Geomechanical modeling of hydrate‐bearing sediments during dissociation under shear

Methane hydrate‐bearing sediments exist throughout the world in continental margins and in Arctic permafrost. Hydrates are ice‐like compounds when dissociate due to temperature rise or reduction in fluid pressure, release gas. Because of the mechanical property changes caused by dissociation in which the loads supported by the hydrates are transferred to soil grains, these sediments may become unstable. To quantify the risk of ground instability triggered by dissociation, which may happen during operation to extract methane gas or from climate changes, a reliable predictive model is indispensable. Even though many models have been proposed, a detailed validation of the ability to model dissociation impact is still needed. This study investigated the adequacy of an spatially mobilized plane constitutive model and a modeling framework using laboratory‐induced dissociation tests under shear from literature. Using laboratory‐imposed temperature and pressure changes and the resulting hydrate saturation changes as input, this study was able to capture the geomechanical responses and determine the stability state of methane hydrate‐bearing sediments as observed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A kinematic hardening based model for unsaturated soils considering different hydraulic conditions

At present, several of the existing elastoplastic constitutive models are adapted for describing the stress–strain behavior of unsaturated soils. However, most of them present certain limitations in this field. These limitations can be related to the basic model and/or added unsaturated state variables and formulations. In this regard, inability to model the hydro‐mechanical behavior in constant water (CW) conditions is an example of these limitations. In this paper, an advanced version of CJS model is selected for adaptation to the unsaturated states. Adaptation to unsaturated states is achieved in the framework of effective stress approach. Effective stress equation and unsaturated state variables are selected based on the recent research existing in the literature. The developed model is capable of describing the complex behavior of unsaturated soil in the CW condition in addition to predicting the behavior at failure and post–failure, nonlinear elastoplastic behavior at low levels of stress and strain (by selecting a very small elastic domain), as well as wetting and collapse behaviors. In order to validate the model, results of triaxial tests in CD and CW conditions are used. The validation results indicate the good capability of the proposed model. Behavior of the unsaturated soils during wetting is an important issue. For this reason, the model is also evaluated based on the results of wetting and collapse triaxial tests. A comparison between the tests and simulation results shows that the model is able to predict the soil behavior under the wetting path. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On modeling of discrete propagation of localized damage in cohesive‐frictional materials

In this paper, the problem of propagation of localized deformation associated with formation of macrocracks/shear bands is studied in both tensile and compressive regimes. The main focus here is on enhancement of the constitutive law with embedded discontinuity to provide a discrete representation of the localization phenomenon. This has been accomplished by revising the formulation and coupling it with the level‐set method for tracing the propagation path. Extensive numerical studies are conducted involving various fracture modes, ranging from brittle to frictional, and the results are compared with the experimental data as well as those obtained using XFEM methodology. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A thermo‐mechanical model for the catastrophic collapse of large landslides

In this work, a new thermo‐mechanical model is developed, applicable to large‐scale, deep‐seated landslides consisting of a coherent mass sliding on a thin clayey layer. The considered time window is that of catastrophic acceleration, starting at incipient failure and ending when the acquired displacement and velocity are such that the sliding material begins to break up into pieces. The model accounts for temperature rise in the slip zone due to the heat produced by friction, leading to water expansion, thermoplastic collapse of the soil skeleton, and subsequent increase of pore water pressure. The model incorporates the processes of heat production and diffusion, pore pressure generation and diffusion, and an advanced constitutive law for the thermo‐mechanical behavior of soil. An analysis of the Vajont landslide is presented as an example. A sensitivity analysis shows that friction softening is the mechanism most affecting the timescale of the final collapse of a slide, but also that the mechanism of thermal pressurization alone can cause a comparably catastrophic dynamic evolution. It is also shown that, all other factors being equal, thermo‐mechanical collapse will cause thicker slides to accelerate faster than shallow ones. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of the exact constitutive relationship of modified Cam clay to the undrained expansion of a spherical cavity

The modified Cam clay (MCC) model is used to study the response of virgin‐compressed clay subjected to undrained triaxial compression. The MCC constitutive relationship is obtained in a closed form. Both elastic and plastic deviatoric strains are considered in the analysis. The solution allows to obtain total and effective stress paths followed by the clay in undrained spherical expansion. Pore water pressures are determined from the difference between total and effective mean stresses. For illustration purposes, the analysis is also applied to the well‐known reconstituted normally consolidated London clay and the results are compared with the recently published data obtained by a numerical approach. In addition, the Almansi large strains are used in the analysis, as these allow to obtain limit expansion and pore pressures, whereas both small‐strain and logarithmic‐strain approaches do not permit to determine them. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling chemo‐hydro‐mechanical behaviour of unsaturated clays: a feasibility study

Effective capabilities of combined chemo‐elasto‐plastic and unsaturated soil models to simulate chemo‐hydro‐mechanical (CHM) behaviour of clays are examined in numerical simulations through selected boundary value problems. The objective is to investigate the feasibility of approaching such complex material behaviour numerically by combining two existing models. The chemo‐mechanical effects are described using the concept of chemical softening consisting of reduction of the pre‐consolidation pressure proposed originally by Hueckel (Can. Geotech. J. 1992; 29 :1071–1086; Int. J. Numer. Anal. Methods Geomech. 1997; 21 :43–72). An additional chemical softening mechanism is considered, consisting in a decrease of cohesion with an increase in contaminant concentration. The influence of partial saturation on the constitutive behaviour is modelled following Barcelona basic model (BBM) formulation (Géotech. 1990; 40 (3):405–430; Can. Geotech. J. 1992; 29 :1013–1032). The equilibrium equations combined with the CHM constitutive relations, and the governing equations for flow of fluids and contaminant transport, are solved numerically using finite element. The emphasis is laid on understanding the role that the individual chemical effects such as chemo‐elastic swelling, or chemo‐plastic consolidation, or finally, chemical loss of cohesion have in the overall response of the soil mass. The numerical problems analysed concern the chemical effects in response to wetting of a clay specimen with an organic liquid in rigid wall consolidometer, during biaxial loading up to failure, and in response to fresh water influx during tunnel excavation in swelling clay. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit integration of a mixed isotropic–kinematic hardening plasticity model for structured clays

In recent years, a number of constitutive models have been proposed to describe mathematically the mechanical response of natural clays. Some of these models are characterized by complex formulations, often leading to non‐trivial problems in their numerical integration in finite elements codes. The paper describes a fully implicit stress‐point algorithm for the numerical integration of a single‐surface mixed isotropic–kinematic hardening plasticity model for structured clays. The formulation of the model stems from a compromise between its capability of reproducing the larger number of features characterizing the behaviour of structured clays and the possibility of developing a robust integration algorithm for its implementation in a finite elements code. The model is characterized by an ellipsoid‐shaped yield function, inside which a stress‐dependent reversible stiffness is accounted for by a non‐linear hyperelastic formulation. The isotropic part of the hardening law extends the standard Cam‐Clay one to include plastic strain‐driven softening due to bond degradation, while the kinematic hardening part controls the evolution of the position of the yield surface in the stress space. The proposed algorithm allows the consistent linearization of the constitutive equations guaranteeing the quadratic rate of asymptotic convergence in the global‐level Newton–Raphson iterative procedure. The accuracy and the convergence properties of the proposed algorithm are evaluated with reference to the numerical simulations of single element tests and the analysis of a typical geotechnical boundary value problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of cyclic strength degradation of natural clays via bounding surface model with hybrid flow rule

Strength loss of natural clays subjected to seismic loading is a critical factor contributing to earthquake‐induced ground failure and associated hazards. This work proposes a bounding surface constitutive law to simulate cyclic strength degradation of natural clays resulting from the loss of structure and attendant accumulation of excess pore pressures. The proposed model employs an enhanced plastic flow rule that can simulate accurately the development of pore pressure and explicitly incorporates soil structure effects. The validation of the model with reference to the experimental evidence available for 3 structured clays shows that with a single set of parameters the proposed model can reasonably represent the mechanical behavior of natural clays under various loading conditions (1D compression, monotonic shearing in compression and extension, cyclic loading, and postcyclic shearing). Particularly, its satisfactory performance in terms of quantification of cyclic strength degradation encourages the use of the model in simulating boundary value problems related to the stability of geotechnical facilities under earthquakes.     

A hierarchical thermo‐hydro‐plastic constitutive model for unsaturated soils and its numerical implementation

Unsaturated soils are highly heterogeneous 3‐phase porous media. Variations of temperature, the degree of saturation, and density have dramatic impacts on the hydro‐mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. To model all these features, we present a thermo‐hydro‐plastic model in which the hydro‐mechanical hardening and thermal softening are incorporated in a hierarchical fashion for unsaturated soils. This novel constitutive model can capture heterogeneities in density, suction, the degree of saturation, and temperature. Specifically, this constitutive model has 2 ingredients: (1) it has a “mesoscale” mechanical state variable—porosity and 3 environmental state variables—suction, the degree of saturation, and temperature; (2) both temperature and mechanical effects on water retention properties are taken into account. The return mapping algorithm is applied to implement this model at Gauss point assuming an infinitesimal strain. At each time step, the return mapping is conducted only in principal elastic strain space, assuming no return mapping in suction and temperature. The numerical results obtained by this constitutive model are compared with the experimental results. It shows that the proposed model can simulate the thermo‐hydro‐mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils with satisfaction. We also conduct shear band analysis of an unsaturated soil specimen under plane strain condition to demonstrate the impact of temperature variation on shear banding triggered by initial material heterogeneities.     

A multisurface kinematic hardening model for the behavior of clays under combined static and undrained cyclic loading

In dynamic geotechnical problems, soils are often subjected to a combination of sustained static and fast cyclic loading. Under such loading conditions, saturated and normally consolidated clays generally experience a build-up of excess pore water pressure along with a degradation of stiffness and strength. If the strength of the soil falls below the static stress demand, a self-driven failure is triggered. In this paper, a constitutive model is presented for the analysis of such problems, based on a general multisurface plasticity framework. The hardening behavior, the initial arrangement of the surfaces, and the nonassociated volumetric flow rule are defined to capture important aspects of cyclic clay behavior. This includes nonlinear hysteretic stress-strain behavior, the effect of anisotropic consolidation, and the generation of excess pore water pressure during undrained cyclic loading along with a degradation of stiffness and strength. The model requires nine independent parameters, which can be derived from standard laboratory tests. A customized experimental program has been performed to validate the model performance. The model predictions show a good agreement with test results from monotonic and cyclic undrained triaxial tests, in particular with respect to the strain-softening response and the number of loading cycles to failure. A procedure for a general stress-space implicit numerical implementation for undrained, total stress-based finite element analyses is presented, including the derivation of the consistent tangent operator. Finally, a simulation of the seismic response of a submarine slope is shown to illustrate a possible application of the presented model.