The effect of clay mineral content on the dynamic response of reconstituted fine grained soil

Fine grained soils with considerable amount of silt may exhibit sand-like or clay-like behavior depending on several factors such as the amount of fines and clay content, as well as the consistency limits, other variables being kept unchanged. This unpredictable behavior makes silts highly problematic, especially under seismic conditions. This paper describes the laboratory behavior of low plasticity Adapazari silt, known to be highly sensitive to cyclic loading. In the first phase of the basic study reported herein, Adapazari silt was mixed with different percentages of bentonite and kaolin and the behavior of these reconstituted mixtures was investigated in cyclic triaxial and dynamic simple shear tests. The purpose was to identify basic index properties and their threshold values to delineate sand- and clay-like behavior. Such a distinction may make it possible to complement field penetration resistance with appropriate adjustment factors to evaluate the pore pressure development potential, thus the risk of ground failure during an earthquake. The results show that there is a range of liquid limit and plasticity index values above which cyclic failure is significantly mitigated. It can now be stated that silts of intermediate and high plasticity may be deemed of relatively low potential for ground failure during seismic loading.     

Stiffness degradation of natural fine grained soils during cyclic loading

Cyclic behavior of natural fine grained soils under a broad range of strains were investigated considering the effects of plasticity index and changes in confining pressures based on cyclic triaxial tests. A total of 98 stress controlled cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on normally consolidated and slightly overconsolidated samples. The investigation was divided into two parts. The first part consists of stress controlled cyclic triaxial tests under different stress amplitudes that were conducted to estimate the modulus reduction and the thresholds between nonlinear elastic, elasto-plastic and viscoplastic behavior. The second part involves the investigation of the undrained stress–strain behavior of fine grained soils under irregular cyclic loadings. The results showed that the elastic threshold is approximately equal to 90% of G_max. Another transition point was defined as the flow threshold where the value of tangent of shear modulus ratio changes for the second time. Simple empirical relationships to estimate the dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio was formulated and compared with the similar empirical relationships proposed in the literature. The results provide useful guidelines for preliminary estimation of dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio values for fine grained soils based on laboratory tests.     

黄河三角洲粉土液化的试验研究

在野外自然地理和地质调查的基础上，以黄河地区可液化场地粉土为研究对象，利用室内动三轴和振动柱试验进行测定，分析了动荷载作用下粉土的动应力应变关系并模拟了地震荷载作用下粉土的孔压响应及抗液化强度，得出了液化破坏标准，提出了原状粉土的振动孔压上升模型。对试验结果进行分析发现，随着粘粒含量的增加，粉砂、粉土、粉质粘土、粘土达到相同剪应变所需的动剪应力也依次增加；粉土孔压比0．68、粉砂土孔压比0．87作为液化破坏开始的标志；粉土发生液化所需的循环应力比大于砂土。这些研究为以后建立适合本地区的饱和地基土地震破坏判别方法提供了参数和依据。     

Energy approach to unsaturated cyclic strength of sand

The mechanical response to cyclic loading of saturated cohesionless soils is usually investigated by means of effective stress method considering pore water pressure changes that lead to reduced strength and stiffness. On the other hand, the behavior of partially saturated sands is different from the behavior of saturated sand deposits. The development of negative pore water pressures in particular makes it difficult to estimate the behavior of partially saturated sands. The response of partially saturated sands, however, can be examined in a physically understandable manner by investigating their energy characteristics independently of pore pressure behavior. To establish a general framework for understanding the behavior of partially saturated sand, a total of 52 resonant column and dynamic torsional shear tests were conducted under undrained conditions. The effects of factors such as the amplitude of shear strain, relative density, saturation ratio and confining pressure on the dynamic characteristics of the sand and on energy dissipation were studied. The use of the energy concept in the evaluation of partially saturated soils is shown to be a promising method for the evaluation of the cyclic behavior of partially saturated sands.     

Effect of overconsolidation ratio on dynamic properties of binary mixtures of silica particles

Overconsolidated soils are ubiquitous in nature due to multiple mechanisms; however, the stress-history-based studies of small strain stiffness on binary mixtures, such as silty sand, are limited even though natural sand deposits are commonly mixtures of sand particles with varying amounts of fines. Consequently, this study quantified the stress-history-based dynamic properties of binary mixtures, such as sand-sand mixtures with different size small particles, and silty sand mixtures with small amounts of non-plastic fines, up to the critical fines content. By performing bender element tests on those mixtures according to fines content, size ratio, and overconsolidation ratio, the stress-history-based G_max of binary mixtures was evaluated. For the relevant data analysis, the OCR (overconsolidation ratio) exponent in the G_max formulation was expressed in terms of stress exponents during loading and unloading. It was found that the effect of OCR on the estimation of G_max increased with a decrease in size ratio (or increase in size difference), since the stress exponents during loading increased more significantly with a decrease in size ratio due to the pronounced change in interparticle coordination between large grains. However, the variation of stress exponents during unloading of different mixtures was relatively small due to the prevalent elastic deformation. It was demonstrated that the maximum stress history effect of tested mixed soils was observed at a fines content of approximately 5%, which was smaller than critical fines content of silty sand. This behavior was attributable to the delay in critical fines content observed during unloading, when compared to that observed during loading.     

Ground response analysis of Kanpur soil along Indo-Gangetic Plains

The present work deals with 1D and 2D ground response analysis and liquefaction analysis of alluvial soil deposits from Kanpur region along Indo-Gangetic plains. Standard penetration tests and seismic down hole tests have been conducted at four locations namely IITK, Nankari village, Mandhana and Bithoor at 1.5 m interval up to a depth of 30 m below the ground surface to find the variation of penetration blows and the shear wave velocity along the depth. From the selected sites undisturbed as well as representative soil samples have been collected for detailed soil classification. The soil profiles from four sites have been considered for 1D and 2D ground response analysis by applying the free field motions of three Himalayan earthquakes namely Chamba earthquake (M_w—5.1), Chamoli earthquake (M_w—6.4) and Uttarkashi earthquake (M_w—6.5). An average value of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) obtained from 1D and 2D analysis is considered for liquefaction analysis and post-liquefaction settlement. The excess pore water pressure ratio is greater than 0.8 at a depth of 24 m from ground surface for IITK, Nankari village, Bithoor sites. More than 50% of post liquefaction settlement is contributed by layers from 21–30 m for all sites. In general, the soil deposits in Kanpur region have silty sand and sand deposits and are prone to liquefaction hazards due to drastic decrease of cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) at four chosen sites in Kanpur.     

Non-plastic silty sand liquefaction,screening, and remediation

Assessing liquefaction potential, in situ screening using cone penetration resistance, and liquefaction-remediation of non-plastic silty soils are difficult problems. Presence of silt particles among the sand grains in silty soils alter the moduli, shear strength, and flow characteristics of silty soils compared to clean host sand at the same global void ratio. Cyclic resistance (CRR) and normalized cone penetration resistance (q_c1N) are each affected by silt content in a different way. Therefore, a unique correlation between cyclic resistance and cone resistance is not possible for sands and silty sands. Likewise, the response of silty soils subjected to traditional deep dynamic compaction (DC) and vibro-stone column (SC) densification techniques is influenced by the presence of silt particles, compared to the response in sand. Silty soils require drainage-modifications to make them amenable for dynamic densification techniques. The first part of this paper addresses the effects of silt content on cyclic resistance CRR, hydraulic conductivity k, and coefficient of consolidation C_v of silty soils compared to clean sand. The second part of the paper assesses the effectiveness of equivalent intergranular void ratio (e_c)_eq concept to approximately account for the effects of silt content on CRR. The third part of the paper explores the combined effects of silt content (viz effects of (e_c)_eq, k, and C_v) on q_c1N using laboratory model cone tests and preliminary numerical simulation experiments. A possible inter-relationship between q_c1N, CRR, accommodating the different degrees of influence of (e_c)_eq, k, and C_v on q_c1N and CRR, is discussed. The fourth part of the paper focuses on the detrimental effects of silt content on the effectiveness of DC and SC techniques to densify silty soils for liquefaction-mitigation. Finally, the effectiveness of supplemental wick drains to aid drainage and facilitate densification and liquefaction mitigation of silty sands using DC and SC techniques is discussed.     

Liquefaction potential and strain dependent dynamic properties of Kasai River sand

The availability of efficient numerical techniques and high speed computation facilities for carrying out the nonlinear dynamic analysis of soil-structure interaction problems and the analysis of ground response due to earthquake loading increase the demand for proper estimation of dynamic properties of soil at small strain as well as at large strain levels. Accurate evaluation of strain dependent dynamic properties of soil such as shear modulus and damping characteristics along with the liquefaction potential are the most important criteria for the assessments of geotechnical problems involving dynamic loading. In this paper the results of resonant column tests and undrained cyclic triaxial tests are presented for Kasai River sand. A new correlation for dynamic shear damping (D_s) and maximum dynamic shear modulus (G_max) are proposed for the sand at small strain. The proposed relationships and the observed experimental data match quite well. The proposed relationships are also compared with the published relationships for other sands. The liquefaction potential of the sand is estimated at different relative densities and the damping characteristics at large strain level is also reported. An attempt has been made to correlate the G_max with the cyclic strength of the soil and also with the deviator stress (at 1% strain) from static triaxial tests.     

Generalized cyclic p–y curve modeling for analysis of laterally loaded piles

Owing to their simplicity and reasonable accuracy, Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) models are widely used for the analysis of laterally loaded piles. Their main drawback is idealizing the soil continuum with discrete uncoupled springs representing the soil reactions to pile movement. Static p–y curves, obtained from limited full-scaled field tests, are generally used as a backbone curve of the model. However, these empirically derived p–y curves could not incorporate the effects of various pile properties and soil continuity. The strain wedge method (SWM) has been improved to assess the nonlinear p–y curve response of laterally loaded piles based on a three-dimensional soil–pile interaction through a passive wedge developed in front of the pile. In this paper, the SWM based p–y curve is implemented as the backbone curves of developed BNWF model to study the nonlinear response of single pile under cyclic lateral loading. The developed nonlinear model is capable of accounting for various important soil–pile interaction response features such as soil and pile yielding, cyclic degradation of soil stiffness and strength under generalized loading, soil–pile gap formation with soil cave-in and recompression, and energy dissipation. Some experimental tests are studied to verify the BNWF model and examine the effect of each factor on the response of laterally loaded pile embedded in sand and clay. The experimental data and computed results agree well, confirming the model ability to predict the response of piles under one-way and two-way cyclic loading. The results show that the developed model can satisfactorily simulate the pile stiffness hardening due to soil cave in and sand densification as observed in the experiment. It is also concluded from the results that the gap formation and soil degradation have significant effects on the increase of lateral pile-head deflection and maximum bending moment of the pile in cohesive soils.     

Key factors affecting prediction of seismic pore water pressures in silty sands based on damage parameter

The paper provides insight into factors affecting the prediction of seismic pore-water pressure build up in clean sands and sand–silt mixtures for modeling purposes. Laboratory pore pressure measurements were conducted using stress-controlled undrained cyclic simple shear (CSS) tests carried out on both reconstituted and undisturbed specimens of silty sands under different initial conditions (density state, effective vertical stress, initial fabric and fines content). Test results were interpreted by using a damage concept-based model which is actually implemented for clean sands in non-linear time domain site response analysis codes. In the present work, such a model was properly modified for sands having fines contents higher than 35%. The general applicability of the modified procedure for predicting pore water pressure response of silty sands under irregular shear stress loading using data from stress-controlled CSS tests was also verified and all factors affecting calibration parameters of the model were throughly analyzed.     

循环荷载下南京片状细砂的动应力——应变关系

以片状颗粒成分为主的片状结构砂与常用的圆形颗粒标准石英砂相比,在物理力学特性上有显著的差异。循环荷载作用下,饱和砂土振动孔压上升会导致土体刚度发生软化,当振动孔压累积达到一定水平时,会产生液化现象,从而引起土体结构发生破坏。采用英国WFI动三轴仪,研究了南京片状细砂在循环荷载作用下,静偏应力水平、循环应力比水平和循环次数对其动应力一应变关系的影响,考虑每一次循环过程中动应力—应变关系滞回曲线的卸载及再加载割线动剪切模量Gsec和最大割线模量Gmax的变化特性,建立了动剪模量软化的经验公式;静偏应力水平对动剪模量软化有显著影响,随着循环次数的增加,动应力—应变滞回圈逐渐向应变累积方向滑移和向应变轴方向倾斜,且彼此分离;考虑循环软化特性,采用修正的Masing准则,描述了循环荷载下南京片状细砂的动应力—应变关系。     

单、双向动三轴试验条件下饱和砂动力特性对比

在饱和砂土地震液化评估中,多用单向动三轴试验代替双向动三轴试验获得土体的抗液化强度。由于单向激振和双向激振产生的应力路径不同,土的动力特性受应力路径影响,其合理性尚待证明。本文利用双向振动三轴仪分别采用单、双向振动形式进行饱和砂土振动液化试验,对比了相同动剪应力作用下累积孔压和动强度,分析了较大循环振次作用下单、双向振动方式使试样动力响应产生差异的原因,提出了利用单向三轴试验代替双向振动模拟地震循环剪应力获得砂土动力特性的室内试验方法的适用条件。     

基于OpenSees的砂土本构模型对比研究

饱和砂土液化是由地震引起的一种最常见的工程地质现象,也是造成重大地震灾害的主要原因之一。由于成因的复杂性和所造成灾害的严重性,饱和砂土液化一直是土动力学和岩土地震工程研究领域的重要课题。针对饱和砂土液化问题,基于开源地震工程数值计算平台OpenSees,对材料库中的4种砂土本构模型进行数值计算。采用二维u-p单元模拟土颗粒位移和孔隙水压力,分析和对比4种模型在循环动力荷载作用下的加速度、超孔隙水压力、位移、剪应力-剪应变和平均有效应力路径方面的响应结果。研究结果表明:(1)砂土对输入加速度表现出一定的放大效应,对于不同的模型,该放大效应存在一些差异;(2) Stress Density模型在循环动力荷载作用下易产生永久变形;(3)在循环动力荷载作用下,PDMY模型和CycLiqCPSP模型的强度逐渐降低,直到完全消失;(4) Stress Density模型和Manzari Dafalias模型在循环动力荷载下表现出明显的剪胀效应。研究成果对砂土液化的数值模拟问题具有重要的理论价值,可为饱和砂土的液化模拟和砂土本构模型的选取提供参考。     

Dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio characteristics of undisturbed marine soils in the Bohai Sea,China

This paper presents results from a series of stress-controlled undrained cyclic triaxial tests on the undisturbed marine silty clay,silt,and fine sand soils obt...     

Cyclic undrained behavior of silty sand

Laboratory cyclic triaxial tests were performed to investigate the effect of fine content on the pore pressure generation in sand. Strain-controlled, consolidated undrained tests have been performed with a cyclic shear strain range of 0·015-1·5%. These tests were carried to 1000 cycles or to initial liquefaction, which ever occurred first. Triaxial tests were performed on pure sand silt specimens and specimens with silt additions of 10, 20, 30, and 60% by weight. Two types of silt, a non-plastic silt and a low plasticity silt (PI 10) were used as control materials. The main parameters varied in this study were the amount of silt, the plasticity index of silt, and the void ratio where the observed parameter was the pore pressure generation. For all silt contents, silt plasticity and the number of loading cycles have no significant effect at strain levels below 0·01%. Therefore, threshold strain for silty sands have approximately the same value as sands. For both non-plastic and low plasticity silts, there is a significant increase in the generated pore pressure at high strain levels.     

黄泛区粉砂土动强度与抗液化强度试验研究

因黄泛区粉砂土与其他地区有较大区别,对其动强度和抗液化强度的研究相对较少.对开封地区粉砂土的动强度和抗液化强度进行研究,选定围压、干密度、细粒含量作为影响因素,通过动三轴试验得到其动强度曲线和抗液化强度曲线,分别分析三个影响因素对黄泛区粉砂土动强度和抗液化强度的影响.结果表明:黄泛区粉砂土的动强度和抗液化强度随围压和干...     

Stone columns as liquefaction countermeasure in non-plastic silty soils

In many cases densification with vibro-stone columns cannot be obtained in non-plastic silty soils. Shear stress re-distribution concepts [1] have been previously proposed as means to assess stone columns as a liquefaction countermeasure in such non-plastic silty soils. In this study, centrifuge testing is conducted to assess the performance of this liquefaction countermeasure. Attention is focused on exploring the overall site stiffening effects due to the stone column placement rather than the drainage effects. The response of a saturated silt stratum is analyzed under base dynamic excitation conditions. In a series of four separate model tests, this stratum is studied first without, then with stone columns, as a free-field situation, and with a surface foundation surcharge. The underlying mechanism and effectiveness of the stone columns are discussed based on the recorded dynamic responses. Effect of the installed columns on excess pore pressures and deformations is analyzed and compared. The test results demonstrate that stone columns can be an effective technique in the remediation of liquefaction induced settlement of non-plastic silty deposits particularly under shallow foundations, or vertical effective stresses larger than about 45 kPa (1000 psf) in free field conditions.     

VS30, site amplifications and some comparisons: The Adapazari (Turkey) case

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of V_S30 in site amplifications in the Adapazari region, Turkey. To fulfil this aim, amplifications from V_S30 measurements were compared with earthquake data for different soil types in the seismic design codes. The Adapazari area was selected as the study area, and shear-wave velocity distribution was obtained by the multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASWs) method at 100 sites for the top 50 m of soil. Aftershock data following the Mw 7.4 Izmit earthquake of 17 August 1999 gave magnitudes between 4.0 and 5.6 at six stations installed in and around the Adapazari Basin, at Babalı, Şeker, Genç, Hastane, Toyota and Imar. This data was used to estimate site amplifications by the reference-station method. In addition, the fundamental periods of the station sites were estimated by the single station method. Site classifications based on V_S30 in the seismic design codes were compared with the fundamental periods and amplification values. It was found that site amplifications (from earthquake data) and relevant spectra (from V_S30) are not in good agreement for soils in Adapazari (Turkey).     

Undrained cyclic triaxial behavior of saturated clays under variable confining pressure

A laboratory study on the undrained dynamic behavior of saturated clays in cyclic triaxial tests with a variable confining pressure (VCP tests) is presented. Tests were performed on remolded clayey samples using a dynamic triaxial device where the deviatoric stress and confining pressure can be varied simultaneously. Various cyclic stress paths have been applied on the specimens through varying the ratios or phase differences between the cyclic deviatoric stress and cyclic confining pressure. Specifically, the stress paths used in the present study were designed to simulate the coupling effects of simultaneously varying shear and normal stresses in clays due to earthquakes and other vibration sources. Test results obtained from this study show that the undrained response of saturated clays is strongly influenced by the variation of confining pressure, in terms of pore water pressure, development speed of cyclic strain and magnitude of cyclic strength. It is found that when strong P-waves are propagating in soil layers, VCP tests are more appropriate for the simulation of in situ stress fields than the conventional cyclic triaxial tests with a constant confining pressure (CCP tests).