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A constitutive model for the accumulated strain of unsaturated soil under high‐cycle traffic loading
Author(s) -
Cao Zhigang,
Chen Jingyu,
Alonso Eduardo E.,
Tarragona Anna Ramon,
Cai Yuanqiang,
Gu Chuan,
Zhang Qi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal for numerical and analytical methods in geomechanics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.419
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1096-9853
pISSN - 0363-9061
DOI - 10.1002/nag.3188
Subject(s) - shakedown , geotechnical engineering , creep , aggregate (composite) , constitutive equation , suction , structural engineering , stress (linguistics) , point (geometry) , deformation (meteorology) , mathematics , engineering , materials science , finite element method , geometry , composite material , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy
The road base is normally situated above the water table and thus in unsaturated state. Experimental results show that the accumulated strains of the unsaturated road base aggregate under high‐cycle traffic loads are significantly influenced by the matric suction. To predict the accumulated strain of unsaturated road base aggregate under high‐cycle traffic loads, a constitutive model was developed based on the Barcelona Basic Model (BBM) and the shakedown concept. In this model, the shakedown and plastic creep boundaries of the aggregate under cyclic loads were supposed to exist and to have the same shape as the “static” yield surface in BBM. The strain accumulation rates were described as an exponential function of the distance between the peak cyclic stress point and the conjugated point at the current cyclic yield surface. An explicit calculation methodology was adopted to avoid large calculation errors and to improve the calculation efficiency of the model. Comparison between model predictions and testing results proved the accuracy of the proposed model, which can be used as a basic model to predict the long‐term deformation of unsaturated road base aggregate under high‐cycle traffic loads.