Discussion of "Analysis of Shear Banding in True Triaxial Tests on Sand" by Poul V. Lade and Qiong Wang

• Published in: Journal of engineering mechanics Vol. 129; no. 4; pp. 473 - 474
• Main Author: Cela, J J L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society of Civil Engineers 01-04-2003
• Subjects: DISCUSSIONS AND CLOSURES
• ISSN: 0733-9399; 1943-7889
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(2003)129:4(473)

The scope of this discussion is to compare the experimental results presented by Wang and Lade (2001) with some theoretical analysis in a way similar to that carried out by the same authors (Lade and Wang 2001). These researchers conducted true triaxial tests on tall prismatic specimens of Santa Monica Beach sand at three relative densities. Of all the experimental results obtained, we want to investigate those that concern shear band formation, that is, the inclination of the band and the normalized critical hardening modulus immediately before bifurcation. For the theoretical analysis we select the Drucker-Prager model which is a relatively simple constitutive law from a numerical point of view (Loret and Prevost 1986). However, it can replicate some important features considered typical in geologic materials. This material model has recently received considerable attention from researchers with regard to localization; see, e.g., work by Borja (2000) or by Liebe and Willam (2001), among others.