Study on pore fabric, dilatancy, dissipation function and yield function for sand

Abstract

Abstract The mechanical behavior of sand is affected by the anisotropic fabric. Integated with the micromechanics theory, and linked with void fabric tensor, the relations among macroscopic volumetric strain, shear strain and void fabric are established, and it is further shown that dilatancy and anisotropy under applied shear force of sand are necessarily induced. By means of thermomechanics theory, the inclined elliptical yield function in dissipation space is built, and considering the effects of anisotropic fabric, there exists three important lines, just as the normal consolidation line, phase transformation line and peak value line, and corresponding with three characteristic lines passing through the origin in true stress space which relatively truly reflect the mechanical characteristics for sand, especially dense sand.