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Structural Elements
An important aspect of geomechanical analysis and design is the use of structural support to
stabilize a rock or soil mass. Structures of arbitrary geometry and properties, and their
interaction with a rock or soil mass, can be modeled with FLAC3D. This section describes the
types of structural-support members (beams, cables, piles, shells, geogrids and liners), or
structural elements, available in FLAC3D, as well as the numerical formulation that supports
the structural-element logic.
The structural elements can either be independent of, or coupled to, the grid representing the
solid continuum. The structural-element logic is implemented with the same explicit,
Lagrangian solution procedure as the rest of the code (as opposed to an implicit, matrix-
inversion procedure): the full dynamic equations of motion are solved, even for modeling
processes that are essentially static. Large displacements, including geometric nonlinearity,
can be accommodated by specifying a large-strain solution mode; and the full dynamic
response of the system in the time domain can also be obtained with the dynamic-analysis
option.
This overview section is organized as follows. We begin with a brief description of the six
types of structural-support members provided by FLAC3D. This is followed, in Terminology,
by a high-level introduction describing the relevant terminology. The means by which
structural elements are created and joined to one another is discussed next (in Geometry
Creation} and Joining Structural Elements). The discussion includes a description of how
particular physical entities (e.g., physical beams) that are composed of a collection of beam
structural elements and nodes can be referred to — for purposes of plotting and specification
of property and boundary conditions — as a single unit. The general procedures are also
described for specification of boundary and initial conditions (in Specifying Boundary and
Initial Conditions), stresses in shells (in Stresses in Shells), coordinate systems and sign
conventions (in Local Systems and Sign Conventions), damping conditions (in Specifying
Damping and Timestep Conditions), thermal expansion (in Thermal Expansion in Structural
Elements) and material properties (in Material Properties).
It is helpful to discuss the various conditions that can be prescribed at structural nodes before
describing each of the types of structural elements in FLAC3D. This is done in Structural
Element Nodes. This section also includes a summary of the commands associated with
nodes.
Each type of structural element is then described in detail in Beam, Cable, Pile, Shell, Geogrid,
and Liner Structural Elements. This includes a description of the mechanical behavior, the
required properties and associated commands. Finally, simple examples are included at the
end of each section, illustrating the application of each structural-element type.
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Throughout this section, matrices and vectors will be denoted by boldface type. The
mathematical symbols , , and will designate a rectangular matrix, diagonal
matrix, column vector and row vector, respectively. Also, structure and element matrices will
be described by uppercase and lowercase English alphabet characters. For example, and
designate structure and element stiffness matrices, respectively.
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geogrid is slaved to the grid motion in the normal direction. A geogrid can
be anchored at a specific point in the FLAC3D grid, or attached so that stress
develops along its surface in response to relative motion between the
geogrid and the FLAC3D grid. The geogrid can be thought of as the two-
dimensional analog of a one-dimensional cable. Geogrid elements are used
to model flexible membranes whose shear interaction with the soil are
important, such as geotextiles and geogrids.
An option that allows interaction with the FLAC3D grid on both sides of
the liner is available with the liner element.
Terminology
With the addition of structural-element logic, FLAC3D can model the structural response of a
mechanical system that is composed of a solid continuum and a framework of load-carrying
members. The solid continuum is represented by a collection of polyhedral-shaped zones,
each of which is associated with a set of gridpoints. The framework is represented by a
collection of structural elements, each of which is associated with a set of nodes. The
framework interacts with the solid continuum by means of links which connect nodes to
zones (not simply to gridpoints) or to other nodes.
Six degrees of freedom, composed of three translational components and three rotational
components, are associated with each node. Each node also has its own local orthogonal
coordinate system. The node-local system provides the directions in which the equations of
motion for the node are solved, and also defines the directions in which the node can be
attached to a target entity via a link. A link supports the following three attachment
conditions, which are specified independently for each local direction of its source node: free,
rigid and deformable. See Structural-Element Links for a detailed description of structural-
element links.
For most modeling situations, it is not necessary to specify link properties; instead, it is
sufficient to create, position and assign properties to the desired structural elements. Nodes
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(and links, if necessary) will be created automatically, and will inherit necessary information
from the structural elements that use them.
Geometry Creation
The six types of structural elements provide the building blocks, or components, needed to
model six types of physical items: beams, cables, piles, shells, geogrids and liners. Each
physical item is associated directly with a collection of component objects of the same type.
For example, a cable is associated with a collection of cable elements, whereas a liner is
associated with a collection of liner elements. The association between physical items and
their corresponding component objects is implemented by storing two distinct identification
numbers for each structural element:
Properties may be specified for each type of physical item, and will be inherited automatically
by the associated component objects. For example, the command
will assign a grout friction angle of 30 degrees to all cable elements thar are part of the cable
with an ID number of 3, whereas the command
will assign a grout friction angle of 30 degrees to the single cable element with a component-
ID number of 3.
The Beam, Cable, Pile, Shell, Geogrid, and Liner plot items allows one to view the six different
element types, as well as the nodes and the links.
A single cable forming a straight line (made up of a number of individual elements) can be
created using the structure cable create command, in one of three ways:
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Each create command takes an optional ID argument to denote the ID of the item to be
created. If no ID is provided, the next available ID will be used. New nodes are created
automatically at uniformly spaced internal points along the line. If a node already exists at
one of the end locations and is used by a element with the same ID as that given in the
command, a new node is not created at this location; otherwise, a new node is created.
A group of cables may be created from external geometric information, using the structure
cable import command. For each line segment in the imported data, one or more cable
elements will be created. Current, data can be imported in one of three ways:
The following example, depicted in Figure 1, illustrates the association mechanism between
nodes and structural elements. The nodes are not drawn in these plots. Instead, the cable
elements are drawn at 90% of their true length. Consider a curved cable, identified by an id of
5, that is composed of a collection of 7 elements and 8 nodes. Each element stores the cable
id of 5, as well as its own unique component-id. This can be seen by moving the mouse over
an element and examining the information window. In this way, the 7 elements are combined
to form a complex, arbitrarily curved cable that can be referred to by the single id of 5.
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The commands necessary to produce the model are shown in Figure 1 are given in
selexample1-1.f3dat.
model new
struct cable create by-line (0.0,4.0,0.0) (3.0,4.0,0.0) segments=2 id=5
struct cable create by-line (3.0,4.0,0.0) (6.0,3.0,0.0) segments=3 id=5
struct cable create by-line (6.0,3.0,0.0) (9.0,1.0,0.0) segments=2 id=5
There is no restriction that requires the end locations to lie within the FLAC3D grid; in fact, it
is not necessary to have a grid at all. (Recall that the structural elements can either be
independent of, or coupled to, the grid representing the solid continuum.) When using the
structure cable create command, if any of the nodes used by the newly created elements lie
within zones, these nodes will be linked to these zones, and the link properties will be set
consistent with the corresponding element behavior described in Beam, Cable, and Pile
Structural Elements.
The most common reason to specify more than one segment between end locations is to
improve accuracy, especially with piles and cables that are interacting with the host medium.
In this case, the distribution of shear forces along each pile or cable is a function, to some
extent, of the number of nodes. The following rules-of-thumb have been used to determine
the number of nodes to use when modeling cables:
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1. Try to provide approximately one node in each FLAC3D zone. The reasoning
here is that since the zones are constant-stress regions, it is not necessary
to have more than one interaction point within a zone.
2. Try to provide two to three cable element within the development length of
the cable. The development length of the cable is determined by dividing the
specified yield strength, , by the grout cohesive strength, . By following
this procedure, failure by "pull-out" can occur if such conditions arise. If the
cable elements are too long, then only the yield failure mode of each
element is possible. (This reasoning also applies to pile elements if used to
simulate the behavior of rockbolts.)
A single shell surface (made up of a number of individual elements) can be created using the
structure shell create command, in one of four ways:
A shell surface may also be created from external geometric information, using the structure
shell import command. For each line segment in the imported data, one or more shell
elements will be created. Current, data can be imported in one of two ways:
The most common way that shell-type elements are created in FLAC3D is with the structure
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shell create by-face command, which places them on zone faces. As an example below, the
geometry logic is used to create a 45 degree arc surface of shell elements. The command
used as listed in selexample1-2.f3dat.
The geometry edge create by-arc command is used to create a 45 arc section in 8 segments.
Then the geometry generate from-edges command is used to extrude those edges in the y-
direction into 8 segments. This description is then used by the structure shell import
from-geometry command to create two triangular shell elements per quadrilateral in the
geometric description. Figure 2 shows the resulting shell elements.
model new
geometry select 'cyl'
geometry edge create by-arc origin (0,0,0) start (0,0,1) end (0.707,0,0.707) segments
geometry generate from-edges extrude (0,1,0) segments 8
struct shell import from geometry 'cyl'
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connected by a node-to-node link, and the appropriate attachment conditions set. For
example, if it is necessary to join two beams with a ball-joint, a node-to-node link can be
added between the two beam end nodes, and the attachment conditions set in all
translational and rotational directions to be rigid and free, respectively. The same procedure
can be applied when joining elements to the grid, except that in this case, a node-to-zone
link must be established between the node and the zone in which it lies. Node-to-node and
node-to-zone linkage is controlled via the structure link command, and the linkage
conditions are described in Structural-Element Links.
The element creation commands ( structure cable create, structure beam create, etc.) are
designed to maintain a clear separation between different physical items being modeled. For
example, if modeling two separate piles lying end-to-end, issue two separate structure pile
create commands and specify two separate IDs (e.g., 1 and 2). This will result in the creation
of two nodes lying in the same geometric location: one is used by pile-1; one is used by pile-
2. Forces and moments will not be transferred between the adjoining pile elements; instead,
only forces will be transmitted into the surrounding zone at the common location. This
mimics two separate piles lying end-to-end. If a single pile is desired, then issue two separate
structure pile create commands, but this time specify the same ID for each. This will result
in the creation of a single node that is shared by the pile element on each side of the common
location. Forces and moments will be transferred between the adjoining elements. In most
modeling situations, the default link attachment conditions that are set by the element
creation commands should not be modified, because these attachment conditions produce
the desired element-grid interaction for each particular element type.
1. velocity-fixity conditions,
There are two coordinate systems associated with each node: the global system and the
node-local system. The node-local system is used to specify attachment conditions that
control how the node interacts with the grid. Also, the equations of motion are solved in these
local directions. Therefore, one may fix or free velocities in these directions only. The
orientation of the node-local system is set automatically at the start of a set of cycles based
on the type of elements that use the node. (See the structure node command for a full
description of these two systems.)
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Velocities and rotations at nodes are fixed and freed in the node-local system using the
structure node fix and structure node free commands. Velocities and rotations are
initialized to specified values in the global system using the structure node initialize
command. Point loads are applied at nodes in either the global or the node-local system
using the structure node apply command.
Distributed loads are applied to elements using the structure cable apply (for example).
Linear elements (beam, cable, or pile) can apply distributed loads in the element local y and z
directions. Planar elements (shell, geogrid, or liner) can apply pressure normal to the
element surface. Note that in large-strain mode, the applied loads remain aligned with the
corresponding element system directions, which may rotate as the element location changes.
Pretension forces are applied to cables using the structure cable apply tension command.
A positive pretension force places the cable into tension. See Pretensioning for additional
information.
Stresses in Shells
This section provides a brief introduction to shell behavior. Much of the information in this
section is taken from Cook et al. (1989). Consult that text for a more complete discussion.
A shell forms a curved surface in space. Usually a shell is thin in comparison with its span.
Geometrically, a shell is described by its thickness, t, and the shape of the shell mid-surface.
If the mid-surface is flat, then the shell is called a plate. In general, a shell simultaneously
displays bending stresses and membrane stresses. Bending stresses in a shell correspond to
bending stresses in a plate and produce bending and twisting moments and transverse-shear
forces. Membrane stresses correspond to stresses in a plane-stress problem: they act tangent
to the mid-surface, and produce mid-surface tangent forces. These moments and forces per
unit length are called stress resultants. There are a total of eight stress resultants, which can
be divided into those that arise from bending action and those that arise from membrane
action. These will be described in the following two sections.
Bending Action
We can account for the bending action of a shell in terms of plate-bending theory, which
extends beam theory from one dimension to two as follows. Define a surface coordinate
system xyz such that x and y are orthogonal coordinates in the mid-surface and z is a
direction normal to the mid-surface. Approximate the tangent plane to the shell mid-surface
as a flat plate subjected to "plate bending," meaning that external loads have no components
parallel to the xy-plane and that σxx = σyy = σxy = 0 on the mid-surface z=0. Such a flat plate,
like a straight beam, supports transverse loads by bending action. Figure 3 shows stresses
that act on cross sections of a plate whose material is homogeneous and linearly elastic,
subjected to plate-bending loading. Normal stresses σxx and σyy vary linearly with z, and are
associated with bending moments Mx and My. Shear stress σxy also varies linearly with z, and
is associated with twisting moment Mxy. Normal stress σzz is considered negligible in
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comparison with σxx, σyy and σxy. Transverse shear stresses σyz and σxz vary quadratically with
z. Lateral load q includes surface load and body force, both in the z-direction.
(1)
(2)
The bending resultants are moments per unit length, and the transverse-shear resultants are
forces per unit length. Differential total moments and forces are Mxdy, Qxdy, and so on, as
shown in Figure 3. The following stress distributions are consistent with the assumptions of
plate-bending theory, and satisfy (1) and (2):
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(3)
Stresses σxx, σyy and σxy are largest at the surface , whereas transverse-shear stresses,
σxz and σyz, are largest at the mid-surface. Two points should be noted:
Membrane Action
We can account for the membrane action of a shell in terms of plane-stress conditions. Define
a surface coordinate system xyz such that x and y are orthogonal coordinates in the mid-
surface, and z is a direction normal to the mid-surface. Approximate the tangent plane to the
shell mid-surface as a flat plate subjected to plane-stress conditions, meaning that the plate
is loaded in its own plane. Such a flat plate supports these loads by membrane action. Figure
4 shows stresses that act on cross sections of a plate whose material is homogeneous and
linearly elastic, subjected to plane-stress loading. Normal and shear stresses σxx, σyy and σxy
are constant through the thickness.
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(4)
The membrane resultants are forces per unit length. Differential total forces are Nxdy, Nydx
and so on, as shown in Figure 4. The following stress distributions are consistent with the
plane-stress assumptions and satisfy (4):
(5)
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stresses and stress resultants acting in a general shell consist of a superposition of these two
loading modes (see Bending Action and Membrane Action). We can express these stress
quantities in terms of a surface coordinate system xyz, where x and y are orthogonal
coordinates in the shell mid-surface and z is a direction normal to the mid-surface. The eight
stress resultants can be divided into bending (Mx, My, and Mxy), transverse-shear (Qx and Qy)
and membrane (Nx, Ny and Nxy) stress resultants (see (1), (2), and (4)). The distribution of
stress through the shell thickness follows from the particular plate or shell theory used to
model structural behavior. For both the Kirchhoff (thin-shell) and Reissner (thick-shell)
theories, the stress distributions correspond with a superposition of (3) and (5):
(6)
The stresses and stress resultants are sketched in Figure 3 and Figure 4, which also provide
the sign convention for the stress resultants.
The structural properties of shell-type elements include material properties (e.g., and for
an isotropic material) and thickness. These properties are embodied in the element stiffness
matrix. If a structural property is modified during a simulation, then: (1) the generalized nodal
forces and the stress resultants will remain the same; and (2) the stresses will change only if
the thickness is altered (see (6) and note that a change in thickness will affect the stresses
even if the stress resultants do not change).
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Note that the same procedure is used for all shell-type structural elements, shell, geogrid,
and liner. The command and FISH examples below use shell, but any of the shell-type
keywords can be substituted.
After establishing the surface coordinate system over a patch of shell-type elements, stress
resultants and stresses can be recovered for these elements with the structure shell
recover resultants and structure shell recover stress commands. These values can be
queried, sampled as histories, and viewed as colored contours:
1. The values can be queried with the structure shell list resultant,
structure shell list stress, and structure shell list stress-principal
commands, and the FISH functions struct.shell.resultant,
struct.shell.stress, and struct.shell.stress.prin.
2. The values can be sampled as histories with the structure shell history
command.
3. The values can be plotted as color contours with the Shell, Geogrid, or Liner
plot item. Note that by default the plot items calculate an up-to-date value
of the resultants and stresses, but they can be set to show the current
engine values in the plot item attributes.
The stress resultants and stresses become invalid after any step is taken, or if the surface
coordinate system is altered; also, the stresses become invalid if the depth factor is altered. In
these cases, the values must be recovered again.
The stress-recovery procedure involves two steps: (1) creation of a consistent surface
coordinate system; and (2) recovery of stress quantities. Both of these steps can be limited to
only apply to a range of shell-type elements. This allows one to control whether nodal
averaging will occur between shell-type elements that use the same node. For example,
suppose that one wished to recover stresses throughout a capped cylindrical pressure vessel.
The curvature across the cap edge is not continuous, and some of the stresses across this
edge are also not continuous. We could recover stresses separately in the cap and in the
cylinder walls by performing two separate recovery operations for the shell-type elements in
these regions. When doing so, the z-direction of the surface coordinate system for the nodes
along the edge would be different in each case.
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Each node has its own node-local coordinate system. This system is used to specify
attachment conditions that control how the node interacts with the grid, and also defines the
directions in which the equations of motion are solved. The orientation of the node-local
system is set automatically at the start of a set of cycles based on the type of elements that
use the node (see the structure node command).
Responses are computed for nodes and for each type of element. Nodal responses include
forces and moments, as well as translational and rotational velocities and displacements.
Forces and translational velocities are positive in the direction of the positive coordinate axes
(either global or node-local) at the node. Positive moments and rotational velocities follow the
"right-hand rule": With the thumb pointing in the direction of the positive coordinate axis, the
fingers are curled in the positive direction of rotation. The double arrows in Figure 3 indicate
the direction of the right-hand thumb to define the positive moment and rotation.
Responses for each type of element, and the associated sign conventions, are described in the
sections named "Response Quantities" associated with each element type (later in this
chapter). The sign convention for force and moment distributions in beams and piles is shown
in Beam Sign Conventions and Pile Sign Conventions, and the sign convention for stress
resultants in shells, geogrids and liners is shown in Bending Action and Membrane Action,
where the xyz-axes correspond with the surface coordinate system used during stress
recovery (see Stress Recovery Proceture).
The structure damping command can be used to change the damping condition, and the
structure node damping-local command can be used to change the damping constants at
nodes for either local damping or combined damping. The timestep used for either static or
dynamic analysis can be adjusted by using the structure safety-factor command. Also, the
computation of the rotational degree-of-freedom masses during dynamic analysis can be
controlled by the structure scale-rotational-mass command.
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The effect of heat conduction in the structural element is not considered. It is assumed that
the zone temperature is communicated instantaneously to the structural elements. The
temperature change generates thermal expansion/contraction in the structural element axial
direction. The effect of the lateral expansion in the element is neglected, and no other
coupling takes place.
The incremental axial force generated by thermal expansion in the element is calculated using
the formula (note that compression is positive for axial forces)
where E is the Young's modulus of the element, A is the cross-sectional area, is the linear
thermal expansion coefficient, and is the temperature increment for the element.
Note that when a large temperature increment is specified for cables, it is advisable to assign
nonzero compressive yield strength to the cables in order to avoid compressive yielding
during the thermal expansion stage.
Material Properties
Properties are assigned to structural elements with the structure shell property command
(or the equivalent for beam, cable, pile, geogrid, or liner elements). The range logic can be
used to limit the property settings to only those elements within the specified range. The
properties for each structural-element type are described in detail in the following sections.
Note that all quantities must be given in a consistent set of units (see Table 1).
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