Development of extended STZ model for granular soils subjected to combined static loading and vibration

The ‘shear-transformation zone’ (STZ), which may be referred to as a weak domain in granular material, is the main source of plastic deformations in non-cohesive soils such as sand or gravel. To theoretically investigate the vibration-induced shear resistance reduction (ViSRR) of granular materials, in this paper an extended STZ model is proposed that considers the coupling effect between vibration and quasi-static loadings. The framework of …