Hey guys,

I am attempting to model the installation of a helical pile into sand using Abaqus CAE (explicit). I am using a CEL model with a rigid pile and Eulerian sand part.

Every time I run the job, the sand part 'explodes' and has very large deformations. I have attempted to rectify this problem via the following trials:

-assigning cohesion to the sand;

-applying a pressure to the sand;

-beginning the installation with the pile already penetrated into the sand part.

Through an exhaustive trial-and-error process, I found that I have solved the exploding sand problem by changing the 'hard' normal contact interaction to a 'linear' contact interaction. However now, the history outputs show no plasticity/plastic deformation! This is kindof important as I am interested in finding the installation disturbance effects of screw-pile installation.

Is anyone aware of what I can do to accurately/realistically model the installation disturbance effects of a screw-pile being installed into sand? I am happy to provide any more information as needed.

Thanks!