Introduction

Stresses and displacements are determined numerically for the case of a circular cross section of a long excavation in a linearly elastic medium subject to a biaxial stress defined by 𝑝𝑦𝑦 = 𝑝
and 𝑝𝑥𝑥 = 𝐾𝑝.

The solutions for the stress and displacements around the circular opening are originally due to Kirsch (1898) and are summarized in Brady and Brown (2006). The problem tests the linear elastic model with applied field stresses in plane-strain conditions imposed in SIGMA/W.