Plane strain instability of saturated elasto-plastic soils

摘要

The two-phase instability of saturated elasto-plastic soils is investigated under plane strain conditions. This type of material instability is characterised by a non-homogeneous field of solid deformation with vortex-like patterns, which grows rapidly and is accompanied by a non-uniform flow of interstitial water exhibiting source-sink flow patterns. Three simple criteria are established to define the conditions for the onset of two-phase instability within elasto-plastic soils saturated with an incompressible fluid and subjected to plane-strain undrained loadings.