Influence of artificial freezing onliquefaction characteristics of Nanjing sand

Purpose–This study purposes to study the influence of artificial freezing on the liquefaction characteristics of Nanjing sand,as well as its mechanism.Design/methodology/approach–was studied through dynamic triaxial tests by means of the GDS dynamic triaxial system on Nanjing sand extensively discovered in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River under seismic load and metro train vibration load,respectively,and potential hazards of the two loads to the freezing construction of Nanjing sand were also identified in the tests.Findings–The results show that under both seismic load and metro train vibration load,freeze-thaw cycles will significantly reduce the stiffness and liquefaction resistance of Nanjing sand,especially in the first freezethaw cycle;the more freeze-thaw cycles,the worse structural behaviors of silty-fine sand,and the easier to liquefy;freeze-thaw cycles will increase the sensitivity of Nanjing sand’s dynamic pore pressure to dynamic load response;the lower the freezing temperature and the effective confining pressure,the worse the liquefaction resistance of Nanjing sand after freeze-thaw cycles;compared to the metro train vibration load,the seismic load in Nanjing is potentially less dangerous to freezing construction of Nanjing sand.Originality/value–The research results are helpful to the construction of the artificial ground freezing of the subway crossing passage in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and to ensure the construction safety of the subway tunnel and its crossing passage.

Effects of Initial Static Shear Stress and Grain Shape on Liquefaction of Saturated Nanjing Sand

This paper mainly investigates the effects of initial static shear stress and grain shape on the liquefaction induced large deformation of saturated sand under torsional shear.Nanjing sand,mainly composed of platy grains,is tested with different initial static shear stress ratio(SSR)using a hollow column torsional shear apparatus.The tests find that the saturated Nanjing sand reaches full liquefaction under the superposition of initial static shear stress and cyclic stress for both stress reversal and non-reversal cases.However,it requires a large number of loading cycles to reach full liquefaction if stress reversal does not occur.With increasing the initial static stress,the large deformation of the Nanjing sand should mainly induced by the cyclic liquefaction firstly under a smaller initial shear stress,and then it should be induced by the residual deformation failure.The critical point occurs approximately when the initial shear stress is close to the amplitude of the cyclic shear stress.Meanwhile,it shows that grain angularity increases the liquefaction resistance when the initial static shear stress is zero.A small initial static shear stress causes the larger loss of liquefaction resistance for angular sand than rounded sand.At a high initial SSR,the angular sand is more resistant to the large residual deformation failure than the rounded sand.

Pore water pressure increment model for saturated Nanjing fine sand subject to cyclic loading

Three groups of dynamic triaxial tests were performed for saturated Nanjing fine sand subjected to uniform cyclic loading. The tested curves of the excess pore water pressure （EPWP） ratio variation with the ratio of the number of cycles are provided. The concept of the EPWP increment ratio is introduced and two new concepts of the effective dynamic shear stress ratio and the log decrement of effective stress are defined. It is found that the development of the EPWP increment ratio can be divided into three stages： descending, stable and ascending. Furthermore, at the stable and ascending stages, a satisfactory linear relationship is obtained between the accumulative EPWP increment ratio and natural logarithm of the effective dynamic shear stress ratio. Accordingly, the EPWP increment ratio at the number of cycles N has been deduced that is proportional to the log decrement of effective stress at the cycle number N-l, but is independent of the cyclic stress amplitude. Based on the analysis, a new EPWP increment model for saturated Nanjing fine sand is developed from tested data fitting, which provides a better prediction of the curves of EPWP generation, the number of cycles required for initial liquefaction and the liquefaction resistance.

Behavior of large post-liquefaction deformation in saturated Nanjing fine sand

Laboratory tests on the large post-liquefaction deformation of saturated Nanjing fine sand were performed by using a hollow cylinder apparatus. The stress-strain responses and the characteristics of excess pore water pressure after liquefaction were studied. It was found that the relationship between deviatoric stress and axial strain presented a sigmoid curve, and there was a good linearity relationship between normalized pore water pressure and deviatoric stress. On this basis, a constitutive model of stress-strain responses and a dissipation model of excess pore water pressure were established. It was found that the results predicted by the two models were in good agreement with the experimental data. The influence of relative densities and confining pressure on the characteristics of liquefied soil were studied, The results showed the relative densities and initial effective confining pressure all had an important influence on the stress-strain responses of liquefied saturated Nanjing fine sand. However, the dissipation model of excess pore water pressure after liquefaction was only affected by the confining pressure.

Effect of Initial Stress Conditions on the Threshold Shear Strain of Nanjing's Saturated Fine Sand

By using GDS dynamic hollow cylinder torsional apparatus, a series of cyclic torsional triaxial tests under complex initial consolidation condition are performed on Nanjing saturated fine sand. The effects of the initial principal stress direction αo, the initial ratio of deviatoric stress η0, the initial average effective principal stress Po and the initial intermediate principal stress parameter b0 on the threshold shear strain γt of Nanjing saturated fine sand are then systematically investigated. The results show that γt increases as η0,p0 and b0 increase respectively, while the other three parameters remain constant. ao has a great influence on γt, which is reduced when ao increases from 0° to 45°and increased when α0 increases from 45° to 90°. The effect of α0 on γt, plays a leading role and the effect of η0 will weaken when ao is approximately 45°.