The Hardening Soil model (Isotropic hardening)

6
In contrast to an elastic perfectly-plastic model, the yield surface of a hardening plasticity model is not fixed in
principal stress space, but it can expand due to plastic straining. Distinction can be made between two main
types of hardening, namely shear hardening and compression hardening. Shear hardening is used to model
irreversible strains due to primary deviatoric loading. Compression hardening is used to model irreversible
plastic strains due to primary compression in oedometer loading and isotropic loading. Both types of hardening
are contained in the present model.
The Hardening Soil model is an advanced model for simulating the behaviour of different types of soil, both soft
soils and stiff soils, Shanz (1998) (on page 244). When subjected to primary deviatoric loading, soil shows a
decreasing stiffness and simultaneously irreversible plastic strains develop. In the special case of a drained
triaxial test, the observed relationship between the axial strain and the deviatoric stress can be well
approximated by a hyperbola. Such a relationship was first formulated by Kondner (1963) (on page 243) and
later used in the well-known hyperbolic model (Duncan & Chang, 1970) (on page 242). The Hardening Soil
model, however, supersedes the hyperbolic model by far: Firstly by using the theory of plasticity rather than the
theory of elasticity, secondly by including soil dilatancy and thirdly by introducing a yield cap. Some basic
characteristics of the model are:
• Stress dependent stiffness according to a power law: Input parameter m
• Plastic straining due to primary deviatoric loading: Input parameter E ref
50
• Plastic straining due to primary compression: Input parameter E ref
oed
• Elastic unloading / reloading: Input parameters E ref , ν
ur ur
• Failure according to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion: Parameters c, φ and ψ
A basic feature of the present Hardening Soil model is the stress dependency of soil stiffness. For oedometer
ref
conditions of stress and strain, the model implies for example the relationship Eoed = Eoed (σ / pref)m. In the
special case of soft soils it is realistic to use m = 1. In such situations there is also a simple relationship between
the modified compression index λ*, as used in models for soft soil and the oedometer loading modulus (see also
Parameters of the Soft Soil Creep model (on page 129) ).

p ref λ
ref
Eoed = λ* = Eq. [134]
λ
* (1 + e0)
where pref is a reference pressure. Here we consider a tangent oedometer modulus at a particular reference
pressure pref. Hence, the primary loading stiffness relates to the modified compression index λ* or to the
standard Cam-Clay compression index λ.
Similarly, the unloading-reloading modulus relates to the modified swelling index κ* or to the standard Cam-Clay
swelling index κ. There is the approximate relationship:

PLAXIS 67 Material Models Manual 2D

The Hardening Soil model (Isotropic hardening)
Hyperbolic relationship for standard drained triaxial test

2 p ref k
ref
Eur ≈ k*= Eq. [135]
κ
* (1 + e0)
This relationship applies in combination with the input value m = 1.

6.1 Hyperbolic relationship for standard drained triaxial test

A basic idea for the formulation of the Hardening Soil model is the hyperbolic relationship between the vertical
strain, ε1, and the deviatoric stress, q, in primary triaxial loading. Here standard drained triaxial tests tend to
yield curves that can be described by:
1 q
− ε1 = Ei 1 − q / qa
for : q < q f Eq. [136]

where
qa = Asymptotic value of the shear strength.
Ei = Initial stiffness.
Ei is related to E50 by:
2E50
Ei = 2 − Rf
Eq. [137]

This relationship is plotted in Figure 24 (on page 69). The parameter E50 is the confining stress dependent
stiffness modulus for primary loading and is given by the equation:

E50 = ref
E50 ( ′
ccos(φ ) − σ3sin(φ ) m
)
ccos(φ ) + p ref sin(φ )
Eq. [138]

where
ref
E50 = Reference stiffness modulus corresponding to the reference confining
pressure pref.
In PLAXIS, a default setting pref = 100 stress units is used. The actual stiffness depends on the minor principal
stress, σ'3, which is the confining pressure in a triaxial test. Please note that σ'3 is negative for compression. The
amount of stress dependency is given by the power m. In order to simulate a logarithmic compression
behaviour, as observed for soft clays, the power should be taken equal to 1.0. Janbu (1963) (on page 243)
reports values of m around 0.5 for Norwegian sands and silts, whilst von Soos (1990) (on page 245) reports
various different values in the range 0.5 < m < 1.0.
The ultimate deviatoric stress, qf, and the quantity qa in Eq. [136] are defined as:

2sin(φ ) qf
q f = (ccot(φ ) − σ3′) 1 − sin(φ ) and : qa = Rf
Eq. [139]

Again it is remarked that σ'3 is usually negative. The above relationship for qf is derived from the Mohr-Coulomb
failure criterion, which involves the strength parameters c and φ. As soon as q = qf, the failure criterion is
satisfied and perfectly plastic yielding occurs as described by the Mohr-Coulomb model.
The ratio between qf and qa is given by the failure ratio Rf, which should obviously be smaller than or equal to 1.
In PLAXIS, Rf = 0.9 is chosen as a suitable default setting.
For unloading and reloading stress paths, another stress-dependent stiffness modulus is used:

PLAXIS 68 Material Models Manual 2D

The Hardening Soil model (Isotropic hardening)
Approximation of hyperbola by the Hardening Soil model

ref
Eur = Eur ( ′
ccos(φ ) − σ3sin(φ ) m

ccos(φ ) + p ref sin(φ )

) Eq. [140]

where
ref
Eur = Reference Young's modulus and reloading, corresponding to the
reference pressure pref.

ref ref
Note: In many practical cases it is appropriate to set Eur equal to 3 E50 ; this is the default setting used in
PLAXIS.

deviatoric stress
|�1 − �3|
asymptote
qa
failure line
qf
Ei E50
1 1

Eur

axial strain -�1

Figure 24: Hyperbolic stress-strain relation in primary loading for a standard drained triaxial test

6.2 Approximation of hyperbola by the Hardening Soil model

For the sake of convenience, restriction is made here to triaxial loading conditions with σ'2 = σ'3 and σ'1 being the
major compressive stress. In fact, for general states of stress, q can be replaced by q̃ where:
3 + sin(φ )
q̃ = σ1 + (α − 1)σ2′ − ασ3′ with α= 3 − sin(φ )
Eq. [141]

(refer to On the cap yield surface in the Hardening Soil model (on page 78) for more details). Moreover, it is
assumed that q < qf, as also indicated in Figure 24 (on page 69). It should also be realised that compressive stress
and strain are considered negative. For a more general presentation of the Hardening Soil model the reader is
referred to Schanz, Vermeer & Bonnier (1999) (on page 244). In this section it will be shown that this model
gives virtually the hyperbolic stress strain curve of Eq. [136] when considering stress paths of standard drained
triaxial tests. Let us first consider the corresponding plastic strains. This stems from a shear hardening yield
function of the form:
¯
f = f −γp Eq. [142]
where
¯
f = Function of stress
γp = Function of plastic strains:

PLAXIS 69 Material Models Manual 2D

The Hardening Soil model (Isotropic hardening)
Approximation of hyperbola by the Hardening Soil model

¯ 2 q 2q
f = Ei 1 − q / qa
− Eur
γ p = − (2ε1p − εvp ) ≈ − 2ε 1p Eq. [143]

with q, qa, Ei and Eur as defined by Eq. [136] to Eq. [139], whilst the superscript p is used to denote plastic
strains. For hard soils, plastic volume changes (εvp) tend to be relatively small and this leads to the
approximation γp ≈ − 2ε 1p . The above definition of the strain-hardening parameter γp will be referred to later.
¯
An essential feature of the above definitions for f is that it matches the well-known hyperbolic law Eq. [136].
For checking this statement, one has to consider primary loading, as this implies the yield condition f = 0. For
¯
primary loading, it thus yields γp = f and it follows from Eq. [142] that:
1¯ 1 q q
ε1p ≈ 2
f = Ei 1 − q / qa
− Eur
Eq. [144]

In addition to the plastic strains, the model accounts for elastic strains. Plastic strains develop in primary loading
alone, but elastic strains develop both in primary loading and unloading / reloading. For drained triaxial test
stress paths with σ'2 = σ'3 = constant, the elastic Young's modulus Eur remains constant and the elastic strains
are given by the equations:
q q
− ε1e = Eur
− ε e2 = − ε e3 = − ν ur Eur
Eq. [145]

where νur is the unloading / reloading Poisson's ratio. Here it should be realised that restriction is made to
strains that develop during deviatoric loading, whilst the strains that develop during the very first stage of the
test (isotropic compression with consolidation) are not considered.
For the deviatoric loading stage of the triaxial test, the axial strain is the sum of an elastic component given by
Eq. [145] and a plastic component according to Eq. [144]. Hence, it follows that:
1 q
− ε1 = − ε1e − ε1p ≈ Ei 1 − q / qa
Eq. [146]

This relationship holds exactly in absence of plastic volume strains, i.e. when εvp = 0.
In reality, plastic volumetric strains will never be precisely equal to zero, but for hard soils plastic volume
changes tend to be small when compared with the axial strain so that this formulation yields a hyperbolic stress-
strain curve under triaxial testing conditions.
For a given constant value of the hardening parameter, γp, the yield condition f = 0, can be visualised in p' - q-
plane by means of a yield locus. Hence, γp is associated with mobilised friction. When plotting such yield loci, one
has to use Eq. [143] as well as Eq. [140] and Eq. [139] for E50 and Eur respectively. Because of the latter
expressions, the shape of the yield loci depends on the exponent m. For m = 1, straight lines are obtained, but
slightly curved yield loci correspond to lower values of the exponent. Figure 25 (on page 71) shows the shape
of yield loci for increasing values of γp considering m = 0.5, being typical for hard soils. Hence, γp can be regarded
as the plastic shear strain related to the mobilised shear resistance.

Note: Note that there is approximately a factor 2 difference between the plastic shear strain parameter γp and
the deviatoric plastic strain εqp (γp ≈ εqp)

PLAXIS 70 Material Models Manual 2D