Effect of consolidation history and stress path on hyperbolic stress–strain relations

The hyperbolic approximation of the stress–strain behaviour of soil based on the results of conventional triaxial tests, which is used in incremental elastic analysis of soil deformation problems, is shown to be inapplicable for representing soil behaviour under anisotropic consolidation and different stress paths. Test results on a normally consolidated clay are presented to show that a separate hyperbolic representation of stress–strain behaviour is possible for each consolidation history and stress path if increment in deviator stress after consolidation, rather than deviator stress, is used as the stress variable. Hyperbolic parameters are thus shown to depend on test type.