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2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate major in Civil Engineering

Stability Problems in Geotechnical Engineering

Academic unit or major
Graduate major in Civil Engineering
Instructor(s)
Akihiro Takahashi
Class Format
Lecture
Media-enhanced courses
-
Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)
unknown
Class
-
Course Code
CVE.C402
Number of credits
200
Course offered
2025
Offered quarter
3Q
Syllabus updated
Mar 19, 2025
Language
English

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

The course focuses on fundamentals of analysis methods, including soil-water coupled finite element analysis and material point method, for stability problems in geotechnical engineering.
This course mainly facilitates students' understanding of soil-water coupled finite element analysis.

Course description and aims

Students are expected to understand the fundamentals of analysis methods, including soil-water coupled finite element analysis and material point method, for stability problems in geotechnical engineering.

Keywords

finite element method, soil-water coupled analysis, consolidation, stability analysis

Competencies

  • Specialist skills
  • Intercultural skills
  • Communication skills
  • Critical thinking skills
  • Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Mainly lectures. Regular assignments are given and their reviews are made in the next class.

Course schedule/Objectives

Course schedule Objectives
Class 1

Introduction

To understand stability problems in geotechnical engineering

Class 2

Governing equations for soil-water coupled problems 1

To understand derivation of soil-water coupled governing equations

Class 3

Governing equations for soil-water coupled problems 2

To understand derivation of soil-water coupled governing equations

Class 4

Finite element modelling 1 (Weak-form of governing equations)

To understand weak form of the governing equations

Class 5

Finite element modelling 2 (Discitisation in space and time domains and specification of boundary conditions)

To understand discitisation in space and time domains and specification of boundary conditions

Class 6

Soil behaviour and modelling 1 (Real soil behaviour / simple elasto-plastic models)

To understand real soil behaviour and simple elasto-plastic models

Class 7

Soil behaviour and modelling 2 (Cam-clay model)

To understand Cam-clay model

Class 8

Soil behaviour and modelling 3 (Cam-clay model)

To understand Cam-clay model

Class 9

Consolidation analysis 1

To understand consolidation analysis

Class 10

Consolidation analysis 2

To understand consolidation analysis

Class 11

Dynamic response analysis 1

To understand dynamic response analysis

Class 12

Dynamic response analysis 2

To understand dynamic response analysis

Class 13

Stability analysis using finite element method

To understand stability analysis using finite element method

Class 14

Material point method

To understand material point method

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Handouts will be provided by the instructors.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

For finite element analysis in geotechnical engineering:
D.M. Potts & L. Zdravkovic (1999) Finite element analysis in geotechnical engineering - Theory, Thomas Telford
O.C. Zienkiewicz, A.H.C. Chan, M. Pastor, B.A. Schrefler & T. Shiomi (1999) Computional geomechanics - with special reference to earthquake engineering, John Wiley & Sons

Evaluation methods and criteria

Assignments (80%) and attendance (20%)

Related courses

  • CVE.C201 : Soil Mechanics I
  • CVE.C202 : Soil Mechanics II
  • CVE.C311 : Geotechnical Engineering in Practice
  • CVE.C401 : Mechanics of Geomaterials
  • CVE.C431 : Physical Modeling in Geotechnics
  • CVE.M401 : Civil Engineering Analysis

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are necessary, but enrollment in the related courses is desirable.