ABSTRACT
During the piezocone penetration, the surrounding soil media usually undergo large displacements and large deformations with finite strains causing geometric nonlinearities. The effect of this deformation on the surrounding soil behavior cannot be ignored. Therefore, for a better simulation of the actual soil behavior around the piezocone, it is necessary to use an analytical model that includes the concept of large deformation and finite strains in the finite element formulation. Herein a large deformation finite element analytical model (Abu-Farsakh 1997; Voyiadjis and Abu-Farsakh 1997) is used to numerically simulate the penetration of the piezocone penetrometer in cohesive soils. In this model, the finite element formulation of the governing equations is based on the theory of mixtures for inelastic porous media in an updated Lagrangian framework. The analytical model is used to analyze the miniature piezocone penetration tests (MPCPT) in cohesive soil specimens conducted at LSU calibration chambers (LSU/CALCHAS). The resulting deformations and strain fields around the piezocone are presented here. Analysis of the MPCPT’s show that large deformations and very large strains (up to 206%) are induced during the piezocone penetration.
