Elastoplastic analysis of inclusion reinforced structures

An analytical model for assessing the global elastoplastic behaviour of inclusion-reinforced materials is presented in this contribution. It is based upon a description of the reinforced material as a two-phase composite system, namely a matrix material and the reinforcements which are assumed to behave as tensile-compressive load carrying elements. An anisotropic elastoplastic constitutive law exhibiting work-hardening is then derived in an explicit form. It involves a number of hardening parameters equal to the number of reinforcing directions. Such a model, which is readily implementable in a finite element computer code, is applied to the numerical simulation of the settlement of a shallow strip footing resting upon a soil reinforced in two symmetric directions ("micropiling technique"). The load-settlement curve predicted from using the work-hardening model is finally compared with that deduced from a previously-adopted elastic perfectly plastic schematization of the reinforced soil.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]