Undrained behaviour of silt under static and cyclic loading

In this study, the undrained behaviour of silt under low stress level is studied. An effective preparation method for built—in silt samples in the triaxial test was firstly developed. By triaxial testing of samples at low confining pressures it was found that silt easily loses stability and liquefies. Loose silt may show temporary liquefaction under static loading, and develop full liquefaction under cyclic loading. The most important factors influencing the silt behaviour are porosity, confining pressure, consolidation state, cyclic loading level and number of cycles. The maximum obtainable shear stress is primarily a function of the confining pressure and the internal frictional angle. The actual structure of the silt material is the key factor in controlling its behaviour.     

Cyclic Shearing Deformation Behavior of Saturated Clays

The apparatus for static and dynamic universal triaxial and torsional shear soil testing is employed to perform stress-controlled cyclic single-direction torsional shear tests and two-direction coupled shear tests under unconsolidated-undrained conditions. Through a series of tests on saturated clay, the effects of initial shear stress and stress reversal on the clay’s strain-stress behavior are examined, and the behavior of pore water pressure is studied. The experimental results indicate that the patterns of stress-strain relations are distinctly influenced by the initial shear stress in the cyclic single-direction shear tests. When the initial shear stress is large and no stress reversal occurs, the predominant deformation behavior is characterized by an accumulative effect. When the initial shear stress is zero and symmetrical cyclic stress occurs, the predominant deformation behavior is characterized by a cyclic effect. The pore water pressure fluctuates around the confining pressure with the increase of cycle number. It seems that the fluctuating amplitude increases with the increase of the cyclic stress. But a buildup of pore water pressure does not occur. The de- formations of clay samples under the complex initial and the cyclic coupled stress conditions include the normal deviatoric deforma- tion and horizontal shear deformation, the average deformation and cyclic deformation. A general strain failure criterion taking into account these deformations is recommended and is proved more stable and suitable compared to the strain failure criteria currently used.     

Dynamic behaviour of weathered red mudstone in Sichuan (China) under triaxial cyclic loading

The construction of a high-speed railway (HSR) in Southwest China is being hindered by a severe shortage of high-quality subgrade materials. However, red mudstone is widely distributed in the Sichuan Basin of China. The ability to use weathered red mudstone (WRM) to fill subgrade beds by controlling its critical stress and cumulative strain would enable substantial savings in project investments and mitigate damage to the ecological environment. To better understand the dynamic behaviour of WRM, both monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were performed. The evolution of the cumulative strain vs. increased loading cycles was measured. The influences of confining pressure and loading cycles on the dynamic modulus, damping ratio, critical cyclic stress ratio (CSR), and dynamic stress level (DSL) were investigated. The relationship between the CSR and loading cycles under different failure strain criteria (0.1%-1.0%) was analysed. The prediction model of cumulative strain was also evaluated. The results indicated that the shear strength of WRM sufficiently meets the static strength requirements of subgrade. The critical dynamic stress of WRM can thus satisfy the dynamic stress-bearing requirement of the HSR subgrade. The critical CSR decreases and displays a power function with increasing confining pressure. As the confining pressure increases, the DSL remains relatively stable, ranging between 0.153 and 0.163. Furthermore, the relationship between the dynamic strength and loading cycles required to cause failure was established. Finally, a newly developed model for determining cumulative strain was established. A prediction exercise showed that the model is in good agreement with the experimental data.     

冲击作用下饱和土性状的试验研究

在三轴条件下,对饱和土(砂土和黏土)进行排水与不排水条件下的冲击试验及冲击后再固结试验,对比研究了不同渗透性土在不同排水条件下的冲击动力响应和冲击后再固结性状.结果表明:饱和黏土不排水冲击时的孔隙水压力随冲击击数增加而升高并逐渐稳定,排水冲击时的孔隙水压力则是先达到峰值然后有所下降;砂土不排水冲击时的冲击能量对孔隙水压力影响最明显;饱和砂土不排水冲击时的轴向应变与冲击击数呈近似线性关系,饱和黏土冲击及饱和砂土排水冲击则呈近二次曲线关系;饱和砂土不排水冲击后再固结阶段的孔隙水压力立即消散为0,同时体变迅速增大到一定值;饱和黏土在冲击后再固结阶段的孔隙水压力在一定时间内逐渐消散完毕,同时体变逐渐增大;饱和黏土排水冲击时,冲击阶段产生的体变占冲击引起总体变的39%~49%,冲击后再固结阶段产生的体变占51%~61%;砂土和黏土的总体变均表现为排水冲击明显大于不排水冲击,改善冲击时的排水条件有利于提高加固效果.     

Effect of dry density on the liquefaction behaviour of Quaternary silt

Quaternary silt is widely distributed in China and easily liquefies during earthquakes. To identify the influence of the dry density on the liquefaction behaviour of Quaternary silt, 40 cyclic triaxial liquefaction tests were performed on loose silt (dry density ρ_d=1.460 g/cm³) and dense silt (ρ_d=1.586 g/cm³) under different cyclic stress ratios (CSRs) to obtain liquefaction assessment criteria, determine the liquefaction resistance, improve the excess pore water pressure (EPWP) growth model and clarify the relationship between the shear modulus and damping ratio. The results indicate that the initial liquefaction assessment criteria for the loose and dense silts are a double-amplitude axial strain of 5% and an EPWP ratio of 1. The increase in the anti-liquefaction ability for the dense silt is more significant under lower confining pressures. The CSR of loose silt falls well within the results of the sandy silt and Fraser River silt, and the dense silt exhibits a higher liquefaction resistance than the sand-silt mixture. The relationships between the CSR and loading cycles were obtained at a failure strain of 1%. The EPWP development in the dense and loose silts complies with the “fast-stable” and “fast-gentle-sharp” growth modes, respectively. The power function model can effectively describe the EPWP growth characteristics of the dense silt. Finally, based on the liquefaction behaviour of silt, a suggestion for reinforcing silt slopes or foundations is proposed.     

Experimental study on pore water pressure dissipation of mucky soil

Pore water pressure has an important influence on mechanical properties of soil. The authors studied the characteristics of pore water pressure dissipating of mucky soil under consolidated-drained condition by using refitted triaxial instrument and analyzed the variation of pore pressure coefficient with consolidation pressure. The results show that the dissipating of pore water pressure behaves in different ways depends on different styles of loading. What is more, the pore water pressure coefficient of mucky soil is less than 1. As the compactness of soil increases and moisture content reduces, the value of B reduces. There is a staggered dissipating in the process of consolidation, in which it is a mutate point when U/P is 80%. It is helpful to establish the pore water pressure model and study the strength-deformation of soil in process of consolidation.     

渗流-应力耦合下侏罗系红砂岩力学及渗透特性试验研究

三峡库区广泛分布侏罗系红砂岩,在水库运行期间红砂岩的渗流-应力耦合特性关乎库区内多数滑坡和岩质边坡的稳定性。借助岩石多场耦合三轴试验系统,对三峡库区侏罗系红砂岩开展了不同围压、不同渗透压下的三轴压缩试验,系统研究了红砂岩的三轴压缩力学特性和渗透率演化特征。研究结果表明：(1)红砂岩的峰前应力-应变曲线可分为孔隙压密阶段、弹性变形阶段、微裂隙稳定发展阶段和非稳定发展阶段。红砂岩的力学参数与渗透压的关系呈负相关,与围压呈正相关。(2)随着围压升高,红砂岩的破坏模式由张拉破坏过渡到剪切破坏。(3)不同渗透压下,渗透率曲线呈平稳发展→缓慢上升→快速上升3阶段演化规律;不同围压下,渗透率曲线先降低后升高。(4)从能量角度分析了渗透压和围压对岩石的作用,验证了渗流对岩石的劣化效应以及围压对裂纹发展的抑制作用。本试验对鲜有报道的侏罗系红砂岩的强度、变形和渗透特性做了系统的研究,对渗流-应力耦合课题有补充意义。其工况根据三峡库区边坡岩体的应力水平来确定,试验结果对分析库区边坡稳定性具有指导意义。     

Practical method and application study for predicting cyclic accumulative deformations of the saturated soft clay

The distribution of saturated soft clay is greatly wide in China. The current main measures adopted to deal with soft soil foundations may lead to environmental pollution, even some engineering accidents may happen on soft soil foundations. In order to solve engineering problems of saturated soft soil foundations well, researches of mechanical properties of them are necessary. One of the most important mechanical characteristics of saturated soft clay is its cyclic accumulative deformation under cyclic loadings. For saturated soft clay, the cyclic accumulative deformation is similar to the creep behavior under static loadings. Therefore, the cyclic accumulative deformation is equivalent to the creep, the number of loading cycles is seen as the time, and this study develops a practical method for predicting the cyclic accumulative deformation of saturated soft clay with the creep theory. The method is a pseudostatic elasto-plastic finite element method implemented by ABAQUS software. A fitted equation between cyclic accumulative strain and number of loading cycles and the empirical relationship of parameters of fitted equation were established with a series of cyclic triaxial compression tests. Then with this empirical relationship of parameters, the method developed by this study was employed to predict the cyclic accumulative deformation under cyclic triaxial tension tests. Predicted results were in good agreement with test results, and the effectiveness of this method was thus validated for different stress states. The method was then applied in analyzing the cyclic accumulative deformation for soft soil foundation of a pile-supported wharf structure.     

Experimental study on pore water pressure dissipation of mucky soil

Pore water pressure has an important influence on mechanical properties of soil. The authors studied the characteristics of pore water pressure dissipating of mucky soil under consolidated-drained condition by using refitted triaxial instrument and analyzed the variation of pore pressure coefficient with consolidation pressure. The results show that the dissipating of pore water pressure behaves in different ways depends on different styles of loading. What is more, the pore water pressure coefficient of mucky soil is less than 1. As the compactness of soil increases and moisture content reduces, the value of B reduces. There is a staggered dissipating in the process of consolidation, in which it is a mutate point when U/P is 80%. It is helpful to establish the pore water pressure model and study the strength-deformation of soil in process of consolidation.     

Deformation and failure mechanism of phyllite under the effects of THM coupling and unloading

Although the study of TM(Thermo Mechanics),HM(Hydraulic-Mechanics) and THM(Thermo-Hydraulic-Mechanics) coupling under a loading test have been under development,rock failure analysis under THM coupling and unloading is an emerging topic.Based on a high temperature triaxial unloading seep test for phyllite,this paper discusses the deformation and failure mechanism of phyllites under the "H M,T→H,T→M" incomplete coupling model with unloading conditions.The results indicate that the elastic modulus and initial permeability decrease and the Poisson’s ratio increases with increasing temperature;the elastic modulus decreases and the Poisson’s ratio and initial permeability increase with increasing water pressure.During the unloading process,rock penetrability is small at the initial elastic deformation phase,but the penetrability increases near the end of the elastic deformation phase;mechanisms involving temperature and water pressure affect penetrability differently.Phyllite failure occurs from the initial thermal damage of the rock materials,splitting and softening(which is caused by pore water pressure),and the pressure difference which is formed from the loading axial pressure and unloading confining pressure.The phyllite failure mechanism is a transtensional(tension-shearing) failure.     

压力及温度对碳酸盐岩声波速度与频谱特征的影响实验

碳酸盐岩声波传播特征具有重要的应用价值,系统性地分析流体类型、流体压力、温度及围压对碳酸盐岩声波速度与频谱特性影响的研究仍需加强。选取四川盆地合川-潼南地区灯影组缝洞碳酸盐岩,开展了不同条件下的声波透射实验,分析了围压、孔隙压力、压力差、温度及流体类型对碳酸盐岩样品声波速度的影响及不同条件下透射声波的主频特征。研究结果表明：饱和地层水时声波速度对压力变化的敏感度较饱和氮气时低。压力变化过程中,声波速度变化幅度与岩样孔隙度为正相关关系。实验温度范围内,随着温度逐渐升高,饱和地层水、氮气岩心纵波速度、横波速度均小幅降低。当差应力较低时,通过改变孔隙压力来改变差应力的方式对应的声波速度大于通过改变围压来改变差应力方式对应的声波速度,当差应力较高时,结论相反。相同差应力条件下,声波速度对围压变化较孔隙压力变化更为敏感。定围压变孔隙压力与定孔压变围压曲线所对应的2条声波速度-差应力关系曲线的夹角及斜率差可定性反映岩样动态Biot有效应力系数相对大小。随着差应力增大,孔隙压力对有效应力的贡献逐渐降低。随着孔隙压力增大,纵波主频幅值、横波主频幅值均逐渐下降,随着围压增大,纵波主频幅值、横波主频幅值均...     

Particle breakage and the mobilized drained shear strengths of sand

This paper presents particle breakage and the mobilized drained shear strengths of sand with the purpose of clarifying the influence of particle breakage on the mobilized shear strengths of sand. Several drained triaxial tests were carried out on Silica sand No.5 under 3 MPa confining pressure to produce the pre-crushed sands in simulating the high-pressure shear process on soil to result in particle breakage, and then the pre-crushed sands were re-sheared in series of drained triaxial tests to investigate the mobilized strengths of the pre-crushed sands in detecting the influence of particle breakage. It was found that, by deteriorating strain-stress behavior, particle breakage resulted in change of stress-dilatancy behavior in translation and rotation of the relation of the dilatancy factor and the effective principal stress ratio. For a given initial void ratio, particle breakage resulted in impairment of dilatancy behavior of soil to be more contractive in deterioration of the mobilized friction angle and the mobilized dilatancy angle and reduction of void ratio. However, particle breakage resulted in increase of the mobilized basic friction angle especially before failure. In addition, the influence of particle breakage on the mobilized strengths was revealed to be influenced by the shear stress-strain state.     

循环荷载作用下片麻岩劣化损伤机理与规律试验

新疆塔县地区广泛分布的大规模片麻岩崩塌、滑坡主要是由于长期地震力循环作用下岩体劣化所致。为揭示该地区片麻岩在地震力作用下的劣化损伤机理,采用在不同应力水平条件下对片麻岩岩样进行循环荷载试验和三轴压缩试验的方法,分析了片麻岩阻尼参数及循环加、卸载前后三轴抗压强度的变化规律。研究结果表明:片麻岩阻尼比和阻尼系数随着循环荷载次数的增加而逐渐降低,随着应力水平的升高而增大;循环荷载作用后,片麻岩的三轴抗压强度均明显降低,且应力水平越高,降低的幅度越大;此外,片麻岩内部矿物颗粒的相互摩擦,原生微裂隙、孔洞的张开、闭合以及次生裂隙的产生、发展是导致其劣化损伤的主要机制。总的来说,长期地震力作用下,研究区片麻岩由于内部劣化损伤导致的力学性质降低,是该区域广泛发育大规模崩塌、滑坡等地质灾害的主要原因之一。      

Experimental study of seepage characteristics of single rock fracture based on stress states and stress history

Through seepage tests under different loading and unloading confining pressures and different hydraulic gradients,the authors studied the effects of stress states and stress history on fracture permeability evolution for single granite fracture and sandstone fracture. The results show that there exists a linear relationship between the seepage discharge and osmotic pressure in sandstone fissure under each level of confining pressure. With the increasing in the confining pressure,the permeability of the fracture decreases,but the decreasing rate is changeing. During the unloading process,the fracture seepage velocity cannot be fully recovered to the size of the loading process. Therefore,in the unloading process of the confining pressure,the recovery of fracture permeability shows obvious hysteresis effects. The flow rate of the fracture remains unchanged during five cycles of loading and unloading processes of the confining pressure. In each cycle,the evolution character of the flow rate with the confining pressure remains unchanged. These experiments show that the seepage characteristics of sandstone and granite fractures are not the same under the same stress state.     

Discrete numerical modeling of granular materials considering crushability

The aim of this study is to numerically investigate the influence of particle breakage on the mechanical behavior of granular materials using a discrete element method (DEM). To enable particle crushing, non-crushable elementary particles are boned together to represents the granular aggregates which can be crushed when the external force exceeds its strength. The flaw of the aggregate was also modeled by randomly distributed void. Single particle crushing tests were carried out to determine the distribution of particle strength. The results of single particle crushing tests illustrate that the simulated single particle fracture strength and pattern agree well with the Weibull’s distribution equation. Conventional oedometer tests, drained monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were also carried out to investigate the crushing of the aggregates and the associated mechanical behaviors. The effect of confining pressure on the crushing of aggregates and the mechanical behavior was also analyzed. It was found that the peak stress and dilation decrease significantly when particle crushing was considered. The deformation behavior of the specimen is essentially controlled by two factors: particle rearrangement - induced dilation and particle crushing - induced contraction. The increase of permanent strain and the reduction of dilation were observed during cyclic loading and they tend to reach a stable state after a certain number of cycles. The crushing of aggregate is most significant in the first two cycles. The results also indicated that for the same axial strain the volumetric strain and the bound breakage in the cyclic loading tests are significantly larger than that in the monotonic loading tests, especially at high cyclic stress ratio.     

Mechanical property of calcareous sand under action of compaction

Calcareous sand is a kind of special medium which is composed of calcium carbonate and other difficult soluble carbonate substances. Because of its rich in inner pore space and easy crashed,the mechanical property is very different from conventional quartz sand. Based on the compaction test and direct shear test of calcareous sand,by means of data fitting,the coupling relationship between compaction density and mechanical property under different water contents was obtained; meanwhile,the shear strength expression was built on the basis of the relationship between water content and dry density.     

Experimental analysis for the dynamic initiation mechanism of debris flows

Debris flow is one of the major secondary mountain hazards following the earthquake. This study explores the dynamic initiation mechanism of debris flows based on the strength reduction of soils through static and dynamic triaxial tests. A series of static and dynamic triaxial tests were conducted on samples in the lab. The samples were prepared according to different grain size distribution, degree of saturation and earthquake magnitudes. The relations of dynamic shear strength, degree of saturation, and number of cycles are summarized through analyzing experimental results. The findings show that the gravelly soil with a wide and continuous gradation has a critical degree of saturation of approximately 87%, above which debris flows will be triggered by rainfall, while the debris flow will be triggered at a critical degree of saturation of about 73% under the effect of rainfall and earthquake(M>6.5). Debris flow initiation is developed in the humidification process, and the earthquake provides energy for triggering debris flows. Debris flows are more likely to be triggered at the relatively low saturation under dynamic loading than under static loading. The resistance of debris flow triggering relies more on internal frication angle than soil cohesion under the effect of rainfall and earthquake. The conclusions provide an experimental analysis method for dynamic initiation mechanism of debris flows.     

Natural consolidation characteristics of viscous debris flow deposition

Pore water pressure and water content are important indicators to both deposition and consolidation of debris flows, enabling a direct assessment of consolidation degree. This article gained a more comprehensive understanding about the entire consolidation process and focused on exploring pore water pressure and volumetric water content variations of the deposit body during natural consolidation under different conditions taking the viscous debris flow mass as a study subject and by flume experiments. The results indicate that, as the color of the debris changed from initial dark green to grayish-white color, the initial deposit thickness declined by 3% and 2.8% over a permeable and impermeable sand bed, respectively. A positive correlation was observed between pore water pressure and depth in the deposit for both scenarios, with deeper depths being related to greater pore water pressure. For the permeable environment, the average dissipation rate of pore water pressure measured at depths of 0.10 m and 0.05 m were 0.0172 Pa/d and 0.0144 Pa/d, respectively, showing a positivechanging trend with increasing depth. Under impermeable conditions, the average dissipation rates at different depths were similar, while the volumetric water content in the deposit had a positive correlation with depth. The reduction of water content in the deposit accelerated with depth under impermeable sand bed boundary conditions, but was not considerably correlated with depth under permeable sand bed boundary conditions. However, the amount of discharged water from the deposit was greater and consolidation occurred faster in permeable conditions. This indicates that the permeability of the boundary sand bed has a significant impact on the progress of consolidation. This research demonstrates that pore water and pressure dissipations are present during the entire viscous debris consolidation process. Contrasting with dilute flows, pore pressure dissipation in viscous flows cannot be completed in a matter of minutes or even hours, requiring longer completion time — 3 to 5 days and even more. Additionally, the dissipation of the pore water pressure lagged the reduction of the water content. During the experiment, the dissipation rate fluctuated substantially, indicating a close relationship betweenthe dissipation process and the physical properties of broadly graded soils.     

Investigation on creep behavior of warm frozen silty sand under thermo-mechanical coupling loads

In cold regions, the creep characteristics of warm frozen silty sand have significant effect on the stability of slope and subgrade. To investigate the creep behavior of warm frozen silty sand under thermo-mechanical coupling loads, a series of triaxial creep tests were carried out under different temperatures and stresses. The test results reveal that the creep strains decrease as the consolidation stress increases, and finally tend to be equal under the same loading stress, regardless of whether the stress is isotropic or deviatoric. Additionally, warm frozen silty sand is highly sensitive to temperature, which greatly influences the creep strain both in the consolidation stage and loading stage. Furthermore, based on the creep test phenomena, a new creep model that considers the influence of the stress level, temperature, hardening, and damage effect was established and experimentally validated. Finally, the sensitivity of the model parameters was analyzed, and it was found that the creep curve transitions from the attenuation creep stage to the non-attenuation creep stage as the temperature coefficient and stress coefficient increases. The hardening effect gradually changes to the damage effect as the coupling coefficient of the hardening and damage increases.     

考虑含水率对人工冻结红黏土力学特性的影响

在冻结法施工中, 冻土的强度及变形特性对冻结壁的稳定性至关重要。为了研究不同含水率对冻结作用下土的强度和蠕变的影响, 以江西红黏土为研究对象, 通过冻结三轴试验, 在-10℃下研究含水率对冻结红黏土强度及蠕变特征的影响。试验结果表明: 16%~32%含水率范围内, 冻结红黏土的抗压强度随含水率的增加先增大后减小; 16%~28%含水率范围内, 随着含水率增大, 其黏聚力逐渐增大, 内摩擦角逐渐减小; 围压为0.2 MPa与0.5 MPa下的蠕变曲线都显示含水率较低时只会出现衰减蠕变阶段和稳定蠕变阶段, 含水率较高时会出现加速蠕变阶段。含水率对红黏土的力学性质影响较大, 研究成果可为江西地区红黏土地层地铁隧道建设人工冻结法施工提供参考。