Critical State Soil Mechanics and its Applications

This book is the result of the teaching experience of the three authors on several courses in advanced soil mechanics, finite element analysis, soil modeling and experimental methods in soil mechanics. The authors have a rich and varied experience in these topics, and believe that there is the need for one single book which combines both theoretical and practical aspects of the constitutive modeling of soils in the light of critical state framework. Both theoretical and practical aspects are covered in an easy to understand style starting from the fundamentals and through to numerical analysis. Most importantly, the book covers both conventional plasticity theories and the critical state models, including their comparison. The implication of using different constitutive models in finite element programs is also discussed. Contents includes chapters on: Properties of soils / Basic continuum equations / Critical state frame work / Normality rule and fundamentals of plasticity theories / Theory of Critical State Models / Finite Element aspects of the plasticity theories / Finite element analysis with critical state models