Limitations of suction-controlled triaxial tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Triaxial Tests

Photogrammetry-Based Method to Determine the Absolute Volume of Soil Specimen during Triaxial Testing

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (8) ◽  
pp. 206-218
Author(s):  
Sara Fayek ◽  
Xiaolong Xia ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
Xiong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Optimization Techniques ◽  
Triaxial Tests ◽  
Triaxial Testing ◽  
Soil Specimen ◽  
Compression Tests ◽  
Unconfined Compression ◽  
Absolute Volume ◽  
Triaxial Cell ◽  
The Absolute

Triaxial tests are used extensively to evaluate stress-strain behavior for both saturated and unsaturated soils. A literature review indicates that all conventional triaxial test methods measure the relative volume of soil; however, between the initial measurements and the start of the triaxial tests, there are unavoidably disturbances during installation that cause deviation of soil volume from that at the initial condition. Recently image-based methods have been developed to measure the absolute volume of soil specimens. However, these methods still have a major limitation in their inability to determine top and bottom boundaries between the soil specimen, and the top and bottom caps. This paper proposes a photogrammetry-based method to overcome this limitation by developing a mathematically rigorous technique to determine the upper and lower boundaries of soil specimens during triaxial testing. The photogrammetry technique was used to determine the orientations of the camera, and the shape and location of the acrylic cell. Multiple ray-tracings and least-square optimization techniques were also applied to obtain the coordinates of any point inside the triaxial cell, and thus back-calculate the upper and lower boundaries. With these boundaries and the side surface, a triangular surface mesh was constructed and the specimen volume was then calculated in both unconfined compression tests and triaxial tests. The calculation procedures are presented in detail with validation tests performed on a cylindrical specimen to evaluate the accuracy of the method. Results indicate that the accuracy of the proposed method is up to 0.023% in unconfined compression tests and 0.061% in triaxial tests.

On the Hypothesis of Effective Stress in Consolidation and Strength for Unsaturated Soils

2012 ◽  
Vol 256-259 ◽  
pp. 108-111
Author(s):  
Seboong Oh ◽  
Ki Hun Park ◽  
Oh Kyun Kwon ◽  
Woo Jung Chung ◽  
Kyung Joon Shin
Keyword(s):  
Shear Strength ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Effective Stress ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Water Retention Curve ◽  
Triaxial Tests ◽  
Residual Soil ◽  
Soil Behavior ◽  
Soil Water Retention Curve ◽  
Soil Water Retention

The hypothesis on effective stress of unsaturated soils is validated by consolidation strength results of triaxial tests for the compacted residual soil. The effective stress can describe the unsaturated soil behavior, which was defined from shear strength or from soil water characteristic curves. Since the effective stress from consolidation agrees with that from the shear strength, the effective stress from soil water retention curve could describe the unsaturated behavior consistently on both consolidation path and stress at failure. The effective stress can describe the entire unsaturated behavior from consolidation to failure.

Experimental behaviour and modelling of an unsaturated compacted soil

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 748-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celestino Rampino ◽  
Claudio Mancuso ◽  
Filippo Vinale
Keyword(s):  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Mechanical Response ◽  
Stress Path ◽  
Silty Sand ◽  
Triaxial Tests ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Soil Response ◽  
Optimum Water Content ◽  
Triaxial Cell

This paper reports the experimental study and modelling of the mechanical response of a silty sand used in the core of the Metramo dam, Italy. Specimens were prepared by compacting the soil at optimum water content conditions using the modified Proctor technique. Tests were performed under suction-controlled conditions by a stress path triaxial cell and an oedometer. The experimental program consists of 23 tests carried out in the suction range of 0-400 kPa. The findings indicate the strong influence of suction on compressibility, stiffness, and shear strength. The mechanical properties of the soil improve with suction following an exponential law with decreasing gradient. Furthermore, the soil exhibited collapsible behaviour upon wetting even at low stress levels. Interesting results were also achieved in elastoplastic modelling as well. The results led to characterization of soil behaviour with reference to widely accepted modelling criteria for unsaturated soils, providing noteworthy suggestions about their applicability for granular materials with a non-negligible fine component. Finally, some remarks are made for the extension under unsaturated conditions of the "Nor sand" model for saturated granular soils. The proposed approach yields improved predictions of deviator soil response of the tested soil when Cambridge-type frameworks prove invalid.Key words: unsaturated soils, stress state variables, triaxial tests, oedometer tests, constitutive model.

scholarly journals Microfabricated sol-gel relative humidity sensors for soil suction measurement during laboratory tests

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 1176-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaela Cardoso ◽  
Gabriele Sarapajevaite ◽  
Oleksandr Korsun ◽  
Susana Cardoso ◽  
Laura Ilharco
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Laboratory Tests ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Degree Of Saturation ◽  
Water Retention Curve ◽  
Retention Curve ◽  
Calibration Protocol ◽  
Scientific Potential

Currently there are no small sensors that can be incorporated inside soil samples for laboratory testing, to monitor water transport during loading. This is an important limitation to a better understanding of the hydromechanical coupled behaviour of soils. A sol-gel relative humidity sensor (11 mm × 11 mm), microfabricated in a clean room environment, was conceived to be incorporated in soil specimens during standard laboratory tests. The sensor operates based on changes in electrical resistivity detected by a cerium-doped silica–titania film deposited using a sol-gel technique over interdigitated aluminium electrodes spaced at 300 μm. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, sol-gel sensors for relative humidity measurement have never been used in soils; therefore, this is a novel application. The water retention curve of compacted kaolin was measured with the sensors and compared with the curve found using water dewpoint potentiometer WP4-C. The sensors were also tested incorporated in an oedometer cell, in which load was applied under vapour equilibrium. It was possible to detect the increment of the degree of saturation during compression. The use of the developed sensors incorporated in soils is considered acceptable for suction ranges between 1 and 10 MPa, which extends the suction interval covered by tensiometers, normally operating up to 2 MPa. Although the sensors require improvements in terms of sol-gel deposition and calibration protocol, the results confirm their scientific potential for being used in testing and characterization of unsaturated soils.

scholarly journals Measuring unsaturated soil deformations during triaxial testing using a photogrammetry-based method

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Li ◽  
Xiong Zhang ◽  
Gang Chen ◽  
Robert Lytton
Keyword(s):  
Unsaturated Soil ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Axial Strain ◽  
Volumetric Strain ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Triaxial Tests ◽  
Triaxial Testing ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Soil Deformation ◽  
Full Field

When characterizing an unsaturated soil using the triaxial test apparatus, it is required to measure the soil deformation during loading. Recently, a photogrammetry-based method has been developed for total and localized volume change measurements on unsaturated soils during triaxial testing. In this study, more in-depth discussions on the photogrammetry-based method are addressed, such as system setup, the measurement procedure, accuracy self-check, data post-processing, and differences from conventional image-based methods. Also, an application of the photogrammetry-based method on unsaturated soil deformation measurements is presented through a series of undrained triaxial tests with different loading paths. After testing, three-dimensional (3D) models of the tested soils at different loading steps were constructed based on the 3D coordinates of measurement targets on the soil surface. Clear barreling processes for soils during deviatoric loading were observed through the constructed 3D models at different axial strain levels. Soil volume changes and volumetric strain nonuniformities during isotropic and deviatoric loadings were extracted based upon detailed analyses of different soil layers. Through a full-field strain distribution analysis, a shear band evolution process was captured for the soil during deviatoric loading at a low confining stress. The photogrammetry-based method proved to be very powerful for in-depth soil deformation characteristics investigation.

scholarly journals Characterization of broom fibers for PRB in the remediation of aquifers contaminated by heavy metals

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 2545-2556 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Fallico ◽  
S. Troisi ◽  
A. Molinari ◽  
M. F. Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Unsaturated Soils ◽  
Kinetic Constant ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Permeable Reactive Barrier ◽  
Present Level ◽  
Reactive Barrier ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract. The present level of pollution, increasingly involving ground waters, constitutes a serious risk to the environment and also to human health. Therefore the remediation of saturated and unsaturated soils to remove pollutant materials is more and more frequently required. In the present paper, the possibility of removing heavy metals by permeable reactive barrier (PRB) from the groundwater carried out specifically with broom fibers, is investigated. Once shown the economic benefits deriving from the use of this plant, a hydraulic characterization of the broom fiber mass was performed, determining the permeability and the porosity in correspondence to different levels of compactness of the fibers. Having verified the effectiveness of removal of some heavy metals by these fibers, the results of some experiments, carried out in the laboratory for this purpose, are shown. These experiments were carried out utilizing broom fibers obtained in different ways and, limitedly to the considered pollutants, showed the high capability of these fibers to reduce their concentrations. The best results were obtained for the broom fibers extracted by a particular chemical-physical process. Moreover, the behaviour of this fiber with time was investigated, determining the kinetic constant of degradation.

scholarly journals Undrained Cyclic Laboratory Behavior of Sandy Soils

Geosciences ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Castelli ◽  
Antonio Cavallaro ◽  
Salvatore Grasso ◽  
Valentina Lentini
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Loading ◽  
Seismic Retrofitting ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Triaxial Tests ◽  
Cyclic Triaxial ◽  
Cyclic Triaxial Tests ◽  
Residual Performance ◽  
Definition Of

The complex cyclic shear stress path experienced by the soil during an earthquake, which could also induce liquefaction phenomena, can be approximated in the laboratory only by using sophisticated testing apparatuses. Cyclic triaxial tests have been widely used, especially for coarse grained soils, as in this study. In the framework of the design for the seismic retrofitting of the ‘‘Ritiro viaduct’’ foundations along the A20 motorway connecting Messina with Palermo (Italy), a soil liquefaction study was also carried out. With this aim, a detailed geological and geotechnical characterization of the area was performed by in situ and laboratory tests, including seismic dilatometer Marchetti tests (SDMTs), the combined resonant column (RCT) and cyclic loading torsional shear tests (CLTSTs), and undrained cyclic loading triaxial tests (CLTxTs). In particular, the paper presents the results of cyclic triaxial tests carried out on isotropically consolidated specimens of a sandy soil. The seismic retrofitting works include the reinforcement of the foundation and replacement of the decks with newly designed type and structural schemes, mixed steel, and concrete with continuous girder. During the investigation, data were acquired for the characterization of materials, for the definition of degradation phenomena with the relative identification of possible causes, and for the estimation of the residual performance characteristics of the building. The structural campaign of investigations necessary to determine all of the key parameters useful for a correct definition of the residual performance capabilities of the work was divided into two phases: One in situ and one in the laboratory.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document