Analytical and Numerical Modelling of Artificially Structured Soils

Abstract

The effects of lime treatment on the mechanical properties of soils are usually not accounted for in the design of geotechnical structures. As a result the potential of lime treatment has not been fully exploited. In this thesis, a comprehensive experimental program has been carried out to identity the key features of the mechanical behaviour of structured materials. The chemical modifications arising from lime treatment were quantified using thermal analysis methods. From these results a non-linear chemo-mechanical coupling was established between the concentration of cementitious compounds and the yield stress. Using these results, a new formulation to model the degradation of the structure at yield has been developed and implemented in a constitutive model for structured materials. This new model, developed in the framework of the Modified Cam Clay model, requires a limited number of additional parameters that all have a physical meaning and can all be determined from a single isotropic compression test. The model has proven to be successful in reproducing the key features of structured materials and for the modelling of the mechanical behaviour of lime treated specimens under various stress paths. Due to similarities in behaviour, it is shown that the formulation is also suitable for naturally structured soils. To account for a structured material in the design of geotechnical structures, a fully functional finite element program for elasto-plastic problems was developed including the pre- and post-processing of the results. A thorough validation has confirmed the good implementation of the finite element method and its suitability for the modelling of complex geometries involving structured materials.