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Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM / SHUAI SHU

Swansea University Author: SHUAI SHU

  • E-Thesis under embargo until: 28th February 2028

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUThesis.69348

Abstract

Deep foundations, such as piles and diaphragm walls, are increasingly being applied in modern high-rise or high-strength-required buildings. Based on the cooperation with EFFC/DFI Task Group, we participated in their field research study, which includes 20 site visits and experimental studies in Euro...

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Published: Swansea University, Wales, UK 2025
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Li, C., and Thomas, H. R.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69348
first_indexed 2025-04-24T11:56:04Z
last_indexed 2025-04-25T05:20:59Z
id cronfa69348
recordtype RisThesis
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With numbers of data acquired and two times site visits and works involved, we got the understanding of how deep foundations are constructed, what topics that industries are concerning about, and what can be concluded from the systematic experiments. Importantly, we have also identi&#xFB01;ed challenges that cannot be addressed through site tests or traditional experiments, while can be effectively resolved using numerical simulations. Concrete is the most widely used building material in modern construction, consisting of at least four components: water, cement, &#xFB01;ne aggregate (sand) and coarse aggregate (gravels).With the addition of superplasticizer, concrete adopts more &#xFB02;uid properties and is referred to as Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). The SCC does not need any extra compaction and is able to compact itself by &#xFB02;owing with its own weight. In numerical simulations, SCC is often regarded as pure Bingham &#xFB02;uid. However, most part of fresh concrete is actually solid, and regarding it as pure &#xFB02;uid cannot study segregation, bleeding, passing through rebars and some more defects. Therefore, regarding SCC as a combination of &#xFB02;uid (mortar) and particles (gravels) makes more sense. Hence, in this thesis, both modelling schemes of SCC, pure &#xFB02;uid modelling and &#xFB02;uid-particle coupling modelling, are employed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is powerful and well-established technique to simulate &#xFB02;uid &#xFB02;ow. Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a common method used to solve particle interactions. However, although CFD-DEM coupling has rapidly developed in the recent decade, a lot of issues still need to be studied. In this study, the interaction forces between the particles and between &#xFB02;uid and particle are systematically reviewed, which includes contact forces between particles (normal, tangential and rolling forces), non-contact forces between particles (the van der Waals force, electrostatic force and capillary force) and &#xFB02;uid-particle interaction forces (buoyancy force, drag force, lift force, virtual mass force and Basset force). The most suitable model of each force is selected to be employed in the CFD-DEM simulation according to the literature statement, yet some forces like non-contact forces between particles are ignored in our concrete simulation due to inadaptability. Based on these involved interaction forces and CFD, DEM theories, an in-house code was written by C++to achieve CFD-DEM coupling simulation. The in-house code was initially developed by senior members in the research team and then improved by myself in some aspects including the comprehensive interaction forces implementation as previously introduced, and some corrections regarding volume fraction mapping between the CFD and DEM solvers. With these works done, the calculation accuracy of the in-house code is massively improved, which makes it possible to run some simulations to achieve decent parametric study or experiment validation. At the end of the study, two scales of simulation, the smaller-scales concrete workability tests and larger-scale pile concreting procedures, were conducted. For the concrete workability tests simulation, three tests, slump &#xFB02;ow test, V-funnel test and L-box test, were included, and both CFD simulation and CFD-DEM simulations were implemented to compare with the lab experimental result. A methodology to obtain the rheological parameters of concrete/mortar from workability test results were developed so that it is possible to duplicate experiments by numerical simulations with a well-designed process. For the pile concreting simulation, a feasibility study is introduced since the dimension of the pile can vary in a quite large range and many different types of simulation can be implemented according to the industries&#x2019; concerns. Hence, a 8 m long pile was modelled as a benchmark to demonstrate the simulation pattern so that different dimensions of pile element can be modelled and simulated as well. Unfortunately, in this framework, only CFD scheme was employed to simulate due to the super high computational power needed for CFD-DEM simulations. 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spelling 2025-04-24T13:04:54.0491854 v2 69348 2025-04-24 Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM d5bccc91e16035081e48fd8c9c428214 SHUAI SHU SHUAI SHU true false 2025-04-24 Deep foundations, such as piles and diaphragm walls, are increasingly being applied in modern high-rise or high-strength-required buildings. Based on the cooperation with EFFC/DFI Task Group, we participated in their field research study, which includes 20 site visits and experimental studies in Europe and US. With numbers of data acquired and two times site visits and works involved, we got the understanding of how deep foundations are constructed, what topics that industries are concerning about, and what can be concluded from the systematic experiments. Importantly, we have also identified challenges that cannot be addressed through site tests or traditional experiments, while can be effectively resolved using numerical simulations. Concrete is the most widely used building material in modern construction, consisting of at least four components: water, cement, fine aggregate (sand) and coarse aggregate (gravels).With the addition of superplasticizer, concrete adopts more fluid properties and is referred to as Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). The SCC does not need any extra compaction and is able to compact itself by flowing with its own weight. In numerical simulations, SCC is often regarded as pure Bingham fluid. However, most part of fresh concrete is actually solid, and regarding it as pure fluid cannot study segregation, bleeding, passing through rebars and some more defects. Therefore, regarding SCC as a combination of fluid (mortar) and particles (gravels) makes more sense. Hence, in this thesis, both modelling schemes of SCC, pure fluid modelling and fluid-particle coupling modelling, are employed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is powerful and well-established technique to simulate fluid flow. Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a common method used to solve particle interactions. However, although CFD-DEM coupling has rapidly developed in the recent decade, a lot of issues still need to be studied. In this study, the interaction forces between the particles and between fluid and particle are systematically reviewed, which includes contact forces between particles (normal, tangential and rolling forces), non-contact forces between particles (the van der Waals force, electrostatic force and capillary force) and fluid-particle interaction forces (buoyancy force, drag force, lift force, virtual mass force and Basset force). The most suitable model of each force is selected to be employed in the CFD-DEM simulation according to the literature statement, yet some forces like non-contact forces between particles are ignored in our concrete simulation due to inadaptability. Based on these involved interaction forces and CFD, DEM theories, an in-house code was written by C++to achieve CFD-DEM coupling simulation. The in-house code was initially developed by senior members in the research team and then improved by myself in some aspects including the comprehensive interaction forces implementation as previously introduced, and some corrections regarding volume fraction mapping between the CFD and DEM solvers. With these works done, the calculation accuracy of the in-house code is massively improved, which makes it possible to run some simulations to achieve decent parametric study or experiment validation. At the end of the study, two scales of simulation, the smaller-scales concrete workability tests and larger-scale pile concreting procedures, were conducted. For the concrete workability tests simulation, three tests, slump flow test, V-funnel test and L-box test, were included, and both CFD simulation and CFD-DEM simulations were implemented to compare with the lab experimental result. A methodology to obtain the rheological parameters of concrete/mortar from workability test results were developed so that it is possible to duplicate experiments by numerical simulations with a well-designed process. For the pile concreting simulation, a feasibility study is introduced since the dimension of the pile can vary in a quite large range and many different types of simulation can be implemented according to the industries’ concerns. Hence, a 8 m long pile was modelled as a benchmark to demonstrate the simulation pattern so that different dimensions of pile element can be modelled and simulated as well. Unfortunately, in this framework, only CFD scheme was employed to simulate due to the super high computational power needed for CFD-DEM simulations. However, it is still valuable to establish this benchmark and CFD-DEM simulation is hopefully to be achievable when the computational method and computer hardware are further developed in the future. E-Thesis Swansea University, Wales, UK Computational Engineering, Deep Foundation, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Discrete Element Method, Self-Compacted Concrete 10 3 2025 2025-03-10 10.23889/SUThesis.69348 A selection of content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis to protect sensitive and personal information COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Li, C., and Thomas, H. R. Doctoral Ph.D CSC CSC 2025-04-24T13:04:54.0491854 2025-04-24T12:47:24.8022712 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Civil Engineering SHUAI SHU 1 Under embargo Under embargo 2025-04-24T12:54:25.2051779 Output 165368852 application/pdf E-Thesis true 2028-02-28T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: The Author, Shuai Shu, 2025 Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
spellingShingle Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
SHUAI SHU
title_short Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
title_full Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
title_fullStr Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
title_full_unstemmed Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
title_sort Improving Deep Foundation Construction by Simulation Approaches: CFD and CFD-DEM
author_id_str_mv d5bccc91e16035081e48fd8c9c428214
author_id_fullname_str_mv d5bccc91e16035081e48fd8c9c428214_***_SHUAI SHU
author SHUAI SHU
author2 SHUAI SHU
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doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUThesis.69348
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Civil Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Civil Engineering
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description Deep foundations, such as piles and diaphragm walls, are increasingly being applied in modern high-rise or high-strength-required buildings. Based on the cooperation with EFFC/DFI Task Group, we participated in their field research study, which includes 20 site visits and experimental studies in Europe and US. With numbers of data acquired and two times site visits and works involved, we got the understanding of how deep foundations are constructed, what topics that industries are concerning about, and what can be concluded from the systematic experiments. Importantly, we have also identified challenges that cannot be addressed through site tests or traditional experiments, while can be effectively resolved using numerical simulations. Concrete is the most widely used building material in modern construction, consisting of at least four components: water, cement, fine aggregate (sand) and coarse aggregate (gravels).With the addition of superplasticizer, concrete adopts more fluid properties and is referred to as Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). The SCC does not need any extra compaction and is able to compact itself by flowing with its own weight. In numerical simulations, SCC is often regarded as pure Bingham fluid. However, most part of fresh concrete is actually solid, and regarding it as pure fluid cannot study segregation, bleeding, passing through rebars and some more defects. Therefore, regarding SCC as a combination of fluid (mortar) and particles (gravels) makes more sense. Hence, in this thesis, both modelling schemes of SCC, pure fluid modelling and fluid-particle coupling modelling, are employed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is powerful and well-established technique to simulate fluid flow. Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a common method used to solve particle interactions. However, although CFD-DEM coupling has rapidly developed in the recent decade, a lot of issues still need to be studied. In this study, the interaction forces between the particles and between fluid and particle are systematically reviewed, which includes contact forces between particles (normal, tangential and rolling forces), non-contact forces between particles (the van der Waals force, electrostatic force and capillary force) and fluid-particle interaction forces (buoyancy force, drag force, lift force, virtual mass force and Basset force). The most suitable model of each force is selected to be employed in the CFD-DEM simulation according to the literature statement, yet some forces like non-contact forces between particles are ignored in our concrete simulation due to inadaptability. Based on these involved interaction forces and CFD, DEM theories, an in-house code was written by C++to achieve CFD-DEM coupling simulation. The in-house code was initially developed by senior members in the research team and then improved by myself in some aspects including the comprehensive interaction forces implementation as previously introduced, and some corrections regarding volume fraction mapping between the CFD and DEM solvers. With these works done, the calculation accuracy of the in-house code is massively improved, which makes it possible to run some simulations to achieve decent parametric study or experiment validation. At the end of the study, two scales of simulation, the smaller-scales concrete workability tests and larger-scale pile concreting procedures, were conducted. For the concrete workability tests simulation, three tests, slump flow test, V-funnel test and L-box test, were included, and both CFD simulation and CFD-DEM simulations were implemented to compare with the lab experimental result. A methodology to obtain the rheological parameters of concrete/mortar from workability test results were developed so that it is possible to duplicate experiments by numerical simulations with a well-designed process. For the pile concreting simulation, a feasibility study is introduced since the dimension of the pile can vary in a quite large range and many different types of simulation can be implemented according to the industries’ concerns. Hence, a 8 m long pile was modelled as a benchmark to demonstrate the simulation pattern so that different dimensions of pile element can be modelled and simulated as well. Unfortunately, in this framework, only CFD scheme was employed to simulate due to the super high computational power needed for CFD-DEM simulations. However, it is still valuable to establish this benchmark and CFD-DEM simulation is hopefully to be achievable when the computational method and computer hardware are further developed in the future.
published_date 2025-03-10T05:26:42Z
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