Stiffness and strength parameters for hardening soil model of soft and stiff Bangkok clays

Abstract

A comprehensive set of experimental data on Bangkok subsoils from oedometer and triaxial tests are analysed in this paper in order to determine the stiffness and strength parameters for Hardening Soil Model. The parameters determined are the Mohr-Coulomb effective stress strength parameters together with the stiffness parameters; tangent stiffness for primary oedometer loading, secant stiffness in undrained and drained triaxial tests, unloading/reloading stiffness and the power for stress level dependency of stiffness. The oedometer data are obtained from three different Bangkok soil layers: soft clay at 6-8 m depths; medium clay at 12-14 m depths; and stiff clay at 15.5-18 m depths. The triaxial tests data are carried out for soft and stiff clays at depths of 5.5-6 m and of 16-18 m under both undrained and drained conditions, respectively. Finally, two sets of parameters for soft and stiff Bangkok clays are numerically calibrated against undrained and drained triaxial results using PLAXIS finite element software.