Keywords: active earth pressure, passive earth pressure, Mohr-Coulomb plasticity, stress return algorithm.

In the course of the past fifteen years, research concerning lateral (earth) pressure has been proceeding by means of physical as well as advanced numerical models. The research has shown that the discrepancy between conventional earth pressure theory and reality is not negligible and that some approaches can be connected with considerable risk. The theoretical concept of the research presented in this paper was concerned with the behaviour of soil and soft rock mass during various types of movement of the retaining structure. The research monitored and analyzed the deformation and failure processes as well as both components of the contact stress at the rear face of a retaining structure, i.e. normal pressure and vertical friction. It was ascertained that the behaviour of the soil mass was considerably more complicated than that considered by standards and codes in force [1,2,3].

The main objectives of the physical modelling research were the measurements of both components (normal and tangential) of lateral pressure of a loose granular mass applied to the retaining wall during its various movements. A reliable separation of both stress components was enabled by sensors according to the invention of Šmíd [4] based on the new concept.

The paper presents a comparison of the experiments on the passive earth pressure with the numerical simulation where the finite element method and the Mohr-Coulomb plasticity model were used. Some numerical aspects of the stress return algorithm used, which was originally proposed by Simo [5], are discussed with respect to the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion.

1

P. Koudelka, "Numerical Analysis of a Physical Experiment with Retained Mass by GLPT", Proc. RC Geotechnical Engineering in Soft Ground, Shanghai, Tongji University Press, 563-568, 2001.

2

P. Koudelka, T. Koudelka, "Briefly on the Extreme and Intermediate Lateral Pressures on Structures", Proc. 12th DEC Geotechnical Engineering, Passau, DGGT, Gudehus et al., 343-346, 2002.

3

P. Koudelka, T. Koudelka, "Time Instability of Passive Pressure of Non-cohesive Materials", Proc. 12th ARC SMGE Singapore, Leung, Phoon, Chow, Yong & Teh, World Scientific Publishing Comp., Singapore, 1, 801-804, 2003.

4

J. Šmíd, P.V. Xuan, J Thýn, "Effect of Filling Method on the Packing Distribution of a Catalyst Bed", Chem. Eng. Technol., 16, 117, 1993.

5

J.C. Simo, M. Oritz, "A Unified Approach to Finite Deformation Elastoplasticity Based on the Use of Hyperelastic Constitutive Equations", Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 221-245, 1985. doi:10.1016/0045-7825(85)90061-1

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