Constitutive Modeling of Normally and Over-Consolidated Clay with a High-Order Yield Function

Abstract

In this paper, a simple sub-loading yield surface model for both normally consolidated and over-consolidated clay is proposed with emphasis on the effect of the yield surface shape. Compared with the modified Cam-clay model, only one additional material parameter is introduced to reflect geometry features of the yield surface. A higher-order stress–dilatancy relation is given in the current study, leading to a new yield function capable of offering an adequate description of the yield surface of soil samples in the p–q plane. By introducing the concept of the sub-loading yield surface and the unified hardening parameter, the proposed model can capture the main features of the over-consolidated clay with dilatancy and strain-softening behavior and the main features of the normally consolidated clay with contraction and strain-hardening behavior. The results show that adjusting the yield surface leads to more accurate predictions than the modified Cam-clay model. The proposed model can also reasonably describe its mechanical behavior for clay samples.