Volumetric Strains of Clean Sands Subject to Cyclic Loads

• Published in: Journal of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering Vol. 134; no. 8; pp. 1073 - 1085
• Main Authors: Duku, Pendo M, Stewart, Jonathan P, Whang, Daniel H, Yee, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reston, VA American Society of Civil Engineers 01.08.2008
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Buildings. Public works; Exact sciences and technology; Geotechnics; Indexing in process; Q1; Soil investigations. Testing; Soil mechanics. Rocks mechanics; TECHNICAL PAPERS; Shear test; Volumetric analysis; Compression; Deformation; Sand; Earthquake effect; Cyclic loads; Compression test; Experimental result; Earthquakes; Soil test; Seismic effects; Cyclic load; Laboratory test; Volume change; Models; Comparative study
• ISSN: 1090-0241; 1943-5606
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)1090-0241(2008)134:8(1073)

We utilize simple shear testing to investigate the volume change of clean sands subject to cyclic loads. We examine the effects of a number of compositional and environmental factors on the vertical strain at 15 uniform shear strain cycles and on the cycle-to-cycle variation of vertical strain. The compositional factor found to principally affect seismic compression susceptibility is relative density. Compositional factors found to not significantly affect cyclic volume change include gradation parameters (mean grain size and uniformity coefficient), particle angularity, soil fabric, mineralogy, and void ratio “breadth” e- emin . An environmental factor found to affect seismic compression susceptibility is confining stress, with volumetric strains decreasing with increasing stress. Environmental factors that do not significantly affect seismic compression susceptibility for clean sands are saturation and age. Stress history can decrease vertical strains from seismic compression for certain conditions, but we find such effects to be insignificant for the levels of overburden stress where compacted fills are typically overconsolidated from compaction-induced stresses. An empirical model is developed to represent the major trends of the data for application in engineering practice, which improves upon an earlier model that is based on a much smaller database and does not account for the aforementioned environmental factors.