On a constitutive driver as a useful tool in soil plasticity

A mathematical basis for the development of Constitutive Drivers in soil pl asticity has recently been proposed by the authors. A Constitutive Driver i s here understood as a computer program, containing a number of selected co nstitutive models, in which different laboratory and field tests can be sim ulated and model parameters optimised. As a pilot study of the mathematical concept, a Constitutive Driver for soils, in the form of a PC-program, has been developed. The paper discusses this particular program, i.e. its stru cture, the mathematical basis, included soil models and some application ex amples, to give an idea of how a general and user-friendly Constitutive Dri ver can be designed. Such a program can be used for practical, research and educational purposes. In fact, it is believed that so many important appli cations for Constitutive Drivers exist that it would be beneficial if such programs were easily accessible as complementary programs in commercial sof tware. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.