Influence of a cyclic and dynamic loading history on dynamic properties of dry sand, part II: cyclic axial preloading

Initial fabric of a soil induced by its cyclic strain history is an important parameter among others like void ratio, state of stress and amplitude concerning the further accumulation of deformations under cyclic loading. It is of high importance to determine methods in order to estimate the initial fabric of the grain skeleton or the cyclic loading history of the soil. An attempt is made in this paper to correlate small strain stiffness of non-cohesive soil with its cyclic loading history. For this purpose several cyclic triaxial tests with specimens subjected to cyclic axial loading were performed and changes of small strain soil properties due to this cyclic loading were studied. All these tests showed only moderate changes of small strain stiffnesses independently of the different boundary conditions. Thus, a correlation between fabric or strain history and small strain stiffnesses seems not to be possible.     

Influence of cyclic loading history on small strain shear modulus of saturated clays

Small strain shear modulus G_max is an essential parameter in soil dynamics, and it is usually estimated based on the Hardin and Richart equation. However, many previous researches on sands have indicated that the Hardin and Richart equation does not consider the influences of cyclic loading history on G_max. In this paper, effects of cyclic loading history on G_max of saturated clays under undrained conditions are studied using a combination device of piezoelectric-ceramic bender element system and cyclic triaxial apparatus. The dynamic pre-loading includes both relatively high amplitudes of cyclic stresses and cyclic strains. G_max without cyclic loading history is also investigated for the comparison purpose. Test results show that, at the same effective stress, both cyclic strain history and cyclic stress history will induce reduction of G_max compared to the corresponding G_max values with non-cyclic loading effects. In strain-controlled tests, the reduction of G_max is slight and relatively stable; while in stress-controlled tests, the reduction of G_max increases suddenly and remarkably when the effective stresses degrade to a certain degree. The comparison between double amplitude axial strain and residual excess pore water pressure behaviors show that the remarkable reduction of G_max can demonstrate the cyclic failure of saturated clays.     

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.     

Shear modulus and damping ratio of grouted sand

An experimental comparative study of three different grouted sands in terms of their effects on the values of two dynamic properties is presented. The dynamic properties studied are the shear modulus and the damping ratio which are determined with resonant column tests and cyclic triaxial tests. The behaviour of a pure Fontainebleau sand is compared with the behaviour of a Fontainebleau sand grouted with a silicate grout, a micro-fine cement grout and a mineral grout. The effects of the grouting treatment, the type of grout, the confining pressure, and the strains, on the shear modulus and the damping ratio are studied. The test results have shown that grouting improves the stiffness of the sand especially for small strains. Whatever the type of material, confining stress improves the shear modulus whereas it has a negligible effect on the damping ratio. When strain increases, the shear modulus decreases and the damping ratio increases.     

福建漳州地区典型土动力特性的试验研究

通过对福建漳州地区淤泥、粉质粘土、粉质粘土与粉砂互层土、残积土等4类典型土的共振柱试验,探讨了围压大小、土的性质对这4类典型土的动剪切模量G及阻尼比γ的影响,给出了在不同围压下的G/Gmax和λ/λmax随γ变化的平均曲线及其参数的推荐值,并定量的给出围压对参数的影响规律。结果对实际工程具有一定的借鉴作用。     

Field and large scale laboratory studies on dynamic properties of emplaced municipal solid waste from two dump sites at Delhi,India

Dynamic properties of municipal solid waste (MSW) from two dump sites located at Delhi, India are evaluated from field and large scale laboratory tests. Shear wave velocity (V_s) profiles of MSW, measured at these two sites using surface wave techniques, are in range of V_s data reported for MSW landfills worldwide. Representative bulk MSW samples were collected from large test pits excavated at the two dump sites to determine the near surface unit weight. Large scale undrained cyclic triaxial (CTX) tests were conducted on reconstituted MSW specimens to investigate the effect of various parameters such as composition, confining pressure, number of loading cycles, loading frequency and saturation on the dynamic properties. Undrained CTX tests, conducted on the specimens with and without fibrous materials demonstrated the effect of fibrous waste constituents on the stiffness and damping behavior of MSW. Specimens consisting of fibrous waste constituents such as plastics and textiles exhibited significantly less modulus reduction compared to specimens with negligible amount of fibrous content. The modulus reduction (G/G_max) and material damping ratio curves derived from the present study are in the range reported for MSW in the literature. The G/G_max curves from present study are in good agreement with curves recommended for MSW at Tri-Cities landfill in USA and Tianziling landfill in China. Dynamic properties evaluated from the present study add to the growing database of the worldwide dataset and can be useful for evaluating the seismic stability and associated permanent deformations of the existing dumps in and around Delhi.     

On the influence of the grain size distribution curve on P-wave velocity,constrained elastic modulus Mmax and Poisson's ratio of quartz sands

The paper presents an experimental study on the influence of the grain size distribution curve on dynamic soil properties. More than 160 resonant column tests with additional P-wave measurements have been performed on 27 different grain size distribution curves of a quartz sand. While the small-strain shear modulus G_max has been discussed by Wichtmann and Triantafyllidis [1] the present paper focusses on P-wave velocity v_P, on the small-strain constrained elastic modulus M_max and on Poisson's ratio ν$\nu$. It is demonstrated that while v_P and M_max do not significantly depend on mean grain size d₅₀ in the investigated range, they decrease with increasing coefficient of uniformity C_u=d₆₀/d₁₀ of the grain size distribution curve. Poisson's ratio does also not depend on d₅₀ but increases with increasing C_u. An empirical formula similar to Hardin's equation has been developed for M_max, considering the influence of the grain size distribution curve. It predicts quite well the experimental data.     

陕北榆林地区 砂土动剪切模量比和阻尼比的统计研究

陕北榆林地区位于鄂尔多斯地块内部,其沉积地层主要为细砂。基于该地区大量的工程场地地震安全性评价报告,本文共收集了83组砂样动三轴试验数据,并分类统计分析了松散~稍密、中密和密实三种密实程度的砂土在8个典型剪应变下的动剪切模量比和阻尼比统计值。选取一个典型钻孔,建立土层地震反应模型,分别以本文"统计值"、"规范值"和"推荐值"作为模型参数进行土层地震反应计算,并对反应得到的地面峰值加速度与反应谱进行了对比分析。