Coupled constitutive anamnesis model (U-CAM) for unsaturated and saturated fine-grained soils

Partially saturated soils are gaining prominence in geotechnical engineering and engineering geology, particularly in the context of extreme climate phenomena. Their intricate response to changing moisture conditions significantly impacts slope stability, foundation design, and infrastructure resilience against climate’s extreme phenomena in geotechnical engineering applications. Current constitutive models mainly focused on predicting monotonic hydro-mechanical (HM) processes, lacking accuracy in predicting soil behaviour under cyclic loading and moisture variations. However, infrastructures like railway tracks impose cyclic loading on the subsoil, while the soil undergoes seasonal moisture variations. This study aims to contribute to this topic by proposing a new HM constitutive model based on the Constitutive Anamnesis Model (CAM) for saturated soils, extending its application to partially saturated conditions. The original CAM effectively predicts the behaviour of fully saturated fine-grained soils under monotonic and cyclic loading, considering soil preloading history. By incorporating partial saturation effects, the extended model offers improved accuracy in simulating the behaviour of low and high plasticity clays under cyclic hydro-mechanical loading, providing a more comprehensive tool for geotechnical engineering applications.