Influence of brittle property of cement treated soil on undrained bearing capacity characteristics of the ground

Abstract

In this study, the influence of brittle property of geomaterials on the failure behavior of the ground in an undrained bearing capacity problem was investigated numerically from the standpoint of taking the brittle behavior of cement treated soil as softening behavior of the soil element. The numerical analyses were performed using the soil-water coupled finite deformation analysis code GEOASIA mounted with the SYS Cam-clay model, which describes the soil skeleton structure at work. Cement treated ground and naturally deposited clay ground were modelled and compared, and it was found that they showed widely differing failure processes depending on differing initial conditions. Especially, it was found that when progressive failure in which strain localization region develops due to propagation of material failure occurs, even though the ground is composed of brittle materials such as cement treated soil, those brittle properties do not directly manifest in the load-settlement relationship. Additionally, the investigation revealed that, since every soil element on the slip lines does not reach its peak strength simultaneously when progressive failure occurs, post -peak material properties, i.e. the ratio of residual strength to peak strength and softening rate from peak to residual state, affect the bearing capacity of the ground.