Soil structure interaction - soil continuum analysis

[md01134]

Has anyone ever modeled a soil - structure interaction like attached photo?

Beam is 1m wide, 10m long and 350mm deep. Soil has a varying value of E according to the equation 12.35+3.75z.

Also, if the thickness of the beam is 1 metre, should I also make the soil the same or even larger eg 5m?

Is it possible to put supports between the beam and soil, so that the beam is allowed to lift off the ground due to an applied load?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks very much.

Regards,

Michael.

[EduardoMeruvia · Accepted solution]

Hi @md01134 , 

Robot might not be the tool for modelling the soil-structure interaction that you seem to be after. Shells elements are only capable of Linear elastic analysis and would not be able to give you the complex soil behavior that would realistically happen.  

Saying that if you are just after a "estimate" of the soil behavior on the assumption of perfectly elastic behavior then your current approach is reasonable. I would just add "dummy" compression only beam supports under your beam shell to allow for uplift.  

If you are not interested on the soils itself, then you could simply use Robot's elastic springs supports to simulate a soil support condition without needing to model any "soil". 

[md01134]

Hi @EduardoMeruvia ,

Thanks very much for the reply.

I'll give the dummy supports a go and see what kind of results I'm getting.

Regards,

Michael.