A two-surface thermomechanical model for saturated clays

Abstract : This paper presents an advanced thermomechanical model – TEAM in the framework of two-surface plasticity for saturated clays, with emphasis put on some important thermomechanical features of natural clays evidenced experimentally such as the limited thermomechanical elastic zone, the smooth transition from elastic to plastic behavior. Two plastic mechanisms are introduced in the model: one is to reproduce the ther-moplasticity involving thermal expansion and contraction observed at high over-consolidation ratios and the second one describes the temperature effect on the yield behavior. The model adopts additional yield surfaces , namely inner yield surfaces that are associated with the two proposed plastic mechanisms to account for the plastic behavior inside the existing conventional thermomechanical yield surface namely yield surfaces. The general expressions of the yield surfaces and plastic potentials in p′–q–T space are introduced. A progressive plastic hardening mechanism associated with the inner yield surface is defined, enabling the plastic modulus to vary smoothly during thermomechanical loadings inside the yield surfaces. Several tests on natural Boom clay along different thermomechanical loading paths have been simulated by TEAM, and results show its relevance in describing the thermomechanical behavior of saturated clays.