Fibre reinforced sands: from experiments to modelling and beyond

SUMMARY Based on hypotheses derived directly from experimental observations of the triaxial behaviour, a constitutive model for fibre reinforced sands is built in this paper. Both the sand matrix and the fibres obey their own constitutive law, whereas their contributions are superimposed using a volumetric homogenization procedure. The Severn‐Trent sand model, which combines well‐known concepts such as critical state theory, Mohr‐Coulomb like strength criterion, bounding surface plasticity and kinematic hardening, is adopted for the sand matrix. Although the fibres are treated as discrete forces with defined orientation, an equivalent continuum stress for the fibre phase is derived to allow the superposition of effects of sand and fibres. The fibres are considered as purely tensile elements following a linear elastic constitutive rule. The strain in the fibres is expressed as a fraction of the strain in the reinforced sample so that imperfect bonding is assumed at the sand‐fibre interface. Only those fibres oriented within the tensile strain domain of the sample can mobilize tensile stress—the orientation of fibres is one of the key ingredients to capture the anisotropic behaviour of fibre reinforced soil that is observed for triaxial compression and extension loading. A further mechanism of partition of the volume of voids between the fibres and the sand matrix is introduced and shown to be fundamental for the simulation of the volumetric behaviour of fibre‐reinforced soils. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.