A numerical assessment of strain rate effects on the critical state of crushable granular materials

The present study highlights the effects of strain rate on the critical state response of crushable granular materials. A set of drained triaxial tests is simulated using the discrete element method (DEM) to understand the rate effects on the stress-strain and volumetric behaviour of the granular sample. The DEM parameters are obtained by comparing the stress-strain and particle crushing behaviour of in-house experimental analysis on crushable coral sand under a slow strain rate. In DEM, the particles are subjected to varied strain rates under different initial confining pressures and initial densities to capture the rate effects on the macroscopic responses until the critical state. It is seen that crushing increases with increasing confining stress. However, a higher strain rate induces relatively lower crushing and higher strength in terms of both peak stress and residual stress. It is observed that in pressure-volume space, the critical state line alters with the increasing strain rate of the crushable samples, especially at high confining conditions, whereas strain rate effect on critical state seems to be negligible at low confining conditions due to the absence of particle crushing.

Repeated Load Triaxial Testing of Recycled Excavation Materials Blended with Recycled Phyllite Materials

Recycled Excavation Materials (REM) are becoming viable alternative construction resources due to their economic benefits. However, REM may be composed of weak rocks, e.g., phyllites, limiting the use in a base layer. The present paper attempts to further the knowledge of the mechanical performance of REM by performing Repeated Load Triaxial Tests (RLTT). REM are mixed with Recycled Phyllite Materials (RPM) in systematic blends of 0%, 25%, 50%, and 100%. The batches’ resilient modulus (MR) and permanent deformation (PD) characteristics were assessed to establish the maximum RPM allowed into REM while maintaining the required performance. Hicks and Monismith’s and Uzan’s models were used to characterize the stiffness behavior. A wide variation in the stiffness between the two materials was observed. Batches comprised of 0% RPM–100% REM and 25% RPM–75% REM showed high stiffness performance. The Coulomb model assessed the PD behavior, and the results showed a similar response for all batches. Unlike the stiffness, blended mixtures did not show sensitivity to increased RPM content in the PD. This study may help end-users to understand the performance of REM given the documented threshold on the allowable quantity of RPM in REM.

Evaluation of the mechanical anisotropy of lacustrine smectite clays by triaxial test analysis

This paper describes the role of fabric anisotropy during clayey soil deformation. A set of triaxial tests was performed on vertical and horizontal specimens of undisturbed smectite lake sediments from Jurica, Queretaro in Mexico. The results allowed to analyze the influence of bedding and discontinuities on the mechanical behavior of Jurica clays after failure. Tests with applied low strain rates allowed pore pressure equalization within specimens with different gravimetric water content and degree of saturation. Shear failure results of undrained tests showed that deformation distributes differently in both horizontal and vertical directions and that stress may be dissipated by pore collapses, fractures and particle deformation. The experimental evidence suggests that microfabric is a relevant variable in the overall mechanical response of clayey sediments that depends on the natural fabric (bedding and discontinuities), mineralogy, and water content. A detailed analysis of Young´s Moduli (E) showed the high variability of this parameter from 108 to 409 kg/cm2 (calculated at 30% of σdmax) and its dependence on the orientation of the specimen and the water content. In addition, p’-q’ graphs illustrate the relevance of considering mechanical anisotropy in clays and provide further insights to understand the role of smectites in progressive shear deformation.

Cyclic Liquefaction Resistance of an Alluvial Natural Sand: A Comparison between Fully and Partially Saturated Conditions

Earthquake-induced liquefaction is one of the major causes of building damage as it decreases the strength and stiffness of soil. The liquefaction resistance of soils increases significantly as the degree of saturation decreases, making soil desaturation an effective measure for the mitigation of this phenomenon. This paper presents a comparative analysis of liquefaction resistance of an alluvial sand from Aveiro (Portugal) under fully and partially saturated conditions. For this purpose, an in situ characterisation based on CPTu and a laboratory series of cyclic triaxial tests were carried out. The cyclic triaxial tests were conducted under undrained conditions on remoulded specimens with different degrees of saturation, including the full saturation. On the other hand, the triaxial apparatus was instrumented with Hall-effect transducers to accurately measure the strains during all testing phases. In addition, it was equipped with piezoelectric transducers to measure seismic waves velocities, namely P-wave velocity, for evaluation of the saturation level of the specimen in parallel with the Skempton’s B parameter. Hence, relations between the B-value, and P-wave velocity and cyclic strength resistance are presented. The number of cycles to trigger liquefaction, considering the pore pressure build-up criterion, is presented for the different degrees of saturation. Results confirmed the increase in liquefaction resistance for lower degrees of saturation in this soil.

Cyclic behavior of late quaternary alluvial soil along Indo-Gangetic Plain: Northern India

The A.D. 1803 and 1934 Bihar-Nepal border earthquake affected Indo-Gangetic Plain with evidences of liquefaction in cities like Patna, Varanasi, Agra, and Delhi in historical past. Recent strong shaking all along the Indo-Gangetic Plains and seismic induced damage to the buildings in Bihar during Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake raises the concern for site specific liquefaction potential estimation of alluvial soils. Cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on soil samples from Kanpur, Allahabad, Patna city to know the cyclic behavior, estimate the dynamic soil properties and the effect of relative density, confining pressure and frequency of loading on the cyclic behavior of the soil tested. The test results indicate the cyclic strength of Allahabad soil is less than Patna and Kanpur soil. The Allahabad soil with 80% sand, 10% silt and clay each is more prone to liquefaction than Kanpur soil (82% silt, 16% clay and 2% sand) and Patna soil (10% Kankar, 95% sand, 5% silt). This study indicates soils having sand with silt percentage are more liquefiable than clean sand or silty soil. It can be concluded that the soil of Allahabad and Patna city is more prone to liquefaction than Kanpur soil.

Cyclic overlay model of p-y curves for laterally loaded monopiles in cohesionless soil

The bearing behaviour of large-diameter monopile foundations for offshore wind turbines under lateral cyclic loads in cohesionless soil is an issue of ongoing research. In practice, mostly the p-y approach is applied in the design of monopiles. Recently, modifications of the original p-y approach for monotonic loading stated in the API regulations (API 2014) have been proposed to account for the special bearing behaviour of large-diameter piles with small length-to-diameter ratios (e.g. Thieken et al. 2015, Byrne et al. 2015). However, cyclic loading for horizontally loaded piles predominates the serviceability of the offshore wind converters, and the actual number of load cycles cannot be considered by the cyclic p-y approach of the API regulations. This research is therefore focusing on the effects of cyclic loading on the p-y curves along the pile shaft and aiming to develop a cyclic overlay model to determine the cyclic p-y curves valid for a lateral load with a given number of load cycles. The “Stiffness Degradation Method (SDM)” (Achmus et al. 2009) is applied in a three-dimensional finite element model to determine the effect of the cyclic loading by degrading the secant soil stiffness according to the magnitude of cyclic loading and number of load cycles based on the results of cyclic triaxial tests. Thereby, the numerical simulation results are used to develop a “cyclic overlay model”, i.e. an analytical approach to adapt the monotonic (or static) p-y curve to the number of load cycles. The new model is applied to a reference system and compared to the API approach for cyclic loads.

Large-Scale Triaxial Tests on Dilatancy Characteristics of Lean Cemented Sand and Gravel

The dilatancy equation, which describes the plastic strain increment ratio and its dependence on the stress state, is an important component of the elastoplastic constitutive model of geotechnical materials. In order to reveal their differences of the dilatancy value determined by the total volume strain increment ratio and the real value of lean cemented sand and gravel (LCSG) materials, in this study, a series of triaxial compression tests, equiaxial loading and unloading tests, and triaxial loading and unloading tests are conducted under different cement contents and confining pressures. The results reveal that hysteretic loops appear in the stress–strain curves of equiaxial loading and unloading tests, and triaxial loading and unloading tests and that the elastic strain is an important component of the total strain. The hysteretic loop size increases with an increase in the stress level or consolidation stress, whereas the shape remains unchanged. Furthermore, with an increase in the cement content, the dilatancy value determined by the total volume strain increment ratio becomes smaller than that determined by the plastic strain increment ratio, and the influence of the elastic deformation cannot be ignored. Thus, in practical engineering scenarios, especially in the calculation of LCSG dam structures, the dilatancy equation of LCSG materials should be expressed by the plastic strain increment ratio, rather than the total volume strain increment rati.

Experimental Investigation on the Behavior of Gravelly Sand Reinforced with Geogrid under Cyclic Loading

In view of the dynamic response of geogrid-reinforced gravel under high-speed train load, this paper explores the dynamic characteristics of geogrid-reinforced gravel under semi-sine wave cyclic loading. A number of large scale cyclic triaxial tests were performed on saturated gravelly soil reinforced with geogrid to study the influence of the number of reinforcement layers and loading frequencies on the dynamic responses of reinforced gravelly sand subgrade for high speed rail track. The variation of cumulative axial and volumetric strains, excess pore pressure and resilient modulus with number of loading cycles, loading frequency, and reinforcement arrangement are analyzed. The test results reveal that the cumulative axial strain decreases as the number of reinforcement layers increases, but increases with loading frequency. The resilience modulus increases with the number of reinforcement layers, but decreases as the loading frequency increases. The addition of geogrid can reduce the excess pore water pressure of the sample, but it can slightly enhance the rubber mold embedding effect of the sand sample. As the loading frequency increases, the rubber mold embedding effect gradually weakens.