A cyclic elastoplastic constitutive model and effect of non-associativity on the response of liquefiable sandy soils

A large number of constitutive models for geomaterials, such as soils and rocks, have been proposed over the last three decades. Those models have been implemented into computer codes and have been successfully used to solve practical engineering problems particularly under monotonic loading conditions. Compared with the models for monotonic loadings, more improvements for cyclic models are necessary in order to obtain more accurate predictions for the dynamic behavior of geomaterials, e.g., the behavior during earthquakes. A cyclic elastoplastic model has been developed in this study for sandy soils; it is based on the kinematical hardening rule with a yield function that includes the changes in the stress ratio and the mean effective stress considering the degradation of the yield surface. From a simulation with the present model, it has been found that strong non-associativity leads to a large decrease in the mean effective stress during cyclic deformations under undrained conditions, while the model with the associated flow rule does not. This result is quite important because the mean effective stress becomes almost zero at the state of full liquefaction. Compared with the experimental results, the model can accurately reproduce the cyclic behavior of soil.