Course overview
This course aims to develop an advanced understanding of constitutive modelling in geotechnical engineering, from stress states and laboratory characterisation through Critical State Soil Mechanics (CSSM), yield functions, and plasticity theory, to the formulation, calibration, and extension of constitutive models such as Cam-Clay, SANISAND, and advanced frameworks including EST and ACST.
- Fundamentals of Soil Behaviour and Critical State Soil Mechanics
- Concept of constitutive laws
- Advanced Modelling and Extensions
Course learning outcomes
- Analyse and represent density and stress states in soil, using concepts such as void ratio, stress tensor, principal stresses and directions, and stress invariants.
- Interpret results from standard geotechnical laboratory tests (e.g., triaxial and direct shear) to identify key soil behaviour characteristics and their significance for constitutive modelling.
- Apply the framework of Critical State Soil Mechanics (CSSM), including the critical state line and state parameter, to explain and predict soil behaviour patterns under different drainage and loading conditions.
- Explain and compare constitutive laws of soil behaviour, including elasticity, yield criteria, flow (stress–dilatancy) rules, and plastic hardening/softening, and justify the use of suitable formulations for different soils.
- Formulate the essential components of constitutive models for soils, including elasticity, yield criteria, flow rules, and hardening laws, and implement them within frameworks such as Cam-Clay and bounding surface plasticity.
- Evaluate and calibrate constitutive models against experimental data and extend them to incorporate effects of fines content, fabric evolution and anisotropy, through advanced frameworks such as Equivalent State Theory (EST) and Anisotropic Critical State Theory (ACST).