Study of bifurcation in the problem of unloading a circular excavation in a strain-softening material

A series of models of tunnels excavated in strain-softening materials were created and analysed using an FDM-based code, in which bifurcation and localisation could be clearly observed. These simulation results were compared with self-similar results, revealing that the effects of these phenomena are irrelevant when an appropriately large spatial scale, as in tunnels, is considered.