Application of the multi-laminate sub-loading surface model in the simulation of a pipe-jacking operation

In this paper a constitutive model formulated in the framework of multi-laminate models is applied to analyze pipe-jacking processes. The multi-laminate -based models consider various integration planes to formulate the stress-strain relationship. This basic feature of the framework has the advantage that yield criteria, flow and hardening rules are formulated on planes rather than in three-dimensional stress space. In the proposed model, constitutive equations of the integration planes are derived based on the sub-loading surface plasticity framework. It is demonstrated that the development of large deformation and cracks formation which are the main difficulties in the simulation of pipe-jacking processes can be captured with this model. The ability of the model in the handling of these difficulties is verified with the simulation a laboratory pipe-jacking test. The simulation results show reasonable agreement with the test data.