Deformations of excavations in soft soils with stress-path-dependent material behavior.

The substantial results of a research work on deformations of excavations in soft grounds with stress path dependent material behavior on the basis of 1g-model tests, element tests, numerical analysis as well as validations of three practical case studies are presented. The investigations revealed a pronounced dependency of the stiffness on the stress paths. Therefore, a new approach for numerical analyses is introduced which allows a consideration of the stress path dependent stiffness according to the characteristic stress path zones. Taking into account both temporal and spatial effects in the construction of the three case studies, a good agreement is reached further between the measurements and numeriod results. Thus, the new approach contributes to the optimization of the analysis of excavations in soft soils.