Browsing by Author "Scussel, Dario."

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The analysis of connected back to back mechanically stabilised earth walls.
(2019) Ramjee, Amit Kantillal.; Scussel, Dario.; Drosopoulos, Georgios A.
Back to back mechanically stabilised earth walls (MSEW’s) are designed independently as there is a lack of design guidance in the British Standard - Code of practice for strengthened/reinforced soils and other fills (BS8006-1:2010) for their analysis and design. Designers are sometimes tempted to have continuous reinforcement from each face of the back to back MSEW’s to save time and money especially when narrow back to back MSEW’s cause an overlap of reinforcement from each wall face. Unfortunately, the design guidance available is few and far between with vague recommendations presented by various authors and organisations. This dissertation focuses mainly on the forces generated in the reinforcement of the MSEW’s. A case study of an existing back to back MSEW with continuous reinforcement between the walls was first carried out using BS8006-1:2010 and finite element methods (FEM). The FEM analysis was carried out using the finite element modelling software package Plaxis 2D. Thereafter, a study using FEM was carried out to investigate the effects on the forces generated in the reinforcements for various types of geometries. The different geometries varied by having back to back MSEW’s with independent reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, and overlapping reinforcement. The forces generated in each configuration was then compared to forces that would have been calculated had the MSEW’s been designed using BS8006-1:2010. Conclusions and recommendations are then provided which would assist a designer wanting to have continuous reinforcement in a back to back MSEW.
A new approach to the polyaxial stress numerical analysis of underground openings.
(2012) Scussel, Dario.; Chandra, Sarvesh.; Trois, Cristina.
The traditional design methodologies for tunnel and underground excavations are divided in to three categories: Empirical, Analytical, and Observational approaches, whereas in the last years the Numerical approach has strongly become popular both for the intrinsic simplicity of the software packages and their ability to manage problems unsolvable with the classic methods. In this thesis, the underground openings have been analyzed using constitutive models other than the Mohr-Coulomb theory. FLAC is used for the analysis and the software has been implemented to include the Polyaxial Strength Criterion. The details of the modifications made in the software are presented and the results are compared with the Singh's elasto-plastic stress distribution in squeezing grounds. The applicability of the Polyaxial Strength Criterion has been therefore extended to all the numerical suites designed for geo-mechanical purposes (FEM, FDM, …) and the obtained results compared to the observations of deformation and radial squeezing pressure of the instrumented tunnels in the Chibro-Khodri underground power station. This study will develop better comprehension of the behavior of the underground openings and also provide a useful tool to the designers in the planning stages.