A Hyperelastic Bounding Surface Plasticity Model for Unsaturated Granular Soils

Abstract
In this paper, a state-dependent, bounding surface plasticity model that simulates the behavior of unsaturated granular soils is presented. An unsaturated, soil mechanics-compatible elastoplastic response is adopted in which no part of the response occurs in a purely elastic fashion. To create an appropriate hydro-mechanical coupling, a newer generation stress framework, consisting of the Bishop-type effective stress and a second stress variable, is used in conjunction with a soil-water characteristic curve function. Details regarding the model development, parameter estimation, and assessment of the model’s predictive capabilities are outlined. With a single set of parameter values, the model realistically simulates the main features that characterize the shear and volumetric behavior of unsaturated granular soils over a wide range of matric suction, density, and net confining pressure.
Description
This article was originally published in Geosciences. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14060148. © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords
unsaturated granular soil, constitutive modeling, bounding surface plasticity, matric suction, axis translation, hyperelasticity, soil water characteristic curve
Citation
Kadivar, Mehdi, Kalehiwot Nega Manahiloh, and Victor N. Kaliakin. 2024. "A Hyperelastic Bounding Surface Plasticity Model for Unsaturated Granular Soils" Geosciences 14, no. 6: 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14060148