| Unit name | Applied Geotechnics and Modelling 4 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | CENGM0030 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Mylonakis |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Geotechnics 2 & 3, Computational Modelling 2, Engineering Mathematics 1 & 2 (or equivalent material) |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Civil Engineering |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
AIMS
1. To provide students a deeper understanding of continuum mechanics and the associated theories of elasticity and plasticity. 2. To elaborate on the various aspects of soil behaviour, such as the critical state theory of soil mechanics, including differences between clays and sands. 3. To give students a clear idea of the range of models available to describe soil behaviour, their capabilities and limitations. 4. To give students an idea of how scaling effects may influence the results of natural gravity and centrifuge experiments in geotechnics, and how the associated issues should be addressed. 5. To elaborate on the theoretical background and the assumptions inherited in the prediction of failure mechanisms, limit stress fields and the calculation of the associated failure loads both in the lower- and upper-bound sense.
SYLLABUS
1. Soils as continuous mediums, stresses and strains in continuum mechanics, stress and strain paths and invariants. 2. Linear and non-linear, isotropic and anisotropic elasticity. 3. Plasticity and yielding: Tresca, Mohr-Coulomb, Mises and Drucker-Prager yield criteria. 4. Basic ingredients of hardening plasticity models. 5. The extended Mohr-Coulomb model: friction and dilation. 6. Critical state theory of soil mechanics. 7. The modified Cam-Clay constitutive model. 8. Advanced constitutive models for sands and clays. 9. Scaling laws, dimensional analysis, physical modelling at single gravity, physical modelling on a geotechnical centrifuge. 10. Collapse load theorems, kinematic and static solutions, slip-line theory: applications to shallow foundations, retaining walls and tunnels.
By the end of the course, successful students will: 1. understand the principles of continuum mechanics, as well as of the theories of elasticity and plasticity (A1) 2. have gained further understanding of the various aspects of soil behaviour, such as critical states and peak strength (A2, A4) and how their modelling may affect the overall design of geotechnical structures (C3, C4). 3. be able to describe the basic features of commonly used models of soil behaviour (A2, A4) and understand their applicability and shortcomings (C3, C4) 4. understand issues which govern the selection of details of numerical models using finite element software (B5, C1) 5. be aware of the recent advancements in geomechanics, thus prepared for the numerical modelling techniques that will be employed for addressing geotechnical problems in the future (B9). 6. understand the scaling laws which must be used to design and interpret physical modelling (A2, A4). 7. be aware of the capabilities of physical model techniques at single gravity, as well as on a geotechnical centrifuge at multiple gravity conditions (C1, C4). 8. have an understanding of how the most frequently used theoretical solutions in geotechnical engineering have been developed, thus being aware of their limitations and fields of applicability (C1, C4), as well as being able to extend these solutions to tackle other complicated problems (B4).
Lectures
Individual Coursework 25% (ULO 1-3) 2 hour exam (May/June) 75% (ULO 1-8)
1. Muir Wood, D. (1990). Soil behaviour and critical state soil mechanics. Cambridge University Press. 2. Muir Wood, D. (2004). Geotechnical modelling. Spon Press. 3. Davis, R.O. & Selvadurai A.P.S. (2002). Plasticity and geomechanics. Cambridge University Press. 4. Davis, R.O. & Selvadurai A.P.S. (2002). Elasticity and geomechanics. Cambridge University Press 5. Parry, R.H.G., (2004). Mohr Circles, Stress Paths and Geotechnics, Taylor & Francis
