A stabilized semi-implicit MPM approach to model pile penetration into saturated clay

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4. A stabilized semi-implicit MPM approach to model pile penetration into saturated clay

A thorough understanding of the effects of displacement pile installation is essential to accurate modelling of pile bearing capacity, installation resistance and potential pile refusal probability, all of which contribute to reducing the construction costs and improving the reliability of offshore structures. Accurate simulation of pile penetration in saturated soils is challenging due to the involvement of hydro-mechanical coupling, large deformations, and soil-structure interactions. The material point method (MPM), a hybrid mesh-particle method, offers a potentially effective tool for modelling large deformation problems. In this study, we develop a stabilized hydro-mechanical coupled MPM framework to model the pile penetration process in saturated clays. The coupled formulations are solved using a semi-implicit solution scheme based on the incremental fractional step method, which avoids the time step constraints related to material permeability encountered in fully explicit MPM, thus enabling efficient modelling of extremely low-permeability conditions. The proposed method is first validated through Cryers sphere problem, and then applied to investigate pile penetration in saturated clays. These numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the MPM formulation for analysing displacement pile installation and offer valuable insights into excess pore pressure evolution during pile penetration.

5th International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG2025)

3 - Constitutive models and soil behaviour modelling