ABSTRACT
Thermomechanical constitutive models play important roles in the analyses of geotechnical boundary value problems that involve temperature fluctuations. These models facilitate prediction of different aspects of soil behaviour such as thermal modification of soil shear strength, development of heat induced excess pore water pressure, and volumetric strain under thermomechanical loading. Predictive capabilities of existing constitutive models for capturing the response of saturated clays at elevated temperature vary depending on the conceptual framework used for model development and on the extent of similitude between the assumptions used in model development and problem boundary conditions. With particular emphasis on thermally induced modification of shear strength, this research aims at a comparative assessment of three existing thermomechanical constitutive models in predicting behaviour of saturated clays at different levels of elevated temperature. The prediction capabilities of available models to capture soil mechanical behaviour was quantified based on results gathered from experiments reported in the literature.
