Monotonic and cyclic behaviors of loose anisotropically consolidated calcareous sand in torsional shear tests

ABSTRACT

The behavior of loose anisotropically consolidated calcareous sand obtained from an island in the South China Sea was investigated under undrained monotonic and cyclic loading in a hollow cylinder torsional apparatus. The tests were conducted on specimens which consolidated under various initial effective confining pressures and consolidation stress ratios. The monotonic test results show that the failure and phase transformation line are essentially independent of the consolidation conditions, while the initial contractive tendency of the specimens decreases with an increasing consolidation stress ratio. During monotonic loading of the anisotropically consolidated specimens, a same major principal stress direction is observed at the constant stress ratio lines up to the phase transformation line, irrespective of initial effective confining pressure. The cyclic strength of the sand increases with an increasing consolidation stress ratio. Moreover, a pronounced stress dependence is observed in the sand with higher consolidation stress ratio. During cyclic loading, the generated excess pore water pressure presents considerable fluctuations. The normalized terminal excess pore water pressure is described as a function of consolidation stress ratio. The tests show that the particle shape, rather than particle crushing, plays an important role in the monotonic and cyclic behaviors of the calcareous sand.     

Improvement of estuarine marine clays for coastal reclamation using vacuum-applied consolidation method

Consolidation occurs in estuarine marine clays for coastal reclamation by dissipation of the excess pore pressure, which is induced by increasing the total overburden stress during conventional mechanical surcharging. The excess pore pressure can be decreased usually by the use of several construction methods such as sand drain and paper drain. Besides the drain methods, vacuum can also be used in the soil mass to consolidate the estuarine marine clays by decreasing the pore pressure as well as increasing the effective stress.The study on vacuum consolidation is devoted so far mainly for laboratory model tests or numerical analysis in Korea. Recently, an instrumentation system was applied to manage the vacuum-applied consolidation on a field, in which a sewage disposal plant was constructed. While vacuum was applied, the behaviors of estuarine marine clays such as the settlement, lateral deformation and pore water pressure have been investigated precisely. The behavior of estuarine marine clays during vacuum-applied consolidation shows some difference from the behavior of estuarine marine clays in the case of conventional preloading. A principal difference is that the lateral deformation corresponding to settlement is smaller than before vacuum application even though the surcharge height has been increased.     

Study of the Shear Strength of Sediments in Main Sedimentation Stages

The shear strength properties of sediments are relevant to many practical problems, including those related to predicting the bearing capacity of the man-made crust lying over dredged disposal sites and those associated with estimating the erosion resistance and the bearing capacity of sediments. In this study, an experimental apparatus and method is developed for sedimentation. This apparatus consists of a settling column, pore measurement apparatus, shear vane apparatus, and multilayer extraction sampling apparatus. The change regulation of interface height, density, excess pore pressure, peak undrained shear strength, residual undrained shear strength, and sensitivity varies before and after the excess pore pressure dissipates to zero in the self-weight consolidation stage. The higher the water content, the greater the particle segregation degree. Particles are mainly segregated in the settling stage, and they are not segregated further in the self-weight consolidation stage. Before excess pore pressure dissipates to zero in the self-weight consolidation stage, shear strength is related to water content, effective stress, and the formed structure of sediments. After excess pore pressure dissipates to zero, peak undrained shear strength is mainly associated with the structure (thixotropy) of sediments. Residual undrained shear strength increases because of the slight decrease in water content. The mechanisms of thixotropy can be expressed as the increase in the original and curing cohesions of sediments with time as determined from microscopic aspects.     

The effect of cyclic loading on the undrained shear strength of a silty clay

Abstract

The strength of saturated clays subjected to low‐frequency cyclic loading is of considerable importance in the design of offshore structures. A series of postcyclic undrained triaxial strength tests were carried out on samples of a silty clay (Keuper Marl), which had not failed under cyclic loading, to investigate the effect of this loading on the postcyclic monotonie effective stress path and strength of the soil. Undrained cyclic loading of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated samples by generating positive pore pressures caused the apparent degree of overconsolidation to increase. Samples subsequently subjected to monotonie testing followed effective stress paths commensurate with this apparent overconsolidation and failed on the “Hvorslev” surface on the “dry” side of the stable state boundary surface rather than on the critical state as would be expected of samples of this initial stress history. Samples which were initially heavily overconsolidated did not generate large pore pressures under cyclic loading and did not therefore exhibit large changes in postcyclic monotonie strength. The reduction in strength after cyclic loading therefore is greater for normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated samples. The pore pressures generated under postcyclic monotonie loading are related to the degree of apparent overconsolidation achieved during cyclic loading.     

循环荷载作用下粉土的动力学特征

选用近海分布广泛的粉土为研究对象,利用动三轴压缩试验结果得到了动荷载作用下粉土的应力-应变关系、孔压发展模式及动强度与临界循环次数之间的关系;探讨固结围压和固结比对粉土动力学性质的影响。动力学试验结果表明,动剪切模量随着固结围压的增大而增大,动阻尼比随动剪应变幅的变化关系受围压影响不大;不同围压对动剪应力的比值影响很小,同一围压下随着固结比的增大,动剪应力比也会随之增大;不同围压及不同固结比对以Nf表示的峰值孔隙水压力发展模式影响很小。     

Predicting rock mechanical properties of carbonates from wireline logs (A case study: Arab-D reservoir,Ghawar field,Saudi Arabia)

Four hundred plug samples from the Arab-D carbonate reservoir, Ghawar field, were tested for acoustic and mechanical properties at increasing triaxial stress. The results show that the rock mechanical parameters are primarily functions of porosity and, to a lesser degree, of mineralogy, texture and pore fabric (in order of degree of impact from higher to lower). The rock mechanical parameters of the intact matrix rock show no significant changes with stress under reservoir condition.     

随机波作用下埋管海床动态响应及液化研究

基于广义Biot动力理论和Longuet-Higgins线性叠加模型,构建波浪-海床-管线动态响应的有限元计算模型,求解随机波作用下,多层砂质海床中管线周围土体孔隙水压力和竖向有效应力的分布。采用基于超静孔隙水压力的液化判断准则,得出液化区的最大深度及横向范围,从而判断海床土体液化情况。考虑海洋波浪的随机性,将海床视为多孔介质,海床动态响应计算模型采用u-p模式,孔隙水压力和位移视为场变量。并考虑孔隙水的可压缩性、海床弹性变形、土体速度、土体加速度以及流体速度的影响,忽略孔隙流体惯性作用。参数研究表明:土体渗透系数、饱和度以及有效波高等参数对海床土体孔隙水压力、竖向有效应力和液化区域分布有显著影响。     

The Effects of Microstructure on Shear Properties of Shallow Marine Sediments

This study was undertaken to investigate the implication of geoacoustic behaviors in the shallow marine sediments associated with the changes in geotechnical index properties. Two piston cores (270 cm and 400 cm in core length) used in this study were recovered from stations 1 and 2, the western continental margin, the East Sea. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to illustrate the effects of microstructure on shear properties. The direct SEM observation of sediment fabrics is inevitable to understand the correlation of the changes in geoacoustic properties to the sediment structure. The consolidation of sediments by overburden stress resulting in the clay fabric alteration appears to play an important role in changing shear properties. Water contents and porosity of sediments gradually decreases with increasing depth, whereas wet bulk density shows a reverse trend. It is interesting to note that shear wave velocities increase rapidly from 8 to 20 m/s while compressional wave velocities significantly fluctuate, ranging from 1450 to 1550 m/s with depth. The fabric changes in sediment with increasing depth for example, uniform grain size and well oriented clay fabrics may cause the shear strength increase from 1 to 12 kPa. Shear wave velocity is, therefore, shown to be very sensitive to the changes in undrained strength for unconsolidated marine sediments. This correlation allows an in-situ estimation of shear stress in the subsurface from shear wave velocity data.     

Effect of Groundwater Fluctuations on Pore Pressures and Earth Pressures on Coastal Excavation Retaining Walls

Pore water and earth pressures acting on retaining structures are investigated using an efficient coastal double-layered excavation model to determine offshore excavation responses to groundwater fluctuations outside foundation pits. Total pore water pressure includes excess pore water pressure (due to groundwater fluctuations) and steady pore water pressure (due to steady seepage) determined using one-dimensional consolidation theory of double-layered soil and one-dimensional steady-state flow theory, respectively. Rankine's active and passive earth pressures are obtained from pore water pressure. This method is applicable to arbitrary groundwater fluctuation conditions. How physical parameters affect pore water pressure is numerically investigated using examples, demonstrating the method's practicality for calculating pore water and earth pressures.     

Elastoplastic consolidation above and beneath strip anchors under uplift forces

Although the uplift behavior of offshore plate anchors under undrained conditions has been investigated well in the past, studies on the behavior of anchors under long-term sustained loading are in relatively few numbers. The time required for consolidation under sustained load is important because the shear strength of soil changes after dissipation of excess pore pressure. In this paper, small strain finite-element analyses have been performed to investigate the consolidation time history above and beneath strip anchors. The modified cam clay plasticity constitutive model is used for modeling coupled pore fluid stress analysis. The effects of magnitude of preloading with embedment level have been studied. As expected, the FE results have shown that excess pore pressure dissipation time for soil above the anchor increased with the increase in embedment depth and the magnitude of preload. Rapid dissipation of negative excess pore pressure beneath the anchor was observed with increasing embedment depth, if the preload magnitude is equal to or more than 60% of the undrained capacity. Observed consolidation responses are presented as nondimensional design charts and simplified equations for ease of practice.     

Evaluation of Effective Depth of PVD Improvement in Soft Clay Deposit: A Field Case Study

This article presents a case history of determination of effective depth of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) under embankment loading on a very soft clay deposit in central China, near Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. The height of the embankment was 5.3 m and construction time was about one year. The PVDs were installed to a depth of 8.5 m at a spacing of 1.5 m in a triangular pattern. Field observations and the finite element method (FEM) were employed to analyze the performance of the soft deposit during embankment construction. The influential depth of the embankment loading was evaluated based on settlement, excess pore pressure, and stress increase in subsoil, both from the observed data and FEM analysis. The effective PVD depth was determined in the following ways: (1) the depth of 5% subsoil settlement of surface settlement; (2) vertical stress increase in subsoil of 25% in-situ stress; and (3) consolidation time/PVD depth relation by FEM. Based on the analysis, the effective depth of PVDs was determined to be between 10 and 12.8 m for this field case.     

Consolidation Parameters Interpretation of CPTU Dissipation Data Based on Strain Path Theory for Soft Jiangsu Quaternary Clays

When a piezocone (CPTU) penetrates the ground, pore pressures are set up due to the stress changes. Pore pressure dissipation occurs in the subsequent consolidation process in a manner dependent on the initial stress distribution. The process of analysis can be used to interpret the consolidation parameters from CPTU data based on strain path approach. For the two approaches to the CPTU analysis, the Houlsby and Teh method used an elastic-plastic model, while the Levadoux and Baligh solution used parameters specifically appropriate for Boston Blue Clay. This article discusses a comparison between the two theoretical predictions and field CPTU measurements deployed in Jiangsu (China) Quaternary clays. The values of the coefficient of consolidation calculated from the two methods are then compared with high-quality laboratory tests. Both theoretical predictions provide good agreement for the shape of the dissipation curve, but the predicted c _h values are different and thought should indeed be given to the use of an appropriate value of G/s _u.     

Consolidation Properties and In-Situ Stress of the Marine Clay in Southern Korea

A very soft ground constructed by dredging and hydraulic fill has characteristics such as high water content, high initial void ratio, and very little effective stress. Estimating, with thorough considerations about consolidation properties and the initial stress associated with each layer's distinctive stress history, is essential in order to predict a reasonable consolidation settlement of soft ground. By investigating a construction project for national industrial complexes at a coastal area in southern Korea that experienced reclamation and ground improvement adapting PVD, various laboratory tests to find consolidation properties were performed with undisturbed samples collected from the entire depth of the marine clay fill layer and original clay layer. Through the investigation, this report suggests relationships of heterogeneity of permeability in both vertical and horizontal directions, void ratio-effective stress, and void ratio-permeability. Considering the fact that the original clay layer was under the process of consolidation by load due to hydraulic fill from the top, estimating the appropriate initial stress of each layer is critical to predict the future process of consolidation settlement determined by time. In order to obtain the initial stresses of two layers with different stress histories related to consolidation, cone penetration and dissipation tests were conducted.     

Transient soil response in a porous seabed with variable permeability

The soil permeability of many natural marine sediments decreases with depth because of consolidation under overburden pressure. This is accompanied by a decrease in porosity and void ratio that also affect the permeability. Conventional theories for wave-induced soil response have assumed a homogeneous porous seabed. This paper presents a new approach for the wave-induced response in a soil matrix, with variable permeability as a function of burial depth. The soil matrix considered is unsaturated and anisotropic, and is subject to a three-dimensional wave system. The pore pressure and effective stresses induced by such a system are obtained from a set of equations incorporating a variable permeability. Verification is available through reduction to the simple case of uniform permeability. The results indicate that the effect of variable soil permeability on pore pressure and vertical effective stress may be significant, especially in a gravelled seabed and for unsaturated sandy soils.     

Stress History Estimation Method of Underconsolidated Soil by Partial Piezocone Dissipation Tests

The paper discusses a new method to put forward to determine the initial pore pressure by extrapolating the last segment of measured pore pressure versus the inverse square root of time scale through incomplete pore pressure dissipation test. For underconsolidated soil, the estimated initial pore pressure is greater than the hydrostatic pore pressure. With the calculation of the initial pore pressure, the status of the consolidation of underconsolidated soil can be evaluated by calculating the apparent degree of consolidation which is defined as excess pore pressure generated by piezocone penetration divided by the difference between the total pore pressure measured by piezocone and in situ hydrostatic pore pressure. The apparent degree of consolidation is less than one as the soil is underconsolidated. The Northern Expressway Connection project of Chongqi Bridge is introduced as an example of practical application. In this case, the studied area is slightly underconsolidated, which is consistent with the results of the laboratory oedometer tests. Finally, compared with overconsolidation ratio (OCR) values from the oedometer tests, a new formula to estimate the OCR of underconsolidated soil using the apparent degree of consolidation was presented. It indicates that the OCR of underconsolidated soil can be proposed directly from partial piezocone dissipation tests.     

Microfabric and rock properties of experimentally compressed silt-clay mixtures

Oedometric mechanical compaction tests were performed on brine-saturated synthetic samples consisting of silt-clay mixtures to study changes in microfabric and rock properties as a function of effective stress. The silt consisted of crushed quartz (∼100%) with grain size range between 4 and 40 μm, whereas the clay consisted of 81% kaolinite, 14% mica/illite and 5% microcline of grain size between 0.4 and 30 μm. Five sample pairs ranging in composition from pure silt to pure clay were compacted to 5 and 50 MPa effective stress respectively. SEM studies were carried out to investigate microfabric changes in the mechanically compacted silt-clay mixtures. The degree of alignment of the different minerals present (quartz, mica/illite and kaolinite) were computed by using an image analysis software. Experimental compaction have measured the changes in the rock properties such as porosity and velocity as a function of effective stress for different mixtures of clay and silt. Clay-rich samples showed a higher degree of mineral orientation and lower porosity compared to silt-dominated samples as a function of effective stress. Pure clay sample had 11% porosity at 50 MPa effective stress whereas the pure silt sample retained about 29% porosity at the same effective stress. The experiments showed that low porosity down to 11% is possible by mechanical compaction only. A systematic increase in strain was observed in the silt-clay mixtures with increasing clay content but the porosity values found for the 50:50 silt-clay mixture were lower than that of 25:75 silt-clay mixture. No preferential mineral orientation is expected before compaction owing to the high initial porosity suggesting that the final fabric is a direct result of the effective stress. Both P- and S-wave velocities increased in all silt-clay mixtures with increasing effective stress. The maximum P- and S-wave velocities were observed in the 25:75 silt-clay mixture whereas the minimum Vp and Vs were recorded in the pure silt mixture. At 50 MPa effective stress P- wave velocities as high as 3 km/s resulted from experimental mechanical compaction alone. The results show that fine-grained sediment porosity and velocity are dependent on microfabric, which in turn is a function of grain size distribution, particle shape, sediment composition and stress. At 5 MPa effective stress, quartz orientation increased as a function of the amount of clay indicating that clay facilitate rotation of angular quartz grains. Adding clay from 25% to 75% in the silt-clay mixtures at 50 MPa effective stress decreased the quartz alignment. The clay mineral orientation increased by increasing both the amount of clay and the effective stress, the mica/illite fabric alignment being systematically higher than that of kaolinite. Even small amount of silt (25%) added to pure clay reduced the degree of clay alignment significantly. This study demonstrates that experimental compaction of well characterized synthetic mudstones can be a useful tool to understand microfabric and rock properties of shallow natural mudstones where mechanical compaction is the dominant process.     

Experimental study on the cyclic behavior of loose calcareous sand under linear stress paths

Abstract

Hollow cylinder torsional shear tests on loose isotropically and anisotropically consolidated calcareous sand were conducted to investigate the cyclic behavior under three different linear stress paths, including horizontal line, oblique line, and vertical line stress paths, in a coordinate system of the normal stress difference and the horizontal shear stress. The dominant strain components of the isotropically consolidated specimens are affected by the stress paths. With increasing consolidation stress ratio, axial strain gradually becomes the dominant strain component under the three different stress paths. The cyclic strength of the isotropically consolidated specimens under the three different stress paths are almost the same, while for the anisotropically consolidated specimens, the cyclic strengths are strongly affected by the stress paths. These results indicate that conventional cyclic triaxial tests may overestimate cyclic strength in some cases. Irrespective of the stress paths and cyclic stress ratios, the terminal residual excess pore pressure ratio decreases with increasing consolidation stress ratio. Moreover, an empirical equation is proposed to describe the relationship between the normalized shear work and the normalized residual excess pore pressure ratio. The comparative study reveals that the relationship proposed for silica sand is not suitable for the dynamic analyses of calcareous sand.     

Laboratory testing of muds

The equipment and techniques used at H. R. Wallingford Limited (HR) for testing the properties of estuarine muds are described. Erosion under unidirectional currents is measured in an annular flume; a relationship between shear strength, τ_e, and density, ρ_d, is determined in the form: τ_e=a ρ_d ^b. Self-weight consolidation tests are run in settling columns, with density profiles and excess pore pressures measured during the consolidation period. An empirical relationship between effective stress, σ′, and density is determined in the form: σ′=a₀+a₁ρ+a₂ρ². Permeability, k, against density is determined in the form: log(k)=c₀+c₁ρ.     

Stiffness Degradation of Undisturbed Saturated Soft Clay in Yangtze Estuary under Complex Stress Conditions

Stiffness degradation will occur due to the generation of accumulated pore pressure in saturated soft clays under cyclic loading. The soil static-dynamic multi-purpose triaxial and torsional shear apparatus in Dalian University of Technology was employed to perform different types of test on saturated soft marine clay in the Yangtze estuary. Undisturbed samples of the clay were subjected to undrained cyclic vertical and torsional coupling shear and cyclic torsional shear after three-directional anisotorpic consolidation with different initial consolidation parameters. Investigated were the effects of the initial orientation angle of the major principal stress, initial ratio of deviatoric stress, initial coefficient of intermediate principal stress and continuous rotation of principal stress axes on the stiffness degradation. It is found that the degradation index decreases (or degradation degree increases) significantly with increasing initial orientation angle of the major principal stress and initial ratio of deviatoric stress. Compared to the effects of the initial orientation angle of the major principal stress and initial ratio of deviatoric stress, the effect of initial coefficient of intermediate principal stress is less evident and this trend is more clearly reflected by the results of the cyclic torsional shear tests than those of the cyclic coupling shear tests. At the same cycle number, the degradation index obtained from the cyclic torsional shear test is higher than that from the cyclic coupling shear test. The main reason is that the continuous rotation in principal stress directions during cyclic coupling shear damages the original structure of the soil more than the cyclic torsional shear does. Based on a series of experiments, a mathematical model for stiffness degradation is proposed and the relevant parameters are determined.     

Degradation in Cemented Marine Clay Subjected to Cyclic Compressive Loading

The influence of cyclic loading on the strength and deformation behavior of cemented marine clay has been studied. This marine clay is of recent Pleistocene origin and deposited in a shallow water marine environment. Open pits were dug in sheeted enclosures and from these pits, undisturbed samples were taken for strength testing. A series of standard triaxial shear tests and stress controlled one-way cyclic load tests were conducted at consolidation stress ranges below and above the preconsolidation pressure. For the stress levels below the preconsolidation pressure, the cyclic loading has brought about the collapse of the cementation bond through an increase in strains, and at higher pressure ranges, the soil behaves like typical soft clay. This experiment studied the rate of development of strain and pore water pressure and shows that rate is a function of number of cycles, applied stress, and stress history. In addition, soil degradation during cyclic loading is studied in terms of Degradation Index. Attempt has been made to predict stain, pore water pressure, and degradation index through an empirical model.