Abstract
This paper identifies recursive symmetry-breaking bifurcation phenomena as major sources of complexity in soil shearing behavior. By means of the group-theoretic bifurcation theory, a complete rule for bifurcation is presented for a cylindrical domain made up of uniform geotechnical materials, such as soil, sand, and rock. The bifurcation behavior of soil has two major phases : i) the formation of diamond, oblique stripe and echelon modes with high spatial frequencies at an earlier stage, and ii) the deformation pattern change and shear-band formation at a later stage. This behavior is indeed a recursive loss of symmetry that enlarges and changes deformation patterns. The mathematical knowledge of recursive bifurcation provides an overall view of the soil behavior.
