An evaluation on the degradation evolutions in three constitutive models for bonded geomaterials by DEM analyses

This paper presents a numerical evaluation on the degradation evolutions in three well-known constitutive models for bonded geomaterials using the Distinct Element Method (DEM). A series of isotropic, constant stress ratio and biaxial compression tests on the bonded geomaterials were carried out by a two-dimensional (2D) DEM code, NS2D, for this purpose. The constitutive models examined are the disturbed state constitutive model (DSC model), the superloading yield surface model and Nova's model. First, a microscopic interpretation of the degradation variable, which is used to describe the degradation evolution in the models, was presented based on the micromechanics theory to compare the degradation evolutions used by the models with the DEM results. Then, the macromechanical responses of the numerical specimens in the DEM tests were examined in comparison with the experimental data on the artificially bonded sands. Finally, the degradation evolutions observed in the DEM tests were compared with the results predicted by the constitutive models. The study shows that the DEM results are able to capture the main features of the artificially bonded sands. The degradation evolutions used in the three constitutive models are all overally in agreement with the DEM results. In addition, two simple evolution equations for the degradation variable, which can well describe the degradation evolution observed in the DEM tests, were presented and discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.