A modified subloading Cam-clay model for granular soils subjected to suffusion

ABSTRACT

Suffusion, one of the modes of internal erosion, occurs when fine particles are detached under hydraulic force. More fine particles are washed out with the void growth, which subsequently causes the failure of earthworks. At present, constitutive models considering suffusion are mostly established through DEM simulations and constitutive models that can capture the main features of eroded soils are quite limited. This study aims to establish constitutive equations to model the mechanical behaviour of soils subjected to suffusion by using drained triaxial experimental data. The modified subloading Cam-clay model incorporated with the normal yield surface for the eroded soil is proposed, which can express the variation of the normal yield surface with the loss of fine particles. The determination method of the erosion-related model parameters is also proposed. The erosion-related model parameters are estimated through empirical equations with curve-fitted parameters. Finally, the capability of this modified model is demonstrated through the comparisons with experimental results.

KEYWORDS:

• Suffusion
• modified subloading cam-clay model
• constitutive equation
• triaxial test

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.