Study of landslides and soil-structure interaction problems using the implicit material point method

Mesh based methods such as the finite element method (FEM) are the most usually used techniques for analysing soil-structure interaction problems in geotechnical engineering. Nevertheless, standard FEM is unable to simulate large deformations and contact, hindering the realistic simulation of rotational, sliding, pull-out and overturning behaviours. Contemporary ‘particle’ methods, such as the material point method (MPM), do not use a mesh to discretise the material, allowing large deformations to be simulated. In this paper, a recently developed technique to simulate contact using implicit MPM is tested by simulating soil-structure interaction problems and a landslide. First, the behaviour of a retaining structure is studied during the impact of a mass of soil for different foundation conditions. Then, a landslide triggered by construction procedures is analysed. This new formulation allows the development of deep and shallow complex failure mechanisms (a combination of passive and active soil failures) and therefore the means to assess the consequences of a slope failure.