Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641

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Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
journal homepage: www.jrmge.cn

Full Length Article

Critical state model for structured soil

Cristhian Mendoza a, *, Márcio Muniz de Farias b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Manizales, Manizales, Colombia
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Structure is an evident determinant for macroscopic behaviors of soils. However, this is not taken into
Received 23 July 2019 account in most constitutive models, as structure is a rather complex issue in models. For this, it is
Received in revised form important to develop and implement simple models that can reflect this important aspect of soil
30 October 2019
behavior. This paper tried to model structured soils based on well-established concepts, such as critical
Accepted 9 December 2019
Available online 4 March 2020
state and sub-loading. Critical state is the core of the classic Cam Clay model. The sub-loading concept
implies adoption of an inner (sub-loading) yield surface, according to specific hardening rules for some
internal strain-like state variables. Nakai and co-workers proposed such internal variables for controlling
Keywords:
Elastoplasticity
density (r) and structure (u), using a modified stress space, called tij. Herein, similar variables are used in
Cam clay with sub-loading the context of the better-known invariants (p and q) of the Cam Clay model. This change requires explicit
Structured soil adoption of a non-associated flow rule for the sub-loading surface. This is accomplished by modifying the
Tropical soil dilatancy ratio of the Cam Clay model, as a function of the new internal variables. These modifications are
Non-associated flow rule described and implemented under three-dimensional (3D) conditions. The model is then applied to
simulating laboratory tests under different stress paths and the results are compared to experiments
reported for different types of structured soils. The good agreements show the capacity and potential of
the proposed model.
Ó 2020 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Qualitative and quantitative understandings of loads and set-
tlements in structured soils are important to determine the type
and dimensions of geotechnical structures. Unfortunately, some
models popularly used in geotechnical engineering practices do not
include the characteristics of natural soils with structure (e.g.
Graham and Houlsby, 1983; Wroth and Houlsby, 1985; Hayano
et al., 2000; Cardoso, 2002; Díaz-Rodríguez, 2003; Caicedo et al.,
2018). On the other hand, researches by Burland (1990), Leroueil
and Vaughan (1990), Nova and Lagioia (1995), Cuccovillo and
Coop (1999), Cotecchia and Chandler (2000), Liu and Carter
(2006), Sorensen et al. (2007), and Caicedo et al. (2019) show the
differences between reconstituted soils and natural soils, and these
differences are attributed to particles arrangement and bonds
created within the soil structure. In addition, the structured effect
decreases when the stresses increase.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cmendozab@unal.edu.co (C. Mendoza).
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chi-
nese Academy of Sciences.
Some studies are reported on the soil-structure effects (e.g. Gens
and Nova, 1993; Whittle, 1993; Wheeler, 1997; Kavvadas and
Amorosi, 2000; Rouainia and Muir Wood, 2000; Liu and Carter,
2002; Baudet and Stallebrass, 2004; , Masín, 2006; Fuentes et al.,
2010; , Yan and Li, 2011; Nakai et al., 2011a; Pedroso, 2014; , Yang
et al., 2014, 2015, 2016; Hashiguchi, 2016; Nguyen et al., 2017;
Zhang et al., 2019). These studies included changes in the consti-
tutive models using bonds degradation laws in the materials. These
laws influence the model with changes in the yield-surface size,
additional yield surfaces, additional void ratios by the bonds,
additional strains, non-associated flow, and changes in the defini-
tion of stress invariants, changes in the hardening law (isotropic
and anisotropic), transformed stress spaces, among others. How-
ever, these models require additional parameters and state vari-
ables in comparison with a model resembling unstructured soil.
Therefore, some changes are complex to understand and difficult to
implement in finite element modeling (FEM).
In this paper, the soil of Brasilia (Brazil’s capital city) was used to
obtain the parameters of a newly proposed model. The Brasilia soil
is highly weathered residual and lateritic clay. Its mineralogical
structure has a strong presence of aluminum and iron oxides. This is
due to the lixiviation processes in the upper layers of tropical soils.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2019.12.006
1674-7755 Ó 2020 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-
NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641
Fig. 1. Yield surface for modified Cam Clay model and sub-load surface for the proposal.
As a consequence, the soil attains a cemented structure with sand-
sized grains, high porosity, high void ratio (e in the range of 1e2),
and high permeability (10
3 e10
4 m/s). This material has a highly
unstable structure, susceptible to change in volume (collapse) with
changes in the stress states or water contents (Guimarães, 2002;
Camapum de Carvalho et al., 2006; Cordão Neto et al., 2018).
For the above characteristics, a simple model was proposed,
with ability to represent the main features of reconstituted and
natural soils with respect to structure. The proposed formulation
can be implemented in a finite element platform for use in three-
dimensional (3D) geotechnical problems.
2. Conceptual framework of the model
To understand the proposed model, some basic aspects of the
behaviors of natural soils are initially stated and explained how
they are modeled in the reference framework. One phenomenon
observed for reconstituted and naturally structured soils in the
model is the division of the compression curve into two states:
over-consolidated (OC) and normally consolidated (NC). This is
handled in conventional elastoplastic models by defining two
different compressibility parameters and a single yield surface to
separate the purely elastic and the elasticeplastic domains. This
generates an unrealistic discontinuity in the stressestrain curve
(Roscoe et al., 1963; Roscoe and Burland, 1968). Here, special
attention is given to the “smooth” transition from an OC state to a
NC state, which is modeled using the sub-loading concept (Mróz,
1967; Hashiguchi, 1980, 2016; Nakai et al., 2011b). This transition
can be physically explained as the stage where the particles begin
rearranging gradually, and strong rupture of the bonds between
particles takes place. The second state of the curve (normal
consolidated state) is that particle rearrangement is constant and
the rupture of the bonds between particles is small (very few bonds
remain in the structure of the soil in this second state).
Reconstituted and naturally cemented soils show stiffer
behavior, which are typical OC clays at certain stress levels. OC clays
are denser, showing lower void ratio e in comparison with NC clay
under the same stress levels. Naturally cement soils also exhibit OC
behavior, despite being more porous or having higher values of void
ratio, in many cases. The compressibility is, therefore, influenced by
two state variables in the model: the state variable r, which is a
function of the real density of the soil, and the state variable u
which is a function of the structure of the soil. This second variable
(u) can be regarded as a fictitious increase of density to account for
the gain in stiffness in structured (yet more porous) natural soils.
These variables were originally and ingeniously proposed by Nakai
et al. (2011a), in the context of a modified stress space, called tij.
631
These state variables evolve to control the size of an additional
surface in the conventional stress space, defined in terms of the
well-known invariants, the mean effective stress p0 , and the
deviatoric stress q. For material with OC behavior, this additional
surface, referred to as sub-loading surface, evolves towards the
“normal” yield surface of the modified Cam Clay (MCC), as shown in
Fig. 1. This “normal” surface becomes dominant when the material
achieves an NC behavior.
The influences of structure and density on the stressestrain
curve of the soil are shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 2a shows the curve of
deviatoric stress versus strain for an OC soil or structured soil (blue
line). In this case, the two state variables r and u can work together
or separately. For example, a reconstituted and OC soil may have a
peak in the stressestrain curve but may not have cemented
structure. In this case, only the state variable r is working. The same
behavior can be plotted in terms of volumetric compressibility in
the e-lnp0 space in Fig. 2b. In both pictures, it is possible to observe
unrealistic and abrupt discontinuity in the stressestrain behavior
when a single yield surface is used, such as in conventional elas-
toplastic constitutive models. The advanced and simple sub-
loading plasticity framework adopted provides a realistic and
smooth transition for both cemented and non-cemented structured
soils.
Another important phenomenon of soil behavior is the effect of
interlocking between particles, which is reflected in soil dilatancy
(Newson and Davies, 1996; Cotecchia and Chandler, 1997;
Richardson, 1998; Li and Dafalias, 2000). These researches show
that in soils with structure, normality relationship between yield
surface and plastic potential surface is not met, i.e. the increment
vector of the plastic strains is not perpendicular to the yield surface.
Therefore, non-associated flow rule should be used to solve this
problem.
Associated flow rule is a basic hypothesis for the “deduction” of
the yield surface of the Cam Clay model. The classic elliptical sha-
ped yield surface of the Cam Clay model is a consequence of this
hypothesis applied to the dilatancy ratio of the increments of the
deviatoric plastic strain to volumetric plastic strain (dεpd =dεpv ),
together with additional assumptions about the dissipation of
plastic work. However, Nakai et al. (2011a) conclusively shows that
hypothesis of a unique dilatancy curve does not hold soils under
general stress paths in 3D conditions. They bypassed the need for
an extra (plastic potential) surface by transforming the conven-
tional stresses (sij) to another space (tij), by means of a mapping
tensor (aij) defined from the normal vector to the so-called spatially
mobilized plane (SMP). Their model development stems from
imposing consistency and normality in this new modified stress
space, denoted by its normal and deviatoric stress invariants (tN and
632 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641

Fig. 2. Schematic response of the model to shear and compression conditions.

ts), instead of p and q. The forced normality in the (tN, ts) space
reflects non-normality when the stresses are mapped backed to the
conventional (p, q) space.
Nakai et al. (2011a)’s proposition is innovative because the
concept bypasses the need for an extra plastic potential surface.
Additionally, Nakai et al. (2011a)’s results from triaxial tests showed
that the deformation and strength of soils in 3D stress conditions
cannot be described only by p0 and q invariants. This is due to
different behaviors of the soils under compressive and tensile
stresses. Therefore, the constitutive models, which are formulated
using these invariants, have some limits to describe properly the
influence of the intermediate principal stress on the deformation
and strength characteristics of soils. Nakai et al. (2011a)’s proposed
the influence of the intermediate principal stress on the deforma-
tion and strength. However, most engineers and scholars fail to
grasp the real meaning of such transformations. Therefore, we
revisited the basic and well-established p and q stress invariants of
the Cam Clay model and “deduced” a non-associated flow. The trick
is to modify the original dilatancy ratio expression of the Cam Clay
model to include the new state variables for density and structure
(r and u), as further detailed in the next section.
3. Constitutive model
(2010), Nakai et al. (2011a), Yan and Li (2011), Pedroso (2014),
Hashiguchi (2016), Nguyen et al. (2017), among many others.
However, some of these proposals are complex to understand and
implement in FEM. This is a reason to develop a new model that is
easy to implement and represent this soil type.
3.1. Modifications of the model
The first modification of the model is introduction of the state
variable r that represents the soil overconsolidation. This variable is
the difference between the current OC void ratio and the void ratio
in the normal consolidation line (NCL) eN for the same stress, as
shown in Fig. 3b. Fig. 3a shows two surfaces in the stresses space:
the normal surface of the MCC that memorizes the maximum stress
applied to the soil with size (p0 1e) along the p axis, and the second
surface (sub-loading surface) with size (p0 1). The current state of
stress always lies on the sub-loading surface, which has a smaller
size than the MCC surface, but tends to this surface as the soil state
approaches normal consolidation. The evolution of the sub-loading
surface towards the normal surface of the MCC is visualized by the
distance ðd ¼ p01e
p01 Þ, which is a measure of overconsolidation
and is related to the density variable r (Giraldo and Muniz, 2011;

The model used herein is an enhancement of the sub-loading

Cam Clay (SCC), proposed and implemented by Pedroso (2006).
The SCC model is a modification of MCC, proposed by Roscoe and
Burland (1968), which was developed for reconstituted soils. The
SCC model is well described in Pedroso (2006), which basically
included the density and structure variables (r and u) in the MCC
model and also changed the shape of the yield surface in the (p, q)
space to approach Matsuoka and Nakai (1974)’s failure criteria in
the critical state, instead of the conventional Drucker-Prager cone.
The present paper proposes some changes in the SCC model,
aimed towards improving the prediction capacity of the model.
These changes include the implementation of a non-associated
flow rule and the inclusion of the structure effect, in reference to
the proposals made by Liu and Carter (2002) and Kyokawa (2010).
These modifications were made without adding additional pa-
rameters to the model. The model was modified to reflect the dif-
ferences in the behavior of reconstituted and natural soils. The
importance of these changes is evident in various researches in
terms of constitutive formulations that consider the effect of
structure. Among the proposals are models by Gens and Nova
(1993), Whittle (1993), Wheeler (1997), Kavvadas and Amorosi
(2000), Rouainia and Muir Wood (2000), Liu and Carter (2002), Fig. 3. Sub-loading surface and measurement of the density (adapted from Farias et al.,
Baudet and Stallebrass (2004), Masín (2006), Fuentes et al. 2009).
 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641 633

Mendoza et al., 2015). The distance d controls in the transition of

the OC state to the NC state in a smoothed form, thus avoiding the 3
sin 4cr
w¼ (5)
discontinuity in the MCC model. This is achieved by means of an 3 þ sin 4cr
auxiliary function G that causes r to evolve quadratically (Fig. 4a)
and requires a material parameter c: and Lode angle varies with the stress state:

GðrÞ ¼ crjrj
The second modification of the model is inclusion of the effect of
the soil structure by means of the state variable u. This variable has
a linear behavior (Fig. 4b) with respect to the function Q which
requires another parameter b:
Q ðuÞ ¼ bu
This second modification affects the state variable r with an
“imaginary” density decrement that represents the structure of the
soil. This allows the overconsolidation compression line to cross
over the NCL and then fall back towards it, as depicted in Fig. 2b.
Therefore, the stressestrain behavior of a structured soil cannot be
described only by the effect of the density in Eq. (1), but also needs
to take into account the effect of bonding (structure) in Eq. (2). The
evolution of r can be determined by combining the effects of
functions G(r) and Q(u) in the development of volumetric plastic
strains. Nakai et al. (2011b) presented a comprehensive discussion
on the evolution r.
The third modification of the model is inclusion of a non-
associated flow rule with addition of the two previously defined
state variables, ri and u. The first is due to the initial density ri and
the second is a state variable by the structure u that evolves to
almost disappear:
p shown in Eq. (8). As shown above, this affects the yield surface
dεd 2ð1
ri uÞh
¼ (3)
dεpv MðqÞ2
h2
The addition of the state variables r and u creates a change in
the shape of the plastic potential surface with respect to the shape
of the yield surface, thus changing the direction of the plastic strain
vectors. The last modification of the model accounts for different
strengths of the soil under compression and extension paths. This is
attained through the proposal by Sheng et al. (2000), who sug-
gested a critical state stress ratio M (¼p0 /q) and made it vary as a
function of Lode angle (q). The equations for this modification are
shown below:

1
2w 4 Besides yield surfaces and hardening rules, elastoplasticity also
MðqÞ ¼ M
1 þ w
ð1
wÞsinð3qÞ
where w is a constant that can be computed from the critical state
friction angle obtained from a compression test (4cr):
" pffiffiffi  #
(1) 1
1 2 2det x
q ¼ sin pffiffiffi 3 (6)
3 3x
where x is the deviatoric stress tensor:
1
x ¼ s
trðsÞ1 (7)
3
(2)
where 1 is a second-order unitary tensor.
From the above, the “sub-loading” yielding surface takes the
following expression:
 
f ¼ MðqÞ2 p0 p0
p01 þ q2 (8)
Eq. (8) also holds for the “normal” yield surface by replacing p0 1
with p0 1e.
The yielding surface is one of the main characteristics of an
elastoplastic model. This surface shows the point where the elas-
toplastic deformations begin in a stress path. The original surface of
Cam Clay model was proposed by Roscoe et al. (1958) and subse-
quently modified by Roscoe and Burland (1968). Fig. 5a shows the
surface shape proposed by Roscoe and Burland (1968), which plots
as an ellipsoid in the principal stress space. However, this propo-
sition does not take into account the difference of soil strength
under compression and extension paths. For this, Sheng et al.
(2000) related the stress ratio M to the Lode angle (Eq. (4)), as
equation in Eq. (8) and is illustrated in Fig. 5b. From this figure, it
shows a lower resistance in extension paths compared to
compression paths. The modified surface mimics the failure crite-
rion proposed by Matsuoka and Nakai (1974) and has been used by
other researches, such as Pedroso and Farias (2011) and Mendoza
et al. (2014).
The size of the yield surface, given by the distance (p1) from the
origin to the tip of the surface, evolves with the accumulation of
volumetric plastic strains, similar to what happens in the conven-
tional Cam Clay model. Therefore, the surfaces in Fig. 5 inflate or
expand isotropically in all directions as p1 increases. This evolution
is controlled by the internal state variables, r and u and their
hardening rules.
(4) requires a different plastic potential function (g s f), in case of non-
associated flow rules. Here, this function is obtained from the
dilatancy ratio of Eq. (3), which includes the effects of the internal
variables (r and u), and g takes the following expression:

1
1
g ¼ MðqÞ2 p2 1
pa p1a þ ð1
2uri Þq2 (9)

where

1
uri
a¼ (10)
1
2uri
Observe that function g coincides with the yield surface f, when
density and structure are not taken into account, i.e. when r ¼ 0 and
Fig. 4. Evolution of state variables r and u with the functions G(r) and Q(u). u ¼ 0, then a ¼ 1 and normality is restored (g ¼ f). The shape of the
634 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641

Fig. 5. Schematic illustration of yield surfaces (a) for the MCC model and (b) with the proposal by Sheng et al. (2000) (unit: kPa).

Fig. 6. Schematic illustration for (a) Overlapping of the plastic potential surface and yield surface of the MCC proposed by Sheng et al. (2000), and (b) A cut of the overlapping
surfaces (unit: kPa).

plastic potential surface is shown in Fig. 6 with the superposition of

the yield surface, considering a non-associated flow rule.
Ce : ddfs5ddgs : Ce
Cp ¼
(14)
df
3.2. 3D model formulation
ds
: Ce ddgs
dε
df
p
dg
dp0
þL
v

As for any elastoplastic model, stress rates or increments can be Eq. (14) is similar to that of conventional elastoplastic consti-
related to strain rates or increments via a fourth order tensor of tutive models, expect for the scalar term “L” in its denominator. This
stiffness moduli: represents the combined effects of density and structure:
s_ ¼ Cep : ε_ (11)

ep G Q G Q
The elastoplastic tensor C is divided into two parts, as shown L ¼ ð1 þ e0 Þ þ or L ¼ ð1 þ EÞ þ (15)
below: p0 p0 p0 p0
Density is accounted for via the scalar function G(r) and struc-
Cep ¼ Ce
Cp (12) ture by means of Q(u). Additionally, this equation is a function of
The elastic part Ce is given by the following expression: the picnotropy and barotropy of the material. This is done indirectly
with the mean effective stress p0 and the void ratio eo, and an

1 alternative option was also shown in Eq. (15), in which the elastic
Ce ¼ K1 5 1 þ 2m I
1 5 1 (13)
3 modulus is obtained from the bulk modulus. This alternative option
has different values of parameters c and b. Furthermore, Eq. (14)
where K and m are the elastic volumetric (bulk) and shear moduli, also includes the effects of the non-associated flow rule. This was
respectively. attained by means of the derivatives with respect to the function g,
The plastic part Cp is given by the following expression: as shown in Appendix A.
 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641 635

Fig. 7. Simulation of isotropic compression test with variation of the initial value of the state variable r.

Fig. 8. Simulation of isotropic compression test with variation of the initial value of the state variable u.

The hardening law is given in a semi-logarithmic space of the Eq. (16) was modified with respect to the MCC model, adding a
mean effective stress and the specific volume (v ¼ 1þe). This law part by the sub-loading plus the structure. This part is added in a
that is the product of the plastic multiplier f_ and
pðsyÞ
relates the change of yield surface size (p01 ) with the increments of rate of strain ε_ v
plastic strains, as shown in the following equation: the scalar L:

1 þ e p pðsyÞ  d_εv pðsyÞ ¼ f_ L (19)

p_ 1 ¼ p01 ε_ þ ε_ (16)
l
k v v
The derivatives with respect to the function f and the tensor
where p01 is the size of sub-loading surface at the beginning of the operations are shown in Appendix A.
increment (Fig. 1), l is the virgin compression slope (of the NCL),
and k is the unloading-reloading slope of material. The change rate
p
of volumetric plastic strain ε_ v is defined as the trace of the change 4. Parametric analysis
p
rate of the plastic strain ε_ , as in the normal Cam Clay model; and
pðsyÞ
ε_ v is an additional plastic volumetric strain, due to the sub- The model requires seven material parameters. Five of them are
loading concept, and will be explained later. This allows for plas- those used in conventional Cam clay model (N, l, k, n, M). The two
tic strain accumulation during load reversal and reloading inside additional parameters introduced are c and b, which represent the
the normal (outer) yield surface and provides the model with the density and the structure effects, respectively, and control the
capability to address cyclic problems. evolution of the state variables r and u. These parameters can be
The increase of the plastic strain is a function of the non- obtained from a reconstituted or natural soil sample, through
associated flow rule. This increment can be written as isotropic triaxial consolidation test, triaxial shear test, and uncon-
fined compression test. From the consolidation, three parameters
dg are obtained: N (void ratio at 0.01 times the atmospheric pressure),
dεp ¼ f_ (17)
ds l (the slope of the normal compression line) and k (the slope of
swelling line). From a triaxial shear test, elastic modulus, E, and
where g is the plastic potential function that is a function of the critical friction angle, 4cr, which is analogous to the M of the critical
stresses (Eq. (9)) and f_ is the plastic multiplier, which is obtained state of the Cam Clay, can be obtained. In addition, from the un-
from the consistency condition (df ¼ 0): confined compression test, the Poisson’s ratio n can be obtained.
The Young’s modulus can be obtained by elastic correlations.
df
: Ce : ε A sensitivity analysis was performed for the new parameters
f_ ¼ ds
(18)
df e dg df dg and variables of the model, including the simulation of triaxial and
ds
: C ds

dεp dp
þ L compression tests. This was done to observe the influences of these
v

parameters and variables on the different stress paths.

636 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641
Table 1
Parameters for the sensitivity analysis.
k l n 4cr ( ) N c
0.022 0.099 0.25 31.6 0.8 100
4.1. Isotropic compression simulations
An initial parametric analysis was made to verify the influence
of the state variables r and u. These state variables are not from
the traditional MCC model, which is the reference model. This
was done to understand the behavior of these variables, since
they are addition of the sub-loading concept. Simulations of
isotropic compression tests were performed by varying the initial
density r0, as illustrated in Fig. 7a. It was observed that a high r0
makes a longer transition to the normal consolidation condition.
Fig. 7b shows the evolution of the state variable r0 when the
parameter c is constant. The influence of the structure in the
model was obtained when the state variable u0 was varied from
0 to 0.4, leaving the constant value of the density r0 ¼ 0.1, as
shown in Fig. 8a. The structure effect is obtained with a density
decrement, as shown in Fig. 8b. This decrement causes the
compression line to pass above the NCL and then fall back to-
wards this line asymptotically. The parameters used in these
simulations are shown in Table 1.
Fig. 9. Simulation of drained triaxial test of state variable u with the initial value.
4.2. Simulations of triaxial tests
b To observe the influences of density and structure when pre-
100
dicting soil behavior subjected to shear stresses, simulations of
drained triaxial tests were performed. These tests were conducted
following the same path used by Chowdhury (1994) with Fujimori
Clay. This experimental procedure was carried out with a mean
effective stress of 200 kPa, which was used to create a compression
cycle until a deviatoric stress of 200 kPa was obtained, and
decompression cycle until an extension deviatoric stress of 100 kPa
was obtained. Then, a recompression process was carried out until
it reached once more a state of compression of the material with a
deviatoric stress of 300 kPa.
The first step in the methodology conducted in this study was
the variation of the initial state variable uo from 0 to 0.9. The results
obtained from this analysis are shown in Fig. 9. This figure shows
the change of “area” in unloading and reloading or hysteresis loop
with the change of variable uo. This area is a measure of the cyclic
plastic strain energy. At a grain scale, this energy is used to slide one
particle past another and/or to break the bonds between them and
should be released to the environment in the form of heat and
mechanical waves (e.g. sound). It is seen that a higher initial value
of variable u, for instance representing a soil with higher initial
particle bonding, implies in a stiffer initial response and a decrease
of hysteresis energy (or more elastic behavior under cycling). It is
also noted that the change in area of the loop does not affect the
 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641 637

Fig. 10. Simulation of drained triaxial test of state variable r with the initial value.

critical state because all stress paths lead to the same final stress
state (Fig. 9a). However, this variable influences the behavior of
deviatoric and volumetric strains (Fig. 9b). Fig. 9c and d shows the
evolution of the two state variables.
In Fig. 10, the same parametric analysis was performed but
varying the initial state variable ro from 0 to 0.9. From these results,
the influence of this variable on hysteresis loop was also observed.
The pattern is similar to that observed for variable uo. Again, the
change in size of the loop does not affect the critical state (Fig. 10a).
The influence on the ratio of the deviatoric strains and volumetric
strains is shown in Fig. 10b. In addition, the evolution of the state
variables of the new model is presented in Fig. 10c and d.
corresponds to clay minerals. This soil presents a structure with
bonds between particles with calcium carbonate obtained during
the sedimentation process or by the circulation of water rich in
calcium after the consolidation by gravity (Anagnostopoulos et al.,
1991). The parameters of the proposed model obtained for this
material are shown in Table 2.
Fig. 11 shows the comparison of two isotropic tests conducted by
Anagnostopoulos et al. (1991) for a reconstituted and natural soil.
Table 2
Parameters for Corinth Marls Clay.

k l n 4cr ( ) N c b
5. Evaluation of the model
0.0082 0.042 0.25 30 0.613 70 600

The model’s capability to reproduce the mechanical behavior of

real soils was evaluated through consolidation and drained triaxial
tests performed on three different types of structured clays in the
literature. The types of clays used were: Corinth Marl Clay from
Anagnostopoulos et al. (1991), Bangkok Clay presented by
Balasubramanian and Hwang (1980) and Rio de Janeiro Clay pre-
sented by Oliveira et al. (2011). Finally, some simulations were also
performed for the Brasilia Clay.

5.1. Model validation with tests found in the literature

The validation of the proposed model was initially carried out

with Corinth Marls Clay. This kind of clay is a soil deposit with Fig. 11. Simulation of isotropic compression test for Corinth Marls Clay (test data from
calcium carbonate content of 70%e75%; the remaining fraction Anagnostopoulos et al., 1991).
638 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641
Fig. 12. Simulation of drained triaxial behavior of Corinth Marls Clay (test data from Anagnostopoulos et al., 1991).
The simulations were made in two steps. The first step was the
simulation of the reconstituted soil by including only the effect of
the internal variable (r), because this type of soil does not have
bonds but instead the influence of overconsolidation. Subsequently,
the natural soil simulation was performed by increasing the state
variable of the structure and keeping the variable of density. The
model can predict the behaviors of the natural and reconstituted
materials quite well. The destructured material has a pre-
consolidation stress around 200 kPa, whereas bonding increases
the “apparent” pre-consolidation stress to around 5000 kPa. The
transition of compressibility was well captured with the intro-
duction of the structure effect by means of the internal bonding
variable u.
Moreover, the simulations of drained triaxial tests (at chamber
pressures of 4000 kPa, 1500 kPa and 903 kPa) were performed for
the Corinth Marls Clay with the same above parameters. Fig. 12
shows the comparisons between laboratory results and model
simulations. Again, the model could predict this soil’s behavior
quite well under deviatoric stress paths. Both the results of devia-
toric and volumetric strains are quantitatively and qualitatively
reproduced with good accuracy.
Fig. 13. Simulation of isotropic consolidation test for Bangkok Clay (Balasubramanian
and Hwang, 1980).
Table 3
Parameters of Bangkok Clay.
k l n 4cr ( ) N c
0.12 0.64 0.25 22.2 3.8 50
The proposed model was further validated by simulating more
tests, but now using Bangkok Clay. This clay is a marine, sedi-
mentary deposit, weathered by wetting and drying cycles, a process
that caused the shallow clay to harden into a soft clay layer. The
simulation was performed using one of the tests that
Balasubramanian and Hwang (1980) described in their study of
yielding with several stress paths. The test is shown in Fig. 13,
where an isotropic consolidation was simulated. From this simu-
lation, it is possible to observe the progressive stiffness change in
the soil until it reaches the NCL. The parameters obtained for this
simulation are shown in Table 3.
Simulations for a soil from Rio de Janeiro City (Oliveira et al.,
2011) were also performed on reconstituted and natural samples,
as shown in Fig. 14. The parameters obtained from these simula-
tions are shown in Table 4. This soil was selected due to its prop-
erties of structure, formation type and weathering process. These
characteristics stem from a strong presence of the iron bonds in
biotite minerals that bond quartz grains. Consequently, the change
in compressibility is noticed clearly in the naturally structured soil,
for which an apparent pre-consolidation stress is indicated around
1000 kPa. However, the simulations were made with the effect of
Fig. 14. Simulations of oedometer consolidation test for Rio de Janeiro Clay (Oliveira
et al., 2011).
Table 4
Parameters of Rio de Janeiro Clay.
b k l n 4cr ( ) N c b
8000 0.0067 0.15 0.25 32.5 0.672 3000 5.2
 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641 639

Fig. 15. Scanning electron microscope images of Brasilia Clay: (a) Lateritic soil structure, and (b) Lump of cement particles (Guimarães, 2002; Camapum de Carvalho et al., 2006).

Fig. 16. Simulation of triaxial compression with h ¼ 0.3 and 0.5 for Brasilia Clay.

density until reaching the NCL for the points of the destructured
soil test. Then, after these points, the structure effect was to reach
the curve of the natural soil.
5.2. Validation of the model with Brasilia Clay
Five experimental tests were made in order to validate the
proposed model for the Brasilia Clay. These tests were performed
on a block sample obtained at a depth of 3 m is a site close to the
University of Brasilia in the layer called Porous Clay. This clay is a
lateritic tropical soil, with bonds between particles forming lumps
(Fig. 15a). The bonds of these lumps generate a structure cemented
with grains having the size of sand (Fig. 15b). This structure is
created by a strong presence of iron and aluminum due to lixivia-
tion processes in the upper layers.
Two consolidation tests were carried out with stress ratios
h ¼ q/p0 ¼ 0.3 and 0.5. In the first test, the consolidation was per-
formed with a stress ratio of h ¼ 0.3 to mean effective stress
p0 ¼ 535 kPa and a constant rate of vertical strain of 0.02 mm/min.
From this point on, the unloading began up to p0 ¼ 5 kPa and
returned to a load with a stress of p0 ¼ 580 kPa. The second test was
performed with a stress ratio of h ¼ 0.5. The test was performed
with a rate of vertical strain of 0.01 mm/min, until a mean effective
stress of 650 kPa.
Stress paths of the simulations and tests described above are
shown in Fig. 16a. Fig. 16b shows the simulation of an anisotropic
compression test h ¼ 0.3, in the plane of logarithm of the mean
effective stress and void ratio. In addition, the simulation shows the
model behavior in an unloading-reloading cycle. From this simu-
lation, the parameters N, l, k, c and b were obtained. Fig. 16c shows
the simulation with a stress ratio of h ¼ 0.5. In this simulation, the
same parameters of the previous simulation were used. From the
above simulations, it was observed that the parameters have a low
variability.
Three conventional triaxial compression tests were performed
in drained conditions at effective confining pressures of 110 kPa,
200 kPa and 300 kPa, with a constant vertical strain rate of
0.03 mm/min. The tests were then simulated with the proposed
model, as shown in Fig. 17. From these simulations, two parameters
of the proposed model (4cr and E) can be obtained. The value of
Poisson’s ratio was obtained from the work of Janda et al. (2009).
From these simulations, it is observed that the model is able to
represent the mechanical behavior of the porous Brasilia Clay.
Approximate values of model parameters were obtained, as shown
in Table 5. It was also observed that the model is able to represent
640 C. Mendoza, M. Muniz de Farias / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 12 (2020) 630e641
Fig. 17. Simulations of triaxial tests in drained conditions.
Table 5
Brasilia Clay parameters used in this study.
k l n 4cr ( ) N c
0.0092 0.15 0.3 30 1.05 1.15
the effects of initial void ratio and confining pressure on this soil
type. In addition, the non-associated flow rule generates an
improvement in description of strains in the soil. On the other
hand, the great variability of the new parameters in the structure
and sub-loading concept was a function of the soil formation (i.e.
sedimentary or residual), types of bonds of the material, geological
history (e.g. wetting and drying cycles), weathering processes (i.e.
physical or chemical), among other processes. All these variables
influence the behavior of the structure in the smooth or rigid
transition to an NC state.
6. Conclusions
This paper demonstrated the validation and development of a
theoretical framework for a new model to simulate the behavior of
structured tropical soils. Simulations of the compression and shear
trajectories tests were made by validating the model against
experimental results in the literature for structured clays from
different regions of the globe: Corinth Marl Clay (Greece), Bangkok
Clay (Thailand) and Rio de Janeiro Clay (Brazil). In addition to these
simulations, a plan for tests of shear and compression trajectories
was made to validate the model in tropical clay with structure from
Brasilia City. It shows that the model is able to simulate the soils
with structure.
The constitutive model proposed in this context is a variation
of the modified Cam Clay which has been widely used in the
geotechnical field. This model used the well-known original five
parameters of Cam Clay and included two additional parameters
c (to represent the overconsolidation of the soil) and b (to
represent the structure of the soil) into the functions G and Q.
The addition of the two parameters and state variables was done
to better represent the influences of density and structure on
soils. One of the main advantages of the model is that it can
simulate accurately the behavior of natural soils with bonds, as
well as reconstituted soils. Additionally, the two new parameters
influence the flow rule of model that adopts non-associated flow
rule. The new two parameters can be obtained from calibration
b of an isotropic compression test or oedometer test and triaxial
5
drained test.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of
interests associated with this publication and there has been no
significant financial support for this work that could have influ-
enced its outcome.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to Universidad Nacional de
Colombia and Universidade de Brasília in Brazil for their technical
and financial support of this study on constitutive models for re-
sidual soils.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2019.12.006.
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Dr. Cristhian Mendoza currently works at the Department
of Civil Engineering (Manizales), National University of
Colombia. He received his BSc degree in Civil Engineering
at Universidad Distrital (UD) in 2005, MSc degree in Civil
Engineering with emphasis on geotechnics at University of
Los Andes (Uniandes) in 2009, and PhD at Geotechnics
University of Brasília (UnB) in 2013. Formerly, he was a
postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Civil Engi-
neering, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia. His research
interests cover mechanical behavior of deep foundations,
implementation and use of constitutive models in geo-
mechanics, variability of mechanical properties of soft
soils, and mechanical behavior of soft soils.