NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE NONLINEAR SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION PROBLEM

Resumo

Structural elements in contact with the soil (or rock) can work as support for the soil itself or
can be supported by the soil. In both cases it is important to evaluate the system movement to reach a
more efficient and realistic project. In this context, this work aims to perform a numerical study of the
nonlinear soil-structure interaction problem response, always looking for the most realistic engineering
problem modeling. This interaction will be considered initially as bilateral, i.e., when the structure and
the medium do not lose contact during the strain process, and the soil will be represented by discrete or
continuous spring models. The numerical methodology is based on the Euler-Bernoulli's theory to
simulate the nonlinear behavior of the structure and on the adoption of the FE corrotational formulation
to capture the structure’s large displacements. Plasticity is also considered, concentrated at the finite
elements nodes, through the Strain Compatibility Method (DCM), where the constitutive relations of
the materials are used explicitly. The DCM is also applied in determining the bearing capacity of the
sections. The agreement of the results obtained here with those from the literature and Mastan2 validated
the numerical formulations implemented in the CS-ASA.