scholarly journals Influence of particle size and gradation on shear strength–dilation relation of granular materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samaneh Amirpour Harehdasht ◽  
Mahmoud N. Hussien ◽  
Mourad Karray ◽  
Varvara Roubtsova ◽  
Mohamed Chekired

Upon close scrutiny of data reported in the literature, taking into account particle-scale characteristics to optimize the precision of the well-known empirical Bolton’s equations and imposing particle-size limits on them is recommended. The present paper examines the potential influence of particle size and grading on the shear strength–dilation relation of granular materials from the results of 276 symmetrical direct shear tests. The applicability of physical symmetrical direct shear tests to interpret the plane strain frictional shearing resistance of granular materials has been widely discussed using the discrete element method (DEM) computer code SiGran. Sixteen different grain-size distribution curves of three different materials were tested at different normal pressures and initial relative densities. It is demonstrated that while the contribution of dilatancy to shear strength is not influenced by the variation in the coefficient of uniformity, Cu, in the investigated range, it significantly decreases with increasing mean particle size, D50. The coefficients of Bolton’s equations have been, therefore, adjusted to account for D50. A comparison of the predictions by the proposed empirical formulas with plane strain friction angle, [Formula: see text], and dilation angle, ψ, data from the literature shows that accounting for the grain size yields more accurate results.

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Mostefa Kara ◽  
M. Meghachou ◽  
N. Aboubekr

This work studies the correlation between certain physical properties of granular material such as the friction angle and the grain size distribution. In the laboratory, the determination of friction angle requires hard and expensive testing. Prediction of this parameter from the grading curve proves to be very interesting. Direct shear tests were performed on actual marine sand of Tergha (Algeria) and on seventeen different samples arranged from the same sand with various particle size ranges. Results showed that the friction angle of sand is a result of contribution of various constituent granular classes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Mohammad Afrazi ◽  
Mahmoud Yazdani

Many geotechnical problems require the determination of soil engineering properties such as shear strength. Therefore, the determination of the reliable values for this parameter is essential. For this purpose, the direct shear test, as one of the oldest tests to examine the shear strength of soils, is the most common way in laboratories to determine the shear parameters of soil. There are far too many variables that influence the results of a direct shear test. In this paper, a series of 10 × 10 cm direct shear tests were carried out on four different poorly graded sands with different particle size distributions to determine their shear behaviors. Four different poorly graded sands with a different median diameter or medium value of particle size distribution (D50) (0.2, 0.53, 1.3, and 2.3 mm) has been selected, and about 40 direct shear tests were conducted. It was concluded that a soil’s friction angle is affected by coarse-grained material. Accordingly, sandy soils with bigger particle sizes record a higher friction angle than soils containing small particles. The investigations also showed that sand with bigger particle sizes has a higher dilation angle. In addition, a non-linear regression analysis was performed to establish the exact relationship between the friction angle of the soil and the characteristics of the soil particles. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.


CivilEng ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Akram Deiminiat ◽  
Li Li

The determination of shear strength parameters for coarse granular materials such as rockfill and waste rocks is challenging due to their oversized particles and the minimum required ratio of 10 between the specimen width (W) and the maximum particle size (dmax) of tested samples for direct shear tests. To overcome this problem, a common practice is to prepare test samples by excluding the oversized particles. This method is called the scalping scaling down technique. Making further modifications on scalped samples to achieve a specific particle size distribution curve (PSDC) leads to other scaling down techniques. Until now, the parallel scaling down technique has been the most popular and most commonly applied, generally because it produces a PSDC parallel and similar to that of field material. Recently, a critical literature review performed by the authors revealed that the methodology used by previous researchers to validate or invalidate the scaling down techniques in estimating the shear strength of field materials is inappropriate. The validity of scaling down techniques remains unknown. In addition, the minimum required W/dmax ratio of 10, stipulated in ASTM D3080/D3080M-11 for direct shear tests, is not large enough to eliminate the specimen size effect (SSE). The authors’ recent experimental study showed that a minimum W/dmax ratio of 60 is necessary to avoid any SSE in direct shear tests. In this study, a series of direct shear tests were performed on samples with different dmax values, prepared by applying scalping and parallel scaling down techniques. All tested specimens had a W/dmax ratio equal to or larger than 60. The test results of the scaled down samples with dmax values smaller than those of field samples were used to establish a predictive equation between the effective internal friction angle (hereafter named “friction angle”) and dmax, which was then used to predict the friction angles of the field samples. Comparisons between the measured and predicted friction angles of field samples demonstrated that the equations based on scalping scaling down technique correctly predicted the friction angles of field samples, whereas the equations based on parallel scaling down technique failed to correctly predict the friction angles of field samples. The scalping down technique has been validated, whereas the parallel scaling down technique has been invalidated by the experimental results presented in this study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-345
Author(s):  
Gökhan Altay ◽  
◽  
Cafer Kayadelen ◽  
Taha Taskiran ◽  
Baki Bagriacik ◽  
...  

The parameters concerning the interaction between geocell and granular materials is required for the design of many geotechnical structures. With this in mind, a series of experiments using simple direct shear tests are conducted in order to understand the frictional properties between geocells filled with granular materials. The 54 test samples are prepared by filling the geocell with granular materials having three different gradations. These samples are tested at three different relative densities under three different normal stress levels. As a result, it was observed that interface resistance between the geocells filled with granular material is found to be generally greater than in the samples without geocells. Additionally, these samples with geocells are found to be stiffer; this is due to the fact that the samples with geocell gained more cohesion because geocells confined the grains within a restricted volume.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (23) ◽  
pp. 5206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Chieh Cheng ◽  
Zhong-Fei Xue ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Jian Xu

Loess and PHW (post-harvest waste) are easily accessible in the Chinese Loess Plateau and have been widely applied to construction of residential houses that have been inhabited for decades under the effect of freeze-thaw cycles. Although many researchers have recognised that the addition of fibers to loess soil is effective in preventing soil erosion and stabilising slopes, a consensus on this claim has not been reached yet. This study investigates the shearing behaviour of the loess-PHW mixture using small-scale and large-scale direct shear (SSDS and LSDS) tests. Four typical shear stress versus horizontal displacement curves from the multiscale direct shear tests are recognised where one is featured with strain-softening shape and the other three with a strain-hardening shape. Two out of the three curves with strain-hardening shape show a gradual increase in the shear stress at additional and larger displacements, respectively, in which some factor starts to have an influence on the shearing behaviour. Comparisons of the shear strength measured in SSDS and LSDS are made, indicating that there are differences between SSDS and LSDS. The effect of PHW addition on shear strength is assessed in order to determine the optimal dosage. The improvement of shear strength is attributed to the effect of particle inter-locking, resulting from the addition of PHW to loess specimens, and takes effect as the water content surpassed a threshold, i.e., >14%, that facilitates particle rearrangement. Particle-box interaction behaviour is assessed at the same time, and the findings satisfactorily address the main cause of the gradual increase in shear stress following the curve inflection point. The improved shearing behaviour proves the ability of the loess-PHW mixture to resist the seepage force and consequently stratum erosion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 4343-4357
Author(s):  
Zhong-Liang Zhang ◽  
Zhen-Dong Cui ◽  
Ling-Zi Zhao

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Hendry ◽  
Jitendra S. Sharma ◽  
C. Derek Martin ◽  
S. Lee Barbour

This paper presents the results of a laboratory testing program involving consolidated undrained triaxial tests and direct shear tests on remoulded peat, remoulded peat fibre, and Shelby specimens of peat obtained from a field site located in the Edson subdivision of the Canadian National railway in Alberta, Canada. These results were analyzed within the frameworks of elastic behaviour of cross-anisotropic materials and shear strength of fibre-reinforced soil. Shelby specimens were found to be inherently cross-anisotropic, whereas the remoulded peat and peat fibre specimens showed a transition from isotropic to cross-anisotropic with increasing vertical strain and effective confining pressure. The horizontal stiffness of Shelby specimens was found to be 2.6 to 2.9 times their vertical stiffness. The shear strength of intact peat is made up of interparticle friction as well as tension in the peat fibres. A novel procedure for estimating the interparticle frictional strength of fibrous peat from CU triaxial test results is proposed. It involves extrapolating the linear strain-hardening portion of the stress–strain curve to obtain the deviatoric stress at zero axial strain and plotting the deviatoric stress values thus obtained against initial mean effective confining pressure to obtain the frictional strength. Using this procedure, a value of 31° was obtained for the interparticle friction, which compares favourably with a value of 31° obtained from direct shear tests. It is recommended that further studies be undertaken to assess if interparticle frictional strength is an appropriate strength parameter for evaluation of the stability of structures founded on fibrous peat.


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