Implementation of a soil-structure interface constitutive model for application in geo-structures

Abstract

In this paper, an implementation of an advanced two-surface plasticity interface constitutive model in a general-purpose finite element code ABAQUS for application in soil-structure interaction problems under static and dynamic loading conditions is presented. A recently developed constitutive model by the authors for gravelly soil-structure interface was improved to simulate the behavior of both gravelly and sandy soil-structure interfaces. A new failure surface was introduced into the model in order to simulate the softening behavior of interfaces under monotonic and cyclic loading. The constitutive model was then implemented in ABAQUS as a thin-layer interface element to demonstrate its capabilities in representing the complex behavior under different stress paths and normal stresses, including debonding and rebonding mechanisms at interface zones. The accuracy and robustness of the numerical implementation algorithm was examined by considering the effect of time step size, and by simulating different boundary value problems. The numerical predictions under different loading and boundary conditions were compared with experimental observations.