Thermodynamic-based cross-scale model for structural soil with emphasis on bond dissolution

Abstract

The immersion weakening effect of natural soil has always been a difficult problem encountered in geotechnical engineering practice. The bond dissolution is a common cause of soil strength deterioration, which is not yet fully understood. In this study, a thermodynamic-based constitutive model of structural soils based on the α model is first established, considering the bond strength by modifying the yield surface size and gradually reducing the bond strength with the development of plastic strain. Furthermore, by taking the meso-mechanisms of bond dissolution into account, the evolution rule of the free energy during the bond dissolution process is derived based on a homogenization approach, and a thermodynamic-based constitutive model of structural soil with bond dissolution is thereafter developed. By comparing with the results of one-dimensional compression tests and conventional triaxial tests, the model is verified to be capable of reflecting the gradual destructuration process of soil while loading. The comparison with triaxial test results of completely decomposed granite after different immersion durations and parametric studies show that based on the cross-scale energy equivalence, the model can well reflect the strength deterioration characteristics of completely decomposed granite with bond dissolution mechanisms at the mesoscale fully considered.