Numerical simulation on seismic liquefaction by adaptive mesh refinement due to two recovered fields in error estimation

The finite element method is widely employed in numerical analysis of seismic liquefaction at present. However, due to the mesh distortion in strong dynamic action, the results are generally inaccurate and can even stop the calculation. Therefore, an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) scheme is introduced to improve the numerical results based on a finite element and finite difference coupled dynamic method (FEM–FDM). The changing law about the errors due to the linear and the bilinear recovered fields of coarse meshes, AMR meshes and fine meshes is discussed. The seismic response on soil is compared between different AMR meshes. The AMR strategy can better simulate seismic liquefaction and offer more accurate results than the normal finite element simulation.

► An adaptive mesh strategy is employed in the analysis of liquefaction and flow.
► Two recovered field are used for the SPR error estimation, respectively.
► The bilinear and the linear fields can result in the same adaptive mesh.
► The bilinear field is suitable for the multi-mesh of 3- and 4- elements.
► This AMR can give a respective accurate result of the simulation.