A single-stress model for the prediction of yielding of unsaturated cemented soils under isotropic loads

Abstract

This paper presents a bounding surface model predicting the combined effects of cementation and partial saturation on the mechanical behaviour of soils subjected to isotropic loading. The loss of cementation caused by loading, wetting or drying of a normally consolidated soil is described by a “cementation bonding function”. This states that, under virgin conditions, the ratio between cemented and uncemented void ratios monotonically decreases with increasing levels of scaled stress. The scaled stress is the variable governing the intrinsic behaviour of the soil under both saturated and unsaturated conditions. Combination of the cementation bounding function with a previously proposed model for unsaturated soil behaviour leads to the formulation of a “cemented unified normal compression line” (CUNCL). This describes the virgin behaviour of both cemented and uncemented soils under saturated and unsaturated conditions. Progressive yielding is modelled by assuming that the slope of the generic loading curve tends towards the slope of the CUNCL as the soil state moves from overconsolidated to virgin conditions. The model has been calibrated and validated against existing experimental data demonstrating a good ability to predict the void ratio of cemented soils during isotropic loading, unloading and wetting under both saturated and unsaturated conditions.