User's Manual for MODCAL - Bounding Surface Soil Plasticity Model Calibration and Prediction Code. Volume II.

In order to reduce the complexity of the model calibration process, a computer-aided automated procedure has been developed and tested. The computer code employs a Quasi-Newton optimization strategy to locate that set of parameter values which minimizes the discrepancy between the model predictions and the experimental observations included in the calibration data base. Through application to a number of real soils, the automated procedure has been found to be an efficient, reliable and economical means of accomplishing model calibration. Although the code was developed specifically for use with the Bounding Surface plasticity model, it can readily be adapted to other constitutive formulations. Since the code greatly reduces the dependence of calibration success on user expertise, it significantly increases the accessibility and usefulness of sophisticated material models to the general engineering community.