A coupled micro-mechanical based model for saturated soils

It is generally accepted that the apparent behavior of geo-materials is the representation of the average micro-mechanical behavior of its constituents. Constitutive models that do not incorporate these micro-mechanical features in calibrating the material parameters cannot address various material localization features in large strain problems such as shear bands and slope failures, etc. In the absence of such micro-mechanical features the calibration of such models may be incorrect.A rigorous formulation that incorporates these micro-mechanical based mechanisms into the general behavior of the saturated soils is presented here. The plastic rotation of particles, the interaction of particles, the rate dependency, the damage, and the coupling of particles with pore fluid pressure are incorporated through the plastic spin, the gradient theory, the visco-plasticity, the damage theory, and the coupled theory of mixtures, respectively. The link between the micro-mechanical mechanisms and the macro-mechanical behavior is made through the use of RVE (representative volume element). As a result, a full formulation for the micro-mechanics implemented continuum plasticity for saturated soils is presented here.