Compression and shear responses of structured clays during subyielding

This article discusses the phenomenon of plastic volumetric deformation of naturally structured clays before virgin yielding, i.e., subyielding behavior. A simple approach representing both the compression and shear responses of the clays during subyielding is demonstrated. A new compression model for structured clays based on the theoretical framework of the Structured Cam Clay (SCC) model via incorporation of the subyielding behavior is presented. Two stress surfaces are introduced to distinguish the subyielding and virgin yielding. The hardening and destructuring processes of structured clays under isotropic compression and shear are the focus of this work. The simulations of the compression and shear of eleven natural clays are studied for validation. The proposed work can accurately predict the subyielding behavior of structured clays both qualitatively and quantitatively and can be used for modeling structured clays under compression and shear responses in geological and geotechnical engineering problems.