ABSTRACT
The paper deals with the use of an optimization procedure to estimate the parameters of an hypoplasticity constitutive model. The latter is used for simulating the soil mechanical response of a literature sand, for which a well-reported data-set is available. Standard saturated drained triaxial tests were simulated. The calibration procedure was based on inverse analysis herein used to optimize the values of the model parameters. A Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm, specifically designed to calibrate a large number of parameters, was applied. The capabilities of the calibrated model to accurately simulate the stiffness, shear strength and mechanical behaviour of sand are outlined. The advantages deriving from the use of inverse analysis for model calibration are also discussed.
