State parameter for describing stress-strain behaviour of soil

Abstract

This paper presents the state parameter approach in constitutive modeling of soils within the framework of critical state soil mechanics. It has been shown that the state parameter, the difference between the current void ratio and the critical state void ratio corresponding to the current mean normal stress, is an effective parameter for describing the stress-strain behaviour of soils. Constitutive models with the state parameter as an internal variable are simple but they can capture details in soil stress-strain response. Also, the state parameter is a more appropriate parameter to represent the in-situ state of sand than relative density.