Experimental study on the mechanical behaviors and particle breakage characteristics of calcareous sand from South China Sea under repeated one-dimensional impacts

The behavior of calcareous sand under repeated impact considerably differs from that of silica sand. Notably, calcareous sand is important in engineering projects in the South China Sea, such as pile driving. To understand the behavior of calcareous sand under multiple impacts, the improved split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system was selected for one-dimensional impact tests of silica and calcareous sand with particle sizes of 0.25–0.50 mm. The sand specimens were impacted 1, 3, 7 and 10 times. The test results reveal that the dynamic apparent stiffness of silica sand is approximately 6–8 times that of calcareous sand. The dynamic apparent modulus values of the two sands increase with an increase in the number of impacts, N. For calcareous sand, the compression index C_c decreases with an increase in N, and silica sand shows the opposite trend. The yield pressure p_c of calcareous sand under impact loading is approximately 40% of that of silica sand. With an increase in N, the energy absorption capacity, energy dissipation rate and damage variables of the two sands exhibit a downward trend. In addition, the energy absorption efficiency of calcareous sand is better than that of silica sand. During the process of impact, a large number of sand particles will break, and particle breakage will change the particle size distribution (PSD), thereby significantly affecting the physical and mechanical properties of the corresponding soil. Based on the test results and fractal theory, an evolution model is established to characterize the PSD evolution in the breakage state for uniformly graded calcareous sand. Moreover, a Markov chain model is proposed to describe the PSD evolution of nonuniformly graded specimens. The predicted results of both models show agreement with the experimental values.