This paper presents the finite element modelling of a conical stockpile using Abaqus. The effect of construction history was realized by simulating the progressive formation of the conical pile. This was achieved by discretising the final geometry of the stockpile into multiple conical layers and then activating each layer sequentially. The effects of the elastic and plastic parameters were explored. The results show that a pressure dip may or may not be predicted depending on the constitutive model and the values for the model parameters. The study also shows that modelling the conical pile in one single step does not produce the pressure dip. It further shows that the central pressure dip is predicted using a relatively small number of layers and the magnitude of the dip is not sensitive to increasing number of layers, which is in contrast with one previous study.
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