Estudo do comportamento de estruturas enterradas pelo método dos elementos finitos

Abstract

Firstly, a brief review of the usual methods for the computation of earth pressures against buried structures(conduits and culverts) is presented. The main purpose of this thesis was to evaluate, with the Finite Element Method (FEM), the construction technique known as ''imperfect trench''. A parametric study was, then, carried out, in order to clarify the load transfer mechanism, considering the usual technique and the imperfect trench technique, as well as the main parameters responsable for the culvert behavior. Afterwards, a real case was analyzed, comparing the measured pressures and displacements of an instrumented culvert with the FEM calculations. The results were considered satisfactory for the displacements, and some of the pressures were also recovered.