Mathematical Modelling of Venetian Sediment Behaviour Using Generalized Plasticity.

The paper is concerned with the modelling of the Venetian lagoon silty sediment behaviour within a theoretical framework known as Generalized Plasticity. Starting from an existing formulation developed for sands, modifications are introduced into the constitutive equations in order to overcome some limitations of the original model and to develop a simple and reliable procedure for calibrating the constitutive parameters for Venetian soils. The key point in the new formulation is the use of a material state parameter, whose main goal is to allow unified modelling of the mechanical behaviour of soils over a wide range of stress levels and void ratios. The approach is validated by comparing the new model predictions with experimental results of drained triaxial compression tests on natural and reconstituted Venetian soil samples, having different fine contents, under various initial state and confining pressure conditions.