Instructor

Poul V. Lade, Ph.D., M.ASCE
Mr. Lade is professor and chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Prior to that he was a professor at UCLA, at The Johns Hopkins University and at Aalborg University in Denmark. Dr. Lade received his master’s degree form The Technical University of Denmark and his doctorate degree from University of California at Berkeley. His research interests span the broad area of geomechanics, including three-dimensional experimental methods, determination of soil stress-strain behavior and characterization of soil behavior using elasto-plastic hardening constitutive models. He has published and lectured extensively on soil behavior and constitutive modeling. He serves on the editorial boards of five international journals dealing with issues in geotechnical engineering.

Jerry A.Yamamuro, Ph.D., P.E., G.E., M.ASCE
Mr. Yamamuro, is Associate Professor at Oregon State University where he obtained his BS degree. He received his MS and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA. Before coming to OSU, Dr. Yamamuro had over 10 years experience in professional practice and 15 years teaching and performing research in geotechnical engineering at Clarkson University and University of Delaware. He has been published widely on his research areas of experimental characterization of the behavior of sands and clays and constitutive modeling of soils. Dr. Yamamuro teaches courses in soil behavior, experimental methods, soil constitutive modeling and finite elements in geotechnical engineering.

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Course Description

Do you use or wish to use FLAC or PLAXIS or another commercial numerical code on one of your projects? Do you understand the strengths and weaknesses of the embedded constitutive soil models in the program when compared with others? Will the model meet your needs and provide accurate answers?

 Numerical codes are being increasingly used to determine deformations in geotechnical engineering problems. At the very heart of this analysis is the constitutive soil model. This seminar is designed to teach geotechnical engineers the fundamentals of how constitutive soil models have been developed, which components are involved, and how they work. In addition to presenting the frameworks in which models are constructed, several models, ranging from simple to complex, will be discussed and evaluated in detail, including the constitutive models embedded in commercial numerical codes, such as FLAC and PLAXIS. Calibration issues will be discussed.

The growing need to estimate deformations in geotechnical engineering is driving the increased use of numerical codes coupled with different soil constitutive models. Many engineers are using available commercial numerical codes, such as FLAC or PLAXIS. These codes have a selection of constitutive models available for use. Selection and proper use of the appropriate model is critical for obtaining accurate results for the specific application. Many issues can only be modeled by more advanced constitutive models and there is a continued lack of formal training within higher education on the various important features of constitutive soil models. There are also no continuing education courses specifically for practicing geotechnical engineers that feature detailed explanations of the many different available models and their underlying frameworks, capabilities, advantages, limitations, and calibration procedures. The information included in this seminar is currently spread among hundreds of papers in dozens of different arcane journals that are not easily accessible to the practitioner. This seminar will be the first effort to teach constitutive soil modeling in the ASCE short course format. It is based on a two-day short course presented in many countries over the past fifteen years by Dr.Lade. It will be focused for both the experienced practitioner and the researcher. The discussed constitutive models will vary from very simple to the advanced.

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Seminar Benefits

• Learn about the internal components of constitutive models
• Learn about the capabilities of different models
• Learn how to derive model parameters for different models
• Save time by being able to correctly select the model for the correct application
• Avoid costly errors of selecting the wrong model and obtaining inaccurate results
• Understand the different important aspects of soil behavior that need to be captured by the constitutive soil model.
• Understand the fundamental frameworks used by most models.
• Understand the function of the different components of models and how they interact.
• Be able to compare the advantages and disadvantages of different models.
• Understand general calibration methodology.

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Who Should Attend

Experienced practitioners and researchers who want to increase their knowledge of constitutive soil models being employed in their numerical analyses will benefit from this seminar.

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Summary Outline

Day One: Introduction – Overview of Constitutive Modeling for Soils Review of Soil Behavior in Triaxial Compression Simple Models Elementary Constitutive Models Hyperbolic Model Rigid-Plastic Model Early Constitutive Models Critical State Soil Mechanics – Cam Clay Model Stress-Dilatancy Theory Day Two: Principal Stress Space and Stress Invariants 3-D Soil Behavior Measured in Laboratory Experiments Advanced Constitutive Models for Primary Loading Models for the Elastic Behavior of Soils Work-Hardening Plasticity Theory for Soils General Framework Failure Criteria Associated vs.Nonassociated Plastic Flow Single Hardening Model and Its Capabilities Simple vs.Advanced Models Models in FLAC and PLAXIS Discussion (question-and-answer period)

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