The book presents a concise, yet reasonably comprehensive, overview of fundamental notions of plasticity in relation to geomechanics. The primary objective of this work is to provide the reader with a general background in soil/rock plasticity and, as such, should be perceived as an introduction to the broad area of inelastic response of geomaterials. The book is divided into eight chapters. Chapters 1 & 2 start with an outline of the basic concepts and fundamental postulates, followed by a review of the elastic-perfectly plastic formulations in geomechanics. The isotropic strain-hardening framework and isotropic-kinematic hardening rules, the latter formulated within the context of bounding surface plasticity, are discussed in Chapters 3 & 4. Chapter 5 outlines the basic techniques for numerical integration, whereas Chapter 6 gives an overview of procedures for limit analysis that include applications of lower and upper bound theorems. Both these chapters are introductory in nature and are intended to provide a basic background in the respective areas. Chapter 7 deals with description of inherent anisotropy in geomaterials. Finally, Chapter 8 provides an overview of the experimental response of geomaterials. The text is intended primarily for Ph.D./M.Sc. students as well as researchers working in the areas of soil/rock mechanics. It may also be of interest to practicing engineers familiar with established notions of contemporary continuum mechanics.

This is a compehensive text covering the fundamentals of the theory of plasticity in the context of geomechanics, including the mathematical formulation of various constitutive theories as well as aspects of numerical integration.

Reflecting the current research and advances made in the application of numerical methods in geotechnical engineering, this volume details proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on 'Numerical Models in Geomechanics - NUMOG IX' held in Ottawa, Canada, 25-27 August 2004.
Highlighting a number of new developments in the area, papers concentrate upon the following four main areas:
* constitutive relations for geomaterials
* numerical algorithms: formulation and performance
* modelling of transient, coupled and dynamic problems
* application of numerical techniques to practical problems.
Representing the most advanced, modern findings in the field, Numerical Models in Geomechanics is a comprehensive and impeccably-researched text, ideal for students and researchers as well as practising engineers.

Constitutive models of geological materials: Models for granular media/models for clay/models for soils/interfaces & other geological materials; Experimental behaviour & evolution of constitutive models; Limit analysis & modelling of instabilities; Soil dynamics; Heat & fluid flow; Numerical methods & software development; Applications of numerical techniques to practical problems: Tunnels & excavations/ embankments, slope & piles/other applications.

NUMOG X reflects the current research and advances made in the application of numerical methods in geotechnical engineering. The papers are organised in the following four sections: 1. Constitutive relations for geomaterials 2. Numerical algorithms: formulation and performance 3. Modelling of transient / coupled problems 4. Application of numerical techniques to practical problems Many new developments on a wide variety of topics have been reported at this Symposium. These include: description of mechanical properties of soil, instabilities in soil behaviour; laboratory testing and identification of material parameters, hydro-mechanical coupling in relation to problems of nuclear waste disposal and applications of numerical methods to the analysis of tunnels, embankments, slopes and foundations. A special section is devoted to applications incorporating the tools of computational intelligence. A number of papers describe case histories of practical applications. These proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on 'Numerical Models in Geomechanics', NUMOG X, held in Rhodes, Greece, 25-27 April 2007, contain 104 papers which were selected for presentation. The wealth of information in these proceedings should be of interest to students, researchers as well as practising engineers.

The papers in this volume reflect the current research and advances made in the application of numerical methods in geotechnical engineering. Topics include: instabilities in soil behaviour; environmental geomechanics; and hydro-mechanical coupling in problems of engineering.