Ricerc@Sapienza

In the present study the implications of a thermodynamic-based
constitutive framework on the mechanical behaviour of soils are critically
analysed. The primary advantage of this approach as compared to the traditional
hardening plasticity is that the models are guaranteed to obey the laws of
thermodynamics. Furthermore, the use of potential functions allows to introduce
some crucial ingredients of the mechanical behaviour of soils that directly affect
the shape of the yield surface and the flow rule of the model. To illustrate the
above features, different forms of elasto-plastic coupling are presented and their
implications on the response of the models are explored with reference to a
series of numerical simulations.