Degraded secant modulus for permanent deformation of soils

Abstract

Two constitutive models, one with five parameters and the other with three parameters, were proposed for use in the prediction of permanent deformation of geotechnical materials under repetitive loading. The proposed model can be used with numerical tools such as the finite element method with equivalent linear analysis. The degraded secant modulus model with five parameters may employ the parameters of the material models widely accepted in pavement engineering practice to analyse to more general soil problems. The model parameters of the three-parameter model can be estimated based on the results of cyclic triaxial tests or by conducting inverse analysis based on the results of large-scale plate load tests, which are addressed and exemplified in detail in this article.

Keywords::

• plate load test
• permanent deformation
• numerical analysis
• unbound material
• subgrade

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Human Resources Development Program [grant number 20114010203080] of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the Mid-Career Researcher Program [grant number 2012-047702] of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea, both of which are funded by the Korean government.