A mixed damage model for unsaturated porous media

The aim of this study is to present a framework for the modeling of damage in continuous unsaturated porous geomaterials. The damage variable is a second-order tensor. The model is formulated in net stress and suction independent state variables. Correspondingly, the strain tensor is split into two independent thermodynamic strain components. The proposed framework mixes micro-mechanical and phenomenological approaches. On the one hand, the effective stress concept of Continuum Damage Mechanics is used in order to compute the damaged rigidities. On the other hand, the concept of equivalent mechanical state is introduced in order to get a simple phenomenological formulation of the behavior laws. Cracking effects are also taken into account in the fluid transfer laws.