An Elastoplastic Constitutive Model for Steel Slag Aggregate Concrete Under Multiaxial Stress States Based on Non-Uniform Hardening Theory

Abstract

Steel slag aggregate concrete (SAC) is widely recognized as a high-performance and sustainable construction material. However, its broader structural application has been impeded by the limited development of reliable constitutive models. Building upon the well-established non-uniform hardening plasticity theory, this study proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework to establish a stress–strain relationship model for SAC under complex stress states. To this end, a multiaxial elastoplastic constitutive model for SAC is developed through the following steps: (1) The Guo–Wang failure criterion is employed as the bounding surface, from which a yield criterion is formulated to capture the characteristic mechanical responses of SAC under multiaxial loading; (2) Based on fundamental plasticity theory, the stress–strain relationship is derived by integrating the proposed yield function with a non-associated flow rule using a Drucker–Prager-type plastic potential function, while ensuring consistency conditions are satisfied; (3) A parameter calibration methodology is introduced and applied using experimental data from uniaxial and multiaxial tests on SAC; (4) A numerical implementation scheme is developed in MATLAB 2024a, and the model is validated through computational simulations. The validation results confirm that the proposed model reliably captures the stress–strain behavior of SAC under complex loading conditions. Overall, this study not only delivers a robust multiaxial constitutive model for SAC, but also offers a systematic modeling approach that may serve as a reference for the further development of constitutive theories for steel slag-based concretes and their broader application in structural engineering.