Elastoplastic model for unsaturated, quasi-saturated and fully saturated fine soils

Abstract

In unsaturated soils, the gaseous phase is commonly assumed to be continuous. This assumption is no more valid at high saturation ratio. In that case, air bubbles and pockets can be trapped in the porous network by the liquid phase and the gas phase becomes discontinuous. This trapped air reduces the apparent compressibility of the pore fluid and affect the mechanical behavior of the soil. Although it is trapped in the pores, its dissolution can take place. Dissolved air can migrate through the pore space, either by following the flow of the fluid or by diffusion. In this context, this paper present a hydro mechanical model that separately considers the kinematics and the mechanical behavior of each fluid species (eg liquid water, dissolved air, gaseous air) and the solid matrix. This new model was implemented in a C++ code. Some numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the ability of this model to reproduce a continuous transition of unsaturated to saturated states.