Abstract
To incorporate micromechanical characteristics of soils into geotechnical design and simulation, the optimal size of the Representative Volume Element (RVE) needs to be provided. This study aims to determine the RVE of a soil specimen axially compressed under plane-strain conditions. The strain field was computed from the linear displacement field measured via the digital image analysis technique. The increments of the local strains under pre- and post-failure conditions were statistically compared. The results showed that the deformation of the soil specimen was homogeneous until the axial stress reached the peak. The tested hypothesis suggested that under pre-failure conditions the optimal RVE was 10.5 mm×10.5 mm, occupying 12% of the analyzed domain and 2% of the entire specimen area, while under post-failure conditions the RVE could not be attained with a certain level of uniformity.
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