The modified Cam-clay (MCC) model was originally developed to describe the stress-strain-strength characteristics of normally-consolidated clay based on Roscoe and Burland’s critical state theory [
1]. A number of modifications have been made to the MCC to improve its ability to model geomaterials, such as [
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13]. Within the MCC and its family, the critical state void ratio (
) defined by the critical state line (CSL) is assumed to be a straight line lower than the normally consolidated line (NCL) with the same slope
λ, as shown in
Figure 1(a). The distance between the NCL and CSL is assumed to be
. Eq. (1) contains two fitting parameters:
Γ, the limiting critical state void ratio, usually defined as
at
=1.0, and
λ, which represents the constant slope of the CSL. However, unlike clay, the literature shows that the CSL of granular soil is not a straight line, e.g., [
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20]. A power function curve shown in eq. (2) provides a better representation for granular soil. In eq. (2),
Γ acts as the upper bound of
while
λ,
ξ are the fitting parameters. Although
is recommended, it is not necessary to be the atmospheric pressure (approximately 101 kPa). Thus, eq. (2) requires three fitting parameters. It should be noted that the slope of CSL in eq. (2) is not a constant but a varied value
. A comparison between eq. (1) and eq. (2) is demonstrated in
Figure 1(b). Using eq. (1) for granular soil would result in a significant error in the volumetric plastic strain (
. Therefore, a power function curve is popularly used for sand or silty sand. However, this form of the power function can be problematic in sand models when dealing with high pressure because it cannot provide a straight portion after the curved portion.
Figure 2(a) shows the concavity on the extension of eq. (2) after fitting the laboratory data [
2], where the dashed line deviated from the trend of a straight line. To achieve a proper function of
in the e-ln(p) for granular soil, including clean sand and silty sand, without any error in the volumetric plastic strain calculation, a curve illustrated in
Figure 2(b) is required.
Matsuoka et al. [
4] were the first to revise the shear yield and shear failure in the MCC model from the extended Mises criterion to the SMP criterion by introducing the transformed stress. Yao et al. [
5] successfully applied the transformed stress of [
4] to model loose and dense sand, depending on two key factors, i.e., the initial density (
) and mean effective stress (
). Furthermore, Yao et al. [
6] proposed another transformed stress, in conjunction with a new hardening parameter, to the MCC model to model both clay and sand. Finally, in this study, a new curve of the CSL in the e-ln(p) is derived, which has the ability to fit a straight line, curved line, and a curved line connected with a straight line. Therefore, the sand model developed by Yao et al. [
5] can be extended for both clean sand and silty sand. Additionally, we have made some revisions to the work of Yao et al. [
5] to take into account the effect of the participation of fines in sand by applying the concept of the equivalent intergranular void ratio (
) proposed by Thevanayagam and Martin [
21] and the fines influence factor (β) proposed by Lashkali [
22]. The roundness of both sand and fines can settle the arguments in the load bearing mechanism of many silty sands in the literature, according to the work of Lashkali [
22]. With these ideas, it is possible to oversimplify the soil characteristics in the critical state model for silty sand.