scholarly journals Shear rate effect on the residual strength characteristics of saturated loess

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baoqin Lian ◽  
Jianbing Peng ◽  
Qiangbing Huang

Abstract. Residual shear strength of soils is an important soil parameter for assessing the stability of landslides. To investigate the effect of the shear rate on the residual shear strength of loessic soils, a series of ring shear tests were carried out on loess from three landslides at two shear rates (0.1 mm/min and 1 mm/min). Naturally drained ring shear tests results showed that the shear displacement to achieve the residual stage for specimens with higher shear rate was greater than that of the lower rate; both the peak and residual friction coefficient became smaller with increase of shear rate for each sample; at two shear rates, the residual friction coefficients for all specimens under the lower normal stress were greater than that under the higher normal stress. The tests results revealed that the difference in the residual friction angle фr at the two shear rates, фr (1)–фr (0.1), under each normal stress level were either positive or negative values. However, the difference фr(1)–фr (0.1) under all normal stresses was negative, which indicates that the residual shear parameters reduced with the increasing of the shear rate in loess area. Such negative shear rate effect on loess could be attributed to a greater ability of clay particles in specimen to restore broken bonds at low shear rates.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2843-2856
Author(s):  
Baoqin Lian ◽  
Xingang Wang ◽  
Jianbing Peng ◽  
Qiangbing Huang

Abstract. Residual shear strength of soils is an important soil parameter for assessing the stability of landslides. To investigate the effect of the shear rate on the residual shear strength of loessic soils, a series of naturally drained ring shear tests were carried out on loess from three landslides at two shear rates (0.1 and 1 mm min−1). Experimental results showed that the shear displacement to achieve the residual stage for specimens with higher shear rate was greater than that of the lower rate; both the peak and residual friction coefficient became smaller with increase in shear rate for each sample; at two shear rates, the residual friction coefficients for all specimens under the lower normal stress were greater than those under the higher normal stress. Moreover, specimens with almost the same low fraction of clay (CF) showed a similar shear rate effect on the residual friction coefficient, with normal stress increasing, whereas specimens with high CF (24 %) showed a contrasting tendency, indicating that such an effect is closely associated with CF. The test results revealed that the difference in the residual friction angle ϕr at the two shear rates, ϕr(1)−ϕr(0.1) under each normal stress level are either positive or negative values, of which the maximum magnitude is about 0.8∘. However, the difference ϕr(1)−ϕr(0.1) determined under all normal stress levels was negative, which indicates that the residual shear parameters reduced with the increasing of the shear rate in the loess area. Such a negative shear rate effect on loess could be attributed to a greater ability of clay particles in specimens to restore broken bonds at low shear rates.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Thanh Duong ◽  
Motoyuki Suzuki

Overconsolidated (OC) clay soil is widely distributed in landslide slopes. This soil is often fissured, jointed, contains slickensides, and is prone to sliding. Thus, the shear strength behavior of OC clayey soil is complicated and has received much attention in the literature and in practice in terms of evaluating and predicting landslide stability. However, the behavior of the shear strength of OC clayey soil at different shear rates, as seen in ring shear tests, is still only understood to a limited extent and should be examined further, especially in terms of the residual strength characteristics. In this study, a number of ring shear tests were conducted on kaolin clay at overconsolidation ratios (OCRs) ranging from 1 to 6 under different shear displacement rates in the wide range of 0.02 mm/min to 20.0 mm/min to investigate the shear behavior and rate dependency of the shear strength of OC clay. Variations in the cohesion and friction angles of OC clay under different shear rates were also examined. The results indicated that the rate effects on the peak strength of OC and normally consolidated (NC) clays are opposite at fast shear displacement rates. At the residual state, as with NC clay, the positive rate effect on the residual strength is also exhibited in OC clay, but at a lower magnitude. Regarding the shear strength parameters, the variations in the cohesion and friction angles of OC clay at different shear rates were found to be different at peak and residual states.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 971-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiguo Xing ◽  
Gonghui Wang ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Yao Jiang ◽  
Zhen Feng ◽  
...  

A large catastrophic landslide was triggered by a heavy rainfall on 28 June 2010 in Guanling, Guizhou, China. The landslide buried two villages and killed 99 people along the runout path. The landslide involved the failure of about 985 000 m3 of sandstone from the source area, with a runout of about 1.4 km over a total vertical distance of about 420 m. To understand the possible long-runout mechanism and behaviour of the landslide, a detailed field survey of the landslide was conducted and samples were taken from the runout path. The shear behaviour of the sample based on a series of ring shear tests was examined, and numerical simulation of the landsliding behaviour by using a numerical runout model (DAN-W) was performed in which the shear strength obtained by ring shear tests was used. The experimental results reveal that the residual shear strength measured along the pre-existing shear surface is independent of the shear displacement rate under partially drained conditions, suggesting that the relationship between shear and normal stresses obeys the frictional model. A bulk basal friction angle of 14.4° at the base of the moving mass was then obtained from the test results. The simulated results show that the selected rheological model and parameters based on ring shear tests could provide the best performance in simulating the landslide. Therefore, it is expected that the model and parameters could improve the precision of hazard zonation for areas with geological, topographical, and climatic features similar to the Guanling landslide area.


2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 497-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abouzar Sadrekarimi ◽  
Scott M. Olson

In this paper, particle damage of three test sands with different mineralogical compositions is studied using stress–displacement response measured in ring shear tests, particle-size distributions of the original sand prior to shear and from the shear band after shear, and by examining particle shape changes determined by scanning electron microscope. Particle damage during shearing produced a wider particle-size distribution, and damage typically continued until the normal stress was small (about 28 kPa) in constant volume ring shear tests and the internal stresses were distributed among sufficient particle contacts such that damage practically ceased. The dominant damage mechanism (typically either particle abrasion and shearing-off asperities or particle splitting) depended strongly on the soil response (i.e., contraction or dilation), particle hardness, and particle-size distribution, but both mechanisms produced particles that were more angular and rougher than the original sand particles. The magnitude of particle damage observed in the ring shear tests was influenced by the consolidation normal stress, shear displacement, particle mineralogy, particle-size distribution, drainage conditions, and soil fabric (in constant volume tests). Lastly, the influence of particle damage on engineering properties including hydraulic conductivity, liquefaction resistance, stress–strain response, friction angle, and critical state are briefly discussed.


Geofluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jianquan Ma ◽  
Xiaojie Zhao ◽  
Shibo Li ◽  
Zhao Duan

The shear behavior of saturated loess was examined by performing a series of ring shear tests with different shearing rates. The effects of shearing rates on the shear behavior of saturated loess with different normal stress are presented and discussed. The results showed that peak shear strength and steady-state shear strength were greater when the shearing rate was low and vice versa. Compared with high and low shearing rates, the maximum strength reduction ratios of peak shear strength and steady-state shear strength were 34.2% and 37.2%, respectively. The axial displacement during shearing was measured and was found to increase with increasing shear displacement in all tests. A comparison of sample height reduction (when the shear rate was stopped) found that the low shearing rate test sample underwent a much greater reduction than the high shearing rate test sample; however, the variation reduction range was within 4 mm. Monitoring the pore-water pressure during the shearing process revealed that it increased with shear displacement, and a higher excess pore-water pressure was generated within the shear zone during the fast-shearing process. Comparing the particle size distribution of the samples after the test and the original sample showed that the particles were crushed during the shearing process. The percentage that was finer than 0.005 mm increased with shearing rates and normal stress, and the soil structure implosion became more pronounced with increasing normal stress.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 2977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sueng-Won Jeong ◽  
Sung-Sik Park

Surface roughness plays an important role in estimating the shear strength of granular materials. A series of ring shear tests with different surface roughnesses (i.e., smooth and rough surfaces) were performed. A large-sized ring shear device, which is applicable for fine- and coarse-grained sediments, was developed to examine the shear strength of large particle sizes (i.e., commercial gravels with a mean grain size of 6 mm). In terms of surface roughness, the drainage- and shear-velocity-dependent shear strengths of the granular materials were examined. In this study, different shear velocities of 0.1, 0.5, and 1 mm/s were applied under drained and undrained conditions. The test results clearly show that shear stress is affected by drainage, shear velocity, and surface roughness. In particular, a typical strain-hardening behavior is exhibited regardless of the drainage and shear velocity condition. The measured shear strength obtained from both drained and undrained conditions increased with increasing shear velocity. All tests showed a large fragmentation using rough surfaces compared to the smooth surfaces of the device. The grain crushing was significant during shearing, even when normal stress was not applied. For a given shear velocity, surface roughness is an important feature in determining the shear strength of granular materials.


Landslides ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ogbonnaya Igwe ◽  
Kyoji Sassa ◽  
Fawu Wang

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonghui Wang ◽  
Kyoji Sassa

The undrained shear behavior of soils with progress of shear displacement is essential to the understanding of liquefied slope failures with long travel distance. In this paper, using a newly developed ring shear apparatus, a series of ring-shear tests were conducted on a silty sand to examine the undrained behavior of sand subjected to long shear displacement. Based on the test results, the undrained shear behavior of sands with a wide range of densities is discussed. A very low effective stress corresponding to liquefaction was observed at the steady state in all of the tests on loose, medium, as well as dense sand. The effects of stress state and shear history on the undrained shear behavior were examined by performing tests on a sample with different initial stress states and shearing the same specimen repeatedly (three times) at each initial stress state. The tests at different initial stress states proved that the initial stress state has an influence on static liquefaction resistance but has no effect on the steady-state shear strength. Repeated shear tests on the same specimen showed that with increasing shear times, both the peak shear strength and the steady-state shear strength for each specimen became greater. Detailed examination of the shear deformation revealed that the liquefaction phenomena in ring shear tests are localized in the shear zone, irrespective of the initial state of the sand. Grain crushing within the shear zone was examined. Finally, it was found that there was an optimal density at which the undrained brittleness index had a minimum value; meanwhile, the undrained brittleness index became greater with increasing initial normal and shear stresses, but decreased with shear times. These findings offer some basic understanding in assessing the postfailure mobility in landslides.Key words: excess pore pressure, localized liquefaction, shear resistance, ring-shear tests, grain crushing, silty sands.


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