An improved damaging model for structured clays

Abstract

An improved damaging model formulated within the framework of bounding surface for structured clays was proposed. The model was intended to describe the effects of structure degradation due to geotechnical loading. The predictive capability of the model was compared with those of triaxial compression test on Tianjin soft clays. The results show that, by incorporating a new damage function into the model, the reduction of elastic bulk and shear modulus with elastic deformations and the reduction of plastic bulk modulus and shear modulus with plastic deformations are able to be appreciable. Before the axial strain reaches 15%, the axial strain computed from the model is smaller than that from the test under the drained condition. Under the undrained condition, after the axial strain reaches 1%, the axial strain increases quickly because of the complete loss of structure and stiffness; and the result computed from the model is nearly equal to that from the model without the incorporation of the damage function due to less plastic strain under undrained condition test.