Elastic shear stiffness anisotropy and fabric anisotropy of natural clays

Natural clays usually show anisotropic stiffness due to their deposition process and anisotropic in situ stress state. The stiffness anisotropy depends on both of the stress anisotropy and fabric anisotropy, while the latter can be quantified by the stiffness anisotropy at isotropic stress states. This paper measures the K₀ value (i.e., stress anisotropy) and elastic shear stiffness anisotropy of natural Shanghai clay in a triaxial apparatus with horizontal and vertical bender elements. The results show that the K₀ value of Shanghai clay lies in the range of 0.40–0.66, and an empirical equation is proposed to estimate the K₀ value based on the plasticity index and initial void ratio. The fabric anisotropy of natural Shanghai clay lies in the range of 1.2–1.4 with a stronger fabric in the horizontal plane. Moreover, the experimental data of the stiffness anisotropy and fabric anisotropy of different clays in the literature are reviewed and analyzed. It reveals that the stiffness anisotropy generally increases, while the fabric anisotropy remains nearly the same during K₀ consolidation. For normally consolidated clay, the fabric anisotropy generally lies in the range of 1.1–1.7. For overconsolidated clays, the fabric anisotropy generally increases as the overconsolidation ratio increases. Empirical equations are proposed to approximately estimate the fabric anisotropy of clays based on its stress normalized elastic shear stiffness.

     

软黏土加载速率效应特性试验研究:进展与趋势

大量的室内和现场试验都表明,软黏土的强度与变形速率相关。为了更深入地认识软黏土的加载速率效应特性,首先分析了一维应力条件下先期固结压力和三轴应力条件下不排水抗剪强度的加载速率效应及应力-应变关系的归一化,探讨了一维和三轴条件下的5个速率方程(2个指数形式和3个对数形式)在拟合黏土先期固结压力和不排水强度加载速率效应上的适用性;使用5个速率方程估计了一维和三轴条件下的加载速率参数,以及拟合了加载速率参数与液塑限的关系,并且分析了复杂应力(十字板剪切和旁压条件)下的非理想土单元体的黏土加载速率效应特性等;讨论了黏土加载速率效应特性在一维和三维、压缩与伸长、不同超固结比(OCR)条件下的统一性;最后,从香港黏土压缩与伸长和不同OCR条件下的剪缩、剪胀特性方面更深入地探讨了软黏土加载速率效应特性,并讨论了典型的剪缩、剪胀方程在黏土的力学特性模拟中的有效性。结果表明,为更好地描述黏土的应力剪胀特性,现有典型的剪胀关系需要更一步改进。     

Characterization and constitutive modeling of red clay contaminated with ammonium carbonate

Conventionally, red clay is used for agricultural purposes in southern China. Fertilizers, especially urea, are commonly introduced into the red clay to improve the crop yields. However, due to the rapid urbanization in China, large areas of lands with red clays have been converted into sites for domestic and industrial constructions. Nevertheless, few researchers focused on the effect of urea on the strength and compressibility of red clay. In this research, the shear strength and compressibility of the red clay saturated by different concentrations of the (NH₄)₂CO₃ solution (urea's hydrolysates) were experimentally investigated using direct shear as well as oedometer tests, respectively. It was noticed that both the shear strength and stiffness of the red clay significantly decreased after exposure to the urea solution. In addition, the micromechanisms of the strength and compressibility of the red clay treated by the (NH₄)₂CO₃ were studied by the scanning electron microscope test and X-ray diffraction test. Based on the test results, a new model was developed to simulate the chemomechanical behavior of saturated clayey soil by modifying the Barcelona basic model (BBM) for unsaturated soils. The proposed model introduces four additional parameters, compared to the BBM, to account for the nonlinear shear strength behavior of the red clay. This model accounts for most of the complex features related to the strength and stiffness behavior of clayey soils. The parameter calibration procedures, by using the oedometer and direct shear test results, are also presented. To validate the proposed model, experimental results from the literature are considered in which illite clay samples were either mechanically or chemically or both mechanically and chemically loaded. Part of the experimental results is used to calibrate the model parameters and the other part along with the calibrated parameters is used to verify the proposed model. A comparison between experimental data and predicted results demonstrated that the proposed model is able to capture the main features related to the chemomechanical coupling behavior of saturated soils.     

A Constitutive Model for Shear Behavior of Rock Joints Based on Three-Dimensional Quantification of Joint Roughness

A new constitutive model to describe the shear behavior of rock joints under constant normal stiffness (CNS) and constant normal load (CNL) conditions is proposed. The model was developed using an empirical approach based on the results of a total of 362 direct shear tests on tensile fractured rock joints and replicas of tensile joints and on a new quantitative roughness parameter. This parameter, the active roughness coefficient C _r, is derived from the features of the effective roughness mobilized at the contact areas during shearing. The model involves a shear strength criterion and the relations between stresses and displacements in the normal and shear directions, where the effects of the boundary conditions and joint properties are considered by the shape indices C _d and C _f. The model can be used to predict the shear behavior under CNS as well as CNL conditions. The shear behavior obtained from the experimental results is generally in good agreement with that estimated by the proposed model, and the effects of joint roughness, initial normal stress, and normal stiffness are reasonably reflected in the model.     

Holocene Deposits in Saga Plain: Leaching Mechanism and Soil Sensitivity

The Saga Plain in Japan contains a 10–30 m thick Holocene clayey soil deposit with a natural water content generally more than 100% and a liquidity index (I _L ) larger than 1.0. Most of this is a marine deposit known as the Ariake clay formation. Using salinity in the pore water of this deposit as an index, the mechanism of post-depositional salinity leaching from the Ariake clay formation has been investigated. This has been achieved using current measurements of the salinity distribution in the deposit and the groundwater flow velocity in an underlying Pleistocene gravelly sand layer, together with advection–diffusion analyses. It is suggested that diffusion together with possible rainfall percolation and/or upward seepage flow from the Pleistocene gravelly sand layer was the main mechanism causing salinity leaching. Detailed analysis of the test results from four boreholes indicates that for the locations where the activity of the clay minerals was less than 1.25, salinity leaching probably accounts for the observed low undrained shear strength (<0.5 kPa) of remoulded soil samples, high values of the sensitivity (S _t ), and the formation of a quick clay.     

Experimental and theoretical investigation on the compression behavior of sand-marine clay mixtures within homogenization framework

In this paper, the compression behavior of sand-marine clay mixtures was investigated, both experimentally and theoretically. The test data reveal that the Normal Compression Line of a sand-clay mixture depends on both the sand fraction and the initial water content of the clay matrix. The local stress in the clay matrix σ′_c is approximately close to the overall stress of the sand-clay mixture σ′ for a sand mass fraction of 20%. The stress ratio, σ′_c/σ′, falls significantly with increasing overall stress for a sand fraction of 60%, which may be attributed to the formation of clay bridges between adjacent sand particles. A compression model was formulated within the homogenization framework. First, a homogenization equation was proposed, which gives a relationship between the overall stiffness E and that of the clay matrix Ec. Then, a model parameter ξ was incorporated considering the sensitivity of the structure parameter on the volume fraction of the clay matrix. Finally, a simple compression model with three model parameters was formulated using the tangent stiffness. Comparisons between the experimental data and simulations reveal that the proposed model can well represent the compression curves of the sand-marine clay mixtures observed in the laboratory.     

Evaluation of an anisotropic elastoplastic–viscoplastic bounding surface model for clays

An anisotropic time-dependent bounding surface model for clays is developed by generalizing a previous time-independent model that adopts a flexible bounding surface. It is based on the framework for coupled elastoplasticity–viscoplasticity for clays and Perzyna’s overstress theory. Three viscoplastic parameters were introduced and explained in detail. The model was validated against undrained creep tests for both isotropically and anisotropically consolidated clays, undrained and drained stress relaxation tests on some undisturbed clays, and undrained triaxial tests with varying strain rates on natural Hong Kong marine deposit clay. The general agreement between the model simulations and test results was satisfactory. The varying effects of lower-level parameters were discussed on the undrained multistage stress relaxation response for normally consolidated soils which had been ignored in literature. The flexibility of the model in capturing the shear strengths, which is the unique feature of the current model, was shown in the simulations of time-dependent triaxial tests on Taipei silty clay. All the simulations show that the proposed model is a relatively practical model considering both anisotropy and time dependency of clays.     

Undrained Shear Strength of Normally Consolidated and Overconsolidated Clays from Pressuremeter Tests: A Case Study

Undrained shear strength (s_u) of foundation soil of Marquette interchange near Milwaukee, Wisconsin was evaluated from the results of a number of pressuremeter tests conducted on normally consolidated (NC) organic silts and overconsolidated (OC) silty clay. The s_u-values were interpreted from traditional closed-form methods. The pressuremeter geometry and test sequence as well as response of the soil profiles were also simulated using axisymmetric finite element (FE) method with Cam-Clay soil model. The Cam-Clay model parameters were estimated from laboratory tests on undisturbed soil samples. Results show that the s_u estimated from the rate of cavity pressure change with volumetric strain (referred to as direct traditional method) is almost twice the s_u estimated from an indirect traditional method that estimates s_u from shear modulus, in situ horizontal stress, and ultimate cavity pressure obtained from the cavity pressure curves. The s_u-values predicted from the FE models are lower than those estimated from the traditional methods and shows that the assumption of infinite pressuremeter length in traditional methods results in overprediction of undrained shear strength by a factor of 1.5 for NC clay and 2.2 for OC clay. The results of finite element analysis considering Cam-Clay soil model and finite length for pressuremeters suggest the undrained shear strength of 63 ± 7 kPa for NC organic silt and 259 ± 68 kPa for OC silty clay.     

Heave Studies on Fly Ash-Stabilised Expansive Clay Liners

Clay liners or compacted earthen barriers are important barrier materials used for preventing contaminant transport through soils. A low hydraulic conductivity (k) is a significant parameter that governs the design and construction of clay liners. Compacted expansive clays, which are montmorillonite clays, also have a very low hydraulic conductivity (k). When expansive clays are blended with fly ash, an industrial waste, the hydraulic conductivity (k) further reduces as the ash-clay blends result in increased dry densities at increased fly ash contents. Hence, fly ash-stabilised expansive clay can also be proposed as a unique clay liner material. As expansive clays undergo heave when they come into contact with water, it is necessary to study the heave behaviour of fly ash-stabilised expansive clay liners. This paper presents heave studies on fly ash-stabilised expansive clay liners. Fly ash in different contents by dry weight of the expansive clay was added to the clay, and the ash-clay blend was compacted as a liner overlying a natural field soil layer. Compacted lateritic clay was used for simulating the natural field soil into which contaminants migrate. Calcium chloride (CaCl₂) solution of varying concentration (5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 mM) was used as the permeating fluid in the heave studies. The rate of heave and the amount of heave of the fly ash-stabilised expansive clay liners were monitored. Deionised water (DIW) was also used as inundating fluid for comparative study. Heave (mm) decreased with increase in solute concentration for all fly ash contents. For a given solute concentration, heave decreased up to a fly ash content of 20 % and thereafter it increased when the fly ash content was increased to 30 %. Heave of the fly ash-stabilised expansive clay liners was correlated with their permeability, liquid limit (LL) and free swell index (FSI) pertaining to the respective fly ash content and CaCl₂ concentration.     

基于有效固结应力法确定结构性黏性土不排水抗剪强度

由于结构性的存在使得很多天然黏性土的强度和变形特性不同于重塑土和非结构性土。首先回顾了适用于确定重塑土和非结构性土不排水抗剪强度的有效固结应力法,并推导了相应的方程。在此基础上,对于结构性黏性土,采用两段不同斜率（内摩擦角正切）和截距（黏聚力）的直线模拟其抗剪强度包络线,建立了确定其不排水抗剪强度的有效固结应力法方程;当有效应力小于结构屈服应力时,有效固结应力方程中有效应力部分需乘以0.8的修正系数;只要已知剪切前的有效应力,利用相应的有效固结应力法公式,可确定结构性土体的不排水抗剪强度。利用连云港结构性软黏土的等压固结三轴试验数据,验证了有效固结应力法的适用性。分析表明：对于连云港软黏土的不排水抗剪强度,有效固结应力法的计算结果与试验结果吻合较好;对于结构屈服应力,有效固结应力法的预测结果与试验数据点的拟合结果有一定偏差,但并不明显。     

Effect of consolidation on strain localization of soft clays

A finite element formulation developed by Belytschko and his coworkers [1] is used to examine localized deformation as it exists for laboratory specimens of compressible Chicago clays. The element is based on an assumed strain formulation wherein localized and non-localized zones are embedded into an element when material based bifurcation is detected. A plane strain compression test of a natural clay specimen in which deformations localized into a single shear band during undrained shear is simulated using this element. Localization is initiated by imposing a non-uniform applied displacement consistent with that measured experimentally. Results indicate that to insure localization to a single band, considerations must be made for non-uniformities developed during the consolidation phase.     

Estimation of undrained shear strength in moderately OC clays based on field vane test data

The undrained shear strength (s _u) of cohesive soils is a crucial parameter for many geotechnical engineering applications. Due to the complexities and uncertainties associated with laboratory and in situ tests, it is a challenging task to obtain the undrained shear strength in a reliable and economical manner. In this study, a probabilistic model for the s _u of moderately overconsolidated clays is developed using the Bayesian model class selection approach. The model is based on a comprehensive geotechnical database compiled for this study with field measurements of field vane strength (s _u), plastic limit (PL), natural water content (W _n), liquid limit (LL), vertical effective overburden stress (\(\sigma_{\nu }^{\prime }\)), preconsolidation pressure (\(\sigma_{\text{p}}^{\prime }\)) and overconsolidated ratio (OCR). Comparison study shows that the proposed model is superior to some well-known empirical relationships for OC clays. The proposed probabilistic model not only provides reliable and economical estimation of s _u but also facilitates reliability-based analysis and design for performance-based engineering applications.     

循环荷载作用下软黏土刚度软化特征试验研究

循环荷载作用下,软黏土将发生软化现象,而以往的研究中大多未考虑初始偏应力的影响。通过对萧山正常固结饱和软黏土进行应力控制的循环三轴试验,研究了循环荷载作用下土体的刚度软化情况。通过分析每一次循环过程中割线剪切模量的变化规律,探讨了循环次数、循环应力水平、初始偏应力对刚度软化的影响。结果表明,随着循环次数的增加,土体刚度逐渐减小;循环应力水平的提高,初始偏应力的施加将加快刚度软化。在试验的基础上推导了反映土体刚度软化规律的经验公式,得到了萧山软黏土的破坏刚度比。     

干湿循环作用下压实黏土力学特性与微观机制研究

针对干湿循环作用下填埋场封场覆盖系统压实黏土防渗结构损伤等问题,系统开展了干湿循环作用下（室内模拟填埋场气候环境）压实黏土力学特性及微观结构特征试验研究,从微观层次揭示了压实黏土在干湿循环作用下变形特性和强度衰减内在本质。研究结果表明：随着干湿循环次数的增加,压实黏土初始变形段区间割线模量增加,末段区间割线模量大幅度降低,变化幅度随初始压实度的增加而增加;同时,压实黏土剪切强度呈减小趋势,但减小幅度随初始压实度和围压的增加而减小。经过3次干湿循环后,压实黏土发生不可逆的体积收缩,体积收缩比例随压实度的增加而减小,低压实黏土和高压实黏土的体积收缩20.5%和11.5%。同时,低压实黏土和高压实黏土的大孔体积增加25.7%和53.9%,微裂隙体积增加3.1%和41.7%,增加幅度随初始压实度的增加而增加。压实黏土不可逆的体积收缩致使土体更加密实,从而导致压实黏土初始切线模量和强度增加。同时,大孔体积增多和微裂隙的发育,导致压实黏土剪切强度和末端切线模量降低,干湿循环对不同压实度黏土力学特性影响是二者的综合表现。     

Geochemical and mineralogical impacts of H2SO4 on clays between pH 5.0 and −3.0

Natural and constructed clay liners are routinely used to contain waste and wastewater. The impact of acidic solutions on the geochemistry and mineralogy of clays has been widely investigated in relation to acid mine drainage systems at pH > 1.0. The impact of H₂SO₄ leachate characterized by pH < 1.0 and potentially negative pH values on the geochemistry and mineralogy of clays is, however, not clear. Thus, laboratory batch experiments were conducted on three natural clay samples with different mass ratios of smectite, illite and kaolinite to investigate the impact of H₂SO₄ on the geochemistry and mineralogy of aluminosilicates from pH 5.0 to −3.0. Batch testing was conducted at seven pH treatments (5.0, 3.0, 1.0, 0.0, −1.0, −2.0 and −3.0) using standardized H₂SO₄ solutions for four exposure periods (14, 90, 180, and 365 d). Aqueous geochemical and XRD analyses showed: increased dissolution of aluminosilicates with decreasing pH and increasing exposure period, that smectite was more susceptible to dissolution than illite and kaolinite, precipitation of an amorphous silica phase occurred at pH ? 0.0, and anhydrite precipitated in Ca-rich clays at pH ? −1.0. In addition, global dissolution rates were calculated for the clays and showed good agreement to literature smectite, illite and kaolinite dissolution rates, which suggests global dissolution rates for complex clays could be determined from monomineralic studies. A stepwise conceptual model of the impact of H₂SO₄ on aluminosilicate geochemistry and mineralogy between pH 5.0 and −3.0 is proposed.     

An anisotropic elastoplastic model for soft clays based on logarithmic contractancy

A new constitutive model for soft structured clays is developed based on an existing model called S‐CLAY1S, which is a Cam clay type model that accounts for anisotropy and destructuration. The new model (E‐SCLAY1S) uses the framework of logarithmic contractancy to introduce a new parameter that controls the shape of the yield surface as well as the plastic potential (as an assumed associated flow rule is applied). This new parameter can be used to fit the coefficient of earth pressure at rest, the undrained shear strength or the stiffness under shearing stress paths predicted by the model. The improvement to previous constitutive models that account for soil fabric and bonding is formulated within the contractancy framework such that the model predicts the uniqueness of the critical state line and its slope is independent of the contractancy parameter. Good agreement has been found between the model predictions and published laboratory results for triaxial compression tests. An important finding is that the contractancy parameter, and consequently the shape of the yield surface, seems to change with the degree of anisotropy; however, further study is required to investigate this response. From published data, the yield surface for isotropically consolidated clays seems ‘bullet’ or ‘almond’ shaped, similar to that of the Cam clay model; while for anisotropically consolidated clays, the yield surface is more elliptical, like a rotated and distorted modified Cam clay yield surface. © 2015 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The comparison of the performance of ELM,BRNN, and SVM methods for the prediction of compression index of clays

The compression index (Cc) is a necessary parameter for the settlement calculation of clays. However, determination of the compression index from oedometer tests takes a relatively long time and leads to a very demanding experimental working program in the laboratory. Therefore, geotechnical engineering literature involves many studies based on indirect methods such as multiple regression analysis (MLR) and soft computing methods to determine the compression index. This study is aimed to predict the compression index by using extreme learning machine (ELM), Bayesian regularization neural network (BRNN), and support vector machine (SVM) methods. The selected variables for each method are the natural water content (w_n), initial void ratio (e₀), liquid limit (LL), and plasticity index (PI) of clay samples. Many trials were carried out in order to get the best prediction performance with each model. The application results obtained from the models were also compared based on the correlation coefficient (R), coefficient of efficiency (E), and mean squared error (MSE). The results indicate that the BRNN method has better success on estimation of the compression index compared to the ELM and SVM methods.     

Adsorption, desorption and oxidation of arsenic affected by clay minerals and aging process

 Adsorption/desorption and oxidation/reduction of arsenic at clay surfaces are very important to the natural attenuation of arsenic in the subsurface environment. Although numerous studies have concluded that iron oxides have high affinities for the adsorption of As(V), very little experimental work has addressed the arsenic attenuation capacities of different clay minerals and aging process affecting the transformation of arsenic. The abundance of clay minerals in a variety of geochemical environments and their influence on adsorption of contaminants suggests a need for more experimental work to characterize the adsorption desorption, and oxidation of arsenic on clay minerals. In this investigation three types of clay mineral were studied: the 1 : 1 layer clays [halloysite (IN), sedimentary M-kaolinite, and weathered EPK-kaolinite]; the 2 : 1 layer clays [illite (MT) and illite/montmorillonite (MT)]; the 2 :>: 1 layer clay [chlorite (CA)]. The halloysite and the chlorite had much greater As(V) adsorption (25–35 folds) than the other clay minerals. The clay minerals had lower As(III) adsorption than As(V) adsorption, and the adsorption was affected by pH. Desorption of arsenic from the clay minerals was significantly influenced by the aging process. The quantities of extractable As(III) and As(V) decreased with increasing aging time. The results demonstrated that oxidation of As(III) to As(V) occurred on the clay surfaces, whereas reduction of As(V) to As(III) was not found in any of the clay minerals studied. The oxidation of As(III) was affected by the types of clay and aging time. Received: 22 March 1999 · Accepted: 15 April 1999     

Hypoplastic and viscohypoplastic models for soft clays with strength anisotropy

This paper presents a new viscohypoplastic model for soft clays accounting for their typical features—strength anisotropy and rate dependency. The model is based on the hypoplastic model for clays enhanced by the anisotropic shape of the asymptotic state boundary surface. It has been shown that if the surface is skewed, the model predicts different ultimate strength in compression and in extension. Additional enhancement makes the tensor L bilinear in the strain rate, which more realistically predicts the stress paths of K₀ consolidated samples. The new model has been evaluated by simulating laboratory experiments on soft marine clays (Singapore and Bangkok clays). The model can be easily calibrated using only undrained triaxial and odometer tests. The model is subsequently enhanced by the rate effects. The resulting viscohypoplastic model has been evaluated using experiments of remolded kaolin clay and St. Herblain clay. It is shown that the enhanced model can predict important features of soil viscous behavior, such as rate dependency of strength and preconsolidation pressure, relaxation, and creep.