Explicit Modeling of the Cyclic Behavior under a Large Number of Cycles: Application to the Case of Sand

The estimation of deformations after a large number of cycles is a major concern of geotechnical engineers. This paper presents an explicit formulation of the accumulated cyclic volumetric strain. This study is concerned with cyclic triaxial tests simulated through the calculation by the Finite Element Method. The parameters of identification of the first cycle (loading-unloading) are determined step by step, using, as a soil behavior model, the Soft Soil Hardening Model, then, the behavior of the soil after N cycles (N ---gt--- 1000) is simulated through the formulation proposed as a pseudo-creep. The comparison of the proposed method with several cyclic triaxial tests and a shallow foundation under cyclic loading approves the good compatibility of the proposed formula for this type of problem. This study does not take into account the effect of the grain size and the void ratio, things that can be translated by the coefficients C1 and C2.