Effective stress-based upper bound limit analysis of unsaturated soils using the weak form quadrature element method

摘要

Limit analysis methods can be used to directly calculate the bearing capacities of earth structures. Currently, there are very few studies on the limit analysis of unsaturated soils, which are widely distributed in geotechnical engineering. In the present paper, a kinematic theorem of unsaturated soils is established with a unified effective stress employed to represent the matric suction relied shear strength. Numerical solutions of the formulation are obtained by the weak form quadrature element method in combination with the second-order cone programming. Some tests are described, and the effect of suction stress is discussed in detail.