Evaluation of mohr-coulomb and hardening soil models in plaxis in modelling behaviour of sand

Abstract

This dissertation is concerned with the study of two constitutive models for sand, and the use of these models for the analysis of behaviour of sand, these two models are: (1) the Mohr-Coulomb model (2) the Hardening-Soil model. The computer program, PLAXIS, was used to perform the finite element analyses. The strains induced in cohesionless soil by changes in stress vary considerably depending on stress level, confining pressure, and on whether the changes in stress involve primary loading, unloading, or reloading. The nature of stress-path dependency, the principles that govern deformations in cohesionless soil, and prediction of soil response for a variety of stress-paths have been investigated. Based on the results of triaxial tests it was found that except for the maximum previous stress level experienced, the stress history has little influence on the behaviour of cohesionless soil. However, for stress-paths involving unloading or reloading, the stress-path does have an influence on the strains. PLAXIS was used to calculate the strains for the stress-paths investigated, the calculated and measured stress-strains curves were compared.