A constitutive model for the municipal solid waste based on nonlinear strength criterion

Abstract:

Considering the nonlinear characteristic of the shear strength of the municipal solid waste and based on power form function, a nonlinear strength criterion in p-q stress space was proposed. According to the proposed criterion, the friction angle corresponding to the linear Mohr-Coulomb criterion was obtained, and it was shown to decrease with the increasing of the initial confining stress. By adopting the incremental hardening rule and suitable plastic potential function, a non-associated elasto-plasticity model for the MSW was built. By predicting a series of consolidated drained triaxial tests of MSW, the proposed model was shown to be able to predict the stress-strain relationships of MSW rightly and could give out reasonable prediction of the volumetric strain.

Key words:municipal solid waste; nonlinear shear strength; elasto-plasticity; constitutive model