Plasticity solutions for soil behaviour around contracting cavities and tunnels (Q4952164)

The authors present some closed-form solutions concerning contracting cavities of cylindrical and spherical form, in a uniform in-situ state of stress, under drained and undrained conditions, for a Mohr-Coulomb non-associated plasticity model. Unfortunately, in their analysis they consider only solutions in special cases, apparently not knowing the complete solution of \textit{E. Detournay} [Int. J. Solids Struct. 22, 1435-1454 (1986; Zbl 0602.73028)] and of \textit{E. Detournay} and \textit{C. Fairhurst} [Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 24, No. 4 (1987)] regarding expanding and contracting cylindrical cavities under non-hydrostatic far-field stresses and under Mohr-Coulomb plasticity conditions, and the solution obtained by \textit{H. Wong} and \textit{O. Simionescu} [Proc. Thermal Stresses 95, Taylor and Francis Publs. (1995)] in the case of a cylindrical tunnel subject to variable internal pressure and temperature field, in a uniform far-field stress state, for a non-associated Mohr-Coulomb plasticity model. The analytical solutions presented in this paper are derived in terms of logarithmic strains. A comparison is made between the predicted results and a centrifuge tunnel test performed in clay. A detailed comparison with field measurements would be welcomed.