A general formulation of hypoplasticity

A general formulation of the theory of hypoplasticity is given, under the assumption that Cauchy stress is the only state variable. Such a formulation allows to discuss the relation between the so‐called out‐of‐axis and in‐axis moduli. It is proved that, in general, the out‐of‐axis moduli are independent from the in‐axis moduli, which allows the former to be calibrated making use of experimental shear band data, as it is done in CLoE‐hypoplasticity. The implicit assumptions made in K‐hypoplasticity are detailed for two particular models of this family. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.