Constitutive modelling of cemented gravelly sands

Abstract

A constitutive model is developed for a cemented gravelly sand. The model is based on the separation of the cemented soil to the uncemented part and cemented bonds and combining the mechanical behaviour of each part using consistency and energy equilibrium equations. The uncemented part was modelled using the Pastor et al. (1985) model for sands. A new model was developed and proposed for the cemented bonds. Combination of these parts resulted in the modelling of cemented soil behaviour with a very good consistency both in drained and undrained conditions. The pore pressure in undrained conditions and the volumetric strains in the drained state were also modelled successfully using this method.

Keywords:

• cemented soil
• gravelly sand
• constitutive modeling
• stress–strain behaviour
• bond degradation

Acknowledgements

The study was performed in the Civil Engineering Department of Sharif University of Technology under a grant presented by Vice Chancellor in Research that is acknowledged. The authors also wish to thank Professor Antonio Gens from Catalonia University, Spain, for his comments which were useful for the present study.