ABSTRACT
B.LORET Laboratoire de Mécanique des Solides, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau,
France
1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives a short presentation of the basic notions of the classical theory of elastoplasticity (Section 2) and of its applications to the description of the behaviour of geomaterials under monotonic loading (Section 3) and under cyclic loading (Section 4). It should be of interest mainly to engineers and graduate students; a good understanding of basic ideas will enable them to attack with confidence a detailed study of specific topics which are expanded in the referenced papers.
