Small strain stiffness modelling in multilaminate framework

The research groups at Graz and Swansea have been involved in developing constitutive models for geomaterials (soils, rocks, concrete etc.), which are essential for the analysis and design of transport infrastructure (roads, embankments and bridges). Both groups have extensive industrial contacts in their respective countries. Their past research has been well recognised and been presented at several international workshops and conferences. However, there are a number issues which remain to be addressed. Amongst these modelling of 'small strains' in the multilaminate framework and developing robust algorithms and protocols for linking multilaminate models to software used by the industry are most pressing. The work will be based on a recently completed Ph.D. thesis at Graz where a basic model of the multilaminate framework has been incorporated into the finite element code PLAXIS. Enhancment to include small strain stiffness behaviour on contact planes will be explored in the proposed collaboration