Extended Experimental Database of Fontainebleau Sand (NE34) and Validation of Hypoplastic Constitutive Models

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4. Extended Experimental Database of Fontainebleau Sand (NE34) and Validation of Hypoplastic Constitutive Models

The design and analysis of (offshore) geotechnical structures require advanced and accurate finite element
simulations, which involve constitutive models for the reproduction of mechanical soil behavior. To accurately describe the
soil response under various loading conditions, these constitutive models must be calibrated and validated against extensive
experimental data. Fontainebleau sand (NE34) is frequently utilized in model, centrifuge, and laboratory tests within offshore
geotechnics, as detailed by Lascarro et al. (2024). Numerous numerical simulations are performed and constitutive models
are calibrated from this experimental database. This study presents new laboratory tests on fresh NE34 sand to expand the
existing database. The novel experimental results encompass a wide range of test conditions, including monotonic, cyclic,
and for the first time drained high-cyclic tests (number of cycles N = 10⁵ ). This comprehensive array of test conditions
allows for an in-depth study of the deformation, strain accumulation, and excess pore water pressure accumulation behavior
of NE34 sand. The new test data are compared to existing experimental results performed on older batches of NE34 sand
and reveal potential variations in the mechanical properties of NE34 across different batches. Moreover, previously
published parameter sets for the advanced constitutive models, namely hypoplasticity with intergranular strain (HP + IS)
and hypoplasticity with intergranular strain anisotropy (HP + ISA), are tested using the new experimental results. The high-
cycle accumulation model (HCA) for sand is additionally calibrated using the new drained high-cyclic tests. This analysis
enables the verification of consistency between the existing and newly conducted test results, as well as the validation of the
HP + IS and HP + ISA parameter sets.

5th International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG2025)

3 - Constitutive models and soil behaviour modelling