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 threedimensional 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.