A Microstructural Approach for Modeling the Mechanical Behavior of Structured Clays

This paper presents a stress-strain model for the behavior of structured clays using a microstructural approach. Clay material is considered as a collection of clusters, which interact with each other mainly through mechanical forces. The bonds of structured clays are considered as the bonded forces between clusters in contact. The bonds can also be reduced due to a damage mechanism at a cluster contact during loading. The elasto-plastic stress-strain relationship for structured clays is derived by using the granular mechanics approach which takes into account the behavior at grain level. The model is used to simulate one-dimensional test and undrained triaxial tests. Typical trend of the behavior of structured clay is captured by the proposed model.