Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials




1. INTRODUCTION

Ever since the development of geotechnical research, one of its broadest fields of interest has faced the challenge of assessing and modeling the mechanical behavior of natural soils and, among these, of natural clays, that are the materials of reference in this lecture. In nature, these materials are of varying composition, state and structure, at the micro to the meso scale (Lambe and Withmann, 1969; Mitchell, 1976; Picarelli, 1986), as effect of variable geological histories, that include all loading and chemo-physical processes the soil has been subjected to. This lecture will report about the strategy adopted in a long-term experimental research on clays, aimed at the modeling of their mechanical behavior, from small to large strains and in saturated conditions. The research has been addressed at focusing on the varying features of natural clays and at characterizing the main physical factors controlling their response, in order to provide the ground for models within which the physical meaning of the parameters can be easily perceived.


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