Sydney Soil Model. II: experimental validation

This paper presents simulations of the mechanical behavior of reconstituted and natural soils using a new model presented in a companion paper and referred to as the “Sydney soil model.” It is demonstrated that the performance of the proposed model is essentially the same as that of modified Cam clay model when describing the behavior of clays in laboratory reconstituted states. The model has also been employed to simulate the drained and undrained behavior of structured clays and sands, including calcareous clay and sand. Five sets of conventional triaxial tests and one set of true triaxial tests have been considered. It is demonstrated that the new model provides satisfactory qualitative and quantitative modeling of many important features of the behavior of structured soils, particularly in capturing various patterns of the stress and strain behavior associated with soil type and structure. A general discussion of the model parameters is also included. It is concluded that the Sydney soil model is suitable for representing the behavior of many soils if their ultimate state during shearing can be defined by an intrinsic and constant stress ratio M∗ and a unique relationship between mean effective stress and voids ratio, i.e., a unique p′−e curve.