Seismic liquefaction analysis of a critical facility with PM4Sand in Plaxis

In seismically active areas, liquefaction hazards have always been a complicated aspect to evaluate as part of the seismic design of a project. In the case of the design of critical facilities, this becomes crucial, as beyond design basis conditions may elevate the seismic loads significantly and create a considerable liquefaction risk in areas...

Experimental research of pore water pressure fluctuation on the stability of submarine slopes: A case study of the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier

In this report, an experimental investigation of the influence of currents on submarine slope stability is presented for the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier case. Slope instabilities, including liquefaction failures, have been observed in the scour hole slopes near this barrier. The currents above the sloping bed are expected to initiate the...

Interaction between Liquefying Submerged Slope and Submerging Water Mass

The thesis presents a numerical study on dredging induced undrained instability and subsequent static liquefaction of submarine landslides. For the study, a pre-existing hydro-dynamic uncoupled submarine slope numerical model, developed by Molenkamp (1999), has been modified to incorporate a fully hydro-dynamic coupled interaction between...

Post-Liquefaction Soil-Structure Interaction of Pipelines Buried in Sand: Using Modern Simulation Techniques

The starting point of this thesis lies in the area on Groningen, Netherlands. More specifically, induced earthquake activity is observed in this area due to gas extraction activities, which reduce underground gas pressure. In combination with the location’s geomorphology, liquefaction can occur due to earthquake excitations. Furthermore, the...

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of the Main Features of the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) for Solid Mechanics

The Particle Finite Element Method is a numerical tool that has been introduced more than a decade ago for the solution of engineering problems involving large deformations. <br/>The method falls under the category of mesh-based particle methods, meaning that all information is stored on moving particles that represent the domain under analysis...

Centrifuge modelling of liquefaction flow slides

As soil behaviour is stress-dependent, a centrifuge model with tilting sample box was developed to generate liquefaction flow slides at higher confining stresses. The design and experimental set-up were based on the large liquefaction tank (de Jager et al., 2017). Fluidisation was used as sample preparation technique to produce a saturated,...

Dike Pins: A Parametric Study in Plaxis to assess the Current Design Approach and Future Applicability

One of the main challenges in dike design in the Netherlands is to guarantee a sufficient safety level against the development of macro-instabilities in a dike. A case study was performed on a dike section at Herrewijnen-Opijnen, which is part of the Heesseltse Uiterwaarden in the Dutch province of Gelderland. The dike located at this site no...

Soil Interpretation in Groningen: Verification and Improvement of CPT-based correlations

In the northern part of the Netherlands, the exploitation of gas fields has been inducing small earthquakes, causing damage to existing buildings. <br/>With the aim of preventing consequences to people and structures, the VIIA Groningen project deals with CC2 and CC3 buildings retrofit and provides reinforcement measures when necessary.<br/>As...

Dynamic Finite Element Analysis of Impact Pile Driving Centrifuge Tests

Many farms of wind turbines are being installed worldwide as a response to clean energy targets. These farms are usually installed in offshore environments since limitations of space can be encountered or due to public pressure against the visual disruption that farms can cause in urban areas. These offshore wind turbines are commonly founded on...

Investigation on Stress Increase of Sand Inside Immersed Tunnel Joint Gap

Watertightness and leakage prevention is crucial in every tunnel joint design. Immersed tunnels have been utilizing the Gina-Omega gasket solution since the 1960s to prevent leakage from occurring. However, after almost 50 years of service life, leakages were detected in the immersion joints, which leads to an investigation into the source of...

Reliability of Ultimate Limit State Design in Finite Elements and Compliance with Eurocode 7

Geotechnical design problems may be characterized by a certain degree of uncertainty, due to insufficient soil data and transformation of test results in soil parameters. In common practice, engineers perform deterministic analyses according to design standards as Eurocode 7, where the uncertainties are taken into account through partial factors...

Development and implementation of moving boundary conditions in the Material Point Method

A new technique is developed in this thesis, which applies boundary conditions to moving boundaries in the Material Point Method (MPM). While MPM has been proven to be useful in slope stability, foundation and seabed ploughing modelling, the application of boundary conditions is still a challenge,<br/>because the location of the boundary is...

Numerical simulations of static liquefaction in submerged slopes

The static liquefaction tank (SL-tank) is a unique large-scale facility that provides a means to simulate the conditions of a submerged soil slope under failure conditions. Static liquefaction (SL) may be defined as a significant loss of soil’s shear strength due to a substantial development of excess pore water pressure under monotonic loads....