A unified plasticity model for cyclic behaviour of clay and sand

This paper presents the development and an experimental evaluation of a simple unified bounding surface plasticity theory for modelling the stress–strain behaviour of sand and clay under both drained and undrained cyclic loading conditions. The model concerned is called CASM-c, which is based on the unified critical state model CASM developed by Yu [Yu, H.S., 1995. A unified critical state model for clay and sand. Civil Engineering Research Report No. 112.08.1995. University of Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia; Yu, H.S., 1998. CASM: a unified state parameter model for clay and sand. International Journal of Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 22, 621–653]. CASM is a relatively simple model as it only requires seven model constants, five of which are the same as those used in the modified Cam-clay model. All these constants have clear physical meanings and may be easily determined from the results of triaxial tests. A key advantage of CASM over many other existing critical state models lies on its simplicity and unified nature as it can model the behaviour of both clay and sand.The extension of the model CASM presented in this paper consists of adopting the bounding surface plasticity theory and treating the reloading and unloading processes differently when calculating the hardening modulus. As a result, a smooth transition of stiffness and gradual accumulation of permanent strain and/or pore pressure in unload–reload cycles as well as the hysteretic behaviour can be reproduced. The results of model simulations show an encouraging agreement with experimental data from triaxial tests subjected to both one-way and two-way cyclic loading conditions.