Incremental constitutive law for sands and clays: Simulations of monotonic and cyclic tests

Abstract

Abstract An incremental formulation of constitutive laws is first presented and the fundamental notion of incremental non‐linearity, necessary for the description of cyclic behaviour of soils, is emphasized. The incremental constitutive law for soils and its principal assumptions, which make it more general than the classical elastic–plastic models are detailed. The constitutive parameters of Hostun sand and Grundite clay are then given, as well as a comparison of theoretical results with experimental axisymmetrical and true triaxial measurements (Hostun sand tests at Grenoble and Grundite clay tests at Berkeley). Different cyclic behaviour simulations are presented, as well as an example of cyclic liquefaction of Monterey loose sand. Finally, a simple shear test is simulated.