It all depends on which one you are conversant with. All FEA software has the same underlying principles on which they work. ADINA, ABAQUS, ANSYS etc are very good for simulating soil behaviour.

ABAQUS is a powerful and easy software to modeling 3-D and 2-D soil problems.

How about Ansys? I saw a lot of researchers use ansys too for such modelling. Jahangir Alam Vaia

Actually both are rich and trusted FEA software, however, i found ABAQUS are mostly used for hydraulic structures as well as SSI. Whereas, ANSYS are mostly used for mechanical engineering field.

you may cite the works of Prof. IKUMASA YOSHIDA of TOKYO CITY UNIVERSITY. here's the link:

http://tcu-yoshida-lab.org/

you have to use the GOOGLE TRANSLATE since the material is in Kanji.

a sample video can be seen in this link:

http://tcu-yoshida-lab.org/MPS_animation.html

For two dimensional problems I recommend GeoStudio software for modelling the swelling soil behavior.

I recommend COMSOL Multiphysics.

Nora,

There is no direct way to model swelling using any software, as opposed to the case of the load-deformation mechanical problem (Indirect rough modelling of swelling, using hypothetical upward displacement distribution, is always though possible). The swelling is a material property of a given soil, which occurs upon introducing water into active clays. This, in reality, is a nonuniform action in all directions. It is niether homogeneous nor isotropic. The only simulatable issue of it, which is again hypothetical, is the modelling of groundwater propagation (diffusion) with time into the soil mass with which the swelling action increases/accumulates. It seems that you need to speak with your professor and/or to elaborate for us more about the specific problem you are trying to model.