Numerical Modelling of Cone Penetration in Sand Investigating Drainage Effects

This paper presents results from a numerical study of cone penetration in sand investigating effects of drainage conditions on penetration response. Large deformation coupled effective stress finite element analyses with the hypoplastic constitutive model were performed using the commercial finite element software ABAQUS/Standard. The simulations were carried out for both loose and dense silica sands with different cone penetration rates covering a range of drainage conditions and different sand response under shearing. The results revealed that penetration resistance decreases with increasing velocity in loose sand, while it increases in dense sand. These observations are consistent with the expected shearing response for loose and dense sands, and confirm the capabilities of the hypoplastic model in capturing the response for the entire range of drainage conditions. The results were used to establish a simple backbone curve relating cone tip resistance to non-dimensional penetration velocity, providing a basis for quantifying drainage effects.