Abstract
The solutions of boundary value problems involving strain-softening materialproperty are full of serious difficulties from both the viewpoint of modeling of strain- localization and the viewpoint of numerical and mathematical procedures. A realistic soilmodel is applied to capture the shear band formation in plane strain compression (PSC) tests on dense sand with a very high angle of internal friction. The model is based on experi- mental findings about the inherent and induced anisotropies involved in sand. Stress- dilatancy relation is considered through non-associated plastic flow. Mesh size-dependenthardening modulus is considered to alleviate the mesh size-dependency of the solution. Inthe simulations a shear band formed without the introduction of any physical defects. It isfound that the inevitable numerical precision error is sufficient to trigger the formation ofa shear band. Different mesh sizes, the advantage of symmetry and boundary conditions aretested numerically while checking the formation of the shear band. It is found that meshsize, domains taken for the analysis, and boundary conditions have profound effects on theformation of shear band in PSC tests. The results of simulation are compared with thosefrom physical experiments.
