Possibilities and limitations of the Prevost model for the modelling of cohesionless soil cyclic behaviour

The Prevost’s model is currently used to model cyclic behaviour of soils especially in earthquake engineering. The original model is able to capture the main features of cyclic behaviour: pore pressure build up and plastic deformation accumulation. But accurate modelling of laboratory tests requires improvements. Enhanced models exist but require a lot of parameters that make them cumbersome for practical purpose. A suction caisson, part of a tripod offshore foundation for wind turbines is modelled. Possibilities of the Prevost’s model are highlighted compared with a classical Drucker-prager model.