Modeling Dike Failure using the Material Point Method

Abstract

In this study, the material point method (MPM) is used to simulate and analyze the onset and evolution of the failure of a sand dike due to seepage flow. To that purpose, a MPM formulation in conjunction with an elastic-perfectly plastic soil model with Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion is used. For comparison, the onset of failure is also simulated with the standard finite element method. The results show that the double-point MPM formulation can satisfactorily model the essential features of the failure mechanism of the dike.