Soilbags are usually incorporated into temporary structures, rather than being used in conventional construction, as they have a tendency to deteriorate rapidly on prolonged exposure to sunlight. The amazing bearing capacity of soilbags has, however, inspired the development of an earth reinforcement method in which the bearing capacity of soft foundations is enhanced, reaching ten per cent of that of concrete. New methods have seen their projected durability as a semi-permanent material extend to in excess of fifty years, provided that direct exposure to sunlight and ultra-violet rays is...

The Cam-Clay model is a fundamental constitutive model in soil mechanics, but is only suitable for normally consolidated clay under triaxial compression stress states. The SMP failure criterion is the most reasonable three-dimensional extension of the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion from the point of view of its physical meaning, mathematical expression and geometrical presentation. To integrate the Cam-Clay model with the SMP criterion and extend it to sand and other geomaterials is one of the fundamental tasks in geotechnical engineering.

This book introduces the SMP criterion,...