NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE

FAILURE OF A BUILDING IN SHANGHAI,

CHINA

PUBLISHED IN JOURNAL- ELSEVIER

(JINCHUN ,SHUI-LONG,HEHUA,JOHN P CARTER)

PRESENTED BY
NITISH KUMAR JANGDE
SR. NO. - 15098
CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Overview
 Modeling
 Results
 Outlook
INTRODUCTION
 On June 27, 2009 at 5:30am local time,
Block 7, one of the eleven 13-storey
buildings of the apartment complex,
collapsed killing one worker.

 As can be seen in the photo, the 13-

story apartment building collapsed with
just enough room to escape what would
have been a far more destructive domino
effect involving other structures in the
11-building complex.
 OVERVIEW- SOIL PROFILE

t =unit weight;
wn=water content; wp=plastic limit; wl=liquid limit; e =void ratio;
Cc=compressive index; Su=field vane strength; St =sensitivity.
FOUNDATION OVERVIEW

4.0 m 12.0 m

m
6.0 m 4.0 m 16.0 m

5.1 m
2nd 2.0 m 5.5 m 30.0 m
1st 5.2 m
3.5 m Silty day 4.6 m

10.0 m 5.4 m
Very soft clays Soil
nail Retaining
8.0 m Clayey silt wall

33 m
Silty day
8.5 m

3.0 m Clayey silt

Fine sand

 The foundation style of the building is “Pile + Strip Foundation”, no raft

 About 118 Pre-stressed concrete pipe piles are used to support the
building
 Pile type is PHC-AB-400-80-33(according to shanghai design
code), Dia.=400mm,thickness=80mm, length=33m
(11m+11m+11m, 2 welded joints)
PHC AB 400 80

9 pre-stressed steel bar

(  9.0 mm, t = 1420 MPa)

Screw steel bar

( = 4 mm)

240
400
TypeAB
 OVERVIEW OF BEARING
CAPACITY
 Bearing capacity of the
PROPERTY UNITS VALUE PHC pile is described in
this Scheme ( according
Bending knm 104 to DBJT08-92-2000,
CAPACITY Shanghai Design
Standards)
Tension bending knm 63  Flexural capacity is
moment coupled with the axial
force
 For a pile at work (axial
Compresion Mpa 80 force 500kN~1500kN), its
strength of max. flexural capacity will
concrete be around 150kNm
Prestress Mpa 5.3  Joints are weak link. Their
flexural capacity will be
lower than 150kNm, if
welding quality is not
reliable
 OVERVIEW
CAUSE

PARKING SURCHARG
EXCAVATIO E
N

 The surcharge (backfill from underground garage excavation) on the north side of the
building is considered the chief culprit
 And the underground parking excavation on the south side of the building is another
important cause
 Other unfavorable factors : heavy rain just several hours before the accident
OVERVIEW SOIL AND PILE

 The stiffness difference of

the upper soil and lower
soil is very huge. If we use
CPT as the basis for
Pile-strip judgment of soil stiffness,
foundation the lower soil is about 8
joint (2.5/0.35Mpa) times large
2m than the upper soil.
Very soft clay  The large stiffness
11m
Bad lateral support difference will cause large
shear force and moment of
Pile – pile boundary piles near the boundary.
welded joint  The pile – pile welded joint
Stiffer soil
(weak link) just situates
Good lateral support near the boundary.
 The pile – strip foundation
joint is also in the very soft
clay.
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

 Method –plane strain method

 Program used- CRISP geotechnical finite element analysis
software
 Finite element modeling

1 • MESH
2 • MODELLING OF CMPONENT
3 • SIMULATE AND ANALYSIS
MESH
 Foundation soil was represented by 8 noded quadrilateral
consolidation element with pore water pressure degree of
freedom at 4 vertex
 Superstructure and embankment were represented by 8
noded quardilateral element without pore water pressure
degree of freedom
 38 m
excavated zone permeable


Impermeable

120 m permeable

Right and left –horizontal displacement are fixed

At bottom – vertical and horizontal displacement are fixed
MODELLING
 Clay soil is modelled as modified cam clay (MCC)
 During analysis of consolidation process the value k allowed
to varry with “e”
 k=k0.10^-(e0-e)/Ck
 conductivity
k0= initial hydraullic
 Initial stress condition (predicted by mcc)
e 0 = initial void ratio; k = hydraulic conductivity j = slope of unloading–reloading curve in e–ln p0 plot (e is void ratio and p0 is consolidation pressure); k =
slope of virgin
COMPONENTS E(KPA) POISON RATIO
PILES 2.05*10^7 0.1
SUPERSTRUCTURE 2.05*10^7 0.1
RETAINIMG SYSTEM 10^5 0.1

PILES are modelled 0.223 m thick 2 row plane 8 noded element

Retaining wall are modelled as 0.7 m 8 noded element
SIMULATION
At initial stress condition and install the foundation

Construct the super structure

Construct the retaining wall and soil nail

Conduct the excavation and temprory embankment

Simulate consolidate of the foundation soil

Analysis results
 RESULTS
 CASE ANALYSED
CASE TEMPRORY SOIL NAIL
EMBANKMENT CONNECTION TO
PILE
1 YES NOT CONNECTED
2 YES CONNECTED
3 NO NOT CONNECTED

LATERAL DISPLACEMENT
SETTLEMENT OF BUILDING

•DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF THE SUPERSTRUCTURE ALONE BUILDING SETTLED

ABOUT 27.5MM
BENDING MOMENT IN PILE AND VERTICAL LOAD

•TENSILE CAPACITY-14450kpa
•MAX. TENSILE STRESS-16182kpa
•Cracking of pile due to tension
CONCLUSION
 The result of FEA indicate that the failure probably started by
the formation of tension cracks of the foundation at southern
excavation side.
 Progressive failure of pile section and eventually overturn of
the building
THANKYOU