ALMEIDA FILHO, G.; ALMEIDA FILHO, Gustavo.
Abstract:
This dissertation presents a comprehensive study of a finite element program, studying the consolidation of compressible soils when loaded by external loads (landfills), as well as a comparison of results obtained by this program with those obtained by different theories. A detailed description of the "SOL" program, now running on the computer system of the Data Processing Center of the Federal University of Paraíba (FrPD-UFPb), was made to show the different calculation steps performed during the finite element method solution. of a two-dimensional consolidation problem in the case of a compressible soil mass under external loading. The results of the final consolidation settlements obtained by the "SOL" program show that, at the center of the landfill, the percentage difference found compared to those obtained by the TERZAGHI theory is around 11.2%, while at the foot of the landfill , can reach up to 35.0% The curves of the degree of repression of consolidation as a function of time obtained by the program in the case of a one-dimensional problem, show an acceptable agreement with them obtained by the TERZAGHI theory. However, the situation changes considerably when the problem becomes two-dimensional. In this case, it is shown that the error in the evolution of the degree of repression of consolidation can be considerable when the simple one-dimensional TERZAGHI theory is used to treat a two-dimensional problem. Therefore, the use of the program in compressible soil foundation projects is highly recommended in any case where the speed of the consolidation process is one of the most important design parameters.