Liquefaction proneness of stratified sand-silt layers based on cyclic triaxial tests

Most studies on liquefaction have addressed homogeneous soil strata using sand or sand with fine content without considering soil stratification.In this study,cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on the stratified sand specimens embedded with the silt layers to investigate the liquefaction failures and void-redistribution at confining stress of 100 kPa under stress-controlled mode.The loosening of underlying sand mass and hindrance to pore-water flow caused localized bulging at the sand-silt interface.It is observed that at a silt thickness of 0.2H(H is the height of the specimen),nearly 187 load cycles were required to attain liquefaction,which was the highest among all the silt thicknesses with a single silt layer.Therefore,0.2H is assumed as the optimum silt thickness(t_(opt)).The silt was placed at the top,middle and bottom of the specimen to understand the effect of silt layer location.Due to the increase in depth of the silt layer from the top position(capped soil state)to the bottom,the cycles to reach liquefaction(N_(cyc,L))increased 2.18 times.Also,when the number of silt layers increased from single to triple,there was an increase of about 880%in N_(cyc,L).The micro-characterization analysis of the soil specimens indicated silty materials transported in upper sections of the specimen due to the dissipated pore pressure.The main parameters,including thickness(t),location(z),cyclic stress ratio(CSR),number of silt layers(n)and modified relative density(D_(r,m)),performed significantly in governing the lique-faction resistance.For this,a multilinear regression model is developed based on critical parameters for prediction of N_(cyc,L).Furthermore,the developed constitutive model has been validated using the data from the present study and earlier findings.

Assessment of cyclic deformation and critical stress amplitude of jointed rocks via cyclic triaxial testing

Jointed rock specimens with a natural replicated joint surface oriented at a mean dip angle of 60were prepared,and a series of cyclic triaxial tests was performed at different confining pressures and cyclic deviatoric stress amplitudes.The samples were subjected to 10,000 loading-unloading cycles with a frequency of 8 Hz.At each level of confining pressure,the applied cyclic deviatoric stress amplitude was increased incrementally until excessive deformation of the jointed rock specimen was observed.Analysis of the test results indicated that there existed a critical cyclic deviatoric stress amplitude(i.e.critical dynamic deviatoric stress)beyond which the jointed rock specimens yielded.The measured critical dynamic deviatoric stress was less than the corresponding static deviatoric stress.At cyclic deviatoric stress amplitudes less than the critical dynamic deviatoric stress,minor cumulative residual axial strains were observed,resulting in hysteretic damping.However,for cyclic deviatoric stresses beyond the critical dynamic deviatoric stress,the plastic strains increased promptly,and the resilient moduli degraded rapidly during the initial loading cycles.Cyclic triaxial test results showed that at higher confining pressures,the ultimate residual axial strain attained by the jointed rock specimen decreased,the steadystate dissipated energy density and steady-state damping ratio per load cycle decreased,while steadystate resilient moduli increased.

Dynamic behaviour of weathered red mudstone in Sichuan(China)under triaxial cyclic loading

The construction of a high-speed railway(HSR) in Southwest China is being hindered by a severe shortage of high-quality subgrade materials. However, red mudstone is widely distributed in the Sichuan Basin of China. The ability to use weathered red mudstone(WRM) to fill subgrade beds by controlling its critical stress and cumulative strain would enable substantial savings in project investments and mitigate damage to the ecological environment. To better understand the dynamic behaviour of WRM, both monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were performed. The evolution of the cumulative strain vs. increased loading cycles was measured. The influences of confining pressure and loading cycles on the dynamic modulus, damping ratio, critical cyclic stress ratio(CSR), and dynamic stress level(DSL) were investigated. The relationship between the CSR and loading cycles under different failure strain criteria(0.1%-1.0%) was analysed. The prediction model of cumulative strain was also evaluated. The results indicated that the shear strength of WRM sufficiently meets the static strength requirements of subgrade. The critical dynamic stress of WRM can thus satisfy the dynamic stress-bearing requirement of the HSR subgrade. The critical CSR decreases and displays a power function with increasing confining pressure. As the confining pressure increases, the DSL remains relatively stable, ranging between 0.153 and 0.163. Furthermore, the relationship between the dynamic strength and loading cycles required to cause failure was established. Finally, a newly developed model for determining cumulative strain was established. A prediction exercise showed that the model is in good agreement with the experimental data.

Dynamic properties and liquefaction behaviour of cohesive soil in northeast India under staged cyclic loading

Estimation of strain-dependent dynamic soil properties, e.g. the shear modulus and damping ratio, along with the liquefaction potential parameters, is extremely important for the assessment and analysis of almost all geotechnical problems involving dynamic loading. This paper presents the dynamic properties and liquefaction behaviour of cohesive soil subjected to staged cyclic loading, which may be caused by main shocks of earthquakes preceded or followed by minor foreshocks or aftershocks, respectively. Cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on the specimens prepared at different dry densities （1.5 g/cm3 and 1.75 g/cm3） and different water contents ranging from 8% to 25%. The results indicated that the shear modulus reduction （G/Gmax） and damping ratio of the specimen remain unaffected due to the changes in the initial dry density and water content. Damping ratio is significantly affected by confining pressure, whereas G/Gmax is affected marginally. It was seen that the liquefaction criterion of cohesive soils based on single-amplitude shear strain （3.75% or the strain at which excess pore water pressure ratio becomes equal to 1, whichever is lower） depends on the initial state of soils and applied stresses. The dynamic model of the regional soil, obtained as an outcome of the cyclic triaxial tests, can be successfully used for ground response analysis of the region.

Evolution of mechanical parameters of Shuangjiangkou granite under different loading cycles and stress paths

Surrounding rocks at different locations are generally subjected to different stress paths during the process of deep hard rock excavation.In this study,to reveal the mechanical parameters of deep surrounding rock under different stress paths,a new cyclic loading and unloading test method for controlled true triaxial loading and unloading and principal stress direction interchange was proposed,and the evolution of mechanical parameters of Shuangjiangkou granite under different stress paths was studied,including the deformation modulus,elastic deformation increment ratios,fracture degree,cohesion and internal friction angle.Additionally,stress path coefficient was defined to characterize different stress paths,and the functional relationships among the stress path coefficient,rock fracture degree difference coefficient,cohesion and internal friction angle were obtained.The results show that during the true triaxial cyclic loading and unloading process,the deformation modulus and cohesion gradually decrease,while the internal friction angle gradually increases with increasing equivalent crack strain.The stress path coefficient is exponentially related to the rock fracture degree difference coefficient.As the stress path coefficient increases,the degrees of cohesion weakening and internal friction angle strengthening decrease linearly.During cyclic loading and unloading under true triaxial principal stress direction interchange,the direction of crack development changes,and the deformation modulus increases,while the cohesion and internal friction angle decrease slightly,indicating that the principal stress direction interchange has a strengthening effect on the surrounding rocks.Finally,the influences of the principal stress interchange direction on the stabilities of deep engineering excavation projects are discussed.

Effect of Cyclic Loading Frequency on Undrained Behaviors of Undisturbed Marine Clay

Based on a series of cyclic triaxial tests, the effect of cyclic frequency on the undrained behaviors of undisturbed marine clay is investigated. For a given dynamic stress ratio, the accumulated pore water pressure and dynamic strain increase with the number of cycles. There exists a threshold value for both the accumulated pore water pressure and dynamic strain, below which the effect of cyclic frequency is very small, but above which the accumulated pore water pressure and dynamic strain increase intensely with the decrease of cyclic frequency for a given number of cycles. The dynamic strength increases with the increase of cyclic frequency, whereas the effect of cyclic frequency on it gradually diminishes to zero when the number of cycles is large enough, and the dynamic strengths at different frequencies tend to the same limiting minimum dynamic strength. The test results demonstrate that the reasons for the frequency effect on the undrained soil behaviors are both the creep effect induced by the loading rate and the decrease of sample effective confining pressure caused by the accumulated pore water pressure.

Laboratory investigation on damping characteristics of homogeneous and stratified soil-ash system

In this study,the damping responses of uniform soil,equi-proportional fly ash,and local soil as a single unit were investigated.The large-strain cyclic triaxial tests were performed for the specimen compacted at the desired density(95%e99%of maximum dry density).The compacted specimens were tested under the loading frequency of 0.3e1 Hz with medium confinement of 70e100 kPa.Also,the unsymmetrical behavior of the hysteresis loop was analyzed using three different damping estimation approaches,i.e.symmetric hysteresis loop(SHL),asymmetric hysteresis loop(ASHL),and the modified American Society for Testing and Materials(ASTM)method.The outcome of the study shows for fly ash,local soil,and layered soil-ash,the ASHL technique has the highest damping value,followed by ASTM and then the SHL approach.The specimens prepared under high density and subjected to high confinement show low damping values.However,the specimens tested at high frequency exhibits high damping behavior.Similarly,the damping value of fly ash determined using the SHL and ASHL methods has a similar profile and reaches a maximum at 1%shear strain value before decreasing.The composite stratified deposit exhibits more dependency on relative compaction,confining pressure,and less on loading frequency.Based on the results,it is highly recommended to use the ASHL approach,especially under large strain conditions irrespective of soil type.The maximum damping ratio of stratified deposits is always in between the damping ratio of local soil and fly ash.The damping ratio of stratified soil and local soil is slightly larger than that of the other soils,although the damping ratio of fly ash is equivalent to that of the sand and clayey soil.These results may be helpful in the accurate determination of the damping properties of the layered soil-ash system that is required in the seismic response analysis.

Dynamic characterization of tailing dam using fully coupled dynamic analysis with different boundary conditions-a case study

The seismic response analysis of a tailing dam is studied using a fully coupled effective stress approach in conjunction with an advanced multi yield surface plastic constitutive model for tailing material.Strain controlled static and cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to obtain the constitutive model for the tailing material.The tailing materials were collected from the Rampura Agucha tailing dam(Rajasthan State,India).A 2D nonlinear finite element(FE)model was then developed using different boundary conditions from the tailing embankment constructed using the downstream and upstream method of rising using OpenSees software.In first case,the model boundary was fixed in both the X and Y directions,and in the second case,viscous dashpots were introduced for both side and horizontal boundaries.The model was validated with experimental results on tailing material.Analyses were carried out considering five different earthquake motions,which were applied at the base.Comparisons of the different boundary conditions in terms of displacement flow vectors,pore pressure and stress-strain curves during shaking are presented.From the analysis,it was observed that the viscous boundary condition replicates the actual field conditions more accurately than the fixed boundary condition.In addition,it was found that the tailing embankment constructed by the downstream and upstream method of rising is not susceptible to liquefaction and lateral spreading for earthquake motions,even for a magnitude>5.5.

MECHANICAL BEHAVIORS OF SATURATED SAND UNDER COMPLICATED LOADING

The different physical states of saturated sand, including shear elasticity, positive dilatancy, and negative dilatancy (preliminary negative dilatancy, secondary negative dilatancy and reversal negative dilatancy) are revealed based on the pore water pressure response of saturated sand in undrained dynamic torsional tests of thin cylinder samples and also checked by the drained cyclic triaxial tests under a given mean effective normal stress. According to the effective stress path of different physical states under the undrained cyclic torsional tests the physical state transformation surface, stress history boundary and yield surface are determined, and the state boundary surface is also determined by the range of effective frictional stress state movement. Based on the moving yield surface without rotation, and the expanding stress history boundary surface relevant to the stress path variations under different physical states in 3D stress space, a physical state model is proposed to provide a new approach to calculating the transient pore water pressure under the undrained condition, and the volume strain of dilatation under drained condition in this paper.

Addressing the permanent deformation behavior of hot mix asphalt by triaxial cyclic compression testing with cyclic confining pressure

Rutting or permanent deformation is one of the major distress modes of hot mix asphalt in the field. Triaxial cycle compression testing （TCCT） is a standardized and scientifically accepted test method to address this distress mode in the lab and to characterize the resistance to permanent deformation. In most labs and according to EN 12697-25, standard TGCTs are carried out with cyclic axial loading and a constant confining pressure. In road pavements on the other hand, dynamic traffic loading due to passing wheels leads to cyclic confining pressure. In order to bring the TCCT closer to reality, the radial reaction and its phase lag to axial loading in standard TCCTs are analyzed and an enhanced TCCT with cyclic confining pressure is introduced. The cyclic confining pressure takes into account the viscoelastic material response by the radial phase lag to axial phase loading. In a subsequent test program, TCCTs with different confining pressure amplitudes were carried out on two hot mix asphalts. Results from standard and enhanced TCCTs were analyzed, compared and discussed. It is shown that the resistance to permanent deformation in- creases significantly when the viscoelastic material response is taken into account in the TCCT by introducing cyclic confining pressure.

Dynamic properties of polyurethane foam adhesive-reinforced gravels

Polyurethane foam adhesive(PFA)has been introduced as an alternative stabilizer in geotechnical applications because PFA can improve the engineering characteristics of soil by filling the pore space and generating adhesive bonding among the particles.However,the dynamic properties of PFA-reinforced soils are not well understood.To analyze the dynamic characteristics of PFA-reinforced gravels,a series of cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to investigate the shear modulus and damping ratio of PFA-reinforced gravels,and to determine the corresponding effects of the PFA content,confining pressure,consolidation stress ratio and loading frequency.The results showed that the shear modulus increased,and the damping ratio decreased as the PFA content,confining pressure and consolidation stress ratio increased.In contrast,the effect of the loading frequency,which ranged from 0.05 to 1 Hz,was negligible.A modified hyperbolic empirical model can consider the effect of the PFA content on the maximum shear modulus and predict the relationship between the normalized shear modulus and the normalized shear strain was proposed.Moreover,the upper and lower bounds of the damping ratio were also proposed.