A decoupled Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method for large deformation analysis of saturated sand

Abstract

In the finite element analysis, large deformation caused by saturated sand liquefaction may lead to numerical problems owing to mesh distortion. Based on the soil–water two-phase mixing theory, the governing equations of the two-phase mixture are derived in the study. Using the operator splitting technique and the decoupled Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) frame, a decoupled ALE Finite Element Method is developed to solve the numerical problems caused by the possible mesh distortion in the liquefaction large deformation analysis. The method is applied to one-dimensional consolidation analysis and dynamic liquefaction large deformation analysis of an embankment. The results show that the method can keep the deformed mesh in a healthy state and ensure the accuracy of the numerical solutions in large deformation analysis.

Keywords

• Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE)
• Soil–water two-phase theory
• Radial Basis Function (RBF)
• Liquefaction