scholarly journals A constitutive model for hydromechanically coupled behavior of unsaturated soils with hydraulic hysteresis

2021 ◽  
Vol 337 ◽  
pp. 02009
Author(s):  
Mustafa Mert Eyüpgiller ◽  
Melih Birhan Kenanoğlu ◽  
Mehmet Barış Can Ülker ◽  
Nabi Kartal Toker

There are several constitutive models developed for understanding coupled hydromechanical behavior of three phase medium of unsaturated soils as well as models for explaining hydraulic hysteresis in water retention. However, very few attempts that merge the two aspects of behavior are available. This study develops a one-way coupled model for understanding the hydromechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. In addition to the hysteresis between main drying and wetting retention curves, the model considers non-uniqueness of retention behavior resulting from void ratio changes due to compression under the stress application. As for the elastoplastic stress strain relationship of soil skeleton, the model is based on the formulation of classical plasticity relying on the critical state concept. Consequently, volumetric deformation due to wetting-drying cycles and its effect on elastoplastic behavior through simultaneously changing matric suction is modeled. Model results are calibrated with the results of isotropic compression stages of triaxial tests at both constant suction and constant water content conditions.

Author(s):  
Beshoy Riad ◽  
Xiong Zhang

Unsaturated soils are often used as a construction material in transportation infrastructures. In this situation, unsaturated soils are subjected to cyclic mechanical loading from traffic loads or wetting-drying cycles in seasonal climatic conditions. While mechanical hysteresis is a common feature of soils in general, hydraulic hysteresis is associated with unsaturated soils. Although several constitutive models for unsaturated soils have been proposed, the mechanical and hydraulic hysteresis behavior of unsaturated soils has been little studied. A modified state surface approach (MSSA) was first proposed for investigating the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. It was then extended to study the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils with a special focus on the consistency between different soil phases. However, hydraulic and mechanical hysteresis were neglected in MSSA formulations. In this paper, based on evidence from experimental results, the MSSA is extended further to study the coupled hydro-mechanical hysteresis behavior of unsaturated soils. The extended MSSA can reproduce several forms of mechanical and hydraulic behavior observed in experimental results that cannot be represented by existing constitutive models. To demonstrate the capabilities of the extended MSSA, typical behaviors are simulated and compared, qualitatively, with the characteristic trends of the behavior of unsaturated soils. Experimental results from the literature are then used to evaluate the model to predict, quantitatively, the observed behaviors. The agreement between measured and predicted results is considered satisfactory and confirms the possibility of the proposed approach to reproduce the hysteresis behavior of unsaturated soils.


2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 810-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.P. Yao ◽  
L. Niu ◽  
W.J. Cui

Naturally deposited clays are often unsaturated and overconsolidated. Within the frameworks of the Barcelona Basic model (BBM) for normally consolidated unsaturated clays and the unified hardening (UH) model for overconsolidated saturated clays, a three-dimensional constitutive model for overconsolidated unsaturated clays is proposed in this paper. This model can be reduced to the original UH model for overconsolidated saturated clays when suction becomes zero and the BBM when the overconsolidated behaviour disappears. Compared with existing constitutive models for unsaturated clays, the influence of a high overconsolidation ratio (OCR) on wetting deformation can be adequately described. Also, many other characteristics of overconsolidated unsaturated clays can be modelled, including strain-hardening, softening, shear dilatancy, and stress path–dependence behaviour. Compared with the BBM, the proposed model requires no additional material parameter. The validity of the UH model for overconsolidated unsaturated clays has been confirmed by data from two groups of wetting tests performed by the authors and previous triaxial tests in the literature.


Géotechnique ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Wheeler ◽  
R. S. Sharma ◽  
M. S. R. Buisson

1995 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. Yang ◽  
W. N. Sharpe

A straightforward procedure is demonstrated for measuring local cyclic elastoplastic biaxial stresses at notch roots. First, the biaxial cyclic strains are measured over short gage lengths (150 or 200 micrometers) with a laser-based strain measuring system. Then, cyclic stresses are computed from those measured strains by using an elastoplastic constitutive model. The material selected for this study is HY-80 steel which has a fine grain size and is isotropic. Double-notched specimens were prepared with two different notch geometries: a U-shaped notch with a 4.76 mm radius and a V-shaped notch with a 1.0 mm radius. Two thicknesses, 2.54 and 12.7 mm, were tested for each notch geometry to produce four different amounts of notch constraint. The results of cyclic biaxial strain measurements show good reproducibility. Stress computations based on two different constitutive models were used to compute stresses for the first cycle and a stable cycle. One of the constitutive models is the classical J2flow theory and the other is a two-surface cyclic plasticity model. The results computed using these two models show good agreement with each other. The measured stresses show the effect of constraint on the elastoplastic behavior at notch roots under cyclic loading conditions.


Author(s):  
Sara Fayek ◽  
Xiaolong Xia ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
Xiong Zhang

Triaxial tests are used extensively to evaluate stress-strain behavior for both saturated and unsaturated soils. A literature review indicates that all conventional triaxial test methods measure the relative volume of soil; however, between the initial measurements and the start of the triaxial tests, there are unavoidably disturbances during installation that cause deviation of soil volume from that at the initial condition. Recently image-based methods have been developed to measure the absolute volume of soil specimens. However, these methods still have a major limitation in their inability to determine top and bottom boundaries between the soil specimen, and the top and bottom caps. This paper proposes a photogrammetry-based method to overcome this limitation by developing a mathematically rigorous technique to determine the upper and lower boundaries of soil specimens during triaxial testing. The photogrammetry technique was used to determine the orientations of the camera, and the shape and location of the acrylic cell. Multiple ray-tracings and least-square optimization techniques were also applied to obtain the coordinates of any point inside the triaxial cell, and thus back-calculate the upper and lower boundaries. With these boundaries and the side surface, a triangular surface mesh was constructed and the specimen volume was then calculated in both unconfined compression tests and triaxial tests. The calculation procedures are presented in detail with validation tests performed on a cylindrical specimen to evaluate the accuracy of the method. Results indicate that the accuracy of the proposed method is up to 0.023% in unconfined compression tests and 0.061% in triaxial tests.


2012 ◽  
Vol 256-259 ◽  
pp. 108-111
Author(s):  
Seboong Oh ◽  
Ki Hun Park ◽  
Oh Kyun Kwon ◽  
Woo Jung Chung ◽  
Kyung Joon Shin

The hypothesis on effective stress of unsaturated soils is validated by consolidation strength results of triaxial tests for the compacted residual soil. The effective stress can describe the unsaturated soil behavior, which was defined from shear strength or from soil water characteristic curves. Since the effective stress from consolidation agrees with that from the shear strength, the effective stress from soil water retention curve could describe the unsaturated behavior consistently on both consolidation path and stress at failure. The effective stress can describe the entire unsaturated behavior from consolidation to failure.


2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 748-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celestino Rampino ◽  
Claudio Mancuso ◽  
Filippo Vinale

This paper reports the experimental study and modelling of the mechanical response of a silty sand used in the core of the Metramo dam, Italy. Specimens were prepared by compacting the soil at optimum water content conditions using the modified Proctor technique. Tests were performed under suction-controlled conditions by a stress path triaxial cell and an oedometer. The experimental program consists of 23 tests carried out in the suction range of 0-400 kPa. The findings indicate the strong influence of suction on compressibility, stiffness, and shear strength. The mechanical properties of the soil improve with suction following an exponential law with decreasing gradient. Furthermore, the soil exhibited collapsible behaviour upon wetting even at low stress levels. Interesting results were also achieved in elastoplastic modelling as well. The results led to characterization of soil behaviour with reference to widely accepted modelling criteria for unsaturated soils, providing noteworthy suggestions about their applicability for granular materials with a non-negligible fine component. Finally, some remarks are made for the extension under unsaturated conditions of the "Nor sand" model for saturated granular soils. The proposed approach yields improved predictions of deviator soil response of the tested soil when Cambridge-type frameworks prove invalid.Key words: unsaturated soils, stress state variables, triaxial tests, oedometer tests, constitutive model.


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