Analysis of Consolidation and Undrained Shearing of Saturated Clays Subjected to Thermal Loading

This paper investigates the mechanical response of saturated fine-grained soils subjected to thermal loading under different states of stress. A thermoplastic soil constitutive model that incorporates stress-induced anisotropy and thermal hardening is employed. The evolution of excess pore water pressure during undrained heating followed by a cooling phase, as well as the volumetric strain resulting from the dissipation of thermally induced excess pore water pressure, is evaluated using coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical finite element analyses (FEAs). The results indicate that the heating rate under partially drained conditions and the temperature-dependent variation in soil hydraulic conductivity are critical factors for accurately predicting the development of thermally induced excess pore water pressure. In addition, undrained soil shearing at elevated temperatures is simulated as a boundary value problem in triaxial stress space using coupled FEAs. The numerical analyses demonstrate that the proposed framework can capture the thermomechanical behavior of different fine-grained soils with a reasonable level of accuracy.