Effect of Intermediate Microfabric on Shear Strength and Strain Localization Response of Kaolin Clay Under Compression and Extension Loading

The present paper evaluates the role of microfabric in strain localization patterns observed in soil specimens during its shear deformation in compression and extension triaxial testing. A series of compression and extension lubricated end triaxial tests are performed on Kaolin clay with extreme as well as intermediate microfabrics, which are obtained using slurry consolidation technique by varying calagon content from 0 to 3 %. Intermediate microfabric is the geometric arrangement of particles within the soil mass, which lies in between the particle orientation during two extreme microfabrics; flocculated and dispersed. Flocculated has random orientation of particles with face-to-edge particle contacts and dispersed has parallel orientation of particles with face-to-face particle contacts. When the specimen is subjected to large stress levels in triaxial testing, the particle orientation and geometric arrangement get affected due to the force acting on the clay platelets. In this experimental research, the variation in clay’s stress–strain and pore pressure response and initiation, propagation and formation of shear bands at different levels of compression and extension shearing is evaluated using digital image analysis setup associated with triaxial system.     

Development of Intermediate Microfabric in Kaolin Clay and Its Consolidation Behaviour

The effect of microfabric on the mechanical behaviour of clays has been explored previously based on the response of dispersed and flocculated microfabrics only. However, the natural clays often have the geometric arrangement of particles between these two extreme cases which can be termed as intermediate microfabric. This paper explores the formation of intermediate microfabric of kaolin clay and its impact on soil’s consolidation behaviour by performing self-weight consolidation, slurry consolidation and 1-D consolidation tests. The effect of calgon content (dispersing agent) on geometric arrangement of the particles has been evaluated through cluster size distribution by performing double hydrometer tests. Then these clay slurries have been used to perform the AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) test to obtain the variation in average angle of particle orientation with respect to the calgon content present in the slurry. AFM technique provides 3D image of the clay sample and 2D image with Z-information with the potential of measuring intermediate microfabric of clayey soil quantitatively including dispersed and flocculated microfabrics. Other traditional techniques such as SEM, TEM & XRD are limited to only qualitative analysis of soil’s microfabric, thus, having no capability to measure intermediate microfabric of clay. A methodology of preparing bulk specimens of clay with intermediate microfabric has been developed using slurry consolidation technique; and then these specimens have been consolidated under 1-D loading to evaluate the effect of intermediate microfabric on compressibility and permeability of clay. In this study, all the experiments reports that the dispersed type geometric arrangement increases with the increase in calgon content in soil up to 2 % and then the reverse behaviour is observed at 3 %; which may depend on the required amount of sodium cations to neutralize the negatively charged faces of the clay platelets present in the slurry.     

Identification of Microfabric of Kaolinite Clay Mineral Using X-ray Diffraction Technique

A new method is introduced in this study to identify the microfabric (geometric arrangement of platelets) of cohesive soil using standard X-ray diffractometer. Various sampling techniques are used to prepare the Kaolinite clay samples with different microfabrics to assess the consistency and versatility of the proposed method. This method is based on identifying the presence of basal and prism peaks from the X-ray diffraction pattern and corresponding relative intensity values. The present study also demonstrates the conditions for which Scanning Electron Micrographs (SEM) are not capable of accurately identifying the microfabric of cohesive soils. The method proposed in this study uses relative amplitudes of basal and prism peaks avoiding difficult sample and surface preparation procedures, as used by previous researchers in their microfabric identification methods. The proposed method is found to be a rapid and accurate method for identifying the microfabric of Kaolinite clay and should prove to be valuable for routine implementation for studying structured natural clays.     

Influence of structure on the compression and shear behaviour of a saturated lateritic clay

Lateritic clay is well recognized to contain significant amount of iron and aluminium oxides (sesquioxide). These oxides enhance the formation of soil aggregates which would greatly affect soil structure. So far, no study has been carried out purposely to investigate the influence of aggregate-dependent structure on the mechanical behaviour of the lateritic clay. In this study, structure effects on the compression and shear behaviour of a saturated lateritic clay were studied. Intact, recompacted and reconstituted specimens were studied through oedometer, isotropic compression and consolidated undrained shear tests. Microstructure of these specimens was determined using the mercury intrusion porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques and then used to explain the observed behaviour. It was found that the compressibility of recompacted/reconstituted specimens was about 90% larger than intact specimen. Different from soft clay, the influence of microstructure does not show an obvious reduction in compressibility after yielding. The peak shear strength of intact specimen was about 100% higher than those of reconstituted/recompacted specimens. The significant difference in compression and shear behaviour is mainly because the aggregates of intact specimen were about 90% larger than those of reconstituted/recompacted specimens, as revealed by the SEM results. As a result, particle contacts forming the force chain were therefore larger in the intact specimen. The intact specimen therefore became less compressible and more dilative.

     

Microstructural study of a natural slip zone: quantification and deformation history

Microstructure of a natural slip zone was comprehensively examined using a combination of images captured systematically by optical microscopy (OPM) and backscattered electron microscopy (BEM) techniques. Microstructural features identified on these images were processed and evaluated using an advanced image analysis system, which proved that quantitative analyses could considerably enhance the understanding of shear behavior of slip zones. It was found that variations of porosity, abundance of platy clay particles and alignments of particles are significant indicators revealing nature of deformation processes. These indicators show that global mechanical behavior of the investigated slip zone can be conceptualized as that of normally consolidated clayey soils under drained conditions.

The geometric patterns of the microstructure of the slip zone are similar to the S–C fabrics seen in tectonic shear zones. It is suggested that combined progressive bulk simple shear and pure shear modes enable to realistically reconstruct the kinematic history of the slip zone, through which particle movements and microstructural evolution were accomplished via various types of particulate flows. The results of this study show that clay mineralogy plays a more important role in the development of the slip zone than abundance of clay-size particles, while both clay mineralogy and relative proportions of each particle size fraction control the response of particles to shear deformation. Among the fractions present in the slip zone, fine silts are the strongest indicator of global shear stress characterized by their highest degree of alignment, whereas clay particles are the weakest. Highest degree of shape preferred orientation is also found within fine silt domains.     

On the role of particle breakage in the shear failure behavior of granular soils by DEM

This article presents a fundamental study on the role of particle breakage on the shear behavior of granular soils using the three‐dimensional (3‐D) discrete element method. The effects of particle breakage on the stress ratio, volumetric strain, plastic deformation, and shear failure behavior of dense crushable specimens undergoing plane strain shearing conditions are thoroughly investigated through a variety of micromechanical analyses and mechanism demonstrations. The simulation of a granular specimen is based on the effective modeling of realistic fracture behavior of single soil particles, which is demonstrated by the qualitative agreement between the results from platen compression simulations and those from physical laboratory tests. The simulation results show that the major effects of particle breakage include the reduction of volumetric dilation and peak stress ratio and more importantly the plastic deformation mechanisms and the shear failure modes vary as a function of soil crushability. Consistent macro‐ and micromechanical evidence demonstrates that shear banding and massive volumetric contraction depict the two end failure modes of a dense specimen, which is dominated by particle rearrangement–induced dilation and particle crushing–induced compression, respectively, with a more general case being the combination and competition of the two failure modes in the medium range of soil crushability and confining stress. However, it is further shown that a highly crushable specimen will eventually develop a shear band at a large strain because of the continuous decay of particle breakage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

含细粒砂土反常剪切行为的数值模拟研究

针对含细颗粒砂土的反常剪切行为,开展了双轴剪切试验的数值模拟,从宏细观角度分析了其反常剪切行为发生的内在机制。数值模拟结果表明,增加围压能提高含细颗粒砂土的抗剪切液化能力,该反常行为的根本原因在于围压上升使得粗细颗粒更有效地参与了力链传递,增加了颗粒间的接触,增强了土体的密实度。细颗粒在土骨架中的移动对砂土的液化起着至关重要的作用,而粗颗粒仅起次要作用。研究表明,细颗粒在剪切过程中会持续从有效土骨架中移出成为无效颗粒,而部分粗颗粒也因失去细颗粒的支撑作用会脱离土骨架,直至试样最终液化。细颗粒一般参与土骨架中的弱力链,而粗颗粒则一般参与强力链,导致细颗粒较粗颗粒更容易在土骨架中移动。     

冻融循环对青藏红黏土物理力学性质影响试验研究

以红黏土为研究对象,使土样在封闭系统下进行不同次数的冻融循环作用,对冻融循环后的冻结土样进行粒度成分和物理力学性质测试,研究不同次数冻融循环作用下冻结红黏土粒度成分和物理力学性质的变化规律。结果表明：粉粒组和黏粒组质量含量受冻融循环作用次数影响较大。红黏土中颗粒在前10次冻融循环过程中向粒径小于0.001 mm及粒径在0.01~0.05 mm范围富集;冻融循环10次之后,随冻融循环次数的增加,粒径范围在0.002~0.005 mm的土颗粒含量明显增加,粒径范围在0.01~0.05 mm的土颗粒含量明显减小,其他粒径范围的土颗粒含量基本不受冻融循环次数的影响。红黏土的液、塑限大体上随冻融循环次数的增加而增加。冻融循环作用对红黏土等效黏聚力强度影响较明显,冻融循环作用10次以内红黏土等效黏聚力强度变化较大,在红黏土地区新修路基应考虑冻融循环作用引起的附加沉降影响。建议采用维亚洛夫或吴紫汪长期强度预报方程预测红黏土长期等效黏聚力强度。     

The liquefaction of clayey soils under cyclic loading

This paper seeks to investigate the liquefaction of clayey soils, a phenomenon that has been the trigger for many natural disasters in the last few decades, including landslides. Research was conducted on artificial clay-sand mixtures and natural clayey soils collected from the sliding surfaces of earthquake-induced landslides. The undrained response of normally consolidated clayey soils to cyclic loading was studied by means of a ring-shear apparatus. For the artificial clay-sand mixtures, it was found that the presence of a small amount of bentonite (≤ 7%) would cause rapid liquefaction, while a further increase in bentonite content (≥ 11%) produced the opposite effect of raising soil resistance to liquefaction by a significant degree. It was demonstrated that the bentonite-sand mixture was considerably more resistant to liquefaction than the kaolin-, and illite-mixtures, given the same clay content. The test results of plastic soils revealed the significant influence of plasticity on the liquefaction resistance of soil. The microfabric of clayey soil was investigated by means of a scanning electron microscope. The analysis showed that the liquefaction potential of soil was strongly related to certain particle arrangements. For example, soil vulnerable to liquefaction had an open microfabric in which clay aggregations generally gathered at the sand particle contact points, forming low-strength “clay bridges” that were destroyed easily during cyclic loading. On the other hand, the microfabric of soil that was resistant to liquefaction appeared to be more compact, with the clay producing a matrix that prevented sand grains from liquefying. In the case of the natural soils, the obtained results indicated that their cyclic behavior was similarly influenced by factors such as clay content, clay mineralogy and plasticity. The relation between the liquefaction potential of natural soil and its microfabric was thus also established. On the basis of the obtained results, the authors posited an explanation on the mechanism of liquefaction for clayey soil.     

南阳膨胀土裂隙面强度试验研究

裂隙性是膨胀土的基本特性之一,膨胀土中原生裂隙面的存在往往导致膨胀土边坡的失稳。选取南水北调中线工程南阳段膨胀土进行裂隙面强度特性试验,提出了裂隙面强度三轴试验新方法。首次将计算机X射线断层扫描技术引入裂隙面的强度试验,通过测量裂隙面真实产状,准确分析裂隙面上的破坏应力,提出了裂隙面强度参数的整理方法。研究成果表明,裂隙面的峰值强度不仅远小于两侧土的峰值强度,而且也小于两侧土的残余强度;裂隙面强度较低的原因主要是其具有较高的含水率、蒙脱石含量以及颗粒排列定向度。地下水淋滤作用对于膨胀土裂隙面存在3个方面的影响：微观上使得膨胀土中铁的氧化物由三价转变为二价,形成与两侧土颜色完全不同的灰白色裂隙黏土;细观上改变了母体土的矿物成分和颗粒排列结构,使得裂隙填充物具有较高的蒙脱石含量和颗粒定向度;宏观上形成了裂隙面与两侧土体力学强度的显著差异。     

Role of particle crushing on particle kinematics and shear banding in granular materials

The paper provides an in-depth exploration of the role of particle crushing on particle kinematics and shear banding in sheared granular materials. As a two-dimensional approximation, a crushable granular material may be represented by an assembly of irregularly shaped polygons to include shape diversity of realistic granular materials. Particle assemblies are subjected to biaxial shearing under flexible boundary conditions. With increasing percentage of crushed particles, mesoscale deformation becomes increasingly unstable. Fragmented deformation patterns within the granular assemblies are unable to form stable and distinct shear bands. This is confirmed by the sparsity of large fluctuating velocities in highly crushable assemblies. Without generating distinct shear bands, deformation patterns and failure modes of a highly crushable assembly are similar to those of loose particle assemblies, which are regarded as diffuse deformation. High degrees of spatial association amongst the kinematical quantities confirm the key role that non-affine deformation and particle rotation play in the generation of shear bands. Therefore, particle kinematical quantities can be used to predict the onset and subsequent development of shear zones, which are generally marked by increased particle kinematic activity, such as intense particle rotation and high granular temperature. Our results indicate that shear band thickness increases, and its speed of development slows down, with increasing percentage of crushed particles. As particles crush, spatial force correlation becomes weaker, indicating a more diffuse nature of force transmission across particle contacts.     

基于冻融交界面直剪试验的冻土斜坡失稳过程研究

为了探讨多年冻土区自然斜坡失稳机制,开展了不同含水率黏土、粉土、砂土的土-冰交界面直接剪切试验和相应融土的直接剪切试验。结果表明,砂土和砂土-冰冻融交界面剪切应力-变形特性主要表现为弹性变形,且剪应力存在明显峰值;粉土、黏土及相应的冻融交界面在很小的变形范围内表现为塑性变形,且剪应力无峰值。水分对砂土活动层抗剪强度影响较弱,表现为水分增高,内摩擦角小幅降低。水分对粉黏土活动层抗剪强度影响剧烈,表现为水分增高,粉黏土黏聚力急剧减小。研究发现,冻土区斜坡失稳更易发生于细颗粒粉黏土中。相对于粉土,粉土-冰冻融交界面抵抗剪切变形的能力更强,粉土斜坡潜在滑动面更易发育在冻融交界面上层附近;相对于黏土,黏土-冰冻融交界面抵抗剪切变形的能力更弱,黏土斜坡更易在冻融交界面处发生滑动。同时,细粒土斜坡极易在达到最大融化深度前提前失稳,斜坡坡度越高,失稳时间越提前。融化期活动层水分增多导致潜在滑动面黏聚力降低是细粒土冻土斜坡失稳的最主要原因,孔隙水压对冻土斜坡具有一定影响,在稳定性评价时要考虑活动层水位的影响。     

Dynamic analysis of strain localization in water‐saturated clay using a cyclic elasto‐viscoplastic model

A computational framework is presented for dynamic strain localization and deformation analyses of water‐saturated clay by using a cyclic elasto‐viscoplastic constitutive model. In the model, the nonlinear kinematic hardening rule and softening due to the structural degradation of soil particles are considered. In order to appropriately simulate the large deformation phenomenon in strain localization analysis, the dynamic finite element formulation for a two‐phase mixture is derived in the updated Lagrangian framework. The shear band development is shown through the distributions of viscoplastic shear strain, the axial strain, the mean effective stress, and the pore water pressure in a normally consolidated clay specimen. From the local stress–strain relations, more brittleness is found inside the shear bands than outside of them. The effects of partially drained conditions and mesh‐size dependency on the shear banding are also investigated. The effect of a partially drained boundary is found to be insignificant on the dynamic shear band propagation because of the rapid rate of applied loading and low permeability of the clay. Using the finer mesh results in slightly narrower shear bands; nonetheless, the results manifest convergency through the mesh refinement in terms of the overall shape of shear banding and stress–strain relations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

吸力历史对非饱和弱膨胀土力学性质的影响

对经历较广吸力范围内不同吸力历史的非饱和弱膨胀土进行了一系列吸力控制的三轴剪切试验。关于最大吸力的施加,高吸力采用蒸汽平衡法;较低吸力采用轴平移技术。试验结果表明：在净应力和吸力相同条件下,经过湿化试样的应力-应变关系曲线升高、剪缩体变小;经过高吸力试样的应力-应变关系曲线也升高、剪缩体变小,随着经历过最大吸力的增加其应力比-应变关系、体变表现出的超固结土特性明显。其主要原因是前期试样受过较大的吸力,相当于受过较大前期固结压力,同时弱膨胀土失水收缩性明显,经过较大吸力后试样孔隙比明显减小,使试样剪切过程中表现出超固结黏土的特性。因此,讨论非饱和弱膨胀性土的应力-应变关系和强度时需考虑吸力历史引起的体积收缩影响。     

Microfabric analysis by manual and automated stereological procedures: a methodological approach to Antarctic tillite

Fabric analysis is commonly used to infer former movement directions of diamictons; however, analysis techniques are typically time consuming and partly subjective. Stereological analysis provides an alternative for objective determination of the preferred orientation of particles. The ability of manual and automated stereological procedures to determine the preferred orientation of particles (120–4000 µm) in tillite is assessed, using core samples from Mount Feather, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Orthogonal sets of vertical thin sections were subjected to directed secant analysis involving the determination of the number of intersections between particle outlines and a rotating series of parallel lines. The manual analysis reveals a weakly developed three-dimensional tilt angle (plunge) of 68°. This reflects the depth-averaged subglacial deformational structure of the deposit. Because the preferred orientation signal is weak, in the automated set-up this signal is obscured by the effect of digitization, hampering the reliable assessment of the orientation direction. The study shows microfabric variability within the studied cored section that is interpreted as a shear fabric. Reliable macrostructural information that might constrain ice flow directions requires a larger number of randomly or systematically drawn core samples from which averaged microstructural fabrics can be derived.     

黏性土固结不排水剪切的滑动损伤模型研究

在工程荷载范围内,不计骨架颗粒的变形,骨架的变形实际是颗粒接触面变形的总和。当剪应力达到某个临界值时,黏性土骨架中有一部分颗粒接触面开始滑动,随着剪应力的增大,出现滑动的颗粒接触面的取向范围也会扩大。将这种颗粒接触面的滑动视为一种损伤。在损伤阶段,黏性土骨架中既有未滑动的接触面,也有已滑动的接触面,宏观剪切模量是这两种接触面的剪切模量的加权平均。在 平面中,根据应力圆与颗粒起始滑动包络线的相对位置,计算出已出现了滑动的颗粒接触面的取向范围,并定义该取向范围与其所能达到的最大值（由破坏时的应力圆计算）之比为骨架的损伤比。按损伤比进行加权平均得到骨架的整体剪切模量。模型中的参数完全可以根据常规三轴试验确定,模型的形式简单,可适用于复杂的应力路径。对试验结果的拟合表明,该模型能较好地反映黏性土在固结不排水条件下剪切变形的主要特征。     

A lattice type model for particulate media

In this paper, a lattice-type model to simulate the micro-mechanical behaviour of particulate/granular media is presented. In this numerical model, a particulate assembly is simulated as a lattice/truss. Nodes located at contacts between a particle and its neighbours are linked by bars to each other. Each particle is represented by a lattice within its microstructure and particle interact through load transfer at the nodes. Constraints are prescribed at the nodes to describe active, deactivated and reactivated contacts. When a particulate assembly develops into a mechanism (deformation with zero incremental load), further deformation is simulated through a framework that describes the kinematics of the particles (sliding, rolling and rotation of particles). This framework is formed by introducing nodes at the particle centroids and linking them with bars. Bars-linking particles with a non-sliding contact are assigned large stiffnesses relative to bars linking particles with a sliding contact. Numerical tests are conducted on two-dimensional assemblies of disks, arranged as very loose and very dense packing under simple shear loading conditions. The results concord with the results of numerical tests conducted using the discrete element method and with photoelastic experiments. Additionally, the model is applied to study the effects of initial imperfections caused by particles with low elastic modulus. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

低围压下颗粒形态对软黏土抗剪强度影响的离散元分析

黏土颗粒形态不仅反映黏土的矿物组分,更是影响其物理力学性质的重要因素之一。为了研究物质组成对软黏土微宏观性质的影响,采用离散元方法对不同颗粒形态的软黏土试样进行三轴压缩模拟试验。首先,基于扫描电镜图像量化颗粒形态,对天然状态下黏土颗粒的方向角和凹凸度进行统计,引入球度和凹凸度作为颗粒形态的特征参数;然后,基于原生矿物的单粒结构和黏土矿物的片状结构特征,构造球体单粒及圆柱体、正方体、长方体的片状簇体;最后,基于三轴试验离散元模拟方法,分析软黏土颗粒形态对其宏观力学及微观特性的影响。结果表明:片状颗粒试样比球体颗粒试样的初始模量高,抗剪强度大,随加载其排列趋于水平向分布;加载初期,颗粒球度对初始弹性模量影响较明显,初始弹性模量随着球度增大而逐渐减小;加载后期,颗粒凹凸度对抗剪强度指标影响作用逐渐凸显,试样内摩擦角和黏聚力随着凹凸度增大而逐渐减小;微观结构上,颗粒形状对颗粒位移和旋转也有较大影响。     

Evolution of permeability and microstructure of experimentally-created shear zones in Neogene siliceous mudstones from Horonobe,Japan

We report experimental measurements of bulk permeability changes due to a shear zone that is induced in siliceous mudstones collected from the Koetoi and Wakkanai Formations, northern Hokkaido, which are known to show different relationships between fault/fracture distribution and groundwater flow. We evaluate distributions of volumetric deformation in the induced shear zones by using micro-focus X-ray computed tomography. Measured permeability evolution while achieving the peak axial stress for specimens differed for the samples of the two formations. Permeability did not change obviously during shear for the Koetoi Fm. specimens, but in the Wakkanai Fm. specimens, the bulk permeability increased by a factor of 2.5 after reaching the peak stress. The difference in permeability change in these experiments can explain the differences in relationships between in situ groundwater flow and fracture distribution for the two formations. Analyses of the X-ray images reveal that this difference should reflect the differences of the volumetric deformation in the induced shear zones. Pore collapse occurred in the shear zone in the Koetoi Fm. specimen, which leads to porosity reduction, whereas fracture damages developed in the Wakkanai Fm. specimen, increasing porosity. These differences in the microstructure may reflect differences in yielding criteria for these host rocks.     

间断级配砂砾石土的渗透变形试验研究

渗透变形是颗粒材料中细颗粒在渗流作用下发生重分布且导致土体的内部结构、水力及力学特性发生变化的现象,是导致砂砾石土地基及堤防结构破坏的主要原因之一。利用自主研发的刚性壁渗透仪对不同级配及细颗粒含量的间断级配砂砾石土在恒定水头渗流作用下进行渗透变形全过程试验,监测了渗流过程中的局部水力梯度空间分布以及竖向位移变化,分析了渗透试验结束后土体的颗粒级配空间分布变化。研究结果表明：土粒中细颗粒所处的欠填、满填及过填3种堆积状态决定了粗、细颗粒间不同的接触方式,影响其渗透性。渗透试验结束后细颗粒流失量沿试样高度的空间分布可以划分为3个区域,即顶部流失区、中部均匀区及底部流失区。局部水力梯度的快速下降伴随着竖向位移的突变,意味着渗透变形的开始;渗透变形启动时的局部水力梯度大于全局水力梯度,证实了采用大尺寸试验执行渗透试验的必要性。细颗粒处于过填状态的试样依然会发生渗透变形且导致强烈的沉降变形,值得进一步的研究。