Modeling of state parameter and hardening function for granular materials

A modified plastic strain energy as hardening state parameter for dense sand was proposed, based on the results from a series of drained plane strain tests on saturated dense Japanese Toyoura sand with precise stress and strain measurements along many stress paths. In addition, a unique hardening function between the plastic strain energy and the instantaneous stress path was also presented, which was independent of stress history. The proposed state parameter and hardening function was directly verified by the simple numerical integration method. It is shown that the proposed hardening function is independent of stress history and stress path and is appropriate to be used as the hardening rule in constitutive modeling for dense sand, and it is also capable of simulating the effects on the deformation characteristics of stress history and stress path for dense sand.