skip to main content


Title: Cone Penetration Testing to Constrain the Calibration Process of a Sand Plasticity Model for Nonlinear Deformation Analysis
A reliable prediction of liquefaction-induced damage typically requires nonlinear deformation analyses with an advanced constitutive soil model calibrated to the site conditions. The calibration of constitutive models can be performed by relying primarily on a combination of commonly available properties and empirical or semi-empirical relationships, on laboratory tests on site-specific soils, on in-situ penetration tests, or a combination thereof. Chiaradonna et al. (2022) described a laboratory-based calibration approach of the PM4Sand constitutive model and evaluated the prediction accuracy against the response of a centrifuge experiment of a submerged slope. This paper addresses an alternate calibration approach in which the PM4Sand model is calibrated using centrifuge in-situ CPT data. The model performance for the resulting calibration is evaluated against the centrifuge experimental data and prior simulations from Chiaradonna et al. (2022). In this case, the CPT-based calibration resulted in more accurate estimations of the dynamic response and permanent displacements.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1916152 2037883
NSF-PAR ID:
10335420
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Cone Penetration Testing 2022
Page Range / eLocation ID:
325-331
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. This paper investigates and presents the numerical modeling and validation of the response of a uniform clean sand using monotonic and cyclic laboratory tests as well as a centrifuge model test comprised of a submerged slope. The dynamic response of the sand is modeled using a critical state compatible, stress ratio-based, bounding surface plasticity constitutive model (PM4Sand), implemented in the commercial finite-difference platform FLAC, and PM4Sand’s performance is evaluated against a comprehensive testing program comprised of laboratory data and a well-instrumented centrifuge model test. Three different calibrations informed by the lab and centrifuge data are performed and the goodness of the predictions is discussed. Conclusions are drawn with regards to the performance of the simulations against the laboratory and centrifuge data, and recommendations about the calibration of the model are provided. 
    more » « less
  2. Liquefaction under cyclic loads can be predicted through advanced (liquefaction-capable) material constitutive models. However, such constitutive models have several input parameters whose values are often unknown or imprecisely known, requiring calibration via lab/in-situ test data. This study proposes a Bayesian updating framework that integrates probabilistic calibration of the soil model and probabilistic prediction of lateral spreading due to seismic liquefaction. In particular, the framework consists of three main parts: (1) Parametric study based on global sensitivity analysis, (2) Bayesian calibration of the primary input parameters of the constitutive model, and (3) Forward uncertainty propagation through a computational model simulating the response of a soil column under earthquake loading. For demonstration, the PM4Sand model is adopted, and cyclic strength data of Ottawa F-65 sand from cyclic direct simple shear tests are utilized to calibrate the model. The three main uncertainty analyses are performed using quoFEM, a SimCenter open-source software application for uncertainty quantification and optimization in the field of natural hazard engineering. The results demonstrate the potential of the framework linked with quoFEM to perform calibration and uncertainty propagation using sophisticated simulation models that can be part of a performance-based design workflow. 
    more » « less
  3. null ; null ; null (Ed.)
    Constitutive modeling of granular materials such as sands, non-plastic silts, and gravels has been significantly advanced in the past three decades. Several new constitutive models have been proposed and calibrated to simulate the results of various laboratory element tests. Due to this progress and owing to the surge of interest in geotechnical engineering community to use well-documented constitutive models in major geotechnical projects, a more thorough evaluation of these models is necessary. Performance of the current models should be particularly evaluated in the simulation of boundary value problems where stress/strain paths are much more complex than the element tests performed in laboratory. Such validation efforts will be an important step towards the use of these models in practice. This paper presents the results of an extensive validation study aimed at assessing the capabilities and limitations of a two-surface plasticity model for sands in two selected boundary value problems, i.e. lateral spreading of mildly sloping liquefiable grounds. The results of a large number of centrifuge tests conducted during the course of four consecutive international projects known as Liquefaction Experiments and Analysis Project (LEAP) are used in this validation study. The capabilities and limitations of the two-surface plasticity model, initially calibrated against element tests, will be carefully assessed by comparing the numerical simulations with the results of the centrifuge tests from recent LEAP projects. 
    more » « less
  4. This paper presents a summary of the element test simulations (calibration simulations) submitted by 11 numerical simulation (prediction) teams that participated in the LEAP-2017 prediction exercise. A significant number of monotonic and cyclic triaxial (Vasko, An investigation into the behavior of Ottawa sand through monotonic and cyclic shear tests. Masters Thesis, The George Washington University, 2015; Vasko et al., LEAP-GWU-2015 Laboratory Tests. DesignSafe-CI, Dataset, 2018; El Ghoraiby et al., LEAP 2017: Soil characterization and element tests for Ottawa F65 sand. The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2017; El Ghoraiby et al., LEAP-2017 GWU Laboratory Tests. DesignSafe-CI, Dataset, 2018; El Ghoraiby et al., Physical and mechanical properties of Ottawa F65 Sand. In B. Kutter et al. (Eds.), Model tests and numerical simulations of liquefaction and lateral spreading: LEAP-UCD-2017. New York: Springer, 2019) and direct simple shear tests (Bastidas, Ottawa F-65 Sand Characterization. PhD Dissertation, University of California, Davis, 2016) are available for Ottawa F-65 sand. The focus of this element test simulation exercise is to assess the performance of the constitutive models used by participating team in simulating the results of undrained stress-controlled cyclic triaxial tests on Ottawa F-65 sand for three different void ratios (El Ghoraiby et al., LEAP 2017: Soil characterization and element tests for Ottawa F65 sand. The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2017; El Ghoraiby et al., LEAP-2017 GWU Laboratory Tests. DesignSafe-CI, Dataset, 2018; El Ghoraiby et al., Physical and mechanical properties of Ottawa F65 Sand. In B. Kutter et al. (Eds.), Model tests and numerical simulations of liquefaction and lateral spreading: LEAP-UCD-2017. New York: Springer, 2019). The simulated stress paths, stress-strain responses, and liquefaction strength curves show that majority of the models used in this exercise are able to provide a reasonably good match to liquefaction strength curves for the highest void ratio (0.585) but the differences between the simulations and experiments become larger for the lower void ratios (0.542 and 0.515). 
    more » « less
  5. The NHERI SimCenter is a nine-year research project that aims to advance the simulation of natural hazard impact on the built environment and communities. The SimCenter is developing several open-source workflow applications and an underlying scientific application framework. All applications built on this framework provide an OpenSees interface that enables users to use their existing models in advanced simulation studies, such as local and regional performance assessment, and uncertainty quantification (UQ). SimCenter applications provide researchers an opportunity to explore different extensions of their models by lowering the interdisciplinary barrier and encouraging collaboration. Among the applications, quoFEM provides access to UQ analyses with an easy-to-use, standardized interface. This work demonstrates the research enabled by quoFEM through the example of model calibration using PM4Sand, a soil constitutive model available in OpenSees. After an initial sensitivity analysis, the model is calibrated using Bayesian inference based on observations of hysteretic soil response from cyclic direct simple shear tests. The uncertainty in the model parameters is used in forward propagation to explore plausible lateral spreading scenarios due to seismic liquefaction. The results demonstrate the utility of quoFEM to the OpenSees community as a UQ-enabling tool. 
    more » « less