Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-1

Geotextile Reinforced Ramp

In this tutorial, a ramp is constructed and its performance under loading
is assessed. The model is created in four stages as follows:

1. Foundation soil layer is brought to equilibrium.

2. Fill is added on top of the soil interlayed with geotextile support

layers. Precast concrete liners are added to support the fill.

3. The concrete road bed is constructed on top of the fill.

4. Load is applied to the road surface.

Topics Covered

• Import DXF
• Geotextiles
• Liners
• Structural Interfaces
• Selection Windows
• Selection Filter
• Discretization Density
• Mapped meshing
• Staged Loading
• Liner Bending Moments

Geometry

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-2

Model

Start the Phase2 Model program.

Project Settings
Open the Project Settings dialog from the Analysis menu and make sure
the General tab is selected. Define the units as being “Metric, stress as
kPa”. Change the number of stages to 4. Close the dialog by clicking OK.

If you changed the Units from some other system, then you will see a
warning window telling you that default values will change to reflect the
new units. Click Yes to verify the unit change.

Boundaries
To save typing in many coordinates, we will import the boundary
geometry from a DXF file (AutoCAD Drawing Exchange File). This
technique is useful if a problem geometry has already been constructed in
Autocad and you do not wish to re-enter the geometry in Phase2. To
import the file, select Import DXF from the Import sub-menu of the
File menu. In the DXF Options dialog, select External Boundary,
Materials and Stages as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-3

Select the Import button, and you will see an Open File dialog. Select the
file Tutorial 14 boundaries.dxf from the Examples > Tutorials folder in
your Phase2 installation folder. Click OK. You will see a model with
external, material and stage boundaries as shown.

NOTE: Stage boundaries perform the same function as material

boundaries but are plotted grey instead of green. In previous versions of
Phase2, stage boundaries were used to delineate excavations between
stages and material boundaries were used to separate different materials.
You can now use them interchangeably.

Material Properties
Select Define Materials from the Properties menu. Change the name of
Material 1 to Foundation Soil. For Initial Element Loading choose Field
Stress & Body Force. This choice reflects that the soil layer is in-situ with
both self weight and stress. See the Phase2 Help for more information on
initial element loading. Set the Unit Weight to 20 kN/m3. Leave all other
properties as the default values. Note that the Material Type is set to
elastic, meaning that there can be no failure in this layer.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-4

Now click on the Material 2 tab. Change the name of Material 2 to Fill.
Change the Initial Element Loading to Body Force only. This is the
logical choice if the fill is to be manually added such that it settles under
its own weight. Change the Unit Weight to 23 kN/m3, the Young’s
Modulus to 10000 kPa and the Poisson’s ratio to 0.3. Under Strength
Parameters, set the Material Type to plastic to enable failure in the Fill.
Set the peak and residual friction angle to 35 degrees and the peak and
residual cohesion to 0 kPa as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-5

Now click on the tab for Material 3. Change the Name to Concrete and
enter the parameters as shown below. Note the high value for Young’s
Modulus indicating a very stiff material. Observe also that the Material
Type is elastic, indicating that there is no failure allowed in the Concrete.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-6

Click OK to close the dialog.

Assign Material Properties

By default, the entire model is initially assigned the properties of
Foundation Soil (material 1). We now need to build up the road material
stage by stage. Click on the Stage 1 tab at the bottom of the Phase2
window. Choose Assign Properties from the Properties menu. Select
excavate and click in all areas above the soil material boundary. This
should leave just the Foundation Soil as shown.

Assigned materials for Stage 1.

Now click the Stage 2 tab. Select Fill from the Assign Materials dialog
and click inside the three sections that make up the fill as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-7

Assigned materials for Stage 2.

Click on the Stage 3 tab. Select Concrete from the Assign Material dialog
and click inside the three sections making up the concrete road surface as
shown.

Assigned materials for Stage 3.

Close the Assign Materials dialog.

Support Properties
First we will set the properties of the precast concrete support. Choose
Define Liners from the Properties menu. Change the name from Liner 1
to Precast Concrete. Change the Young’s modulus to 20000000 kPa and
the thickness to 0.15 m as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-8

Click OK to close the dialog.

The geotextile reinforcement layers must be modelled using Structural

Interfaces. These allow slip to occur between the fill material and the
geotextile. To set the properties of the Structural Interface select Define
Structural Interface from the Properties menu. You will now see how a
structural interface is composed of a liner sandwiched between two joints
(slip elements). We don’t want the use the precast concrete as our
geotextile liner, so for the Liner choose Liner 2 from the drop down menu.

To set the properties of the Liner, click on the ellipsis (…) to the right of
Liner 2. You will now see the Define Liner Properties dialog with Liner 2
selected. Change the Name to Geotextile. Under Liner Type select
Geosynthetic. Now set the tensile modulus to 4000 kN/m, the Material
Type to Plastic and the peak Tensile strength to 80 kN/m as shown.
Leave the residual tensile strength at 0.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-9

Click OK to close the dialog.

You now need to set the properties of the joints on either side of the liner.
In the Define Structural Interface Properties dialog, click on the ellipsis
(…) to the right of Joint 1. You will now see the Define Joint Properties
dialog. Change the Slip Criterion to Mohr-Coulomb and set the Friction
Angle to 32 degrees as shown.

Click OK to close the dialog.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-10

Your Structural Interface Properties dialog should now appear as shown.

Click OK to close the dialog.

Assign Geotextiles
The geotextile supports are a series of horizontal Structural Interfaces
within the Fill. The coordinates are already defined from reading in the
DXF file. To add the Structural Interfaces, select Add Structural
Interface from the Boundaries menu. In the Add Structural Interface
dialog, select First point closed / last point open. Under Staging, set
Install at stage to 2. The dialog should appear as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-11

Click the OK button. Select the point with coordinates (11 , 9). You may
enter the point with the keyboard but it is easy to select the point with
the mouse since the cursor will snap to existing points. Now click on the
point at (14.7 , 9). Right click and choose Done. You will now have one
structural interface that cannot slip on the outside edge (indicated by a
circle with a triangle in it) and is free to slip on the inside edge (marked
by an open circle).

TIP: to enable snapping to existing geometry, select Snap from the View
menu and turn on all options. You can perform the same task by clicking
on the words in the status bar at the bottom of the Phase2 window next to
the coordinates, or use the right-click menu.

The easiest way to add the remaining Structural Interfaces is by copying

and pasting. Right click on the Structural Interface you just constructed.
Select Copy Boundary. You now need to enter a point from which to copy
(base point), so select the left point of the existing Structural Interface.
Enter the point to copy to by selecting the next point directly below (11 ,
8). A copy of the Structural Interface should now appear. Repeat these
steps for the remaining points on the left side of the Fill until your model
appears as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-12

Now we need to add Structural Interfaces to the right side of the fill. You
could repeat the above technique (be careful to ensure that the outside
point is closed and the inside point is open). Alternatively you could use
the multiple copying capability of Phase2. To do this, go to the
Boundaries menu, select Edit and choose Copy. You can now select all of
the Structural Interfaces by drawing a selection window around them
(click the left mouse button and hold it down while moving the mouse to
expand the size of the box). Hit Enter to finish the selection. Now select a
base point to copy from (say 11 , 9) and then a point to copy to (15.3 , 9).
You should now have an exact copy of the Interfaces on the right side of
the fill.

TIP 1: For selecting multiple boundaries, the default option is Select

Inside Only, meaning that only line segments completely inside the
selection window will be selected. You can change this to select line
segments that cross the selection window as well by right clicking while
you are making your selection, choosing Selection Window, and choosing
Select Inside or Crossing.

TIP 2: When trying to select the Structural Interfaces, you may enclose
other boundaries with your Selection Window. Since we only want to copy
the Structural Interfaces, we can use a Selection Filter. Just before you
draw your Selection Window, right click and choose Selection Filter. Now
uncheck everything except for Structural Interfaces as shown. This will
ensure that only Structural Interfaces are selected.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-13

Notice that the Interfaces you have just copied are oriented the wrong
way, with the closed points on the inside and the open points on the
outside. To flip them around, go to Boundaries, select Edit and choose
Convert Boundary. Select all of the Interfaces on the right side using a
Selection Window (don’t forget to apply the Selection Filter again to
ensure only Structural Interfaces are selected). You will now see the
Convert To dialog box. We do not wish to change the type of boundary so
select Structural Interface and click OK. In the Add Structural Interface
dialog, select First point open / last point closed. Click OK. Your
model should now look like this.

Finally we need to add the precast concrete liner. However you cannot
add Liners until the finite element mesh exists. The next step is therefore
to build the mesh.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-14

NOTE: Structural interfaces must be added before the mesh since the
joints will affect the mesh generation. See the Phase2 Help for more
information.

Mesh
Select the Mesh Setup option in the Mesh menu. Change the Mesh Type
to Uniform. Leave the default element type (3 Noded Triangles) but set
the number of elements to 1200). Click the Discretize button followed by
the Mesh button.

Close the Mesh Setup dialog by selecting the OK button. Your model
should now appear as shown.

Initial mesh

We would like to improve the quality of the mesh in the region of interest
(the ramp construction). To increase the density of the mesh in this area,
first make sure you are looking at Stage 3 or Stage 4. Select Increase
Discretization Density from the Mesh menu. Draw a box around the road
construction. You will now see a higher density mesh in the Fill and
Concrete layers as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-15

Mesh after increasing discretization density in the ramp construction

To improve the mesh further, we can use the Mapped Meshing capability
in Phase2. This generates a geometrically regular mesh in triangular or
quadrilateral regions of the model, sometimes called a Structured Mesh.
See the Phase2 Help for more details. From the Mesh menu, select
Mapped Meshing and then Automatic Mapped Mesh. You will see a
dialog box with information about the Mapped Meshing. Click OK and
your model should now look like this.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-16

Mesh after mapped meshing

We have finished generating the finite element mesh so we can now add
the precast concrete liners.

Assign Liners
Click on the Stage 2 tab. From the Support menu select Add Liner.
Ensure that the Liner property is Precast Concrete and the Install at
stage is set to 2.

Click OK. Now select all of the boundary segments on the left side of the
Fill layer. You can select them all at once by encompassing them in a box
as described above. Do the same for the right side of the fill. Right click
and choose Done Selection. Your model should now appear as shown.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-17

Boundary Conditions
The model now shows the default boundary conditions (all external
boundaries fixed in the x and y directions). In our model, only the edges
and bottom of the Soil layer need to be fixed. To free the other
boundaries, select Free from the Displacements menu. Click on all of the
outer boundaries except the sides and edges of the Soil layer. Be sure to
select the very small boundary segments that form the top edges of the
road (you may need to zoom in to select these). Hit Enter to finish
selecting.

The top left and top right nodes of the soil layer have now been freed. To
re-fix them, select Restrain X,Y from the Displacements menu and click
on the left and right edges of the sol layer. Hit Enter to finish. Your
model should now look like this.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-18

We now need to add the loading to the road surface. Click on the Stage 4
tab. Under the Loading menu choose Distributed Loads and then Add
Uniform Load. Leave the orientation as Normal to boundary and enter
6 kN/m for the magnitude. We only wish to apply the load during Stage 4,
so turn on the Stage Load option and click the Stage Factors button.
Enter 0 for the Stage 1, 2 and 3 Factors as shown.

Click OK. Now click OK in the Add Distributed Load dialog. Click on the
stage boundary that is the road surface. Hit Enter and your model should
now look like this.

Boundary conditions for Stage 4.

You can click through the other stages to ensure that load is only being
applied in Stage 4.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-19

Field Stress
The last step is to specify the field stress in the model. Select Field Stress
from the Loading menu. Set the Field Stress Type to Gravity and turn on
the option Use actual ground surface as shown.

Click OK to close the dialog.

You have completed the definition of the model. Save the model using the
Save option in the File menu.

Compute

Run the model using the Compute option in the Analysis menu. The
analysis should take under a few minutes to run.

Once the model has finished computing (Compute dialog closes), select
the Interpret option in the Analysis menu to view the results.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-20

Interpret

After you select the Interpret option, the Interpret program starts and
reads the results of the analysis. The following screen is displayed
showing the maximum stress in the Foundation Soil layer for Stage 1.

This reflects the initial element loading of the soil layer. If you plot
displacements you will see no displacement has occurred.

Click on the Stage 2 tab. You will now see the maximum stress after the
fill has been added. To make the plot clearer you may want to shrink the
size of the plotted Structural Interfaces. Right click anywhere in the
window and choose Display Options. Click on the Stress tab and turn off
the option for Expand Composites under the Support heading. Your plot
should now look like this.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-21

Plot displacements by choosing Total Displacement from the drop down

menu on the toolbar. Plot the deformed boundaries by clicking the
Display Deformed Boundaries button. You will see significant downward
displacement in the fill since it has settled under its own weight. There is
less displacement at the edges where the fill is being supported by the
precast concrete liner.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-22

Click through the other stages and you will see increased deformation as
the concrete road bed is added and then when the load is applied in Stage
4. If you wish to see the effect of only the load, you can set Stage 3 as the
reference stage. Do this by going to the Data menu, selecting Stage
Settings and pushing the slider for Reference Stage to Stage 3.

Click OK. You will now see the effect of just the loading in the final stage.

Note the buckling of the structure as the middle displaces downwards

and the edges bulge outwards.

Check if any of the supports have failed by clicking on the Display

Yielded Liners button. You will see that the outside edges of the upper
geotextiles have failed. The precast concrete liners have remained intact
since we set them to be elastic.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-23

NOTE: If you want to know the manner in which the geotextile liners
have failed then turn on the Expand Composites option in the Display
Options dialog. You will see that the liner failure is in fact slipping of the
joints of the structural interface. The actual geotextile component of the
structural interface has not failed (i.e. its tensile strength has not been
exceeded).

You can easily plot the bending moments associated with the concrete
supports. First turn off the deformed boundaries. Now go to Show Values
in the Analysis menu and select Show Values. Beside the Liners check
box, choose Bending Moment from the drop down menu.

Click OK and you will see the bending moments plotted graphically on
the model.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual

 Geotextile Reinforced Ramp 14-24

The maximum and minimum moments are shown. Note that the
geotextiles cannot support moments so all of their values are 0. If you
want to see the true minimum moment for the concrete supports, then
turn off the plots for the geotextiles by going to Show Values from the
Analysis menu and choosing Toggle Show Values. Now click on each of
the geotextiles to turn them off.

This concludes the tutorial, you may now exit the Phase2 Interpret and
Phase2 Model programs.

Additional Exercise

Try setting the Material Type of the Foundation Soil to Plastic and see if
there is any change in the results.

Phase2 v.6.0 Tutorial Manual