Small strain stiffness for granite residual soil: effect of stress ratio

Author(s):  
Xianwei Zhang ◽  
Xinyu Liu ◽  
Lingwei Kong ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Cheng Chen

Most previous studies have focused on the small strain stiffness of sedimentary soil while little attention has been given to residual soils with different properties. Most studies also neglected the effects of the deviator stress, which is extensively involved in civil engineering. This note considers the effects of the deviator stress on the small-strain stiffness of natural granite residual soil (GRS) as established from resonant column tests performed under various stress ratios. Although increasing the stress ratio results in a greater maximum shear modulus for both natural and remolded residual soils, remolded soil is more sensitive to changes in the stress ratio, which highlights the effects of soil cementation. The data herein offers new insights to understand the stiffness of residual soil and other weathered geomaterials.

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 520-532
Author(s):  
Xinyu Liu ◽  
Xianwei Zhang ◽  
Lingwei Kong ◽  
Xinming Li ◽  
Gang Wang

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1874
Author(s):  
Rongjun Shu ◽  
Lingwei Kong ◽  
Bingheng Liu ◽  
Juntao Wang

Granite residual soil is one of the most frequently encountered problem soils in tropical regions, whose mechanical behavior heavily depends on the pattern of variation of mean effective stress (p’) during shearing, which can be classified into three categories: increasing-p’, constant-p’, and decreasing-p’. Unfortunately, so far, the stress–strain strength characteristics of granite residual soils have been studied mainly under increasing-p’ stress paths, although it is very likely to encounter stress paths with decreasing p’ in practice, especially in excavation engineering. Moreover, most pertinent research has focused on remolded granite residual soils, whereas undisturbed specimens have not yet received enough attention. In this paper, stress path triaxial tests considering different patterns of variation of mean effective stress were conducted on an undisturbed granite residual soil. Subsequently, a variable termed loading angle was introduced to quantitatively represent stress path. The influences of stress path on the Mohr–Coulomb strength parameters, deformation characteristics, ductility, and shearing stiffness were analyzed, with an emphasis on the role of pattern of variation of mean effective stress. The experimental results show that friction angle of the soil increases while cohesion decreases with the increase in loading angle. The increase in loading angle leads to less volume contraction and smaller failure strain. During shearing, the soil exhibited a less brittle response under stress paths with smaller loading angles. The initial secant shear modulus first decreased and then increased as the loading angle increased, with the minimum shearing stiffness occurring at a certain loading angle lying between 90° and 123.7°.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
Sainulabdeen Mohamed Junaideen ◽  
Leslie George Tham ◽  
Chack Fan Lee

Static liquefaction of loose sands has been observed to initiate at stress ratios far less than the steady-state stress ratio. Different collapse surface concepts largely based on undrained triaxial test results have been proposed in the literature to explain the above instability phenomenon of loose sands. Studies of the instability behavior of fill material derived from residual soils remain limited. The present study investigated the instability behavior of a compacted residual soil using the conventional undrained triaxial tests and specially equipped constant shear triaxial tests. The test results were characterized in the p’: q: v space using the current state parameter with respect to the steady-state line for the residual soil. A modified collapse surface that has gradients varying with p’ and v was proposed for the loose residual soil to represent the instability states of undrained loading. Under constant shear stress conditions, the soil can mobilize stress ratios higher than those defined by the modified collapse surface. An instability surface was therefore presented for the instability states reached in static loading. Further, an alternative method of deducing the instability surface from the undrained stress paths was introduced.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Vassallo ◽  
Claudio Mancuso ◽  
Filippo Vinale

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effects of the mean net stress and suction history on the initial shear stiffness, G0, of a compacted clayey silt. Isotropic tests were performed using two suction-controlled devices, a triaxial cell and a resonant column torsional shear (RCTS) cell, so as to investigate the volumetric behaviour of this material. As for saturated soils, one can expect to find a strong correlation among stress history, volumetric state, and G0. Initial shear stiffness was measured almost continuously along various isotropic stress paths, including compressions and drying–wetting single stages or cycles, by using the RCTS cell. The collected data demonstrate a strong dependency of G0 on mean net stress (p – ua) and suction (ua – uw). Cycles of suction, in particular increasing suction beyond the past maximum value, induce significant accumulation of irreversible strains and increase of stiffness, confirming that G0 is not univocally related to the stress state (p – ua, ua – uw).Key words: unsaturated, compacted, small strain, stiffness, volumetric behaviour, stress history.


2019 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 18004
Author(s):  
Ran An ◽  
Lingwei Kong ◽  
Aiguo Guo ◽  
Xianwei Zhang

This paper illustrates the application of the self-boring pressuremeter test and the seismic dilatometer test to acquire the in-situ decay curves of stiffness with shear strain level (G-γ decay curves) of three types of structural soil, which are granite residual soil, structural soft soil and expansive soft rock. The proposed approach in combines the functions of SBPT and SDMT to provide the high standard of accuracy for the small-strain stiffness (from SDMT) and the major attenuation stage of stiffness (from SBPT). Using the proposed mathematical model can properly describe the tendency in typical in-situ G-γ decay curves based on the data of tests. To analyse the suitability of the proposed approach, the G-γ curve obtain from the resonant column test of granite residual soil is also employed to compare with the in-situ curves. The shear modulus G obtained from laboratory tests is found to be smaller and the stiffness attenuation rate is found to be faster than the curve of the in-situ test, which reflects the process of sampling, transporting and preparation of soil samples could cause unrecoverable damages in soil.


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