A thermo-viscoplastic constitutive model for clays

The effect of heat on clay behaviour is characterized by non-linearity and irreversibility. Due to the complex influence of temperature, thermomechanical factors have to be taken into account for the numerical simulation of the behaviour of such materials. A cyclic thermo-viscoplastic model is developed for this purpose, It includes thermal hardening and the evolution of yield surfaces with temperature. From the physical point of view, it is built on the basis of available experimental results for a temperature range in which no phase change occurs. Conceptually, it is the generalization of an isothermal multimechanism cyclic model. A thermoplastic formulation of the model is also derived. The results obtained from numerical simulations compare well with experiments. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.