Abstract: | The porosity of soils is considered to be a directional measure and its distribution is characterized by a functional form. This form has been used to extend the critical state soil mechanics framework to include the effects of structure in soils. A new internal plastic energy dissipation formulation has been proposed to account for fabric arrangement. New expressions for the yield locus, and the plastic stress–strain response of structural soils have been derived. The applicability of the concepts to model the plastic stress–strain behaviour of a number of soils is illustrated. The advantage of the new model is very well identified in modelling the stress–strain behaviour of K0 consolidated and natural clays. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |