Discussion of 'Numerical Investigation of Uplift Behavior of Circular Plate Anchors in Uniform Sand' by Nabil Al Hakeem and Charles Aubeny

摘要

The authors have presented interesting results of numerical investigations related to the uplift behavior of circular plate anchors in uniform sand. Detailed numerical experiments were performed to predict the monotonic drained capacity of plate anchors. The authors used the ABAQUS/Explicit finite-element analysis and utilized the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) technique in the numerical model. According to the ABAQUS analysis user's guide, the output for ALE adaptive meshing must be interpreted carefully because the values of output variables at specific locations in the mesh are no longer linked to values at particular material points, which indicates that the integration point of an element will generally not refer to the same material point throughout the analysis (ABAQUS 2014). As a result, the interpretation of the output in the ALE adaptive mesh domains is different from that in the conventional mesh. However, the authors did not explain which area the ALE technique utilized in the model, which may lead to a misunderstanding of the results.