Modelling of viscous effects in natural clays
A new approach to allow the modelling of the viscous behaviour of natural clay soils, including creep, stress relaxation and the effects of applied strain rate on soil stiffness, has been developed based on the BRICK constitutive model (published by Simpson in 1992). The new model, "strain rate-dependent" (SRD) BRICK, was used in a series of simulations to demonstrate its capabilities in predicting realistic behaviour during one-dimensional compression and undrained triaxial tests in which applied strain rates were varied. Triaxial stress path tests conducted by Gasparre et al. in 2007 to assess the influence of creep, resulting from recent stress history, on soil stiffness were also simulated. The observed trends concerning the stiffness at small strains were successfully modelled.
The development and evaluation of a constitutive model for the prediction of ground movements in overconsolidated clay
The stress—strain response of overconsolidated clay depends both on its current state and on the loading history followed to reach that state, in particular the relative directions of the current and previous loading paths. A constitu-tive soil model is developed which predicts this behaviour by allowing elasto-plastic deformations controlled by two nested kinematic hardening surfaces inside a conventional Modified Cam-clay state boundary surface. This relatively straightforward model requires only eight para-meters, each with a rational basis, and which can be determined from a small number of well-controlled stress path tests. Predictions of soil behaviour using this model are compared with data from triaxial stress path tests. The close agreement confirms that the essential features of soil behaviour are predicted by the model. The wider implications of the use of the model in geotechnical analysis are illustrated by compar-ing predictions made using the model (in conjunction with finite element analys...
Deep-sea biogenic silica: new structural and analytical data from infrared analysis - geological implications
The main parameters of infrared spectra have been investigated for marine siliceous skeletons and for silica polymorphs. From infrared (IR)data, the mean values for the Si-O bond length (1.62 A) and for the Si-O-Si angle (about 142°6) are inferred for biogenic silica. A model is proposed for the molecular structure of biogenic, amorphous silica, which consists of a discontinuous, three-dimensional framework of short chains of [SiO4] tetrahedra, bounded with apical hydroxyls. According to the relationship between the structure of the silica polymorphs and their infrared spectra, it is shown that a quantitative analysis of biogenic silica seems to be possible in quartz-rich sediments. Some geological implications of these data are emphasized, including the processes of siliceous skeleton sedimentation and diagenetic evolution.