An improved damaging model formulated within the framework of bounding surface for structured clays was proposed. The model was intended to describe the effects of structure degradation due to geotechnical loading. The predictive capability of the model was compared with those of triaxial compression test on Tianjin soft clays. The results show that, by incorporating a new damage function into the model, the reduction of elastic bulk and shear modulus with elastic deformations and the reduction of plastic bulk modulus and shear modulus with plastic deformations are able to be appreciable. Before the axial strain reaches 15%, the axial strain computed from the model is smaller than that from the test under the drained condition. Under the undrained condition, after the axial strain reaches 1%, the axial strain increases quickly because of the complete loss of structure and stiffness; and the result computed from the model is nearly equal to that from the model without the incorporation of the damage function due to less plastic strain under undrained condition test.
A finite difference numerical method was adopted to evaluate the pile lateral behavior of pile supported embankment. A published case history was used to verify the proposed methodology. By simulating the case history, the determination of parameters needed were verified. Then three embankments constructed on different ground conditions with different soil-pile relative stiffnesses were analyzed to study pile lateral behaviors including pile deflection and bending moment. The results show that pile deflections and bending moments induced by soil lateral deformation and embankment vertical load are different for piles at different positions under the same embankment. The relative stiffness between pile and soil affected by the properties of different reinforcing piles such as concrete pile and deep mixing method pile exert important effects on the pile lateral behavior and the pile's failure modes. Consequently, it is necessary to consider the different piles lateral behaviors and possible failure modes at different positions and the different piles proprieties with different reinforcing methods in the embankment stability analysis.
Based on the framework of critical state soil mechanics,a subloading surface plastic model for sand, being applicable to cyclic loading, was proposed. The model can be used to describe strain softening behaviour of sand under monotonic loading when the similarity-ratio equals to unity. The characteristics of the model are as follows: 1) A reverse bullet-shaped yield surface is adopted to ensure accurate prediction of the behavior of sand, instead of bullet-shaped or elliptical yield surface in Cam-Clay model. 2) No unique relationship between void ratio and the mean normal stress for sand prevents the direct coupling of yield surface size to void ratio, so incremental deviatoric strain hardening rule is used. 3) The model combines the concept of state-dependent dilatancy by incorporating state parameter in Rowe's stress dilatancy equation, which accounts for the dependence of dilatancy on the stress state and the material internal state. A single set of model constants, which is calibrated, can simulate stress-strain response under different initial void ratios and different confine pressures. The model is validated true by comparing predicted results with experimental results under monotonic and cyclic loading conditions.
