Proposal for describing the uniaxial compression behaviour in the model of internal structure

A working group of the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) is elaborating new recommendations for highly deformable cut-off walls. An important goal is the utilization of the plastic material behaviour of highly deformable cut-off walls. The article presents a new model to characterize the distinct nonlinear-plastic mechanical behaviour of such materials, especially in the context of uniaxial compression. The "model of the internal structure" in this form takes up basic descriptions from models developed especially in Japan in the 1960s and 70s for directional load transfer based on contact orientation in dry granular aggregates and extends them by an approach to take cohesive material properties into account.