On the mechanical response of gassy clays: Some theoretical considerations

The paper is concerned with the mechanical response of gassy clays during undrained loading, consolidation and drained loading. Gassy clays are typically marine clays which have large gas inclusions embedded in a fully saturated matrix. The constitutive model is based on the assumption that the gas bubbles are locked in the saturated matrix. The mathematical formulation is derived by treating the soil as a three- phase composite medium and the mechanical behaviour is described in terms of average stress-strain measures. It is shown that for any given constitutive model for drained clay the history of evaluation of pore water and gas pressures can be computed without making any additional assumptions.