Decoupling Conditions for Elasto-plastic Consolidation Question Based on Numerical Modeling Method

Elasto-plastic consolidation is one of the classic coupling questions in geomechanics. To solve this problem, an elasto-plastic constitutive model is derived based on the numerical modeling method. The model is applied to Biot’s consolidation theory. Incremental governing partial differential equations are established using this method. According to the stress path, the decoupling condition of these equations is discussed. Based on these conditions, an incremental diffusion equation and uncoupling governing equations are presented. The method is then applied to numerical analyses of three examples. The results show that (1) the effect of the stress path should be taken into account in the simulation of the soil consolidation question; (2) this decoupling method can predict the evolvement of pore water pressure; (3) the settlement using cam-clay model is less than that using numerical model because of dilatancy.