Optimización de la Altura de Relleno Sobre una Alcantarilla Circular TMC Empleando el Método de Elementos Finitos: Optimization of Backfill Height Over a CMP Circular Culvert Using the Finite Element Method

Optimización de la Altura de Relleno Sobre una Alcantarilla Circular TMC Empleando el Método de Elementos Finitos

Abstract

The present research work aims to develop an optimization of the backfill height over a circular culvert made of corrugated metal pipe (CMP) using three-dimensional (3D) finite element models, considering the soil-structure interaction and the nonlinear behavior of the in-situ soil and the backfill. The numerical model was validated by comparing the output of the model with the results of a full-scale test performed by Mai et al. (2014) at Queen's University, Ontario, Canada. Then, 3D finite element models were used to study the behavior of the circular TMC pipe during the backfill process and under a HL-93 cargo truck. For this purpose, two commonly used nonlinear soil constitutive models were considered, the Mohr-Coulomb (MC) model and the Hardening Soil (HS) model. Regarding the results obtained from the final fill height on the TMC circular pipe analyzed were: a final fill height of 25 cm was obtained, with a superficial vehicular live load of 740.18 kN/m2, where it was observed that the ratio of the seam resistance of the pipe was located in an optimal design range, so it was possible to optimize the minimum fill height over the crown recommended by the AASHTO and AISI codes by 16.67%.