ABSTRACT
This chapter provides different aspects of soil behaviour such as consolidation, shear strength, and elastic and plastic deformations through the use of a unique predictive model. The mathematical model known as Cam-clay, developed at the University of Cambridge, is based on the following assumptions: the soil is isotropic; the soil behaviour is elasto-plastic; the soil deforms as a continuum; and the soil behaviour is not affected by creep. The critical state concept is based on the consideration that, when sheared, a soil sample will eventually reach a state at which (large) shear distortions ss occur without any further changes. The modified Cam-clay model assumes that, for a saturated isotropic soil sample subject to a set of stress increments so that its state remains within the elastic wall, the corresponding deformations are purely elastic, and as such, can be estimated from Hooke's generalised law of elasticity.
