ABSTRACT
This paper reports the findings with respect to the stresses and displacements of sand specimens tested within a laboratory confining vessel. Finite element simulations were used to evaluate different aspects of the responses which could not be directly measured in the experiments. The validity of the constitutive law adopted for the analyses was also studied by comparing experimental results with numerical predictions. The validated numerical model was used to simulate responses related to alternative vessel designs in order to obtain a modified vessel with improved stress distribution features.
