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Special Topic
Special Topic: Constitutive Modelling in GeomechanicsThis course introduces the fundamental principles of constitutive modeling for soils. The material is introductory and should be of interest to geotechnical engineers seeking to learn about soil constitutive models for numerical modeling applications. It aims to provide participants with the necessary basic knowledge for engaging in stress-deformation analyses to solve geotechnical problems. Following an introduction to basic concepts related to stress, strain, and the general framework for elastoplastic models, where emphasis will be given to understanding the capabilities and limitations of various basic soil models, and the knowledge required for their proper calibration based on laboratory test data for sands and clays. The following outlines the range of topics covered, subject to change depending on the participants’ backgrounds and interests.◦ Introduction to continuum mechanics: elementary tensor analysis; stresses and strains ten-sors and their invariants; experimental motivation for mechanistic modeling of stress-strain. [∼5 hrs]◦ General formulation of elastoplasticity: elastic relations; elastic range, the yield surface,and plastic loading; rate equations for the plastic strain and the internal variables; consistencycondition, loading index, plastic modulus, and complete set of equations; hardening, softening, and perfect plasticity; inversion of the stress-strain rate equations. [∼6 hrs]◦ Fundamentals of failure criteria and cohesive-frictional plasticity: vonMises, Tresca,Drucker-Prager, Mohr-Coulomb; non-associativity and strain-hardening; linearization of labora-tory tests; integration for implementation in numerical programs; modeling drained and undrained, monotonic and cyclic, triaxial and simple shear loading. [∼9 hrs]◦ Elastoplastic models for soils: critical state soil mechanics; Cam-Clay model; calibration andpractical application of soil models to simulate laboratory test data on sands and clays; specializedanisotropic constitutive models for soils; key aspects of monotonic and cyclic loading. [∼10 hrs]
◦ Understand the concepts of stress and strain tensors, including their invariants.◦ Learn the fundamentals of stress-strain relationships and the framework of elastoplastic constitutive models.◦ Apply numerical implementations of constitutive models to simulate laboratory element-level testson soils effectively.◦ Assess the fundamental components of constitutive models for soils, calibrate model parameters,and understand their practical significance.
Subject to approval of the Head of Department or the Programme Director.
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Lectures will be given on the following dates and times:Lecture #1: Monday Aug. 19th, 9:00am–12:00pmLecture #2: Tuesday Aug. 20th, 9:00am–12:00pmLecture #3: Wednesday Aug. 21th, 2:00pm–5:00pmLecture #4: Monday Aug. 26th, 9:00am–12:00pmLecture #5: Tuesday Aug. 27th, 9:00am–12:00pmLecture #6: Wednesday Aug. 28th, 2:00pm–5:00pmLecture #7: Monday Sept. 16th, 9:00am–12:00pmLecture #8: Tuesday Sept. 17th, 9:00am–12:00pmLecture #9: Wednesday Sept. 18th, 2:00pm–5:00pmLecture #10: Monday Sept. 23rd, 2:00pm–5:00pm
Mahdi Taiebat
Instructors’ hand–outs and several relevant technical papers and various chapters from the suggested books below will be introduced/used during the term.◦ David Muir Wood (1991) Soil Behaviour and Critical State Soil Mechanics, Cambridge UniversityPress, ISBN 9781139878272 (eBook).◦ David Muir Wood (2004) Geotechnical Modelling, CRC Press, ISBN 9781315273556 (eBook).◦ A. Anandarajah (2010) Computational Methods in Elasticity and Plasticity, Springer-Verlag NewYork, ISBN 978-1-4419-6379-6 (eBook).◦ Alexander M. Puzrin (2012) Constitutive Modelling in Geomechanics, Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-27395-7 (eBook).◦ Teruo Nakai (2013) Constitutive modeling of geomaterials: principles and applications, CRC Press, ISBN 978-0-203-86884-3 (eBook).
Domestic fee $1,197.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .