Plastic anisotropy of soft reconstituted clays

A Constitutive Model for Soft Clays Incorporating Elastic and Plastic Cross-Anisotropy

Natural clays exhibit a significant degree of anisotropy in their fabric, which initially is derived from the shape of the clay platelets, deposition process and one-dimensional consolidation. Various authors have proposed anisotropic elastoplastic models involving an inclined yield surface to reproduce anisotropic behavior of plastic nature. This paper presents a novel constitutive model for s...

Estimation of the compression behaviour of reconstituted clays

The void index is a relative quantity measuring the position of the current void ratio of a clay against the void ratios of the clay at two specific vertical effective stresses (i.e., σ v ′ = 100 kPa and σ v ′ =1000 kPa). Based on this concept, a simple systematic tool is proposed for estimating the compression behaviour of reconstituted clays over a wide range of stresses and water contents. F...

Improvement of soft clays using vacuum-assisted consolidation method

In this study, the analytical modeling of one-dimensional consolidation by vertical drains with vacuum preloading considering both vertical and horizontal drainage is presented. In this method, the total degree of consolidation based on excess pore water pressure dissipation is related to the time factor (Th), drain configuration and anisotropic soil permeability. The analytical predictions are...

Addressing the Geotechnical Challenges Posed by Soft Clays

Plastic masters-rigid templates for soft lithography.

We demonstrate a simple process for the fabrication of rigid plastic master molds for soft lithography directly from (poly)dimethysiloxane devices. Plastics masters (PMs) provide a cost-effective alternative to silicon-based masters and can be easily replicated without the need for cleanroom facilities. We have successfully demonstrated the use of plastics micromolding to generate both single a...