Duncan-Chang Soil Constitutive Hyperbolic Model

Preparation: Mahmoud S. Shaqfa

Background:

Choosing the right model, again is a pin-point operation in geomaterial science. Probably the most
important parameter in modeling soil behavior is the relationship between stress and strain distribution
in soil. The relationship between stress and strain rarely to be found linearly charted. Linearization and
discretization techniques are always used by modeling engineers, and these solutions are always of
great benefits on both dynamic and static analysis of soil and material behavior in general. Historically,
this method had been developed in 1970, and used widely for a wide range of applications, for instance,
designing a large number of dams.

Stress Strain Curve and Formulation:

The major advantage for this model is its generality, where it can be used for a large range of different
soils, for instance, silt, clay, sand, gravel and even rockfills. As well as, saturated or partially saturated,
drained and undrained loading conditions. It requires a wide knowledge of the soil itself and experience
in typical stress strain figures. The main concept behind this method is how to discretize the high-
nonlinear stress strain relationship into small linear increments in order to accomplish the analysis
iteratively. For isotropic material, plane strain element, the method used the generalized form of Hook's
Law:

To be noted that the above-mentioned equation has been re-formalized in terms of stress and strain
increments (Iterative Analysis).
It's worth to mention that plane strain (per-described) in the previous paragraph, is a 2-D element
(under stresses) where all the strain perpendicular to the surface of that element equals zero (Normal
and shear strains), and it means that the body (under consideration) is too long in comparison with
other dimensions. For example analysis of long retaining wall or tunnel, ..etc. Fig(1).

Fig.(1)

The above mentioned equation, in each iteration both Tangential Modulus of Elasticity and Poisson's
ratio change, in order to accommodate the new stress state according to the stress strain relationship,
stress dependency and the in-elasticity at the same time.

The Variation of Stress-Strain Relationship:

Knoder (1963), proposed the following equation to represent the stress-strain curve with reasonable
accuracy (Hyperbolic):

Where, (1- 3)ult is the asymptotic value of stress difference and Ei, is the initial slope of stress-strain
curve of the model. And both variables can be determined directly when transforming the hyperbola to
a linear curve as in Fig(2-A & 2-B), real and transformed curves respectively.

Importantly, each parameter in this equation has a physical meaning (not empirically derived), and can
be determined directly with relations connected directly to the strength of soil.
 Fig.(2-A) Fig.(2-B)

From Fig(2), we can deduct, the following formulas:

The initial value of Modulus of Elasticity:

Asymptotic ultimate stress:

The failure ratio:

where,

And this equation belongs to Mohr-Coulomb, failure criteria.

In 1963, Janbu suggested an equation for representing the change in Ei, with 3 (The minor or
confining stresses), where it's well known from material mechanics, with the increase of confining
stresses the major normal stress will increase accordingly, the equation is given in form of:

Where, Pa is the atmospheric pressure, Both K and exponential n are the dimensionless factors
modulus number and the modulus exponent. Fig.(3) reveals the Janbu's empirical equation relationship.

Fig.(3)

The value of K is determined by taking the value of initial modulus corresponding to one a unit of
confining stress to the speciment. While n is determined from equating it to the slope resulted from the
log-log chart shown in Fig.(3).

Linearization of Stress-Strain Relationship:

Linearizing the relationship between stress and strain is one of the old methods used for modeling
materials under non-linear or plastic behavior, and soils is not an exception. One of the most critical
steps in that process is to find the tangential modulus of elasticity for each interval of the curve. By
differentiating the hyperbolic equation, we can get the instantaneous tangential modulus of elasticity,
and using the other relations shown in this section, the final equation will be in the following form:
 Fig.(4)

Fig.(4), reveals the iterative-process of solving a model under non-linear behavior of material, using
Multi-linear model for that, noticing that for each step the tangential modulus of elasticity must be
calculated.

Fig.(5) , illustrates a comparison between real stress-strain curve for the soil with the hyperbolic
relation.

Fig.(5)
References:

1- Estimation of Hyperbolic Stress-Strain Parameters for Gypseous Soils, Anbar University, Dr. A.
Abul-kareem.

2- Determination for Parameters for Hyperbolic Model of Soils from the Eastern Province of Saudi
Arabia, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.