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similar to the experimental one, which indicated that the model could simulate the
effect of the cohesion of this natural clay.
p'0 = 200 kPa
p'0 = 100 kPa
p'0 = 60 kPa
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
1 2
1 4
eps1 (%)
p'0 = 60 kPa
p'0 = 100 kPa
p'0 = 200 kPa
M
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
p' (kPa)
Figure 7.15.
Numerical simulations of undrained triaxial tests on Guiche clay
7.5. Unsaturated granular materials
One of the main advantages of the micromechanical modeling approach is that it
allows us to introduce various physical mechanisms in a natural way at the grain
scale. One example concerns the unsaturated granular materials in which capillary
forces develop between grains, depending on the degree of saturation and the
morphology of the granular assembly. For dry samples, the contact forces are
directly determined from the external stresses σ applied on the granular assembly
(equation [7.13]). In the case of wetted samples, different stages of saturation can be
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