A deformação dos solos é, atualmente, objeto de intensas pesquisas em todo o mundo movidas pelas necessidades da engenharia geotécnica. Este trabalho, que aborda o tema nos aspectos teórico e experimental, inicia-se revendo as relações constitutivas elasto-plásticas e o modelo Cam-Clay, cuja formulação matemática é apresentada de um modo diferente do usual. O modelo é construído de forma sistêmica a partir das equações elasto-plásticas gerais. Na parte experimental investiga-se o comportamento de um solo siltoso remoldado, quando submetido a ensaios triaxiais com diferentes trajetórias de tensão após adensamento isotrópico. Por fim comparam-se resultados experimentais e teóricos. Conclui-se que o modelo comporta-se melhor nas trajetórias de tensão em que não há diminuição da tensão octaédrica, embora preveja deformações volumétricas exageradas. Por sua vez, nas trajetórias em que há diminuição da tensão octaédrica, a diferença entre o comportamento previsto e o observado é grande, revelando que o modelo não deve ser aplicado nesses casos.

Soil deformation is today a subject of intense research all over the world motivated by the necessities of the geotechnical engineering. This work, which approaches the theme in both theoretical and experimental aspects, reviews the elastoplastic constitutive relations and the Cam-Clay model, and examines the behavior of a remoulded silty soil when subjected to different stress paths. Following a brief exposition of some basic Continuum Mechanics concepts, the elastic and elastoplastic constitutive equations are presented in a general form, which serve as a basis for several soil models. After a discussion about soil behavior and its representation by models, the Cam-Clay mathematical formulation is presented in an unusual form: it begins with the general elastoplastic constitutive equations, the elastic stress-strain relation, the yield function and the hardening law being given. The plastic stress-strain relation in deduced. In the experimental part the behavior of a remoulded silty soil from the Escola Politécnica Foundation Experimental Field is investigated. Oedometric, isotropic and triaxial compression tests (that were performed as part of the research) are described and analysed. Among them the triaxial tests with different stress paths after isotropic consolidation constitute the principal subject of analysis. Finally the Cam-Clay equations are integrated along the tests stress paths and the experimental e theoretical results are confronted. The conclusions is that the model behaves better in stress paths where there is no octabedral stress reduction, although even then it predicts exaggerated volumetric strains. In its turn, in stress paths where there is an octahedral stress reduction the difference between predicted and observed behavior is large, revealing that the model should not be applied in such cases.