On influence of fabric anisotropy on the stress-strain behavior of clays

Previous studies have confirmed that a clayey soil specimen that is highly anisotropic with respect to the orientation of particles may behave like an isotropic specimen with regard to its stress-strain behavior. The question of what then is responsible for the directional behavior observed for clayey soils has remained unresolved to date. Using a numerical method of assembly analysis technique, which is based on the discrete element method (DEM), it is shown here that it is the anisotropy of particle orientation at the cluster-to-cluster contacts that control the overall (macroscopic) stress-strain behavior, rather than the anisotropy of particle orientation for the entire assembly. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.