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Volume change behaviour of saturated clays under drained heating conditions:

Experimental results and constitutive modeling

Article  in  Canadian Geotechnical Journal · August 2007

DOI: 10.1139/t07-031

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942

Volume change behaviour of saturated clays

under drained heating conditions: experimental
results and constitutive modeling
H.M. Abuel-Naga, D.T. Bergado, A. Bouazza, and G.V. Ramana

Abstract: One of the essential features of thermomechanical behaviour of saturated fine-grained soils is the thermally induced
volume change occurring under a drained heating condition. In this study, a modified oedometer apparatus, able to handle tem-
peratures up to 100 8C, was used to investigate the thermally induced volume change behaviour of soft Bangkok clay. The re-
sults of this experimental study provide additional experimental evidence and insights that may enhance the understanding of
volume change behaviour of saturated clays at elevated temperatures. This paper also introduces an isotropic thermoelastoplas-
tic constitutive model that closely predicts the thermally induced volume change behaviour of saturated clay specimens under
normally consolidated conditions as well as overconsolidated conditions obtained by unloading process in the temperature
range of 20–95 8C. Two yield limits, namely: loading yield limit and thermal yield limit, each of which can be measured from
simple experimental results, are proposed to capture the volumetric plastic strain behaviour induced either by mechanical or
thermal loading (or any combination thereof). The capability of the proposed model has been verified against experimental re-
sults obtained on soft Bangkok clay as well as on two other clays (Boom clay and MC clay) as reported in the literature.
Key words: thermomechanics, volume change, yielding, thermoplasticity, clays, modeling.
Résumé : Une des caractéristiques essentielles du comportement thermomécanique des sols saturés à grains fins est le
changement de volume induit par les variations thermiques se produisant dans un condition de réchauffement drainée.
Dans cette étude, on a utilisé un appareil oedométrique modifié pouvant tolérer des températures jusqu’à 100 8C pour étu-
dier le comportement du changement de volume induit par des variations thermiques de l’argile de Bangkok. Les résultats
de cette étude expérimentale fournit une évidence expérimentale additionnelle et des éclaircissements qui peuvent amélio-
rer la connaissance du comportement à des températures élevées du changement de volume des argiles saturées. Cet article
introduit également un modèle de comportement isotrope thermoélastoplastique qui prédit de près le comportement en
changement de volume induit par des variations thermiques de spécimens d’argile saturée sous des conditions normalement
consolidées de même que surconsolidées obtenues durant le processus de déchargement sous des températures de 20 8C à
95 8C. On propose deux limites élastiques, nommément : la limite élastique en chargement et la limite élastique thermique,
chacune pouvant être mesurée en partant d’essais expérimentaux simples pour capter le comportement de déformation vo-
lumétrique plastique induit soit par chargement mécanique ou par chargement thermique (ou quelle qu’autre combinaison).
Le potentiel du modèle proposé a été vérifié par les résultats expérimentaux obtenus sur l’argile molle de Bangkok de
même que sur deux autres argiles (argile de Boom et l’argile MC) comme en fait foi la littérature.
Mots-clés : thermomécanique, changement de volume, déformation élastique, thermoplasticité, argiles, modélisation.
[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Introduction clay; Boom clay; Pasquasia clay; Spanish clays) by Houston

The thermomechanical behaviour of clays has been investi-
gated over the past two decades primarily because of in-
creased interest in using clay (bentonite) as a barrier material
in nuclear waste disposal facilities. In this respect, extensive
experimental work has been carried out on the thermohydro-
mechanical behaviour of some deep clays (e.g., Pacific Ocean
et al. (1985), Baldi et al. (1988), Hueckel and Baldi (1990),
Del Olmo et al. (1996), and Hueckel and Pellegrini (2002) to
investigate their response as a host geological formation for
radioactive waste disposal. Towhata et al. (1993), Lingnau et
al. (1995), Tanaka et al. (1997), and Cekerevac and Laloui
(2004) studied the thermomechanical behaviour of artificial
clays to evaluate their performance as buffers for nuclear

Received 17 August 2005. Accepted 19 March 2007. Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at cgj.nrc.ca on 18 September
2007.
H.M. Abuel-Naga and A. Bouazza. Department of Civil Engineering, Building 60, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3800,
Australia.
D.T. Bergado.1 Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box
4, Khlong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
G.V. Ramana. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110 016, India.
1Corresponding author (e-mail: bergado@ait.ac.th).

Can. Geotech. J. 44: 942–956 (2007) doi:10.1139/T07-031 # 2007 NRC Canada

Abuel-Naga et al.
waste containers. These studies have conclusively shown that
the volumetric change of saturated fine-grained soils sub-
jected to temperatures less than the boiling point of water
(100 8C) depend on the stress history. A thorough review of
this fundamental mechanistic behaviour has been presented
by Laloui (2001). Recently, Abuel-Naga et al. (2006) intro-
duced a new application for the thermomechanics of soils in
ground improvement. An extensive study was conducted to
investigate the validity and efficiency of an innovative ther-
mal technique capable of enhancing the performance of pre-
fabricated vertical drains in soft Bangkok clay with a view
towards improving its strength and hydraulics properties.
Thermomechanical models, which reproduce most of the
observed behaviour of the saturated clays at increased temper-
atures, have been developed by several researchers. Hueckel
and Borsetto (1990) developed one of the first thermomechan-
ical constitutive models by modifying the well-known Cam-
Clay model to take into account thermoelastoplastic (TEP)
behaviour. They employed the thermal evolution of the yield
limit at constant plastic strain condition to model the irrever-
sible effect induced by temperature. Robinet et al. (1996) sub-
sequently modified this model by attributing the thermal
evolution of the yield limit to irreversible expansion thermal
strain. Cui et al. (2000) added a volumetric thermal plastic
mechanism, within the framework proposed by Hueckel and
Borsetto, to predict thermal plastic strain at overconsolidated
state. Graham et al. (2001) also introduced a nonisothermal
modified Cam-Clay model within the framework of Hueckel
and Borsetto. Laloui and Cekerevac (2003) developed a ther-
moplastic model, based on multisurface plasticity, wherein a
one-parameter equation is used to capture the thermal evolu-
tion of the preconsolidation pressure. In addition, some ther-
momechanical constitutive models consider the effect of
temperature on viscous behaviour and cyclic loading. Laloui
(1993), and Modaressi and Laloui (1992, 1997) proposed cy-
clic thermoviscoelastoplastic constitutive models.
The present research consists of two parts. The first part
addresses the results of a well designed experimental study
conducted on soft Bangkok clay to investigate temperature
induced volumetric behaviour using a modified oedometer,
which can handle temperatures up to 100 8C. The testing
equipment, test specimen, and experimental program are de-
scribed in detail, and the experimental results are presented
and discussed. In the second part, an isotropic thermoelastic-
plastic constitutive model is proposed, which reproduces the
experimentally observed thermally induced volume change
behaviour of saturated clays in the temperature range of 20–
95 8C. The model is original in that it is able to simulate the
thermally induced irreversible volumetric compressive be-
haviour at low overconsolidation stress ratios obtained by
an unloading process using few model parameters. The ad-
equacy of the proposed model is verified using the test re-
sults obtained in soft Bangkok clay and two other clays as
reported in the literature, namely: Boom clay (Baldi et al.
1991), and MC clay (Towhata et al. 1993).
Test equipment
The modified oedometer (Fig. 1) used in the present study
consists of a conventional oedometer apparatus, a ring
heater that is attached to the outer oedometer ring, a K-type
943
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the modified oedometer apparatus.
thermocouple, a water tank, and a thermocontroller unit with
an accuracy of ±0.1 8C. The temperature of the consolida-
tion specimen is increased indirectly by heating the water in
the annular space between the outer ring of the oedometer
and the specimen ring. A K-type thermocouple placed in
the oedometer annulus space (to avoid specimen disturb-
ance) is used for temperature measurements and as the feed-
back signal for the thermocontroller unit. Calibration tests,
using two thermocouples installed in the center of the speci-
men and in the annular space, showed that the time to attain
the required temperature increase at the center of the consol-
idation specimen was ~25 min as illustrated in Fig. 2.
The thermal deformation of the oedometer apparatus due
to the nonisothermal test conditions was calibrated. The
thermal vertical dilatation of the oedometer apparatus was
measured at different stress levels and used to correct the
measured readings under nonisothermal conditions during
actual tests. In addition, the diametrical strain of the oedom-
eter ring was measured at different temperature levels. The
constant volume assumption was then used to express the
thermal diametrical expansion in an equivalent vertical de-
formation. Taking into consideration the effect of soil par-
ticle dilation, the calculated error in the void ratio due to
the thermal diametrical strain of the oedometer ring was
found to be insignificant. Similar conclusions were reported
by Towhata et al. (1995) and Romero et al. (2003) when
performing nonisothermal oedometric consolidation tests.
Test specimen and experimental program
Natural soft Bangkok clay, obtained from 3.0 to 4.0 m
depth, was used in this study. Table 1 shows its physical
properties. The mineralogical composition as reported by
Ohtsubo et al. (2000) using X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows
that soft Bangkok clay consists of smectite (montmorillonite
and illite) ranging from 54% to 71% with kaolinite (28% to
36%) and minor mica.
The objective of the experimental work was to investigate
the volumetric change and consolidation behaviour of soft
Bangkok clay under elevated temperatures from an ambient
# 2007 NRC Canada
944
Fig. 2. Temperature change of hot water in the annular space of the
oedometer apparatus and the soil sample during heating.
soil specimen temperature of 22 8C. Thus, two types of ther-
momechanical loading paths were adopted. The first path,
referred to as the thermal loading path, involved changing
the soil temperature at constant stress condition to obtain
the soil response as a function of temperature. To investigate
the thermally induced volume change at different stress con-
ditions when subjected to cyclic temperature (22 to 90 to
22 8C), 12 specimens with different preconsolidation pres-
sures (100, 200, 300 kPa) and overconsolidation ratios (1,
2, 4, 8) were tested under a thermal loading path. The over-
consolidated specimens were obtained by unloading the soil
specimen from its normally consolidated state. Moreover, to
study thermally induced overconsolidation behaviour at dif-
ferent temperature cycles and stress levels, nine normally
consolidated specimens at different preconsolidation pres-
sures (100, 200, 300 kPa) were subjected to different tem-
perature cycle levels (22 to 50 to 22 8C, 22 to 70 to 22 8C,
22 to 90 to 22 8C) before increasing their consolidation
pressure incrementally to determine the effect of tempera-
ture cycling on the preconsolidation pressure.
The second path, referred to as the isothermal mechanical
loading path, involved application of a mechanical load to
clay specimens at constant elevated temperature to investi-
gate the thermal behaviour of the consolidation curve. This
path brings out the effect of temperature on the preconsoli-
dation pressure, size of the elastic domain, and the slopes of
both the compression and the swelling lines. Eight overcon-
solidated specimens (overconsolidation ratio (OCR) is equal
to 12) at different ambient preconsolidation pressures (100,
200 kPa) and temperature levels (22, 50, 70, 90 8C) were
tested using this path. The mechanical consolidation pres-
sure was increased up to 2–3 times that of the ambient pre-
consolidation pressure.
During the drained heating phase of the different experi-
ments, there should be no temperature induced excess pore
pressure. This can be achieved by using either of two meth-
ods: the first involving application of a very low heating
rate under computer controlled zero pore pressure condition
(Del Olmo et al. 1996); and the second involving raising the
temperature incrementally until the volume change under
the current temperature is stabilized (Towhata et al. 1993;
Delage et al. 2000). The second approach has been adopted
in this study.
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 44, 2007
Table 1. Physical properties of soft Bangkok clay.
Liquid limit (%) 103
PI 60
Water content (%) 90–95
Liquidity index 0.62
Grain size distribution
Clay (%) 69
Silt (%) 28
Sand (%) 3
Total unit weight (kN/m3) 14.3
Dry unit weight (kN/m3) 7.73
Specific gravity 2.68
Specific surface area (m2/g)* 237
*Estimated using the empirical relationship of Chapuis and
Aubertin (2003).
Experimental results and discussion
Thermally induced volume change
The thermally induced volumetric strain of soft Bangkok
clay specimens is shown in Fig. 3. The specimens were con-
solidated under a vertical stress equal to 200 kPa and un-
loaded to different stress histories (OCR = 1, 2, 4, 8) prior
to the application of a drained incremental heating–cooling
cycle of 22 to 90 to 22 8C. In terms of volumetric strains,
the normally consolidated clays contracted irreversibly and
nonlinearly upon heating, whereas the highly overconsoli-
dated clays exhibited reversible expansion. The effect of
stress history on the thermally induced volume change at
constant elevated temperatures is depicted in Fig. 4 for the
clay with a preconsolidation pressure of 100 kPa. It can be
seen that with increasing OCR, the magnitude of the ther-
mally induced contraction volumetric strain decreased and
then gradually started to show a dilative behaviour beyond
a certain OCR value. Similar behaviour has been reported
by Del Olmo et al. (1996) for three deep clays, namely;
Boom clay, Pasquasia clay, and Spanish clay. Figure 5
compares the temperature induced volumetric strain with
the plasticity index (PI) of different types of normally con-
solidated clays that were subjected to temperature change,

T & 65–70 8C. For the soft Bangkok clay with a PI of
60, the measured volumetric strain of approximately 6% is
in line with the reported trend. The thermally induced
changes in void ratio at different overconsolidation ratios
and preconsolidation pressures are shown in Fig. 6. Based
on the results obtained it can be postulated that thermally
induced void ratio changes are independent of the magni-
tude of the applied stress.
Thermally induced overconsolidation behaviour
The thermally induced overconsolidation behaviour of the
normally consolidated soft Bangkok clay specimen under
100 kPa vertical effective stress, following a drained heating–
cooling cycle of 22 to 90 to 22 8C, is depicted in Fig. 7a.
The result shows that subjecting a normally consolidated
specimen to a heating–cooling cycle induces an apparent
overconsolidation state; consequently, further loading will
be required to reach the yielding mode again. Figure 7b
shows the temperature induced overconsolidation behaviour
# 2007 NRC Canada
Abuel-Naga et al.
Fig. 3. Thermally induced volumetric strain of soft Bangkok clay;
preconsolidation pressure is equal to 200 kPa.
of the normally consolidated specimens under different ver-
tical effective stress levels of 100, 200, and 300 kPa and
subjected to different temperature cycle levels of 22 to 50
to 22 8C, 22 to 70 to 22 8C, and 22 to 90 to 22 8C. Based
on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the ther-
mally induced overconsolidation behaviour is independent
of the magnitude of the applied vertical effective stress.
Isothermal consolidation at different temperatures
The consolidation curves of overconsolidated soft Bang-
kok clay specimens at different elevated temperatures (22,
70 8C) are plotted in Fig. 8. The specimens were consoli-
dated under 200 kPa and then unloaded to OCR = 10 at
room temperature conditions, after which they were reloaded
incrementally at designated temperatures. The results reveal
that at elevated temperatures, the compression line of soft
Bangkok clay shifts to the left with approximately similar
slope ð
Þ, and the slope of the swelling line ðÞ in the lightly
945
Fig. 4. (a) Effect of OCR on the thermally induced volumetric
strain of soft Bangkok clay. (b) Detailed results at high OCR va-
lues.
overconsolidated zone changes. However, it should be noted
that the preconsolidation pressure is not affected.
The thermal behaviour of the compression line denotes
the reduction of the elastic zone at elevated temperatures.
This behaviour can conveniently be expressed through the
thermal evolution of the preconsolidation pressure at con-
stant plastic strain condition, as shown in Fig. 9, where the
swelling line ðÞ represents the constant plastic strain condi-
tion in the e – log(p) plane. Figure 10a shows the thermal
evolution of preconsolidation pressure, pc(T), of soft Bang-
kok clay at constant plastic strain condition of specimens
tested with different ambient preconsolidation pressures
(100, 200 kPa). Normalization of the results to the ambient
preconsolidation pressure (pc(To)) shows that the thermal
evolution behaviour of preconsolidation pressure at constant
plastic strain can be considered to be independent of stress
level (Fig. 10b).
Constitutive modeling of thermomechanical
volumetric strain
This section presents an isotropic constitutive TEP model
that is able to reproduce thermally induced volume changes
of saturated clay specimens under both normally consoli-
dated and overconsolidated conditions, obtained by an un-
loading process, in the temperature range of 20–95 8C. The
proposed model decomposes the volumetric strain, "v , into
two components, namely: a reversible component of strain,
"ev , and an irreversible component of strain, "pv . Both types
# 2007 NRC Canada
946
Fig. 5. Plasticity index of soil and temperature induced volumetric
strain of different normally consolidated clays (
T & 65–70 8C,
To & 20–25 8C).
of strains can be induced either by mechanical loading or
thermal loading. Estimation of each strain component based
on the proposed TEP model is discussed in the following
sections.
Modeling of thermomechanical elastic
volumetric strain
Previous researchers (Hueckel and Borsetto 1990; Cui et
al. 2000; Laloui and Cekerevac 2003) interpreted the volu-
metric compressive strain due to cooling and the expansive
volumetric strain due to the heating process as thermal elastic
behaviour. Moreover, test results of highly overconsolidated
specimens during drained heating exhibited nonlinear elastic
expansive volumetric strain behaviour (Baldi et al. 1988;
Towhata et al. 1993; Robinet et al. 1996). To take this into
account, a simple nonlinear form has been adopted to express
the incremental elastic volumetric strain (d"eT
v ) due to ther-
mal load as follows:
dT
½1
d"eT
v ¼ 
T theory a thermomechanical elastic zone must be defined.
where  is the drained volumetric thermal expansion coeffi-
cient of clay, which can be determined using a back calcula-
tion technique (eq. [1]). The thermally induced volume
change results of highly overconsolidated specimens and cy-
cles of heating and cooling of a normally consolidated clay
(second cycle and onward) can be used in this process.
Hueckel and Borsetto (1990) and Laloui (1993) have shown
that the drained volumetric thermal expansion coefficient is
a function of effective stress. The coefficient  for soft
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 44, 2007
Fig. 6. Effect of stress level on thermally induced void ratio
changes for soft Bangkok clay at different OCR values.
Bangkok clay and two other clay types reported in the lit-
erature was determined at different stress levels, as shown
in Fig. 11. The results indicated that the effect of stress
level on the drained thermal expansion coefficient can be
expressed using the following relation:
d dp
½2
¼b
 p
where b is a soil parameter that is a function of the micro-
scopic and mineralogical configuration of the tested clay.
On the other hand, the incremental volumetric elastic strain
(d"eL
v ) due to mechanical loading can be estimated using the
classical Cam-Clay model form as follows:


eL  dp
½3
d"v ¼
1 þ eo p
where eo and  are the initial void ratio and the slope of the
swelling line, respectively.
Thermomechanical plastic volumetric
mechanism
The classical plastic constitutive model requires the exis-
tence of a mechanical loading elastic zone, within which
only purely elastic strains can be generated. To include the
temperature effect in the framework of the elastic–plastic
This zone corresponds to the space where any change in the
soil temperature or the effective stress or both, inside it, will
induce only elastic strain. The thermoplastic constitutive
models of Hueckel and Borsetto (1990) and Robinet et al.
(1996) defined the thermomechanical elastic domain using
the thermal evolution of preconsolidation pressure at con-
stant plastic strain condition. Therefore, at constant stress
condition, these thermoplastic models induce reversible
volumetric strain for any thermal path located within the
# 2007 NRC Canada
Abuel-Naga et al.
Fig. 7. (a) Effect of temperature cycling on the overconsolidation
value of a normally consolidated specimen at a preconsolidation
pressure of 100 kPa. (b) Thermally induced overconsolidation be-
haviour of normally consolidated soft Bangkok clay at different
stress and cyclic temperature levels.
proposed thermal elastic domain. Subsequently, irreversible
volumetric strain is induced when the thermal path becomes
totally or partially outside the thermally elastic zone, due to
the strain hardening behaviour to keep the stress point ad-
missible as per the theory of plasticity.
Cui et al. (2000) have shown that the thermal evolution of
preconsolidation pressure at constant plastic strain does not
sufficiently describe the thermal elastic domain of Boom
clay. The experimental results on soft Bangkok clay also at-
test to this fact. The irreversible thermally induced volumet-
ric compressive strain at OCR = 2 as shown in Fig. 3b
cannot be explained by the thermomechanical elastic domain
as depicted in Fig. 10b since its thermal path (22–90 8C) is
completely inside the proposed thermal elastic domain. Con-
sequently, the expected temperature induced volume change
should be reversible. To overcome this difficulty, Cui et al.
947
Fig. 8. Consolidation curve of soft Bangkok clay at different tem-
peratures (preconsolidation pressure at ambient temperature is
200 kPa).
Fig. 9. Determination of the thermal evolution of the elastic zone at
constant plastic strain condition. NCL, normal consolidation line.
(2000) suggested the existence of another yield limit within
the conventional yield limit domain. The proposed new
yield limit was referred to as the thermal yield limit (TY)
while the conventional yield limit is referred to as the load-
ing yield limit (LY). A similar approach was adopted in this
study. However, as demonstrated in the following sections,
different concepts with less soil parameters were used.
Thermal yield limit
Experimental results reported by different researchers on
different types of saturated clays show that the thermally in-
duced volumetric strain at a constant elevated temperature de-
pends primarily on the stress history (OCR) as shown in
Figs. 4 and 12. As the soil changes from the normally consoli-
dated state to the overconsolidated state, the thermally induced
contractive volumetric strain keeps decreasing and beyond a
certain OCR value it exhibits dilative behaviour. Hueckel and
Baldi (1990) interpreted the thermally induced volumetric
strain as thermoelastic when it is dilative or thermoplastic
when it is contractive. Thus, the results plotted in the "Tv –OCR
plane can be used to detect the TY at different elevated tem-
# 2007 NRC Canada
948 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 44, 2007

Fig. 10. Thermal evolution of the preconsolidation pressure at con- Fig. 11. Effect of stress level on the drained volumetric thermal
stant plastic strain condition: (a) test results of different ambient expansion coefficient.
preconsolidation pressure; and (b) normalization with ambient pre-
consolidation pressure for soft Bangkok clay.

Fig. 12. Effect of OCR on the temperature induced volume change

for different types of clay from the literature.

peratures as shown in Fig. 13a. The OCR value at the intersec-

tion point of the two linear parts of the "Tv –OCR curve indi-
cates the stress condition that separates the thermoelastic
behaviour from TEP behaviour at certain elevated tempera-
tures. The OCR value at this point is equal to (pc(To)/pT(T)),
where pc(To) is the mechanical loading preconsolidation pres-
sure at room temperature (To), and pT(T) is the TY at elevated
temperature (T). Detecting pT at different elevated tempera-
tures (e.g., T1, T2, etc.,) will determine the evolution of the TY
with temperature as shown in Fig. 13b.
The TYs of soft Bangkok clay and two other clay types
reported in the literature have been detected using the pro-
posed method as shown in Fig. 14. The results show that
the proposed TY shrinks with the heating process. More-
over, at room temperature, the results also indicated that the
proposed TY coincides with the LY (pc(To) = pT(To)). The
# 2007 NRC Canada
Abuel-Naga et al. 949

Fig. 13. Determination of the thermal yield limit at different tem- Fig. 14. Thermal yield limit for different clays at elevated tempera-
perature levels. tures.

evolution of the TY can be expressed as a nonlinear func-

tion with only one modeling parameter as follows:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

ffi
pc ðTo Þ TY T
½4
¼ ln þ1
pT ðTÞ To

where  TY is the evolution parameter depending on soil

type. Figure 14 shows an excellent agreement between the
proposed equation and the experimental results for different
types of clay. Figure 15 depicts the evolution of the TY at
different values of TY .

Loading yield limit

The LY expresses the conventional yield limit, which can
be determined using the classical preconsolidation pressure
concept. The preconsolidation pressure of soft Bangkok
clay shows temperature independency during a heating
phase, as shown in Fig. 8, and shows apparent increase dur-
ing a cooling phase as shown in Fig. 7. The temperature in- temperatures up to 20–25 8C; above this temperature level
dependent behaviour during the heating phase is supported the preconsolidation pressure is approximately constant and
by the previous experimental results reported by Eriksson independent of temperature as shown in Fig. 16.
(1989), Boudali et al. (1994), and Moritz (1995), which On the other hand, at constant plastic condition, the pre-
show a decrease in preconsolidation pressure with increasing consolidation pressure decreases as the soil temperature in-
# 2007 NRC Canada
950 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 44, 2007

Fig. 15. Evolution of thermal yield limit with temperature for dif- Fig. 17. Thermal evolution of preconsolidation pressure at constant
ferent values of  TY . plastic strain condition for different types of clay.

Fig. 16. Thermal evolution of yield limit (preconsolidation pres-

sure).

ures 10b and 17 show reasonable agreement between the ex-

creases as shown in Fig. 10. The nonlinear form introduced
by Laloui and Cekerevac (2003) to simulate the thermal
evolution of preconsolidation pressure was used in this study
to express the thermal evolution of preconsolidation pressure
at constant plastic condition as follows:


pc ðTÞ LY T strain condition under either heating or cooling processes.
½5
¼1 log
pc ðTo Þ To
where pc(To) and pc(T) are the preconsolidation pressure at
room temperature (To) and at the tested temperature (T), re-
spectively, at constant plastic strain condition. The term  LY
is the model parameter that depends on the soil type. Fig-
perimental and the predicted results, using eq. [5], for soft
Bangkok clay and two other clay types reported in the lit-
erature, respectively. Moreover, eq. [5] also shows accepta-
ble performance for predicting the thermally induced
overconsolidation behaviour of soft Bangkok clay, as shown
in Fig. 7b. Therefore, eq. [5] can be used to predict the ther-
mal evolution of preconsolidation pressure at constant plastic
Modeling of thermomechanical plastic
volumetric strain
Since the experimental evidence shows the existence of
two yield limits (LY and TY), two plastic volumetric mech-
# 2007 NRC Canada
Abuel-Naga et al. 951

anisms are required to express the plastic volumetric behav- Fig. 18. Conceptual scheme of the proposed thermomechanical
iour at elevated temperatures. Iwan (1967) introduced a one- plastic model
dimensional series–parallel plastic model that involves mul-
tiplastic volumetric mechanisms. It consists of a number of
plastic units, N, in series combination. Each plastic unit con-
sists of a slip element with sliding resistance force, Fi , (rep-
resenting yield limit), and a perfectly elastic spring element
with modulus, Ei, (representing hardening behaviour) in a
parallel arrangement. Then, upon loading up to F, the plastic
strain of each unit, "i can be estimated as follows:
½6
"i ¼ 0:0 0  F  F i ði ¼ 1; 2; . . . NÞ

F  Fi
½7
"i ¼ F  Fi
Ei
The proposed thermoplastic model was formulated under
the framework of the model developed by Iwan (1967).
Two plastic units were employed, as shown in Fig. 18,
where their sliding resistance and elastic modulus are tem-
perature dependent. The first unit represents the plastic
mechanism generated by LY (pc) while the second unit rep-
resents the plastic mechanism generated by TY (pT). The
proposed thermoplastic model was developed in a stress–
strain relationship rather than a force–strain relationship as
presented earlier in eqs. [6] and [7].
The two yield limits for the isotropic consolidation condi-
tion can simply be expressed as
the thermal evolution of the preconsolidation pressure at
½8
f LY ¼ p  pc ¼ 0 constant plastic strain condition (eq. [5]) as follows:
 

 pc ðTo Þ
½12
ð"Tp Þ ¼ ln
½9
f TY ¼ p  pT ¼ 0 v NC
1 þ e0 pc ðTÞ
where f LY and f TY are the LYs and the TYs, respectively, where pc(To) and pc(T) are the preconsolidation pressure at
and p is the effective mean stress. The terms pc and pT are room temperature and at an elevated temperature, respec-
the loading and thermal preconsolidation pressures, respec- tively.
tively. In the following sections, the mechanism of each At room temperature, eq. [11] yields !T ¼ 0:0 since
plastic unit will be explained. eq. [12] results in ð"Tp
v ÞNC ¼ 0:0. Consequently, at room tem-
perature, the enlargement of the TY as the mechanical load
TY plastic mechanism increases will not induce additional plastic volumetric strains.
The thermal evolution of TY limit, pT, was expressed by Therefore, the plastic hardening modulus of the proposed TY,
eq. [4]. It can generate plastic volumetric strain when it is !T , is a function of the thermal evolution parameter of LY
attained either by mechanical loading, thermal loading, or a and TY, as well as of the temperature change and is given by
combination of both. Therefore, the incremental plastic
strain that can be generated due to the hardening of the TY, ½13
!T ¼ f ð LY ; TY ;
TÞ
ð_" pv ÞTY , can be expressed as follows:

TY 

@f @f TY _ @f TY LY plastic mechanism
½10
ð_" pv ÞTY ¼ p_ þ T = The experimental evidence shows that within the temper-
@p @T @ð"pv ÞTY
ature range of 20–90 8C the preconsolidation pressure, pc, is
At a certain temperature level T, the slope of the "Tv –OCR not affected by heating whereas it increases at constant plas-
curve in the contraction zone, as shown in Fig. 13, expresses tic strain condition during cooling according to eq. [5].
the hardening of the TY at this temperature. Therefore, the Therefore, it can only generate plastic volumetric strain
plastic hardening modulus of TY, !T , at elevated tempera- when the applied mechanical stress exceeds its limit accord-
ture T, can be determined as follows: ing to the following expression:

LY   
ð"Tp
v ÞNC _p @f @f LY
½11
!T ¼ ð1 þ e0 Þ ½14
ð_" v ÞLY ¼ p_ =
ln½pc ðTo Þ=pT ðTÞ
@p @ð"pv ÞLY
where ð"Tpv ÞNC is the thermally induced plastic volumetric Since the slope of the compression line is temperature inde-
strain at normally consolidated state caused by raising the pendent (Fig. 8), and the change in the slope of the swelling
soil temperature from To to T. It can be determined using line in the low overconsolidated stress zone can be attributed
# 2007 NRC Canada
952 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 44, 2007

Fig. 19. Mechanism of the proposed constitutive model at different stress–temperature paths.

to the existence of the second volumetric plastic mechanism At room temperature, the proposed TY and LY coincide
(TY) at elevated temperature, the plastic hardening modulus as shown in Fig. 14. The soil specimen will experience plas-
of the LY,
T , can be expressed, taking into consideration the tic strain only when the applied stress exceeds the LY as
coupled yielding process of the TY and LY limits, as follows: shown in Figs. 19b and 19d (stress point p2, path HABC).
In fact, both yield limits (LY and TY) are going to expand
½15

T ¼
 ð þ !T Þ together when the applied stress exceeds the LY at point B.
However, the enlargement of the TY at room temperature
will not generate plastic strain since the associated harden-
Mechanism of the proposed model at ing modulus is equal to zero (eq. [11]).
different stress–temperature paths At constant stress condition, as the temperature increases,
In summary, the thermomechanical elastic and plastic the TY will contract as per eq. [4] whereas the LY will not
volumetric strain due to the change in mechanical and (or) be affected since it was considered to be temperature inde-
thermal load can be determined using the proposed model pendent during heating within the temperature range of 20–
as follows: 95 8C. The behaviour of the thermally induced volume
change depends mainly on the stress condition. At stress

 point p2 (Fig. 19b), as the temperature increases from To to
e  dp dT
½16
d"v ¼ þ T1 (path HI), the stress–temperature state is still inside the
1 þ eo p T
TY. Therefore, only elastic expansive thermal volumetric
  strain will be induced (eq. [16]) as shown in Fig. 19a. On
1 dpc dpT the other hand, the stress point p1 (Fig. 19b) shows thermal
½17
d"pv ¼ ½
 ð þ !T Þ
þ ð!T Þ
1 þ eo pc pT expansion volumetric strain (thermoelastic behaviour) upon
heating until Te-p (path AD, Fig. 19c). The term Te-p indi-
# 2007 NRC Canada
Abuel-Naga et al. 953

cates the temperature at which the soil undergoes volumetric Fig. 20. Mechanism of the proposed model to simulate the ther-
plastic strain upon further heating. As soil temperature in- mally induced overconsolidation state.
creases more than Te-p (path DE, Fig. 19b), the TY will con-
tract causing hardening to maintain the TY at stress point
(p1). Consequently, plastic thermally induced contractive
volumetric strain will be generated as shown in Fig. 19c.
Such expansive–contractive thermally induced volumetric
strain behaviour of the lightly overconsolidated clay speci-
men has also been observed by Cui et al. (2000).
The isothermal stress path behaviour at elevated tempera-
tures observed for soft Bangkok clay in Fig. 8 can also be
simulated by the proposed constitutive model. Increasing
the mechanical stress at elevated temperature T1 (Fig. 19b
and 19d, path IJFG), induces elastic volumetric strain
(eq. [16]) until the mechanical loading attains the TY (pT1)
at point J. When the mechanical stress exceeds pT1, plastic
volumetric strain is generated due to the hardening of TY
until it attains LY at point F. Increasing mechanical stress
beyond this point induces plastic volumetric strain due to
the hardening of both yield limits, TY and LY (eq. [17]).
The thermally induced overconsolidation state is also cap-
tured by the proposed model. Consider stress point p1, which
has lightly overconsolidation state at room temperature
(Fig. 20a). Under a heating phase, the TY contracts as the
soil temperature increases from To to T2 as shown in
Fig. 20a. Consequently, plastic volumetric strain is induced
due to the hardening of TY from A to B (Fig. 20a). Under
a cooling phase, TY expands inside the LY domain accord-
ing to eq. [4] until it reaches the LY position at T = T1 as
shown in Fig. 20b. At this point, the two yield limits (TY
and LY) coincide and expand together with further cooling
according to eq. [5]. The cooling process induces only elas-
tic volumetric strain (eq. [16]), therefore, for normally con-
solidated and lightly overconsolidated specimens subjected
to heating–cooling cycles, further loading under elastic stiff-
ness condition is required to return to the yielding mode.

Determination of the model parameters

The proposed TEP model employs six soil parameters
ð
; ; LY ;  TY ; ; bÞ. The first two parameters are the con-
ventional modified Cam-Clay parameters. The second two
parameters describe the effect of temperature on the LY
and TY at constant plastic strain, respectively. The last two
parameters describe the thermal elastic behaviour of the soil
under a drained heating condition where  is the drained
thermal volumetric expansion coefficient at an appropriate
effective stress level (e.g., 100 kPa) and b is the model pa-
rameter that describes the effect of the stress level on .
The term LY is the model parameter from eq. [5], which
describes the evolution of the LY with temperature at con-
stant plastic strain. Three incremental consolidation tests
conducted on overconsolidated specimens, preheated at dif-
ferent temperature levels, are required to estimate LY as
shown in Figs. 8 and 10. The effect of temperature on the
TY is modeled by eq. [4], which requires only one model
parameter TY . However, since the "Tv –OCR plot has been
adopted to detect the TY at different temperatures, as shown
in Fig. 13, four thermal consolidation tests at different stress
histories are required to determine  TY . The thermal consol-
idation test involves subjecting the soil specimen to incre-
mental drained heating–cooling cycles at a condition of
constant stress. The overconsolidation values should be
chosen properly to capture the required bilinear behaviour
in the "Tv –OCR plot. It is recommended that the OCR values
of the four tests be chosen as follows: one test conducted at
a normally consolidated state; the second test at a slightly
overconsolidated state; and the other two tests should be
conducted at a highly overconsolidated state. The cooling
test results at different OCR values can also be employed to
estimate the thermoelastic parameters  and b.
Validation of the proposed model
The capability of the proposed model to predict the ther-
mally induced volume change at different stress conditions
has been tested using the experimental results obtained on
soft Bangkok clay and two other clay types reported in the
literature, namely: Boom clay (Baldi et al. 1991), and MC
clay (Towhata et al. 1993). The physical properties and the
model parameters for the proposed constitutive model for
# 2007 NRC Canada
954 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 44, 2007

Fig. 21. Comparison between measured and predicted thermally in- Table 2. Physical properties and model parameters of different
duced volumetric strain for soft Bangkok clay. clays used for validation of the proposed model.

Soft Boom clay MC clay

Bangkok (Baldi et al. (Towhata et al.
clay 1991) 1993)
Physical properties
LL (%) 103 66.6 70
PI (%) 60 25 29
Sand (%) 3 12 0
Silt (%) 28 42 55
Clay (%) 69 46 45
Model parameters

0.59 0.178 0.304
 0.10 0.046 0.07
 LY 0.43 0.31 0.15
 TY 1.10 1.56 0.75
*(8C–1) 7.010–4 1.1110–2 2.1510–3
b 0.55 0.31 0.18
*Drained thermal expansion coefficient at an effective stress of 100 kPa.

Fig. 22. Comparison between measured and predicted thermally in-

duced volumetric strain for Boom clay. Test results are from Baldi
et al. (1991).

each clay type are given in Table 2. For Boom clay and MC
clay, the thermally induced volumetric strain at a normally
consolidated state has been utilized to determine the param-
eter  LY using the back calculation method (eqs. [5] and
[12]). The parameter  TY has been determined by plotting
the thermally induced volumetric strain test results at differ-
ent elevated temperatures in the "Tv –OCR plane as depicted
in Fig. 13. The thermal elastic parameters,  and b, have
been determined by using either the cooling volumetric strain specimens subjected to a heating–cooling cycle (22 to 90
test results or the heating expansion volumetric strain test re- to 22 8C) at different stress histories (OCR = 1, 2, 4, 8)
sults (Fig. 11). It should be mentioned that the overconsoli- obtained by an unloading process. The maximum preconso-
dated specimens for the three types of clay were obtained by lidation pressure for the tested specimens is 200 kPa. In
an unloading process from the normally consolidated stress addition, Fig. 22 shows the experimental test results and
condition. the model prediction for Boom clay specimens subjected
Figure 21 shows how the model prediction coincides to a heating–cooling cycle (21.5 to 95 to 21.5 8C) at differ-
with the experimental test results for soft Bangkok clay ent stress histories (OCR = 1, 2, 6) obtained by an unload-
# 2007 NRC Canada
Abuel-Naga et al.
Fig. 23. Comparison between measured and predicted thermally in-
duced volumetric strain for MC clay. Test results are from Towhata
et al. (1993).
ing process. The maximum preconsolidation pressure for
the tested specimens was 6000 kPa. Finally, Fig. 23 shows
the experimental test results and the predictions by the
proposed model for MC clay specimens subjected to a
heating–cooling cycle (22 to 90 to 22 8C) at different
stress histories (OCR = 1, 1.7, 3.5, 7, 14, 28, 56) obtained
by an unloading process. The maximum preconsolidation
pressure for the tested specimens was 2230 kPa. In gen-
eral, the agreement between the predicted values from the
proposed model and the different experimental test results
are reasonable.
955
Conclusions
The salient conclusions that can be drawn from this study
are as follows:
(1) Thermally induced volume change for soft Bangkok clay
is dependent on the stress history and independent of the
stress level.
(2) Isothermal consolidation tests of overconsolidated soft
Bangkok clay specimens at different elevated tempera-
tures show a shift of the compression line ð
Þ towards
the left with approximately similar slope, while the slope
of the swelling line ðÞ in the lightly overconsolidated
zone is increased. However, the preconsolidation pres-
sure was independent of temperature.
(3) Subjecting normally consolidated specimens to a heating–
cooling cycle induces an overconsolidation state, which is
independent of stress level.
The paper also proposed an isotropic constitutive TEP
model that is able to reproduce thermally induced volume
change of saturated clay specimens under normally consoli-
dated and overconsolidated conditions (obtained by an un-
loading process) in the temperature range of 20–95 8C. Two
volumetric yield limits, namely; LY and TY have been em-
ployed to predict the plastic volume change. A new techni-
que has been introduced to experimentally detect the TY.
The proposed model captured the essential features of the
thermomechanical behaviour. The satisfactory agreement be-
tween the results predicted by the proposed model and the
experimental test results on soft Bangkok clay and two other
clays reported in the literature validated the accuracy of the
proposed model.
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