Numerical simulation of unsaturated soil behaviour

The mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils is one of the challenging topics in the field of geotechnical engineering. The use of finite element technique is considered as a promising method to solve settlement and heave problems, as associated with unsaturated soil. Nevertheless, the success of the numerical analysis is strongly dependent on constitutive model being used. The well-known Barcelona Basic Model is considered to be a robust and suitable model for unsaturated soils and has thus been implemented into the PLAXIS finite element code. This paper provides results of numerical analyses of a shallow foundation resting on an unsaturated soil using the implemented model. Special attention is given to the effect of suction variation on soil behaviour.