Modelling the hydro-mechanical behaviour of swelling unsaturated soils

The use of compacted swelling soils in engineering practice is very widely spread, especially in geotechnical and environmental engineering. After their setup, these materials are likely to be subject to complex suction/stress paths involving significant variations of their hydro-mechanical properties which can affect their initial behaviour. It is important to be able to predict the hydro-mechanical behaviour of these materials taking into account the significant applications for which they are intended. Barcelona team developed a finite-element code (Code-Bright) for the thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling (THM) integrating the BBM elastoplastic model for unsaturated soils based on the independent variables approach. This model is recognized to correctly describe the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils but fails to take into account some particular observed aspects on swelling soils. A second model BExM was then proposed to address these aspects. The objective of this study is: (i) to implement the elastoplastic model BExM for the unsaturated swelling soils in the finite-element code (Code-Bright); (ii) to check the numerical model validity through the numerical simulation of laboratory tests made on swelling soils; and (iii) to apply this model to some practical problems. For this purpose, a new family of numerical procedures adapted to the BExM model was introduced into the code. The equation of the yield surface of this model for a given deviatoric stress states was given in a manner to facilitate calculations of its derivatives. The model was checked by the numerical simulation of suction-controlled odometric tests made on three different swelling soils. The simulation results showed that the numerical model is able to correctly reproduce the experimental data. Lastly, the model was applied to two practical problems: radioactive waste repository in deep geological layers and a shallow footing under the action of a swelling soil. The results obtained showed the ability of the numerical model to modeling hydro-mechanical coupled problems. (author)