Hypoplasticity for modelling soil non-linearity in excavation problems

Some general remarks are made on the advantages and limitations of different strategies for modeling soil non-linearity, namely: i) classical elastoplasticity with strain-dependent elastic stiffness; ii) bounding surface plasticity; iii) hypoplasticity. This last approach, which represents a relatively new and promising development, is then applied to the FE analysis of soil-structure interaction in an excavation in sand, supported by a propped diaphragm wall. The analysis focuses on the prediction of wall and soil movements. For comparison, the problem has also been analyzed modeling soil behavior with a classical elastoplastic model. Although obtained for an idealized scheme, the results allow a number of more general conclusions to be drawn on the influence of the constitutive assumptions on predicted response.