Abstract：Drucker-Prager criterion has been widely used in geotechnical engineering. However，in some cases，the numerical result with Drucker-Prager criterion will be not consistent with the testing result，especially when the parameters are not selected appropriately from tests. In this paper，the parametric characters of Drucker-Prager criterion are analyzed with mathematic methods. Some possible reasons leading to the inconsistentness are studied. Moreover，based on the Drucker-Prager criterion，the strength parameters of different intermediate principal stresses are generally compared. It is demonstrated that the intermediate principal stresses¢ effects can not be reasonably reflected with those parameters to a certain degree. Furthermore，an unreasonable result that the coefficient of the intermediate principal stress is little than 0 is achieved under the condition of plane strain with the Drucker-Prager criterion.
