A Seepage-Deformation Coupled Analysis of an Unsaturated River Embankment using a Multiphase Elasto-Viscoplastic Theory

Abstract

ABSTRACT A multiphase deformation analysis of a river embankment was carried out using an air-soil-water coupled finite element method capable of considering unsaturated seepage flow. A numerical model for unsaturated soil was constructed based on the mixture theory and an elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. The theory used in the analysis is a generalization of Biot's two-phase mixture theory for saturated soil. An air-soil-water coupled finite element method was developed using the governing equations for three-phase soil based on the nonlinear finite deformation theory, i.e., the updated Lagrangian method. Two-dimensional numerical analyses of the river embankment under seepage conditions were conducted, and the deformation associated with the seepage flow was studied. We have found that the occurrence of large deformations corresponds to the large values of the hydraulic gradients at the toe of the embankment, and that the overflow of river water makes the embankment more unstable. It has been confirmed that seepage-deformation coupled three-phase behavior can be simulated well with the proposed method.