ACMEG‐TS: A constitutive model for unsaturated soils under non‐isothermal conditions

This paper introduces an unconventional constitutive model for soils, which deals with a unified thermo‐mechanical modelling for unsaturated soils. The relevant temperature and suction effects are studied in light of elasto‐plasticity. A generalized effective stress framework is adopted, which includes a number of intrinsic thermo‐hydro‐mechanical connections, to represent the stress state in the soil. Two coupled constitutive aspects are used to fully describe the non‐isothermal behaviour. The mechanical constitutive part is built on the concepts of bounding surface theory and multi‐mechanism plasticity, whereas water retention characteristics are described using elasto‐plasticity to reproduce the hysteretic response and the effect of temperature and dry density on retention properties. The theoretical formulation is supported by comparisons with experimental results on two compacted clays. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A three‐phase model for unsaturated soils

A comprehensive framework to define the constitutive behaviour of unsaturated soils is developed within the theory of mixtures applied to three‐phase porous media. Each of the three phases is endowed with its own strain and stress. Elastic and elastic–plastic constitutive equations are developed. Particular emphasis is laid on the interactions between the phases both in the elastic and plastic regimes. Nevertheless, the clear structure of the constitutive equations requires a minimal number of material parameters. Their identification is provided: in particular, it incorporates directly the soil–water characteristic curve. Crucial to the formulation is an appropriate definition of the effective stress. The coupled influence of this effective stress and of suction makes it possible to describe qualitatively many of the characteristic features observed in experiments, e.g. for normally consolidated soils, a plastic behaviour up to air entry followed by an elastic behaviour at increasing suctions, and, on the way back, an elastic behaviour, unless compression is applied in which case plastic collapse occurs. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of pore water in the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils

Deformation and failure of soils are governed by the stresses acting on the soil skeleton. The isotropic stress acting on the soil skeleton can be divided into two components. One is the stress component which is transmitted through the soil skeleton. This skeleton stress is influenced by the pore water (bulk water) in the soil. The other is the internal stress component which does not contribute to equilibrium with a given external force. The internal stress is induced by the capillary tension of meniscus water clinging to the contact point of soil particles and acts so as to connect the soil particles tightly. Therefore, in modeling the stress and strain relations for unsaturated soils, it is of much importance to quantitatively evaluate how the pore water exists in the soil. This paper discusses the role of pore water on the mechanical behaviour of the soil. In particular, the significance of the water retention curve is emphasized from a mechanical viewpoint. Essential features required in modeling of the constitutive relations for unsaturated soils are discussed and presented.     

Limitations of suction‐controlled triaxial tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils

Behavior of unsaturated soils is influenced by many factors, and the influences of these factors are usually coupled together. Suction‐controlled triaxial (SCTX) tests are considered to allow researchers to investigate influences of individual variables on unsaturated soils under specified stress path with controls of stresses, pore water, and air pressures. In the past 50 years, SCTX testing method has been established as a standard approach to characterize constitutive behavior of unsaturated soils. Most important concepts for modern unsaturated soil mechanics were developed upon results from the SCTX tests. Among these, one of the most important contributions in the constitutive modeling of elasto‐plastic behavior for unsaturated soils is the Barcelona basic model (BBM) proposed by Alonso et al. in 1990. The BBM successfully explained many features of unsaturated soils and received extensive acceptance. However, the SCTX tests are designed based upon the divide‐and‐conquer approach in which an implicit assumption is used: soil behavior is stress‐path independent. However, it is well‐established that unsaturated soil behavior is elasto‐plastic and stress‐path dependent. It is found that the SCTX tests in fact cannot control the stress path of an unsaturated soil during loading. This incapability, in combination with complicated loading/collapse behavior of unsaturated soils, makes the SCTX tests for characterizing unsaturated soil questionable. This paper discusses the limitations of the SCTX tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils. A possible solution to the problem was proposed based on a newly developed modified state surface approach. The discussions are limited for isotropic conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

非饱和土化学-水力-力学耦合行为数值模拟

在描述非饱和土力学本构行为的Gens-Alonso模型[1]的基础上,结合化学浓度对前固结压力的软化公式[2],并考虑了化学浓度对黏聚力的软化作用,建立了描述非饱和土化学-水力-力学耦合行为的本构模型。对包括化学-水力-力学本构关系、流体流动和污染物传输的控制方程的平衡方程组进行有限元离散,并采用此非饱和土化学-水力-力学耦合行为的数值模型对非饱和土中隧道周围化学-水力-力学耦合过程进行了模拟,对纯粹的力学响应、弹性化学力学响应、弹塑性化学力学响应 3 种情况进行了分析,数值结果显示了化学浓度作用下隧道周围的体积变化量和应力状态比单纯的力学响应有较大的提高,隧道表面的收缩量也有明显的增大。数值模拟的结果显示了该方法对模拟非饱和土复杂的耦合行为的可行性。     

A density‐dependent elastoplastic hydro‐mechanical model for unsaturated compacted soils

This paper presents a three‐dimensional elastoplastic constitutive model for predicting the hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils. It is based on experimental results obtained from a series of controlled‐suction triaxial tests on unsaturated compacted clay with different initial densities. Hydraulic hysteresis in the water‐retention behaviour is modelled as an elastoplastic process, with the elastic part modelled by a series of scanning curves and the elastoplastic part modelled by the main drying and wetting curves. The effect of void ratio on the water‐retention behaviour is studied using data obtained from controlled‐suction wetting–drying cyclic tests on unsaturated compacted clay with different initial densities. The effect of the degree of saturation on the stress–strain‐strength behaviour and the effect of void ratio on the water‐retention behaviour are considered in the model, as is the effect of suction on the hydraulic and mechanical behaviour. The initial density dependency of the compacted soil behaviour is modelled by experimental relationships between the initial density and the corresponding yield stress and, thereby, between the initial density and the normal compression line. The model is generalized to three‐dimensional stress states by assuming that the shapes of the failure and yield surfaces in the deviatoric stress plane are given by the Matsuoka–Nakai criterion. Model predictions of the stress–strain and water‐retention behaviour are compared with those obtained from triaxial tests with different initial densities under isotropic compression, triaxial compression and triaxial extension, with or without variation in suction. The comparisons indicate that the model accurately predicts the hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of unsaturated compacted soils with different initial densities using the same material constant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New basis for the constitutive modelling of aggregated soils

Natural and compacted soils are usually characterized by aggregation of particles. The mechanical behaviour of these materials depends on soil structure. The oedometric compression tests performed on aggregated samples presented here showed that these materials exhibit a yield limit depending not only on stress history and stress state but also on soil structure. Evidence is provided using the neutron tomography technique. These results revealed that soil structure modification occurs together with plastic deformations. The experimental results are used to propose a new state parameter to quantify the soil structure. Based on pore-scale experimental observations, an evolution law for this parameter is proposed as a function of associated plastic strains. Considering both soil fabric and inter-particle bonding effects, a new yield limit depending on stress state, stress history and soil structure is introduced for the aggregated soils. Accordingly, a new constitutive framework consistent with strain hardening plasticity is proposed to consider soil structure effects in the modelling of aggregated soils.     

Generalized plasticity state parameter‐based model for saturated and unsaturated soils. Part II: Unsaturated soil modeling

The aim of this paper is to extend the generalized plasticity state parameter‐based model presented in part 1 to reproduce the hydro‐mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. The proposed model is based on two pairs of stress–strain variables and a suitable hardening law taking into account the bonding—debonding effect of suction and degree of saturation. A generalized state parameter for unsaturated state is proposed to reproduce soil behavior using a single set of material parameters. Generalized plasticity gives a suitable framework to reproduce not only monotonic stress path but also cyclic behavior. The hydraulic hysteresis during a drying—wetting cycle and the void ratio effect on the hydraulic behavior is introduced. Comparison between model simulations and a series of experimental data available, both cohesive and granular, are given to illustrate the accuracy of the enhanced generalized plasticity equation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A plasticity constitutive model for unsaturated,anisotropic, nonexpansive soils

The paper describes and evaluates an incremental plasticity constitutive model for unsaturated, anisotropic, nonexpansive soils (CMUA). It is based on the modified Cam-Clay (MCC) model for saturated soils and enhances it by introducing anisotropy (via rotation of the MCC yield surface) and an unsaturated compressibility framework describing a double dependence of compressibility on suction and on the degree of saturation of macroporosity. As the anisotropic and unsaturated features can be activated independently, the model is downwards compatible with the MCC model. The CMUA model can simulate effectively: the dependence of compressibility on the level of developed anisotropy, uniqueness of critical state independent of the initial anisotropy, an evolving compressibility during constant suction compression, and a maximum of collapse. The model uses Bishop's average skeleton stress as its first constitutive variable, favouring its numerical implementation in commercial numerical analysis codes (eg, finite element codes) and a unified treatment of saturated and unsaturated material states.     

Generalized plasticity state parameter‐based model for saturated and unsaturated soils. Part 1: Saturated state

The behavior of granular materials is known to depend on its loose or dense nature, which in turns depends both on density and confining pressure. Many models developed in the past require the use of different sets of constitutive parameters for the same material under different confining pressures. The purpose of this paper is to extend a basic generalized plasticity model for sands proposed by Pastor, Zienkiewicz and Chan by modifying the main ingredients of the model flow—rule, loading–unloading discriminating direction and plastic modulus—to include a dependency on the state parameter. The proposed model is tested against the available experimental data on three different sands, using for each of them a single set of material parameters, finding a reasonably good agreement between experiments and predictions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A thermo‐hydro‐mechanical model for unsaturated soils based on the effective stress concept

A simple thermo‐hydro‐mechanical (THM) constitutive model for unsaturated soils is described. The effective stress concept is extended to unsaturated soils with the introduction of a capillary stress. This capillary stress is based on a microstructural model and calculated from attraction forces due to water menisci. The effect of desaturation and the thermal softening phenomenon are modelled with a minimal number of material parameters and based on existing models. THM process is qualitatively and quantitatively modelled by using experimental data and previous work to show the application of the model, including a drying path under mechanical stress with transition between saturated and unsaturated states, a heating path under constant suction and a deviatoric path with imposed suction and temperature. The results show that the present model can simulate the THM behaviour in unsaturated soils in a satisfactory way. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

非饱和土粒间吸力研究的若干思考和进展

非饱和土粒间吸力是建立非饱和土有效应力原理和抗剪强度理论的基础前提,从各力的本质、概念、大小等不同角度出发,对目前非饱和土研究中常见的几种吸力进行了详细地对比和分析。基质吸力表示土壤吸水的趋势,强调的是土颗粒与水之间的相互作用,并非土颗粒间的相互作用,与有效应力概念的本质不符,是Bishop和Fredlund强度理论中分别存在着物理意义不明确参数x和φb的根本原因;广义吸力虽然考虑了结构吸力的作用,但仍将基质吸力作为有效应力的一部分,使原本“实用、简化”的目标更加复杂化;附加内压力将基质吸力以及表面张力的作用进行叠加,存在力作用大小上的重复,同时未考虑结构吸力的作用;张力吸力将表面张力沿两土颗粒连线方向的分量——张力吸力和基质吸力进行叠加,一是仍将基质吸力作为有效应力的一部分,二是同样未考虑结构吸力的作用;粒间吸力（湿吸力和结构吸力）考虑了因土体结构性引起的结构吸力作用,同时也考虑了气液界面上收缩膜的效应——湿吸力的作用,基于粒间吸力的非饱和土有效应力及强度理论不仅符合有效应力定义的本质,而且合理地解释了非饱和土中诸如收缩膜张力的方向性、土中应力概念的平均性、土体物理本质的唯一性、随含水率变化的连续性以及对不同类型土的适应性等众多现象。因此,从粒间吸力的角度出发来研究非饱和土的有效应力原理是正确、可行的。     

非饱和土二维固结简化计算的研究

针对较高饱和度的非饱和土二维固结问题展开研究。对于较高饱和度的非饱和土,如饱和度 时,将孔隙中气、水近似地看作可压缩的气、水混合流体后,非饱和土近似为土骨架和混合流体的二相土。考虑混合流体的压缩性,建立混合流体的连续方程。联立平衡方程和混合流体的连续方程,求出应力-应变和混合流体压力;再建立水连续方程求解水压力,继而求出气压力、吸力等。算例表明：加载和消散过程中,混合流体与水压力变化基本一致,气压的作用并不大;地基变形过程与高速公路填筑过程中地基变形发生规律一致。说明该简化方法是合理的,并促进了非饱和土固结变形计算走向实用化。     

Non‐isothermal plasticity model for cyclic behaviour of soils

On the one hand, it has been observed that liquefaction‐induced shear deformation of soils accumulates in a cycle‐by‐cycle pattern. On the other hand, it is known that heating could induce plastic hardening. This study deals with the constitutive modelling of the effect that heat may have on the cyclic mechanical properties of cohesive soils, a relatively new area of interest in soil mechanics. In this paper, after a presentation of the thermo‐mechanical framework, a non‐isothermal plasticity cyclic model formulation is presented and discussed. The model calibration is described based on data from laboratory sample tests. It includes numerical simulations of triaxial shear tests at various constant temperatures. Then, the model predictions are compared with experimental results and discussed in the final section. Both drained and undrained loading conditions are considered. The proposed constitutive model shows good ability to capture the characteristic features of behaviour. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crack patterns in clayey soils: Experiments and modeling

The paper presents an experimental and numerical study to investigate the behavior of desiccated clayey soils. The performed tests permit to evaluate the crack pattern as well as the tensile strength as a function of suction. A new model that relates the porosity evolution to the suction and to the tensile strength was developed and implemented in the finite element program CODE_BRIGHT. The proposed model captured the initiation and propagation of cracks in a thin layer of desiccated clay and predicted crack patterns in terms of the Minkowski densities (i.e. average crack length and crack intensity factor). The effect of the heterogeneity of the tested specimens, modeled by random clusters, was also quantified. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

非饱和土的清华弹塑性模型

为研究土在非饱和增湿情况下的应力、应变和强度关系,提出将含水率引入清华模型的硬化参数中建立非饱和土的清华弹塑性模型。通过在干土中掺加冰屑的方法进行增湿试验,表明该模型可以预测不同含水率的非饱和土的应力-变形和强度关系,从天然风干状态增湿到其他含水率的应力-应变全过程的计算结果也与试验结果相符合。将含水率直接引入弹塑性模型而不去研究复杂的基质吸力,可能是非饱和土本构模型工程应用的一条简便途径。     

Implicit integration under mixed controls of a breakage model for unsaturated crushable soils

This paper discusses a series of stress point algorithms for a breakage model for unsaturated granular soils. Such model is characterized by highly nonlinear coupling terms introduced by breakage‐dependent hydro‐mechanical energy potentials. To integrate accurately and efficiently its constitutive equations, specific algorithms have been formulated using a backward Euler scheme. In particular, because implementation and verification of unsaturated soil models often require the use of mixed controls, the incorporation of various hydro‐mechanical conditions has been tackled. First, it is shown that the degree of saturation can be replaced with suction in the constitutive equations through a partial Legendre transformation of the energy potentials, thus changing the thermomechanical state variables and enabling a straightforward implementation of a different control mode. Then, to accommodate more complex control scenarios without redefining the energy potentials, a hybrid strategy has been used, combining the return mapping scheme with linearized constraints. It is shown that this linearization strategy guarantees similar levels of accuracy compared with a conventional strain–suction‐controlled implicit integration. In addition, it is shown that the use of linearized constraints offers the possibility to use the same framework to integrate a variety of control conditions (e.g., net stress and/or water‐content control). The convergence profiles indicate that both schemes preserve the advantages of implicit integration, that is, asymptotic quadratic convergence and unconditional stability. Finally, the performance of the two implicit schemes has been compared with that of an explicit algorithm with automatic sub‐stepping and error control, showing that for the selected breakage model, implicit integration leads to a significant reduction of the computational cost. Such features support the use of the proposed hybrid scheme also in other modeling contexts, especially when strongly nonlinear models have to be implemented and/or validated by using non‐standard hydro‐mechanical control conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generalized strain probing of constitutive models

Advanced material constitutive models are used to describe complex soil behaviour. These models are often used in the solution of boundary value problems under general loading conditions. Users and developers of constitutive models need to methodically investigate the represented soil response under a wide range of loading conditions. This paper presents a systematic procedure for probing constitutive models. A general incremental strain probe, 6D hyperspherical strain probe (HSP), is introduced to examine rate‐independent model response under all possible strain loading conditions. Two special cases of HSP, the true triaxial strain probe (TTSP) and the plane‐strain strain probe (PSSP), are used to generate 3‐D objects that represent model stress response to probing. The TTSP, PSSP and general HSP procedures are demonstrated using elasto‐plastic models. The objects resulting from the probing procedure readily highlight important model characteristics including anisotropy, yielding, hardening, softening and failure. The PSSP procedure is applied to a Neural Network (NN) based constitutive model. It shows that this probing is especially useful in understanding NN constitutive models, which do not contain explicit functions for yield surface, hardening, or anisotropy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

非饱和土渗透函数方程的间接确定

利用应力应变控制式非饱和土三轴仪,测定了非饱和土的基质吸力和体积含水量,由此得出粉质粘土一系列的土-水特征曲线,并由非线性曲线拟合得出土-水特征曲线方程,根据其与渗透函数的关系,推导出Mualem渗透函数方程的具体形式,由其计算得出的非饱和土的渗透系数和直接测量法得到的渗透系数较为一致,从而进一步证明了Mualem方程的具体形式的合理性。