Hello there everyone,
I've been struggling lately quite a lot with an attempt to model a set of 96 ground anchors fixed on rock. I am applying 1875 kN on each anchor and giving the grout body its actual properties: a diameter of D_g = 200 mm and a stiffness for grout of E = 30GPa. However, in these conditions I am unable to make the model converge. The log always says: "Embedded beam interface error too large"In this paper in Bentley community: Iss21_5F00_Art4_5F002D005F00_Ground_5F00_anchor_5F00_facility_5F00_in_5F00_3DFoundation.pdf (bentley.com) it is suggested that a virtual factor, f, should be used to increase the Diameter of the grout. If indeed I use a factor of f=4.0, the model does converge. But I am using an unrealistical overall EA, 16 times larger than the actual EA...1 - Is this OK, or should I adjust my E so that the EA corresponds to the actual EA of the grout? If I do so, the model doesn't converge either, hinting that the most likely cause for the non-convergency is the low EA. What should I do? 2 - Besides this, while activating the ground anchors I've noticed that if I activate Group_1 of ground anchors on Phase_1, adjust prestress on them to P=1875 kN, keep them activated on to Phase_2 where I activate Group_2 and adjust it to P=1875kN, the model doesn't bring the anchors from Phase_1, even thou I keep them activated on Phase_2.. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?3 - Another curious thing, while activating the anchors' block as a rigid body with gravity load applied on it, the block seems to be lifted (see fig). There is no water pressures or what so ever. What might be the cause? The soil that the block lies on is a improved HS soil with c=200kPa, phi = 35º and E = 520 MPa. What can be the cause?
Thanks in advance,
Afonso