Modeling of Soils Using Isogeometric Analysis

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Ivy July 8, 2020

Ugorji

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Ivy Ugorji
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July 8, 2020

Researchers from the Department of Construction Sciences, Lund University, Sweden

have presented isogeometric analysis as an alternative to finite element analysis for
modelling of soil plasticity. In a study published in the year 2017 in Geomaterials
Journal, the researchers were able to show that isogeometric analysis showed good
agreement with finite element method for drained soils in two- and three-dimensions.
The research, therefore, suggested that isogeometric analysis is a good alternative to
conventional finite element analysis for simulations of soil behavior.

Isogeometric analysis is a numerical method that uses non-uniform rational B-splines

(NURBS) as basis functions instead of the Lagrangian polynomials often used in the
finite element method. These functions have a higher-order of continuity and therefore
makes it possible to represent complex geometries exactly. The basic idea behind
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isogeometric analysis is to use splines (NURBS) as basis functions for computational
analysis by applying them directly. This allows the same basis function to be used for
discretzation and for analysis.

Representation of quadratic B-spline basis function with knot vector Ξ = {0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5}

(Spetz et al, 2017)

Representation of quadratic Lagrangian basis function (Spetz et al, 2017)

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Since being introduced by Thomas J.R. Hughes at the University of Austin, Texas in the
year 2005, isogeometric analysis has found numerous applications in engineering such
as analysis of thin plates and shells, soil-structure interaction, fluid-structure
interaction, flow through porous media, etc. However, finite element analysis has been
used extensively for constitutive modelling of soils for the design of foundations,
retaining walls, slope stability problems etc.

For the purpose of the research, Drucker-Prager criterion and the theory of plasticity
was used by the researchers to evaluate the influence of the NURBS-basis functions on
the plastic strains for granular materials against the conventional finite element analysis
approach.

To compare the results of the findings, a 2D model of a strip footing on sandy silt was
analyzed. The problem was solved for plane strain conditions using quadratic NURBS
based IGA and conventional FEA with 5 different meshes. In order to compare the two
methods, the element meshes were constructed using quadratic isoparametric elements
for both IGA and conventional FEA.

Load/displacement response at point A and B for the finest mesh (4800 elements)(Spetz et al,
2017)

The first point, A, denotes the center of the footing and the second point, B denotes the
edge of the footing. It was observed that the displacements in the model are in good
agreement at center of the footing but a minor difference was observed between the
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displacements from the isogeometric and conventional finite element analysis at the
edge of the footing.

References
Spetz, A. , Tudisco, E. , Denzer, R. and Dahlblom, O. (2017): Isogeometric Analysis of
Soil Plasticity. Geomaterials, 7, 96-116. doi: 10.4236/gm.2017.73008.

Featured Image: Institute for Structural Mechanics, University of Stuttgart.

https://www.ibb.uni-stuttgart.de/en/research/shells-fem-iga/

Disclaimer:
This research article has been featured on www.structville.com because it is an open
access article that permits unrestricted use and distribution provided the original source
of the article has been cited. See the Creative Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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