ABSTRACT
Geotechnical risks assessment in limit state design involves the use of mathematical models to predict the stress-strain state of the soil under the external loads. Most of these models are based on continuum mechanics solutions and rely on the concepts of “moduli” as parameters of stress-strain curve. For dispersed media, these concepts are devoid of physical meaning, since the mechanism of resistance to volumetric compression, shear strain and plastic yielding are fundamentally different, and are not caused by the rigidity of the bonds between the crystal lattice elements. The proposed energy approach allows to estimate the energy spent on each process occurring in a dispersed soil under mechanical action. The change in porosity, internal friction, hardening due to dilatancy and the increase in pore pressure are expressed by separate energy parameters, each of which in turn is described by a nonlinear stress state function. User defined threshold strain levels allow to turn on and off various mechanisms. The proposed approach better corresponds to the physical meaning of the processes. The method can be easily applied to adapt the theory of plasticity solutions. The development of a mathematical model based on the proposed approach will improve the quality of forecasting the occurrence of limit states in the soil bases.
