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Modeling of Soil Behaviour: from Micro-Mechanical Analysis to Macroscopic Description

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Modeling and Mechanics of Granular and Porous Materials

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Abstract

The macroscopic behaviour of soil is influenced by its mi­croscopic characteristics. Elementary considerations on friction and grain interlocking lead first to the formulation of an elastic plastic model with isotropic hardening or softening. Micromechanical considerations suggest also that the flow rule should be non-associative. As a consequence, unsta­ble specimen responses, such as static liquefaction and shear banding are possible, even in the hardening regime. In order to model the behaviour in complex tests, an extended model taking induced anisotropy into account is formulated next. Further, we shall show how the time needed for rearrang­ing the internal structure under loading influences the overall response of a specimen. The introduction of a time and a length scale in the macroscopic constitutive model will also help in regularising the numerical response in initial boundary value problems. Finally some features related to the de­scription of soil behaviour at small strains and in unloading-reloading will be briefly discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, Milano, I-20133, ITALY

    Roberto Nova

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  1. Roberto Nova
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, I-56127, Italy

    Gianfranco Capriz

  2. Dipartimento di Meccanica e Materiali, Università “Mediterranea” di Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, I-89060, Italy

    Vito N. Ghionna  & Pasquale Giovine  & 

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Nova, R. (2002). Modeling of Soil Behaviour: from Micro-Mechanical Analysis to Macroscopic Description. In: Capriz, G., Ghionna, V.N., Giovine, P. (eds) Modeling and Mechanics of Granular and Porous Materials. Modeling and Simulation in Science, Engineering and Technology. Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0079-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0079-6_4

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-6603-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-0079-6

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