ZSOIL.PC: A UNIFIED APPROACH TO STABILITY, BEARING CAPACITY, CONSOLIDATION, CREEP AND FLOW FOR TWO AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATIONS IN GEOTECHNICAL PRACTICE.1/
Th. Zimmermann 1,2, A. Truty 2, A. Urbanski 3,1, S. Commend 2 & K. Podles 3,1
1 - Zace Services Ltd, Lausanne Switzerland
2 - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland
3 - Cracow University of Technology, Poland

6. Illustrations and validations

Typical soil mechanics problems are analyzed next to illustrate and validate the program.

6.6. Flow

First, here is a little java animation which shows a coupled safety analysis for a a weight-dam (GEOS Ing. Conseils).

6.6.1 Steady-state flow : rectangular dam with toe drain

The simple flow problem is representative of many situation. Boundary conditions to be imposed are : pore pressure on 1, no flow on 2, 3 and 4, seepage flow on 3. Material data are : Darcy coefficient k = 1 (isotropic), water deadweight w = 10.

Fig. 6.17 - Dam with toe drain

The streamlines are illustrated on figure 6.18.

Fig. 6.18 - Streamlines

6.6.2 Stability of a loaded earth slope, influence of rain on inflow

The stability of an earth slope with a toe drain is analyzed and the influence of a rain inflow is illustrated. Geometry and load are defined in figure 6.20. Material data are specified as follows : specific weight = 23.52, elastic modulus E = 100’457, Poisson’s ratio = 0.3, cohesion C = 10 , friction angle = 30°, void ratio e0 = 1, fluid bulk modulus F = 1038, permeability k = 1, load F = 10, inflow q = 0.01127. An initial state analysis is performed first which defines the steady state flow pattern. The stability is analyzed next and a safety factor of 1.6 is found, as compared to 1.7 in the dry case. A rain flow is simulated next which leads to identify a further decrease of the safety factor which reaches 1.4, approximately.

DRY CASE: SF = 1.7

UNDERGROUND FLOW: SF = 1.6

RAIN INFLOW: SF = 1.4

Table 6.8 - Stability of a loaded earth slope