Modified state-surface approach to the study of unsaturated soil behavior. Part III: Modeling of coupled hydromechanical effect Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • A modified state-surface approach (MSSA) was proposed in the authors previous study to investigate volume change of the soil skeleton for unsaturated soils. This paper discussed the coupling effect between volume changes of soil skeleton, water phase, and air phase for unsaturated soils based on the proposed MSSA and experimental results presented by other researchers. The MSSA was further extended to study the coupled hydromechanical behavior for unsaturated soils. Besides void ratio constitutive surface, conventional unique water content and degree of saturation constitutive surfaces were also divided into elastic and plastic regions by loadingcollapse (LC) yield curves and simultaneously used to describe the coupled hydromechanical behavior for unsaturated soils. A general theoretic formulation was derived for the simultaneous use of the MSSA under isotropic conditions. Based on the derived formulation, existing elastoplastic models were reviewed, and compatibility and consistency in modeling the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of unsaturated soils were discussed. Afterwards, the results of a number of suction-controlled laboratory isotropic compression tests at different suctions were used to demonstrate the ability of the proposed approach to reproduce the observed soil behavior quantitatively and soil behavior under undrained conditions qualitatively.

published proceedings

  • CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL JOURNAL

author list (cited authors)

  • Zhang, X., & Lytton, R. L.

citation count

  • 25

complete list of authors

  • Zhang, Xiong||Lytton, Robert L

publication date

  • January 2012