An improved constitutive model for unsaturated and saturated soils

This paper presents a constitutive model for unsaturated and saturated soils based on the critical state framework. The model includes a versatile expression for yield and plastic potential surfaces, the option of linear or nonlinear increase of shear strength with suction and three options for the shape of the unsaturated isotropic compression lines. The latter feature is of particular importance as it controls the amount of potential collapse the soil can experience due to wetting. Depending on the type of boundary value problem analysed a linear, bi-linear or exponential relationship can be used. Two sets of finite element analyses are presented here which investigate the influence of the shape of the isotropic compression line on the behaviour of strip footings and axially loaded single piles.