EXPANSION OF A CYLINDRICAL CAVITY IN SAND

Abstract

The paper presents numerical solution to the problem of the symmetric quasi-static large-strain expansion of a cylindrical cavity in sand. The boundary value problem is solved with the use of a constitutive equation of hypoplasticity calibrated for a particular sand. As the radius of the cavity increases, the stresses and the density on the cavity surface asymptotically approach limit values which correspond to a so-called critical state of the sand. The limit values depend on the initial stresses and the initial density. The solutions are compared with experimental results for the same sand available in the literature. A comparison is also made with numerical solutions obtained by other authors.