Multi-laminate non-coaxial modelling of anisotropic sand behavior through damage formulation

A modified multi-laminate model, to predict non-coaxiality in anisotropic sand, is proposed in this paper. The model can easily be extended to other geo-materials only with implementing some minor provisions. To consider anisotropy of sand, two ellipsoids are utilized to summarize shear and compressive stiffness of material in different directions. Damage concept is used to take into account degradation of material through loading procedure. Ellipsoid of rigidity factors is being changed in both size and dimension, under applied strain path. Variation of ellipsoids results in change of stiffness distribution over different planes. In other words, fabric evolution in material is considered through variation of ellipsoids of rigidity factors. A simple rule is proposed for shear stress-strain relationship in loading-unloading and reloading, which captures most of the natural characteristics of sand behavior. In multi-laminate models, depending on stiffness distribution over sampling planes, stress and strain are not coaxial essentially. To achieve better results, non-coaxiality of shear stress and strain on sampling planes is considered by applying vector field concept. Shear stress in different directions of a sampling plane is considered as a vector field. This field is obtained from strain field, considering shear stiffness in various orientations. The model parameters are calibrated using uniaxial compressive test data in different directions, with respect to bedding plane on an anisotropic sand sample. To investigate capability of the model to predict non-coaxiality, results of the model are compared to experimental results obtained from pure principal stress rotation. Ultimately, good accuracy is observed in results.