Anisotropic Elastic-Plastic Coupling Model for Sands Considering Fabric Evolution

Abstract In many solids, the elastic response is influenced by the plastic strain history, resulting in elastic-plastic coupling. This also leads to the evolution of the microstructural fabric, which, at the macroscopic level, manifests as fabric-dependent anisotropy. Such anisotropy plays a significant role in both reversible and irreversible responses of sands. This study proposes an anisotropic coupling approach within the framework of anisotropic critical state theory and hyperelasticity, employing a unique deviatoric tensor F and its redefined evolution law without any additional assumptions. This coupling approach naturally captures the loading path-dependent fabric variation and elastic anisotropy evolution simultaneously, validated against DEM probing simulations and test data.