The changed loads resulting from the difference in weight in the damp and saturated state and the consideration of buoyancy can be taken into account relatively easily as solid loads.
You can download the model for this under the following link:
The following image shows the model taking groundwater levels into account. The original groundwater level is taken into account in the soil massif and marked “GW 1” in the image. To consider the lowered groundwater level “GW 2”, the solids were divided.
The change in load resulting from the groundwater-related subsidence was parameterized using global parameters relating to the weights of the soil materials and applied as solid loads. This is shown in the following image.
This results in different stress states and settlements. This is shown for the subsequently applied live load in the following image. A combination of results (right-hand result display), in which the results of the live load analysis after groundwater-related subsidence are subtracted from the results of the live load application to the normal groundwater level, shows the differences relatively clearly. As can be seen here, the normal stresses are reduced by around 14 kN/m² at the lower level of observation (upper right section). However, the increased settlement of 2.2 mm (lower right section) is more relevant.
