Transitional Yielding Approach for Soils under General Loading

Abstract

Within the framework of critical state soil mechanics concepts, a rate‐independent constitutive model for soil response to complex, three‐dimensional loading is proposed. For any loading excursion, the material response is assumed to be elastoplastic. The approach proposed permits description of continuous and transitional yielding of material by adopting a combination of isotropic and kinematic hardening law. The capability of the model to represent anisotropic hardening behavior of soils and soil behavior under cyclic loading is particularly emphasized. Predicted response of Kaolin samples is compared with experimental results from various types of laboratory tests, including true triaxial tests.