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Laterally loaded 3D pile (numgeo vs Abaqus)

In order to show the performance of numgeo in three-dimensional contact analyses, the cyclic loading of a pile in elastic soil using numgeo and Abaqus is investigated.

Only elastic materials are considered in this benchmark. In both programs the penalty method is used to enforce the contact between soil and pile. To be comparable, a fixed factor of \(2\cdot 10^6\) kN/m\(^3\) is used.


Finite element model and normalised horizontal stress for the simulation with numgeo (left) and Abaqus (right)

Input files

The input files for the benchmark simulations can be downloaded here.

Simulation results

The pile head displacement for both programs is depicted in the subsequent figure. A good accordance of the two FE programs is observed.


Comparison of pile head displacement, numgeo vs Abaqus.

  1. P. Staubach: Contributions to the numerical modelling of pile installation processes and high-cyclic loading of soils, Schriftenreihe des Lehrstuhls für Bodenmechanik, Grundbau und Umweltgeotechnik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Heft 73, 2022, Dissertation ↩