In this work, a constitutive model able to capture the strain rate dependency, small strain effects and the inherent anisotropy is proposed considering the influence of the overconsolidation ratio (OCR). Small strain effects are captured by using an extended ISA plasticity formulation (Fuentes and Triantafyllidis in Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 39(11):1235–1254, 2015). The strain rate dependency is reproduced by incorporating a third strain rate mechanism (in addition to the elastic and hypoplastic strain rate). A loading surface has been incorporated to define a three-dimensional (3D) overconsolidation ratio and to account for its effects on the simulations. Experimental investigations using Kaolin Clay and Lower Rhine Clay with horizontal bedding plane have shown that under undrained cycles of small strain amplitudes ( $$<10^{-4}$$< 10 - 4 ), the effective stress path in the p–q space is significantly inclined towards the left upper corner of the $$p - q$$p - q plane. Consequently, a transversely (hypo)elastic stiffness has been successfully formulated to capture this behaviour. The performance of the model has been inspected by simulating the database of approximately 50 cyclic undrained triaxial (CUT) tests on low-plasticity Kaolin Clay (Wichtmann and Triantafyllidis) considering different deviatoric stress amplitudes, initial stress ratios, displacement rate, overconsolidation ratio and cutting direction. Furthermore, 4 CUT tests conducted on high-plasticity Lower Rhine Clay were simulated, whereby the influence of the displacement rate, as well as the deviatoric stress amplitude, has been analysed. The simulations showed a good congruence with the experimental observations.

A high-cycle accumulation (HCA) model predicting the accumulation of permanent strain or excess pore water pressure in clay under a large number of load cycles is presented. Data from an extensive laboratory testing program on kaolin under undrained cyclic loading has been analysed for that purpose. The influence of strain amplitude, void ratio, stress ratio, overconsolidation ratio and loading frequency on the accumulation rates is considered in the constitutive equations of the HCA model. The proposed model is validated first by the simulation of element tests. Subsequently, its application to offshore wind turbine foundations under long-term lateral cyclic loading is presented by the back-analysis of a centrifuge test on a monopile in soft clay. The results are in good accordance with the measurements in terms of pile displacement and bending moment versus number of applied cycles. It is concluded that the proposed model is feasible to describe the long-term behaviour of clay subjected to high-cyclic loading.

Summary: This paper presents a simple hypoplastic model capturing mostly all salient features of clays: rate dependency, time dependency and inherent and induced anisotropy without being restricted to only viscoplastic clays. Therefore, due to the strain rate decomposition into three parts, nonviscous clays, that is, rate‐independent clays, can also be simulated. The incorporation of a loading surface allows to capture the behaviour of normal and overconsolidated clays. The model requires eight material parameters, which are simple to calibrate from standard laboratory tests. In total, 77 simulations of five different clayey‐like soils are compared with experimental data. The simulations contain one oedometer test with loading–unloading–reloading cycles, creep and relaxation stages, both undrained and drained triaxial tests in compression and extension, as well as eight incremental response envelopes capturing also the directional response of Beaucaire Marl clay. Some limitations of the model such as the description of temperature effects on the behaviour of clays are also pointed out.

An elastic–plastic constitutive model considering particle breakage for simulation of crushable granular soils behavior is proposed. In the model, elastic strain rates are derived from a modified Helmholtz free energy function, and the influence of plastic shear work-induced particle breakage on the elastic properties of sand is taken into account as an elastic–plastic coupling mechanism. A stress ratio-driven mechanism is employed for calculation of the plastic strain rates. The proposed model is capable of tracking the evolution of the grain size distribution (GSD) due to shear-induced particle breakage. The evolving breakage index of Einav (2007) (J Mech Phys Solids 55(6):1274–1297, 2007) is interrelated to the plastic shear work to avoid overestimation of shear-induced particle breakage in loose sands. A direct comparison between the model simulations and laboratory data has been carried out for five series of drained/undrained monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests covering a wide range of initial states. For the sake of comparison, predicted behaviors from a hypoplastic constitutive model specially developed for crushable granular soils are also included. It is shown that the proposed constitutive model can provide reasonable predictions using a single set of parameters for each series of the laboratory data.