Pressure-controlled elliptical cavity expansion under anisotropic initial stress: Elastic solution and its application

Abstract

This paper presents an elastic solution to the pressure-controlled elliptical cavity expansion problem under the anisotropic stress conditions. The problem is formulated by the assumption that an initial elliptical cavity is expanded under a uniform pressure and subjected to an in-plane initial horizontal pressure K σ 0 and vertical pressure σ 0 at infinity. A conformal mapping technique is used to map the outer region of the initial elliptical cavity in the physical plane onto the inner region of a unit circle in the phase plane. Using the complex variable theory, the stress functions are derived; hence, the stress and displacement distributions around the elliptical cavity wall can be obtained. Furthermore, a closed-form solution to the pressure-expansion relationship is presented based on the elastic solution to the stress and displacement. Next, the proposed analytical solutions are validated by comparing with the Kirsch’s solution and the finite element method (FEM). The solution to the presented pressure-controlled elliptical cavity expansion can be applied to two cases in practice. One is to employ the solution to the interpretation of the shear modulus of the soil or rocks and the in-situ stress in the pre-bored pressuremeter test under the lateral anisotropic initial stress condition. The other is the interpretation of the membrane expansion of a flat dilatometer test using the pressure-controlled elliptical cavity expansion solution. The two cases in practice confirm the usefulness of the present analytical solution.