Extended Barcelona Basic Model for unsaturated soils under cyclic loadings

The Barcelona Basic Model (BBM) is an extension of the Cam clay model that has become popular in applications involving unsaturated soils and, in particular, in simulations using the finite element method. Partially saturated soils can be loaded in different ways, for instance, mechanically and/or hydraulically. In addition, cycles of loading and unloading can be applied. The present work introduces a modification of the BBM in order to simplify its computer implementation and also to allow the simulation of elastoplastic behaviour during cycles of both mechanical and hydraulic loading. A unique smooth yield surface is introduced and a two-yield surfaces concept is applied in order to represent the cyclic behaviour. The influence of the intermediate principal stress on the strength is also accounted for. Finally, the numerical integration (stress update) of the extended BBM is briefly discussed.