compres-
mined. The aim of this study is limited to the overall sta- sive strength of 800 kPa will be necessary. Note that
bility of the backfill sill mats, and excludes minor falls the FLAC analyses as presented do not incorporate
of fill from the back that must be expected to occur any Factors of Safety – appropriate Factors of Safety
unless appropriate mat reinforcing techniques are used. must therefore be applied to the fill strength for design
It is understood that the support of the immediate back purposes. This will depend on the quality and degree of
will be ensured by mines through the appropriate use of uniformity of the fill as placed. Note also that the charts
this type of reinforcing. suggest that it is not possible (for the fill strengths
These charts can be used to select fill strengths (in considered) to undermine a fill panel of 10.5 m width
terms of cohesion) for different combinations of spans without some form of additional reinforcement.
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5 CONCLUSIONS back under a variety of geometric and loading

conditions. However, this applies to the overall mat –
The FLAC model is capable of modeling both a “sag” not the immediate back. Even with a very strong mat,
mode of failure as well as a “rotational” mode of failure it is still possible to have falls of fill from the imme-
for a sill mat. For near-vertical or steep stope walls, the diate back, unless some form of back support (e.g.
sag mode is observed to occur and is dominant. For flat- screen on the back, with bolts or Splitsets) is used.
ter dips, it is possible to observe a rotational mode of This is equivalent to the screen commonly used on a
failure, as the fill falls away from the hangingwall, and rock back.
eventually rotates about the footwall support. This raises the possibility of incorporating the screen
The objective of this study was limited to the overall with the mat reinforcing (e.g., screen placed on the floor
stability of the sill mats, and excluded consideration of of the stope prior to filling). This screen will then be
minor falls of fill from the back that must be expected exposed on the fill back as the panel is undermined. If
to occur unless appropriate mat reinforcing techniques the screen is tied to the fill mat reinforcing, this will
(e.g. properly anchored screen or shotcrete) are used. take the place of the bolts and will eliminate the sup-
For practical reasons, it is understood that the support port cycle when the mat is undermined. This has been
of the immediate back will be ensured through the successfully done at a number of mines, and is an
appropriate use of this type of reinforcing. economical way to reinforce the fill mat (and has the
All of the analyses presented show that it is usually potential to save binder), as well as provide support
possible, with sufficient binder, to create a stable mat for the back of the undermined fill panel.
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FLAC numerical simulations of tunneling through paste backfill at

Brunswick Mine
P. Andrieux* & R. Brummer

Itasca Consulting Canada, Inc., Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
A. Mortazavi
Previously with Itasca Consulting Canada, Inc., Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
B. Simser*
Falconbridge Ltd., Sudbury Mines/Mill Business Unit – Craig Mine, Onaping, Ontario, Canada
P. George*
New Brunswick, Canada
*previously with Noranda, Inc., Brunswick Mine, Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada
ABSTRACT: In early 2001 Itasca Consulting Canada Inc. was contracted by Noranda Inc. to assist in the
design of the first two drifts that were going to be driven through paste backfill at Brunswick Mine in the south
end of the 1000 m Level in order to create alternate accesses to the western ore zones. A numerical stability
analysis of the proposed tunnels was carried out by means of two-dimensional FLAC simulations, which took
into account different fill strengths, alternate tunnel geometries, various floor conditions and the presence of
unconsolidated plugs of waste rock within the paste backfill at close proximity to the tunnel in one area. The
main objectives of this work were to investigate the self-standing characteristics of the exposed paste material,
evaluate the deformations expected as a result of tunneling through it and recommend adequate ground support
alternatives. This paper describes the modeling approach used, the results obtained and how they corresponded
to the behaviors later encountered underground during the excavation of the tunnels.
1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND offices in Sudbury by means of two-dimensional

FLAC simulations that used actual fill strengths,
Itasca Consulting Canada Inc. (ICCI) of Sudbury, geometry, floor conditions and other expected field
Ontario, was contracted to assist in the design of two conditions. The main objectives of this work were to
drifts that were going to be tunneled through paste investigate the self-standing characteristics of the
backfill in the south end of the 1000 m Level at the exposed paste material and the deformations
Noranda Inc. Brunswick Mine operation near Bathurst, expected as a result of tunneling through it. A series
New Brunswick. Drifting through the paste backfill of numerical exercises were completed with the
was required in order to create alternate accesses to FLAC code to address these objectives for drifts of
the western ore zones because some of the existing various shapes driven in paste materials of varying
accesses were either in highly stressed ground that cohesive strength. Two situations were simulated:
could burst, or were planned to be removed when future (1) the situation in the 236-8 Access on 1000-2
stopes were going to be mined. Tunneling through paste sub, where failed waste rock (which had caved from
backfill being then a new procedure at Brunswick the back of the drift) and unconsolidated rockfill
Mine, it was decided by senior engineering personnel material (which had run from the 235-8 and 237-8
at the site that a thorough numerical investigation was stopes above) ended below the paste material with a
necessary to identify possible design limitations. near-45° angle of repose; and, (2) the situation in the
The numerical analyses of the process of driving 129-7 Access on 1000-1 sub, where only paste mate-
through paste backfill were carried out at the ICCI rial was present.
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2 GENERAL APPROACH which were important to derive adequate long-term

support requirements. The two-dimensional approach
As mentioned, the FLAC numerical analyses performed was deemed adequate based upon the geometry of the
focused primarily on investigating the free-standing tunnels, which were much longer in the third dimen-
characteristics of the paste backfill as it is excavated, sion. It however did not allow the examination of the
without any support. This was deemed important for actual driving process, whereby local stresses redis-
safety reasons (i.e. for assessing the level of risk the tribute around and ahead of the tunneling front.
underground crews performing the excavation work The dimensions used in the FLAC model were based
were going to be exposed to), and for defining the on measurements made on site at the beginning of the
long-term support requirements of the excavation. excavation process. Photographs were taken under-
A sensitivity analysis was carried out for this ground from which precise scaling was done in order
aspect of the work, whereby the cohesive strength of to generate a very representative numerical mesh.
the paste material was varied over a reasonable range, Figure 1 shows a front view of the drift that was used to
in order to identify threshold values with regard to construct the numerical model.
instability. These threshold values were then com- The FLAC strain-softening/hardening model was
pared to the values measured in the paste backfill in used to capture the non-linear behavior of the paste
both the 129-7 and 236-8 excavation areas. backfill material in its post-elastic range. This particu-
This numerical sensitivity analysis also examined lar model considers the cohesion, tensile strength and
the effect the tunnel shape has on the transfer of the friction angle to change as a function of the cumula-
loads around it. Two profiles, a flat back and a pro- tive plastic strain within the material. In the numerical
nounced horseshoe shape, were modeled, to determine analyses performed, it was assumed that the cohesion
the impact of shape on the self-standing stability of and tensile strength of the paste backfill dropped
the tunnel. This analysis also produced deformation to 25% of their original values after the material had
and convergence data for all the cases examined, experienced a cumulative plastic strain of 1.5%. (These
settings were based upon previous Itasca modeling
experience.)
The simulations were designed such that they rep-
N
resented the actual sequence of events leading to the
16.00 drift excavation. The models were initially cycled to
15.00
equilibrium in order to simulate the various cured
and hardened backfilling materials present. The drift
14.00 was then excavated and the models cycled to equilib-
13.00 rium, with stresses and displacements being moni-
tored throughout the cycling process.
12.00
The failure mechanisms within the paste backfill and
11.00 the stability of the drift were investigated as a function
10.00 of the strength of the paste itself and of the various
materials surrounding it. Table 1 shows a brief sum-
9.00
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 mary of the model input data used in these parametric
analyses.
The cohesive strength can be used to get an idea
Figure 1. Front view looking from the footwall into the
236-8 Access on 1000-2 sub. This photograph was used to
of the compressive strength of the material – assuming
build the numerical model. The mesh and drift outline visi- a 30° friction angle, cohesion is about 25% of the
ble in the foreground were generated by Microsoft Excel™, unconfined compressive strength (UCS). Hence, a
using the “digitizer mode”. The scale was obtained from the 400 kPa cohesive strength paste material would have
lines painted on the face visible on the background. a UCS of about 1.6 MPa.
Table 1. Input property data used in the FLAC numerical analyses.
Bulk Shear Material Friction

modulus modulus density Cohesion Tensile strength angle
Material type (MPa) (MPa) (kg/m3) (kPa) (kPa) (degrees)
Paste backfill 400 240 2000 50 to 400 Half of cohesion 32

Caved waste 100 60 2700 zero Half of cohesion 35
Rockfill 120 70 2700 0.0 and 50.0 Half of cohesion 35
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3 FLAC SIMULATIONS dry rockfill placed between 1000-3 sub and 1000-2 sub
in the secondary stopes on both sides of this access
Simulations were run for the following cases: had run into the area due to local caving on the 1000-2
(1) a horseshoe shape drift driven with loose material sub horizon. Despite repeated attempts to remove this
on both sides; (2) a flat back drift also developed waste material, uncontrolled runs of fill had resulted
with loose material on both sides; (3) a horseshoe in significant amounts of loose material being present
shape drift driven without any loose material on either above the 1000-2 sub elevation at the time the paste
side; and, (4) a horseshoe shape drift driven without backfill was poured in the 236-8 Access. This, as
any loose material on either side, but with a horizon- shown in Figure 1, resulted in loose material being
tal discontinuity in the paste material directly above it located on both sides of the future drift, at a repose
(in order to investigate potential large-scale slabbing angle of about 45°.
of the paste into the tunnel). Figure 1 also shows the numerical grid, geometry
and boundary conditions of the model constructed for
3.1 Case 1 – arched back drift, with loose waste this first series of runs. Paste material cohesion values
material on both sides of 50, 100 and 400 kPa were investigated – the results
This situation prevailed in the 236-8 Access on 1000-2 indicated stable self-standing conditions for a paste
sub, where caving had occurred along a band of weak material with a cohesive strength greater than 50 kPa.
waste rock inside the original drift, and some of the As shown in Figure 2, a 50 kPa cohesion resulted in
the prediction of a maximum displacement of over
31 cm 12,000 cycles into the simulation. Further
stepping of the model (to 15,760 cycles) confirmed
the complete failure of the paste backfill material and
clearly described the paste failure mechanism taking
place under the simulated conditions.
It is interesting to note that the back failure was not
Paste Fill as pronounced as that of the walls. As intuitively
expected, the simulation confirmed that, under vertical
(gravity) loading conditions, most of the vertical load
around the excavation is deflected and concentrated in
the drift walls.
Loose Waste The existence of weak contacts between the paste
backfill and the loose waste material towards the bot-
Rock fill tom and on both sides of the drift initiated a deforma-
tion of the paste along this contact. This, in turn, led to
the shearing of paste material on both sides of the drift.
After the side wall failure, the process propagated
upwards and led to the shearing of the paste material
above the drift, as shown in Figure 3. A maximum dis-
placement of as much as 1.20 m was observed at this
later stage. Moreover the unbalanced force history
within the model showed that after the initiation of fail-
ure the unbalanced force continued to increase, indicat-
ing that a progressive failure kept on evolving within
the model as no state of equilibrium was being reached.
3.2 Case 2 – flat back drift, with loose waste

material on both sides
Following this first set of analyses it was decided to fur-
ther investigate the failure mechanisms by considering
a worst-case drift geometry, which would correspond
to a flat back profile. In this case, one would intuitively
expect significant roof deformation and failure. All the
FLAC simulations done for this case were conducted
Figure 1. Material regions (top), and numerical grid, using identical boundary conditions and input data as
geometry and boundary conditions (bottom) of the model for the previous case, except for the geometry of the
constructed for the first series of simulations. tunnel itself.
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Figure 2. Displacement vectors at step 12,000. A maximum displacement of over 31 cm was predicted in this case.
Comparing Figure 4 and Figure 2, which both cor-

respond to the same paste material cohesive strength material maintaining its integrity and the drift remain-
of 50 kPa and the 12,000th analysis step, shows that ing stable regardless of its profile. With a 100 kPa paste
the maximum displacement predicted is significantly material cohesion the same overall results were obtained
larger in the case of the flat back geometry (1.31 m vs. as with the arched back case, but more displacement
only about 0.31 m) – this does highlight the improved was predicted.
stability the arched back geometry provides. The analyses also showed that if the area back-
The same failure mechanism (i.e. a side walls failure filled with paste material is damaged, due to dynamic
first, followed by a shearing effect through the overly- loading from blasting, for example, then the underly-
ing paste material) is however seen in both the flat and ing loose waste material does not offer much support
arched back arrangements. against vertical movement in the paste backfill, which
As in the case of the arched back profile, 100 and could potentially lead to large and even catastrophic
400 kPa paste backfill cohesive strengths resulted in the failures in the paste material.
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Figure 3. Deformed model geometry at step 15,760.
3.3 Case 3 – arched back drift, with no loose waste sub-level elevation. Three different cohesive strength
material on the sides values were again considered for the paste backfill,
The aim of this set of analyses was to investigate the which were 25, 50 and 100 kPa in this case.
stability of a drift driven through paste backfill under No major displacement was predicted to occur in
“normal” conditions, i.e., with no loose waste material the drift for the cases of the 50 and 100 kPa cohesion.
in the pasted region and with the paste material poured For the 50 kPa cohesion case a maximum displacement
directly on compacted rockfill. This situation, illus- of just under 3.7 cm was predicted, whereas this maxi-
trated in Figure 5, corresponded to the situation in the mum displacement was predicted at just over 3 cm for
129-7 Access in the south end of the 1000 m Level #1 the 100 kPa cohesion case.
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Figure 4. Displacement vectors at step 12,000 (50 kPa cohesion, flat back drift profile).
3.4 Case 4 – arched back drift with no loose waste

material on the sides, but with a horizontal
discontinuity in the paste fill above it
The objective of this analysis was to simulate the effects
of a weak horizontal cold joint within the paste back-
fill, which could have been caused, for example, by
Paste Fill interruptions during the pouring process. If sufficiently
long interruptions occur in the normally continuous
filling process, the previously placed material can cure
sufficiently, eventually resulting in a strength disconti-
nuity at the contact with more recently poured material.
As shown in Figure 7, a horizontal interface element
was thus incorporated at a distance of 1.5 m above the
drift back, which represented a very adverse situation
with regard to a potential layer of material in the back
Rock fill of the drift developing instability. Zero cohesion and
zero tensile strength were assigned to the interface, in
order to consider the worst-case scenario. The model
was run using a 50 kPa cohesive strength paste material.
Figure 5. View of the material regions modeled in FLAC for The displacement results are presented in Figure 8.
the case of the arched back drift, with no loose waste material As shown, the presence of the horizontal discon-
around the drift. tinuity did not affect the overall behavior of the drift.
Comparing Case 3 for a 50 kPa cohesion (which
However, complete failure of the drift was predicted showed an identical situation, but without the hori-
to occur when driven in 25 kPa cohesive strength paste zontal discontinuity) and Case 4, the maximum dis-
backfill. Figure 6 shows the displacement vectors in placement observed remains small (3.7 cm without
this case, 8000 cycles into the simulation. the discontinuity vs. 3.6 cm with it).
Overall, and as intuitively expected, indications It should be noted that a fairly weak paste backfill
were that the absence of 45° piles of loose material (with only a 50 kPa cohesive strength) was used in
underneath the paste fill helped significantly with Case 4. For the “ordinary” strength paste fill used at
respect to the stability of a tunnel driven through it. Brunswick Mine (with a 400 kPa cohesive strength), the
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Figure 6. Displacement vectors for a cohesion of 25 kPa. This situation evolved into the complete collapse of the tunnel.
mechanical one, and a drilling and blasting one. Both

methods showed promise, but initially required a subse-
quent finishing step to be carried out to smooth the final
paste arch. As expected, the Brunswick Mine 400 kPa
Paste filled region
cohesive strength paste backfill stood well during the
development phase. Based upon the observations
made underground during a three-week period, the most
significant improvements that could be made to the
Interface element
development procedure in paste backfill would be:
(1) the development of a mechanical scraping
machine, which would remove and trim all ridges and
undulations along the initial excavation boundaries;
or, (2) the adjustment of the drilling and blasting
practice, in order to precisely cut the proper shape and
eliminate damage to the excavation surface.
A combination of both could potentially yield the
Rock fill region best results, such as the rough mechanical excavation of
a center cut, followed by the trimming to the proper
shape using controlled blasting. This approach was
implemented with success in February 2001. It con-
Figure 7. Addition of an interface element to model a hor-
izontal discontinuity in the paste fill material.
sisted of excavating a center plug with a scooptram,
and of trimming the tunnel to its final dimensions using
lightly charged (with B-line detonating cord only)
effect of a horizontal discontinuity can, for all intended
blastholes, including a series of trim blastholes drilled
purposes, be ignored.
on a 20 cm (8 in) spacing directly along the planned
periphery of the tunnel. Good results have also been
4 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS DURING THE reported when using a purely mechanical excavation
FIELD WORK approach, without any subsequent blasting. In these
tests, a scooptram-mounted scaler normally used to
Two different excavation methods were tried under- scale unstable areas was used to trim the excavation to
ground during the development of these tunnels: a its final shape, after a center cut had first been exca-
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Figure 8. Displacement vectors for a cohesion of 50 kPa. A maximum displacement of just over 3.6 cm was predicted in
this case.
above the tunnel surface. This approach also report-

N edly provided an overall quick cycle time.
Significant cycle time improvements can be
achieved if a smooth initial arch profile is obtained on
a “first pass” since this potentially allows one to defer
the application of the required second layer of shot-
crete until the end of the excavation process. The post-
ponement of the second layer of shotcrete can however
only be considered if a proper arch is created, if no
cracks develop in the initial layer of steel fiber-rein-
forced shotcrete, and if no abnormal inclusions are
encountered in the surrounding paste material during
the bolting cycle.
Figure 9 shows the type of results that were obtained
with the blasting approach after it was optimized. The
effective advance achieved with this particular shot
Figure 9. Photograph looking west in the 236-8 Access on was 4 m (13 ft), and, as can be seen, the blast was quite
1000-2 sub on the footwall side showing the results of the successful and produced a uniform fragmentation.
third round blasted there in January 2001.
vated with an 8 yd3 scooptram. Certain precautions ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

were however required in order to attain these results,
such as carefully leveling the floor beforehand, and The authors would like to thank Noranda Inc. for the
ensuring no ground support elements were sticking out permission to present these data and publish this paper.
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FLAC3D numerical simulations of ore pillars at Laronde Mine
R.K. Brummer & C.P. O’Connor

J. Bastien, L. Bourguignon & A. Cossette

Agnico-Eagle Mines – Laronde Mine, Cadillac, Quebec, Canada
ABSTRACT: On November 27, 2002 Agnico Eagle’s Laronde Mine experienced a magnitude 2.6 seismic
event. As part of the investigation into the cause of the burst, a high-resolution FLAC3D model was created to
determine the effect of the mining sequence on stresses in the area of the burst. At this mine, secondary stopes
are intended to fail following primary stope extraction. The numerical simulations showed that where remnants
were left with non-ideal geometry (through unfortunate but necessary mining decisions), these remnants could
be too strong to yield as intended.
The FLAC3D model showed that one such 3-wide pillar centered at the location of the burst was subject to a
local high stress concentration. This provided a unique opportunity to confirm calibration of the FLAC3D model.
Further modeling also highlighted other areas of the mine where pillars were in a high stress state and recom-
mendations were made to alter the mining sequence to prevent future events.
1 INTRODUCTION to be found so similar situations could be avoided in

the future.
Agnico Eagle’s Laronde Mine is a high-tonnage As part of the investigation into the cause of the
underground mining operation in the Abitibi mining burst, a high resolution FLAC3D model was built in
district in Northern Quebec. Currently the majority of order to examine the stresses throughout the region and
the mining takes place at a depth of 1500 meters but a the role of the mining geometry on the event. Other
new mining horizon starting on 2150 meters has been work being conducted at the mine provided a well-
in production since early 2002 and will become the calibrated set of properties to be used for this purpose.
major producing area of the mine as the upper levels
become depleted.
On November 27, 2002 the mine experienced a 2 MINE LAYOUT AND GEOLOGY
magnitude 2.6 rockburst between the main levels of
149 and 152 and centered along the main access into Laronde Mine is currently producing 7000 tpd. Main
these levels. Damage on the 149 Level was light to production comes from the stopes in the 152 horizon
moderate with some floor heaving and spalling along while new production levels down on the 215 Level
the footwall. On the 152 Level the damage was much come online. In the coming years, the bulk of produc-
more extensive and resulted in a large failure in the tion is expected to come from the deeper levels as the
main intersection of the level. upper levels become depleted.
The burst occurred approximately 2 hours after a The geology of Laronde Mine is quite complex
small slot blast in stope 146-20-62, a secondary stope with multiple ore bodies spaced parallel to each other
expected to be carrying little stress. The slot blast was (of which 20-Zone is the major producer). The ore-
quite small and was not a likely trigger for the event body is a gold-zinc massive sulphide with a thickness
although the timing of the burst in close proximity to ranging from 10 to 30 meters. Along each contact of
the slot blast leaves this as a possibility. Fortunately no the orebody is a region of highly sheared schist mate-
one was in the area at the time. Typically the mines in rial that can be up to 5 meters in thickness which can,
the area are seismically quiet which made the event that at times, present hangingwall stability problems. There
much more troubling and the cause of the burst needed is also a regular banding of highly sheared material
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Figure 1. A typical cross-section of the Laronde orebodies looking East showing the different rock elements.
throughout the footwall that is more prevalent in the

deeper sections of the mine. Figure 1 shows a typical
cross section of the Laronde mine as constructed in the
FLAC3D model.
The mine uses a primary-secondary blasthole stop-
ing mining method. Stopes are all sized at 15 meters
along strike, 30 meters high, and the thickness of the
orebody, which typically ranges from 15 to 25 meters.
This stope dimension was chosen specifically so that
secondary stopes will be in a post-failure state after
primary mining. This helps to reduce stress problems
by forcing the stresses to the abutments instead of
secondary stopes and generally makes secondary
Figure 2. Long section looking North of Laronde showing
mining easier. the current mining sequence.
Pastefill is currently the backfill of choice for pri-
mary stopes in the upper levels. Rockfill is used in
secondary stopes that will not be mined against. The that the high stresses being forced through the three-
deeper levels of the mine currently use cemented rock- stope-wide pillar on 152 level was the driving force
fill until the paste system is extended into this area. for the slippage along the foliated zone, but without a
The mining sequence is based upon an expanding numerical model to determine the stresses in the region,
chevron extending upwards from the 149 Level with no solid answers could be gleaned.
secondary stopes being mined first on the 152 Level.
Secondary stopes typically lag behind the primaries
by 2 stopes. For several reasons, the mining sequence 3 EVENT
had some instances in which the ideal mining shape
could not be maintained. First, the main accesses to The seismic event measured 2.6 on the Nuttli scale
the 21-Zone run directly through the 64 and 66 series and was centered on a foliated zone running between
of stopes (refer to Fig. 2). This presented some stability the 149 Level and the 152 Level. An investigation
concerns for these accesses if the 65 stope was brought revealed what was thought to be a probably cause for
up to its ideal position in the sequence. Additionally, the event. The three stope-wide pillar centered in the
on the 152 Level, the secondary (i.e. even numbered lower abutment on the 152 Level had been created
stopes) are mined first and were set up in a retreating through the mining sequence which likely provided
fashion from each abutment back towards the main the driving force for the event by concentrating stress
entrance of the level. These two scenarios combined through this region. At the same time, the foliated
to make a series of pillars three stopes wide. Unlike a zone intersecting a long strike distance along both
single secondary stope, a three-wide stope is expected upper and lower levels provided a method of release
to be too large to fail. by which the foliated zone was free to move. It was
The burst appears to have been caused by a slip- believed that the intense stress concentration wrap-
page along a foliated zone that runs parallel to the ore- ping around the lower abutment and through the
body and right through the back of the 152 Level. three-wide pillar on the 152 Level provided enough of
This same foliated zone also passes through the lower a driving force to cause a slip along the foliated zone.
footwall of the 149 Level. The damage seen on both lev- Most of the damage on 149 Level occurred on the
els occurred along this contact. It was hypothesized footwall side along the floor with lots of displaced
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20-North Ore-
152-20-64 body. Mined and
Foliated Zone
Stope Backfilled.
149 Level
Shear stress on
the foliations
152 Level
Stress trajectories
Figure 3. Simplified cartoon view of the intersection of Figure 5. Looking East on the 152 Level. The damage is
the foliated zone with the levels involved in the burst. more severe especially to the east. A large amount of mate-
rial up to 2 meters deep is seen in the main entrance to the
level on the lower left.
4 FLAC3D MODEL
At the time of the event, Itasca was actively involved

in modeling using FLAC3D at Laronde Mine on
another project. From this other work and previous
projects at the mine going back to 1997, a well-
calibrated set of material properties and stresses were
available for the model. Previous model work how-
ever did not have sufficient resolution to be useful in
such a specific case and so a more detailed model of
the region was created.
The model generated for the burst investigation
focused on the 152 mining horizon with a block size
Figure 4. Damage on the 149 Level. Most of the debris through the area of interest of 3 meters on a side. With
came from the base of the footwall (right side) with some the stopes 15 meters wide this provided 5 blocks along
additional secondary bagging of material in the screen the strike of the stope which was deemed important to
(upper left).
ensure a proper modeling of pillar and confinement
effects.
slabbing and some bagging of material in the screen (see
Fig. 4). On the 152 Level, the most damage occurred
right in the back of the stope with the large intersec- 5 RESULTS
tion failure being the dominant feature. Accessibility
to the east was limited but most of the damage The FLAC3D model provided evidence that the
seemed to occur towards this direction (see Fig. 5). assumption of the three-wide pillar being created
One of the other questions that arose in the after- through the retreating extraction sequence resulted in
math of the burst was how to ensure that a similar sit- a pillar that was too large to fail and hence became a
uation did not occur again. Since the burst appeared stress concentrator. Figure 6 shows a principal stress
to have been caused by a combination of the mining plot on a long section looking North through the ore-
sequence and the unfortunate location of the foliated body. The location of the burst matches nearly perfectly
zone running directly through two main drifts, this with the high stress concentration predicted in the
particular mechanism might be a one-time event. FLAC3D model.
However, this does not eliminate the possibility that Figure 7 (which is the section marked as A-A in
pinch points in other areas could not cause seismicity Figure 6 through the 64 stope) gives an indication of
through another mechanism. how the stress concentration in the pillar acts on the
In order to try and determine the validity of this foliated zone some 30 meters into the footwall, causing
theory, a high resolution FLAC3D model of the area was it to slip. The stresses are deflected under the lower
created in order to determine the anticipated stresses abutment and concentrated through the three-wide
and failure zones passing through the three-wide pillar. pillar, resulting in a vertical stress component. This
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Figure 6. Maximum principal stress plot looking North showing the location of the three high stress pillars and the location
of the burst.
Figure 7. A cross section looking East through the region of the burst (section A-A in Fig. 6).
vertical component appears to have provided enough although not as critical as the one that caused the
localized stress on the foliated zone to cause the slip. burst, were cause for concern. The short term mining
From the mining plan, there are two other three- plan did not include these particular stopes although
wide pillars that appear to be concentrating stresses. after the modeling, recommendations were made to
A series of modeling runs was conducted in order to mine these stopes as early as possible.
determine how the short-term mining plan needed to The additional scenarios showed that the mining
be adjusted to prevent additional stress building up in of adjacent stopes created incremental increases in
these areas. Figure 6 shows these areas above and to the the stresses in these areas, so although they need not
East of the location of the burst. These two stopes, be mined immediately, a rapid development and
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Figure 8. Maximum principal stress plot showing the changes caused by mining 143-20-65 stope.
Figure 9. Maximum principal stress along a long section looking North following the mining of 155-20-59 stope in the bottom
left.
production schedule should be implemented in order made because it was postulated that the burst had
to avoid further seismic events in the region. likely dissipated some of the stored energy in 152-20-
Using the simulations for the short term mining 64 stope and it was therefore unlikely that a second
plan of the area, it was determined that the best sce- seismic event would occur in the short term. Also
nario would involve mining the 143-20-65 pillar first. some significant rehabilitation on 152-level would
Figure 8 shows the stresses around the 152 mining delay the development and production of this stope by
horizon after mining out of 143-20-65 stope. The deci- a couple of months. The mining of 143-20-65 would
sion to recommend mining this stope first was it was not shed much additional stress on the other stopes but
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would take care of the most worrisome of the remain- 6 CONCLUSION

ing three-wide areas.
The mining of 143-20-65 stope would shed a small Based on the on-site investigation and the FLAC3D
amount of additional stress on 143-20-69 but this stope modeling, the mechanism responsible for the burst
was partially protected by the lead primary stope appears to have been well established. A three stope
between them. By the time 143-20-65 was mined and wide pillar on the 152 Level resulted in a large stress
filled, rehabilitation of the 152 Level should be nearly concentration. This stress concentration resulted in an
completed which would then be immediately devel- increased vertical stress component in the footwall of
oped to allow the mining of 152-20-64 (the location the orebody, allowing the foliated zone to slip
of the burst). This should push the entire lower abut- between the 149 Level and the 152 Level.
ment stress below the 152 level and relieve what stress The FLAC3D model was also able to provide rec-
was left after the burst. Finally, 143-20-69 does not ommendation on which other areas might be of con-
appear to be critical in the short term as most of the cern as well as the best sequence in which to take care
mining in this area is to the west and this stope is well of these problem areas. Finally, the modeling showed
shielded from these stopes. that mining of a stope down on the 155 Level would
In order to provide some short-term production not be prudent at this stage until the three-wide pillar
while the 152 Level was closed for cleanup operations, responsible for the burst was removed.
the possibility of taking a stope down on 155 Level was
examined. Figure 9 shows the results of the modeling
of this particular scenario. A concentration of stresses ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
appears to occur two stopes away on either side of the
mined stope. The proximity of this increased stress to The authors thank Agnico Eagle Mines for permis-
the location involved in the burst resulted in a recom- sion to publish this paper.
mendation not to mine this particular stope until 152-
20-64 was mined, relieving this stress concentration.
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Modeling arching effects in narrow backfilled stopes with FLAC
L. Li, M. Aubertin & R. Simon

École Polytechnique de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
B. Bussière & T. Belem

Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec, Canada
ABSTRACT: Numerical tools can be very useful to investigate the mechanical response of backfilled stopes. In
this paper, the authors show preliminary results from calculations made with FLAC. Its use is illustrated by showing
the influence of stope geometry. The results are compared with analytical solutions developed to evaluate arching
effects in backfill placed in narrow stopes. Some common trends are obtained with the two approaches, but there
are also some differences regarding the magnitude of the stress redistribution induced by fill yielding.
1 INTRODUCTION stopes, the load transfer to the stiff abutments induces

arching effects. When this phenomenon occurs, the ver-
Even though backfill has been placed in underground tical stress below the main arching area tends to become
stoping areas for many decades, it can be said that back- smaller than the backfill overburden pressure, as shown
filling still remains a growing trend in mining opera- by in situ measurements (e.g. Knutsson 1981, Hustrulid
tions around the world. This is particularly the case in et al. 1989).
Canada where significant efforts have been devoted, The same type of arching behavior is also known
over the last 25 years or so, to improve our understand- to occur in other types of structural systems, where a
ing of mining with backfill (e.g. Nantel 1983, Udd relatively soft material (like soil and grain) is placed
1989, Hassani & Archibald 1998, Ouellet & Servant between stiff walls; examples include silos and bins
2000, Belem et al. 2000, 2002). (Richards 1966, Cowin 1977, Blight 1986), ditches
In recent years, the increased use of backfill in min- (Spangler & Handy 1984), and retaining walls (Hunt
ing has been fuelled by environmental considerations 1986, Take & Valsangkar 2001).
(e.g. Aubertin et al. 2002). Many regulations now favor Arching effects and load redistribution can be inves-
(and sometimes require) that the maximum quantity of tigated using physical models, in situ measurements,
wastes from the mine and the mill be returned to under- analytical solutions, and numerical methods. The latter
ground workings. This practice may induce significant two approaches are particularly attractive to identify the
advantages, as it can reduce the environmental impact main influence factors, and to evaluate how these may
of surface disposal and the costs of waste manage- affect the load distribution in and around backfilled
ment during mine operation and upon closure. stopes.
The first purpose of mine backfill is nevertheless to In a recent paper (Aubertin et al. 2003), the authors
improve ground control conditions around stopes. have proposed simple equations based on the Marston
Various types of fills can be used to reach this goal, (1930) theory to evaluate the load distribution in stope
each with its own characteristics. Backfill is often backfill. The results of analytical calculations have been
required to offer some self support properties, so it gen- compared to numerical modeling performed with a
erally includes a significant proportion of binder such as commercially available finite element code. The calcu-
Portland cement and slag. But even the strongest back- lation results highlighted some important differences
fill is “soft” when compared to the mechanical proper- between the two approaches, for the specific set of
ties of the adjacent rock mass. This difference in assumptions adopted.
stiffness and yielding characteristics between the two In this paper, the authors use FLAC (Itasca 2002) to
materials can be the source of a stress redistribution in further advance our understanding of the load transfer
the backfill and surrounding walls, as deformation of process in and around narrow backfilled stopes. In
the backfill under its own weight may create shear these calculations, some of the assumptions and input
stresses along the interface. For relatively narrow conditions differ from the previous FEM calculations,
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including the use of a somewhat more representa- rock mass

tive constitutive model for the backfill. The mining layer element
sequence is also taken into account. It is shown that for void space
specific cases amenable to analytical solutions, the cal- backfill
culated results from both approaches are fairly close to stope h
each other. V
dh
2 ARCHING EFFECTS
H C dh W C
Arching conditions can occur in geomaterials such as S S
soil, jointed rock mass and backfill, when differential
B
straining mobilizes shear strength while transferring
V + dV
part of the overburden stress to stiffer structural
components.
Arching typically occurs when portions of a fric-
rock mass B
tional material yield while the neighboring material
stays in place. As the yielding material moves between
Figure 1. Acting forces on an isolated layer in a vertical
stable zones, the relative movement within the former
stope.
is opposed by shear resistance along the interface with
the latter. The shear stress generated along the contact
area tends to retain the yielding material in its original
with
position. This is accompanied by a pressure reduction
within the yielding mass and by increased pressure on (2)
the adjacent stiffer material. Above the position of the
main arch, a large fraction of the total overburden where vh and hh are the vertical and horizontal
weight in the yielding mass is transferred by frictional stresses at depth h, respectively; represents the unit
forces to the unyielding ground on both sides. weight of the backfill; is the effective friction angle
Investigations on models and in situ measurements between the wall and backfill, which is often taken as
have shown that the magnitude of the stress redistribu- the friction angle of the backfill, bf. Equations 1 and
tion depends to a large extent on the deformation of the 2 constitute the Marston theory solution. In this repre-
walls confining the soft material (e.g. Bjerrum 1972, sentation, K is the reaction coefficient corresponding to
Hunt 1986). the ratio of the horizontal stress hh to vertical stress
A few analytical solutions have been developed to vh. This reaction coefficient depends on the horizontal
analyze the pressure distribution since the pioneering wall movement and material properties. When there is
work of Janssen (1895) (see Terzaghi 1943 for early no relative displacement of the walls, the fill is said to
geotechnical applications). Among these, the Marston be at rest, and the reaction coefficient is usually given
(1930) theory was proposed to calculate the loads on by (Jaky 1948):
conduits in ditches (see also McCarthy 1988). The
authors have used this theory to develop an analytical (3)
solution for arching effects in narrow backfilled stopes
(Aubertin 1999). where bf is the friction angle of the backfill. For typ-
Figure 1 shows the loading components for a verti- ical fill properties ( bf ≅ 30° to 35°), K0 is much
cal stope. On this figure, H is the backfill height, B the smaller than unity.
stope width, and dh the size of the layer element; W If the walls move outward from the opening, the
represents the backfill weight in the unit thickness horizontal pressure might be relieved, and the reaction
layer. At position h, the horizontal layer element is sub- coefficient tends toward the active pressure coefficient,
jected to a lateral compressive force C, a shearing force which can be expressed as (Bowles 1988):
S, and the vertical forces V and V
dV.
The force equilibrium equations for the layer ele- (4)
ment provide an estimate of the stresses acting across
the stope (Aubertin et al. 2003). From these, the vertical with Ka K0. If an inward movement of the walls
stress can be written as follow: compress the fill, it increases the internal pressure.
Then, the reaction coefficient tends toward the passive
condition, which becomes (Bowles 1988):
(1)
(5)
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svh v natural stresses
0.5m
0.5 void space
shh Marston theory v
h = 2
backfill
0.4 svh
overburden
shh rock mass
stress (MPa)
0.3 E = 300 MPa

(linear elastic)
for B = 6m
= 0.2
H = 45 m
0.2 E = 30 GPa
ã = 1800kg/m3
= 0.3
0.1
' = 30°
= 2700 kg/m3
0 c = 0 kPa
0 1 2 3 4 y
h/B B=6m
Figure 2. Overburden pressures are compared to vertical x

(vh) and horizontal (hh) stresses calculated with the Marston depth = 250 m
theory (Eqs. 1–2), with bf 30°, 0.02 MN/m3, and (a) rock mass
K K0 0.5.
with Kp 1 K0.
In the above equations, it is assumed that cohesion is
low in the backfill; the fill then behaves as a granular 1
material. Based on limit equilibrium, it can be antici-
pated that a cohesion would increase Kp but decrease
Ka. However, more work is needed to investigate its
influence on arching effects and stress distribution.
Figure 2 shows values of vh and hh calculated with
Equations 1 and 2 (with K K0 0.5), and calculated
with the overburden pressure (i.e. vh h and
hh K0 vh). It can be seen that the overburden stress
represents the upper-bound condition, which is appli-
cable for low fill thickness (or for wide stopes). Typi-
cally, when H 2 to 3B, the pressure near the bottom
of the stope becomes more or less independent of the
(b)
1
depth of the fill, in accordance with measurements in
bins (Cowin 1977).
Figure 3. (a) Narrow stope with backfill (not to scale)
used for modeled with FLAC; the main properties for the rock
mass and backfill are given using classical geomechanical
3 NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS notations; (b) Schematic stress-strain behavior of the backfill
(available as a material model in FLAC).
3.1 Vertical stope
Recently, the authors have shown some preliminary
calculation results obtained with a finite element by considering the overburden weight (for an overall
code (Aubertin et al. 2003). Significant differences depth of 250 m). The natural in situ horizontal stress h
have been revealed between the Marston theory and is taken as twice the vertical stress v, which is a typi-
these numerical calculations, which may be cal situation encountered in the Canadian Shield. The
explained, in part, by different assumptions associ- rock mass is homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic,
ated to the two approaches. In this paper, the same while the granular backfill obeys a Coulomb criterion.
geometry and material properties (Fig. 3a) are used for Figure 3b shows the stress-strain relation used with the
the basic calculations made with FLAC. The dimen- Coulomb plasticity model available in FLAC. This con-
sions of the opening are H 45 m and B 6 m, with stitutive behavior is different from the one used for the
a void of 0.5 m left at the top of the stope. The natural finite element calculations presented in Aubertin et al.
in situ vertical stress v in the rock mass is obtained (2003), which was of the elastic-brittle type. There are
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0.8 modeling with FLAC-2D
overburden stress
0.6 Marston theory
yy (MPa)
K = 1/3
0.4
K = 1/2
K=3
0.2
0
0 9 18 27 36 45
(a) h (m)
0.3 modeling with FLAC-2D

overburden stress
Marston theory
0.2
xx (MPa)
K=3
0.1
K = 1/2
K = 1/3
0
0 9 18 27 36 45
(b) h (m)
Figure 5. Comparison of the stresses calculated along the

vertical central line, at different elevations h, with the analyt-
ical and numerical solutions: (a) vertical stress yy; (b) hori-
zontal stress xx.
first excavated, and calculations are then performed

with FLAC to an equilibrium state. Backfill is placed in
the mined stope afterward, with the initial displacement
field set to zero when the calculation is performed.
In this manner, wall convergence before backfilling is
not included in the calculations (this assumption is
discussed in Section 4).
Figure 4 shows the vertical stress (Fig. 4a) and hor-
izontal stress (Fig. 4b) distribution in the backfilled
stope. As can be seen, the vertical and horizontal
Figure 4. Stress distribution in the backfilled stope calcu- stresses show a non-uniform distribution. At a given
lated with FLAC: (a) vertical stress yy; (b) horizontal stress
xx.
elevation, both stresses tend to be lower along the wall
than at the center. The stresses along the central line
increase more slowly than the overburden pressures
no interface elements in the calculations made with with depth. This indicates that arching does take place
FLAC (see discussion). in this backfilled stope.
The mining and filling sequence is considered as Figures 5 and 6 present modeling results for stresses
follow in the numerical modeling. The whole stope is along the full height, with the overburden and the
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0.8 modeling with FLAC-2D 1.2 modeling with FLAC-2D

over burden stress overburden stresses
Marston theory Marston theory
0.6
0.8
σyy (MPa)
σyy (MPa)
K = 1/3 K = 1/3
0.4 K = 1/2
K=3 K = 1/2
K=3
0.4
0.2
0
0 9 18 27 36 45 0
(a) h (m) 0 2 4 6
(a) x (m)
0.2 modeling with FLAC-2D modeling with FLAC-2D

0.3
overburden stress overburden stresses
Marston theory Marston theory
K=3 0.2
σxx (MPa)
σxx (MPa)
0.1 K = 1/2 K=3
K = 1/2 0.1
K = 1/3
K = 1/3
0
0 9 18 27 36 45 0
(b) h (m) 0 2 4 6
(b) x (m)
Figure 6. Comparison of the stresses on the wall calculated
at different elevations h, with the analytical and numerical Figure 7. Stresses calculated at the bottom of the vertical
solutions: (a) vertical stress yy; (b) horizontal stress xx. stope, with the analytical and numerical solutions; (a) verti-
cal stress yy; (b) horizontal stress xx.
Marston theory solutions. As expected, the overburden

stress is fairly close to analytical and numerical results exceeds the stress magnitudes given by the Marston
when the backfill depth is small. At larger depth, arch- theory (with K 1/2 and 1/3), which is in fair agree-
ing effects become important and the vertical and hori- ment with the numerical simulations.
zontal stresses tend to be lower than those due to the
overburden weight of the fill. However, the numerical
3.2 Inclined stope
results indicate that the Marston theory typically over-
estimates the amount of stress transfer, hence underesti- Mining stopes are rarely vertical. The inclination of the
mating the magnitude of the vertical stress yy and of foot-wall and hanging-wall may have a non-negligible
the horizontal stress xx along the stope central vertical effect on the load distribution.
line (Fig. 5). Along the walls (Fig. 6), the horizontal Figure 8 shows the geometry of an inclined back-
stress is also underestimated by the Marston theory, filled stope modeled with FLAC (a similar stope was
while the vertical stress component yy would be over- also modeled with the FEM code – see Aubertin et al.
estimated for the active and at rest cases, with K 1/2 2003). The rock mass and fill properties as well as the
or 1/3, respectively (and underestimated with K 3, in situ natural stresses are identical to the previous case
but the passive case is not representative of this system (see Fig. 3).
behavior). Figure 9 shows numerical calculations and results
Figure 7 shows the stress distribution on the floor of based on overburden pressure and on the Marston the-
the stope, as obtained from the numerical and analytical ory solution (without modification for inclination).
solutions. It can be seen that the overburden pressure The horizontal stress calculated with FLAC along the
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inclined central line of the stope is fairly close to the

0.5m
void space
analytical solution (Fig. 9a), but the vertical stress is
backfill underestimated by the Marston theory (see Fig. 9b).
h Hence, modifications could be required to apply such
analytical approach to the case of inclined stopes.
rock mass 4 DISCUSSION

H = 45 m
B=6m
4.1 Influence of mining sequence
rock mass In the numerical calculations presented in Aubertin
et al. (2003), the mining sequence was not taken into
stope v account, so the wall convergence due to elastic strain-
y
h = 2v ing of the rock mass was imposed on the fill. This
created an increase of the mean stress in the fill, while
60˚ vertical and horizontal stresses locally exceeded the
overburden pressure and the Marston theory solution
depth = 250 m (near mid-height of the stope).
x Modeling in this manner implies that the backfill is
placed in the stope before wall displacement takes
Figure 8. The inclined backfilled stope modeled with
place. For a single excavation stope, this is not a real-
FLAC (properties are given in Fig. 3).
istic representation (at least for hard rock masses).
However, with a cut-and-fill mining method where the
mining slices (or layers) are relatively small compared
to the whole height of the stope, filling is usually
0.2 modeling with FLAC-2D made quickly after each cut. In this case, wall conver-
overburden gence after each cut compress the fill already in place
Marston theory (Knutsson 1981, Hustrulid et al. 1989). The inward
movement of the walls may then create a condition
xx (MPa)
K =3 closer to the passive pressure case.

0.1 When a stope is excavated in a single step, wall con-
vergence essentially takes place before any backfilling.
If the rock mass creep deformation is negligible,
K = 1/2
the numerical modeling approach presented here is
K = 1/3 more appropriate. In this case, the Marston theory,
h (m)
0 with the “at rest” reaction coefficient (K K0) can be
0 9 18 27 36 45 used to estimate the induced stresses in a narrow verti-
(a) cal backfill (see Figs. 5–7), at least for preliminary
0.4 modeling without FLAC-2D design calculations.
overburden
Marston theory 4.2 Marston theory limitations
Analytical solutions can be useful engineering tools as
yy (MPa)
they are generally quick, direct and economic when

0.2 compared to numerical methods. However, analytical
solutions are only available for relatively simple situa-
K=3
tions and may involve strong simplifying hypotheses.
For instance, with the Marston theory, the shear stress
along the interface between the rock and fill is deduced
K = 1/3 K = 1/2 from the Coulomb criterion (see details in Aubertin
0 et al. 2003). Its value then corresponds to the maxi-
0 9 18 27 36 45 mum stress sustained by the fill material, as postulated
(b) h (m) in the limit analysis approach (e.g. Chen & Liu 1990).
However, numerical simulations indicate that this
Figure 9. Comparison between stresses obtained with assumption is not fully applicable. Figure 10 shows
numerical and analytical solutions along the central line of the that for the vertical stope analyzed here the maximum
inclined stope: (a) horizontal stress xx; (b) vertical stress yy. shear stress is only reached near the bottom part of the
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0.04 modeling with FLAC-2D 0.5

at rest
Marston theory
0.02
K
h (m)
0
0.3 active
at floor
σxy (MPa)
0 9 18 27 36 45
-0.02
at 1/2H modeling with FLAC
-0.04 at 1/2H
at 3/4H
-0.06 0.1
K = 1/3
K=3 0 2 x (m) 4 6
-0.08 K = 1/2
Figure 12. Reaction coefficient K obtained with analytical
Figure 10. Comparison of shear stress distribution along and numerical solutions across the full width of the vertical
the wall. stope at different elevations h.
0.12 uniformly distributed across the full width of the stope.

at 3/4H
Results shown in Figure 11 indicate that this is in accor-
dance with numerical calculations for the horizontal
0.1 stress component (Fig. 11a), but not for the vertical
at 1/2H
xx (MPa)
stress which shows a less uniform distribution (Fig.

11b). Also, this simplified theory considers that the
0.08 at 1/4H reaction coefficient, K, depends exclusively on the fill
property and not on the position in the stope. Results
shown in Figure 12 indicate that this hypothesis is not
0.06 too far from the numerical results. Near the boundary,
modeling with FLAC-2D the value of K would nevertheless be better described by
a K value between Ka and K0.
0.04 Work is underway to modify the analytical solution
0 2 4 6 to extend the use of the Marston theory to more
(a) x (m) general cases.
at 3/4H
0.3 4.3 Constitutive behavior
at 1/2H
The reliability of any numerical calculations depends,
to a large extent, on the representativity of the constitu-
0.2 at 1/4H tive models used for the different materials (and on the
yy (MPa)
corresponding parameter values). In this paper, a

Coulomb plasticity model (see Fig. 3) was employed
0.1 for the fill material. This model is representative of
modeling with FLAC-2D some aspects of the mechanical behavior of backfill,
such as the nonlinear relationship between the stress
0 and strain (e.g. Belem et al. 2000, 2002). However, this
0 2 4 6 simplified model neglects some important characteris-
(b) x (m) tics of the media, including its pressure dependent
behavior under relatively large mean stresses. More rep-
Figure 11. Distribution of (a) lateral pressure xx and (b) resentative models, such as the modified Cam-Clay
vertical stress yy obtained with FLAC across the full width model, are built in FLAC (e.g. Detournay & Hart,
at different elevations of the vertical stope. 1999). However, the application of such model is not
straightforward because of the difficulties in obtaining
stope. Hence, arching effect and stress redistribution the relevant material parameters. The influence of cohe-
are thus exaggerated. sion due to cementation and possible oxidation of the
Another important assumption in the Marston theory fill material may also be relevant to include in the
is that both the horizontal and vertical stresses are analyses.
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An interesting aspect of FLAC is that it allows user- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

defined models, which can be introduced with the
language FISH. The authors are now working on intro- Part of this work has been financed through grants
ducing in FLAC a multiaxial, porosity dependent crite- from IRSST and from an NSERC Industrial Chair
rion (Aubertin et al. 2000, Li & Aubertin 2003) for the (http://www.polymtl.ca/enviro-geremi/). The authors
yielding and failure conditions of geomaterials. This would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers
aspect will be presented in upcoming publications. who provided valuable comments to improve the
manuscript.
4.4 Interface elements along the walls
As was done with a finite element code in a previous
investigation (Aubertin et al. 2003), some calculations REFERENCES
were also performed with interfaces included in FLAC,
to represent the contact between backfill and rock mass. Aubertin, M. 1999. Application de la Mécanique des Sols
Preliminary results (not shown here) indicate that the pour l’Analyse du Comportement des Remblais Miniers
presence of interfaces along the walls and floor of the Souterrains. Short Course (unpublished notes), 14e
stope, which allow localized shear displacements, has Colloque en Contrôle de Terrain, Val-d Or, 23–24 mars
relatively little influence on the stress distribution in the 1999. Association Minière du Québec.
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cases shown here and models with interfaces neverthe- et Gestion des Rejets Miniers. Manual on CD-ROM,
Presses Internationales Polytechniques.
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some stress reorientation and concentration seem to Benzaazoua, M. & Simon, R. 2003. Interaction between
take place. This aspect however requires further investi- backfill and rock mass in narrow stopes. In P.J. Culligan,
gation. The applicability of the (Coulomb) strength cri- H.H. Einstein & A.J. Whittle (eds), Soil and Rock America
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criterion for short term and long term strength of isotropic
rock media. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
5 CONCLUSION Mining Sciences, 37: 1169–1193.
Belem, T., Benzaazoua, M. & Bussière, B. 2000. Mechanical
In this paper, numerical simulations have been per- behavior of cemented paste backfill. Proceedings of the
formed with FLAC for a vertical and an inclined back- 55th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 1: 373–380.
filled stope geometry. The results are compared to the Canadian Geotechnical Society.
Marston theory solutions. It is shown that the results Belem, T., Benzaazoua, M., Bussière, B. & Dagenais, A.M.
obtained with the Marston theory can be considered as 2002. Effects of settlement and drainage on strength devel-
opment within mine paste backfill. Tailings and Mine
acceptable, especially for preliminary calculations. Waste ’02: 139–148. Swets & Zeitlinger.
Nevertheless, the numerical results also reveal that the Blight, G.E. 1986. Pressure exerted by materials stored in
Marston theory tends to overestimate arching effect, silos. Part I: coarse materials. Géotechnique, 36(1): 33–46.
and thus underestimate the stress magnitude near the Bjerrum, L. 1972. Embankments on Soft Ground. Proceed-
bottom of backfilled stope. Also, the influence of the ings of the ASCE Specialty Conference on Performance
mining sequence can not be introduced in the Marston of Earth and Earth Supported Structures, 2: 1–54. New
theory. The numerical results indicate that the filling York: ASCE.
sequence can significantly influence the stress distri- Bowles, J.E. 1988. Foundation Analysis and Design. McGraw-
bution in and around filled stopes. For inclined stopes, Hill.
Chen, W.F. & Liu, X.L. 1990. Limit Analysis in Soil Mechan-
the Marston theory is of limited use to estimate the ics. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
stress magnitude. Additional work is underway into Cowin, S.C. 1977. The theory of static loads in bins. Journal
both analytical and numerical solutions to better of Applied Mechanics, 44: 409–412.
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is also needed to study the rock-fill interface behavior Modeling in Geomechanics – Proceedings of the Inter-
and the actual field response of backfill in stopes. national FLAC Symposium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1–3
Other important issues also remain to be resolved, September 1999. Rotterdam: Balkema.
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Hunt, R.E. 1986. Geotechnical Engineering Analysis and
water flow and distribution in backfilled stopes, the Evaluation. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
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considering the action of cement in the presence of cut-and-fill mining systems – Näsliden revisited. In F.P.
sulfide minerals), the dynamic response of the back- Hassani, M.J. Scoble & T.R. Yu (eds), Innovation in Mining
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Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2002. FLAC – Fast Lagrangian Nantel, J.H. 1983. A review of the backfill practices in the
Analysis of Continua, User’s Guide. Minneapolis, MN: mines of the Noranda Group. In S. Granholm (ed), Mining
Itasca. with Backfill: Proceedings of the International Symposium
Jaky, J. 1948. Pressure in silos. Proceedings of the 2nd Inter- on Mining with Backfill: 173–178. Rotterdam: Balkema.
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Engineering, 1: 103–107. Rotterdam: Balkema. zation of a paste backfill with a self-boring pressuremeter.
Janssen, H.A. 1895. Versuche über Getreidedruck in CIM Bulletin, 93(1042): 110–115.
Silozellen. Zeitschrift Verein Ingenieure, 39: 1045–1049. Richards, J.C. 1966. The Storage and Recovery of Particulate
Knutsson, S. 1981. Stresses in the hydraulic backfill from Solids. Institution of Chemical Engineers, London.
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Stephansson & M.J. Jones (eds), Proceedings of the Harper & Row.
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and Fill Mining: 261–268. Institution of Mining and unyielding retaining walls of narrow backfill width.
Metallurgy. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 38: 1220–1230.
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porosity and uniaxial strength of engineering materials. Sons.
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Marston, A. 1930. The theory of external loads on closed Hassani, M.J. Scoble & T.R. Yu (eds), Innovation in Mining
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McCarthy, D.F. 1988. Essentials of Soil Mechanics and
Foundations: Basic Geotechnics. 4th edition, Prentice Hall.
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FLAC3D numerical simulations of deep mining at Laronde Mine
C.P. O’Connor, R.K. Brummer & P.P. Andrieux

R. Emond & B. McLaughlin

Agnico-Eagle Mines – Laronde Mine, Cadillac, Quebec, Canada
ABSTRACT: Agnico-Eagle’s Laronde Mine is currently investigating mining options down to 3000 meters
below surface. FLAC3D was used to simulate the entire current mine from 1340 m to 2150 m below surface as
well as the potential future expansion. FLAC3D allowed each of the three main ore lenses to be modeled together,
providing information on the interaction between lenses which had never been available before. The model provides
information useful for determining the ideal stope dimensions, mining method, mining sequence, support options
for large excavations, as well as the best option for the shaft location.
1 INTRODUCTION be encountered when placing infrastructure at

depth.
Agnico Eagle’s Laronde Mine is a 7000 tpd under-
ground operation located in Northern Quebec in the
Abitibi Mining district near Rouyn-Noranda. Drilling 2 MINE GEOMETRY
from the bottom levels of the current mine have shown
that there are significant reserves down to at least Laronde Mine is located in the Abitibi Mining district in
3000 m below surface. Most of the tonnage has histori- northern Quebec. The orebody is a gold-zinc deposit
cally come from above the 152 Level but with a shift that is part of an extensive intrusive complex that runs
currently taking place to turn the 215 Level into the throughout the region. The 20-North deposit, which is
major source of ore as the upper levels are progressively the major producer, runs from a depth of 900 m down to
becoming depleted. at least 3000 m but currently mining is only taking place
As part of the feasibility into the potential expansion down to 2150 m. The orebody is steeply dipping to the
down to 3000 m, a geomechanical review of the pro- South and raking towards the West.
posed expansion was conducted using FLAC and The current mining method used is primary-
FLAC3D as numerical modeling tools to determine the secondary stoping with high quality backfill (mainly
anticipated response to mining at extreme depths. pastefill). This method has been used since the mining
FLAC3D was used in several forms. First, it was used of 20-North began and has proved to be successful in
to model the entire mine from the top of the current maintaining good stability in the hangingwall and min-
mining horizon down to a depth of 3000 m. From this imizing stress related problems.
model, the in-situ and post-mining stresses were traced Secondary stopes are designed to fail with the
along with an analysis of the interaction between the extraction of primary stopes, which results in a rela-
different ore lenses in the upper levels. The second tively low stress environment in which to mine (the sec-
model was a high resolution mining method model used ondary stopes are not large enough to carry significant
to determine the stresses and failure zones for different stresses in post failure). Current stopes are 15 m along
sized stopes and different ore thicknesses at extreme strike, 30 m high and the thickness of the orebody.
depths. With a few exceptions, this system has produced rela-
FLAC was used in order to check shaft stresses tively trouble free mining at the current depths.
at depth including post-mining stress changes. The progression to greater depths however will result
FLAC was also used to model the stresses around in greater stresses and more extensive failure zones that
a hypothetical large excavation (conveyor drift) will cause greater difficulties than have been experi-
in order to investigate some of the issues that could enced to-date.
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Figure 1. Cross-section looking East of the Laronde orebody showing the different rock units included in the modeling.
CANMET Stress Model Used to Obtain 180 MPa. The orebody itself is competent, also with a
Gradients for Flac 3D Model UCS of 180 MPa. Both of these values come from
0
CANMET test results (Labrie 2000a).
S3 = 0.027 * Depth The stresses at Laronde were measured by
200
CANMET on the 146 level and the 150 level (Labrie
S2 = 0.0362 * Depth 2000b). The stress gradients are shown in Figure 2.
400
S1 = 0.0437 * Depth
600 3.1 Overall mine model
Depth (m)
800
The overall mine model was used for a number of pur-
CANMET @ 150
S1 Average = 70.2
poses. First, it was used as a calibration of the stress
1000
S2 Average = 61.18 and material properties based upon information col-
S3 Average = 47.61 lected from site visits and previous experience at the
1200
CANMET @ 146
S1 Average = 59.31
mine. Secondly, it was used to determine how much of
S2 Average = 48.13 an interaction between ore zones was likely taking
S3 Average = 25.08
1400 place. Finally, it was used to determine the in-situ
and post-mining stresses along the potential shaft loca-
1600 tions and the overall stress regime throughout the
0 20 40 60 80 100 entire mine.
Stress (Mpa)
CANMET S1 CANMET S2 CANMET S3
Stress Gradient (S1) Stress Gradient (S2) Stress Gradient (S3)
3.1.1 Calibration
The calibration of the material properties became easier
Figure 2. Stress gradients used in the FLAC modeling at to perform after a seismic event occurred on the 152
Laronde Mine based upon CANMET stress measurements. Level of the mine. Using the existing model as a frame-
work, an investigation showed – and the model con-
firmed – that there was a large stress concentration
3 FLAC3D MODELING centered right around the location of the burst caused
by a 3-wide pillar being formed by retreating stopes
The use of FLAC3D in this project was a logical choice towards the central access for the level.
based on the geometry of the orebody and work previ- In March 2003, a large fall of ground occurred in a
ously performed by Itasca for the mine (a reasonably stope on the 215 Level where a double width stope
good calibration of the model, material properties, and had been taken. Again, the model was able to show a
stresses had already been performed). To extend upon similar pattern in the stresses and failure zones in this
this base information, new stress data and core testing area. Between these two events, a comfortable degree
by CANMET resulted in a more refined picture of the of confidence was gained that the model reflects realis-
complex interactions between the different rock struc- tic stresses and failure zones based upon the known
tures and stresses. geology and geometry of the orebody at depth.
Around each ore lens is a layer of highly sheared
schist that varies in thickness up to 5 m on both the 3.1.2 Ore lens interactions
hangingwall and footwall. Surrounding the schist is a In all of the previous work performed, the investigation
garnetiferous tuff material that is relatively strong and of the impact of the different ore lenses on each other
stiff with a uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of was not considered relevant because of the distance
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location for the shaft, a series of history points were

taken along the length of five potential locations. Each
shaft location represented a suitable surface location at
which a shaft could be placed within the existing limits
of the property.
Tracking of the major and minor principal stresses
along the length of each possible shaft location, a com-
parison between these locations became possible
through the use of the stress ratio (SR). The SR (shown
in Fig. 4) is calculated based upon the anticipated point
at which damage will occur in an ideal circular opening
and is defined as:
(1)
The stress ratio plots and an analysis of the maxi-

Figure 3. Surface contour plot generated by Surfer( on the
mum and minimum stresses showed that there was no
215 Level in the final year of the five-year plan. The upper single shaft location that stood out as being signifi-
right region is Zone 7, the middle is the main Zone 20, and the cantly better or worse than any other – rather it appeared
lower region shows Zone 21. that all of the shafts were likely going to experience
similar stress levels with some variation in the timing
Stress Ratio Versus Depth and location of peak stresses depending on their prox-
1400 imity to the orebody.
1600 Based upon several factors, shaft location #3 was
1800 proposed as the best. It was located near the centroid of
Depth (m)
2000 the orebody at depth, which will reduce haulage dis-

2200 tances, and had the benefit of enjoying some level of
Heavy Damage
2400
stress shadowing from the orebody at the deepest levels.
2600
The geology of the shaft location was unknown at the
Little to no Damage Moderate Damage time, as drilling had focused on delineating the orebody
2800
3000
and not so much on investigating the footwall materials.
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 Future drilling of this region could change the ideal
Stress Ratio location to avoid adverse geology.
Shaft #1 Shaft #2 Shaft #3 Shaft #4&6 Shaft#5 In Situ Stress Ratio
3.1.4 Overall mine stresses

Figure 4. Stress ratio plot for all shaft locations based upon The final purpose of the overall mine model was to
FLAC3D results. examine the overall mine stresses over the entire life
of the mine. In order to make a model that could be
between the mining fronts. As part of this project, it was run within a reasonable amount of time, the resolu-
decided to include the multiple ore lenses in order to tion in the upper regions was reduced to allow for a
determine just how small or large an interaction was higher resolution in the 2150 to 3000 m depth region.
likely to occur between these zones. The mine stress model showed a number of interest-
From the model, it appeared that there is an interac- ing things. Firstly, the failure zones around a fully
tion between the different ore zones as mining pro- formed mining front are quite extensive depending on
gresses into the future. Figure 3 shows a surface contour the ore thickness, and can even be greater than an entire
plot on the 215 Level with all three lenses being mined stope width into the abutment. (see Fig. 5.) Stresses in
to the end of the five-year plan (as of November 2002). the abutments and sill regions can exceed 250 MPa (as
The mined out stopes show up as depressions while seen in Fig. 6). Also, even in failed ground very high
the abutment stresses appear as peaks in this perspec- stresses can be seen due to heavy confinement levels
tive view of a surface plot. There is a definite bridging that will likely cause some significant issues in areas
effect between the middle and upper zone abutment such as sills in which post-failure ground is subjected to
areas (shown as the raised region), as well as some very high stresses.
stress shadowing occurring between the middle and
lower zones (shown as a depression). 3.2 High resolution mining method analysis
3.1.3 Shaft stresses In order to take a closer look at the stope level stresses,
The location of the shaft was one of the most important another model was built with the sole purpose of run-
aspects of the project. In order to determine the best ning high resolution simulations at the maximum depth
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Figure 5. Failure plot on a long section looking North of the overall mine model as mining approaches a sill. Blue blocks are
intact, red and light blue blocks have failed in shear and green blocks also have a tensile failure component.
Figure 6. Maximum principal stress plot on a long section looking North through the orebody. Peak stresses in a couple of
areas exceed 250 MPa.
of the mine. The model used a simplified representation the thicknesses of the different units and their location
of the orebody to give a constant strike and thickness of in the model could be defined, as well as the depth at
the ore and schist zones to eliminate geometrical effects which the simulation was to occur. This automation
in the comparison. A total of four simulations were run, reduced the turnaround time between model runs to
three with different ore thicknesses ranging from 10 m only a few minutes.
up to 30 m, and a fourth simulation in which the stope
size was reduced to determine the impact on the stope 3.2.1 Results
stability. Some results from the different ore thicknesses
To simplify the running of multiple scenarios with are shown below, in each case, the early stages of
similar geometry, a FISH function was written in which mining are shown when only four stopes have been
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Figure 7. Maximum principal stress plot on a long section looking North through the orebody with a 10 meter ore thick-ness
showing some pinching of high stresses above the trailing primary stopes. Secondary stopes are in post-failure even in narrow ore.
Figure 8. Maximum principal stress plot on a long section looking North through the orebody with a 30 meter ore thickness
showing that the destressed zone is much larger due to the extra freedom provided by the larger stoping spans. Overall, the
stresses are more spread out and peak stresses are predicted to be much lower in this case.
mined.A 10 m and 30 m ore thickness are shown for stronger secondary stopes carrying more loading
comparison. and the smaller failure zones. In contrast, the 30 m
Looking at the principal stress plots it can be ore zones (Fig. 8) result in a very large and smooth
seen that there is a definite pinching of the stresses stress distribution with lower peak stress levels.
with the narrower ore geometry Fig. 7) due to the This pattern of pinched stresses and higher peak
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Figure 9. Cross-section looking North showing failed regions in the model with 10 meter ore thickness. The impact of indi-
vidual stopes can be seen by the irregular shape of the failure zone. Most of the blocks are failed in shear (light blue and red
blocks, although some tensile failure is evident along the stope boundaries (green blocks).
Figure 10. Cross-section looking North showing failed regions in the model with a 30 meter ore thickness. The failure region
is much larger and more even with the wider ore at these great depths. The color coding is the same as in Figure 9.
levels continued throughout the simulation as mining impact of a single stope is lost in the overall picture.
proceeds. In the narrower orebody, the impact of individual
Looking at the failure plots (Figs. 9 & 10) the rea- stopes on the overall shape of the failure zone is still
son for the pinching of the stresses from the pre- apparent.
vious plots (Figs. 7 & 8) can be seen. The failure From these results it can seen that there is a signifi-
zones are much larger with the thicker ore- cant impact on the stresses and failure zones with
body; this creates a more even shell of failure around increasing ore thickness as would be expected with the
the stopes which becomes spherical in shape. The change in the pillar width-to-height ratio.
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Figure 11. Grid used in the FLAC modeling of a 9 meter diameter shaft with liner support.
Figure 12. Maximum principal stress plot around a 9 meter diameter shaft at a depth of 2000 meters.
4 FLAC MODELS fied to provide a single circular opening with a liner

component added. The advantage of using this scheme
Two other models were created in FLAC in order to give is that it allows for the modeling of both in-situ and post-
some measure to the stresses and anticipated failure mining stresses in the same model, by adding the rota-
zones around excavations at extreme depths. The first tion to the stress tensor and observing the effects. Figure
model was used to model the shaft in both in-situ and 11 shows the FLAC grid used for the shaft modeling.
post-mining situations, whereas the second was used to The liner was set up as a 12 inch concrete layer,
model a hypothetical large excavation at 3000 m which was added after the in-situ stresses had reached
(9840 ft). equilibrium in order to properly mimic the true
response of the liner. The liner was assumed to respond
only to post-mining stresses. The maximum principal
4.1 Shaft model
stress was set to run North–South. The in-situ stresses
The shaft model created in FLAC used the double donut and failure zones the shaft at a depth of 2000 meters are
FISH function provided with FLAC, which was modi- shown in Figures 12 & 13 respectively.
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Figure 13. Predicted failure envelope around a 9 meter diameter shaft at 2000 meters subjected to in-situ stresses. The depth
of failure predicted from this model is around 3 m.
Figure 14. Maximum principal stress plot at shaft location #3 at a depth of 2100 meters when subjected to mining induced
stress changes.
In order to determine the stresses around a large Figure 14 shows an example of the #3 shaft loca-
selection of shaft locations and depth/stress condition at a depth of 2100 m (which corresponds to the
tions, the stress ratio plot (see Fig. 4) was used to largest increase in stress ratio). It can seen that the
determine the best and worst conditions that may be stresses have rotated clockwise about 45 degrees,
expected from each shaft location. Six shaft models which is shown in both the stress plot and the plastic-
were run – this included three generic in-situ runs at ity plot (Fig. 15). These results correspond very well
2000, 2500, and 3000 m. Another set of three models with what was intuitively expected based on the
were used to represent post-mining conditions where geometry of the region. At this elevation, the shaft is
the largest increases, decreases and rotations of the just passing through the western abutment stress of
stress tensor were occurring. the 215 mining horizon, which is reflected by the
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Figure 15. plot for shaft location #3 at a depth of 2100 m at the post-mining stage. The rotation of the stresses at this location
has had a significant impact on the failure zones with an increased depth of failure along a line running North-West to South-East.
Figure 16. Stresses in the 12 inch concrete liner for post-mining stresses of shaft #3 at 2100 m. Peak stresses approach 4 MPa
in the liner in this case.
slight increase in stresses and the general rotation of difficulties are anticipated beyond those expected
the stress tensor. with mining at extreme depth.
Looking at the stresses in the liner (see Fig. 16),
it can be seen that the stresses in the liner due to
4.2 Generic large excavation model
mining-induced stress are quite small with a peak stress
of around only 4 MPa, which is well below the strength The large excavation model provided some general
of the concrete to be used in the liner. From this analy- guidelines that can be used in the design of infrastruc-
sis it was determined that there should be no excessive ture in the mine. To do this, an arched back drift was
stresses or failure zones that cannot be designed for created in FLAC with a span of 11 m and a height of
with current technology. Barring any poor geological 6.5 m, as shown in Figure 17. The drift was set up at a
horizons through the shaft locations, no significant 3000 meter depth using the in-situ stress. Post-mining
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Figure 17. Grid used to create the large excavation model.
Figure 18. Large excavation running parallel to the maximum principal stress. Peak stresses approach 200 MPa with a failure
zone that extends around 5 m into the back of the drift.
stresses were not considered since they are location- resulted in a peak stress of around 200 MPa and a fail-
dependant and no information was available for place- ure zone that extended up to 5 meters into the back
ment of infrastructure in the deep mine. The first run of (Fig. 18). This represented a very extensive shell of
the model assumed that the drift ran parallel to the failed material, which, depending on geology, could be
maximum principal stress (North–South), while the difficult to support. The ground at Laronde tends to
second model ran perpendicular to the maximum prin- involve some significant displacements which make
cipal stress (East–West) in order to provide informa- stiff support such as shotcrete a less attractive support
tion on these two extreme situations. system as it cannot accommodate much displacement.
With the drift set up to run parallel to 1, the back is With the alternative scenario, which had the drift
shielded from the effect of the highest stresses. As a running perpendicular to 1, the drift was exposed to
result, the stress seen in the drift was a combination of the full impact of the highest stress component (see Fig.
2 and the overburden-related vertical stress. This 19). As a result, the peak stresses across the back of the
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Figure 19. Large excavation running perpendicular to the maximum principal stresses. In this case the peak stresses are about
25% higher and the failure zone extends nearly 6 m into the back.
stope reached 250 MPa (which is about 25% higher were encountered. These problems will be magnified
than the previous case). The failure zones extend about at depth.
15% farther into the back that in the previous case,
making for an even more difficult ground support
requirement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank Agnico Eagle Mines for permission

to publish this paper.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The numerical modeling exercise using FLAC and REFERENCES

FLAC3D enabled the known behavior of the mine in
shallower areas to be extended to the planned deeper Labrie, D. December 2000a. Strength and Elastic Modulus as
mining. With the knowledge thus gained, it is possible Determined on the Drill Core HQ5 at #3 Shaft – Agnico-
to estimate with some degree of confidence some of the Eagle Mines, Laronde Division, Cadillac, Quebec. (In
issues that may come into play at the extreme depths French.), Technical Note from Laboratoires des mines et
involved in this mine expansion. des sciences minérales, CANMET to Agnico Eagle
Based upon experience gained in the upper levels of Laronde Mine. Nepean, Ontario, Canada.
Labrie, D. December 2000b. Laronde Mine (Project 610 660,
the mine, several important recommendations were
Task B) – Evolution of the Stress Field as a Function of the
made. Among other things, the mining sequence is crit- Number of Mathematical Iterations Executed. (In French.),
ical to the stability of the mine at these depths. In Technical Note from Laboratoires des mines et des sciences
instances in upper levels where deviations from the minérales, CANMET to Agnico Eagle Laronde Mine.
original plan created unfavorable geometry, problems Nepean, Ontario, Canada.
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Three-dimensional strain softening modeling of deep longwall

coal mine layouts
S. Badr, U. Ozbay, S. Kieffer & M. Salamon

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA
ABSTRACT: This paper describes a FLAC3D model for a typical deep two-entry longwall coal mine. The coal
seam is modeled as a strain softening material to attain a representative analysis of stresses and deformations
experienced by the coal ribs and yielding chain pillars corresponding to various loading stages. The strain soft-
ening parameters are established by calibrating separate test pillar models to common empirical pillar strength
formulas. The test pillar models showed that strain softening material behavior results in lower pillar strengths
than the traditional Mohr–Coulomb models based on constant peak cohesion and friction values. The longwall
model incorporates compaction simulations of the gob material in the back area. Two algorithms for representing
gob compaction are described.
1 INTRODUCTION
In mining practices, it is common for the induced load-

ing to exceed the strength of the rock mass. Realistic (4) (
(5)
representation of stresses and deformations in such
advance
situations requires use of constitutive laws that can

account for the response of the rock mass in the post- Co
Coal Gob
adv
peak state. Mohr–Coulomb (MC) and Hoek & Brown

(HB) plasticity models are commonly used in these
situations. Considering the brittle nature of many rock (1
(1) (
(2) (3)
masses, strain softening type models, such as the
Mohr–Coulomb Strain Softening (MCSS) option in
FLAC3D (Itasca 2002), allow more realistic modeling
of rock mass failure.
Figure 1. Simplified plan view of a two-entry longwall
A typical mining situation where the modeling of
mine layout showing pillar loading stages.
brittle behavior becomes important is the analysis of
yielding chain pillars in deep longwall mines. At depths
more than about 300 m, the vertical stress exceeds right to left as indicated, the chain pillars undergo five
the strength of unconfined coal, resulting in failure of stages of loading. These stages are indicated in the
the excavation walls while they are being exposed. diagram; the first three affect the pillars next to the head
This can result in the sides of entry pillars failing before gate and the last two affect the pillars next to the tail-
the pillars are fully isolated. Realistic estimation of the gate. Stage 1 corresponds to the situation where the
loads carried by these pillars during subsequent mining entry-pillar system is fully developed, but the extrac-
requires the use of a softening model. tion of the longwall panels has not yet affected the load-
The longwall mining geometry and the sequence ing of the pillar. Stage 2 refers to the situation where the
of excavation considered in this study are illustrated in front and side abutments contribute to the pillar loading
a plan view in Figure 1. Three longwall panels are due to the approaching longwall face.
shown in this illustration. The upper panel is already In Stage 3, the gob on one side, and an unmined
extracted. The panel at the bottom of the illustration has panel on the opposing side, affect the loading. The gob
been developed, but extraction has not yet commenced. in the vicinity of the development is not fully com-
As the longwall face in the middle panel moves from pacted so it does not support the full weight of the
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overburden. In Stage 4 on the tailgate side, as the face

240 m
approaches, the front abutment increasingly contributes
to loading of the pillar; hence the conditions around
1000 m
the tailgate pillars become progressively more adverse.
Stage 5 corresponds to the situation where the influence
of the face is no longer detectable and the chain pillars 240 m
are surrounded on both sides by gobs.
This paper describes a numerical model for assess-
ing the longwall mining scenario described above. The
coal seam is modeled as a MCSS material. A separate
series of numerical analyses was carried out on a sin-
gle pillar (test pillar model) to determine representa-
tive MCSS strength parameters for the coal seam. The
test pillar model analysis was also performed with
Figure 2. The FLAC3D block model developed for longwall
MC materials to permit comparison of the pillar mining simulations.
res-ponse based on MC and MCSS behavior.
Compaction of the fractured, particulate material,
called the “gob”, created by the caving of the roof in the
area from where the coal has been extracted, requires
attention in the numerical modeling of longwall mining.
With continuing extraction, the upper strata and the
floor converge and gradually the vertical load on the
gob material increases. Representation of this process
requires consideration of the deformations of both the
gob materials and the surrounding strata. This paper
describes two alternative algorithms to simulate gob
compaction.
2 LONGWALL MODEL
The modeled longwall layout is similar to that shown in

Figure 1. It represents a two-entry longwall mine located Figure 3. Bottom view of the FLAC3D block model showing
the fine mesh at the central area.
at a depth of 680 m below surface. The panel length is
220 m and the mining height is 3 m. The width of the
entries and cross cut is 6.5 m. The chain pillars between
the entries are 3 m high, 8 m wide and 26 m long. 8m
The mining geometry is built in a 1000 m long,
240 m high, and 240 m wide block with graded mesh,
as shown in Figure 2. The bottom layer in this figure 26 m
represents half of the 3 m thick coal seam. The meshing
at the central portion of the base of the block is made
finer in order to represent the entries and chain pillars 6.5 m
in detail (Fig. 3). Within the fine meshed region, MC 1.5 m
interface separates the coal seam from the roof strata.
The roof and floor strata are assumed to remain elastic
throughout all stages of mining. The vertical planes 6.5 m
bounding the block are free of shear stresses and hor-
izontal displacement. The horizontal plane at the base
of the model, which is a plane of symmetry, is also
free of shear stresses and subject to zero vertical dis- Figure 4. The entry system dimensions.
placement. The model is loaded at the top with a uni-
form vertical stress of 11 MPa to give a total overburden
2.1 Determination of material properties
pressure of 17 MPa at the coal seam level. As seen in
Figure 4, the element size in the chain pillars within In addition to the peak cohesion, friction angle, and
the fine meshed central region is 1 m 3 m 0.5 m dilation angle in the MC model, the MCSS model
in the x, y and z-directions, respectively. also requires parameters describing the rate of cohesion
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09069-28.qxd 08/11/2003 20:36 PM Page 235
Loading 30
2.5
2.4
2.2
35 MPa/εp
25 2
Cross-cut 3.25 m 1.8
1.6
Peak strength (MPa)

0.5 m 1.5
Coal 20 Salamon
Bieniawski
Entry 15
6m 10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
w/h
30
2.5
2.4 50 MPa/εp
25 2.2
2
1.8
Figure 5. Test pillar model geometry. Peak strength (MPa) 1.6
20 1.5
Salamon
Bieniawski
and/or friction drop as a function of plastic strain 15
in the post-peak region. The determination of the MC
and MCSS parameters for a rock mass is a difficult 10
task, but can be carried out empirically by performing
back-analyses. In this study, the parameter determina- 5
tion is based on the two most commonly used empirical
pillar strength formulas given by Salamon (1967) and 0
Bieniawski (1984). 0 1 2 3 4 5
A FLAC3D model of a single test pillar was developed w/h
to establish the most suitable combination of coal
30
MCSS parameters for replicating pillar strength val- 2.5
ues based on empirical formulas. Figure 5 shows the 2.4 100 MPa/εp
25 2.2
FLAC3D model of the test pillar in a room and pillar 2
1.8
environment. By considering symmetry conditions, one
Peak strength (MPa)
20 1.6
quarter of the pillar is modeled. The vertical walls of 1.5
Salamon
the model are set as frictionless by fixing the normal Bieniawski
15
displacements on them, except for pillar sides when
they are formed. The model is loaded along the top 10
boundary using a constant displacement of 2 107 m
per FLAC step. 5
The floor material is modeled as an elastic layer
having a 20 GPa elastic modulus. The MC interface 0
between the pillar and floor has strength parameters 0 1 2 3 4 5
of 0.5 MPa cohesion and friction angle of 23 degrees. w/h
For all pillar test simulations, the friction and dila-
tion angles are held constant at 30 and 15 degrees, Figure 6. Model pillar strength versus empirical pillar
respectively. strength at cohesion drop rates of 35,50,100 MPa/p
Four pillar width-to-height (w/h) ratios (1, 2, 3, (Strength formulas: Salamon: 9(w0.46/h0.66), Bieniawski:
and 4) were modeled. For each w/h ratio, the numerical 9(0.64
0.36 w/h) in MPa; assuming a coal cubic strength
model was run with different combinations of a peak value of 9 MPa).
cohesion and cohesion drop rate.
The strengths established from the test pillar models of 2.2 MPa and cohesion drop rate of 50 MPa/p is
are plotted against the empirical pillar strength for- considered suitable for modeling yielding of the
mulas in Figure 6 for the cohesion drop rates of 35, chain pillars.
50, and 100 MPa per plastic strain (p) increment. The test pillar models were repeated using the MC
Based on the trends of these plots, a peak cohesion failure criterion with the same peak cohesion, friction
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09069-28.qxd 08/11/2003 20:36 PM Page 236
30 in Figure 8. The MC model strengths tend to increase

Legend
3 = w/h ratio 3.
rapidly while MCSS model strengths follow the empir-
3 / MC
MC = Using MC model ical strength trends, indicating that MCSS models give
25
MCSS = Using MCSS model. more realistic pillar stress–deformation curves than
MC models.
20
Stress(MPa)
2 / MC
2.2 Gob compaction
15
The gob compaction process is an essential part of the
3 / MCSS
1 / MC longwalling process since it can alter the pillar and
10 abutment loads by acting as an additional support for
2 / MCSS the system. The gob behavior is based on the following
5 “compaction” model: vertical stress (v) in the gob
1 / MCSS
increases with increasing vertical strain (v) according
to the relationship given by Salamon (1990),
0
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014
Strain (1)
Figure 7. The vertical stress–strain curves of MC and
MCSS pillars.
where “a” is gob initial deformation modulus; and “b”
is the limiting vertical strain. Based on studies carried
50 out at the USBM on gob behavior, the values for the
45 MC models peak
Salamon's constants were taken as a 3.5 MPa and b 0.5
Bieniawski's
strength could not MC models (Deno & Mark 1993).
40 MCSS models
be defined beyond Two different algorithms are considered for imple-
35
this point mentation of the gob behavior of Equation 1 in the
Peak Strength (MPa)
30
FLAC3D model. In the first algorithm, referred to as
the “nodal force”, the compaction load is modeled as
25 the sum of vertical forces applied at the grid points of
20 the roof elements in the back area after mining. After
each mining step, the vertical strain in a particular
15
zone within the gob area is used to calculate the verti-
10 cal stress according to Equation 1. Grid reaction forces
5 are then calculated by multiplying vertical stress by the
corresponding area of the roof element. In the second
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 method, the gob is modeled as a non-linear elastic
w/h
material. Its bulk modulus is continually increased as
function of vertical strain within the gob area. The
Figure 8. Pillar strength determination from numerical algorithm for this “modulus updating” method uses the
modeling and empirical formulas (refer to Figure 6 for bulk modulus K for each gob element:
empirical strength formulas).
and dilation angle values as for the MCSS model. By (2)

averaging vertical stress and the vertical deformation
histories across the top of the pillar, an overall
stress–strain curve for an individual pillar could be where z is the vertical strain in the element (Badr
obtained. Figure 7 shows such curves for pillar w/h et al. 2002).
ratios of 1, 2 and 3, using MC and MCSS criteria. Implementation of these two methods makes use of
The difference in pillar response is obvious; MC the “linked list” concept in FLAC3D. The nodes (or
does not allow the true softening (no peak strength and zones) that will be replaced by gob material are defined
no strength drop) and pillars maintain high residual by their addresses in a particular linked list. Then, using
strengths. On the other hand, MCSS models yield and the FLAC3D programming language “FISH”, a function
reach much lower residual strengths. The pillar strength updates the forces (or bulk modulus) of each node (or
values, corresponding to both MC and MCSS materi- zone) using Equation 1 or 2. After each mining step, the
als, are plotted against the empirical pillar strength algorithm is executed in 50 step intervals until the
formulas of Salamon (1967) and Bieniawski (1984) model is brought to equilibrium (Badr 2003).
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20 2.5 50
Analytical solution Cohesion
18 Nodel force method 45
Friction
16 Modulus updating method Dilation
Friction and dilation (degrees)

2 40
Gob stress (Mpa)
14
35
Cohesion (MPa)
12
1.5 30
10
25
8
1 20
6
4 15
2 0.5 10
0 5
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 0
% closure 0 0.02 0.04 0.06
Plastic strain
Figure 9. The gob stress-closure results from the analytical
solution and two FLAC3D algorithms.
Figure 10. MCSS parameters used for modeling of the
coal material.
The gob compaction curves for the analytic solu-
tion (Salamon 1990) and the two FLAC3D algorithms Table 1. Material properties used in longwall simulations.
are compared in Figure 9. As shown, both nodal force
and modulus updating algorithms compare well with Property Values
the analytical model. Since the nodal force algorithm
requires longer running time, the modulus updating Miscellaneous
method was embraced as the gob model for the Seam depth 680 m
FLAC3D longwall simulations performed in this study. Stress gradient 0.025 MPa/m
x, y and z 17 MPa
Coal properties
3 RESULTS Coal elastic modulus 3 GPa
Coal Poisson’s ratio 0.25
Coal strength 7.6 MPa
Figure 10 defines the MCSS material parameters used Coal density 1313 Kg/m3
in the model, which are also summarized in Table 1.
Roof properties
For the coal seam, these parameters correspond to an
Elastic modulus 20 GPa
MCSS material having a cubic strength of about Poisson’s ratio 0.25
9 MPa, friction angle of 30 degrees, and cohesion Density 2500 Kg/m3
drop rate of about 50 MPa/p.
Interface properties
The model of the longwall layout described in Type Mohr–Coulomb
Section 2 is brought to equilibrium elastically to hori- Cohesion 0.5 MPa
zontal and vertical virgin stress conditions of 17 MPa Friction angle 20°
at the coal seam level. The elastic coal seam is then
replaced by a MCSS material prior to development. The
entries are developed with the right entry leading the and then averages these values to produce an average
left entry by 9 m. The entries advance by 3 m in each vertical pillar stress–strain curve.
mining step. A cross-cut is then mined when the trailing Figure 11 shows a typical pillar stress–strain curve
entry is 9 m ahead. Mining of the longwalls is carried obtained from the FLAC3D simulation. The vertical
out starting at the right panel. The longwall advances dashed line on the left shows the pillar loading at the
initially in steps of 50 m and then the steps are reduced end of entry development.
to 10 m in the fine-meshed central region of the model. At this stage, the pillar is at or close to its peak
After each longwall advance the area behind the long- capacity. The pre-peak stress drops indicate sidewall
wall face is changed to “gob material” and the model failures experienced by the pillar during entry devel-
is brought to equilibrium. The pillar response to mining opment. As the longwall approaches, the pillar initially
is monitored using a FISH algorithm. The algorithm sheds load slowly and subsequently rapidly, eventually
keeps a record of the vertical stress and vertical strain reaching eight per cent compression. At its residual
histories of all zones comprising the top of the pillar, strength, the pillar carries a vertical stress of 4 MPa,
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24 25
22 Average Pillar Stress (MPa)

Average pillar stress (MPa)
20 20
18
Gob Stress (MPa)

16
17
14 15 After second
longwall
12 Dev. Longwalling
10 10
8 After first
6
longwall
5
4
2
0 0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0 10 20 30 40 50
Strain % CLOSURE
Figure 11. Complete average vertical stress–strain curve Figure 12. Vertical stress and closure induced at a point in
of the yielding chain pillar in modeled longwall layout. the gob.
situations, the authors’ observations of intense pillar

which is considered sufficient for supporting the roof scaling in similar face positions in deep coal mines
in two entry systems. support the finding of the model.
The pillar strength in the longwall model is more
than that estimated by the test pillar model and empir-
ical strength formulas. Further refinement of the 4 CONCLUSIONS
strength parameters could be achieved by iterating on
the contact and coal seam properties through parametric A three dimensional model of a coal longwall mine is
studies, which would involve six independent variables, developed using FLAC3D. The model incorporates min-
not including parameters for the roof material. As was ing stages, softening behavior of the coal seam, and gob
the case with the test pillar model, this iterative process compaction in the mined out area. The model results
would likely provide more than one set of parame- indicate that FLAC3D is a suitable tool to aid in the
ters giving strength values similar to those predicted design, evaluation, and performance assessments for
by the empirical strength formulas. Further studies in complex longwall layouts.
this area are needed to fine-tune the optimum param- The test pillar studies show that the Mohr–Coulomb
eter combination. Strain Softening model is more realistic than the tradi-
Figure 12 shows the gob compaction as mining pro- tional Mohr–Coulomb constitutive law for estimating
gresses, referenced to a point at the center of the first the strength and post peak behavior of coal pillars.
panel. After mining of the first panel, the vertical The strain softening parameters developed in this
stress in the gob is 1.8 MPa. The gob stress increases study could be used as a starting point for modeling of
to the virgin stress level of 17 MPa after the second coal seams. However, due to more than one combination
panel is mined. of strength parameters giving the same rock mass
The results from the longwall model are compared strength value and also mesh size dependency of the
to in-situ measurements using borehole pressure cells program, it is advised that the strength parameters for
(BPCs) from a mine with similar conditions (Schissler a particular coal seam be developed on a case bases,
2002). The FLAC3D model shows that the pillar hard- using a back-analysis process similar to that described
ens to 22 MPa while the in-situ pillar monitoring showed in the paper.
16 MPa during entry development. This difference is
probably partly due to the selection of the model
parameters as discussed above, and partly due to the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
installation sequence of the BPCs, which occurred
after the pillar was developed, and thus did not com- This publication was supported by Cooperative
pletely capture the side wall loading by the approach- Agreement number U60/CCU816929-02 from the
ing development faces. When the pillar yielded in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Center
model, the longwall face was approximately 150 m for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents
from the pillar centerline. Although there is no in-situ are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not
load measurement available in pillars under similar necessarily represent the official views of the Department
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of Health and Human Services, CDC. Support provided Bieniawski, Z.T. 1984. Rock Mechanics Design in Mining
by Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, is and Tunneling. A.A. Balkema, p. 1–272.
greatly acknowledged. The work presented is part of the Deno, M.P. & Mark, C. 1993. Behavior of Simulated Longwall
Health and Safety research activities currently carried Gob material. United States Department of the Interior,
Bureau of mines, Report of investigation No. 9458.
out at Western Mining Resource Center (WMRC) at the Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2002. FLAC3D – Fast
Colorado School of Mines. Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in Three Dimensions,
Ver. 2.1. Minnesota: Itasca.
Salamon, M.D.G. 1990. Mechanism of caving in longwall coal
mining. Paper in Rock Mechanics Contributions and
REFERENCES Challenges Proceedings of the 31st US Symposium, Ed.
W. Hustrulid and G. A. Johnson. Denver, Colorado, June
Badr, S.A., Schissler, A., Salamon, M.D.G. & Ozbay, U. 18–20, 1990. A.A. Balkema, 1990, p. 161–168.
2002. Numerical Modeling of Yielding Chain Pillars in Salamon, M.D.G. 1967. A study of the strength of coal pillars.
Longwall Mines. Proc. of the 5th North American Rock Journal of South Africa Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Mechanics Symposium, Toronto, Canada, pp 99–107. v. 68, p. 55–67.
Badr, S.A. 2003. Numerical Analysis of coal yield pillars at Schissler, A. 2002. Yield pillar design in non-homogenous
deep longwall mines. Ph.D. Thesis in preparation. and isotropic stress fields for soft minerals. Ph.D. Thesis.
Department of Mining Engineering, Colorado School of Department of Mining Engineering, Colorado School of
Mines, Golden, Colorado (To be submitted.). Mines, Golden, Colorado.
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FISH functions for FLAC3D analyses of irregular narrow vein mining
H. Zhu & P.P. Andrieux

ABSTRACT: FISH functions were developed to generate FLAC3D elements and to accurately present numer-
ical simulation results for underground mining situations whereby the ore lenses have complex geometries and
erratic distributions. The element-generating FISH functions for FLAC3D proved flexible and provided signifi-
cant timesavings during the model construction stage. Furthermore, these functions made it easier to modify
a model, to achieve a high degree of resolution in the domains of interest and to create a minimum number of
elements in order to minimize the computational power required to run the model.
Long, narrow and winding ore bodies with complex geometries do not lend themselves well to the represen-
tation on longitudinal sections of the modeling results, mainly because the rendering planes wander in and out
of the ore body. Such ore bodies are however often visualized and managed based on their longitudinal appear-
ance, which is typically projected and simplified on an idealized plane. This difficulty of longitudinally show-
ing the predicted stresses and displacements within the ore lens can impair the full and clear understanding of
the modeling results. This paper describes two means of solving this problem based on FISH functions. The
FISH functions presented in this paper have been applied to, and validated by, a FLAC3D modeling exercise
carried out at the Falconbridge Thayer Lindsley Mine near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS Narrow and undulating ore lenses also make it dif-
ficult to represent the simulation results on longitudi-
There are essentially two ways to build a FLAC3D nal views. The existing FLAC3D “plot” command can
numerical model: one is to generate regular elements prove inadequate to illustrate load and deformation
over the entire domain and then structure the desired results because longitudinal sections generated through
geometry and geology around them, the other is to set the approximate center of a given narrow and undu-
FLAC-provided blocks for specific objects to simulate lating ore lens typically wanders in and out of it. This
and to assemble these blocks into the model. In under- made it difficult to visualize the stress redistribution
ground mining numerical modeling applications the and deformation everywhere within the ore lens itself.
first approach is generally used because there is usually Two approaches can be used to solve this problem.
no need to account for topographically irregular ground One consists of extracting from save files the stress
surfaces or very complex and precise excavations, as is and deformation data at each point along a curved
often the case in civil engineering applications. This surface centered in the middle of the undulating nar-
method, although quite versatile, can however result in row body of interest, and to generate iso-contour plots
the creation of a large number of elements in order to with specialized software (such as Goldsoft Surfer®,
achieve the desired degree of resolution, particularly for example). This approach has the advantage of
when the geometry of the ore lenses is complex, or allowing the user to extract and plot any desired
when multiple independent ore lenses are present. A parameter or criterion, such as factors of safety or
large number of elements can, in turn, result in exces- custom-defined stress ratios, and to clearly represent
sively long running times and even prevent a model their variation. Another way is to define a thin central
from running if the computer platform is insufficiently zone in the middle of the undulating narrow body as a
powerful. In such cases, the second strategy may not be FLAC3D Group or a FLAC3D Range, which can subse-
adequate either, due to the irregularity of the geometry quently be used to represent a true longitudinal sec-
of the ore lenses. Furthermore, it is usually more time- tion. This approach allows use of existing FLAC3D
consuming to build a model using the second approach. commands and functions to generate the plots. Both
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methods require FISH functions that are quite similar.

The first approach is however more flexible and more
Ore lens of
precise, but requires additional third-party software. #2 Zone
(a) Plan view of Level 11-0.
2 GENERATION OF THE ELEMENTS FOR A

FLAC3D MODEL
Ore lens of
As shown in Figure 1, the geometry of the #2 Zone #4 Zone
Ore lens of
ore lens at the Falconbridge Thayer Lindsley (T.L.) #3 Zone
Mine near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, is quite compli- (b) Cross-section looking East, showing (c) Plan view fo Level 13-1.
cated and resulted in difficulties being encountered the vertical extent of the ore bodies.
when constructing a representative FLAC3D model. A
series of FISH functions was therefore developed to Figure 1. Various views of the Thayer Lindsley Mine ore
generate the elements throughout the entire model. lenses showing the relatively narrow and winding #2 Zone,
Also, the narrow and undulating geometry of this lens which was the ore lens of interest in the numerical exercise.
The figure also shows the satellite lenses of the #3 and
made it difficult to represent the simulation results on
#4 zones, which had to be considered in the model. (The
a true longitudinal section, i.e. on a longitudinal sec- figures are at different scales.)
tion that did not wander in and out of the ore material.
The T.L. ore body is up to 500 meters in strike
(East–West) and occurs as several distinct lenses
below Level 13-2 as shown in Figure 1. The narrow-
est lens width encountered is approximately 5 meters. Illustration
The maximum width is of the order of 20 meters. A of the initial
parameters
400 m-high, 240 m-thick (in the North–South direc- of a block
dxyz(1,3)
tion) and 300 m-long (in the East–West direction)
section of the mine, centered on the #2 Zone, repre- dayz(i,1)
Coordinates at the point O: dxyz(i,J)
sented the region of interest for the FLAC3D simu- Index j (1,2,and3) corresponds to x,y, and z.
Coordinates at point O:
lations. A resolution of 5 meters in the East–West dxyz (i, j)
Boundary Internal model Index j (1, 2, and 3) cor-
direction, by 2 meters in the North–South direction, block (outer responding to x, y, and z.
by 5 meters in the vertical direction was considered a model)
minimum requirement within the domain of interest.

Such a resolution would require as many as 960,000 Figure 2. Schematic sketch showing the model structure
elements for the inner domain, and close to 1.2 mil- and block parameters.
lion elements for the entire model. This would make it
almost impossible to run the model on even the most
powerful personal computers currently available. resolution. Finally, Block #4, which encompassed the
From a geomechanics perspective it is not neces- rest of the internal model, was fitted with the coars-
sary to generate elements with the same resolution est 20 m 8 m 20 m resolution. As a result, the
within the entire internal region of a model, as illus- number of elements inside the internal model
trated in Figure 2. As a result, this internal model can dropped from 960,000 to 248,500, which allowed
be divided into several blocks with different element the model to be run on a personal (albeit upper end)
resolutions, in order to end up with a reasonably sized computer.
model. This rationale lead to the development of a FISH The FISH function developed and used to generate
functions-based approach for the construction of the the elements in the five blocks within the internal
FLAC3D model, which would be broadly applicable to model, as well as in the outer model, is shown in
many other geometries. Appendix I.
For the T.L. Mine analyses, four different element This FISH function can be used to modify the
resolutions were used, as shown in Figure 2. Block #1, model and to create other models for situations with a
which contained the #2 Zone of interest, was assigned generally similar geometry – different values simply
the finest resolution of 5 meters in the East–West have to be assigned to the variables. The function as it
direction, by 2 meters in the North–South direction, stands allows the user to break the internal model into
by 5 meters in the vertical direction. Block #2, which up to ten blocks – this maximum number of blocks
had a different panel height, was assigned a coarser can also be customized if the user is familiar with the
10 m 2 m 10 m resolution. Block #3, which cov- FISH language. A separate file was prepared to invoke
ers the satellite ore lenses and previously mined-out each sub-routine in the function in order to assign initial
voids, was assigned a yet coarser 10 m 4 m 10 m values to the parameters.
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3 CREATION OF A NON-PLANAR (into the surround rock mass) by a predetermined

LONGITUDINAL SECTION THAT distance (represented by the lines of A—A, B—B,
FOLLOWS THE CENTRE OF A NARROW and C—C in Fig. 3);
AND UNDULATING ZONE 6. trace the element ID to which this point belongs;
7. output the element stresses to a file for further analy-
Longitudinal sections are well-suited to, and widely sis, or name this element in a new Range/Group; and,
used for, the planning and sequencing of full-width 8. repeat the procedure for each level.
open stopes in narrow ore lenses that are extracted by
means of retreating mining methods. When longitudi- A continuous surface entirely comprised within
nal sections are used for planning and sequencing it is the ore lens and following its center will be obtained
advantageous to also use them to display the stress by connecting all the points generated in this manner.
and deformation results from numerical analyses. Not The desired longitudinal section can thus be con-
only do they represent a viewpoint familiar to the mine structed either by projecting this surface onto a longi-
personnel, they also clearly show how stress is redis- tudinal plan, or by ignoring the y coordinate (as was
tributed in workings ahead of the mining front as the done in the case of T.L. Mine).
extraction sequence progresses. Such longitudinal sec- The FISH function developed to generate a longi-
tion views are being widely used at T.L. Mine. FLAC3D tudinal section that follows the center of a narrow and
results would ideally have been shown on them. The undulating zone is shown in Appendix II. The option
difficulty, as described previously, is that – as is the case of naming a new Group is recommended in order to
at T.L. Mine – it is impossible when the ore lens is nar- avoid the need for external software packages, such as
row and undulates over an amplitude greater than its Surfer™ for example, to present the FLAC3D results.
width for a true (planar) longitudinal section to remain However, the alternate approach of extracting the ele-
entirely within it. (In general under these circumstances, ment stresses from the middle of the ore zone was
the longitudinal sections used for planning purposes are employed for the T.L. Mine, due to its higher precision
composite simplified views, not true sections.) As a and the need in this particular case to examine a user-
result, FISH functions had to be developed to create defined stress ratio.
stress and displacement plots along the geometrical
center of the lens. The approach is illustrated in Figure 3.
The procedure can be summarized as follows:
4 FURTHER APPLICATION OF CUSTOMISED
1. select the groups that encase the area to be examined; FISH FUNCTIONS AT THE FALCONBRIDGE
2. search the footwall and handing wall boundaries by THAYER LINDSLEY MINE
element along the strike of the ore lens;
3. identify the ID of the elements where the bound- A user-defined stress ratio was also used at T.L. to
aries are; evaluate the state of the rock mass throughout the #2
4. calculate the coordinates of the point between the Zone of interest. The objective of this work was to not
two boundaries. This point needs to keep the only assess which elements had started to undergo
desired hanging wall-to-footwall distance ratio to failure, but also determine how far elastic state ele-
these boundaries; ments were from. The stress ratio retained is defined
5. if this point lies in an edge element along the strike as 1/ 1 , and is illustrated Figure 4.
direction, extend the extraction further outwards
τ
Hanging wall
Strength envelope
Element
A A
B B
3 1 1'
C C
Figure 4. Illustration of the user-defined stress ratio where
Footwall 1 and 3 are the major and minor principal stress of rock
mass, respectively, at a given point as computed by FLAC3D.
Figure 3. Sketch illustrating the concept of constructing a 1 is the major principal stress at this point assuming that the
non-planar longitudinal section from an arbitrary narrow rock mass is undergoing yielding under the same confine-
and undulating ore lens. ment conditions.
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09069-29.qxd 08/11/2003 20:37 PM Page 244
Figure 5. Longitudinal section looking North illustration of the Surfer™-generated contours of a user-defined stress ratio
based on the customized FISH functions described in the previous sections.
Figure 5 shows a simplified composite longitudinal and FLAC3D users can develop very specific functions
section of the T.L. Mine #2 Zone. The small squares to solve specific problems.
along the edge of the excavations represent the state
of the local rock mass at a given mining step, as
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
inferred from the FLAC3D results. The overlaid contours
of the user-defined stress ratio were generated based
The authors would like to thank Scott Carlisle1 for
on the stresses at each element extracted with the FISH
reviewing, and Falconbridge Limited for granting
function mentioned previously. In the areas where the
permission to publish this paper and for the use of
rock mass is still in its elastic state, which are beyond
Thayer Lindsley data.
the small squares as shown in Figure 5, the low values
of the stress ratio refer to a low likelihood that stress-
induced problems will arise at this mining stage. With
the help of the FISH function, the state of the rock REFERENCE
mass can be illustrated quite precisely.
In Figure 5, all the numerical elements from which Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. (1997) FLAC3D – Fast
the stresses were extracted are those located the clos- Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions,
est to the middle of the #2 Zone ore lens at T.L. Mine, Version 2.0. Minneapolis, MN: Itasca.
or those extending into the surrounding rock mass
away from the east and west boundaries of the lens.
These contours present quite a bit of information APPENDIX I – FISH FUNCTION FOR THE
about the state of the rock mass, both in the main lens GENERATION OF THE ELEMENTS OF A
and the surrounding rock. Furthermore, how far away FLAC3D MODEL
the elastic state rock is from the onset of yielding can
be readily estimated and displayed by the contours ; Define blocks in the internal region of the model
generated by the customized FISH functions. ; num_box10 blocks currently limited
Currently, this cannot be achieved with any built-in def Ore_box
FLAC command. array xyz(10,3),dxyz(10,3),p_xyz(10,3)
loop i (1,num_box)
P0_xxyz(i,1)
5 CONCLUSIONS P0_yxyz(i,2)
P0_zxyz(i,3)
User-defined FISH functions can be a powerful tool p_xyz(1,1)p0_x
to solve various FLAC or FLAC3D numerical modeling p_xyz(1,2)p0_y
problems. The FISH function presented in this paper p_xyz(1,3)p0_z
for the generation of regular elements is applicable to
many scenarios where similar geometrical issues are
present. The other FISH function discussed in this 1
Falconbridge Limited, Sudbury Mines/Mill Business Unit –
paper is a good example of how experienced FLAC Mining Services, Onaping, Ontario, P0M 2R0, Canada.
244

09069-29.qxd 08/11/2003 20:37 PM Page 245
P_xyz(2,1)p0_x
dxyz(i,1) P4_xx0
dx
x_len
P_xyz(2,2)p0_y P4_yy0
dy0
y_len
P_xyz(2,3)p0_z P4_zz0-z_len
P_xyz(3,1)p0_x P5_xx0
dx
P_xyz(3,2)p0_y
dxyz(i,2) P5_yy0
dy0
P_xyz(3,3)p0_z P5_zz0
dz
P_xyz(4,1)p0_x P6_xx0
dx
x_len
P_xyz(4,2)p0_y P6_yy0-y_len
P_xyz(4,3)p0_z
dxyz(i,3) P6_zz0
dz
z_len
P_xyz(5,1)p0_x
dxyz(i,1) P7_xx0
dx
x_len
P_xyz(5,2)p0_y
dxyz(i,2) P7_yy0
dy0
y_len
P_xyz(5,3)p0_z P7_zz0
dz
z_len
P_xyz(6,1)p0_x Y_S_boun p1_y
P_xyz(6,2)p0_y
dxyz(i,2) Z_B_boun p1_z
P_xyz(6,3)p0_z
dxyz(i,3) command
P_xyz(7,1)p0_x
dxyz(i,1) gen po id 1011 p0_x p0_y p0_z
P_xyz(7,2)p0_y gen po id 1012 p1_x p1_y p1_z
P_xyz(7,3)p0_z
P_xyz(8,1)p0_x
P_xyz(8,2)p0_y
P_xyz(8,3)p0_z
loop n (1,8) gen po id 1017 p6_x p6_y p6_z
id_pn
8*(i-1) gen po id 1018 p7_x p7_y p7_z
P_xp_xyz(n,1) end_command
P_yP_xyz(n,2) end
P_zP_xyz(n,3) def Back_box
command P0_xx0
gen po id id_p p_x p_y p_z P0_yy0
dy0
end_command P0_zz0
end_loop P1_xx0
dx
end_loop P1_yy0
dy0
end P1_zz0
; Building boundary blocks P2_xx0-x_len
def right_box P2_yy0
dy0
y_len
; calculate the dimensions of this box in x, y and z P2_zz0-z_len
; xyz_ratio grid length ratio P3_xx0
; n_grid number of grids P3_yy0
dy0
; x_1, y_1 and z_1 element length along P3_zz0
dz
; corresponding directions in boundary blocks P4_xx0
dx
x_len
; x0, y0 and z0 coordinates of point O of the P4_yy0
dy0
y_len
; internal model as shown in Figure 2. P4_zz0-z_len
P5_xx0-x_len
x_lenx_1*(1-xyz_ratio^n_grid)/(1-xyz_ratio)
P5_yy0
dy0
y_len
y_leny_1*(1-xyz_ratio^n_grid)/(1-xyz_ratio)
P5_zz0
dz
z_len
z_lenz_1*(1-xyz_ratio^n_grid)/(1-xyz_ratio)
P6_xx0
dx
P0_xx0
dx P6_yy0
dy0
P0_yy0 P6_zz0
dz
P0_zz0 P7_xx0
dx
x_len
P1_xx0
dx
x_len P7_yy0
dy0
y_len
P1_yy0-y_len P7_zz0
dz
z_len
P1_zz0-z_len X_E_bounp7_x
P2_xx0
dx Y_N_bounp7_y
P2_yy0
dy0 Z_T_bounp7_z
P2_zz0 command
P3_xx0
dx gen po id 1021 p0_x p0_y p0_z
P3_yy0 gen po id 1022 p1_x p1_y p1_z
P3_zz0
dz gen po id 1023 p2_x p2_y p2_z
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gen po id 1024 p3_x p3_y p3_z id_p11

8*(n-1)
8*(n-1)
8*(n-1)
8*(n-1)
8*(n-1)
end_command id_p66
8*(n-1)
end id_p77
8*(n-1)
id_p88
8*(n-1)
def Top_box
num_xdxyz(n,1)/Len_xyz(n,1)
P0_xx0
num_ydxyz(n,2)/Len_xyz(n,2)
P0_yy0
num_zdxyz(n,3)/Len_xyz(n,3)
P0_zz0
dz
command
P1_xx0
dx
gen zone bri &
P1_yy0
p0 po id_p1 p1 po id_p2 p2 po id_p3 p3 po id_p4 &
P1_zz0
dz
p4 po id_p5 p5 po id_p6 p6 po id_p7 p7 po id_p8 &
P2_xx0
size num_x num_y num_z &
P2_yy0
dy0
group waste &
P2_zz0
dz
rat 1 1 1
P3_xx0-x_len
end_command
P3_yy0-y_len
end_loop
P3_zz0
dz
z_len
P4_xx0
dx ; generate elements in boundary blocks
P4_yy0
dy0 ; generate elements in one boundary block and then
P4_zz0
dz ; reflect to the opposite side
P5_xx0-x_len command
P5_yy0
dy0
y_len ; Left-hand and right-hand sides
P5_zz0
dz
z_len gen z brick &
P6_xx0
dx
x_len p0 po 1011 p1 po 1012 p2 po 1013 p3 po 1014 &
P6_yy0-y_len p4 po 1015 p5 po 1016 p6 po 1017 p7 po 1018 &
P6_zz0
dz
z_len size n_grid num_y1 num_z1 &
P7_xx0
dx
x_len group right_side &
P7_yy0
dy0
y_len ratio xyz_ratio 1 1
P7_zz0
dz
z_len gen zone reflect dip 90 dd 90 ori x_ref y_ref z_ref &
X_W_bounp3_x range group right_side
command ; Back and front
gen po id 1031 p0_x p0_y p0_z gen z brick &
gen po id 1032 p1_x p1_y p1_z p0 po 1021 p1 po 1022 p2 po 1023 p3 po 1024 &
gen po id 1033 p2_x p2_y p2_z p4 po 1025 p5 po 1026 p6 po 1027 p7 po 1028 &
gen po id 1034 p3_x p3_y p3_z size num_x1 n_grid num_z1 &
gen po id 1035 p4_x p4_y p4_z group Back_side &
gen po id 1036 p5_x p5_y p5_z ratio 1.0 xyz_ratio 1
gen po id 1037 p6_x p6_y p6_z gen zone reflect dip 90 dd 180 ori x_ref y_ref z_ref &
gen po id 1038 p7_x p7_y p7_z range group back_side
end_command
end ; Top and bottom
gen z brick &
; generate elements in the internal regions of the p0 po 1031 p1 po 1032 p2 po 1033 p3 po 1034 &
; model p4 po 1035 p5 po 1036 p6 po 1037 p7 po 1038 &
def gen_ele size num_x1 num_y1 n_grid &
array Len_xyz(10,3) group Top_side &
; reference point for reflected boundary boxes ratio 1.0 1.0 xyz_ratio
x_refx0
dx/2.0 gen zone reflect dip 0 dd 0 ori x_ref y_ref z_ref &
y_refy0
dy0/2.0 range group top_side
z_refz0
dz/2.0 end_command
num_x1dx/x_1 command
num_y1dy0/y_1 group external range group waste not
num_z1dz/z_1 end_command
loop n (1,num_box) end
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APPENDIX II – FISH FUNCTION FOR THE if y_mina_min then

CREATION OF A LONGITUDINAL SECTION a_miny_min
IN THE CENTRE OF THE UNDULATING ORE end_if
ZONE if y_max>a_max then
a_maxy_max
def get_profile knkn
1
x_0x_west end_if
; x coordinates on west edge of area to be searched end_if
y_0y_south end_loop
x_1x_east ; main zone has been found
y_1y_north if kn # 0 then
; element length in the x direction kknkkn
1
x_dx_length x_kknx_e
y_dy_length y_s(a_min+a_max)/2.0-0.55*y_d
; group name of the main zone to be examined y_n(a_min+a_max)/2.0
0.55*y_d
name_ggroup_name end_if
; referring to the next FISH function for z_t and z_b ; on west edge of the main zone
z_po(z_t
z_b)/2.0 if kkn1 then
n_x(x_1-x_0)/x_d x_wx_0
n_y(y_1-y_0)/y_d end_if
if flag_boun0 then if kn # 0 then
; top element. Extend search 25m upwards command
z_1z_t
25.0 group profile ra x x_w x_e y y_s y_n z z_0
z_0z_b z_1
end_if end_command
; bottom element end_if
if flag_boun1 then ; on the east edge of the main zone
; extend search 25m downwards to next level if n1n_x then
z_1z_t command
z_0z_b-25.0 group profile ra x x_kkn x_1 y y_s y_n z z_0 z_1
end_if end_command
; either top or bottom level end_if
if flag_boun2 then end_loop
z_1z_t end
z_0z_b ; search loop on z direction in the next FISH function
end_if def get_para
kkn0 loop n (1,60)
loop n1 (1,n_x) if n40 then
;start point in the x direction z_interval5
x_pox_0
x_d*(n1-0.5) else
x_wx_po-0.5*x_d z_interval10
x_ex_po
0.5*x_d end_if
a_miny_north z_b2310-z_interval*(n-1)
a_maxy_south z_tz_b
z_interval
kn0 flag_boun2
; searching FW and HW if n1 then
loop n2 (1,n_y) flag_boun0 ;top element
y_poy_0
y_d*(n2-0.5) end_if
p_zz_near(x_po,y_po,z_po) if n10 then
z_grz_group(p_z) flag_boun 1 ;bottom element
if z_grname_g then end_if
g_p1z_gp(p_z,1) get_profile ; invoke the above FISH function
g_p2z_gp(p_z,3) end_loop
y_mingp_ypos(g_p1) end
y_maxgp_ypos(g_p2)
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Soil structure interaction

09069-30.qxd 08/11/2003 20:38 PM Page 251

A calibrated FLAC model for geosynthetic reinforced soil modular

block walls at end of construction
K. Hatami & R.J. Bathurst

GeoEngineering Centre at Queen’s-RMC, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario
T. Allen
Washington State Department of Transportation, Washington, USA
ABSTRACT: The paper describes a FLAC numerical model that was developed to simulate the construction
and measured response of large-scale geosynthetic reinforced soil walls that were constructed at the Royal
Military College of Canada (RMC). The reinforced soil structures were constructed with three different poly-
meric reinforcement configurations. The backfill strength properties and reinforcement material properties
were determined from conventional laboratory tests. The soil elastic modulus values were back calculated from
surcharge loading tests on the wall backfill. The numerical models were able to capture the observed differences
in wall behavior due to different reinforcement configurations to within the accuracy of the measurements.
Reinforcement strain magnitudes and distribution were more accurately predicted using a stress-dependent
model for the soil backfill compared to a linear elastic model.
1 BACKGROUND physical tests to a wider range of reinforced soil wall

types and configurations. The combination of physi-
A recent study by Allen et al. (2002) of the design, cal and numerical test results can then be used to
analysis and performance of instrumented full-scale check or refine recently proposed analytical design
geosynthetic reinforced soil walls constructed in the methods for geosynthetic reinforced soil wall struc-
field has demonstrated that current design practice is tures that hold promise to make these systems more
excessively conservative. For example, they showed cost effective (e.g. Allen et al. 2003).
that most walls constructed to date could be expected This paper is focused on the second step in this
to perform satisfactorily with as little as 50% of long-term research program, i.e. calibration of a
the reinforcement that has been used in the past. FLAC numerical model for three recent large-scale
Nevertheless, the number of instrumented field walls test walls at RMC that were constructed with a
reported in the literature is sparse and there is a polypropylene geogrid reinforcement material. This
requirement for better data and a wider range of case paper extends the results of an earlier paper by
studies in order to refine current design methodolo- Hatami & Bathurst (2001) that was focused on a
gies that are based on conventional geotechnical limit FLAC (Itasca 1998) numerical model for a single wall
equilibrium approaches. To fill this requirement, the in the physical test program that was constructed using
GeoEngineering Centre at Queen’s-RMC at the Royal a polyester geogrid reinforcement material. In the cur-
Military College of Canada (RMC) has been engaged rent paper, the numerical model is calibrated against
in the construction, surcharge loading and monitoring the end-of-construction stage for each of the walls,
of carefully instrumented large-scale geosynthetic rein- which represents a working stress condition. This is the
forced soil retaining walls built within a controlled operational condition that is of most interest to design-
laboratory environment (Bathurst et al. 2001). This ers as opposed to an ultimate limit state or failure
on-going research program has also been conceived condition. The paper reports details of the constitu-
to generate high-quality and comprehensive data that tive models used for the component materials in the
can be used to calibrate advanced numerical models walls and compares selected measured and predicted
of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls. The calibrated responses for the three walls including facing horizon-
models can then be used to extend the database of tal displacements, horizontal and vertical toe boundary
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reactions and reinforcement strain distributions. The wall was a nominally identical structure except that
comparisons are based on both linear elastic and non- the reinforcement stiffness and strength of the geogrid
linear hyperbolic models for the soil backfill. were reduced by 50% by removing every other longi-
tudinal member in each layer. Wall 3 was nominally
identical to Wall 1 except that only four reinforce-
2 PHYSICAL TEST MODELS ment layers were used in the wall at a vertical spacing
of 0.9 m. In each structure, the wall facing consisted
Figure 1 shows a front view of an RMC test wall with of a column of discrete, dry-stacked, solid masonry
a modular block (segmental) facing. The walls were concrete blocks with continuous concrete shear keys.
3.6 m high with a facing batter of 8° from the vertical. The wall facing was built with three discontinuous
The first wall (Wall 1 – control) was built with six vertical sections with separate reinforcement layers in
layers of weak polypropylene geogrid (PP) reinforce- plan view. The width of the instrumented middle
ment placed at a vertical spacing of 0.6 m. The second section was 1 m. The backfill was a clean uniform
size rounded beach sand (SP) with a flat compaction
curve. The sand was compacted to a unit weight of
16.7 kN/m3 using a lightweight vibrating mechanical
plate compactor. The friction between the backfill
8° soil and sides of the test facility was minimized by
24 rows of segmental blocks
placing a composite arrangement of plywood, Plexiglas

1.15 m 1.00 m 1.15 m and lubricated polyethylene sheets over the sidewalls.
The discontinuous wall arrangement and sidewall
treatment were used to minimize the frictional effect
3.60 m
Instrumented middle of the lateral boundaries of the test facility and to

section of the wall thereby approach, as far as practical, a plane-strain
test condition for the instrumented middle section of
the wall structure. The reinforcement layers were rigidly
attached to the facing using mechanical connections
to simplify the interpretation of connection perform-
ance (i.e. this arrangement prevented any possibility
Reinforcement layers of reinforcement slippage between the blocks).
Figure 2 illustrates the test configuration for Walls
1 and 2 and the instrumentation that was used to
Figure 1. Large-scale instrumented geosynthetic rein- record wall response. The horizontal movement of the
forced soil modular block retaining wall constructed in the wall facing was measured using displacement poten-
RMC Retaining Wall Test Facility. tiometers mounted at different elevations against the
0.3 m
Facing blocks
6
Facing
potentiometer
Strain gauge
5
Extensometer
Connection load 4
rings
3.6 m
3
0.15 m
2 Reinforcement layer
Horizontal toe
load ring 1
Vertical toe load

cells
2.52 m
Figure 2. Schematic instrumentation layout of the test walls used in calibrating the numerical model (Walls 1 and 2). Note:
Wall 3 is constructed with four reinforcement layers with a vertical spacing Sv 0.9 m.
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facing column. Horizontal toe loads were measured approaches: 1) a linear elastic (perfectly plastic)
using load rings (a horizontal restrained toe boundary model, and 2) the stress-dependent hyperbolic model
condition). Vertical toe loads were measured using proposed by Duncan et al. (1980; also see Itasca
load cells supporting a double row of steel plates, 1998). Bathurst & Hatami (2001) and Hatami &
which were used in turn to seat the first course of Bathurst (2002) reviewed previous attempts reported
modular block units. A set of steel rollers was located in the literature to numerically model the response of
between the steel plates to de-couple the horizontal reinforced soil structures. Their survey showed that
and vertical toe load reactions. Reinforcement strains the stress-dependent nonlinear elastic model (hyper-
in the wall were measured using strain gauges that bolic model) proposed by Duncan et al. (1980), or
were bonded directly to the polypropylene geogrid variants, was the most common constitutive model
longitudinal members and extensometers attached to used to simulate the backfill response during con-
selected geogrid junctions. Backfill settlements were struction and under surcharge loading. However, no
measured using tell-tales and settlement plates. comparisons have been reported for simulations
Further details of the construction and monitoring using other models including a simple linear elastic
techniques used in the RMC test walls have been model. The backfill material properties used in the
reported by Bathurst et al. (2001). current study are reported in Table 1. The values of
soil hyperbolic parameters were determined by
3 NUMERICAL MODELING Table 1. Material properties for sand used in the numerical
model.
3.1 General
Value
The finite difference-based computer program FLAC
(Itasca 1998) was used to simulate the response of the Stiffness properties (Hyperbolic model)
reinforced soil test walls up to the end of construc- Kc (elastic modulus number) 2000
tion. Figure 3 shows the numerical grid used for the Kb (bulk modulus number) 2000
n (elastic modulus exponent) 0.5
segmental retaining walls.
m (bulk modulus exponents) 0.5
Rf (failure ratio) 0.73
3.2 Material mechanical models and properties (range of permissible Poisson’s ratio values) 0–0.49
3.2.1 Soil Strength properties

The backfill in all simulations was modeled as (peak friction angle) (deg) 44
c (cohesion) (kPa) 0
a cohesionless granular soil with Mohr–Coulomb (dilation angle) (deg) 11
failure criterion and dilation angle. The backfill
(density) (Kg/m3) 1730
elastic response was simulated using two different
0.3 m
Concrete facing blocks Interfaces
°
Sand backfill
24 x 0.15 = 3.6 m
3.6 m
0.6 m
Reinforcement
°
° 2.5 m
5.5 m
Figure 3. Numerical model of the segmental retaining walls (Walls 1 and 2). Note: Wall 3 is constructed with four
reinforcement layers with a vertical spacing Sv 0.9 m.
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adjusting initial values taken from the results of triax- Table 2. Reinforcement stiffness and strength properties.
ial compression tests on backfill sand specimens. The
value of Poisson’s ratio for each soil zone during Polymer Number Stiffness Jt () Ty
analyses was determined from the calculated values Wall type of layers (kN/m)* (kN/m)
of the soil elastic modulus and bulk modulus from the
W1 PP 6 138–1698 14
hyperbolic model and hence was allowed to vary W2 PP 6 69–845 7
between values of 0 and 0.49 as noted in Table 1. The W3 PP 4 138–1698 14
modulus numbers Ke and Kb were increased to match
the measured settlement response of the backfill in * Equations valid for 2.5%
the retained zone behind the reinforced soil zone dur-
ing uniform surcharge loading. The backfill peak
plane-strain friction angle value was taken as Facing Soil-Block
Backfill
44° (Bathurst et al. 2001). The backfill dilation Modular Interfaces
Blocks (Continuum)
angle value from direct shear tests was found to vary Soil Column
Zones
from 9° to 12° for the range of confining soil Behind Facing
Nulled Zone
pressures in the test walls. The value 11° was (magnified)
used in the numerical models.
3.2.2 Reinforcement
The reinforcement layers were modeled with two-
noded elastic-plastic cable elements with a strain-
dependent tensile stiffness, J(), tensile yield strength,
Ty and no compressive strength. The reinforcement Block-Block
Interfaces Connection
load–strain response was modeled in parabolic form as: Beam
Backfill
Numerical
Elements Two-noded
Reinforcement Grid
(1) Elements
where T is axial load and is axial strain. This equa- Figure 4. Details of facing-backfill-reinforcement
tion is valid for 2.5% which captures the range of connection.
in-situ measured strains that correspond to the end-
of-construction working stress levels for the experi-
mental walls and is well below the reinforcement Table 3. Interface properties.
strain at yield. The strain-dependent, secant tensile
stiffness of the reinforcement, Js (), was calculated Value
from Equation 1 as:
Soil–Block
sb (friction angle) (deg) 44
sb (dilation angle)(deg) 11
(2) knsb (normal stiffness) (kN/m/m) 0.1 106
kssb (shear stiffness) (kN/m/m) 103
Parameter A in Equation 2 is the initial stiffness mod- Block–Block

bb (friction angle) (deg) 57
ulus and parameter B is the strain-softening coeffi-
c (cohesion) (kPa) 45.7
cient, which is a positive value for polypropylene knbb (normal stiffness) (kN/m/m) 106
reinforcement prior to yield. The stiffness of the ksbb (shear stiffness) (MN/m/m) 50
polypropylene geogrid reinforcement was determined
from the constant rate of strain tests on virgin geo-
grid specimens tested in-isolation at a strain rate of
0.01%/min. The reinforcement material properties reinforcement from the backfill was prevented, which
used in numerical simulations are presented in Table 2. was consistent with measurements recorded in the
The structural nodes of the reinforcement cable ele- physical tests.
ments were rigidly attached to the gridpoints of the
backfill numerical mesh. This was done to ensure 3.2.3 Interfaces
compatibility of displacements between reinforce- The concrete facing units in the test walls were mod-
ment structural nodes and backfill gridpoints. With eled as linear elastic continuum zones separated by
this approach, the grout interface was not utilized nulled zones of zero thickness that contained inter-
in the numerical model. Therefore, pullout of the faces (Fig. 4). Table 3 summarizes the values for the
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interface properties used in the wall simulations. The measured predicted

interfaces were modeled as a spring-slider system 4
with constant strength and stiffness properties. The a) Wall 1 b) Wall 2 c) Wall 3
values of interface normal (kn) and tangential (ks)
stiffness parameters were chosen after a parametric
analysis to minimize computation time. The values
reported in Table 3 were found to be smaller than the 3
default values recommended in the FLAC manual
(Itasca 1998) that were used as the starting point in
Elevation (m)
the parametric analysis. The magnitude of the normal
interface stiffness value was made as large as possible
to avoid the intrusion of adjacent zones but not to 2
cause excessive computation time. The wall deforma-
tion response was found to be relatively insensitive to
the value of inter-block shear stiffness for ksbb
50 MN/m/m. Smaller values of ksbb together with
1
material properties reported in Tables 1 to 3 were
shown to over-predict measured wall deformation
results. The value ksbb 50 MN/m/m gave the best
overall agreement with the measured data. This value
is also within the range of shear stiffness values back- 0
calculated from load-displacement results of labora- 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
tory interface shear tests on the block units (Hatami Facing displacement (mm)
et al. 2002). The interface shear strength was modeled
with the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion defined
Figure 5. Measured and predicted facing displacements at
by interface cohesion and friction angle. The block– end of construction.
block interface peak friction angle and equivalent
cohesion values were determined from the laboratory
interface shear tests as bb 57° and cbb 45.7 kPa, Section 3.2.1, greater soil modulus values than those
respectively (Hatami and Bathurst 2001). The inter- obtained from laboratory triaxial compression tests
face friction angle, sb, between the backfill and fac- were used for the backfill model. With this approach,
ing blocks was back-calculated from measured toe negligible horizontal stress was needed behind the
reactions and the sum of measured connection forces facing panel to simulate backfill compaction in the
using the facing equilibrium analysis described by walls reported in this paper.
Hatami and Bathurst (2001). Their analyses demon-
strated that the soil-facing interface friction angle
value in the test walls was close to the magnitude of 4 RESULTS
the backfill peak plane-strain friction angle (i.e. sb
44°). 4.1 Calibration results
The response results for each of the three test walls in
3.2.4 Construction and boundary conditions this investigation were obtained by changing the rein-
Fixed boundary conditions in horizontal and vertical forcement stiffness (Table 2) or number of layers in
directions were assumed in the numerical model for the numerical model to match the physical test. The
gridpoints at the rigid foundation level, and in the material properties for all other wall components
horizontal direction at the backfill far-end boundary. were kept the same.
The toe boundary condition in the physical and num-
erical models is a reasonable approximation to the 4.1.1 Facing displacements
restraint that can be expected for the typical field case Figure 5 shows the measured and numerically calcu-
of a buried footing. The backfill and facing units were lated facing lateral displacement at potentiometer
placed in lifts of 150 mm (i.e. the height of one mod- levels at the end of construction. The measured dis-
ular block) and the reinforcement layers were numer- placement results are readings from the potentiome-
ically installed as each reinforcement elevation was ters that were mounted against the facing blocks at
reached. Backfill compaction during construction reinforcement layer levels during construction. The
was modeled by applying a horizontal stress compo- predicted results are obtained using the material prop-
nent on the back of the facing units as the soil layers erties shown in Tables 1–3. The results of Figure 5
and facing blocks were put in place and the model show satisfactory agreement between recorded and
solved to reach equilibrium. However, as described in predicted facing lateral displacements for all three
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test walls. Both experimental and numerical results However, while not reported in this paper, the magni-
show greater facing displacement magnitudes for tudes of strain are very different between the three
Walls 2 and 3 constructed with lower stiffness rein- walls under surcharge loading at which time larger
forcement and fewer layers, respectively, compared to wall lateral deformations have occurred and the
the control wall (Wall 1).
4.1.2 Reinforcement strains measured predicted

Figures 6, 7 & 8 show the measured and predicted 0.4
Layer 6
reinforcement strain distributions in the test walls at 0.2
end of construction. The measured results are the data 0.0
from the strain gauge readings. The predicted strain
distributions for test walls show overall satisfactory 0.4 Layer 5
agreement with the experimental results. The strain 0.2
magnitudes at end of construction for all test walls are 0.0
typically less than 1%. Measured strains of this mag- 0.6
nitude for the polymeric reinforcement used in these 0.4 Layer 4
walls have been calculated to have a standard devia- 0.2
Strain (%)
0.0
tion as large as $0.3% strain (Bathurst et al. 2003).
Hence, within the accuracy of the physical measure- 1.0
ments, the results shown in Figures 6–8 capture both Layer 3
0.5
the magnitude and distribution of strains in the meas-
0.0
ured data. The data show that strain magnitudes and
distributions are similar for all three walls. This can 0.8
Layer 2
be explained by the contribution of the very stiff con- 0.4
crete facing column that carries a large portion of 0.0
the lateral earth forces at the end of construction.
0.8
0.4 Layer 1
measured predicted 0.0

0.2
Layer 6 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
0.1
Distance (m)
0.0
Figure 7. Measured and predicted strain distributions at
0.4 end of construction using hyperbolic soil model (Wall 2).
0.2 Layer 5
0.0
measured predicted
0.4 0.8
Layer 4 Layer 4
0.2 0.4
Strain (%)
0.0 0.0
0.8 0.8
Layer 3 Layer 3
0.4 0.4
Strain (%)
0.0 0.0
0.8 0.8
Layer 2 Layer 2
0.4 0.4
0.0 0.0
0.8 0.8
0.4 Layer 1 Layer 1
0.4
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Distance (m) Distance (m)
Figure 6. Measured and predicted strain distributions at Figure 8. Measured and predicted strain distributions at
end of construction using hyperbolic soil model (Wall 1). end of construction using hyperbolic soil model (Wall 3).
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tensile load capacity of the reinforcement layers is horizontal loads is the strong influence of the heavy
mobilized (Bathurst et al. 2001). The calculated max- facing column as noted previously.
imum reinforcement load in all wall models at end of
construction was less than 1 kN/m, which was well
4.2 Influence of soil model on predicted
below the yield strength of the reinforcement materi-
wall response
als (Table 2).
Selected response features of Wall 2 were examined
4.1.3 Toe reactions using a linear elastic soil model with the values of
Figure 9 shows the histories of the measured and cal- Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio taken as
culated horizontal and vertical toe loads for the test E 48 MPa and v 0.2, respectively. The value of
walls during construction. The figure shows a satis- Young’s modulus was back calculated from the mea-
factory agreement between the predicted and measured pressure-settlement results of the backfill behind
sured horizontal and vertical toe reactions for the walls the reinforced soil zone during surcharge loading.
at the end of construction. The plots of measured hor- Figure 10 shows the measured response and the pre-
izontal toe load during construction of Walls 2 and 3 dicted facing displacement results using the linear
deviate from a smooth curve at early stages during elastic and hyperbolic soil models for Wall 2. The
construction. This is thought to be due to a local plotted values are deformations with respect to the
greater soil compaction effort at the back of the fac- time of installation of each displacement device.
ing units during construction. Otherwise the plots of Hence, these plots should not be confused with the
predicted and recorded horizontal toe loads are in actual wall deformation profiles at the end of con-
close agreement. The results shown in Figure 9 indi- struction. Both predicted curves capture the range of
cate that wall reinforcement stiffness or number of wall deformations recorded at the end of construc-
layers has a negligible effect on the magnitude of toe tion. The close agreement between the predicted fac-
loads during construction for the wall height and rein- ing displacement results in Figure 10 indicates that
forcement configurations examined. The reason for the values of soil hyperbolic model parameters reported
this consistent response, particularly with respect to in Table 1 are consistent with a constant soil modulus
value that was determined from the measured load-
settlement response of the backfill. This result may
50
not be unexpected since the hyperbolic modulus num-
a) Wall 1 vertical bers Ke and Kb in Table 1 were independently
40
measured
30 predicted 4
measured
20 hyperbolic soil model
horizontal
10 linear elastic soil model
0
3
Toe reaction (kN/m)
50
b) Wall 2 vertical
40
Elevation (m)
30
20
horizontal 2
10
0
50
c) Wall 3 vertical
40 1
30
20
horizontal
10
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 2 4 6 8 10
Number of facing units (blocks) Facing displacement (mm)
Figure 9. Measured and predicted toe reaction forces Figure 10. Measured and predicted facing displacements
during wall construction. of Wall 2 at end of construction.
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obtained by matching the load-settlement response of magnitude of predicted strains in the reinforcement
the backfill retained zone under surcharge loading as layers at the end of construction for Wall 2.
explained in Section 3.2.1. Figure 11 also shows that Specifically, the predicted peak reinforcement strains
the predicted toe reaction responses were essentially using the soil linear elastic soil model are located far-
identical using both soil models. Taken together, the ther back from the facing compared to the peaks from
data in Figures 10 and 11 suggest that the simpler the hyperbolic model. Comparison with Figure 7
elastic soil model is sufficient to model these perfor- shows that the measured predicted peak strains are
mance features of the wall. However, the results using located close to the back of the facing column and not
the two soil models shown in Figure 12 illustrate a within the reinforced soil mass as predicted for all
subtle but important difference in the distribution and layers in Figure 12 with the exception of layer 1. The
absence of peak strain values within the reinforced
50 soil mass (as predicted using the linear elastic soil
Toe reaction (kN/m)
linear elastic vertical model) was corroborated by the lack of a visible shear
40
hyperbolic zone in the backfill at the time of careful soil excava-
30 tion of the wall. On the other hand, both the hyper-
20 bolic model results and the measured data show
horizontal relatively high reinforcement strain magnitudes at the
10 connections with the facing panel at end of construc-
0 tion, which are not captured using the linear elastic
0 5 10 15 20 25 model. It can be argued that horizontal stresses in the
Number of facing courses placed soil decrease locally behind the facing due to the out-
ward horizontal movement of the facing column dur-
Figure 11. Comparison of predicted toe reaction forces ing construction. As a result, the stress-dependent
using linear elastic and hyperbolic soil models during hyperbolic model predicts smaller soil stiffness val-
construction (Wall 2). ues behind the facing compared to the constant stiff-
ness model. Therefore, the predicted strain magnitudes
at the reinforcement connections with the facing can
linear elastic hyperbolic be expected to be greater (and hence more accurate)
0.2 using the hyperbolic model rather than the constant
Layer 6
0.1 stiffness (linear elastic) soil model.
0.0 Finally, the better match between the predicted and
measured wall response using back-fitted modulus
0.4 Layer 5 values from the measured load-settlement response of
0.2 the backfill in the actual physical tests highlights the
0.0 inability of conventional triaxial compression tests to
capture the backfill plane strain stiffness in the large-
0.6 scale wall tests.
0.4 Layer 4
0.2
Strain (%)
0.0
5 CONCLUSIONS
1.0
Layer 3
0.5 A numerical model has been developed using FLAC
0.0 to predict the measured response of carefully instru-
mented, large-scale geosynthetic reinforced soil mod-
1.0
Layer 2
ular block retaining walls during construction. The
0.5 numerical model accounts for staged construction of
0.0 the retaining walls and incremental lateral displace-
ment of the modular facing using FISH functions.
1.2
Additional subroutines are included in the program to
0.8 Layer 1
0.4 model the backfill stress-dependent stiffness proper-
0.0 ties and the nonlinear reinforcement strain-dependent
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 axial stiffness.
Distance (m)
The measured and numerical results for the con-
struction stage of each wall showed satisfactory agree-
Figure 12. Comparison of predicted strain distributions at ment for different response parameters including
end of construction using linear elastic and hyperbolic soil facing displacements, reinforcement strains and his-
models (Wall 2). tory of toe forces. In particular, reinforcement strain
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distributions using a hyperbolic soil model were found Inter. Conf. Comp. Meth. Adv. Geomech. Invited Theme
to be in good agreement with the measured data. Paper, Tucson, AZ, USA, January 2001: (2) 1223–1232.
Bathurst, R.J., Walters, D.L., Hatami, K. & Allen, T.M. 2001.
Full-scale performance testing and modeling of rein-
forced soil retaining walls. Special Lecture, IS-Kyushu
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2001. Fukuoka, Japan, November 2001.
Duncan, J.M., Byrne, P., Wong, K.S. & Mabry, P. 1980.
The financial support for this study has been provided Strength, stress-strain and bulk modulus parameters for
by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research finite-element analysis of stresses and movements in soil
Council (NSERC) of Canada, 11 Departments of masses. Report No. UCB/GT/80-01. University of
Transportation in the USA, and grants from the California, Berkeley: Department of Civil Engineering.
Department of National Defence of Canada. Hatami, K. & Bathurst, R.J. 2001. Modeling static response
of a segmental geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining wall
using FLAC. Proc. 2nd Int. FLAC Symp. Numerical
Modeling in Geomechanics, Lyon, October 2001,
REFERENCES 223–231.
Hatami, K. Blatz, J.A. & Bathurst, R.J. 2002. Numerical
Allen, T.M., Bathurst, R.J. & Berg, R.R. 2002. Global Level modeling of geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining walls
of Safety and Performance of Geosynthetic Walls: A and embankments. Proc. 2nd Can. Spec. Conf. Comp.
Historical Perspective. Geosynthetics International, (9): Appl. Geotech., Winnipeg, MB, Canada, April 2002.
395–450. Hatami, K. & Bathurst, R.J. 2002. Numerical simulation of
Allen, T.M., Bathurst, R.J., Lee, W.F., Holtz, R.D. & Walters, a segmental retaining wall under uniform surcharge load-
D.L. 2003. A New Working Stress Method for Prediction ing. Proc. 55th Can. Geotech. Conf. Niagara Falls, ON,
of Reinforcement Loads in Geosynthetic Walls, Canadian Canada, October 2002.
Geotechnical Journal, (in press). Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1998. FLAC – Fast
Bathurst R.J. & Hatami, K. 2001. Review of numerical mod- Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, Ver. 3.40. Minneapolis,
eling of geosynthetic reinforced-soil walls. Proc. 10th MN: Itasca.
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Three-dimensional modeling of an excavation adjacent to a major structure
J.P. Hsi
SMEC Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
M.A. Coulthard
M.A. Coulthard & Associates Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: An excavation adjacent to a major bridge was carried out for the construction of a cut and cover
tunnel, Hawthorne Street Tunnel, as part of the South East Transit Project Section 2 in Brisbane, Australia. The
bridge was founded on shallow foundations whilst the excavation extended to below the foundation level. There
was limited tolerance for the bridge foundations to deflect resulting from the excavation, due to its structural
articulation. The support system for the excavation consisted of contiguous and scallop bored piles and ground
anchors. The excavation was carried out in stages taking advantage of the 3D effects to minimize ground defor-
mation. To predict the ground performance during excavation and to optimize the design of the ground support,
FLAC3D was employed to simulate the 3D effects, the construction sequence and the soil-structure interaction.
Field monitoring results showed performance comparable with that predicted by FLAC3D.
1 INTRODUCTION installation of contiguous and scallop bored pile

walls. As the excavation proceeded ground anchors
The South East Transit Project Section 2 (SETP2) were installed through the bored piles next to the
in Brisbane, Australia was recently constructed to pro- bridge abutment. The excavation was staged and the
vide a dedicated traffic corridor for public buses and bridge deflection was monitored to ensure that ground
emergency services vehicles. The project route, of a movements fell within the design limit.
total length of 2.1 km, traversed well-developed areas, Due to the critical nature and complexity of the
which imposed significant constraints on the con- work detailed numerical modeling using FLAC3D
struction work. (Itasca 1997) was carried out. The modeling consid-
One of the major challenges of the project was to ered the excavation and construction sequence, and
provide a design for a transport corridor that passes the interaction between the ground, the bridge foun-
through the inner urban zones of Brisbane, whilst mini- dations, the bored piles, and the ground anchors. An
mizing the impact on adjacent properties, heavily tra- optimized design of the support system was achieved
fficked arterial roads, public utility services and other via the use of FLAC3D.
infrastructure. The design therefore made substantial This paper presents the project overview, the con-
use of tunnels, bridges and retaining walls to minimize struction constraints, the site geology, the design cri-
such impacts. teria, the work performance and, particularly, the
A critical component of the project was to construct FLAC3D modeling.
a cut and cover tunnel, Hawthorne Street Tunnel,
below Hawthorne Street and closely adjacent to
Hawthorne Street Bridge, which was an important
bridge carrying through traffic between major roads. 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The bridge was supported on shallow foundations and
was very sensitive to ground movement. Excavation The South East Transit Project (SETP), an initiative
for the tunnel construction in close proximity to the of Queensland Department of Transport, was devel-
bridge was a major concern. oped to provide a state-of-the-art busway for public
A robust support system for the excavation was transport and emergency services vehicles. The route
adopted to control ground movement and prevent stretches from Brisbane’s Central Business District to
damage to the existing bridge. This system involved Logan City, about 20 km to the south-east.
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prominent topographic highs; the lows are generally

infilled with Quaternary alluvial deposits and some
fill. To the south the Brisbane Tuff trends north-east to
south-west adjacent to the Neranleigh Fernvale Beds,
both of which form undulating topographic highs.
The metasediments mainly comprise fine and
medium grained strongly foliated interbedded phyllites,
argillites and greywacke with some thin quartzites,
while the poorly bedded volcanics comprise welded
ash flow, bedded tuffs, and breccia with some inter-
Figure 1. SETP2 route plan. bedded conglomerate and sandstone. The Tertiary sedi-
mentary rocks mainly consist of conglomerate and
sandstone.
In December 1998 Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd was During construction these rocks were found to be
appointed to design and construct a 2.1 km section of mainly highly weathered or moderately weathered, of
the Busway from Water Street in Woolloongabba very low to low strength, with extremely weathered
to O’Keefe Street in Buranda, Brisbane. This section seams throughout. The extremely weathered seams
of the Busway is known as South East Transit Pro- contained extremely to very low strength material.
ject Section 2 (SETP2); its route plan is shown in Some slightly weathered rock was also encountered.
Figure 1. SMEC Australia Pty Ltd was appointed by
Thiess as the Principal Designer of the project to pro-
3.2 Hawthorne Street tunnel site
vide detailed design of all civil engineering works.
The SETP2 contract, valued at approximately The area is underlain by Bunya Phyllite Formation
$A70 million, included the construction of three bus comprising weathered fine grained phyllite. The soil
stations, seven underpass structures, a 150 m long profile consists of residual soil described as sandy
cut and cover tunnel, a 230 m long driven tunnel, a silty clay and gravelly clay overlain by topsoil or a thin
three span Super T bridge, and substantial retaining layer of fill in parts. The residual soil thins towards the
structures. south and west as the thickness of extremely and highly
Construction of the project commenced in April weathered rock increases. Moderately weathered rock
1999 and was completed in November 2000. The Wool- was expected near the design level of the busway on
loongabba section of the project was completed in early the north-east side of Hawthorne Street Bridge but
August 2000 in readiness for the Olympic events to be was expected to dip below this level towards the south
held at the Woolloongabba Cricket Ground. and west. This change in level of moderately weathered
One of the fundamental challenges of the project rock is related to the contact with Brisbane Tuff about
was to provide a design for a transport corridor that 15 m south of Hawthorne Street. The groundwater had
passes through the inner urban zones of Brisbane, been measured about 1 m below the busway design
whilst minimizing the impact on adjacent properties, level.
heavily trafficked arterial roads, public utility ser-
vices and other infrastructure (including the Cleveland
Railway Line). The design therefore made substantial 4 SITE CONDITIONS
use of tunnels, bridges and retaining walls to reduce
such impacts. The SEPT2 route intersected Hawthorne Street at an
angle of approximately 75° (see Figure 2). A cut and
cover tunnel (Figure 3) was proposed to be built
below Hawthorne Street to provide grade separated
3 SITE GEOLOGY
through traffics. The construction of this cut and cover
tunnel was in the immediate proximity of the existing
3.1 General
Hawthorne Street Bridge, which is a four lane, single
The SETP2 busway route passes through several span arch bridge supported on a strip footing at each
geological formations, the oldest of which is the abutment.
Devonian-Carboniferous low grade metasediments Excavation for the cut and cover tunnel might
belonging to the Bunya Phyllites and Neranleigh cause movement of the foundation resulting in dam-
Fernvale Beds. These rocks are overlain by the age to the bridge structure. Structural analysis of
younger Tertiary volcanics of the Brisbane Tuff, and Hawthorne Street Bridge indicated that the structure
the sedimentary rocks of the Tingalpa Formation. In was very sensitive to any movement, as the bridge had
the northern part of the alignment the metasediments a hinged mid-span, and therefore was held up by the
of the Bunya Phyllites and Neranleigh Fernvale form horizontal support at the foundation level.
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Figure 2. Site plan.
Figure 3. Site elevation.
A horizontal movement of the footing of 10 mm 5 STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

would result in a mid-span vertical movement of
approximately 18 mm. Damage to the bridge struc- The structural system for the cut and cover tunnel
ture was expected to occur should the foundation consisted of contiguous and scallop pile walls and a
movement exceed 10 mm in the horizontal direction. pre-stress concrete plank roof with a reinforced con-
The design of the support system therefore adopted a crete deck slab on top. The planks were placed on
maximum lateral movement of the bridge foundation a slope to match the slope of Hawthorne Street to
of 5 mm for conservative reasons. reduce the amount of fill on top thereby reducing the
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structural depth required. Fill has been maintained on 9. Installed and stressed the second (lower) row of
the structure for the location of services. ground anchors on the western wall of the south-
The western bored piles are located very close to ern half of the tunnel.
the existing abutment of the Hawthorne Street 10. As for 8, but for northern half of the tunnel.
Bridge. Each of the piles next to the bridge was to be 11. As for 9, but for northern half of the tunnel.
fitted with permanent ground anchors to maintain the 12. Excavated to the tunnel floor level.
required horizontal bearing pressure and reduce foun- 13. Installed the pre-stressed concrete planks over
dation movements for the Hawthorne Street Bridge. the headstocks.
Utilizing permanent ground anchors, the anchors can 14. Constructed cast in situ concrete slab over the
be stressed to counteract any predicted movement, tunnel floor.
and re-stressed if the measured movement is greater 15. Took deflection measurements frequently dur-
than that predicted. ing the above construction stages with record of
The eastern wall consisted of 0.9 m diameter piles at corresponding temperature and time.
1.5 m c/c spacing whilst the western wall comprised 16. At any time if the measured lateral deflection
1.2 m diameter piles at 1.77 m c/c spacing, except for of the bridge foundation was greater than 5 mm,
the section within 3 m from the existing bridge foun- contingency measures including further stressing
dation where the piles were at 1.25 m c/c spacing. All the ground anchors would be implemented.
the piles were socketed 0.5 m into slightly weathered
phyllite. The gaps between the piles were shotcreted
with fibrecrete. Two VSL permanent ground anchors
7 NUMERICAL MODELING
were installed on each of the piles adjacent to the bridge
abutment. Each anchor was socketed 10 m into slightly
7.1 Approach
weathered phyllite and prestressed to 1000 kN.
During construction the horizontal movement of The complex three-dimensional nature of the prob-
the abutment and vertical mid-span movement of the lem and the need to allow for possible yield of the
bridge were monitored. The measurements were com- various rock units and to account for a range of struc-
pared to the estimated values and adjustments made tural elements suggested that FLAC3D would be well
to the construction method and program if required. suited to the modeling. The work was performed in
Temporary struts and hydraulic jacks were specified 1999, using version 2.0 of that program.
as part of the contingency plan to help control pile The existing bridge was included only as a loaded
movement at the most critical section. foundation on one side of the new tunnel then the
construction sequence outlined above was repre-
sented in the numerical model. Coding in the in-built
6 CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE
programming language FISH was used to manage
grid generation, excavation stages, installation and
To minimize ground movement associated with the
linking of piles, struts, crossbeams and anchors, and
construction work, excavation was carried out in
many other aspects of the modeling. The task of
stages, as follows:
development and testing would have been much more
1. Constructed bored pile walls and headstocks. difficult without this powerful feature.
2. Installed instruments, with minimum accuracy of
1 mm, for monitoring deflection of headstocks,
7.2 Geotechnical model
and abutments and mid-span joints of Hawthorne
Street Bridge. The geotechnical model adopted for the numerical
3. Undertook baseline readings of the instruments modeling included the subsurface stratigraphy and
without live load on the bridge and at relatively geotechnical parameters. Boreholes in this area indi-
similar climatic temperature during construction. cated that the subsurface consisted of residual soils
4. Excavated southern half of the tunnel to the level to 5–6 m depth underlain by extremely to highly wea-
of the first (upper) row of ground anchors, with thered (EW/HW) phyllite to depths ranging from 9 m
fibrecrete applied between piles progressively. near the eastern wall to 12 m near the western wall, over-
5. Installed and stressed the first (upper) row of round lying moderately weathered (MW) phyllite. Slightly
anchors on the western wall of the southern half weathered (SW) phyllite occurred at depths between
of the tunnel. 14 m at the eastern wall and 16 m at the western wall.
6. As for 4, but for northern half of the tunnel. A uniform subsurface profile based on the more
7. As for 5, but for northern half of the tunnel. critical profile on the western side of the excavation
8. Excavated southern half of the tunnel to the level was assumed and the Mohr-Coulomb soil/rock con-
of second (lower) row of ground anchors with stitutive model was adopted for each rock and soil
fibrecrete applied between piles progressively. unit. The assumed geotechnical model and material
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parameters are given in Table 1. The tensile strength analysis of the existing bridge and (b) the bearing
for each rock unit was taken to be 25% of the cohe- pressure specified on the original bridge drawing.
sion, and zero for the soil. Loading (a) was significantly smaller than (b), which
In situ horizontal stresses were assumed to be half is understandable as the foundation pressure shown in
the vertical in the soil layer and equal to the vertical in the drawing would generally include a factor of safety.
the rock units, where an initial approximation to the For prudent and conservative reasons, the design of the
vertical stress was computed from the above layering supporting structures to the excavation was based on
and densities. case (b). The total applied vertical and horizontal loads
were 31.55 MN and 21.86 MN respectively, where the
horizontal load was taken to act in the direction of
7.3 Bridge footing
the short axis of the footing, i.e. at 25° to the normal
The Hawthorne Street Bridge was represented simply to the busway walls. These loads were converted to
via loads applied to the footing shown in the central part equivalent Cartesian stress components, which were
of the grid in Figure 4. Two loading cases were con- applied to the upper surface of the footing.
sidered, based on (a) SMEC’s independent structural
7.4 Retaining system
Table 1. Geotechnical model adopted for analysis.
The retaining system consists of a line of piles on
Soil/Rock Depth t c E each side of the busway and two rows of ground
Type (m) (kN/m3) (kPa) (deg.) (MPa) anchors attached to the piles on the western side to
support the existing bridge footing. Temporary struts
Residual 0–6 18 10 30 40 0.35 on the northern half of the busway were also modeled
EW/HW 6–12 20 500 35 50 0.30 in some cases but proved to be ineffective.
MW 12–16 22 750 40 200 0.25
SW 16 25 2500 45 400 0.20
The piles on the eastern side are 0.9 m diameter,
installed at 1.5 m center spacing. Those on the western
Figure 4. Rock units and zoning in inner section of FLAC3D grid, before tunnel construction.
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Table 2. Piles (pile structural elements). that a coarsely zoned region was attached at the base
of the finely-zoned part shown, to provide a better
Parameter Value representation of the rock mass response at depth.
Young’s modulus 31 GPa
Poisson’s ratio 0.2 7.6 Modeling strategy
Density 2400 kg/m3
Shear/normal coupling spring stiffness 50 MPa The excavation and support sequence as modeled in
Shear/normal coupling spring cohesion 1 MN/m FLAC3D was as follows, where the computation was
Shear/normal coupling spring friction angle 30° stepped to equilibrium at each stage:
0. Apply boundary conditions to far boundaries
(fixed horizontal displacements on vertical sides
Table 3. Ground anchors (cable structural elements).
and fixed all displacement components on base),
Parameter 8-strand 27-strand initialize approximate in situ stresses, apply grav-
ity and footing load.
Young’s modulus 200 200 GPa 1. Excavate entire busway to 3 m depth.
Density 7860 7860 kg/m3 2. Install both sets of piles then excavate more distant
Tensile/compressive yield strength 1.19 4.0 MN half of busway (relative to view in Figure 4) a fur-
Grout stiffness 10 9 GPa ther 3 m.
Grout cohesive strength 1.13 1.7 MN/m 3. Install upper ground anchors, attached to piles
Grout friction angle 0° 0° between previous excavation and bridge footing,
and excavate 2 m from nearer half of busway.
4. Install crossbeams along lines of piles and struts
side are of 1.2 m diameter, at 1.25 m c/c spacing adja- across excavation (not in all models), and exca-
cent to the nearest corner of the bridge footing and vate more distant half of busway a further 3 m.
1.77 m c/c away from that corner. All piles are sock- 5. Install lower ground anchors attached to piles
eted 0.5 m into SW phyllite. between stage 2 excavation and bridge footing,
The ground anchors for the tunnel as built are and excavate further 3 m from nearer half of
8-strand cables of 15.2 mm diameter, installed in busway.
0.145 m diameter holes and pre-tensioned to 1 MN 6. Remove struts (if installed at stage 4), install
after installation. They dip at 45° and are socketed upper ground anchors attached to piles between
10 m into SW phyllite but are ungrouted over the stage 3 excavation and bridge footing, and exca-
remainder of their lengths. Other forms of anchor vate 2 m more from further half of busway.
were considered in several of the numerical models, 7. Excavate another 2 m from nearer half of busway.
e.g. varying numbers of strand, hole diameter and 8. Install lower ground anchors attached to piles
pre-tension force. between stage 3 excavation and bridge footing
Non-geometric property values for the FLAC3D and excavate final 1 m from nearer half of busway.
structural elements representing the piles and ground The final model configuration is shown in Figure 5,
anchors, are given in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. where the view is as in Figure 4.
Implementation of this construction sequence in a
7.5 Finite difference grid FLAC3D model was largely straightforward, with
As shown in Figure 2, the tunnel was to run obliquely FISH routines controlling the various excavation
under the existing bridge, with a bridge foundation stages and the placement of all types of structural ele-
immediately adjacent. In addition, a soil slope around ments. However, one aspect of the modeling proved
the bridge foundation was to be replaced, as the tun- to be unexpectedly complex, viz. the setting of links
nel was excavated, by a reverse-angle slope that was between the many structural nodes and rock zones or
not constant in profile along the excavation. The grid other structural nodes.
was generated in sections, some of which had to be The key constraint (D. Potyondy, private communi-
joined via “attach” commands, then the entire model cation) is that each structural node in a FLAC3D
was transformed to create the correct skew angle model can only be the source of one link. This link
between the bridge and tunnel. A view of the inner may provide either a node-to-zone connection or a
part of the pre-construction grid is given in Figure 4. node-to-node connection. This means that, where
The cut-and-cover tunnel was to be constructed cables or beams are linked to piles at sub-surface nodes,
within the finer-zoned region to the left of, and paral- then multiple nodes must be created to manage the
lel to, the slope shown in Figure 4. Note that the grid various links, and the direction of those links must
did not conform precisely to the assumed horizontal be carefully controlled. For example, creation of a pile
boundaries on either side of the MW rock unit, and automatically creates links from each sub-surface
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Figure 5. Inner section of FLAC3D model, showing structural elements at completion of excavation and support.
structural node in the pile to the rock zone that con- associated structural nodes were not automatically
tains it. If a ground anchor is to be connected to that deleted by FLAC3D; this also had to be done explicitly
pile then the pile must be formed in such a way that in the data and FISH files.
there is a node at the intended connection point. A final complication arose from the fact that mul-
When the ground anchor is created as a series of cable tiple links at a point in space can only be distin-
elements, a duplicate node will exist at the same coor- guished via the link number that is set within FLAC3D
dinates as the pile node to which it is to be connected. when each particular link is created. Management of
By default, each cable node will also have a node-to- the links therefore required careful monitoring of the
zone link. These must be deleted at all nodes above the numbers of active structural nodes, elements and
grouted section of the cable, then a new node-to-node links and the highest id number for each. Again, this
link must be created, emanating from the node at the was handled effectively using FISH coding.
top end of the cable and ending on the correspond-
ing pile node (so that the pile node is the target of the 7.7 Cases modeled
node-to-node link from the cable node and the source
After a great deal of development and testing several
of the node-to-zone link to the rock).
production analyses were performed. As indicated in
A similar procedure had to be implemented to han-
section 7.4 above, temporary struts were predicted
dle links between piles and crossbeams and between
not to be effective, so the final analyses only included
crossbeams and struts, in cases where the latter were
piles and ground anchors, thus:
modeled. In that case, it was critical that the final set
of links be ordered thus: strut node → beam node → – bbhsu9c: 8-strand cables with 1 MN pre-tension;
pile node → zone. Rigid links were used for all con- case (a) footing loading from section 7.3;
nections between structural elements. – bbhsu9d: as for 9c except for higher case(b) foot-
Further, when structural elements were deleted ing loading;
from a model, such as when struts were removed at – bbhsu9e: as for 9d except 27-strand cables with
computational stage 6 above, then the links from the 3 MN pre-tension.
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Figure 6. Induced horizontal displacements in footing at end of construction, from run bbhsu9d (upper plot) and bbhsu9e
(lower plot). Piles and ground anchors are shown as solid and dashed lines respectively; busway is to left of piles.
Figure 6 shows the predicted horizontal displace- i.e. they would overdo the support. In contrast, the
ments of the bridge footing at the end of runs 9d and 9e anchors in model 9d allowed the footing to relax
respectively. These results suggested that the heavier towards the excavation, but the maximum horizontal
ground anchors, with 3 MN pre-tension, would actually displacement was constrained to be less than 5 mm,
pull the footing away from the busway excavation, as required. Histories of x-, y- and z-components of
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Figure 7. Histories of induced x-, y- and z-displacements at two points on footing, during the stages of construction, as
computed in model bbhsu9d.
Figure 8. Axial forces in one set of ground anchors at end of construction, as computed in model bbhsu9d.
displacement of several points on the footing, for the The axial forces acting within one set of ground
same model 9d, showed that they would vary through anchors at the completion of construction are shown
the various computational stages but were also always in Figure 8; the vertical axis represents the vertical
predicted to be less than about 5 mm (see Fig. 7). coordinate (RL) along the cables and the horizontal
Some further representative results from run bbhsu9d axis the axial force (note that the sign convention for
are presented and discussed below. forces in structural elements in FLAC3D depends
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Figure 9. Axial forces in some of the piles on the footing side of the excavation, at the end of construction, as computed in
model bbhsu9d.
Figure 10. Moments (my – upper and mz – lower) in the same set of piles as in Figure 9.
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upon the relative orientation of the nodes). In the existing bridge were not disturbed. Analysis of the
grouted (lower) section, the developed forces are bridge indicated that lateral displacements of the foot-
close to the pre-tension force of 1 MN but they are ing must be constrained not to exceed 5 mm. Program
about 8% smaller in the ungrouted (upper) section. FLAC3D was used to simulate the complex construc-
This is consistent with the response expected as the tion sequence, including the placement of piles and
system is re-equilibrated after pre-tensioning of the ground anchors. FISH programming was used exten-
anchors. Examples of forces and moments generated sively to assist in generating the grid and in managing
in piles adjacent to the bridge footing are given in the links between the various structural elements.
Figures 9 and 10. In each case the vertical axis gives The results from a series of production analyses indi-
the RL (z-coordinate) of pile elements and the hori- cated that a design based on 8-strand ground anchors,
zontal axis the force or moment, in SI units. The axial pre-tensioned to 1 MN, would be satisfactory. The
forces in Figure 9 clearly show the effects of the con- predictions of FLAC3D have been confirmed by mon-
nection of ground anchors at two points in the upper itoring during construction.
sections of some of the piles.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
8 FIELD PERFORMANCE
The authors wish to acknowledge many valuable
During the entire excavation process the measured
communications with Dr. D. Potyondy, Itasca, partic-
lateral deflection of the abutment of Hawthorne
ularly about the linking of structural elements in
Street Bridge was less than 5 mm. There was no dis-
FLAC3D.
tress of Hawthorne Street Bridge during and after
construction of the Hawthorne Street Tunnel.
REFERENCES
9 SUMMARY
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 1997. FLAC3D – Fast
Design and construction of the section of the Brisbane Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions,
Busway had to ensure that the adjacent footings of an Version 2.0. Minneapolis, MN: Itasca.
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Pile installation using FLAC
A. Klar
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
I. Einav
Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems, UWA, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a numerical simulation of pile installation using FLAC. A new contact for-
mulation between rigid and deformable bodies is employed. This formulation utilizes equations of motion to
describe the behavior of the deformable nodal point along the contact surface. Unlike FLAC’s own embedded
interface formulation, the new formulation does not encounter discontinuities problem along nonlinear or
piecewise linear surfaces.
1 INTRODUCTION FLAC’s own interface formulation is associated with

undesirable behaviors, especially along nonlinear
The evaluation of pile installation has great signifi- convex surfaces. As a result, an alternative and simple
cant in design, for two main reasons: approach is suggested.
1. In saturated clay soils, a considerable change in
pore pressure takes place due to the pile installa-
2 REVIEW OF METHODS
tion. This change of pore pressure and its subse-
quent dissipation process affect the pile capacity.
Generally, it may be said that five numerical/analyti-
2. Simulation of pile installation allows for more
cal methods exist for the evaluation of pore-pressure
accurate evaluation of the end bearing capacity.
generation and/or end bearing capacity:
Over the last three decades, the problem of pile
installation has been extensively researched by differ-
2.1 Limit analysis approach
ent analytical/numerical methods. These methods can
be, generally, categorized into five groups: This group of methods includes lower bound solution
(or slip line method), upper bound solution and limit
1. Limit analysis approach,
equilibrium analysis. Results obtained by this approach
2. cavity expansion solution,
correspond to collapse mechanism. In these methods
3. strain path method,
only the strength parameters of the soil are introduced;
4. Eulerian large strain finite element analysis, and
i.e. the stiffness of the soil has no influence on the
5. Lagrangian large strain analysis.
results. One may refer to Durgunoglu & Mitchell
The problem of pile installation is strongly related to (1975) for some examples of failure mechanisms.
the problem of cone penetration. As a result, advances
in understanding were, and still are, strongly connected
2.2 Cavity expansion solutions
to research of cone penetrations.
In the present work, simulation of pile installation In this group, the stresses along the pile are related to
is presented using the Lagrangian large strain analysis solutions of cavity expansion. It is commonly assumed
code FLAC. To understand the importance of using that the solution of cylindrical cavity expansion may
Lagrangian analysis, the following section overviews represent the deformations and stresses along points,
the different methods and their limitations. which are far from the end of the pile, and that solu-
Since the problem of pile installation involves tion of spherical cavity expansion may be used for
interaction between two bodies (pile and soil), there is approximation of field quantities near the pile lower
a need to employ some kind of interface formulation. tip. Figure 1 shows the different zones. Zone II and III
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are the ones that may be represented by the cavity 2.5 Large strain Lagrangian finite element
expansion solutions. The behavior in Zone I is highly analysis
affected by the soil surface. One of the purposes of
This method is the one employed in FLAC, in which
the work presented here is to evaluate the surface
the mesh is updated throughout the pile penetration
effect on the solution, and to discover the required
process. This method is the only one that in theory can
depth for which the evolution of the end bearing
capture the installation process as it is, while including
capacity factor Nc is redundant. To learn more about
the influence of both soil surface and changing prop-
the use of cavity expansions in the solution of pile and
erties with depth. It should be noted, however, that this
cone penetration, one may refer to the excellent book
method is associated with numerous numerical prob-
by Yu (2000).
lems, when simulating pile or cone penetrations, due
to the great deformations involved in the problem.
2.3 Strain path method
The strain path method was first suggested by Baligh 3 PENETRATION DIFFCULTIES IN FLAC
(1985). In this method, a flow field of soil is assumed
to exist around the pile. From this assumed flow field, At this current stage, if one chooses to utilize FLAC’s
strains are derived, while stresses can then be deter- embedded interface formulation to simulate the soil-
mined according to a particular constitutive relation. pile contact, he should acknowledge that on top of the
Two main drawbacks are associated with this method: problems due to the great deformations, he introduces
(a) equilibrium will not necessarily exist, and (b) the new problem. As in many other codes, in FLAC’s inter-
effect of the surface and/or changing properties with face formulation the two bodies are prevented from
depth cannot be included, i.e. it can represent only crossing each other. This leads to discontinuities in the
deep steady penetrations. The first limitation may be contact between the bodies (Itasca 2000), if nonlinear or
partly overcome by the use of the iterative procedures piecewise linear surfaces are involved. Figure 2 shows
suggested by Teh & Houlsby (1988). an example of the problem for piecewise linear rigid
contact surface. In Figure 2a the contact formulation
corresponds to that of FLAC; i.e. it does not allow for
2.4 Large strain Eulerian finite element analysis the deformable body (represented by the quadrilateral
In the Eulerian large strain finite element analysis, the elements) to overlap the rigid body (represented by the
material (soil) streams through fixed points in space thick black line), and therefore gaps between these two
[e.g. van den Berg 1994]. This method possesses the are developed near discontinuity points along of the
same limitation of the last methods; i.e. inability to rigid body. There are two kinds of gaps that may
model the soil free surface. develop between the rigid body and the deformable one.
The first kind, (noted as type I in Fig. 2), is a gap that
will always result when the deformable body is in con-
tact with a concave surface of a rigid body, and is fic-
tional because the lamped grid points are still in contact.
The second kind (noted as type II in Fig. 2) is true gap
Zone I
associated with zero forces acting on the grid points.

Zone II
Zone III
Figure 1. Cavity expansion zones along the pile. Figure 2. Contact problems along piecewise linear surface.
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This behavior, shown in Fig. 2(a) for piecewise lin- defined in the fixed coordinate system. If considering
ear surface, will be more pronounced in nonlinear sur- the moving coordinate system then the deformable
faces, since, at least, every second grid point will be body motion is defined by a velocity vector of
out of contact with the rigid body in a convex surfaces. vL vD vR and acceleration vector of aL aD aR.
To overcome this problem of undesirable gaps, the Note the rigid body is stationary in the moving coordi-
contact formulation must allow the deformable body nate system. Figure 3 shows velocity and acceleration
to overlap the rigid body, as shown in Figure 2b. In this diagrams of a grid point located on the rigid body. This
“overlapping” formulation, the grid points, from body can be represented by a shape function x f (z)
which the strain increments are derived, travel along (x and z are the coordinates of the moving system).
the rigid body surface, unless some sort of contact Since the deformable body cannot enter the rigid
logic that allows separation is included. In the follow- body nor departure from it (unless tensile failure is con-
ing section, such a contact formulation is presented, sidered as will be discussed later) the motion of it can
and is used later for the analysis of pile installation. only be tangential to the rigid body; i.e. only the tangen-
tial components of both velocity vector and acceleration
need to be introduced in to the equations of motion. If
4 NEW CONTACT FORMULATION we consider an explicit time marching numerical
FOR FLAC scheme, the following expression can be written:
The following contact formulation is applicable to the

interaction between rigid and deformable bodies. In
general, both the rigid and the deformable bodies are
free to move in space. In the present formulation the
rigid body motion is prescribed. However, it can easily
be extended to a more general case where the motion
of the rigid body is determined by the solution of its
motion equations; this feature is studied these days (1)
and is being employed for the simulation of anchor
installation. In the most degenerate way, the present
formulation can also be used to create roller fixing in
an inclined angle; an option that is absent from FLAC.
4.1 Formulation
A body may be defined as rigid if the distance between
any two points of it is constant with time. The motion
of a non-rotating rigid body can be described by two where v Lx, vLzand aLx, aLzare the components of veloc-
components, a velocity vector, vR and an acceleration ity and acceleration vectors in the moving coordinate
vector aR. The motion of each lumped mass located on system (x, z) at time t. vxD, vDz , aD x
, aDz , vxR, vRz , axR, azR
a grid point that represents the deformable body can are the components of the motion vectors of the
also be described by two vectors, vD and aD for veloc- deformable and rigid body in the fixed coordinate
ity and acceleration respectively. vD and aD are here system (x, z) at time t. If the motion of the rigid body
is prescribed (i.e. know a priori) then the motion of
the deformable body in the fixed coordinate system is
as follows:
Velocity Diagram Acceleration Diagram
(2)
νL
R
a
aL
Shape function X’ = f(Z’)

Note, that in explicit numerical scheme it is assumed
νR
aD that state variable are frozen at each step (dt); i.e. for
νD
each time step the rigid and deformable body are fixed
in space, and therefore, all values in the right side of
Z' Equation 1 are known. The value of aD in Equation 1 is
obtained from the assumption that the deformable body
X' is not in contact with the rigid body; i.e. the accelera-
tion is obtained from the forces acting on the grid point
Figure 3. Velocity and acceleration diagrams. due to the deformation of the deformable body. To
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introduce some friction between the rigid and the 5.2 Assumptions
deformable body one can add frictional force in the
The numerical analysis was conducted under the fol-
tangential direction and re-obtain from it the value of
lowing assumptions:
aD. If a rigid-plastic tangential interface is desired then
one can define the friction forces direction simply 1. The material behaves elastic perfectly plastic and
according to the relative velocity between the soil and satisfies the von-Mises failure criteria. Since the
the pile. If an elastic plastic tangential interface is analysis is associated with undrained loading, and
desired a slightly more complicated formulation is the volumetric stresses are decoupled from the
required. Since in the current paper only smooth piles deviatoric ones in the considered constitutive
are considered, this kind of formulation is not pre- model, it is possible to perform a “Dry” simulation;
sented, although written and verified by the writers. i.e. to obtain the excess pore pressure value using
To consider possible separation between the rigid Skempton’s parameter, B 1 1/(1 (Kw/n)/ Ks),
body and the deformable body, a contact logic must utilizing the formula u B(ii ii0 )/3, where
be introduced. If, for example, the contact logic con- the superscript 0 denotes initial state.
siders zero tensile forces between the rigid and the 2. The undrained strength of the soil is defined
deformable bodies as condition for separation, then it according to the relation Cu 0.25v0 OCR0.95,
will occur once 180 a a. Whenever this v0 is the initial vertical effective stress and OCR
condition is satisfied, the grid point is solved accord- is the over consolidation ratio.
ing to aD; i.e. vD(t dt) vD(t) aD(t)dt. If during 3. The shear modulus is taken proportional to the
one of the following steps the grid point comes undrained strength Cu, and the bulk modulus was
in contact with the rigid body, Equations 1 & 2 are high enough so the material can be considered as
applied. Some small changes need to be introduced incompressible.
into Equation 1 if it is desired to apply one of FLAC’s 4. The analysis presented herein considered a con-
damping schemes which operates on grid points mass. stant OCR with value that equals 2.
If damping results only from the constitutive model, 5. Initial stress condition corresponded to K0 of 0.7.
then Equation 1 is satisfactory. One may refer to 6. To avoid the kinematic constrains of a fixed bound-
Einav & Klar (2003) where the above formulation is ary, and to allow approximate simulation of an infi-
extended to a more general case of three-dimensional nite soil layer, a prescribed boundary condition was
rotating rigid-deformable bodies in space. applied to the outer radius of the grid. The boundary
The described procedure is easily implemented in condition corresponded to the cylindrical cavity
FLAC using a FISH function, which is called during expansion solution of an incompressible elastic
each of the calculation cycles. Generally, since the material; i.e. the external pressure acting on the mesh
motion of the contact grid points is solved indepen- was defined by the analytical solution of the internal
dently (i.e. using Equations 1 & 2 rather than by FLAC),
they need to be fixed in both directions. Quantities
related to aD are extracted from FLAC’s gridpoint vari-
able xforce and yforce. Quantities related to velocities,
both readable and writeable, are manipulated using
FLAC’s gridpoint variable xvel and yvel.
5 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
5.1 Pile shape

In the present numerical analysis the pile tip is repre-
sented by a continuous nonlinear shape function
according to the following expression:
(3)
where r0 is the radius of the pile and and bc are

parameters that define the shape of the pile tip. Figure 4
shows three examples of tip shapes once is set to
give 95% of r0 at z 3r0. Due to space limitation, in bc = 1 bc = 2 bc = 3
the current paper we present results only for pile tip
with bc equal to 2. Figure 4. Different pile tip shapes.
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pressure of cavity expansion with an identical radius As discussed in section 2, only Lagrangian large
to that of the outer boundary. It was verified that the strain analyses can simulate the penetration of the pile
plastic zone did not reach the outer boundary, thus through the surface, and therefore are the only ones
the elastic cavity expansion solution was suited. that can evaluate the influence of the surface on the
cone penetration. Figure 9 shows the cone resistance
factor, Nc, for different rigidity indexes (G/Cu). The
6 RESULTS Nc factor was calculated according to:
Figure 5 shows typical distortion of the mesh associ-

(4)
ated with steady penetration of the pile. It should be
noted that analyses with much coarser mesh resulted
with almost identical stress distributions and response,
and that it was impossible for the pile to penetrate the
surface without causing a bad geometry, unless more
coarser mesh, than that shown in Figure 5, was pre-
scribed near the soil surface. As a rough rule of a thumb,
it was found that a contact soil element near the surface
should have a radial dimension of about one pile radius,
and this can be rapidly become finer as elements are
deeper. Figure 6 shows normalized excess pore pressure
associated with the state of Figure 5.
Figure 7 shows the development of excess pore pres-
sure at depth of 25 radiuses for different radial distances
(xi is the initial distance from the axis-symmetric line).
Figure 8 shows the changes of the second invariant of
the stress during the installation of the pile for points
located a depth of 25 radiuses. The y-axis is normalized
such that it gives maximum value of one, in accordance
to the von-Mises yield surface radius. Initial K0 condi-
tions create initial value that is different than zero.
Clearly, as the tip advances towards the checkpoints, the
value of the second invariant increases until failure is
reached; failure is reached quicker when the points are
closer to the axis.
Figure 6. Normalized excess pore pressures (G/Cu 100).
Figure 5. Distorted mesh in steady penetration Figure 7. Development of excess pore pressure
(G/Cu 100). (G/Cu 100).
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1.2 Points digned

smaller than any reasonable slenderness ratio (L/D)
xi/r0=0.31
xi/r0=1.0 with cone tip associated with piles foundations. However, for
xi/r0=1.65 G/Cu 100 the normalized steady state depth
J2D0.5/(2/30.5Cu)
xi/r0=3.15 becomes in the same order of the piles slenderness

0.8 xi/r0=5.5
xi/r0=10.5 ratios. For example, for G/Cu 1118 the pile slen-
derness ratio must be greater than 25 in order for the
0.4 soil surface to have no effect. In case the pile slender-
ness is smaller than that value, the soil surface influ-
ences the Nc factor. In such case it is not legitimate to
0 use cavity expansion solutions for obtaining the Nc
0 10 20 30 40 factors, as they assume that there is no influence from
Penetration/r0 surface. The same may be regarded to the solutions
based on the strain path method, which also does not
Figure 8. Shear behavior (G/Cu) 100. consider the soil surface.
15
G/Cu=1118 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
14
13 G/Cu=500
D Zc
12 G/Cu=223 A contact formulation for interaction between rigid and
11 deformable bodies is presented. This approach over-
10 G/Cu=100 comes some of the problems associated with FLAC’s
Nc
9 own built-in interface formulation when it is applied to

8 G/Cu=44.7
7
nonlinear or piecewise linear surfaces. The proposed
G/Cu=20 formulation can easily be used to create rolling fixing
6
5 Steady state front along any line inclination, an option that is currently
4 absent from FLAC. The contact formulation is
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40
employed in the large strain simulation of pile installa-
Zc/D
tion. A study on the generation of pore pressures and on
Figure 9. Development of Nc factor with depth.
surface effects is presented. There is a strong indication
from the analysis results, that the use of cavity expan-
sion or strain path method solutions should be carefully
where, Ftot is the total vertical force acting on the pile examined before employed in the estimation of end
(considering a smooth pile), v(Zc) is the total verti- bearing capacity, specially for low slenderness driven
cal stress at depth Zc, and defined as the distance piles in soils with high rigidity index.
between the surface and the middle of the pile’s tip
(and in our shapes, 1.5r0 above its tip). Note that in
Figure 9 the horizontal axis Zc/D does not start at REFERENCES
zero. This is due to the fact that the cone must be
completely positioned inside the soil in order for the Baligh, M.M. 1985. Strain path method, J. Soil Mech. and
Nc factor to have a proper meaning, if it is obtained Found. Div., ASCE, 111(9): 1108–1136.
Durgunoglu, H.T. & Mitchell, J.K. 1975. Static Penetration
from the net vertical force,
Resistance of soil, I: Analysis. Proc. ASCE Spec. Conf. on
In Situ Measurement of Soil Properties, New York, Vol. 1
Fnet Nc · Cu · r20. 151–171.
Einav, I & Klar, A. 2003. An approach for nonlinear contact
surface analysis and application to pile installation. BGA
As can be seen from Figure 9, as the rigidity index Int. Conf. On Foundations: “Innovations, Observations,
increases, both the Nc value and depth in which it Design and Practice”, Dundee, Scotland, Sept 2003.
becomes constant increase. The dashed line in Figure 9 Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2000. FLAC (Fast Lagrangian
represents a required depth to obtain 95% of the max- Analysis of Continua) Ver. 4.0 User’s Manual, Minnea-
imum Nc values. This depth is referred herein as the polis Minnesota: Itasca.
depth of the steady state front, Zss. It is obvious from Teh, C.I. & Houlsby, G.T. 1988. Analysis of the Cone
Figure 9 that Zone III (see Fig. 3) can be associated Penetration Test by the Strain Path Method. Proceedings
of the 6th International Conference on Numerical and
with spherical cavity expansion solution, as was sug-
Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Innsbruck, April,
gested by Yu (2000), only if some minimal pile slen- Vol. 1, ISBN 90-6191-810-3, pp 397–402.
derness ratio (L/D) is satisfied. It seems that for piles van den Berg P. 1994. Analysis of soil penetration. Ph.D. the-
installed in soil with rigidity G/Cu 100 the require- sis. The Netherlands: Delft University Press.
ments for minimum slenderness are irrelevant, since Yu, H.S. 2000. Cavity Expansion Methods in Geomechanics.
the normalized steady state penetration depth is London: Kluwer Academic Publisher.
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Axial tension development in the liner of a proposed Cedar Hills regional

municipal solid waste landfill expansion
F. Ma
Washington State Department of Ecology Solid Waste Program, Eastern Regional Office, Washington, USA
ABSTRACT: A finite difference analysis using the computer code FLAC was conducted of a municipal land-
fill expansion proposal at the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill (CHRL), King County, Washington State. The main
objective of the modeling efforts was to assess whether a standard design of a liner system would be adequate
to withstand typical loading conditions for municipal solid waste landfills. The loading conditions were: (1) the
gradual layered waste dumping up to 38 m (125) over the High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) liner; (2) dynamic
loadings caused by a shallow earthquake and a deep subduction zone earthquake; and (3) the simulation of a
cavity development in the old existing waste underneath the HDPE liner due to collapsing of some bulky items.
The FLAC (2D) analyses have revealed (1) the developments of the axial tensile stress and displacement in the
HDPE liner; (2) the stress and deformation developments in the municipal solid wastes; and, (3) the accumulative
and separate developments of stress and displacement of the landfill system under waste dumping, earthquakes
and cavity collapsing. The main conclusion was that the maximum axial tension in the 60 mil HDPE liner is higher
than the yielding strength of a GSE 60 mil HDPE liner (HDR/Golder 2001) under the proposed site, operational
and loading conditions. Thus some local reinforcement or stronger geomembrane liners will be needed.
1 INTRODUCTION 1986 lacked a bottom liner (Fig. 1). A portion of the

proposed expansion at the CHRL will be located over
A finite difference analysis using the computer code the existing wastes. This portion of the expansion foot-
FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) was print was called liner-over-refuse (HDR/Golder 2001,
conducted of a municipal solid waste landfill expansion Fig. 1). The largest axial stresses were expected to
proposal at the Cedar Hills Regional Landfill (CHRL), develop in the liner-over-refuse area due to anticipated
King County, Washington State. The work was done excessive overall and differential settlements of the
to independently verify FLAC modeling conducted underlying wastes. The remainder of the expansion will
by King County Solid Waste Division’s Consultant be founded on a highly competent glacial till subgrade
HDR/Golder (2001). The main focus of the analyses where settlements of the liner are anticipated to be
was to predict axial tensions that could develop in the minimal and thus settlement induced tensile stresses
60 mil HDPE geomembrane liner sandwiched between would not be of concern.
existing wastes and a future 38 m (125 foot) high waste
pile. The analyses involved three loading conditions:
1. the future emplacement of wastes;
2. earthquakes; and
3. a cavity opening up in the existing waste at a shal-
low depth below the proposed liner due to the col-
lapsing of some bulky items.
2 SITE CONDITIONS
Figure 1. Cross section of the landfill including location of
Landfilling commenced at the CHRL site in the existing wastes, liner, new wastes to be disposed and foun-
early 60s. Those portions of the landfill started before dation soil.
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3 MODEL CONFIGURATIONS Table 1. Stiffness of existing waste*.
3.1 Consultant’s study Distance from left

boundary of the Shear modulus Bulk modulus
HDR/Golder (2001) predicted the axial tension in the model G K
geomembrane in the liner-over-refuse area using the m (ft) kPa (psi) kPa (psi)
FLAC code. This tension was induced by the overall
settlement in the existing and future wastes. The geom- 0–73 (0–240) 1966.9 (285.2) 5245.4 (760.6)
etry of the proposed landfill expansion was used in this 73–88 (240–290) 1985.5 (287.9) 5294.4 (767.7)
88–104 (290–340) 1924.8 (281.7) 5181.1 (751.3)
load Case 1 modeling. Load Cases 2 and 3, i.e. the axial
104–119 (340–390) 1829.0 (265.2) 4877.4 (707.2)
stresses induced by earthquake loading and the collaps- 119–134 (390–440) 1818.9 (263.7) 4850.3 (703.3)
ing of a cavity in the existing waste, were analyzed 134–149 (440–490) 1737.5 (251.9) 4633.4 (671.8)
parametrically using the simplifying assumption of a 149–165 (490–540) 1678.3 (243.4) 4475.5 (649.0)
horizontally stratified site. The modeling assumed 165–180 (540–590) 1562.1 (226.5) 4165.6 (604.0)
a rectangular mesh. The effects of the simplifying 180–195 (590–640) 1532.4 (222.2) 4086.4 (592.5)
assumptions were unknown and were considered minor 195–210 (640–690) 1590.9 (230.7) 4242.3 (615.1)
and probably conservative. Therefore it is probably rea- 210–226 (690–740) 1640.4 (237.9) 3474.3 (634.3)
sonable to consider the predictions for load Cases 2 and 226–241 (740–790) 1684.7 (244.3) 4492.6 (651.4)
241–256 (790–840) 1771.7 (256.9) 4724.5 (685.0)
3 as upper bounds of the field behavior of the geomem-
256–271 (840–890) 1948.3 (282.5) 5196.0 (753.4)
brane. This will be further evaluated later in the paper. 271–287 (890–940) 2511.1 (364.1) 6696.1 (970.9)
287–293 (940–960) 2670.3 (387.2) 7120.8 (1032.5)
3.2 The new models
* Note: the values are obtained and deduced from
To further refine the understanding of the overall axial HDR/Golder (2001).
stress in the liner-over-refuse and settlements of the
existing and future wastes, a single model (Fig. 1) is
used in these analyses for the three different stages of
loading as stated in the introduction. To make the (7430.6 psi), shear stiffness ks 2.26 105 kPa
comparison easier, the properties of existing, new (32777.8 psi), and friction angle 24°. The
wastes and interface used in the HDR/Golder (2001) 60 mil HDPE liner is modeled with isotropic-
study were adopted. elastic beam segments; its material properties per
i. The existing waste is modeled using FLAC’s Mohr- unit length are area A 1.524 mm (0.06 inch), and
Coulomb option. Using the field measurement of elastic modulus 9.29 105 kPa (134722.2 psi) .
the existing waste, stiffness parameters were devel- The unit weight of the 60 mil HDPE geomembrane
oped by HDR/Golder (2001) as shown in Table 1. is 9.26 kN/m3 (59 pcf).
The relationship between unit weight and depth for iv. The foundation layer was modeled using FLAC’s
municipal solid waste by Kavazanjian et al. (1995) Mohr-Coulomb option. The material parame-ters
is adopted. The friction angle of 35 degree is are elastic shear modulus G 5.12 104 kPa
assumed. (7430.6 psi), bulk modulus Kmax 1.53 105 kPa
ii. The new waste is modeled using FLAC’s Modified (22222.2 psi) and frictional angle 35 degree.
Cam-Clay option. The model parameters are elastic For static analyses, the left and right boundaries
shear modulus G 5.12 104 kPa (7430.6 psi), are constrained from horizontal movements and the
maximum elastic bulk modulus Kmax 1.53 bottom boundary is constrained from both horizontal
105 kPa (22222.2 psi), density a variable with and vertical movements.
depth (Kavazanjian et al. 1995), slope of elastic
swelling liner 0.03, slope of normal consolida-
tion line 0.13, frictional constant M 1.418,
4 MODELING RESULTS
preconsolidation pressure pc 71.8 kPa (10.4 psi),
reference pressure p1 71.8 kPa (10.4 psi), and
4.1 Case 1 loading from up to 38 m (125) of
specific volume at reference pressure on normal
solid waste
consolidation lien v 1.75.
iii. The 60 mil HDPE liner is connected with new The increase of tensile forces in the geomembrane
waste above and existing waste or foundation soil in the liner-over-refuse area was modeled by simulating
below by FLAC interfaces. The interface allows the the time-history of waste emplacement as a sequence of
relative slip movements between the liner and some 3 m (10) thick layers. The axial stress in the liner-
wastes or foundation soil. The interface input para- over-refuse and the overall displacement in the solid
meters are normal stiffness kn 5.12 104 kPa waste are shown in Figures 2 & 3, respectively.
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Figure 2. Distributions of axial tension in the geomem- Figure 4. Distributions of axial tension in the geomem-
brane liner. brane liner due to static and dynamic loadings.
recorded at Moquegua, Peru, which is approximately

190 km southwest of the epicenter. The peak acceler-
ations for the east-west and north-south time-histories
are approximately 30 and 20% g, respectively. These
accelerations fall within the ranges of predicted peak
accelerations (mean plus one standard deviation) from
Figure 3. Vertical-displacement contour. attenuation relationships developed for the Pacific
Northwest (Crouse 1991, Youngs et al. 1997).
The Moquegua record was 200 seconds long. After
As shown in Figure 2, the maximum axial tensions the first 120 seconds the shaking produced minimal
in the geomembrane liner are predicted to occur at the changes in axial tension. To facilitate further model-
left anchor trench (El 1 of Fig. 1) and the transition ing, only the first 120 seconds of the record were used.
area (El 75 of Fig. 1) between the liner-over-refuse As the site is asymmetric and the plastic nature of the
and regular liner. The axial tension for the portion of wastes modeled, the time history was reversed (multi-
liner bearing on the competent foundation is minimal. plied by 1) to account for directivity effects. Every-
The tension spike at the toe (El 75 of Fig. 1) of the thing else remained the same. As the results showed
liner-over-refuse is likely caused by the slope transi- almost no impact, further analyses were done using
tion form 5H : 1V to 3H : 1V. only the unmodified earthquake time history. Since
Figure 3 shows that the center portion around the let- peak acceleration in the E-W direction is about 50%
ter A of the new wastes physically displaced the most higher that of the N-S direction, both records of the
at approximate 3 m (10). Moquegua time history were used in the analyses.
Only 5% Raleigh damping is used for the dynamic
analyses. Before running the dynamic analyses, the
4.2 Representative earthquakes, damping and
free field boundary condition of FLAC is applied to
boundary conditions
the numerical model. Then, either a velocity-time or
The USGS Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Deaggrega- acceleration-time history is applied from the bottom
tion website (USGS 1996 maps) identifies two sources of the numerical model.
for the CHRLF site as the principal contributors to the
earthquake hazard. The sources are:
4.3 Dynamic analyses under the subduction 2001
i. a crustal Moment Magnitude (Mw) 6.5–7.0 earth- Moquegua, Peru, earthquake time-histories
quake at a hypocentral distance within 20 km; and
Using the N-S record, the cumulative development of
ii. a subduction zone earthquake Mw 8.3–9.0 at a hypo-
axial tension from the dynamic loading on top of the
central distance of approximately 135 km.
static results (Fig. 2) is summarized in Figure 4.
The near field crustal earthquake has been associated Under dynamic loading, axial tension increased
with the potential rupture of the Seattle fault; and, the approximately 70% in the geomembrane in the lower
farther and larger quake represents an interface event half of the liner-over-refuse segment, while the upper
on the Cascadia Subduction Zone along the Pacific half stayed almost the same. As a result the maximum
Northwest Coast. In this analysis the near field quake tension is predicted to shift to the break in slope (tran-
was represented by the velocity time-history derived sition from the 5H : 1V to 3H : 1V grade). To further
from the acceleration time-history recorded from illustrate this effect, the axial tension histories at
the M7.3 Landers earthquake on June 28, 1992 in these two locations are shown in Figures 5 & 6.
California (HDR/Golder 2001); and, the June 23, 2001 The very different predicted responses of the two
M7.9–8.4 Peru Earthquake was considered represen- locations are likely due to the different overburden
tative of the larger subduction earthquake. The acceler- conditions, the slope or slope change of the liner, etc.
ation time-history for this subduction earthquake was For example, the overburden for El 1 is only a couple
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Figure 7. Distributions of axial tension in the geomem-

brane liner due to static and dynamic loadings.
Figure 5. History of axial tension development in the liner-

over-refuse due to static and dynamic loadings at EL 75.

over-refuse due to static and dynamic loadings at El 75.
Figure 6. History of axial tensions at EL 1 in response to

the static and dynamic loadings.
of meters; but El 75 is under approximately 23 m (75)

of solid waste and the slope of the liner at this location
changed from 5H : 1V to 3H : 1V. Thus, due to the
plastic nature of the solid wastes, as they were mod-
eled by the Cam-Clay Elasto-Plasticity Model, the axial
over-refuse due to static and dynamic loadings at El 1.
tensions in El 75, were not released when the earth-
quake wave reversed its direction for the cases when
the ground accelerations were relatively large. As shown in Figures 7–9, the maximum axial
Similarly, the axial tensions predicted in the liner tension occurred at the same location but is projected
from the Moquegua, Peru 2001, E-W acceleration to be 70% larger when using the Moquegua, Peru
time history are summarized in Figures 7–9. E-W acceleration record rather than the N-S record.
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Figure 10. Predicted distribution of axial tension in the

geomembrane liner due to static and dynamic loadings.
Figure 12. History of axial tension development in the

liner-over-refuse due to static and dynamic loadings at EL 1.
a local settlement up-to 0.9 m (3) after an earth-

quake. Such localized collapsed items were assumed
to occur at varying depths below the geomembrane in
the liner-over-refuse area. The worst case scenario was
assumed to be the collapse of the cavity following a
major earthquake. Therefore, the local settlement in
Figure 11. History of axial tension development in the liner- the old wastes was modeled after the dynamic analyses,
over-refuse due to static and dynamic loadings at EL 75. i.e. after subjecting the model to the E-W Moquegua
acceleration time-history. The original wastes are
scheduled to be capped with a minimum of 3 m (10)
The increase reflects the larger peak ground acceler- of sand to act as a cushion. Thus, the cavity was placed
ation of the E-W record. at a minimum 3 m (10) below the liner. Cavities were
simulated at greater depths in the existing waste at
locations below the upper-middle part of the liner-
4.4 Dynamic analyses using the 1995 Landers, over-refuse as pointed in the Case B of Figure 13.
California, earthquake However, the maximum tensile stress in the geomem-
The cumulative development of axial tension on top brane resulted from the shallowest assumed cavity
of the static results (Fig. 2) in the liner from the 1995 position. Thus, the results of the deeper cavities were
Landers quake is summarized in Figure 10. Similarly not included here. Also, since the cavity collapsing was
the axial tension history at the two locations of El 1 stress-controlled, the deformation at locations A, B and
and El 75 are shown in Figures 11 & 12. C in Figure 13 were only approximately 0.9 m (3).
This deficiency would not have substantial impact on
the results summarized in Figure 13.
4.5 Loading from a cavity collapsing in
In Figure 13 as the location of the cavity changes
the existing wastes
from the toe of the existing waste (Case A) to the mid-
Since local different settlement can be very detrimen- dle of the waste (Case B), the predicted axial tensions
tal to the integrity of liner system, the effects of a void increase above the void by 3114 to 4448 N (700 to
in the waste caused by deterioration of a large metallic 1000 lbs). When the void was placed near the top of
object were investigated. Although the existing waste the slope (Case C of Fig. 13), the axial tension instead
is covered by a 4- to 7-foot-thick interim soil cover, a decreased by approximately one half of the original
geophysical survey was conducted and did not indi- value. The reason for the decrease was that the void
cate any large metallic objects at depths down to about caused the anchor trench of the liner to move toward
10 feet. However, it is theoretically possible that col- the collapsed hole and therefore relaxed the axial ten-
lapse of such a void could cause a potential local set- sion in the liner. Figure 13 shows that the maximum
tlement up to 0.9 m (3) (HDR/Golder 2001). It is accumulated axial tension from the three loading sce-
more likely that a collapsing bulky item would cause narios will occur near the toe of the existing waste
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Table 2. Maximum tensions in the geomembrane liner

from FLAC models.
Static Dynamic Cavity Total

Case tension tension tension tension
No. N (lb) N (lb) N (lb) N (lb)
11 3018(678) 5175(1165)1 108(24) 8301 (1867)

12 3018(678) 3038(683)2 N/A 6056 (1361)
13 3018(678) 3519(791)3 N/A 6537 (1469)
204 2893(650) 890(200) 4448(1000) 8231 (1850)
1
Note: Modeling results using Moquegua, Peru E-W
Acc.-time history;
2
Note: Modeling results using Moquegua, Peru E-W
Acc.-time history;
3
Note: Modeling results using Landers, California
Vel.-time history; and
4
Note: Modeling results recommended for 100-foot-wide
transition zone along lower edge of liner-over-refuse area
(HDR/Golder, 2001) using Landers, California Vel.-time
history and based on simplified assumption.
geomembrane depending on the loading condition. The

Figure 13. Predicted axial tension in the geomembrane maximum axial tension under three loading conditions
liner due to a cavity collapsing variously at locations A, B
and C at a depth of 3 m (10) under the liner in addition to
at El 75 is 8301 N (1867 lb) per foot. This is higher than
static and dynamic loadings. the yielding strength of 6938 N (1560 lb) per foot for
a GSE 60 mil HDPE liner (HDR/Golder 2001). Thus
some local reinforcement or stronger geomembrane
and the maximum axial tension in the geomembrane liners will be needed. Although the current modeling
was only slightly impacted by the location of the col- results of maximum tensions are very similar to the
lapsed void as in Case A of Fig. 13. interpretations of the HDR/Golder’s work (2001), the
advantage of analyzing the three loading conditions
on the same numerical model is that it provides the
5 COMPARING CURRENT PREDICTIONS TO author with a clearer understanding of where and how
THOSE OF MODELING BASED ON the axial tensions in the liner developed as the waste
SIMPLIFIED ASSUMPTIONS pile rises and is subject to strong shaking and possibly
(HDR/GOLDER, 2001) the development of shallow voids. At the same time it
also confirmed that the approach of superimposing
The contributions to the maximum axial tension in tensions from individual, simplified loading mecha-
the geomembrane liner from the three loading scenar- nisms (HDR/Golder 2001) can yield reasonable results
ios by current and simplified models (HDR/Golder comparing with more complex modeling efforts.
2001) are compiled in Table 2. Secondly, for locations like Cedar Hills in western
Table 2 showed that the maximum tension at the Washington State, both the crustal earthquake as rep-
lower edge of liner-over-refuse based on current model resented by the Landers velocity records (HDR/Golder
(Case 11) are very similar to that based on the simpli- 2001); and, the subduction earthquake along the Pacific
fied assumptions (Case 20, HDR/Golder 2001); and Northwest Coast need to be considered, since the ten-
the tension caused by the subduction Moquegua sion caused by the subduction quake (Moquegua E-W
quake represented by the E-W acceleration time- acceleration time-history) was almost 50% larger than
history is about 50% larger than that based on the that caused by the near field crustal quake (Table 2).
crustal near field quake using the Landers velocity The selection of appropriate source zones is necessary
time-history (Case 11 vs. 13). to envelop the likely seismic response. This process
is greatly aided by the USGS Probabilistic Seis-
mic Hazard Deaggregation website. Further, the more
CONCLUSIONS severe responses to the strong distant subduction
Moquegua E-W acceleration time-history may be due
First, the maximum axial tensions occur at differ- to its low frequency and long duration. A similar phe-
ent locations in the liner-over-refuse segment of the nomenon has been observed by Matasovic et al. (1998).
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS HDR Engineering, Inc. & Golder Associates Inc. 2001.

Cedar Hills Regional Landfill Area 6 Development Draft
The author wishes to sincerely thank the King County Preliminary Design Technical Memorandum Lining Sys-
Solid Waste Division (KCSWD) for its permission to tem Over Unlined Waste Area. Seattle: King County
Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Division,
publish the paper. Special thanks to the reviews and Washington State.
comments of Dr. Victor Okereke of KCSWD and Kavazanjian, E. Jr., Matasovic, N., Bonaparte, R. and
Mr. Frank Shuri of Golder Associates Inc. It is worth Schmertmann, G. R. 1995. Evaluation of MSW proper-
noting that the current work is a follow up to the ties for Seismic Analysis. Geoenvironment 2000, ASCE
HDR/Golder’s earlier work (HDR/Golder 2001). Geotech. Spec. Publ. No. 46, 2, 1126–1141.
Special thanks also to Mr. Jerald LaVassor of Matasovic, N., Kavazanjian, E. Jr., and Anderson, R. 1998.
Washington State Department of Ecology Water Performance of solid waste landfills in earthquakes,
Resources Program Dam Safety Section. The author is Earthquake Spectra, Issue #2, Vol. 14, p. 319–334.
indebted deeply to his direction, support and invalu- Youngs, R. R., Chiou, S.-J., Silva, W. J. and Humphrey, J. R.
1997. Strong Ground Motion Attenuation Relationships
able technical and editorial revisions of the paper. for Subduction Zone Earthquakes. Seismological Research
Letters. Vol. 68, No. 1, Jan./Feb. 58–73.
USGS Probabilistic 1996. Seismic Hazard Deaggregation
REFERENCES website (http://eqint1.cr.usgs.gov/eq/html/deaggint.shtml).
Crouse, C. 1991. Ground-motion attenuation equations

for Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes. Earthquake
Spectra, 7, 201–236.
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The usability analyses of HDPE leachate collection pipes in

a solid waste landfill
F. Ma
Washington State Department of Ecology Solid Waste Program, Eastern Regional Office, Washington, USA
ABSTRACT: The objective of the FLAC modeling effort was to analyze the stress–strain behavior of High
Density Polyethylene (HDPE) leachate collection pipes proposed for an eastern Washington State solid waste
landfill. Case one of the FLAC modeling assessed whether a 102 mm (4) diameter Standard Dimension Ratio
(SDR) 9 perforated HDPE leachate collection pipe could withstand the load of up to 64 m (210) high column
of solid waste. Similarly case two of the FLAC modeling predicted how a 305 mm (12) diameter perforated
SDR 11 HDPE pipe would perform under a solid waste load of as much as about 26 m (85). The FLAC analy-
ses allowed simulating the development of stresses and deformations in the HDPE leachate pipes as the solid
waste column grows. The model predictions were compared with results from a methodology included in the
Guidelines for HDPE Pipes in Deep Fills (Petroff 1998) used by CH2MHILL (2002) in their design. Using the
industry standards of (1) ring compressive stress, (2) pipe deflection and (3) wall buckling, the FLAC results
were very similar to the values in the CH2MHILL (2002) study. The main conclusion of the FLAC modeling is
that the proposed HDPE leachate collection pipes will be adequate to withstand the loadings associated with the
proposed solid waste column heights.
1 INTRODUCTION overlies the bottom composite liner of the landfill

(CH2MHILL 2002).
Finite difference analyses using the computer code
FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua) were
conducted of a solid waste landfill expansion project 3 MODEL CONFIGRATIONS
at the Graham Road Landfill, Spokane County,
Washington State. The analyses were performed to 3.1 Consultant analyses
confirm the adequacy of modeling done by the proj-
CH2MHILL (2002) evaluated the adequacy of the
ect engineer, CH2MHILL. Specifically, the analyses
102 mm (4) diameter SDR 9 LCRS header pipe and
focused on predicting the stress–strain responses of:
305 mm (12) SDR 11 sump/pump access pipe by the
i. a 102 mm (4) diameter SDR 9 perforated HDPE procedures included in “Guidelines for HDPE Pipes in
leachate collection pipe under solid waste load up Deep Fills” (Petroff 1998). The methodology assesses
to 64 m (210), and (1) ring compressive stress, (2) pipe deflection, and
ii. a 305 mm (12) perforated SDR 11 HDPE pipe (3) wall buckling. The evaluation confirmed that the
under a solid waste load of about 26 m (85) when 102 mm (4) SDR 9 and the 305 mm (12) SDR 11
the landfill is under final closure, respectively. were adequate for the anticipated 64 m and 26 m
(210 and 85) of overlying fill, respectively. It should
be noted that the analysis assumes the bedding encap-
2 SITE CONDITIONS sulating the pipe will be compacted to a minimum of
90 percent of the maximum density as determined by
The landfill accepts solid wastes from industries and ASTM Procedure D698. This compacted zone must
other sources, but it does not accept municipal solid extend immediately above the pipe and for 5 feet on
wastes. The leachate collection and recovery system either side of the pipe. The specifications prepared by
(LCRS) consists of a 0.3 m (12) thick granular CH2MHILL (2002) accordingly required the com-
drainage layer with embedded, perforated HDPE pipes paction of the drain rock around the pipe to the above
to collect and remove leachate. This LCRS directly cited minimums.
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3.2 This study’s current modeling (1994) by Petroff (1998), the typical design values
of one-dimensional constrained modulus Ms of soil
The empirical equations provided in the Guidelines
increase linearly with the increase of the soil over-
for HDPE Pipes in Deep Fills (Petroff 1998) predict
burden pressure. This linear relationship (Petroff
the maximum ring compressive stress and the maxi-
1998) was used in the FLAC modeling and
mum pipe deflection. The FLAC modeling described
was related to bulk modulus K and shear modulus
herein went on to predict the distribution of the axial
Gs by (K Ms (1 )/(3 (1 )) and
stress, shear stress and bending momentum in the
Gs Ms(1 2)/ (2(1 ), respectively. The
pipes as well as the stress–strain or deformation rela-
elastic modulus Es is related to the constrained
tionship under plane strain conditions.
modulus Ms of the soil by Es Ms(1 )
The following simplifications or assumptions were
(1 2)/(1 )). The material properties of the
made in the FLAC modeling.
gravel layer are listed in Table 2.
i. The HDPE pipe is modeled with isotropic-elastic iii. The waste behavior is simulated by the elasto-
beam segments; its material properties per unit plastic Modified Cam-Clay model in FLAC. The
length are area A t, moment of inertia I t3/12, behavior of the HDPE pipes is the focus of the
elastic modulus under plane strain e ey / modeling effort here. The stress-strain response of
(1 2), where t is the pipe wall thickness, ey is the waste was of little interest. Thus, the waste
the Young’s modulus and the Poisson ratio. The properties approximated with values typical of
material properties of the 102 mm (4) SDR 9 and soft clay at a density of 1441 kg/m3 (90 lb/ft3) were
305 mm (12) SDR 11 pipes are listed in Table 1. used as the input parameters of the wastes. The
The effect of perforations in the HDPE pipes was model parameters are elastic shear modulus
modeled by reducing the wall thickness by one G 5.12 104 kPa (7430.6 psi), maximum
twelfth as typical perforations account for that elastic bulk modulus Kmax 1.53 105 kPa
much of the pipe mass. (22222.2 psi), density a variable with depth
ii. The gravel drainage layer is simulated as a perfect (Kavazanjian et al. 1995), slope of elastic swelling
plastic Mohr-Coulomb material. The material liner 0.03, slope of normal consolidation line
properties include bulk modulus K, shear modu- 0.13, frictional constant M 1.418, precon-
lus Gs, friction angle and density. The average val- solidation pressure pc 71.8 kPa (10.4 psi), refer-
ues of density and friction angle of gravel are ence pressure p1 71.8 kPa (10.4 psi), and
2.16 g/cm3 (135 lb/ft3) and 40 degree, respec- specific volume at reference pressure on normal
tively. As adapted and extended from McGrath consolidation lien 1.75.
Table 1. Material properties of HDPE pipes.
d t A I e
Setting kg/m3 mm mm2 mm4 kPa
4 SDR 9* 955.2 12.7 322.6 4.34E 3 2.14E 5

12 SDR 11* 955.2 29.4 746.8 5.38E 4 2.14E 5
* Note: the values are obtained or deduced and deducted from Driscoppipe data sheets
and are values per 25.4 mm (1 inch) of the pipes.
Table 2. Material properties of gravel layer.*
Overburden Ms K Gs
kPa (psi) kPa (psi) kPa (psi) kPa (Psi)
68.9 (10) 10,342.1 (1500) 6405.2 (929) 2957.9 (429)

137.9 (20) 11,721.1 (1700) 7253.3 (1052) 3350.9 (486)
275.8 (40) 14,479.0 (2100) 8963.2 (1300) 4136.9 (600)
413.7 (60) 17,236.9 (2500) 10,673.1 (1548) 4922.9 (714)
551.6 (80) 19,994.8 (2900) 12,376.1 (1795) 5715.8 (829)
689.5 (100) 22,063.2 (3200) 13,658.5 (1981) 6301.8 (914)
*Note: the values are obtained or deduced and deducted from Petroff (1998) with
Poisson ratio 0.3.
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09069-34.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 289
iv. The HDPE pipe is connected to the surrounding of the pipe response. When executing the models, the
gravel layer using the FLAC interface. The inter- waste was added layer by layer to simulate a landfill
face allows the relative slip between the HDPE operation. As the waste pile grew, increasing the verti-
pipe and the gravel. The interface input parame- cal overburden pressure, the modulus of the gravel layer
ters per unit length are normal stiffness increased accordingly (Petroff 1998). Since the rela-
kn 411.6 N/mm (2341 lb/in), shear stiffness tively small sizes of the HDPE pipes, no further refine-
ks 107.8 N/mm (619 lb/in), and friction angle ments of the mesh around the pipe openings were done.
30°. Due to limited data availability on the
interface properties, more studies will be done in
4 MODELING RESULTS
some future researches.
The details of the model grids for the two scenarios 4.1 305 mm (12 ) SDR 11 HDPE LCRS header
are shown in Figures 1 & 2. The horizontal dimension pipe under solid waste load up to 26 m (85
)
of the grid was chosen such that a further increase in
The axial compression, shear and moment distribu-
width had no material impact on the modeling results
tion for the 305 mm (12) SDR 11 HDPE LCRS
sump/pump pipe under solid waste of 26 m (85) are
shown in Figure 3. Since the results for pipes with or
without perforations are very similar, only the latter
are shown here. Numerical values of the data shown
graphically in Figure 3 are presented in Table 3.
Figure 1. Cross section of the 305 mm (12) SDR 11

HDPE pipe in the landfill leachate collection layer under the
26 m (85) of solid wastes.
Figure 3. Predicted distributions of axial compression,

Figure 2. Cross section of the 102 mm (4) SDR 9 HDPE shear and moment of the 305 mm (12) SDR 11 HDPE pipe
pipe in the landfill leachate collection layer under the 64 m without perforation under a simulated solid waste loading of
(210) of solid wastes. 26 m (85).
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09069-34.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 290
Table 3. Numerical results corresponding to Figure 3.
Elem F-Shear F-axial Mom-1 Mom-2

ID* Nod1* Nod2* N N N-m N-m
24 24 25 27.6 841.8 4.60 5.18

23 23 24 22.2 855.5 4.15 4.61
22 22 23 15.6 892.8 3.82 4.15
21 21 22 39.5 949.6 2.98 3.82
20 20 21 39.5 989.8 2.16 2.98
19 19 20 48.1 1068.2 1.15 2.16
18 18 19 74.0 1166.2 0.39 1.15
17 17 18 78.0 1254.4 2.03 0.39
16 16 17 64.1 1332.8 3.36 2.03
15 15 16 86.7 1411.2 5.17 3.36
14 14 15 47.4 1479.8 6.16 5.17
13 13 14 10.3 1489.6 5.95 6.16
12 12 13 8.8 1499.4 6.13 5.95
11 11 12 8.1 1506.3 5.96 6.16
10 10 11 7.45 1460.2 4.44 5.96
9 9 10 73.0 1381.8 3.20 4.44
8 8 9 49.9 1303.4 2.17 3.20
7 7 8 93.8 1244.6 0.21 2.17
6 6 7 75.3 1136.8 1.36 0.21
5 5 6 69.2 1048.6 2.81 1.36
4 4 5 84.1 989.8 4.57 2.81
3 3 4 38.6 912.4 5.37 4.57
2 2 3 35.6 860.4 6.13 5.37
1 1 2 35.7 837.9 6.87 6.13
*Note: Elem ID 1 corresponds to the pipe segment at pipe crown with nods 1 and 2. Elem ID
24 to the pipe segment at pipe invert. F-shear and F-axial are the shear and axial forces of the
each pipe segment, respectively. Mom-1 and Mom-2 are the moments of both ends of each
pipe segment.
Figure 3a shows that the maximum hoop compres- and Figures 4a&c. As in the case of the 305 mm (12)
sive force occurs near the pipe springline and is SDR 11 pipe, the maximum shear force is predicted
approximately 50% larger than that at the pipe crown to occur at approximately 45 degrees below the pipe
and invert. The maximum shear force occurs at crown, see Figure 4b.
approximately 45 degrees below the pipe crown as in
Figure 3b. Figure 3c shows that the moment near the
pipe crown and springline are approximately 25% 4.3 Pipe crown deflections
larger than that at pipe invert. The predicted crown deflection of a buried pipe is one
of the key parameters in assessing the structural ade-
4.2 102 mm (4 ) SDR 9 HDPE LCRS header pipe quacy of a pipe in traditional pipe analyses. The pre-
under solid waste load up to 64 m (210
) dicted displacement histories of the pipe crown and
invert are shown in Figures 5 & 6.
The axial compression, shear and moment distributions
for the 102 mm (4) SDR 9 HDPE LCRS header pipe
predicted for 64 m (210) of solid waste are shown in 4.4 Comparing FLAC predictions to those of
Figure 4. As in the earlier case, the results for pipes with traditional empirical formulas (Petroff 1998)
or without perforations are very similar. Thus, only the
latter are shown here. The numerical results underlying According to general thin beam theory, the normal
the graphical data in Figure 4 are cited in Table 4. stress in the pipe wall is the combination of normal
Similar trends are evident in the loadings predicted stresses from the hoop force and the bending
in Figure 4 to those predicted for the 12 SDR 11 pipe moments. It is expressed as follows:
case. However, the differences between the values of
hoop compression and moments at the pipe crown, (1)
springline and invert are much smaller, see Table 4
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09069-34.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 291
Table 4. Numerical results corresponding to Figure 4.
Elem F-Shear F-axial Mom-1 Mom-2

ID* Nod1* Nod2* N N N-m N-m
12 12 13 33.0 661.5 2.07 2.56

11 11 12 65.9 698.7 1.11 2.07
10 10 11 80.7 751.7 0.07 1.11
9 9 10 54.1 792.8 0.87 0.07
8 8 9 70.2 852.6 1.89 0.87
7 7 8 58.2 941.8 2.74 1.89
6 6 7 40.1 933.0 2.16 2.74
5 5 6 38.5 895.7 1.59 2.16
4 4 5 95.1 861.4 0.20 1.59
3 3 4 100.4 789.9 1.26 0.20
2 2 3 70.7 708.5 2.30 1.26
1 1 2 46.1 672.3 2.97 2.30
*Note: Elem ID 1 corresponds to the pipe segment at pipe crown

with nods 1 and 2. F-shear and F-axial are the shear and axial forces
of the each pipe segment, respectively. Mom-1 and Mom-2 are the
moments of both ends of each pipe segment.
Figure 4. Predicted distributions of axial compression,

shear and moment per 25.4 mm (1) of the 102 mm (4) SDR
9 HDPE pipe without perforation under solid waste loading
of 64 m (210).
Figure 5. Displacement and crown deflection of the buried

where Normal stress, kPa (psi); N compres- HDPE 305 mm (12) SDR 11 Pipe.
sive hoop force, N (lb); A cross-sectional area of
pipe wall, m2 (in2); M bending moment, N-m (lb- outer or inner fibers of the pipe wall. The higher com-
in); I inertia of wall cross-section, m4 (in4); and pressive stresses from both the hoop and bending
t pipe wall thickness, m (in). effects are predicted to occur at the crown, invert or
For a pipe under plane strain conditions, only a unit springline of the pipe. Furthermore, the maximum
length of pipe need to be considered in Equation 1. hoop and total compressive stresses occur at or near
Using the modeling results of Tables 3 & 4 and the the springline of the pipe.
material properties and geometries of the pipes (Table The predicted maximum hoop and compressive
1), the normal stress distributions from inner to outer stresses and the crown deflection of the pipe from the
fibers in the pipe wall are shown in Figures 7 & 8 modeling results are summarized in Table 5 along with
using Equation 1. Figures 7 & 8 clearly showed that the results of CH2MHILL (2002). A comparison of
there are only four locations where the pipe wall is data shows the CH2MHILL results based on Petroff
under uniform compression. For the rest of the pipe (1998) are in relatively good agreement with the
section, larger compressive stresses exist either in the FLAC results. Note that the predicted displacements
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09069-34.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 292
Inner fiber Outer fiber Hoop comp.

1
48 2
47 3
46 4
45 4.00E+03 5
44 3.00E+03 6
43 7
42 2.00E+03 8
41 9
40 1.00E+03 10
39 11
0.00E+00
38 12
37 -1.00E+03 13
36 14
35 15
34 16
33 17
32 18
31 19
30 20
29 21
28 22
27 26 23
25 24
Figure 6. Displacement and crown deflection of the buried
HDPE 102 mm (4) SDR 9 Pipe. Figure 8. Hoop compressive stress and normal stresses
along the inner and outer fibers per 25.4 mm (1) of the
305 mm (12) SDR 11 HDPE pipe without perforation
Inner fiber Outer fiber Hoop Comp.
included (unit in kPa).
24 1
8.00E+03 2
23 3 Table 5. Maximum stresses from FLAC and empirical
6.00E+03
22 4 formulas.
4.00E+03
21 2.00E+03 5 Pipe
Max-hoop Max-comp crown
0.00E+00 Pipes Model stress stress deflection
20 6
-2 .00E+03 SDR/D type kPa kPa %
19 -4 .0 0E+03 7
11/12 FLAC1 2.01 103 3.68 103 3.6
FLAC2 2.16 103 3.72 103 4.0
18 8 CH2MHILL3 1.73 103 3.5
9/4 FLAC1 2.94 103 6.93 103 6.7
17 9 FLAC2 3.10 103 6.99 103 7.7
CH2MHILL3 3.78 103 6.8
16 10
1
15 11 Note: Modeling results ignoring pipe perforations;
2
14 12 Note: Modeling results considering pipe perforations; and
13 3
Note: See CH2MHILL (2002) study for details.
Figure 7. Hoop compressive stress and normal stresses
along the inner, outer fibers per 25.4 mm (1) of the 102 mm 4.5 Buckling
(4) SDR 9 HDPE pipe without perforation (unit in kPa).
Ideally, a more sophisticated pipe model would be
employed to account for the visco-plastic behavior of
of CH2MHILL’s (2002) modeling are similar to those HDPE pipes. This would allow incorporating creep
of the solid pipe in the FLAC analyses. However, and pipe buckling effects into the FLAC modeling
CH2MHILL’s prediction of crown deflections are results. This was not done. Instead, the factor of safety
lower than those of FLAC when modeling a perforated against buckling was assessed by simply computing
pipe. Overall the results of both methods are within or the ratio of computed stresses to the critical buckling
are very close to the allowable ranges of industry stan- stresses as per Wilson-Fahmy and Koerner (1994).
dards of 6.89 103 kPa ( 1000 psi) hoop compressive According to their study, the critical buckling stresses
stress and 7.5% crown deflection (Wilson-Fahmy and for pipes of SDR 11 and 9 are 1.03 104 and
Koerner 1994). 1.17 104 kPa (1500 and 1700 psi), respectively.
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09069-34.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 293
Dividing the critical buckling stresses by the pipe wall ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

hoop stresses in Table 5, yields factors of safety of
4.79 and 3.79, respectively, for 12 SDR 11 and 4 SDR The author wishes to thank Waste Management (WM)
9 pipes with perforation. These values exceed industry Northwest for its permission to publish the paper. Spe-
practice of a minimum factor of safety of 2. cial thanks to the review and comment of Mr. Rodger
North of WM.
Special thanks also to Mr. Jerald LaVassor of
Washington State Department of Ecology Water
5 CONCLUSIONS Resources Program Dam Safety Section for his invalu-
able technical and editorial revisions of the paper.
First, the results presented in Figures 7 & 8 demon-
strate graphically the predicted stress distribution
along the pipe wall. Based on these results, a stress REFERENCES
induced failure of the pipe would be judged accept-
ably remote. If one where dealing with appreciably CH2MHILL. 2002. Cells 4 and 5 Design Report, Graham
greater waste depths one would expect pipe over- Road Recycling and Disposal Facility. Spokane,
stressing to initiate near the springline of the pipe. Washington: Waste Management, Inc.
Second, the results based on the “Guidelines for McGrath, T. 1994. Analysis of Burns & Richard Solution for
HDPE Pipes in Deep Fills” (Petroff 1998) are rela- Thrust in Buried Pipe. Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc,
tively close to the FLAC modeling results. Therefore, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Petroff, L. 1998. Guidelines for HDPE Pipes in Deep Fills,
the more sophisticated FLAC modeling is likely unnec- (written under the employment of PLEXCO).
essary. It would seem warranted only when conven- Wilson-Fahmy, R.F. & Koerner, R.M. 1994. Finite Element
tional empirical methods indicate the pipe stresses and Analysis of Plastic Pipe Behavior in Leachate Collection
crown displacements approach the minimum accepted and Removal Systems. Geosynthetic Research Institute,
factor of safety on a critical project. Drexel University.
293

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FLAC numerical simulations of the behavior of a spray-on liner for

rock support
C.P. O’Connor & R.K. Brummer

Itasca Consulting Canada Inc, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
G. Swan
Falconbridge Ltd, Sudbury Operations, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
G. Doyle
3M Canada Co., Mining Division, London, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT: The current practice of bolting and screening of underground excavations is time consuming and
labor intensive and requires extensive materials handling. In pursuit of alternative rock support systems,
Falconbridge Ltd. has experimented with several different spray-on liners. In co-operation with 3M Canada, a thin
spray-on liner was developed with the intention of replacing screen and reducing the cycle time in rapid develop-
ment mining. FLAC was used on this project to provide an efficient method of investigating alternative material
properties without the expense that is typically incurred in full scale testing.
1 INTRODUCTION 2 LINER SUPPORT SYSTEM
The implementation of high speed development tech- The spray on liner support system developed by 3M
niques necessitates the use of rapidly installed support Canada is a polymeric compound that contains approx-
in order to meet the desired cycle time. Current prac- imately 40% water when initially applied. As the liner
tices of bolting and screening are labor intensive and dries out (the rate is dependant on the ambient temper-
add significant time to the development cycle. The use ature, humidity, and air flow) the strength builds until
of spray-on-liners to act as membrane support in place after 24 to 72 hours it approaches its ultimate tensile
of screen is seen as the next step in the evolution of and adhesive strength. The time dependence of the
rapid development. strength of the liner is a critical aspect and one that is
The physical characteristics of membrane support very difficult to define in full scale testing apparatus
need to be extensively tested. Full scale physical testing since there are so many variables involved.
is expensive and time consuming and the number of Shotcrete is often sprayed in excess of 4, this liner
such tests needs to be limited. In order to fill the gap system only requires 2 to 3 mm final dried thickness to
between laboratory measurements of liner properties perform. When dealing with such a thin application,
and full scale trials of the material, a numerical model minor thickness variations become important.
of the testing apparatus was constructed. This provides Another important characteristic of this liner com-
a method by which a large number of potential liner pound is the elongation potential. Depending on the
formulations can be investigated without the expense of formulation in use, strains ranging from 100 to 600%
full scale testing. are possible. Having such a large capacity to deform
Using the cable element capability of FLAC, a model should help prevent violent failures due to stress
of the “baggage loading” testing apparatus was gener- build up. A stress–strain curve for some early liner for-
ated to allow for a large number of simulations to be mulations is shown in Figure 1.
carried out to cover the wide range of properties One final challenge in understanding this material is
observed in the liner material. that it does not yield in a linear fashion. Instead, there
295

09069-35.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 296
Stress–strain curve of System I and II
System II with strong adhesion

Stress (MPa)
System I
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Percent strain
Figure 1. Stress–strain curve for early revisions of the 3M

spray on liner product. Figure 4. Grid used in the spray on liner modeling.
modeled. There are currently two tests in use for the

liner material. The first is the “dog bone” test, per-
formed on small samples of material and used to gen-
erate the stress–stain curves. The second is the
“baggage load” test in which a 1 m2 metal frame is
filled with rock and sprayed with a coating of liner
and tested to failure in a press (see Fig. 2).
3 FLAC MODEL
A FLAC model was built to replicate the baggage load

testing apparatus. This involved a complex interaction
Figure 2. Baggage load testing frame with a 2 to 3 mm
between several different types of materials and cable
sprayed thickness of liner product. elements. The actual grid used in the model is shown in
Figure 4. The liner is represented by a string of cable
elements across the bottom boundary of the slabby
Loading Platen granitic material.
A key challenge in the modeling was obtaining the
Coarse Gravel correct response of the liner as the stiffness changes in
response to plastic deformation. To do this, a FISH func-
Thin slabby granitic material tion was written in which the modulus of the material
was dynamically adjusted within specific strain inter-
vals defined in a table. This allows for automatic adjust-
ments of the material properties during cycling ensuring
2 to 3 mm liner support an accurate response (see Fig. 5).
The stiffness of the material depends on the amount
of drying of the liner, and therefore the modulus of the
Steel Loading Frame
material changes over time (see Fig. 7). In order to prop-
erly assess the effect of drying time on the performance
Figure 3. Geometry of the baggage loading test frame.
of the liner, a sensitivity analysis was required in order
to determine how the liner responds under different
is a well-defined initial yield point located near a conditions of drying time and thickness.
strain of 30% after which the stiffness of the entire There is only a limited database of full scale testing
system reduces until the ultimate tensile strength is on which to calibrate the model. Using this limited data
reached. and the material properties that were expected to be pro-
All of these different parameters (thickness, time duced by the test (i.e. 4 hour drying time, 2 mm thick-
dependent strength, complex yield curve, and exten- ness), the model was calibrated as best as possible to the
sive deformations) must be accounted for and test results available (see Fig. 6).
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FLAC Simulations of 3M Liner Systems in CANMET Test

vs. Averaged Response Curves From Tensile Strength Testing
(Liner Thickness = 2mm)
10
9
8
Tensile Stress (MPa)
7
6 3M System 1 - FLAC
3M System 2 - FLAC
5 3M System 1 Averaged
3M System 2 Averaged
4
3
2
1
0
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70
Strain
Figure 5. A stress–strain plot created with the FLAC FISH function compared to the actual strengths reported in material
tensile testing.
Stress (MPa)
Strain (mm/mm)
Figure 6. Full scale baggage loading test stress–strain curve.
3M Mining Liner - 23˚C / 70% RH

For <50fpm and 300fpm Air Flow
1000
DRYING TIME, hours
Tensile Yield, <50fpm

Tensile Ultimate, 300fpm
Secant Modulus Yield, <50fpm
100
Tensile Yield, 300fpm
Elongation Yield, <50fpm
Adhesion, <50fpm
10 Tensile Ultimate, <50fpm

Elongation Ultimate, <50fpm
Adhesion, 300fpm
1
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
STRENGTH/STIFFNESS, MPa; ELONGATION,%
Figure 7. Plot of adhesive and yield strength over time.
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09069-35.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 298
4 RESULTS With this second test, the liner was stable under
gravity loading from the dead weight of the rock in the
Several model simulations were performed in order to testing frame. The total displacement under this static
calibrate the model against the observed and measured loading was 24 mm. This test was also the source of the
response of the liner. stress–strain data generated in Figure 6. This test pro-
One of the first full scale tests carried out was an vided valuable data for the calibration but also demon-
application of the liner after 4 hours with no adhesion to strated that there was another effect at work that was not
the rock (a silicone material prevented liner adhesion). being accounted for in the modeling. The model pre-
Immediately it became apparent that the adhesion of dicted a total displacement for this particular test at
the material was playing a much bigger role in the sta- 90 mm rather than the 24 mm observed in Figure 10.
bility of the baggage loading test than would be anti- In order to make up for the difference in displace-
cipated. Figures 8 & 9 show the actual results and the ments observed between the baggage loading tests and
FLAC modeling results respectively for a liner that has the FLAC models, an investigation took place in which
no adhesion to the rock. In both cases the liner quickly the stiffness of the material was increased until match-
deforms due to the low strength observed at this early ing results were observed.
time after spraying. Modifying the model properties resulted in a curi-
The second test in the series involved the baggage ous result. In order to match the performance of the
loading test with the material left to dry over a 24 hour baggage loading test, the stiffness of the material had
period. In this case, adhesion was allowed to take to be increased to near 20 times its original value.
place by lightly wetting the surface of the rock prior When these modified properties were used, the results
to application. matched quite well with the observed testing (Fig. 12).
Figure 10. Baggage load test with adhesion – total static

displacement of 24 mm.
Figure 8. Baggage loading test with no adhesion.
JOB TITLE: Falconbridge-3M Baggage Load Testing Model: 3M System 2 JOB TITLE: Falconbridge-3M beggage Load Testing Model: 3M System 2
FLAC (Version 4.00)
FLAC (Version 4.00)
0.900
LEGEND 0.500 LEGEND
21-Mar-02 12:08
27-Mar-02 14:56 0.700
step 21000
step 19190 -2.222E-02 <x< 1.422E+00
-3 860E-01 <x< 1.786E+00 -4.222E-01 <y< 1.022E+00
0.200
-1.300E+00 <y< 8.715E-01
Grid plot Grid plot 0.500
0 0 2E-1
5E-1
Axial Force on
-0.200 Structure Max. Value 0.300
Axial Force on
Structure Max. value # 1 (Cable) -4.934E+03
# 1 (Cable) -1.100E+02
0.100
-0.500
-0.300
-1.000
-0.100
Itasca consulting Group, Inc. Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.

Minneapolis, Minnesota USA Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
0.000 0.400 0.800 1.200 1.500 0.100 0.300 0.500 0.700 0.900 1.100 1.300
Figure 9. FLAC modeling results for the baggage loading Figure 11. FLAC results for the modeling of the baggage
tests with no adhesion. loading test with adhesion and modified material properties.
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09069-35.qxd 08/11/2003 20:40 PM Page 299
The adhesion certainly plays an important role in

the strength of the material and the model is unable to
fully account for the impact of adhesion because of the
method by which the cable elements are used. Because
the liner adheres to the slabs over most of its area, and
only deforms over a relatively small “gauge length”,
this would appear to be the largest difference between
the actual liner and the model. This difference would
have the effect of making the liner much stiffer than it
appears in a “dog bone” test.
The interlocking of the slabby blocks of material is
even harder to quantify. Each frame of material is
loaded by hand and as a result there is a complex
interaction between the blocks supporting each other
Figure 12. Calibration used on the FLAC model to match and being supported by the frame rails. It is difficult to
the observed baggage loading test results. try and quantify this behavior without additional testing
being done to determine the sensitivity of the system to
the loading of the frame.
JOB TITLE: Falconbridge-3M Baggage Load Testing Model: 3M System 2
Despite the relatively small dataset used in the cali-
FLAC (Version 4.00)
0.900 bration, the model itself has proven quite useful for
LEGEND
19-Mar-02 14:04
modeling the baggage loading tests. The next step in the
0.700
step 21000
-2.222E-02 <x< 1.422E+00 evolution of this testing will be to use this information
-4.222E-01 <y< 1.022E+00
Grid plot 0.500
to develop a drift modeler that incorporates the infor-
0 2E-1 mation gathered from these trails.
Axial Force on
Structure Max. Value 0.300
# 1 (Cable) -1.824E+03
0.100
5 CONCLUSIONS
-0.100
The FLAC model has provided a valuable tool for
-0.300 reducing the cost of full scale testing. With this model,
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
it is possible to anticipate the response of different
0.100 0.300 0.500 0.700 0.900 1.100 1.300
formulations of the liner at different thicknesses and
time frames. Given the high cost of full scale tests, it
Figure 13. FLAC output for baggage load testing with can be used to narrow down the testing regime to the
adhesion. Anticipated displacement was 90 mm instead of
the actual 24 mm measured.
most promising combinations of thickness, time, and
liner properties in order to maximize the data collected
during full scale tests. Further calibration against full-
Based upon the results observed in the full scale scale tests will help to reduce some of the uncertainty
testing, it was obvious that some mechanism must be involved with the model.
at work in order to account for the discrepancy in the
modeling. There are three possible sources of uncer-
tainty that would tend to artificially increase the stiff- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ness of the material, the adhesion, and the impact of
blocks interlocking with each other and the frame. The authors would like to thank all of those involved
Firstly, the FLAC model is a 2D model, while the in the preparation of the baggage load tests including
actual baggage load test is three-dimensional. 3M Canada, Falconbridge Ltd, and CANMET.
However, the actual discrepancy would appear to be
too large to be accounted for simply by this difference.
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A numerical study of the influence of piles in the passive zone of

embedded retaining walls
T.Y. Yap & C. Pound

Mott MacDonald Ltd, Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT: Piles are often placed in the base of deep excavations to carry future structure loads or to reduce
base heave. Where these piles are located close to retaining walls, they can provide additional resistance to the
movement of the embedded length of the retaining wall. This paper discusses a series two-dimensional and three-
dimensional analyses carried out using the finite difference programs FLAC and FLAC3D to investigate the increase
in the passive resistance in front of the embedded retaining wall due to the presence of these piles. Two passive fail-
ure mechanisms were identified; the first involved squeezing of the ground upward between the wall and the piles
and the second involved squeezing of the ground between the piles. The influence of pile and wall roughness, pile
spacing and pile to wall separation was investigated in order to define which of the two passive failure mechanisms
would govern and under what circumstances. Based on the results of the two-dimensional analyses a methodology
was developed to determine the limiting passive resistance allowing for the presence of the piles. Three-dimensional
analyses were carried out which showed a close agreement with the results of the two-dimensional analyses.
1 INTRODUCTION 2 TWO-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSES
Excavations for building basements or transportation or 2.1 Vertical section

utility tunnels are often carried out within retained cuts.
Figure 1 illustrates the geometry of the problem where
Piles are often placed below the base of these excava-
a row of piles was located at a distance, d, from the
tions either to carry future structure loads or to reduce
embedded portion of a retaining wall of embedded
short-term or long-term ground heave. Often to ease
length, H. The top of the model was taken to be the final
pile construction or to reduce the overall construction
excavation level for the construction. The boundary
program, these piles are installed from the ground sur-
conditions were such that no displacement was allowed
face. If these piles are located close to the retaining
on the base of the model and no horizontal or verti-
wall, they can reduce wall deflection over the embedded
cal displacement was allowed of the piles. In order to
length, which can be beneficial when considering the
effect of the construction works on adjacent structures.
Normally design of embedded retaining walls is
carried out using two-dimensional plane strain analy-
ses. In such analyses piles would be represented as a
wall with smeared structural properties. In reality, Embedded Piles
depending on the pile spacing, diameter and proxim- retaining wall
H
ity of the wall, ground could be squeezed between the
piles and the conventional analyses could signifi-
cantly overestimate the benefit of the piles. This 1.5H
paper presents a two-dimensional numerical study
carried out using the finite difference program FLAC
to investigate the earth pressures developed between
rough, partially rough and smooth walls and piles d
in close proximity. A three-dimensional analysis was
also used to investigate the validity of adopting a
smeared representation of the piles when the piles
are installed in soft clay. Figure 1. Passive earth pressure problem (d 20 m).
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Table 1. Material properties. 6000

cw = 0
Setting Undrained Drained cw = c/3
cw = c/2
5000 cw = 2c/3
Unit weight (kN/m3) 15.5 18.0 cw = c
Horizontal Force (kN)

Young’s modulus E (MPa) 6.0 25.0
Poisson’s ratio v 0.49 0.25
4000
Cohesion c (kPa) 20.0 0.0
Friction angle (degree) 0.0 30.0
Dilation angle (degree) 0.0 0.0, 30.0
3000
reduce boundary effects, the bottom of the soil mass 2000

was located at a depth of 1.5 H. Beam elements were
used to model the embedded retaining wall and piles,
with interfaces connecting the beam elements to the 1000
soil. The interface strength properties were varied to 0.1 1 10 100
represent different values of wall roughness. Distance between wall and piles (m)
A linear elastic perfectly plastic soil model was used
throughout these analyses, with the soil stresses limited Figure 2. Influence of the distance of the walls on the mobi-
by the adoption of a Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. lized ultimate load (undrained material).
The soil properties adopted for both undrained and
drained materials are listed in Table 1. The undrained 25
material properties are typical of a soft clay, whereas the cw = 0
cw = c/3
drained properties are typical of a medium dense sand. cw = c/2
For both materials the initial horizontal stress was 20 cw = 2c/3
generated using a coefficient of earth pressure at rest, cw = c
ko, of 1.0, although the results obtained are not believed
to be sensitive to the value of this parameter. 15
To determine the passive pressure, the wall was
Kpc
forced towards the soil at a constant velocity and the

reaction of the soil on the wall measured. Analyses were 10
carried out for a range of values of d between 0.5 m and
20 m and for each analysis the limiting horizontal pas-
5
sive resistance was determined. The wall and pile fric-
tion was also varied between smooth and rough, with
equal values of friction being used on both the wall and 0
the piles in all cases. The limiting horizontal passive 0.1 1 10 100
resistance forces, Pph, were used to back-calculate the Distance between wall and piles (m)
mobilized passive earth pressure coefficients, for
undrained and drained soil materials, from the follow- Figure 3. Influence of the distance of the walls on the mobi-
ing equations: lized ultimate passive earth pressure coefficient (undrained
material).
(1)
the undrained material. The limiting passive earth pres-
sure coefficients are also given in Table 2. When the
wall and piles were placed 20 m apart, the computed
(2) values of Kpc are very close to the theoretical values
given in CP2 and reproduced in Table 2. BS8002 sug-
gests that the passive resistance in a cohesive soil can
where Kpc and Kp are the passive earth pressure coef- be approximated by the following equation:
ficients associated with undrained and drained soil
materials respectively.
(3)
2.1.1 Undrained material
Figures 2 & 3 show the limiting horizontal passive
resistance and the limiting passive earth pressure coef- The passive earth pressure coefficients predicted
ficients respectively for a 10 m deep wall embedded in by this equation are also given in Table 2. The passive
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Table 2. Passive earth pressure coefficients for an Horizontal Force (kN)

undrained material.
0 100 200 300 400
0
Wall and pile friction, cw
0.5m
d(m) 0 c/3 c/2 2c/3 c 1m
-2 2m
Depth below top of wall (m).

20 2.04 2.31 2.42 2.50 2.61 3m
10 2.03 2.34 2.47 2.58 2.74 5m
5 2.03 2.67 2.96 3.23 3.68 10m
-4
3 2.03 3.11 3.62 4.10 4.99 20m
2 2.03 3.66 4.45 5.21 6.64
1 2.01 5.33 6.95 8.54 11.7
-6
0.5 2.01 8.68 12.0 15.2 21.6
BS8002 2.00 2.31 2.45 2.58 2.83
CP2 2.0 – 2.4 – 2.6
-8
-10
Figure 5. Variation of earth pressure acting on a rough wall

for different wall to piles spacings.
perfectly rough wall. The apparent localized reduction

in the force at ground surface is due to the force acting
over one half of the area represented by the other
forces. When the piles are located 10 m or 20 m from
the wall the horizontal force profiles are nearly identi-
cal although there is a slight divergence below 8 m.
Inspection of Figure 4 shows that for the 20 m case
the failure surface reaches the ground surface approx-
imately 14 m from the wall. For the 10 m case this
Figure 4. Shear strain contours for a rough pile.
would not be possible and therefore the slightly higher
horizontal forces below 8 m are indicative of the inter-
earth pressure coefficient predicted by this equation action of the failure surface with the piles. As the dis-
are somewhat higher than the values predicted by tance d reduces there is a progressive increase in
FLAC or quoted in CP2. horizontal force acting on the lower part of the wall
As the distance between the wall and the piles although the forces at the top of the wall down to a
decreases, Pph and Kpc computed for the rough and depth of about 0.7 d remain unaffected by the presence
partially rough walls increase. This is due to the fric- of the piles. Inspection of other analyses indicates that
tional restraint developed on the piles. The higher the the depth over which the forces on the wall remain
wall cohesion, cw, the larger the vertical restraint unaffected by the presence of the piles is dependent on
developed and hence the higher the values of Pph and the wall roughness such that for a smooth wall and
Kpc. Conversely, for smooth walls Php and Kpc remain piles this depth is approximately equal to d.
constant even though the distance between the walls Further analyses were carried out and these analyses
decreases to as little as 0.5 m. showed that the limiting passive earth pressure coeffi-
Figure 4 shows a contour plot of shear strain incre- cients given in Table 2 were correct for different wall
ment for the analysis with a 20 m separation between lengths provided the wall to pile separation, d, was nor-
a rough wall and piles. The failure surface is clearly malized by wall embedment depth, H.
shown comprising an arc adjacent to the wall and a The significant increase in horizontal force acting
straight portion up to the ground surface. There is a fan on the lower part of the embedded retaining wall is
of intense shearing above the failure surface and adja- matched by an increase in the force acting on the piles
cent to the wall, with the ground more distant from the at the same level. This suggests that the soil may be
wall comprising a passive block with little or no internal squeezed between the piles rather than forced upwards.
shearing. On the other hand, the ground stresses over the top part
Figure 5 shows the influence of the distance d on of the wall and piles are limited by conventional
the computed horizontal stress acting directly on the passive failure.
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Table 3. Limiting passive earth pressure coefficients for a 6

drained material with angle of friction of 30° and a dilation
angle of zero.
5
Wall and pile friction, w
d(m) 0 /3 /2 2/3 4
20 2.94 3.96 4.44 4.57 4.70
Kp
3
10 2.95 4.50 5.53 6.45 7.09
5 2.98 6.99 11.2 17.6 36.2
3 3.00 13.3 35.5 95.5 354 2
2 3.01 34.3 141 639 –
1 3.02 731 – – –
0.5 3.01 – – – – 1
CP2 3.0 4.0 – 4.9 5.8 Associated
Non-associated
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
50
phiw = 0 Wall friction (phi %)
phiw = phi/3
phiw = phi/2 Figure 7. Comparison of passive earth pressure coefficient
40 for associated and non-associated materials.
phiw = 2phi/3
phiw = phi
30 analyses with a 20 m separation between the walls and

the piles were rerun assuming a dilation angle of 30°
Kp
for the material. Note that the general trend of Kp is

20 similar to that in Figure 5. The passive earth pressure
coefficient values for the material with the associated
flow rule are now equal to the values quoted in CP2.
10
2.1.3 Friction on pile surface
0
The failure process describes above will lead to shear-
0.1 1 10 100 ing along a vertical surface which passes around and
Distance between wall and piles (m) between the piles. Around the piles the friction mobi-
lized on this surface will be given by the piles shaft
Figure 6. Variation of wall to piles spacing on the passive friction value whereas on the failure surface between
earth pressure coefficient for drained material. the piles, the strength mobilized is given by the soil
strength. The effective strength mobilized, c, on an
2.1.2 Drained material equivalent planar surface is given by the following
Figure 6 shows equivalent results for a drained mate- formula:
rial, with dilation angle, , of 0°. When the embedded
retaining wall and the piles are placed far apart, Kp are (4)
somewhat below the values given by CP2, except for
the smooth wall case. For a smooth wall and piles, the
values of Kp remains constant at the theoretical value where D and S are the pile diameter and spacing
regardless of the distance d. However, for rough and respectively. The parameter k can be approximated by
partially rough walls, the values of Kp increase rapidly the following relationship:
as d decreases. Note that in Figure 6 the lines are cut off
at a point where back-calculated values of Kp are larger (5)
than 50. As for the results for an undrained material,
an increase in the wall friction w, leads to significant
increase in Kp. For high values of Kp it became increas- For most normal situations, the value of c/c is close
ingly difficult to obtain a reliable limit pressure since to unity suggesting that the piled wall can normally be
the compressive stresses developed in front of the wall considered as rough. Assuming that the embedded wall
became a significant proportion of the Young’s modulus. is not rough, it is suggested, though not proven, that the
The effect of assuming an associated rather than a non- value of Kp can be obtained by averaging the Kp value
associated flow rule is shown in Figure 7. The drained for the wall and that for the piles.
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16
14
12
10
Ncp
8
6
D
4
smooth, 0 kPa
rough, 0 kPa
2 smooth, 200 kPa
S/2 rough, 200 kPa
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
S/D
Figure 9. Comparison of passive resistance coefficient

Figure 8. Horizontal slice model. developed on smooth and rough piles for different pile diam-
eter to pile spacing ratios.
2.2 Horizontal section

difference in these two reactions at the limiting state
The analyses above show that the presence of a piled after allowing for the magnitude of the in situ stress
wall in close proximity to the embedded length of was no more than 1% of the measured value.
a retaining wall can have a significant effect on the Analyses were carried out for pile spacings ranging
mobilized passive resistance. However, piles are rarely between 1.3 D and 10 D where D is the pile diameter,
installed as a continuous wall; more normally they are for different initial in situ stress conditions and with
installed at a spacing of between two and five times either smooth or rough pile interface properties. The
their diameter. When the piles are not in contact it is force exerted on the pile, P, was converted to a bearing
possible for the ground located in front of the wall to be capacity factor, Ncp value as follows:
forced between the piles. This process cannot be mod-
eled in a two-dimensional plane strain analysis of a
vertical section and could therefore limit the applica- (6)
bility of this type of analysis.
To investigate the probability of this form of behav-
ior, a further set of two-dimensional analyses was Figure 9 shows the effect on Ncp of varying pile spac-
undertaken. The analyses considered a horizontal slice ing for two different in situ stress states of 0 kPa and
through the piles. A diagram showing the configuration 200 kPa and for a rough or smooth pile interface. For
of the model is shown in Figure 8. Symmetry through the 0 kPa analyses with a smooth pile interface the value
the middle of the pile and the mid-point between the of Ncp reaches a minimum for a pile spacing of about
piles was assumed. The pile was prevented from mov- 1.6 D with rapidly increasing values of Ncp for smaller
ing in all directions. The upper boundary of the model pile spacings and gradually increasing values for larger
had an applied pressure equal to the initial in situ pile spacings. The minimum value of Ncp is about 4.20.
stress. The lower boundary of the model was dis- The Ncp values are consistently higher for the rough pile
placed at a constant rate towards the pile. The pile was interface analyses with a minimum Ncp value of about
connected to the ground through an interface which 5.6 occurring at a pile spacing of about 2.5 D.
allowed both shear displacement of the ground around For the analyses with an in situ stress of 200 kPa the
the pile and separation of the ground from the pile on Ncp values are higher than for the corresponding analy-
the “back” side of the pile. Only undrained analyses sis with an in situ stress of 0 kPa. The analyses with a
were undertaken using the soil properties given in smooth pile interface shows a minimum Ncp of 8.2 at a
Table 1. The resistance provided by the pile was mon- pile spacing of 2.0 D whereas the analyses with a rough
itored in two ways; firstly by determining the reac- interface show a minimum Ncp of 10.9 at a pile spacing
tions on the grid points around the pile and secondly by of 2.5 D. Both sets of analyses indicate that at higher
determining the reaction on the lower boundary. The pile spacings the Ncp value becomes constant. For the
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smooth and rough pile interface analyses the limiting the piles is resisted by a passive wedge behind the piles.
Ncp values are 9.3 and 12.0 respectively. These are com- It is suggested that, except at very close pile spacings,
parable to the results given by Chen & Martin (2002). the wedge mobilized behind the piles is identical to that
Figure 10 shows the effect of varying the in situ which would have been mobilized if the piles had not
stress state for a constant pile spacing of 3.0 D. For the been present. The restraint provided by the piles is
smooth pile interface the Ncp value increases from therefore generally additive to the normal passive
4.63 to 9.1 as the in situ stress is increased from 0 kPa wedge. The piles provide resistance only in that portion
to 70 kPa and is then constant for higher in situ stress of the passive wedge through which it passes. For a
states. For the rough pile interface the response is sim- smooth wall the failure surface underlying the passive
ilar with the Ncp value increasing from 5.67 to 11.1 at wedge rises at 45° from the toe of the wall. For a wall
about 70 kPa with the value constant at higher in situ with friction the failure surface rises at a shallower
stresses. The reason for the change from a gradually angle (see Fig. 4). Conservatively it can be assumed
increasing Ncp values at low stress to a constant value that the pile penetrates through the passive wedge to a
at higher stresses can be resolved by inspection of the depth D–h. The total passive resistance, Ptotal, per meter
deformation pattern around the piles. At stresses less run provided by this failure mode can therefore be
than 70 kPa the ground is not in contact with the back expressed as follows:
of the pile whereas above this stress the ground is in
touch with the pile over the whole pile circumference.
(7)
As the stress is gradually increased from 0 kPa to
70 kPa the length over which the ground is not in con-
tact with the pile gradually reduces. To decide whether failure will occur by squeezing
These analyses would appear to suggest that the pas- of ground between the piles or by failure of ground in
sive resistance provided by the pile would vary with front of the piles the mode with the lower failure load
depth down the pile. Near the surface the restraint pro- must govern.
vided by the pile would be least and the ground move- As an example the force required to develop the two
ment would lead to a gap developing on the side of the failure mechanisms has been calculated for the soil con-
pile furthest from the wall. ditions described above with a 10 m deep wall with
1.5 m diameter piles at 4.5 m centers located 2 m in
2.3 Combined effect front of the wall. The force for the combined failure
mode is 1825 kN/m whereas for the failure mode in
The two dimensional horizontal section analyses have front of the piles, the force is 2103 kN/m. In this case
shown that under high stress ground can be forced failure by squeezing of the ground between the piles is
between the piles. However, the ground forced between more likely than failure by squeezing in front of the
piles. It is illustrative to note that passive failure would
12
have occurred at a force of 1297 kN/m if the piles had
not been present. This illustrates the significant increase
in the passive resistance caused by installing piles in
10 this location.
8 3 THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSES
The analyses discussed above provide a basic under-

Nc
6
standing of the mechanisms involved with piles in the
passive zone of embedded retaining walls, but the
4 actual behavior is almost certainly more complex than
the two dimensional analyses can show. It is conceiv-
able that failure of a deeply embedded wall would occur
2 by a combination of both mechanisms. It is also diffi-
Smooth pile
Rough pile cult to judge the apparent horizontal stress acting in the
0 horizontal plane when assessing the resistance provided
0 50 100 150 200 by the piles.
In situ stress (kPa) To provide more guidance on the equivalence of dis-
crete passive-zone piles compared to an equivalent
Figure 10. Comparison of passive resistance coefficient continuous wall a pair of three-dimensional analyses
developed on smooth and rough piles for different in situ have been carried out using FLAC3D. Both analyses
stress states. considered clay with the properties given in Table 1.
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The clay layer was taken to be 30 m thick overlying a The wall and pile properties are given in Table 4.
hard stratum. To reduce the size of the model only that The equivalent wall properties were derived using the
part of the construction below final excavation level following formulae, which ensured that the equiva-
was considered. The overall width of the model was lent wall had the same bending and axial stiffness as
15 m which was deemed to be sufficiently wide to pre- the discrete piles.
vent interaction of the boundary with the wall or the
pile. As in the two-dimensional analysis of the horizon-
tal slice, symmetry was adopted on vertical planes per-
pendicular to the wall through the center of the piles
and also through a point midway between the piles. (8)
The wall was embedded 10 m into the clay and was
modeled using liner elements which comprise triangu-
lar plate elements connected to the ground through an Where Ep and Es are the Young’s moduli of the pile and
interface with normal and shear elastic and plastic the equivalent wall respectively, and t is the equivalent
properties. Many propped embedded retaining walls smeared pile wall thickness.
undergo maximum horizontal displacement at around The model was initially brought to equilibrium under
final excavation (formation) level and therefore the the in situ stress conditions and by fixing the horizontal
wall was moved towards the soil by applying a hori- movement of the embedded wall. The reactions devel-
zontal force to the wall at formation level while also oped on the embedded wall during this stage were then
preventing rotation about a horizontal axis at this applied as a series of nodal forces acting on the wall for
point. In one of the analyses, 1.5 m diameter piles the remainder of the analysis. The analysis was contin-
spaced at 4.5 m centers were modeled with the pile axes ued by increasing the magnitude of the horizontal force
located 2.75 m in front of the wall, resulting in 2.0 m at the top of the wall in increments. After each increase
of soil between the wall and the nearest edge of the in the force the model was allowed to reach equilibrium.
piles. A close-up of this model is shown in Figure 11. Figure 12 shows the results of the two analyses. The
In the second analysis the pile was substituted by a solid symbols show the displacement of the top of the
continuous wall with equivalent smeared properties to wall versus applied force for the two analyses. In both
that of the discrete piles. The centerline of the equiva- cases the displacements are initially small as the force is
lent wall was also located 2.75 m from the embedded increased. Up to an applied force of 1500 kN/m the wall
wall. Both the discrete piles and the equivalent wall movement is very similar in the two analyses. However
were modeled using solid brick elements rather than as the force is increased above 1500 kN/m, the wall
structural elements. movement in the analysis with discrete piles increases
Both the discrete piles and the equivalent wall rapidly and appears to become unlimited at an applied
extended the full depth of the model and both were force of about 1850 kN/m. In the analysis with the piles
assumed to be rigidly fixed in a hard stratum at the represented by an equivalent wall, the wall movement
base of the model. Rough interface properties were does not increase as rapidly and only becomes unlim-
considered between the embedded wall, the pile, the ited as the applied force approaches 2000 kN/m. These
equivalent wall and the ground. limiting values are very similar to the theoretical values
calculated in section 2.3 above.
Also shown in Figure 12 as open symbols is the pile
head or equivalent wall top movement versus applied
force. The pile movement is very similar to the
embedded wall movement up to an applied force of
1500 kN/m. In the analysis with discrete piles the pile
starts to move less than the wall as the applied force is
increased above 1500 kN/m. In the analysis with an
equivalent wall, the equivalent wall only starts to move
less than the embedded wall when the applied load
Table 4. Structural properties.
Equivalent
Setting Wall Pile wall
Thickness/diameter (m) 1.0 1.5 1.35

Young’s modulus E (GPa) 28.0 28.0 8.46
Poisson’s ratio v 0.2 0.2 0.2
Figure 11. General view of the FLAC3D pile model.
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1200 0
Discrete Piles
Equivalent Wall
Depth below formation level (m).

1000 Discrete Piles -5
Equivalent Wall
Displacement (mm)
Structural Elements
800 -10
600 -15
400 -20
200 Embedded wall

-25
Pile
Ground
0 -30
500 1000 1500 2000 -200 0 200 400 600 800
Horizontal displacement (mm)
Applied Force (kN/m)
Figure 14. Wall, pile and ground displacement profiles for
Figure 12. Wall and pile displacements in the three- an applied force of 1815 kN/m.
dimensional analyses.
embedded wall and the equivalent wall increases up to

350 an applied force of about 1750 kN/m. This is believed
Discrete Piles to be due to high ground stresses in front of the toe of
300 Equivalent Wall the embedded wall causing the equivalent wall to rotate
Relative displacement (mm)
forward more rapidly at formation level. At even higher

250 applied forces the gap between the two walls reduces as
ground starts to be squeezed upwards between the two
200
walls. It is considered that the occurrence of significant
150 differential movement between the embedded wall and
the pile is indicative of the onset of passive failure of
100 the ground in front of the wall.
Figure 14 shows the horizontal displacement of the
50 embedded wall and the piles at an applied force of
1815 kN/m for the analysis with the discrete piles. The
0 horizontal wall displacement far exceeds the pile
movement suggesting that there is failure of the ground
-50
500 1000 1500 2000 past the pile. Also shown is the horizontal deflection of
Applied Load (kN/m) the ground mid-way between the piles at the same
distance from the wall as the pile axis. The pattern of
Figure 13. Relative wall and pile displacement in the three- ground displacement is complex with the section near
dimensional analyses. the ground surface moving significantly less than the
wall and only slightly more than the pile. This is
because a passive wedge develops near the ground sur-
exceeds 1850 kN/m. This effect is shown more clearly face which daylights in front of or between the piles.
in Figure 13 which plots the differential movement Between 3 m and 10 m below ground level the ground
between the top of the pile or equivalent wall and the movement far exceeds the pile movement and is closer
top of the embedded wall for the two analyses. Positive to the movement of the embedded wall. This clearly
relative movements indicate movement of the wall shows that the ground is being squeezed between the
towards the piles. The differential movement is small in piles. Because of the restricted gap between the piles
both analyses up to 1500 kN/m. In the analysis with dis- and the incompressible nature of the undrained mate-
crete piles at higher applied forces the gap between the rial, under certain situations the ground displacement
wall and the piles begins to close rapidly as the ground between the piles could actually exceed the embedded
starts to squeeze between the piles. wall displacement.
In the analysis with the equivalent wall, at applied In two-dimensional analyses piles or walls are often
forces greater than 1500 kN/m, the gap between the represented using structural elements. These structural
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elements have no physical thickness in the model piles the critical pile spacing appears to vary from 2
although their axial and bending stiffness is mod- pile diameters when the piles are located 2 m in front of
eled correctly by assigning appropriate values of area the wall to 4 diameters when the piles are located 5 m
and moment of inertia. The structural elements are in front of the wall.
generally placed along the centerline of the piles or
wall that they are intended to represent. To investigate
the effect that modeling the piles as structural elements 5 CONCLUSIONS
has on the predicted passive resistance the three-
dimensional model was rerun with the piles repre- The analyses have shown that piles installed in the
sented by shell elements with properties identical to passive zone of embedded retaining walls can signifi-
those of the equivalent wall given in Table 4. The shell cantly increase the passive resistance mobilized in
elements were rigidly connected to the mesh and there- front of the retaining walls. The passive resistance is
fore represented a rough wall. To be comparable to the sensitive to the distance of the piles to the wall and
other two analyses, the toe of the equivalent wall was whether the piles and wall are rough or smooth. For
fixed against horizontal movements and was prevented granular deposits the passive earth pressure coeffi-
from rotating around a horizontal axis. Because cient increases dramatically as the spacing between
the structural elements have no physical thickness in the walls and the piles reduces and it is suggested that
the model, 2.75 m of clay is now present between the passive failure is unlikely to occur in this material
embedded wall and the equivalent wall. unless the piles are widely spaced or the wall has only
The results of the analysis are shown in Figure 12 as a shallow embedment.
crosses. The greater thickness of soil between the Three-dimensional analyses showed a very similar
embedded wall and the equivalent wall gives a softer limiting passive resistance to a calculation based on
wall displacement response compared to the analysis two-dimensional analyses. However, the deflections to
with the equivalent wall modeled using solid elements. mobilize this passive resistance are large and may imply
The limiting passive pressure is also lower because of unacceptable movement of the retaining structure. The
the greater separation between the two walls. From piles undergo significant lateral deflection, localized
Table 2 it can be seen that increasing the wall separa- bending and axial tension due to the movement of the
tion from 2 m to 2.75 m for a 10 m deep wall has the embedded wall and therefore it is important that these
effect of reducing the passive earth pressure coefficient piles are designed for these additional forces.
from 6.4 to about 5.3. This results in a reduction in the Where the passive failure mechanism does not com-
limiting passive resistance from 2100 kN/m to about prise squeezing of the ground between the piles, two-
1835 kN/m which is very similar to the passive resist- dimensional plane-strain analyses in which the piles are
ance predicted by this three-dimensional analysis. represented by a wall with equivalent smeared proper-
ties will provide a safe estimate of the passive resist-
ance. The analyses suggest that where piles are spaced
4 DISCUSSION at 3 diameters or less in a cohesive deposit, squeezing of
the ground between the piles is unlikely to occur unless
There appears to be a good match between the passive the piles are located nearer to the wall than 30% of the
resistance obtained in the three-dimensional analysis embedded length. Where the piles are represented by a
and the predicted passive resistance made from the structural element, the additional soil present in the
results of the two-dimensional analyses despite the obvi- model between the embedded wall and the structural
ous limitations of these analyses. A sensitivity study member will lead to a conservative estimate of the
carried out using the results of the two-dimensional passive resistance.
analyses for the undrained material shows that squeez-
ing of the ground between the piles is more likely when:
1. The embedded retaining wall and piles are rough REFERENCES
rather than smooth.
2. The piles are spaced more widely. BS8002: 1994. Code of Practice for Earth Retaining
3. The piles are nearer to the wall. Structures. British Standards Institution.
Chen C-Y & Martin, G.R. 2002. Soil-structure interaction
Using the two-dimensional analyses it is possible to for landslide stabilizing piles. Computers and
identify the critical pile spacing defining the change Geotechnics 29: 363–386.
in passive failure mechanism from squeezing of the Civil Engineering Code of Practice No. 2 1951. Earth
ground between the piles to squeezing upwards in front Retaining Structures, Institution of Structural Engineers,
of the piles. For a 10 m long embedded rough wall and London.
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Dynamic and thermal analysis

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A practice orientated modified linear elastic constitutive model for fire

loads and its application in tunnel construction
E. Abazović & A. Amon

Geoconsult ZT GmbH, Salzburg, Austria
ABSTRACT: A spate of fires in tunnels over the past decade, causing serious loss of life and significant
structural damage, has led to new safety concepts in tunnel construction. Nowadays these concepts are already
being considered during the design. In this context numerical methods represent a powerful tool for assessing
the structural forces in the lining and the change of material properties caused by thermal effects.
This article deals with the simulation of a fire within a tunnel by means of the program FLAC. The tunnel lin-
ing is modeled by four-node continuum elements for simulating non-linear and time dependent temperature
variation within the lining. The thermal effect is applied according to the fire load curve of the BEG-project,
a future major railway section between Italy and Austria passing the Alps, at the inside of the lining. The coeffi-
cient of thermal transmission between the thermal source and the lining is chosen such that the temperature-
field within the lining corresponds to experimental data. Non-linear material behavior due to thermal loading is
implemented by varying the coefficient of thermal expansion.
1 INTRODUCTION processes numerically through a modified linear elastic

material model by means of a user-defined function
Thermo mechanical processes are very complex and (FISH-function).
they are characterized by non-linear material behavior
and transient heat transfer mechanisms. Mechanical
processes are depicted through induced stresses as a 2 ASSUMPTIONS
result of mechanical loads. Alterations of the elastic
properties, spalling and material failure are caused by It can be assumed that the major principal stress within
fire loads. a concrete tunnel lining tends to act in circumferential
In a case of tunnel fire the heat between the heat direction and the minor principal stress (radial direc-
source and the tunnel inner lining is transmitted by tion) can be neglected. In this case a uniaxial state of
radiation and convection. These exchange mechanisms stress within the tunnel lining prevails and the devia-
are dependent on various factors like brightness, air toric stresses are negligibly small. The material behavior
flow velocity, temperature difference and material is determined by only the spherical tensor. Since tem-
conductivity. Convection is time dependent due to perature loads are also only influenced by the spherical
transient conditions of the temperature gradient. tensor and the temperature load is linearly propor-
Heat interchange through radiation is characterized tional to temperature increase it is possible to obtain a
by the difference of the fourth power of the temperature stress change by variation of the thermal coefficient
quotient of the heat source and heat recipient. Heat of expansion.
interchange through radiation is time dependent too. The thermal load is applied in terms of a temperature
The required calculation constants are difficult to load at the inside of the tunnel lining. The applied
determine because of the above mentioned reasons, temperature is equivalent to the fire load curve of
and should therefore be determined by experiment. In the Brenner Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (BEG) project.
addition in absence of a material law describing the The temperature increases linearly within seven min-
complex thermo mechanical processes, numerical sim- utes from the initial temperature to the maximum
ulations are even more difficult. For this reason, this temperature of 1200°C which can be seen in Figure 1
article is intended to describe thermo mechanical (Gresslehner 2001).
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09069-37.qxd 08/11/2003 20:48 PM Page 314
Fire load curve BEG-1 s1 s1
1200 sq = −3K . aq . ∆q = −3K . q
1000 sM = E . 1 = 3K . (1 − 2v) . 1
Temperature [°C]
800
ϑ0 ϑ1 ϑ2 ϑ
600 − +
elϑ
400
M
200
0 Figure 3. Material behavior.

0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Time [minutes]
Figure 1. Fire load curve. parameters, until no further stresses can be taken, i.e.
material destruction. The presentation in form of a
usual stress–strain diagram is insufficient and inap-
Temperature of concrete during BEG-1 fire propriate as the process is still controlled by tempera-
1200 ture. To be able to define a material-law dependent on
1100 temperature, the thermal process is depicted by analogy
to the stress–strain behavior (dashed axes).
1000 180,ξ Due to material warming, the elementary volume
900 expands linearly proportional to the temperature
360,ξ
increase (el) and the temperature expansion coeffi-
Temperature of concrete [°C]
800
540,ξ cient, whereby the material behavior is temperature
700 independent (Fig. 3, 0 1 70°C). Due to
1800,ξ
restrained thermal expansion in the closed ring struc-
600
3600,ξ ture of a tunnel lining, the initial stress increase is cal-
500 culated as:
5400,ξ
400
7200,ξ (1)
300
10080,ξ
200
(2)
100
0 where El T elastic stress increase due to temperature

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 increase; K compression modulus; 0 coeffi-
ξ
Depth of temperature penetration [cm]
cient of linear thermal expansion; temperature
increase.
Figure 2. Depth of temperature penetration. Within a temperature range between 70 and 700°C
the elastic modulus decreases from 100% to 10% with
a sudden drop to 0% thereafter (material destruction,
The coefficient of heat transfer and the factor of
spalling of concrete). The generated constraint and
thermal conductivity are chosen until the temperature
temperature stresses which are caused by the loss of
gradients meet the experimental data, published by the
the elastic modulus drop afterwards to zero.
University of Innsbruck (Kusterle & Waubke 2001)
(Fig. 2).
3.2 Governing equations
3 NON-LINEAR THERMAL CONSTITUTIVE Based on Hook’s law in the tensor form the following
MODEL shall apply:
3.1 General (3)

Due to mechanical loads the tunnel lining is under
compression (M, Fig. 3) and normal stress (M). This
state is the initial condition for the thermal calcula- (4)
tions. In reality the normal stress will further increase
without change in strain under temperature load and
(5)
subsequently decrease due to the loss of the stiffness
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09069-37.qxd 08/11/2003 20:48 PM Page 315
where
[Dij] deviatoric part of stress tensor;
[0ij] volumetric part of stress tensor;
[ij] total stress tensor;
[Dij] deviatoric part of strain tensor;
[0ij] volumetric part of strain tensor;
G, K shear and compression modulus, respectively
(Školska Knjiga 1996).
Based on the assumption that the deviatoric part of
the stress tensor is negligibly small in a closed tunnel
lining the total stress then equals the volumetric part
of the stresses:
(6)
(7)
Stress increase due to temperature increase has an

influence only on the volumetric part of the stress ten- Figure 4. Cross section with surface load.
sor. The volumetric strains are linearly proportional to
the temperature increase and the thermal expansion
coefficient: where E t Young’s elastic modulus at time t for
temperature ; E0 Young’s elastic modulus at time
(8) t 0; t actual temperature at time t; 2, 1
temperature at material failure and temperature at
where [ij ] thermal strain tensor; 0 coefficient beginning of material softening respectively.
of linear thermal expansion; 1, 0 temperature at The tensor form of Hook’s law written in incre-
time (1) and initial temperature; [ ij] Kronecker mental form for temperature loads gives:
-tensor, respectively.
If the volumetric displacements are restrained then (14)
stresses will be induced into the elementary volume
as follows: The stress decrease observed in the temperature range
between 1 and 2 can not be achieved by a reduction
(9) of the bulk modulus because a zero or negative incre-
ment characterized by a negative compression modu-
lus is not possible. As the coefficient of temperature
(10) expansion (0) is a linear part of the stress increment
it is possible to calculate a direct derivative of the
The stresses within the elementary volume can be equivalent thermal expansion coefficient which gives
calculated as the sum of the stresses of the volumetric positive and negative increments. Analogous to Equa-
tensor (Fig. 4) and the stress increase as a result of the tion 13 we can write:
temperature load (Eq. 10).
(15)
(11)
Until a relaxation occurs at a temperature greater than

(12)
1 70°C the state of stress is determined by
mechanical and thermal stresses and therefore a neg-
Within a temperature range between 1 70°C and ative equivalent coefficient of temperature expansion
2 700°C the elastic modulus decreases approxi- has to be recalculated.
mately linearly from 100 to 10% so that the following
relation can be written:
(16)
(13) where the term [Rij] the volumetric deformation at

relaxation.
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09069-37.qxd 08/11/2003 20:48 PM Page 316
At a temperature 2 700°C the stress in the ele- If the temperature in the elementary volume is greater
mentary volume has to be zero. than 700°C this effect is called as physical material
destruction and the elastic modulus decreases to zero.
(17) As a zero value of the elastic constants within a numer-
ical model is not possible a further correction of the
so that we can write: coefficient of expansion is necessary in order to achieve
a compensation of the increasing stresses, which would
be caused by static loads. The external load would cause
(18) a negative extension (εM, Fig. 3) and therefore gener-
ate a compressive stress (M, Fig. 3) which should be
(19) compensated by thermal expansion. The maximum
temperature in the element can theoretically reach the
value of the temperature source (3 1200°C, fire load
(20) curve). Again, we can derive a temperature depend-
ence of the coefficient of thermal expansion:
where I 1 major principal stress at a temperature
1 70°C and 1 equivalent coefficient of thermal (21)
expansion for temperature between 70°C and 700°C.
From Equation 20 we can easily obtain an equiva- (22)
lent coefficient of thermal expansion for the relax-
ation area:
(21) 4 PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF A FIRE

LOAD WITHIN A TUNNEL
The investigated example is an NATM tunnel with an

Table 1. Constitutive constants. overburden of 12 m and a uniform surface load of
100 kN/m2. All calculations are performed with FLAC
Unit Friction Young’s Poisson’s (Itasca 2000), a program for two-dimensional numer-
Weight Angle Modulus E Ratio ical calculations.
Material [kN/m3] [Degree] [MPa] [–] The discrete model consists of a matrix of 70
110
four node continuum elements for the soil (Fig. 5)
Soil 22.0 38.0 65.0 0.30
Concrete 25.0 – 30,000 0.20 whereby the tunnel lining is also modeled by contin-
uum elements to be able to implement a modified
JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes (*10^2)
FLAC (Version 4.00) 0.300
LEGEND
19-May-03 8:03 0.100

step 45768
Thermal Time 7.2000E+03

-0.100
-3.000E+01 <x< 1.300E+02
-1.200E+02 <y< 4.000E+01
-0.300
Grid plot
0 2E 1
-0.500
-0.700
-0.900
-1.100
Geoconsult ZT GmbH
Salzburg - Austria
-0.200 0.000 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800 1.000 1.200
(*10^2)
Figure 5. Discretisized model.
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09069-37.qxd 08/11/2003 20:48 PM Page 317
linear-elastic material model. The lining and the adja- 5 VERIFICATION OF MATERIAL-MODEL
cent soil are linked with so called “Interface” ele- AND CALCULATION RESULTS
ments. For the tunnel lining a Young’s modulus of
E 30 GPa and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.2 has been The verification of the temperature fields at different
chosen. The soil is modeled according to an elastic– time steps is done by comparison of the experimental
plastic material model, the Mohr–Coulomb failure data with the temperature pattern within the tunnel
criterion. To keep the calculation time within reason- lining. As it can be seen in Figure 7 the numerical
able time limits only one half of the system is mod- results match well with the experimental values.
eled, introducing symmetry boundary conditions. For verification of the material law a beam (1 m
The horizontal displacements at the symmetry axis wide, 45 cm high) was modeled by using a 1 cm by
at the right boundary of the mesh are fixed as well as 1 cm zone size. A linear-elastic material model was
the vertical displacements at the bottom boundary of used with a Young’s modulus of 30 GPa and a Poisson’s
the model. At the surface a constant uniformly distrib- ratio of 0.25. Normal pressure of 3.0 MPa was applied
uted load of 100 kN/m2 is applied. The initial stress on the vertical boundaries and after static calculation
state is defined applying a lateral earth pressure coef- a thermal load according to the fire load curve (Fig. 1)
ficient of 40% of the vertical pressure. The imple- was applied on the bottom of the model. The “while-
mentation of the tunnel lining is performed without any stepping” loop was used for calculating the equivalent
relaxation immediately after excavation.
After the static analysis, i.e. equilibrium within the JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes
system prevails, a temperature load as a function of FLAC (Version 4.00)

+03
LEGEND (10 )
time is applied at the inside of the tunnel lining (Fig. 6). 27-May-03 11:51
The coefficient of heat transfer 0 160 W/m2K and step 33549

Thermal Time 7.2000E+03 1.000
the coefficient of thermal conductivity 1.6 W/mK Table Plot

9 Minutes 0.800
were varied such that the temperature gradient and 30 Minutes
60 Minutes
the velocity of thermal penetration corresponded to 90 Minutes
120 Minutes
0.600
experimental data. The values for the specific heat 0.400
CV 1000 Ws/kgK and the coefficient for thermal

expansion 0 1 105 1/K were chosen according
0.200
to the literature. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
The calculation was performed as a coupled time- GEOCONSULT ZT GmbH
-02
(10 )
Salzburg - Austria
dependent mechanical analysis where mechanical and
thermal time steps, which were calculated in real time,
changed cyclically. Figure 7. Depth of temperature penetration in FLAC.
JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes

(*10^1)
FLAC (Version 4.00)
LEGEND 0.900
19-May-03 8:03
step 45768
0.700
-4.259E+00 <x< 1.019E+01
-4.270E+00 <y< 1.018E+01
0.500
Grid plot
0 2E 0
0.300
Applied Heat Sources
O Max Value = 1.302E+03
0.100
-0.100
-0.300
Geoconsult ZT GmbH
Salzburg - Austria
-0.300 -0.100 0.100 0.300 0.500 0.700 0.900
(*10^1)
Figure 6. Detail of tunnel lining with applied temperature load.
317

09069-37.qxd 08/11/2003 20:48 PM Page 318
JOB TITLE : 90 minutes JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes
FLAC (Version 4.00)
FLAC (Version 4.00)
-01
+07 LEGEND (10 )
LEGEND (10 )
20-May-03 9:34
2.000
2-Jul-03 15:38 step 45768
2.400
step 10200 Thermal Time 7.2000E+03 1.500
Thermal Time 5.2000E+03 2.000 1.000
HISTORY PLOT
HISTORY PLOT Y-axis : 0.500
1.600
Y-axis : m_his_239 (FISH)
X-axis : 0.000
Rev_Prin. stress 1( 50, 2)
1.200 Number of steps
X-axis : -0.500
ztemp2 (FISH)
0.800 -1.000
-1.500
0.400
-2.000
0.000
39 40 41 42 43 44 45
+03
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Geoconsult ZT GmbH (10 )
+02 Salzburg - Austria
GEOCONSULT ZT GmbH (10 )
Salzburg - Austria
Figure 11. Time progression of bending moment in roof.

Figure 8. Reverse principal stress vs. zone temperature.
JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes
FLAC (Version 4.00)
JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes LEGEND
FLAC (Version 4.00) 20-May-03 9:34
+01
-2.000
(10 ) step 45768
LEGEND -2.200
20-May-03 9:34 -0.500 -2.400
step 45768
HISTORY PLOT -2.600
Thermal Time 7.2000E+03 -1.000
Y-axis : -2.800
HISTORY PLOT n_his_130 (FISH)
-1.500 -3.000
X-axis :
Y-axis :
Number of steps -3.200
Prin. stress 1( 130, 116)
-2.000
X-axis : -3.400
ztemp6 (FISH) -2.500 -3.600
-3.800
-3.000
39 40 41 42 43 44 45
Geoconsult ZT GmbH +03
(10 )
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Salzburg - Austria
+01
Geoconsult ZT GmbH (10 )
Salzburg - Austria
Figure 12. Time progression of normal force in shoulder.

Figure 9. Major principal stress in dependence on temper-
ature in element. JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 120 minutes
FLAC (Version 4.00)
LEGEND
20-May-03 9:34 -1.400
JOB TITLE : G4126 BEG-Stans/Terfens, RQ 9a - km 53+500, Fire Load - 12z0 minutes step 45768
Thermal Time 7.2000E+03 -1.600
FLAC (Version 4.00)
-01
-1.800
LEGEND (10 ) HISTORY PLOT
Y-axis : -2.000
20-May-03 9:34 n_his_239 (FISH) -2.200
step 45768 -2.000 X-axis :
Thermal Time 7.2000E+03 Number of steps -2.400
-2.500 -2.600
HISTORY PLOT -3.000 -2.800
Y-axis :
-3.000
m_his_130 (FISH) -3.500
X-axis : -3.200
Number of steps -4.000
39 40 41 42 43 44 45
+03
-4.500 Geoconsult ZT GmbH (10 )
Salzburg - Austria
-5.000
39 40 41 42 43 44 45
Geoconsult ZT GmbH (10
+03
)
Figure 13. Time progression of normal force in roof.
Salzburg - Austria
temperature of 70°C, and afterwards decreases linearly

Figure 10. Time progression of bending moment in shoulder. to zero at the temperature of 700°C.
The same effect can be seen in Figure 9 where the
thermal coefficient of expansion during the thermal evolution of the major principal stress in one of the ele-
analysis. Figure 8 shows the evolution of the reverse ments of the tunnel lining boundary, depend on the
major principal stress of a zone depending on the temperature at the center of the element, is depicted.
temperature within the center of the zone. It is apparent The effects of stress changes for the internal forces
that at the beginning the principal stress increases to a (axial force and bending moment) due to temperature
318

09069-37.qxd 08/11/2003 20:48 PM Page 319
loading are presented for sections in the roof and shoul- to the length of the element as well as the number of
der area. Until application of a fire load a negative the Gauss integration points is a very important factor
moment predominates (tension soil-sided) whereas in for the relation of the internal forces from the stresses
the roof a positive moment (tension cavity-sided) of continuum elements. Therefore an optimum number
predominates. of elements as well as geometry of the elements
If the boundary elements do not reach the so-called should be achieved in order not to falsify the calcula-
“Creep-Temperature” it is apparent that at the begin- tion results.
ning the negative moment in the shoulder increases Local phenomena like spalling and local loss of
significantly, but immediately afterwards the moment thermal protection, which lead to irregular temperature
decreases because of the loss of stress reception. variation within the cross-section of a concrete lining,
In the roof, constraint stresses develop from the are factors which influence the results considerably.
temperature. On account of this reason the tensile These effects are not considered in this paper.
stresses at the inside of the tunnel lining are reduced The internal forces, especially the moments are
or turn into compressive stresses. As a result of fire considerably influenced by the rate of temperature
loads the positive moment reduces as well until the spread. All calculations show that the moments are
elements achieve the relaxation temperature. Afterwards predominately effected within the first minutes of a
the moments change their direction in dependence on fire case as soon the concrete has the full stiffness and
the temperature in the next element rows. stress reception capability. The negative moments
The normal force in the lining is calculated over (tensile stresses soil-sided) increase rapidly and after-
the projection of the stresses normal to the cross-section wards decrease slowly because of the reduction of the
through integration over the thickness. From Figures 12 stiffness and loss of stress reception capability within
& 13, it is obvious that the normal force increases the heated zones of the lining. The positive moments
suddenly and decreases after failure of the material (tensile stresses cavity-sided) show the same trends
within a part of the lining elements. Afterwards the and can change their sign in dependence of the initial
normal force levels around the initial value and stays stress state. These extreme values can provide impor-
more or less constant. tant information for dimensioning the lining.
Within the first minutes of a fire load the normal
forces in the tunnel lining show the same trend as the
bending moments. As a result of fire loads a signifi-
6 CONCLUSIONS
cant stress increase at the inside of the tunnel lining
can speed up the spalling of concrete.
From the calculation results it is apparent that a
numerical simulation of thermo-mechanical processes
is possible. The quality of the results is dependent on
the quality of the implemented material-law and on REFERENCES
the amount of experimental data on which the material
model and the thermal process can be calibrated. Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2000. FLAC – Fast Lagrangian
The temperature pattern within the first centimeter Analysis of Continua, Version 4.0 User’s Manual.
of the section has the steepest temperature gradients Minneapolis: Itasca.
Školska Knjiga, 1996. Inženjerski Priručnik, Zagreb:
and is highly non-linear. In comparison to experimen- Stručno-Znanstvena Redakcija Biblioteke.
tal data the temperature interpolation in the center of Kusterle W., Waubke N.V., 2001. Baulicher Brandschutz –
the element (FLAC) of a discretisized model is linear. Betontechnologie, Innsbruck: Institut für Baustoffe und
Because of the accuracy of the calculated bending Bauphysik der Universität Innsbruck.
moments and normal forces the relation of the height Gresslehner K.H., 2001. Festlegung der BEG-1 Kurve.
319

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Seismic liquefaction: centrifuge and numerical modeling
P.M. Byrne & S.S. Park

Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada
M. Beaty
Senior Engineer, Calif. Dept. of Water Resources, Sacramento, CA, USA
ABSTRACT: A fully coupled effective stress dynamic analysis procedure for modeling seismic liquefaction
is presented. An elastic plastic formulation is used for the constitutive model UBCSAND in which the yield loci
are radial lines of constant stress ratio and the flow rule is non-associated. This is incorporated into the 2D version
of FLAC by modifying the existing Mohr-Coulomb model. This numerical procedure is used to simulate centrifuge
test data from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). UBCSAND is first calibrated to cyclic simple shear tests
performed on Nevada sand. Both pre- and post-liquefaction behavior is captured. The centrifuge tests are then
modeled and the predicted accelerations, excess porewater pressures, and displacements are compared with the
measurements. The results are shown to be in general agreement when stress densification and saturation effects
are taken into account. The procedure is currently being used in the design of liquefaction remediation measures
for a number of dam, bridge, tunnel, and pipeline projects in Western Canada.
1 INTRODUCTION procedures coupled with fluid flow predictions. These

analyses can estimate the displacements, accelerations
Displacements arising from seismic liquefaction can be and porewater pressures caused by a specified input
very large and are a major concern for earth structures motion. Triggering of liquefaction, displacements and
located in regions of moderate to high seismicity. Liq- flow slide potential are addressed in a single analysis.
uefaction is caused by high porewater pressures result- Such analyses involve capturing the liquefaction behav-
ing from the tendency for granular soils to compact ior of a soil element as observed in laboratory tests,
when subjected to cyclic loading. Remedial measures and then modeling the soil-structure as a collection of
typically involve attempts to prevent or curtail lique- such elements subjected to the design earthquake base
faction so that displacements are reduced to tolerable motion.
levels. Modifications can also be made to the structure It is vital that these sophisticated procedures be ver-
so that larger displacements can be tolerated. In either ified before they are used in practice. Instrumented
case, the rational design for remediation requires a centrifuge model tests can be used for verification and
reliable prediction of soil-structure response during the have some advantages over observed field behavior.
design earthquake. Centrifuge tests allow the measurement of displace-
State-of-practice procedures for evaluating liquefac- ments, input and induced accelerations, and porewater
tion typically use separate analyses for liquefaction pressures under field stress conditions. These tests can
triggering (e.g. Youd et al. 2001), flow slide (limit therefore provide a useful database for verification of
equilibrium with residual strength), and displacements numerical modeling. This approach is used below.
(Newmark sliding block). While the results of the trig-
gering evaluation are used as input into the flow slide
and displacement evaluations, the analyses are other- 2 LIQUEFACTION
wise independent. While this practice often provides
a good screening level tool, these simplified total Liquefaction is caused by the tendency of granular soil
stress analyses cannot reliably predict excess porewa- to contract when subjected to monotonic or cyclic shear
ter pressures, accelerations, or displacement patterns. loading. When this contraction is prevented or curtailed
State-of-art procedures involve dynamic finite ele- by the presence of water in the pores, normal stress is
ment or finite difference analyses using effective stress transferred from the soil skeleton to the water. This
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09069-38.qxd 8/11/03 9:20 PM Page 322
(a) σv0
Plastic Shear Strain Increment, dγ p

τ
Strength Envelope
Plastic Strain
Shear Stress, τ
u Increment Vector f
Shear Stress, τ
Elastic
Shear Strain, γ
(b)
Contraction Dilation Normal Effective Stress, s'
p
Plastic Volumetric Strain Increment, dεv
Pore Pressure, u
Figure 2. Classic Mohr-Coulomb model.
Shear Strain, γ
f
τ , dγ p
(c)
Plastic Strain
B
Effective stress, σv
Increment Vector
σ'v0
A Yield Locus
φd
p
s', dεv
Shear Strain, γ
Figure 3. UBCSAND model.
Figure 1. Undrained response of loose sand in simple shear:
(a) stress–strain, (b) pore pressure, and (c) effective stress
response. dilation angle, . This model is really too simple for
soils since plastic strains also occur for stress states
can cause high excess pore pressures resulting in a very below the strength envelope. The UBCSAND stress–
large reduction in shear stiffness. Large shear strains strain model described herein modifies the Mohr-
may occur, and the soil will dilate with these strains Coulomb model incorporated in FLAC to capture the
unless the soil is very loose. This dilation causes the plastic strains that occur at all stages of loading. Yield
porewater pressure to drop and the stiffness to increase, loci are assumed to be radial line of constant stress
which can limit the strains, induced by a load cycle. ratio as shown in Figure 3. Unloading is assumed to be
This behavior is illustrated in Figure 1 for monotonic elastic. Reloading induces plastic response but with a
loading. stiffened plastic shear modulus.
It is this tendency of the soil skeleton to contract and The plastic shear modulus relates the shear stress and
dilate that controls its liquefaction response. Once the the plastic shear strain and is assumed to be hyper-
skeleton behavior is modeled, the response under bolic with stress ratio as shown in Figure 4. Moving
drained, undrained or coupled stress-flow conditions the yield locus from A to B in Figure 3 requires a plas-
P
can be computed by incorporating the bulk stiffness and tic shear strain increment, , as shown in Figure 4,
flow of the pore fluid. and is controlled by the plastic shear modulus, GP. The
associated plastic volumetric strain increment, dPv, is
obtained from the dilation angle :
3 CONSTITUTIVE MODEL: UBCSAND

(1)
The simplest realistic model for soil is the classic Mohr-
Coulomb elastic–plastic model as depicted in Figure 2. The dilation angle is based on laboratory data and
Soils are modeled as elastic below the strength enve- energy considerations and is approximated by
lope and plastic on the strength envelope with plastic
shear and volumetric strains increments related by the (2)
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3.2 Plastic properties

G p/ s' The plastic properties used by the model are the peak
Stress Ratio, h (= τ /s’)
friction angle P the constant volume friction angle cv,

and plastic shear modulus GP, where
B
A
(5)
Dg p
GPi
Ge and
depends on relative density, is the
Plastic Shear Strain, g p current shear stress, f is the projected shear stress at
failure, and Rf is the failure ratio used to truncate the
Figure 4. Hyperbolic stress–strain relationship.
hyperbolic relationship.
The position of the yield locus d is known for each
element at the start of each time step. If the stress ratio
increases and plastic strain is predicted, then the yield
Dilation locus for that element is pushed up by an amount d
as given by Equation 6. Unloading of stress ratio is con-
Shear Stress,
sidered to be elastic. Upon reloading, the yield locus is

set to the stress ratio corresponding to the stress reversal
point.
Contraction
(6)
Normal Effective Stress,
Figure 5. Zones of shear-induced contraction and dilation.

The elastic and plastic parameters are highly depend-
ent on relative density, which must be considered in any
model calibration. These parameters can be selected
where cv is the phase transformation or constant vol- by calibration to laboratory test data. The response of
ume friction angle and d describes the current yield the model can also be compared to a considerable data-
locus. A negative value of corresponds to contraction. base for triggering of liquefaction under earthquake
Contraction occurs for stress states below cv and dila- loading in the field. This database exists in terms of
tion above as shown in Figure 5. Additional information penetration resistance, typically from cone penetration
on earlier but similar forms of UBCSAND is presented (CPT) or standard penetration (SPT) tests. A common
by Puebla et al. (1997) and Beaty & Byrne (1998). relationship between (N1)60 values from the SPT and
Elastic and plastic properties for the model are the cyclic stress ratio that triggers liquefaction for
defined as follows. a magnitude 7.5 earthquake is given by Youd et al.
(2001). Comparing laboratory data based on relative
density to field data based on penetration resistance
3.1 Elastic properties relies upon an approximate conversion, such as that
proposed by Skempton (1986):
The elastic bulk modulus, B, and shear modulus, Ge,
are assumed to be isotropic and stress level dependent.
They are described by the following relations where kB
(7)
and kG are modulus numbers, PA is atmospheric pres-
sure, and m is the mean effective stress:
Model parameters based on penetration resistance

(3) and field observation may be useful for field conditions
where it is very difficult to retrieve and test a represen-
tative sample. However, this indirect method is not
appropriate for simulation of centrifuge models. Cali-
brations for this case should be based on direct labo-
(4) ratory testing of samples that are prepared in the same
manner as the centrifuge model.
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4 SIMULATION OF CYCLIC ELEMENT 20

TEST DATA 15 (a) Drc=40% CSR=0.15
Shear Stress (kPa)

10
A number of cyclic simple shear tests have been con- 5
ducted on Fraser River sand at the University of British 0
Columbia. The samples were prepared by air pluvia- -5
tion with a target relative density Dr of 40% and tested -10
at an initial vertical effective stress, v0, of 100 kPa. -15 Test Calibration
Samples were also tested at v0 of 200 kPa with a Dr of -20
44%. Samples were subjected to cyclic shear under 0 20 40 60 80 100
constant volume conditions that simulate undrained Vertical Effective Stress (kPa)
response at a range of cyclic stress ratios. Typical 20
examples of measured response are shown in Figures 6
15 (b) Drc=40% CSR=0.15
& 7. From Figure 6a it may be seen that as the shear
Shear Stress (kPa)

stress is cycled, the effective stresses decrease as the 10
pore pressure ratio ru increases. This ratio ru is given by 5
(u – u0)/v0, where u0 and u are the initial and current 0
pore pressures. ru approaches unity after 5 cycles, -5
which corresponds to a state of zero effective stress. -10
Application of further cycles produce very large shear -15 Test Calibration
strains in the range of 10 to 15% or more as shown in -20
Figure 6b. However, the strain per cycle is limited as -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
the pore pressures drop with strain due to dilation. Shear Strain (%)
Figures 6 & 7 also show the response predicted
using UBCSAND. The elastic and plastic parameters Figure 7. Stress path and stress–strain relationship
selected by the calibration were the same for both (CSR 0.15).
tests. The model gives a reasonable representation of
the observed response, although the final predicted
0.2
strains are less than measured for Figure 6. A summary UBCSAND
Cyclic Stress Ratio (CSR)
Dr=44%
0.15 Dr=40%
20
15 (a) Drc=40% CSR=0.1
Shear Stress (kPa)
0.1
10
5
0 0.05
-5 Test: Dr=40%
-10 Test: Dr=44%
-15 0
Test Calibration 1 10 100
-20
0 20 40 60 80 100 No. of Cycles to Liquefaction
Vertical Effective Stress (kPa)
Figure 8. Predicted and measured liquefaction response of
20 Fraser River sand.
(b) Drc=40% CSR=0.1
15
Shear Stress (kPa)
10
5
of the test results and the UBCSAND calibration are
shown in Figure 8. The predicted and measured lique-
0
faction response for v0 of 100 and 200 kPa is in close
-5 agreement.
-10
-15 Test Calibration
-20 5 CENTRIFUGE TESTS
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Shear Strain (%) A simulation using UBCSAND was made of 2 cen-
trifuge tests carried out at RPI as described in Table 1.
Figure 6. Stress path and stress–strain relationship In the centrifuge test, a small model is used that is
(CSR 0.1). subjected to a high acceleration field during the test.
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This has the effect of increasing its stresses by the that is 120 (Model 1) or 60 (Model 2) times larger
ratio of the induced acceleration divided by the accel- than the actual model. Results from the centrifuge test
eration of gravity. This ratio or factor is 120 for can be presented at either the model or prototype scale.
Model 1 and 60 for Model 2 as indicated by Table 1. The prototype scale is used for this paper.
The centrifuge model under the increased acceleration While in flight, a motion simulating an earthquake
field can also be thought of as representing a prototype time history is applied to the base of the model. For
dynamic similitude at the model scale, the earthquake
time scale must be decreased by a factor of 120 (Model
Table 1. Centrifuge model tests. 1) or 60 (Model 2), and the earthquake acceleration
increased by the same factor. The engineering coeffi-
RPI Model 1 RPI Model 2 cient of permeability k will also increase by this same
factor due to the increased unit weight of the fluid. k
Test condition Level Slope should be decreased for hydraulic similitude, although
Dr 55% 40% it is not necessary to model a specific k. It is common
Centrifuge acc. 120 g 60 g
Max. v 380 kPa 100 kPa
to use a fluid in the test that is 30 to 60 times more vis-
Soil depth 38 m 10 m cous than water to prevent rapid rates of dissipation
Fluid viscosity 60 w 60 w that might unduly curtail liquefaction effects.
Nevada sand was used for these centrifuge tests
and its liquefaction and permeability (at 1 g using
water as pore fluid) properties were obtained from
0.5
UBCSAND laboratory tests (Arulmoli et al. 1992, Kammerer
Dr=44% et al. 2000, Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002). Its
Cyclic Stress Ratio (CSR)
0.4 Test: Dr=43-46%

Test: Dr=60-63% Dr=62% measured liquefaction resistance together with the
Test: Dr=86-89% Dr=88% UBCSAND prediction is shown in Figure 9.
0.3
0.2 5.1 Model 1

Model 1 comprises a uniform horizontal sand layer
0.1 having a thickness of 37 m (prototype scale) and a
placement density Dr of 55% as shown in Figure 10
0 (Gonzalez et al. 2002). After application of the 120 g
1 10 100 acceleration field, Dr was estimated to increase to 63%
No. of Cycles to Liquefaction near the base due to the increase in stresses. The amount
of densification was estimated from one-dimensional
Figure 9. Liquefaction resistance of Nevada sand. compression tests. The applied base motion is shown
(a) Centrifuge Model 1 (b) FLAC Model 1

120 g
Measurements
Z = 0.0 m
Ac6 Ac7 Z = 1.3 m
P7 Ac5 P8 Z = 6.3 m
P5 Ac4 P6 Z = 13.1 m
Navada sand Ac3 P4 Z = 24.8 m

(Dr=55%)
Ac2 P3
Z = 30.8 m
P1 Ac1 P2 Z = 37.0 m
Ac8 Z = 38.1 m
Input Motion: 50 cycles, 0.2g, 1.5Hz

Pore Pressure Transducer Accelerometer
Figure 10. Centrifuge Model 1 and FLAC Model 1.
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0.3
Centrifuge Input Numerical Input
0.2
Acceleration (g)
0.1
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
0 10 20 30 40
Time (Sec)
Figure 11. Based input motions of Model 1.
Table 2. Key input for Model 1 numerical analysis. Measurement Prediction

140
Bf after 120
100
spinup Permeability EPP (kPa) 80
60 Depth =13.1m
Layer kG kB (kPa) (m/sec) 40
20 -- σ' vo
0
Top 952 2856 0.44 0.2 E5 5 E-5 0 10 20 30 40
Middle 1020 3060 0.61 0.6 E5 5 E-5

300
Bottom 1042 3126 0.67 1.2 E5 5 E-5 250
EPP (kPa)
200
150
100 Depth = 24.8m
M (measurement) P (prediction) 50 -- σ' vo
0.4
M(depth=1.3m) P(depth=1.3m) 0
0.2
Acc (g)
0 10 20 30 40
0
-0.2
350
-0.4 300
0.4 250
EPP (kPa)
M(depth=6.3m) P(depth=6.3m)
0.2 200
Acc (g)
0 150 Depth = 30.8m

100
-0.2
50 -- σ' vo
-0.4 0
0.4 0 10 20 30 40
0.2
Acc (g)
0
400
-0.2
EPP (kPa)
-0.4 300
0.4 200 Depth = 37.0m

0.2 100
Acc (g)
-- σ' vo
0
0
-0.2 0 10 20 30 40
-0.4 Time (sec)
0.4
0.2
Figure 12b. Measured and predicted excess pore pressures
Acc (g)
0
-0.2 of Model 1.
-0.4
0.4
0.2 The container for Model 1 consisted of slip “rings”
Acc (g)
0
-0.2
that allowed differential horizontal displacements in
-0.4
0 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40
the vertical direction but not in the horizontal. This
Time (sec) Time (sec) was simulated in the FLAC model by “attaching” the
vertical sides, Figure 10. The initial horizontal effec-
Figure 12a. Measured (left) and predicted (right) accelera- tive stresses were set to 0.5 times the vertical effective
tions of Model 1. stresses.
The measured and predicted excess pore pressures
in Figure 11 and consisted of 50 cycles with an ampli- and accelerations for various depths are shown in
tude of 0.2 g and a frequency of 1.5 Hz. The key inputs Figure 12. The predicted accelerations are initially
including water bulk stiffness (Bf) for different layers about the same at all depths and approximately equal to
in the numerical model are listed in Table 2. the base input value of 0.2 g. The accelerations decrease
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Figure 13. Cross section of Model 2 (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002).
over much of the model as the shaking continues. The Table 3. Key input for Model 2 numerical analysis.
decay of acceleration is most rapid in the upper layers
and can be explained in terms of the excess porewater Bf after
pressures shown in Figure 12b. A large drop in acceler- spinup Permeability
ation response occurs when the measured excess pore Layer kG kB
(kPa) (m/sec)
pressure reaches the initial vertical effective stress v0, Free field 867 2601 0.22 1.0 E5 2.1 E-5
which corresponds to a liquefied state. Measurements
show that liquefaction occurs first near the surface and
then progresses downward. The accelerations and
excess pore pressures predicted using UBCSAND are 5.2 Model 2
in generally good agreement with the measurements.
The analysis described above incorporates the effect The cross section for Model 2 is shown in Figure 13
of densification due to the increased acceleration field. and comprises a steep 1.5:1 slope in loose fine sand
If this effect is not considered, and a uniform Dr of with Dr 40% (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002).
55% is used in the analysis, then liquefaction is pre- The base motion consists of 20 cycles of 0.2 g at a fre-
dicted to occur first at the base of the model rather quency of 1 Hz. The container for model 2 was rigid
than at the surface. The higher Dr at the base reverses and this was simulated in the FLAC model by apply-
this trend and indicates the importance of stress den- ing the input motion to the vertical sides as well as the
sification in centrifuge tests. base. The key inputs for Model 2 are listed in Table 3.
Full saturation of the pores is difficult to achieve in a Pore pressures and accelerations were measured away
centrifuge test. The best fit with the data was obtained from the face of the slope, approximating free field
assuming an initial placement saturation, or Sr, of 98% conditions, as well as adjacent to the slope.
at atmospheric pressure. The pore pressure will increase The predicted and observed accelerations and pore
as the centrifuge acceleration is applied, and the result- pressures in the free field are shown in Figures 14 & 15.
ing increase in Sr is modeled using the gas laws. As expected, similar trends are seen as for the level
In summary, ground test of Model 1, i.e. ru of 100% and reduced
accelerations.
(a) UBCSAND provides a reasonable agreement to The accelerations and pore pressures near the
the test results, slope are shown in Figures 16 & 17. It may be seen in
(b) ru 1.0 and liquefaction can occur at depths of Figure 16 that there is little or no reduction in the
40 m in medium dense sand strata, accelerations. Instead, large upslope acceleration spikes
(c) a large reduction in the accelerations can occur occur. Excess pore pressures are shown in Figure 17.
upon liquefaction, Large negative excess pore pressure spikes occur that
(d) the effect of stress densification should be coincide in time with the upslope acceleration spikes.
included, and The slope is steep and the upslope acceleration of the
(e) the degree of saturation, Sr, must be considered. base tends to induce failure of the slope and relative
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0.2 Input
0.2
0.0 0
-0.2
Input (a) -0.2
0.4
0.4 AH1
0.0
0
Acceleration (g)
-0.4
(a)
AH1 -0.4
0.8 0.8 AH5
0.4 0.4
0.0 0
-0.4 -0.4
AH5 (b)
-0.8 -0.8
0.8 (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002) 0.8 AH6
0.4 0.4
0
0.0
AH6 (c) -0.4
-0.4
-0.8
-0.8
0 5 10 15 20 5 10 15 20
Time (sec) Time (sec)
Figure 14. Measured (left) and predicted (right) accelerations at free field.
80
80
40 40
PP1 (a)
Excess pore pressure (kPa)
0 PP1
0
40 40
20 20
PP5 (b)
0 0 PP5
20 ru = 1.0 20
10 10
PP6 (c)
0 (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002) 0 PP6
-5
0 5 10 15 20 5 10 15 20
Figure 15. Measured (left) and predicted (right) excess pore pressures at free field.
downslope movement. The soil dilates as it shears in downslope movement and gives rise to the accelera-
the downslope direction, producing negative pore tion spike (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002).
pressures which stiffen the shear modulus. Enough UBCSAND provides a reasonable prediction of
strength is mobilized through this dilation to arrest the the accelerations and pore pressure response for the
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09069-38.qxd 8/11/03 9:21 PM Page 329
Input
0.2 0.2
0.0 0
-0.2 (a) -0.2

Input
0.4 AH2
0.4
0.0 0
Acceleration (g)
-0.4 -0.4
AH2 (b)
0.2 0.2
0.0 0
-0.2 -0.2
-0.4 -0.4
-0.6 (c) -0.6 AH4
AH4
AH7
0.4 (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002) 0.4
0.0 0
-0.4 -0.4
AH7 (d)
-0.8 -0.8
0 5 10 15 20 5 10 15 20
Figure 16. Measured (left) and predicted (right) accelerations near the slope.
20 PP2
20
10
10
0
PP2
0 (a) -10
30 30
20
Excess pore pressure (kPa)
20
10 10
PP3 PP3
0 (b)
0
20 20 PP4
0 0
-20 -20
PP4 (c)
ru = 1.0
10 10
0 0
-10
-10 PP7 -20
-20 (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002) (d) -30 PP7
-30
0 5 10 15 20 5 10 15 20
Figure 17. Measured (left) and predicted (right) excess pore pressures near the slope.
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09069-38.qxd 8/11/03 9:21 PM Page 330
Displacement unit : m Magnitude

1.91+
1.74 to1.91
1.58 to1.74
1.41 to1.58
Test No.1
1.24 to1.41
Test Conditions: 60g, 1.08 to1.24
60 times viscosity of water 0.91 to1.08
Max. Acceleration: 0.25g 0.75 to 0.91
0.58 to 0.75
0.41 to 0.58
0.25 to 0.41
0.08 to 0.25
10 10
8 8
6 6
4 4
2 2
0 0
50 45 40 35 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Figure 18. Measured displacements for Model 2 from centrifuge test (Taboada-Urtuzuastegui et al. 2002).
Maximum Displacement = 2.6 m
Figure 19. Predicted displacements for Model 2 using UBCSAND.
free field. More significant differences are observed (e) the dilative spikes prevented very large displace-
for locations near the slope. Some of these differences ments from occurring in this homogeneous fine
are due to UBCSAND under predicting the dilative sand model.
spikes. This requires further investigation. The meas-
ured and predicted displacements after shaking are
shown in Figures 18 & 19. It may be seen that both the 6 SUMMARY
magnitude and pattern of displacements are in gen-
eral agreement. A fully coupled effective stress dynamic analysis
In summary, procedure has been presented. The procedure is first
(a) UBCSAND provides reasonable agreement with calibrated by comparison with laboratory element
this centrifuge test, although further study is test data and then verified by comparison with two
needed for locations close to the sloping face, centrifuge model tests.
(b) a decrease in accelerations after liquefaction was Model 1 represented a deep sand layer with a level
not observed near the slope, ground condition. This model showed that high excess
(c) a large upslope acceleration spikes occurred near porewater pressure and liquefaction can occur to
the slope, depths of 40 m in medium dense sands. Liquefaction
(d) a decrease in pore pressure due to dilation corre- first occurred at the surface and progressed down-
sponded with these upslope acceleration spikes, and ward under continued shaking. Accelerations above
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the depth of liquefaction showed a significant Beaty, M. & Byrne, P. 1998. An effective stress model for
decrease. The numerical model results were in good predicting liquefaction behaviour of sand. ASCE Geot.
agreement with the measurement when stress densifi- Special Pub. No. 75: 766–777.
cation and saturation effects were included. Gonzalez, L., Abdoun, T. & Sharp, M.K. 2002. Modeling of
seismically induced liquefaction under high confining
Model 2 represented a steep slope condition in stress.
homogeneous loose fine sand. The results showed that Kammerer, A., Wu, J., Pestana, J., Riemer, M. & Seed, R.
large upslope acceleration spikes occurred near the face 2000. Cyclic simple shear testing of Nevada sand for
of the slope after liquefaction. These acceleration PEER Center project 2051999. Geotechnical Engineering
spikes corresponded with large negative excess pore Research Report No. UCB/GT/00-01, University of
pressure spikes associated with dilation. It is the California, Berkeley, January.
increase in effective stress associated with these nega- Puebla, H., Byrne, P.M. & Phillips, R. 1997. Analysis of
tive pore pressure spikes that curtails the displacements CANLEX liquefaction embankments: prototype and
and makes the slope more stable than might be expected centrifuge models. Can. Geotech. Journal, Vol. 34, No. 5:
641–657.
under cyclic loading. The overall pattern of predicted Skempton, A.W. 1986. Standard penetration test procedures
response is in reasonable agreement with the measure- and the effects in sands of overburden pressure, relative
ments, although both the acceleration and pore pressure density, particle size, ageing and overconsolidation,
spikes are under predicted by the UBCSAND analysis. Geotechnique 36, No. 3: 425–447.
A new series of centrifuge tests are planned at Taboada-Urtuzuastegui, V.M., Martinez-Ramirez, G. &
CCORE (Centre for Cold Ocean Research), Memorial Abdoun, T. 2002. Centrifuge modeling of seismic behav-
University, Newfoundland, which will permit further ior of a slope in liquefiable soil, Soil Dynamic and
verification and refinement of the numerical model. Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 22: 1043–1049.
Youd, T.L., Idriss, I. M., Andrus, R.D., Arango, I., Castro, G.,
Christian, J.T., Dobry, R., Finn, W.D.L., Harder Jr., L.F.,
Hynes, M.E., Ishihara, K., Koester, J.P., Liao, S.,
REFERENCES Marcuson III, W.F., Martin, G.R., Mitchell, J.K.,
Moriwaki, Y., Power, M.S., Robertson, P.K., Seed, R.B. &
Arulmoli, K., Muraleetharan, K.K., Hossain, M.M. & Fruth, Stokoe, K.H. 2001. Liquefaction Resistance of Soils:
L.S. 1992. VELACS laboratory testing program, soil data Summary Report from the 1996 NCEER and 1998
report. The Earth Technology Corporation, Irvine, NCEER/NSF Workshops on Evaluation of Liquefaction
California, Report to the National Science Foundation, Resistance of Soils. ASCE J. of Geot. and Geoenv. Eng.,
Washington D.C., March. Vol. 127, No. 10: 817–833.
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Modeling the dynamic response of cantilever earth-retaining

walls using FLAC
R.A. Green
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
R.M. Ebeling
Information Technology Laboratory, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS, USA
ABSTRACT: A research investigation was undertaken to determine the dynamically induced lateral earth pres-
sures on the stem portion of a concrete, cantilever, earth-retaining wall. In total, the wall-soil column system was
68.6 m in height, with the upper 6.1 m being composed of the cantilever wall retaining compacted backfill. A series
of numerical analyses were performed using FLAC. The analyses consisted of the incremental construction of the
wall and placement of the backfill, followed by dynamic response analyses, wherein the soil was modeled as elasto-
plastic. This paper outlines the details of the numerical model used in the analyses. Particular attention is given to
how the ground motion was specified, determination of the wall and soil model parameters, and the modeling of the
wall-soil interface. To benchmark the FLAC results, comparisons are presented between the FLAC results and the
results from simplified techniques for computing dynamic earth pressures and permanent wall displacement.
1 INTRODUCTION angle of internal friction: 35°). Underlying the

wall/backfill was approximately 62.5 m of naturally
1.1 Scope deposited dense cohesionless soil (t 19.6 kN/m3;
A research investigation using FLAC was undertaken to 40°). The groundwater table was well below the
determine the dynamically induced lateral earth pres- base of the wall and was not considered in the analyses.
sures on the stem portion of a concrete, cantilever, The geometry and structural detailing of the wall
earth-retaining wall. The analyses consisted of the were determined following the US Army Corps of
incremental construction of the wall and placement of Engineers static design procedures (Headquarters, US
the backfill, followed by dynamic response analyses, Army Corps of Engineers 1989, 1992), with the dimen-
wherein the soil was modeled as elasto-plastic with a sions of the structural wedge (i.e. wall and contained
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The focus of this backfill) depicted in Figure 1. The properties of the con-
paper is to outline the details of the numerical model crete and reinforcing steel used in the wall design are as
used in the analyses. Particular attention is given to how follows: unit weight of concrete: c 23.6 kN/m3; com-
the ground motions were specified, the wall and soil pressive strength of concrete: fc 27.6 MPa; and yield
model parameters were determined, and the wall-soil strength of reinforcement: fy 413.4 MPa. Additional
interface was modeled. To assess the validity of the pro- details about the wall design and soil profile are given
posed FLAC model, comparisons of the FLAC results in Green & Ebeling (2002).
are made with results from simplified analysis tech-
niques for determining dynamic earth pressures (i.e., 2 NUMERICAL MODEL
Mononobe-Okabe approach) and for determining per-
manent displacement of the wall (i.e. Newmark sliding 2.1 Overview of FLAC model
block approach).
The FLAC numerical model consisted of the upper
1.2 Description of wall-soil system 9.1 m of the wall-soil system, comprising the wall/back-
fill and approximately 3 m of the underlying natural
The retaining wall analyzed was approximately 6.1 m deposit (foundation soil). Laterally, the FLAC model
in height, retaining medium-dense, cohesionless, com- was approximately 22.9 m, to include approximately
pacted fill (total unit weight: t 19.6 kN/m3; effective 7.6 m of the foundation soil in front of the wall and
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09069-39.qxd 08/11/2003 20:43 PM Page 334
0.2 m be specified along the lateral edges of the model (free-

0.5m field boundary conditions cannot be specified across
2.4m
the interface of two sub-grids). Sub grid four was
0.9m included for symmetry, but its inclusion was not neces-
sary. The sub-grids were “attached” at the soil-to-soil
Stem interfaces, as depicted by white lines in Figure 2, and
interface elements were used at the wall-soil interfaces.
The following sub-sections outline how the ground
Backfill motions were specified and the procedures used to
6.1m
determine the various soil and wall model parameters.
2.2 Specification of input motions

Dynamic analyses can be performed with FLAC,
0.6 m wherein user-specified acceleration, velocity, stress, or
force time-histories can be input as exterior boundary
Toe Base Heel conditions or as interior excitations. A parametric study
4m was performed to determine the best way to specify
the ground motions in FLAC for earthquake analyses.
Figure 1. Dimensions of the structural wedge of the wall-soil The parametric study involved performing a series of
system analyzed, wherein the term “structural wedge” refers to one-dimensional (1-D) site response analyses using
all that is shown above. consistently generated acceleration, velocity, and stress
time-histories. Generally, earthquake ground motions
are not defined in terms of force time-histories and
7.6 m 15.3 m therefore were not considered in the parametric study.
The use of stress time-histories in FLAC has the benefit
6.1 m
of allowing the time-history to be specified at “quiet

2
9.1 m
3
boundaries,” thus simulating radiation damping.
Using a free-field acceleration time-history recorded
3m
4 1 at the surface of a USGS site class B profile during

the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a 1-D site response
22.9 m analysis was performed using a modified version of
SHAKE91 (Idriss & Sun 1992). The analysis was
Figure 2. Annotated FLAC model of the wall-soil system. performed on a 68.6 m, 5% damped, non-degrading
profile, wherein the acceleration time-history was
specified as an outcrop motion. Interlayer accelera-
approximately 15.3 m of the backfill/foundation soil tion and stress time-histories were computed at the
behind the wall (Fig. 2). profile surface and at depths of 7.6 m, 10.7, 15.2,
An elasto-plastic constitutive model, in conjunction and 68.6 m (i.e. bedrock). Interlayer velocity time-
with Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, was used to histories were computed by integrating the interlayer
model the soil. Elastic beam elements were used to acceleration time-histories using the trapezoidal rule.
model the concrete retaining wall, with the wall/back- The interlayer acceleration, velocity, and stress time-
fill being “numerically constructed” in FLAC similar histories were used as base motions in a series of
to the way an actual wall would be constructed. The FLAC analyses, in which the acceleration time-
backfill was placed in 0.61 m lifts, for a total of ten histories at the surface of the FLAC profiles were
lifts, with the model being brought to static equilib- computed. The profiles used in the FLAC analyses
rium after the placement of each lift. Such placement were comparable to the SHAKE profiles down to the
allowed realistic earth pressures to develop as the wall depths corresponding to the interlayer motions. An
deformed and moved because of the placement of each elastic constitutive relation, with 5% Rayleigh damp-
lift. The constructed retaining wall-soil model is shown ing, was used to model the soil layers in the FLAC
in Figure 2. profiles. The central frequency of the damping rela-
The model consists of four sub-grids, labeled one tionship was set to the fundamental frequencies of the
through four in Figure 2. The separation of the founda- respective FLAC profiles.
tion soil and backfill into sub-grids one and two was Fourier amplitude spectra (FAS) and 5% damped,
required because a portion of the base of the retaining pseudo acceleration response spectra (PSA) were
wall was inserted into the soil. Sub-grid three was computed from the acceleration time-histories of the
included so that free-field boundary conditions could surface motions of the SHAKE and FLAC profiles.
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Error analyses were performed on the spectra corre- had little energy at higher frequencies. The interlayer
sponding to the different profiles and different types motion (at 9.1 m depth) computed using SHAKE was
of specified input motions. In the error analyses, the specified as an acceleration time-history along the
spectra for the SHAKE motions were used as the base of the FLAC model.
“correct” motions. The word “correct” does not imply
that SHAKE precisely models the behavior of an actual
2.4 Model parameters for soil
soil profile subjected to earthquake motions. Rather,
SHAKE gives the analytically correct motion for a The stress-strain behavior of the soil was modeled using
visco-elastic profile with constant damping applied to the Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model. Four parame-
all frequencies of motion. On the other hand, the FLAC ters are required for the Mohr-Coulomb model: effec-
models used in this study give numerical approxima- tive internal friction angle (); mass density (); shear
tions of the correct analytical solution. The errors in modulus (G); and bulk modulus (K). The first two
the FLAC spectral values were computed at a spec- parameters (i.e., and ) are familiar to geotechni-
trum of frequencies using the following expressions. cal engineers, where mass density is the total unit
weight of the soil (t) divided by the acceleration due
to gravity (g), i.e. t/g. As stated previously,
(1a) for the foundation soil was 40° and 35° for the back-
fill. These values are consistent with dense natural
deposits and medium-dense compacted fill. G and K
(1b) may be less familiar to geotechnical engineers; there-
fore, their determination is outlined below.
Several correlations exist that relate G to other
From the results of the parametric study, it was soil parameters. However, the most direct relation is
determined that the specification of the input motion between G and shear wave velocity (vs):
in FLAC in terms of stress time-histories gives the
least accurate results, wherein the stress time- (2)
histories were applied at a “quiet boundary” along the
base of the FLAC model. The errors corresponding to
specifying the motions in terms of acceleration and s may be determined by various types of site charac-
velocity time-histories were essentially identical and terization techniques, such as cross hole or spectral
considerably less than those associated with the stress analysis of surface waves (SASW) studies.
time-histories. Values for K can be determined from G and
Poisson’s ratio (v) using the following relation:
2.3 Development of input motions for

wall analyses (3)
As stated previously, the FLAC model of the soil-wall
system consisted of only the upper 9.1 m of a 68.6 m v may be estimated using the following expression:
profile. To account for the influence of the soil profile
below 9.1 m on the ground motions, the entire 68.6 m
profile, without the retaining wall, was modeled using (4)
a modified version of SHAKE91. The interlayer motion
at the depth corresponding to the base of the FLAC
model (i.e. 9.1 m) was computed. The input ground which was derived from the theory of elasticity (e.g.
motion used in the SHAKE analysis was the same Terzaghi 1943), in conjunction with the correlation
Loma Prieta motion used in the parametric study dis- relating Ko and proposed by Jaky (1944), i.e.
cussed above. The motion was specified as a rock out- Ko 1 sin(). Using the above expression, v was
crop motion at the base of the 68.6 m soil column. determined to be 0.26 and 0.3 for the foundation soil
The small strain fundamental frequency of the and backfill, respectively.
retaining wall-soil system in the FLAC model was
estimated to be approximately 6 Hz. At larger strains,
2.5 Model parameters for wall
the fundamental frequency of the system will be less
than the small strain value. To ensure proper excita- The concrete wall was divided into five segments
tion of the wall, the cutoff frequency in the SHAKE having constant parameters, as illustrated in Figure 3,
analysis was set at 15 Hz. This value was selected with each segment consisting of several 0.3 m elastic
considering both the fundamental frequency of the beam elements. Four parameters were required to
wall-soil system and the fact that the input motion define the mechanical properties of the elastic beam
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1.5 m 2.4 m 1.5 m 2.4 m
1.5 m 1 Beam
Beam Elements
Elements Interface
Elements
1.5 m 2
6.1m
6.1m
1.5 m 3
No Interface
Elements
1.5 m 4
5
4m 4m
Figure 3. Numerical model of retaining wall using elastic Figure 4. Location of interface elements in the FLAC model.
beam elements.
on the member. In dynamic analyses, it is difficult to
elements: cross sectional area (Ag); mass density (); state a priori whether the use of sectional properties
elastic modulus (Ec); and second moment of area (I ), corresponding to uncracked, fully cracked, or some
commonly referred to as moment of inertia. intermediate level of cracking will result in the largest
The basis for subdividing the wall into five seg- demand on the structure. However, I 0.4 Iuncracked
ments was the variation of the mechanical properties was used as a reasonable estimate for the sectional
in the wall. A wall having a greater taper or largely properties (Paulay & Priestley 1992).
varying steel reinforcement along the length of the
stem or base would likely require more segments.
For each of the segments, Ag and were readily 2.6 Model parameters for wall-soil interface
determined from the wall geometry and the unit weight Interface elements were used to model the interaction
of the concrete (i.e. 23.6 kN/m3). Ec was computed between the concrete retaining wall and the soil.
using the following expression (e.g. MacGregor 1992): However, FLAC does not allow interface elements to
be used at the intersection of branching structures
(5) (e.g. the intersection of the stem and base of the can-
tilever wall). Several approaches were attempted by
In this expression, f c is the compressive strength of the authors to circumvent this limitation in FLAC, with
the concrete (e.g. 4000 psi for the wall being modeled), the simplest and best approach, as found by the authors,
and both Ec and f c are in psi. Because the structure is illustrated in Figure 4. As shown in this figure, three
continuous in the direction perpendicular to the analy- very short beam elements, oriented in the direction of
sis plane, Ec computed using Equation 5 needed to be the stem, toe side of the base, and heel side of the
modified to account for plane-strain conditions. This base, were used to model the base-stem intersection.
modification was done using the following expression No interface elements were used on these three short
(Itasca 2000, FLAC Structural Elements Manual). beam elements. However, interface elements were used
along the other contact surfaces between the soil and
(6) wall, as depicted by the hatched areas in Figure 4.
A schematic of the FLAC interface element is pre-
sented in Figure 5. As may be observed from this figure,
where 0.2 was assumed for Poisson’s ratio for concrete. the interface element has four parameters: S slider
I is a function of the geometry of the segments, the representing shear strength; T tensile strength;
amount and location of the reinforcing steel, and the kn normal stiffness; and ks shear stiffness. The
amount of cracking in the concrete, where the latter in element allows permanent separation and slip of the
turn depends on the static and dynamic load imposed soil and the structure, as controlled by the parameters
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Side A of Interface 700

zone zone Ksi ks
600
τult
grid point grid point 500
ks
T τf
S
τ (psf)
400 FLAC
kn hyperbolic model
300
model
zone
200
Side B of Interface
100
Figure 5. Schematic of the FLAC interface element (adapted
from Itasca 2000).
0.000 r 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010
s (ft)
T and S, respectively. For the cohesionless soil being
modeled, T 0, while S was specified as a function
Figure 6. Calibration of the FLAC interface model to the
of the interface friction angle (
). For medium-dense
hyperbolic-type model proposed by Gomez et al. (2000a,b).
sand against concrete,
31° (Gomez et al. 2000b).
As a rule-of-thumb, the FLAC manual (Itasca 2000,
Theory and Background Manual) recommends that kn where,
be set to ten times the equivalent stiffness of the
stiffest neighboring zone, i.e.: (8b)
(8c)
(7)
Ksi dimensionless interface initial shear stiffness

In Equation 7, K and G are the bulk and shear of the interface; n normal stress acting on the
moduli, respectively, and zmin is the smallest width interface (determined iteratively in FLAC by first
of a zone in the normal direction of the interfacing assuming a small value for ks and then constructing
surface. The max[ ] notation indicates that the maxi- the wall);
interface friction angle 31°; Rfj
mum value over all zones adjacent to the interface be failure ratio 0.84; KI dimensionless interface
used. The FLAC manual warns against using arbitrar- stiffness number for initial loading 21000;
ily large values for kn, as is commonly done in finite nj dimensionless stiffness exponent 0.8; w
element analyses, as this results in an unnecessarily unit weight of water in consistent units as r; and
small time step, and therefore unnecessarily long Pa atmospheric pressure in the same units as n.
computational times. The values for Rfj, KI, nj, and
were obtained from
The determination of the ks required considerably Gomez et al. (2000a).
more effort than the determination of the other interface 2. ks was computed using the following expression:
element parameters. In shear, the interface element in
FLAC essentially is an elasto-plastic model, with an
elastic stiffness of ks and yield strength S. ks values
were selected such that the resulting elasto-plastic (9)
model gave an approximate fit of the hyperbolic-type
interface model proposed by Gomez et al. (2000a,b).
A comparison of the two models for initial loading
(i.e. construction of the wall) is shown in Figure 6. The above computed ks values were used only for
The procedure used to determine ks values for ini- the initial construction of the wall. The ks values
tial loading is outlined below. The reader is referred to were changed after the construction of the wall and
Gomez et al. (2000a,b) for more details concerning prior to the application of the earthquake loading to
their proposed hyperbolic-type model. values consistent with the Gomez-Filz-Ebeling
Version I load/unload/reload extended hyperbolic
1. Compute r using the following expression.
interface model (Gomez et al. 2000b). The pro-
cedure used to compute ks for the cyclic loading is
(8a) outlined below. Again, the reader is referred to the
cited report for more details concerning this model.
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with the earthquake-induced shear strains, frequently

(10a) referred to as the “reduced” vs by FLUSH users.
Assuming that the response of the retaining wall will
be dominated by shear waves, substituting Equation
where, 12 into Equation 11a gives:
(10b) (13a)
(10c) or
Kurj unload-reload stiffness number for interfaces; (13b)

and Ck interface stiffness ratio.
Using the above expressions, the interface stiffnesses As may be observed from these expressions, the
were computed for the interface elements identified finite difference zone with the lowest vs, for a given
in Figure 4. While the ks for unload-reload were higher l will limit the highest frequency that can pass
than the corresponding values for initial loading (i.e., through the zone without numerical distortion. For the
Equation 10a versus Equation 9), the values for kn were FLAC analyses performed in this investigation, 0.3 m
the same for both initial loading and unload-reload. by 0.3 m zones were used in sub-grids one and two;
(refer to Figure 2). The top layer of the backfill has
2.7 Dimensions of finite difference zones the lowest vs (i.e. 160 m/sec). Using Equations 13 and
0.3 m, the finite difference grid used in the
Proper dimensioning of the finite difference zones is FLAC analyses should adequately propagate shear
required to avoid numerical distortion of propagating waves having frequencies up to approximately 53 Hz.
ground motions, in addition to accurate computation This value is well above the 15 Hz cutoff frequency
of model response. The FLAC manual (Itasca 2000, used in the SHAKE analysis to compute the input
Optional Features Manual) recommends that the length motion for the FLAC analysis and well above the esti-
of the element (l) be smaller than one-tenth to one- mated fundamental frequency of the retaining wall-
eighth of the wavelength () associated with the highest soil system being modeled (i.e. ≈6 Hz).
frequency (fmax) component of the input motion. The
basis for this recommendation is a study by Kuhle-
meyer & Lysmer (1973). Interestingly, the FLUSH 2.8 Damping
manual (Lysmer et al. 1975) recommends l be smaller As stated previously, an elasto-plastic constitutive
than one-fifth the associated with fmax, also refer- model, in conjunction with the Mohr-Coulomb failure
encing Kuhlemeyer & Lysmer (1973) as the basis for criterion was used to model the soil. Inherent to this
the recommendation, i.e.: model, once the induced dynamic shear stresses exceed
the shear strength of the soil, the plastic deformation
of the soil introduces considerable hysteretic damping.
(11a)
However, for dynamic shear stresses less than the shear
strength of the soil, the soil behaves elastically (i.e. no
damping), unless additional mechanical damping is
(11b) specified. FLAC allows mass proportional, stiffness
proportional, and Rayleigh damping to be specified,
where the latter provides a relatively constant level of
is related to the shear wave velocity of the soil (vs) damping over a restricted range of frequencies.
and the frequency (f) of the propagating wave by the For the analyses performed, Rayleigh damping was
following relation. used, which required the specification of a damping
ratio and corresponding central frequency. One- to two-
(12) percent damping ratio is commonly used as a lower
bound for non-linear dynamic analyses to reduce high-
frequency spurious noise (e.g. Finn 1988). However,
In a FLUSH analysis, it is important to note that it was found by the authors that considerable high-
the vs used in this computation is not that for small frequency noise may still exist even when one- to
(shear) strains, such as measured in the field using two-percent Rayleigh damping was specified; this is
cross-hole shear wave test. Rather, in FLUSH, the vs thought to be a numerical artifact of the explicit solu-
used to dimension the elements should be consistent tion algorithm used in FLAC. The damping levels in
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the last iteration of the SHAKE analysis used to com- 0.7

pute the FLAC input motion may be used as an upper 0.6
Permanent relative
displacement (m)
bound of the values for Rayleigh damping. Judgment 0.5
is required in selecting the damping ratio between the Newmark
0.4
lower and upper bounds; three-percent Rayleigh damp-
0.3
ing was used for most of the retaining wall analyses FLAC
0.2
performed by the authors. The central frequency cor-
0.1
responding to the specified damping ratio is typically
set to either the fundamental period (small strain) of 0.0
the system being modeled (an inherent property of -0.1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
the wall-soil system) or predominant period of the
Time (seconds)
system response (an inherent property of the wall-soil
system and the ground motion). For the FLAC analyses
Figure 7a. Comparison of the permanent relative displace-
performed, the central frequency was set equal to the ments computed from the FLAC results and a Newmark slid-
small strain fundamental frequency of the retaining ing block analysis with N*g 0.22 g.
wall-soil system (i.e. ≈6 Hz).
0.7
3 DISCUSSION 0.6
Permanent relative
Several analyses were performed using the model of displacement (m) 0.5 Newmark
0.4
the wall-soil system described above, scaling the input 0.3
motion to different peak ground acceleration values. FLAC
0.2
To assess the adequacy of the model, the results from
0.1
the FLAC analyses were compared with the results from
simplified techniques for estimating the permanent 0.0
wall displacement and the dynamic earth pressures. -0.1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
The purpose of the comparisons was only to provide a Time (seconds)
reality check of the FLAC results, while true validation
of the FLAC model would require a comparison with Figure 7b. Comparison of the permanent relative displace-
actual field observations. Comparisons of the results ments computed from the FLAC results and a Newmark slid-
are discussed in the following sub-sections. However, ing block analysis with N* g 0.27 g.
the reader is referred to Ebeling & Morrison (1992)
and Green and Ebeling (2002) for more detailed dis-
1.0
cussions about the simplified techniques used.
Acceleration (g)
0.5 N*.g = 0.27g N*.g = 0.22 g

3.1 Permanent wall displacement 0.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Comparisons of the permanent relative displacements -0.5
Time (seconds)
(dr) of the wall computed from the FLAC results -1.0
and computed by Newmark sliding block analyses
(Newmark 1965) of the structural wedge (Fig. 1) are Figure 8. Acceleration time-history used in the Newmark
shown in Figure 7a,b. dr was not computed directly by sliding block analysis of the structural wedge.
FLAC, but rather was computed by subtracting the total
displacement of the structural node at the intersection
of the stem and base of the wall from the total dis- of acceleration imparted to the block resulting in a
placement of the grid point at the free-field boundary factor of safety against sliding equal to 1.0. Using the
at the same depth. As may be observed from Figure 7, interface friction angle between the concrete wall and
dr computed from the FLAC results is about 0.33 m. foundation soil (i.e.
31°) in conjunction with the
Newmark sliding block analyses of the structural weight of the structural wedge, N* g was determined
wedge (Fig. 1) were performed using the acceleration to be approximately 0.22 g. The sliding block analysis
time-history shown in Figure 8. This time-history was resulted in dr 0.55 m, as shown in Figure 7a, which
computed by FLAC at the free-field boundary at a is considerably larger than that from the FLAC analysis.
depth corresponding to approximately mid-height of One possible reason for the difference in the dr val-
the structural wedge. In order to perform a Newmark ues may be that the sliding block analysis did not
sliding block analysis, a maximum transmissible accel- account for additional sliding resistance resulting from
eration (N* g) has to be specified, which is the value the “plowing action” that occurs at the toe of the wall.
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Although the wall is not embedded in the foundation 4.0

soil in its initial, undeformed shape, the wall tends to
rotate around the toe as it translates away from the 3.5
KPE
Lateral earth pressure

backfill. As a result, the toe of the wall penetrates and 3.0
plows through the foundation soil. Such a mechanism
coefficient (K)
2.5
was observed in the deformed FLAC mesh. To account
for this additional resistance to sliding, N* g was 2.0
recomputed assuming a friction angle of 35°, which is
between the interface friction angle (i.e.
31°) and 1.5
the of the foundation soil (i.e. 40°), with the revised 1.0
value of N* g 0.27 g. A comparison of the perma- KAE
0.5
nent relative displacements computed from FLAC and
the sliding block analyses using the revised value of 0.0
N* g is shown in Figure 7b. As may be observed from 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
this figure, the predicted displacements are in very kh
close agreement, thus giving credence to the validity
of the proposed FLAC model. Figure 9. Comparison of FLAC and Mononobe-Okabe
dynamic lateral earth pressure coefficients.
3.2 Dynamic earth pressures
The dynamically induced lateral earth pressures act- 1.0
ing on the stem of the wall were computed by FLAC.
N* = 0.27
The corresponding lateral earth pressure coefficients 0.5
(KFLAC) were computed from these stresses using the kh 0.0
following expression (Green et al. 2003): 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
-0.5 Time (seconds)
(14) -1.0
Figure 10. kh at middle of structural wedge.

where PFLAC the resultant of the FLAC computed
stresses acting on the stem of the wall; t the total
unit weight of the backfill; H the height of the The second item of particular note in Figure 9 is
wall; and kv vertical inertial coefficient (assumed that FLAC predicts kh values as high as 0.5, while the
to be zero). Equation 14 was used to compute KFLAC upper bound value should be the maximum transmis-
values at times corresponding to the peaks in the sible acceleration used in the sliding block analyses
time-history of the horizontal inertial coefficient (kh) (i.e. N* 0.27). A plot of the kh time-history com-
acting away from the backfill (i.e. active-type condi- puted by FLAC at the approximate center of gravity of
tions). A plot of the computed KFLAC values versus kh the structural wedge is shown in Figure 10. It can be
is shown in Figure 9. Also shown in this figure are the observed from this figure that the kh values greater
lateral dynamic earth pressure coefficients (active: than 0.27 are associated with high-frequency motions
KAE; Passive: KPE) computed using the Mononobe- (that contain little energy).
Okabe expressions for the wall-soil system (Okabe There are two possible reasons for kh N*. First,
1924; Mononobe & Matsuo 1929). The reader is this could simply be a numerical artifact of the
referred to Green et al. (2003) and Ebeling & Morrison explicit algorithm used in FLAC, rather than a physi-
(1992) for details regarding the Mononobe-Okabe cal phenomenon. However, the criterion that kh N*
dynamic earth pressure coefficients. is based on the premise that the structural wedge is
Two items are of particular note in Figure 9. First, perfectly rigid. For a flexible structural wedge, such
in general, the KFLAC values are higher than the KAE as the one modeled, higher modes of vibration could
for values of kh less than about 0.4. This phenomenon be excited in the structural wedge. This could result in
is discussed in detail in Green et al. (2003) and is due high local kh values, while the global kh value for the
to the failure wedge in the backfill being composed of structural wedge (i.e. that which contributes to base
several failure wedges rather than a single rigid wedge, shear) is less than N*. Adding credence to the latter
as assumed in the Mononobe-Okabe expressions. In explanation is that Wartman et al. (2003) observed
short, the difference in the KFLAC and KAE values is kh N* values in physical model tests of deformable
attributed to a shortcoming in the Mononobe-Okabe blocks on an inclined plane. Additional analyses are
expressions, rather than a shortcoming in the FLAC underway to determine exactly the cause of the high
model. kh values.
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4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Ground-Motion Evaluation, Geotechnical Special Publi-

cation 20, ASCE, 523–591.
The authors outline the details of a numerical model Gomez, J.E., Filz, G.M., & Ebeling, R.M. 2000a. Development
and its calibration for use in computing the dynamic of an Improved Numerical Model for Concrete-to-Soil
response of a cantilever retaining wall. The proposed Interfaces in Soil-Structure Interaction Analyses, Report
model employs an elasto-plastic constitutive model 2, Final Study. ERDC/ITL TR-99-1, US Army Corps of
Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center.
for the soil in conjunction with the Mohr-Coulomb
(http://libweb.wes.army.mil/uhtbin/hyperion/ITL-TR-99-
failure criterion. The wall is modeled with elastic beam 1.pdf).
elements using a cracked second moment of area Gomez, J.E., Filz, G.M., & Ebeling, R.M. 2000b. Extended
(Icracked) equal to 0.4 Iuncracked. Interface elements Load/Unload/Reload Hyperbolic Model for Interfaces:
are used to model the wall-soil interface, wherein the Parameter Values and Model Performance for the Contact
interface element parameters are those that give a best Between Concrete and Coarse Sand. ERDC/ITL TR-00-
fit of the Gomez et al. (2000a,b) hyperbolic interface 7, US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and
model. Based on comparisons with simplified tech- Development Center. (http://libweb.wes.army.mil/uhtbin/
niques for dynamic lateral earth pressure and perma- hyperion/ITL-TR-00-7.pdf).
Green, R.A., Olgun, C.G., Ebeling, R.M., & Cameron, W.I.
nent relative displacement, the proposed wall model
2003. Seismically Induced Lateral Earth Pressures on a
is believed to yield valid results. Cantilever Retaining Wall. Proceedings: The Sixth US
Conference and Workshop on Lifeline Earthquake Engi-
neering (TCLEE2003), ASCE, August 10–13, 2003,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Long Beach, CA.
Green, R.A. & Ebeling, R.M. 2002. Seismic Analysis of
Cantilever Retaining Walls, Phase 1. ERDC/ITL TR-02-
A portion of this study was funded by the Headquarters,
3, US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and
US Army Corps of Engineers (HQUSACE) Civil Works Development Center. (http://libweb.wes.army.mil/uhtbin/
Earthquake Engineering Research Program (EQEN). hyperion/ITL-TR-02-3.pdf).
Permission was granted by the Chief of the US Army Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers. 1989. Retaining
Corps of Engineers to publish this information. and Flood Walls. EM 1110-2-2502, Washington, DC.
During the course of this research investigation, (http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-
the authors had numerous discussions with other FLAC manuals/em1110-2-2502/toc.htm)
users. Of particular note were lengthy conversations Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers. 1992. Strength
with Mr. C. Guney Olgun, Virginia Polytechnic and Design for Reinforced-Concrete Hydraulic Structures.
EM 1110-2-2104, Washington, DC. (http://www.usace.
State University, Blacksburg, VA. Others who pro-
army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-manuals/em1110-2-
vided valuable insight into FLAC modeling were 2104/toc.htm).
Mr. Nason McCullough and Dr. Stephen Dickenson, Idriss, I.M. & Sun, J.I. 1992. User’s Manual for SHAKE91:
Oregon State University, Cornvallis, OR; Drs. N. Deng A Computer Program for Conducting Equivalent Linear
and Farhang Ostadan, Bechtel Corporation, San Seismic Response Analyses of Horizontally Layered Soil
Francisco, CA; Mr. Michael R. Lewis, Bechtel Deposits. Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Department
Savannah River, Inc., Aiken, SC; Drs. Peter Byrne of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of
and Michael Beaty, University of British Columbia, California, Davis, CA.
Vancouver; and Dr. Marte Gutierrez, Virginia Poly- Itasca. 2000. FLAC (Fast Largrangian Analysis of Continua)
User’s Manuals. Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting Group,
technic and State Uni-versity, Blacksburg, VA.
Inc.
Review comments by Dr. William F. Marcuson, III, Jaky, J. 1944. The Coefficient of Earth Pressure at Rest.
Emeritus Director, Geotechnical Laboratory, US Army Magyar Menok es Epitesz Kozloi (Journal of the Society
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