Expansion of a Cylindrical Cavity in a Very Deformable Medium: A Theoretical Study

Most classical solutions for stress and strain distribution around an expanding cavity that have up to now been used for the interpretation of pressuremeter tests in soils, have been based essentially on a small strain assumption. This paper presents a finite element method solution of the problem of an expanding cylindrical cavity, which is based on a new incremental formulation, considered to lead to a more correct representation of large strain problems than some earlier ones. In addition, a new large-strain analytical solution is developed in the paper, which is shown to be able to determine the limit cylindrical expansion pressure, even for very deformable materials, which are outside the scope of classical solutions.