SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE KINEMATIC NATURE OF SOIL STIFFNESS

Abstract

The Paper attempts to describe soil stress-strain behaviour by defining, in normalised stress-space, an outer Bounding Surface and three characteristic Zones which sub-divide the permissable interior region. The types of behaviour exhibited within each Zone are illustrated using experimental data. It is demonstrated that the Zone boundaries, or Sub-Yield Surfaces, are mobile and may be both re-positioned and modified by moving the current stress point. This scheme is found to offer a powerful way of envisaging many poorly understood aspects of soil stress-strain behaviour.