The modelling of lateral movement of soft soil using finite element analysis and laboratory model / Juhaizad Ahmad, Nor Hazwani Md Zain and Prof. Madya Dr. Yasmin Ashaari

Lateral movement of sheet pile driven in soft soils has been a major problem in
geotechnical engineering. It was reported that the conventional theories such as Rankine
and Coulomb theory has overpredicted the lateral movement, hence causing inaccuracy.
On top of that, the behavior of lateral movement on soft soil is not well understood since
it is complicated and involved many parameters. So, the objectives of this study are to
understand the behavior of soft soil in terms of lateral movement and to measure the
amount of lateral movement on soft soil using physical laboratory model and Finite
Element Method, which is PL AXIS. Excavation work has been conducted on the physical
model and at the same time the available models in PLAXIS software such as MohrCoulomb (MC), Hardening-Soil (HS), Soft Soil (SS) and Soft Soil Creep (SSC) model
were employed to predict the amount of movement during excavation. Based on the
results, the amount of lateral movement is proportional to the depth of excavation. The
lateral movement increases as the depth of excavation increases. Moreover, through
physical modeling, it was found that the angle of wedge failure is the same as Rankine
theory which is (45°+0/2). Besides that, through Finite Element Method, it was observed
that the Soft Soil Creep model gives more accurate results since this model is specially
design for soft soil problems. As a recommendion, this study can be enhanced by using
centrifuge model due to its ability to replicate the real soil unit weight, therefore
producing more reliable results. In terms of Finite Element Method, 3-D model should be
engaged in order to obtain more accurate results.