Plaxis: CONNECT Edition V21.01

PLAXIS
CONNECT Edition V21.01
PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a generator on an

elastic foundation
Last Updated: March 16, 2021
dynamics analysis of a generator on an elastic
1
foundation [ULT]
Using PLAXIS 2D, it is possible to simulate dynamic soil-structure interaction. Here the influence of a vibrating
source on its surrounding soil is studied. Oscillations caused by the generator are transmitted through the
footing into the subsoil.
The physical damping due to the viscous effects is taken into consideration via the Rayleigh damping. Also, due
to axisymmetry 'geometric damping' can be significant in attenuating the vibration.
The modelling of the boundaries is one of the key points. In order to avoid spurious wave reflections at the
model boundaries (which do not exist in reality), special conditions have to be applied in order to absorb waves
reaching the boundaries.
Objectives
• Defining a Dynamic calculation
• Defining dynamic loads
• Defining dynamic boundary conditions (viscous)
• Defining material damping by means of Rayleigh damping
Geometry
The vibrating source is a generator founded on a 0.2 m thick concrete footing of 1 m in diameter.
Generator
1m
Sandy clay
Figure 1: Generator founded on elastic subsoil
PLAXIS 2 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

generator on an elastic foundation
dynamics analysis of a generator on an elastic foundation [ULT]
Create new project
Create new project

To create the new project, follow these steps:
1. Start the Input program and select Start a new project from the Quick select dialog box.
2. In the Project tabsheet of the Project properties window, enter an appropriate title.
3. Due to the three dimensional nature of the problem, an axisymmetric model is used. In the Model tabsheet
select the Axisymmetric option for Model and keep the default option for Elements (15-Noded).
4. Keep the default values for units and constants and set the model contour to xmin = 0 m, xmax = 20 m, ymin =
-10 m and ymax = 0 m.
Note: The model boundaries should be sufficiently far from the region of interest, to avoid disturbances due
to possible reflections. Although special measures are adopted in order to avoid spurious reflections (viscous
boundaries), there is always a small influence and it is still a good habit to put boundaries far away. In a
dynamics analysis, model boundaries are generally taken further away than in a static analysis.
Define the soil stratigraphy

The subsoil consists of one layer with a depth of 10 m. The ground level is defined at y = 0. Note that water
conditions are not considered in this example. To define the soil stratigraphy:
1. Click the Create borehole button and create a borehole at x = 0.

2. Create a soil layer extending from ground surface (y = 0) to a depth of 10 m (y = -10).
3. Keep the Head in the borehole at 0 m. This means that the sub-soil is fully saturated.
Create and assign material data sets

The soil layer consists of sandy clay, which is assumed to be elastic. Create a data set under the Soil and
interfaces set type according to the information given in Table 31 (on page 3). The specified Young's
modulus seems relatively high. This is because the dynamic stiffness of the ground is generally considerably
larger than the static stiffness, since dynamic loadings are usually fast and cause very small strains.
Table 1: Material properties of the material
Parameter Name Value Unit
General
Material model Model Linear elastic -
Type of material behaviour Type Drained -

Define the structural elements
Soil unit weight above phreatic level γunsat 20 kN/m3
Soil unit weight below phreatic level γsat 20 kN/m3
Parameters
Stiffness E' 50·103 kN/m2
Poisson's ratio ν' 0.3 -
Initial
K0 determination - Automatic -
Lateral earth pressure coefficient K0,x 0.50 -
Note: When using Mohr-Coulomb or linear elastic models the wave velocities Vp and Vs are calculated from the
elastic parameters and the soil weight. Vp and Vscan also be entered as input; the elastic parameters are then
calculated automatically. See also Elastic parameters and the Wave Velocity relationships in the Parameters
Tabsheet of the Reference Manual.
Define the structural elements

The generator is defined in the Structures mode.
The material properties of the footing are defined in the table below.
Table 2: Material properties of the footing
Material type - Elastic -
Isotropic - Yes -
Axial stiffness EA 7.6·106 kN/m
Flexural rigidity EI 24·103 kNm2/m
Weight w 5 kN/m/m
Poisson's ration ν 0 -
1. Create a plate extending from (0 0) to (0.5 0) to represent the footing.

2.
Define a material data set for the footing according to the information given in Table 32 (on page 4). The
footing is assumed to be elastic and has a weight of 5 kN/m2.

Generate the mesh
3. Apply a distributed load on the footing to model the weight of the generator as well as the vibrations that it
produces. The actual value of the load will be defined later.
The model is shown below:
Figure 2: Model layout
Generate the mesh

1. Proceed to the Mesh mode.
2. Click the Generate mesh button to generate the mesh. Use the default option for the Element
distribution parameter (Medium).
3. Click the View mesh button to view the mesh.
The resulting mesh is shown. Note that the mesh is automatically refined under the footing.
Figure 3: The generated mesh

4. Click the Close tab to close the Output program.

Define and perform the calculation

The calculation consists of 4 phases and it will be defined in the Staged construction mode.
Initial phase
1. Click the Staged construction tab to proceed with the definition of the calculation phases.
2. The initial phase has already been introduced. The default settings of the initial phase will be used in this
tutorial.
Phase 1: Footing
1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase. The default settings of the added phase will be used for
this calculation phase.
2. Activate the footing.
3. Activate the static component of the distributed load. In the Selection explorer set qy,start,ref value to -8
kN/m/m. Do not activate the dynamic component of the load.
Figure 4: Specification of the static load component in the Selection explorer
Phase 2: Start generator
In this phase, a vertical harmonic load, with a frequency of 10 Hz and amplitude of 10 kN/m2, is applied to
simulate the vibrations transmitted by the generator. Five cycles with a total time interval of 0.5 sec are
considered.
1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

2. In the General subtree in the Phases window, select the Dynamic option as calculation type.
3. Set the Dynamic time interval parameter to 0.5 s.
4. In the Deformation control parameters subtree in the Phases window select the Reset displacements to
zero parameter. The default values of the remaining parameters will be used for this calculation phase.
5. In the Model explorer expand the Attributes library subtree.
6. Right-click the Dynamic multipliers subtree and select the Edit option from the appearing menu.
The Multipliers window pops up.

7. Click the Load multipliers tab.

8. Click the Add button to introduce a multiplier for the loads.
9. Define a Harmonic signal with an Amplitude of 10, a Phase of 0° and a Frequency of 10 Hz and as shown:
Figure 5: Definition of a Harmonic multiplier

10.
In the Selection explorer, activate the dynamic component of the load (DynLineLoad_1).
11. Specify the components of the load as (qx, start, ref, qy, start, ref) = (0.0, -1.0). Click Multiplier_y in the dynamic
load subtree and select the LoadMultiplier_1 option from the drop-down menu.

Figure 6: Specification of the dynamic load component in the Selection explorer
Note: The dynamic multipliers can be defined in the Geometry modes as well as in the Calculation modes.
12. Special boundary conditions have to be defined to account for the fact that in reality the soil is a semi-infinite
medium. Without these special boundary conditions the waves would be reflected on the model boundaries,
causing perturbations. To avoid these spurious reflections, viscous boundaries are specified at Xmax and
Ymin. The dynamic boundaries can be specified in the Model explorer > Model conditions > Dynamics
subtree.

Figure 7: Boundary conditions for dynamics calculations
Phase 3: Stop generator
1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

2. In the General subtree in the Phases window, select the Dynamic option as calculation type.
3. Set the Dynamic time interval parameter to 0.5 s.
4. In the Staged construction mode deactivate the dynamic component of the surface load. Note that the static
load is still active. The dynamic boundary conditions of this phase should be the same as in the previous
phase.
Execute the calculation
1. Click the Select points for curves button in the side toolbar and select nodes located at the ground
surface, for instance at (1.4 0), (1.9 0) and (3.6 0), to consider in curves.
2. Click the Calculate button to calculate the project.
3.
After the calculation has finished, save the project by clicking the Save button .

Additional calculation with damping
In a second calculation, material damping is introduced by means of Rayleigh damping. Rayleigh damping can be
entered in the material data set. The following steps are necessary:
1. Save the project under another name.

2. Open the material data set of the soil.
3. In the General tabsheet click the box next to the Rayleigh α parameter.
Note that the display of the General tabsheet has changed displaying the Single DOF equivalence box.
4. In order to introduce 5% of material damping, set the value of the ξ parameter to 5% for both targets and set
the frequency values to 1 and 10 for the Target 1 and Target 2 respectively.
5. Click on one of the definition cells of the Rayleigh parameters. The values of α and β are automatically
calculated by the program.
Figure 8: Input of Rayleigh damping

6. Click OK to close the data base.
7. Check whether the phases are properly defined (according to the information given before) and start the
calculation.

Results
Results
The Curve generator feature is particularly useful for dynamics analysis. You can easily display the actual
loading versus time (input) and also displacements, velocities and accelerations of the pre-selected points versus
time. The evolution of the defined multipliers with time can be plotted by assigning Dynamic time to the x-axis
and uy to the y-axis.
The figure below shows the response of the pre-selected points at the surface of the structure. It can be seen that
even with no damping, the waves are dissipated which can be attributed to the geometric damping.
Figure 9: Vertical displ.- time on the surface at different distances to the vibrating source (without damping)
The presence of damping is clear in the following figure.

Results
Figure 10: Vertical displ.- time on the surface at different distances to the vibrating source (with damping)
It can be seen that the vibration is totally seized when some time is elapsed after the removal of the force (at t =
0.5 s). Also, the displacement amplitudes are lower. Compare the curves without and with damping.
It is possible in the Output program to display displacements, velocities and accelerations at a particular time, by
choosing the appropriate option in the Deformations menu. The figure below shows the total accelerations in
the soil at the end of phase 2 (t = 0.5 s).
Figure 11: Acceleration (|a|) in the soil at the end of phase 2 (with damping)


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PLAXIS

CONNECT Edition V21.01

PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a generator on an

Figure 1: Generator founded on elastic subsoil

PLAXIS 2 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Create new project

Define the soil stratigraphy

1. Click the Create borehole button and create a borehole at x = 0.

Create and assign material data sets

Table 1: Material properties of the material

Parameter Name Value Unit

Material model Model Linear elastic -

Type of material behaviour Type Drained -

PLAXIS 3 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Parameter Name Value Unit

Soil unit weight above phreatic level γunsat 20 kN/m3

Soil unit weight below phreatic level γsat 20 kN/m3

Stiffness E' 50·103 kN/m2

Poisson's ratio ν' 0.3 -

Lateral earth pressure coefficient K0,x 0.50 -

Define the structural elements

Table 2: Material properties of the footing

Parameter Name Value Unit

Material type - Elastic -

Axial stiffness EA 7.6·106 kN/m

Flexural rigidity EI 24·103 kNm2/m

1. Create a plate extending from (0 0) to (0.5 0) to represent the footing.

PLAXIS 4 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Figure 2: Model layout

Generate the mesh

Figure 3: The generated mesh

PLAXIS 5 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Define and perform the calculation

Figure 4: Specification of the static load component in the Selection explorer

Phase 2: Start generator

1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

PLAXIS 6 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

7. Click the Load multipliers tab.

Figure 5: Definition of a Harmonic multiplier

PLAXIS 7 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Figure 6: Specification of the dynamic load component in the Selection explorer

PLAXIS 8 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Figure 7: Boundary conditions for dynamics calculations

Phase 3: Stop generator

1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

Execute the calculation

PLAXIS 9 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

Additional calculation with damping

1. Save the project under another name.

Figure 8: Input of Rayleigh damping

PLAXIS 10 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

The presence of damping is clear in the following figure.

PLAXIS 11 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

PLAXIS 12 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Dynamics analysis of a

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