Clay Subjected to Cyclic Loading: Constitutive Model and Time Homogenization Technique

Numerical modeling of the behavior of geotechnical structures subjected to cyclic loading requires the consideration of two main aspects: the constitutive relationship and numerical strategy. The constitutive model has to be representative of the clay behavior, whereas the numerical strategy should be efficient in order to reduce the computation time. To simulate undrained triaxial cyclic tests on clay, a method of time homogenization is applied to a bounding surface plasticity model. This method of homogenization is based upon splitting time into two separate scales. The first scale relates to the period of cyclic loading and the second to the characteristic time of the material. Simulations of undrained triaxial cyclic tests on normally consolidated clay under one-way cyclic loading are carried out. The performance of time homogenization is numerically validated. The sensitivity of the time increment is also investigated.