FE analysis of interlocking C3C solid concrete blocks without casting

Sammanfattning: Solid concrete Lego blocks can be used as temporary retaining wall systems or as wall separators between different materials such as sand, salt, compost, etc. The advantage of concrete blocks is that you can create temporary constructions. It is easy to move or expand the constructions when no casting is required between the blocks. The purpose of this study is to make models in the Finite Element (FE) software Abaqus/CAE that can be used for calculations of the capacity for interlocking blocks. FE method is an approximate method for solving differential equations. As the concrete blocks are stacked without casting, it is important to find out the construction’s load capacity when it is subjected to a horizontal load. Several types of structures have been modeled in the FE program Abaqus/CAE. These FE models were created with boundary conditions consisting of springs and a pinned connection that allows rotation.The evaluation has been focused on rotating the interlocking blocks. With the help of the FE models, reaction forces have been calculated. The FE results in term of reaction forces have been compared with hand calculations made ​​for the same models. Moreover, a wall and a wall with lateral supports have been simulated to determine the horizontal reaction force for the interlocking concrete blocks.