Fundamental properties of soils for complex dynamic loadings. Development of a three invariant constitutive model

This study sought to develop a general soil stress-strain model which can be used to solve a wide range of soil dynamics problems. The approach used was to review existing soil constitutive models used to predict the response of soil masses to complex dynamic loads, and then formulate a new model for that purpose. Eight existing soil dynamic stress-strain models were studied. The Lade model was selected as the best point of departure for developing a new soil stress-strain model for complex dynamic loading, because of its accuracy and flexibility in representing soil stress-strain behavior, ease of parameter determination, and ease of developing intuition for parameter physical significance and accuracy. The new conic model is so called because its principal mathematical surfaces are conic sections. The computer code used to exercise all nine soil constitutive models under eleven stress and strain paths is called the Soil Element Model (SEM). It can be incorporated in large finite difference or finite element codes for analyzing the response of soil masses to complex dynamic loads. The conic model performs well over a wide range of loading conditions. The parameters are determined in a straightforward manner, and the model reflects the influence of the intermediate principal stress on shear strength through a shear failure surface involving three independent stress invariants: the first total stress invariant and the second and third deviator stress invariants.