A simple hypoplastic constitutive model for sand

Abstract The paper presents a hypoplastic constitutive model for the three‐dimensional non‐linear stress–strain and dilatant volume change behaviour of sand. The model is developed without recourse to the concept in elastoplasticity theory such as yield surface, plastic potential and decomposition into elastic and plastic parts. Benefited from the non‐linear tensorial functions available from the representation theorem the model possesses simple mathematical formulation and contains only four material parameters, which can be easily identified with triaxial compression tests. Comparison of the predictions with the experimental results shows that the model is capable of capturing the salient behaviour of sand under monotonic loading and is applicable to both drained and undrained conditions.