Thermomechanical model for saturated clays

Abstract

This paper aims to simulate the thermomechanical behaviour of saturated clays in the triaxial stress space at states wetter than critical condition. A thermoelastic-plastic (TEP) mechanical model was developed under the framework of critical state soil mechanics and the modified Cam-Clay model. It consists of two parts. The first part involves an isotropic TEP model that is able to reproduce the thermally induced volume change of saturated clay specimens under normally consolidated and overconsolidated conditions. This part was introduced earlier and validated by the authors. The second part, the focus of this paper, involves extension of the isotropic TEP model into triaxial stress space. The model is simple enough to require merely a few constants more than those of the modified Cam-Clay model. The adequacy of the proposed model has been verified using the experimental results from three different types of clay reported in the literature.