ABSTRACT
Sand behaviour is complex and requires the adoption of predictive frameworks capable of capturing the effects of stress level and void ratio on the strength and dilatancy of the material. The state parameter has been shown to be an effective form of explaining sand behaviour and, as a result, has been incorporated into the formulation of various constitutive models. This paper presents a constitutive model for sands, which enhances the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion in order to include explicitly the influence of the state parameter on the material’s strength and dilatancy. The calibration process is illustrated for Fraser River sand and the performance of the model is demonstrated by simulating the response of a monopile embedded within sand deposits of different density. The results show that the constitutive model successfully reproduces the expected influence of the relative density, making it suitable to be employed in a wide range of geotechnical problems.
