Drained-Undrained

Drained-Undrained Strength

The Drained-Undrained strength option in the Material Properties dialog allows you to define a soil strength envelope which considers both drained and undrained Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters. The shear strength is defined in terms of effective stress parameters c’ and phi’, up to a maximum value of shear strength defined by the undrained cohesion Cu.

If c’, phi’ and Cu are all constant, then you can simply enter these parameters directly in the Material Properties dialog.

If the cohesion is variable with depth:

1. Select the Cohesion varies with depth checkbox in the Define Material Properties dialog.
2. This will enable the Define button. Select the Define button, and you will see another dialog (the Drained-Undrained Strength Properties dialog), in which you can define the drained and/or undrained cohesion as a function of depth.

By default, the (Undrained) Cohesion Type = F(Depth) and the (Drained) Cohesion Type = F(undrained Cu). However, you may define the Drained and Undrained cohesion using any combination of the options described below.

Undrained Strength Parameters

In the Drained-Undrained Strength Properties dialog, the undrained strength can be defined from the Cohesion Type drop-down menu as:

• Constant
• F(Depth)
• F(Datum)

Constant

Cohesion is constant throughout the material.

F(Depth)

Cohesion is a function of depth, where depth is measured from the top of the material layer, to the center of a column base.

• Cu (Top) is the undrained cohesion at the top of the material layer.
• Cu Change is the rate of change of undrained cohesion with depth.
• If you wish to specify a maximum undrained soil strength, select the Cutoff checkbox and enter a maximum value for cohesion. If the rate of Cu Change is negative, then the Cutoff value represents the minimum soil strength.

F(Datum)

Cohesion is a function of depth, where depth is measured from a user-specified Datum (z-coordinate) to the center of a column base.

• Cu (Datum) is the undrained cohesion at the Datum elevation.
• Cu Change is the rate of change of undrained cohesion with distance (z) from the Datum.
• If you wish to specify a maximum undrained soil strength, select the Cutoff checkbox and enter a maximum value for Cohesion. If the rate of Cu Change is negative, then the Cutoff value represents the minimum soil strength.
• Datum is the datum elevation (z-coordinate).

Drained Strength Parameters

In the Drained-Undrained Strength Properties dialog, the drained strength can be defined from the Cohesion Type drop-down menu as:

• Constant
• F(Depth)
• F(Datum)
• F(undrained Cu)

Constant

Cohesion is constant throughout the material.

F(Depth)

Cohesion is a function of depth, where depth is measured from the top of the material layer, to the center of a column base.

• c’ (Top) is the drained Cohesion at the top of the material layer.
• c’ Change is the rate of change of drained Cohesion with depth.

F(Datum)

Cohesion is a function of depth, where depth is measured from a user-specified Datum (z-coordinate) to the center of a column base.

• c’ (Datum) is the drained Cohesion at the Datum elevation.
• c’ Change is the rate of change of drained Cohesion with distance (z) from the Datum.
• Datum is the datum elevation (z-coordinate).

F(undrained Cu)

With this option, the drained cohesion c’ is defined as a fraction of the undrained Cu, by entering a c’/Cu ratio. This automatically defines the drained cohesion in terms of the undrained strength. For example, if the undrained cohesion varies with depth, then the drained cohesion will also vary with depth, according to the value of Cu at a given depth, and the c’/Cu ratio.

Friction Angle Phi’

Tensile Strength

Please see the Tensile Strength help section for more details.