Abstract: At present, the prediction of the free-field soil movement caused by the excavation of foundation pits, which mainly depends on the finite element method, lacks simple methods. Usually, the accuracy of the prediction for soil movement induced by excavations through FEM depends on soil models and the selection of parameters for the corresponding soil model. However it is hard to identify reasonable parameters for soil models in FEM to calculate the soil movement accurately in practice. Considering the small strain behavior of the soil, HSS model, which can be used to calculate the soil movement induced by the excavation accurately, is employed in FEM. The soil parameters for HSS model are identified based on the inverse analysis coupled with FEM. Based on the relatively accurate soil movements calculated by FEM with those parameters, the attenuation laws of the soil movement behind the wall are generalized. Coupled with the empirical methods to calculate the wall movement and ground settlement induced by the excavation, a simplified method to calculate the soil movement induced by excavation is developed. It is verified through comparisons with FEM and the measured results. It can be concluded that the proposed method is reasonable to calculate the soil movement induced by excavations, and it is a useful tool for the design of excavations.