Abstract
In many soil-structure interaction problems, such as reinforced soils, the effect of restrained dilatancy in the interface between the soil and the inclusion plays an important role. In this paper, the restrained dilatancy behavior of an interface is first outlined. A bilinear relation between the shear stress and the shear displacement and a bilinear relation between the increase in normal stress due to shearing and the shear displacement are proposed to idealize such restrained dilatancy characteristics. A model of dilatant joint element is proposed on the basis of simple elastoplastic theory. The response of the elastoplastic joint element under the restrained dilatancy effect becomes prime concern. Therefore, the proposed elastoplastic joint element is analytically examined by a restrained direct shear test of an interface. It is found that our proposed model can represent very successfully the fundamental characteristics of the restrained dilatancy in the interface. Applications of the joint element to the finite element analysis of a field loading and excavation test on a cut slope reinforced by tensile inclusions demonstrate in success the applicability of the proposed elastoplastic joint element to the practical reinforced slope stability problems.
