<p>The extent of passive soil arching effect in the loading zone above underground structures is significantly influenced by the uplift displacement, a phenomenon that remains theoretically unresolved. In this study, a deformation-dependent model is developed for the passive soil arching by correlating the stress redistribution, with the normalized loading displacement and the shear strain. The relationships among the internal friction angle, dilatancy angle and shear strain of the soil in the shear band were established. Compared with previous models, the proposed model shows a higher performance in calculating the maximum/ultimate stress ratios. Moreover, the applicability of the proposed model is greatly supported by the experimental data from literatures. In addition, the model succeeds in appropriately evaluating the evolution of the soil stress above the loading zone with the normalized loading displacement. A parametric study was undertaken, indicating that a higher fill height, a narrower trapdoor width or a greater relative density of soil induces more significant passive soil arching effect.</p>