A new strength criterion for structured soils

Existing strength criteria are mostly formulated to describe the mechanical properties of reconstituted soils. However, the engineering characteristics of structured soils are different from those of reconstituted soils in many aspects, especially in their strength properties. Thus, the influence of soil structure (bonding and fabric) on the mechanical properties of structured soils cannot be correctly described. By analyzing the breakage mechanism of natural soils, the structured soils can be conceptualized as binary medium materials consisting of bonded blocks and weakened bands. On this basis, a new strength criterion is proposed for structured soils. The expressions of the strength criterion on both meridian and deviator planes are given to describe the strength properties of structured soils on these planes. The proposed strength criterion is compared with available test data under conventional and true triaxial stress conditions in the literature. It is observed that the proposed strength criterion agrees well with the test data.