Development of an advanced constitutive model for spoil-structure interaction problems

Abstract

Revitalisation options for mine spoil heaps is an important issue to consider when planning for post-mining land use. One option is the installation of wind turbines on the spoil heaps, which provide a sustainable energy source. This option poses challenges for foundation design due to the nature of the spoil material, which is usually highly heterogeneous due to the way spoils are deposited, and can contain high proportions of high-plasticity cohesive soils (clay). This paper presents results obtained using an advanced constitutive model that was developed to simulate cohesive mine spoil behaviour and presents model results for the prediction of foundation response under both monotonic and cyclic loading. The model is a modified version of the original isotropic bounding surface plasticity model that additionally involves a damaged-based plastic modulus in order to realistically represent soil strength degradation induced by cyclic action. The model is used for the simulation of shallow foundations for onshore wind turbines on a cohesive clay with a heterogeneous (linearly increasing) undrained shear strength (random spatial variability is not considered). Two different loading scenarios of a shallow strip foundation are considered in the paper: a pure moment-vertical loading (M-V), and a moment-horizontal-vertical loading (M-H-V). The effect of the adopted spoil-foundation interface type is also considered: (1) a fully-bonded interface and (2) a tensionless interface. Results demonstrate that, though the vertical bearing capacity is only slightly affected by the interface properties, the moment capacity is shown to be strongly influenced by the predefined contact conditions. For the footing system under M-H-V loading, a dominant footing uplift mechanism is obtained for light structures and the opposite holds for heavily loaded structures, where significant settlement accumulation occurs during cyclic loading. Based on the analysis, the moment bearing capacity of the footing system decreases as the slenderness ratio and/or the vertical safety factor increase, and the opposite mechanism is obtained as the strength heterogeneity degree increases.