A Review on Numerical Simulation of Large Deformation Problems in Geotechnical Engineering

Abstract

In geotechnical engineering, many problems like installation of pile, prefabricated vertical drains, helical pile, and spudcan, successive landslides, soil liquefaction encounter large deformations. These large deformations can be investigated by numerical solution techniques. Due to the large deformations, the geometry of the domain keeps changing, and the mesh distortion is observed when solved using the conventional finite element (FE) analysis. Therefore, to overcome this, i.e. to account for the mesh distortion in the FE analysis, some advanced formulations like coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL), arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE), smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), particle finite element method (PFEM), material point method (MPM), and remeshing and interpolation technique by small strain (RITSS) are used. This paper presents the review on the use of various formulations to address the large deformations problem in geotechnical engineering. The basic, usage, and applications of various finite element formulations have been critically discussed. In the paper, the static cone penetration test is also simulated using PLAXIS 2D to address the limitations of conventional FE formulations in simulating the large deformations problem. The efficacy of the advanced FE formulations in the analysis of large deformations problem in geotechnical engineering is critically reviewed. Based on this review, the need of further experimental and numerical investigations of the geotechnical large deformations problem is discussed.KeywordsLarge deformationsFinite element methodGeotechnical problemsMesh distortionInstallation effects