Abstract
Gravelly soils exhibit complicated mechanical behaviours closely related to particle breakage and relative density state. To better capture the mechanical responses of gravelly soils, a generalised plastic model considering evolution of void ratio and particle breakage was developed within the framework of critical state soil mechanics. In the model, particle breakage effect was described by incorporating breakage index to deviate the critical state line off the ideal position. A differential equation relating increment of void ratio to variation of volumetric strain was used to depict the evolution of current void ratio. It indirectly reflected the relative density state of gravelly soils. The model was applied to conducting numerical simulations for a series of triaxial tests on four types of gravelly soils. Comparisons between the test data and the modelling results indicated that considerations of void ratio evolution and particle breakage could better simulate the stress-dependent dilatation/contraction behaviours of gravelly soils.
Highlights
Soils are widely used as construction materials in the various geotechnical projects
Experimental studies have indicated that particle breakage greatly affects the mechanical behaviours of gravelly soils [2,3]
In this study, generalised plasticity framework firstly proposed by Pastor and Zienkiewicz [8] was used to build the constitutive model for gravelly soils
Summary
Soils (including coarse-grained aggregates, rockfill materials and railway basalts) are widely used as construction materials in the various geotechnical projects (e.g. roadbeds and dams). Generalised Plastic Model for Soils plastic models have been developed for gravelly soils based on the critical state concept [5,10,11,12] These models considering particle breakage could well capture the main mechanical behaviours of gravelly soils, including stress-dependent volumetric dilatancy and nonlinear strength and deformation. Most of these models have not made clear expositions on the variations of void ratio during volume changing process. An evolution equation of void ratio was incorporated into a generalised plastic model that was established within the framework of critical state soil mechanics. By analysing the simulation results, constitutive modelling effectiveness of considering evolution of void ratio and particle breakage was evaluated
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