A Bounding Surface Model for Cemented Soil at Small and Large Strains
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 2
Abstract
Many constitutive models have been proposed to describe the mechanical behavior of cemented soil at large strains (above 1%). Less attention has been paid to the highly nonlinear stress–strain behavior at small strains, which are important for accurately analyzing the serviceability of many infrastructures. In this study, a bounding surface model was developed to simulate cemented soil behavior from small to large strains. Some new formulations were proposed to improve the modeling of small-strain behavior, including (1) the elastic shear modulus over a wide range of stress conditions, and (2) the nonlinear degradation of bonding strength () with damage strain () in the plane. The new model was applied to simulate drained and undrained triaxial tests on cemented soils at different cement contents and confining pressures. Comparisons between the measured and computed results show that the new model can well capture many important aspects of cemented soil behavior, especially the elastic shear modulus at very small strains and stiffness degradation at small strains. Furthermore, the model gives a good simulation of strain softening/hardening and dilatancy/contraction during shearing under various confining pressure and void ratio conditions.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The National Science Foundation of China supports this work through research Grant No. 52022004. The authors also would like to thank the HKSAR Research Grants Council (RGC) for providing financial support through Grant No. 15205721 and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission through Grant No. 2022N040.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 2 • February 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 3, 2023
Accepted: Sep 21, 2023
Published online: Nov 29, 2023
Published in print: Feb 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Apr 29, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bounding surface
- Continuum mechanics
- Deformation (mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Engineering mechanics
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Mechanical properties
- Models (by type)
- Plasticity
- Shear modulus
- Simulation models
- Soil cement
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil stress
- Solid mechanics
- Strain
- Structural mechanics
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