A novel method for geometric quality assurance of rock joint replicas in direct shear testing-Part 2:Validation and mechanical replicability

Each rock joint is unique by nature which means that utilization of replicas in direct shear tests is required in experimental parameter studies.However,a method to acquire knowledge about the ability of the replicas to imitate the shear mechanical behavior of the rock joint and their dispersion in direct shear testing is lacking.In this study,a novel method is presented for geometric quality assurance of replicas.The aim is to facilitate generation of high-quality direct shear testing data as a prerequisite for reliable subsequent analyses of the results.In Part 1 of this study,two quality assurance parameters,smf and V_(Hp100),are derived and their usefulness for evaluation of geometric deviations,i.e.geometric reproducibility,is shown.In Part 2,the parameters are validated by showing a correlation between the parameters and the shear mechanical behavior,which qualifies the parameters for usage in the quality assurance method.Unique results from direct shear tests presenting comparisons between replicas and the rock joint show that replicas fulfilling proposed threshold values of σ_(mf)<0.06 mm and
|V_(Hp100)|
<0.2 mm have a narrow dispersion and imitate the shear mechanical behavior of the rock joint in all aspects apart from having a slightly lower peak shear strength.The wear in these replicas,which have similar morphology as the rock joint,is in the same areas as in the rock joint.The wear is slightly larger in the rock joint and therefore the discrepancy in peak shear strength derives from differences in material properties,possibly from differences in toughness.It is shown by application of the suggested method that the quality assured replicas manufactured following the process employed in this study phenomenologically capture the shear strength characteristics,which makes them useful in parameter studies.

Design and verification of portable direct shear tester with application to remolded colluvium geomaterials

The mechanical properties of colluvium strongly govern the stability of colluvial slopes, and they arc essential for the related analysis and design. Nevertheless, their measurement is not easy on account of heterogeneity in property and difficulty of sampling. This study attempted to evaluate the shear strength of remolded colluvium by means of a simple direct shear test in the field. A portable direct shear tester was designed to overcome the inconvenience and expensiveness of the conventional large-scale in-situ direct shear test. It can be easily assembled and applied for the silnplc field direct shear test. For calibration, the results of the portable direct shear tester were compared with the results of the laboratory direct shear tester for four different types of soil samples, i.e. standard sand, slate debris, arenaceous shale debris and mixture of gravel and sand. Correlation formulas were established based on the calibration, enabling the portable direct shear tester to measure and estimate the shear strength of remoldcd colluvium in field. This study primarily focuses on the colluvium in Central Taiwan, including the lateritic Dadu Terrace and the arcnaceous shale of Taiping-Wufcng mounts. The portable direct shear tester was applied to sites selected in these areas, and the results were furthcr analyzed and discussed.

Evaluation of in-plane shear test methods for composite material laminates

In-plane shear properties of composite material laminates are very important in structural design of composite material. Four commonly used in-plane shear test methods were introduced in this paper. In order to study the differences of various shear test methods, two ASTM standard in-plane shear test methods for composite material laminates were experimentally investigated. They are ±45° tensile shear test (ASTM D3518) and V-notched rail shear test (ASTM D7078). Five types of composite material laminates composed of E-glass fiber fabric and vinyl ester resin were utilized, whose stacking sequences are 03s, 0/903s, CSM/0/902s, ±453s and (0/90)2/(±45)2/(0/90)2s, respectively. The test results indicate that the ±45° tensile shear test can predict shear moduli of composite material laminates accurately. However, the predictions of shear strength using ±45° tensile shear test are significantly lower than those of V-notched rail shear test.

Comparison of in situ Shear Test and In-Lab Triaxial Shear Test of Compacted Rockfill

The in situ shear test and in-lab triaxial shear test on compacted rockfill of Fuling safety embankment were carried out and their advantages and disadvantages were compared. The discreteness of cohesive force C and internal frictional angle by in situ shear test is much severer than that by in-lab triaxial shear test. The consolidation of in-lab triaxial shear test is bigger than actual consolidation in rockfill engineerings, so the confining pressure should be reduced to a low level in-lab triaxial shear test.

Shear Failure Criterion and Constant Volume Ring Shear Testing Method for Clayey Soil

This paper discusses the shortcomings of the traditional Coulomb shear criterion and the direct shear-box testing method used for clayey soil and presents a modified shear criterion that considers the elasto-plastic behavior of cohesive soil. This modified approach involves direct shear testing under constant volume, a method that has been developed by the author. A modified ring shear apparatus and the theory behind the shear criterion and its implication for slope stability analysis are then discussed and the results of investigated tuffitic clayey sediments are presented. The results show that the presented new shear criterion does not consider the cohesion as material constant, but rather it depends on the void ratio. In this case, the stress state and the consolidation status and thus the elasto-plastic behavior of the clayey soil are considered.

Mesomechanical simulation of direct shear test on outwash deposits with granular discrete element method

The mechanical properties of outwash deposits which are taken as unconsolidated geo-materials with the characteristics of non-uniformity, heterogeneity and multiphase have attracted much attention in engineering. According to the results of laboratory direct shear test on the remolded samples, the soil particle parameters of numerical model based on in-situ particle size cumulative curves and 3D granular discrete element method were determined. Then, numerical experiments on different lithology, stone content and gradation composition were conducted. The results show that it is not a flat surface but a shear band that yields in the sample. The curve of particle velocity vs distance from the designed shear surface of test model that is taken as a datum plane in the vertical section of sample shows in "S" shape. The shear disturbance area is about twice the maximum diameter of stone blocks. The greater the stiffness of stone is, the rougher the shear surface is. The shear strength of outwash deposits is largely controlled by lithology and stone content, and the bite force between stone blocks is the root reason of larger friction angle. It is also shown that strain hardening and low shear dilatancy occur under high confining pressure as well as possibility of shear shrinkage. But it is easy to behave shear dilatation and strain softening under low confining pressure. The relationship between particle frictional coefficient and stone content presents an approximately quadratic parabola increase. The strain energy first increases and then drops with the increase of frictional energy. The cohesion increases with soil stiffness increasing but decreases with stone stiffness increasing. Numerical results are consistent with the laboratory test results of remolded samples, which indicate that this method can be a beneficial supplement to determine the parameters of engineering deposit bodies.

Numerical simulation of direct shear tests on mechanical properties of talus deposits based on self-adaptive PCNN digital image processing

The macro mechanical properties of materials with characteristics of large scale and complicated structural composition can be analyzed through its reconstructed meso-structures.In this work,the meso-structures of talus deposits that widely exist in the hydro-power engineering in the southwest of China were first reconstructed by small particles according to the in-situ photographs based on the self-adaptive PCNN digital image processing,and then numerical direct shear tests were carried out for studying the mechanical properties of talus deposits.Results indicate that the reconstructed meso-structures of talus deposits are more consistent with the actual situation because the self-adaptive PCNN digital image processing has a higher discrimination in the details of soil-rock segmentation.The existence and random distribution of rock blocks make the initial shear stiffness,the peak strength and the residual strength higher than those of the "pure soil" with particle size less than 1.25 cm apparently,but reduce the displacements required for the talus deposits reaching its peak shear strength.The increase of rock proportion causes a significant improvement in the internal friction angle of talus deposit,which to a certain degree leads to the characteristics of shear stress-displacement curves having a changing trend from the plastic strain softening deformation to the nonlinear strain hardening deformation,while an unconspicuous increase in cohesion.The uncertainty and heterogeneity of rock distributions cause the differences of rock proportion within shear zone,leading to a relatively strong fluctuation in peak strengths during the shear process,while movement features of rock blocks,such as translation,rotation and crossing,expand the scope of shear zone,increase the required shear force,and also directly lead to the misjudgment that the lower shear strength is obtained from the samples with high rock proportion.That,however,just explains the reason why the shear strength gained from a small amount of indoor test data is not consistent with engineering practice.

Large-scale direct shear testing of geocell reinforced soil

The tests on the shear property of geocell reinforced soils were carried out by using large-scale direct shear equipment with shear-box-dimensions of 500 mm×500 mm×400 mm (length×width×height). Three types of specimens, silty gravel soil, geocell reinforced silty gravel soil and geocell reinforced cement stabilizing silty gravel soil were used to investigate the shear stress-displacement behavior, the shear strength and the strengthening mechanism of geocell reinforced soils. The comparisons of large-scale shear test with triaxial compression test for the same type of soil were conducted to evaluate the influences of testing method on the shear strength as well. The test results show that the unreinforced soil and geocell reinforced soil give similar nonlinear features on the behavior of shear stress and displacement. The geocell reinforced cement stabilizing soil has a quasi-elastic characteristic in the case of normal stress coming up to 1.0 GPa. The tests with the reinforcement of geocell result in an increase of 244% in cohesion, and the tests with the geocell and the cement stabilization result in an increase of 10 times in cohesion compared with the unreinforced soil. The friction angle does not change markedly. The geocell reinforcement develops a large amount of cohesion on the shear strength of soils.

Trigger mechanism of loess-mudstone landslides inferred from ring shear tests and numerical simulation

Whereas loess-mudstone landslides are widely distributed and frequently occurred at the loess Plateau,this type of landslides is hard to detect due to its particularity,and easily generates serious losses.To clarify the shear characteristics and formation mechanism of loess-mudstone landslides,field investigations,ring shear tests and numerical simulation analyses were performed on the loess specimens collected from the Dingjiagou landslide in Yan’an city,China.The test results showed that both the peak strength and residual strength of slip zone soils have a decreasing tendency with moisture content,while the increasing of normal stress caused an increase in the shear strength.These phenomena indicate that the rise in the moisture content induced by precipitation or the decreasing of normal stress due to excavation activities would result in the weakening of slip zone soils.Numerical simulations of the evolution process of slope failure using the finite element method were conducted based on the Mohr–Coulomb criterion.It was found that the heavy precipitation played a more important role in the slope instability compared with the excavation.In addition,the field investigation showed that loess soils with well-developed cracks and underlying mudstone soils provide material base for the formation of loess-mudstone landslides.Finally,the formation mechanism of this type of landslides was divided into three stages,namely,the local deformation stage,the penetration stage,the creeping-sliding stage.This study may provide a basis for understanding the sliding process of loess-mudstone landslides,as well as guidelines for the prevention and mitigation of loess-mudstone landslides.

Effects of water saturation and loading rate on direct shear tests of andesite

For estimating the long-term stability of underground framework,it is vital to learn the mechanical and rheological characteristics of rock in multiple water saturation conditions.However,the majority of previous studies explored the rheological properties of rock in air-dried and water saturated conditions,as well as the water effects on compressive and tensile strengths.In this study,andesite was subjected to direct shear tests under five water saturation conditions,which were controlled by varying the wetting and drying time.The tests were conducted at alternating displacement rates under three vertical stresses.The results reveal that the shear strength decreases exponentially as water saturation increases,and that the increase in shear strength with a tenfold increase in displacement rate is nearly constant for each of the vertical stresses.Based on the findings of the shear tests in this study and the compression and tension tests in previous studies,the influences of both water saturation and loading rate on the Hoek-Brown failure criterion for the andesite was examined.These results indicate that the brittleness index of the andesite,which is defined as the ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to tensile strength,is independent of both water saturation and loading rate and that the influences of the water saturation dependence and the loading rate dependence of the failure criterion can be converted between each other.

High-Speed Ring Shear Tests to Study the Motion and Acceleration Processes of the Yingong Landslide

In this paper, the motion and acceleration process, as well as the mechanism of a high speed and long run landslide are investigated by adopting high speed ring shear test and taking the landslide occurred at Yigong River in Bomi, Tibet on April 9, 2000 as the background. According to the motion characteristics of high-speed and long distance motion landside, the mechanism is studied under different conditions such as shear speed, consolidated drained and consolidated undrained status. Results show that high speed shearing process hinders and delays the dissipation of pore pressure, and drives pore water migrating to shear zone slowly. Both of water content and fine particle content at shear zone are obviously higher than those in other layers; and soil liquefaction occurs at shear zone in the saturated consolidated undrained ring shear tests. The effective internal friction angle of the consolidated undrained soil is much lower than that of the consolidated drained soil under ring shearing. The results also indicate that the shearing speed affecting the strength of soil to some extent. The higher the ring shearing speed is, the lower the strength of soil is. This investigation provides a preliminary interpretation of the mechanism of the motion and acceleration process of the Yigong landslide, occurred in Tibet in 2000.

Rock borehole shear tests in dam foundation of Xiangjiaba hydropower station

Xiangjiaba hydropowcr station is one of the complicated geological conditions of its dam foundation, parameters of rock masses are very important issues. To cascade power stations on the Jinsha River, China. Due to the evaluating the rock mass quality and determining the mechanical address these issues, several groups of rock borehole shear tests （RBSTs） were conducted on the black mudstone in the dam foundation of Xiangjiaba hydropower station in the second construction phase. Forty three groups of shear strengths of black mudstone samples were obtained from RBSTs, and the shear strength parameters （c and f） were calculated using the least squares method. In addition, the limitations and merits of RBST employed in the Xiangjiaba hydropower station were discussed. Test results indicate that the shear strength parameters obtained from RBST have a good correlation with the results from sotmd wave test in borehole. It is believed that RBST has a good adaptability and applicability in geotechnical engineering.

Impacts of Disk Rock Sample Geometric Dimensions on Shear Fracture Behavior in a Punch Shear Test

Punch shear tests have been widely used to determine rock shear mechanical properties but without a standard sample geometric dimension suggestion.To investigate the impacts of sample geometric dimensions on shear behaviors in a punch shear test,simulations using Particle Flow Code were carried out.The effects of three geometric dimensions(i.e.,disk diameter,ratio of shear surface diameter to disk diameter,and ratio of disk height to shear surface diameter)were discussed.Variations of shear strength,shear stiffness,and shear dilatancy angles were studied,and the fracture processes and patterns of samples were investigated.Then,normal stress on the shear surface during test was analyzed and a suggested disk geometric dimension was given.Simulation results show that when the ratio of the shear surface diameter to the disk diameter and the ratio of disk height to the shear surface diameter is small enough,the shear strength,shear stiffness,and shear dilatancy angles are extremely sensitive to the three geometric parameters.If the ratio of surface diameter to disk diameter is too large or the ratio of disk height to surface diameter is too small,a part of the sample within the shear surface will fail due to macro tensile cracks,which is characterized by break off.Samples with a greater ratio of disk height to shear surface diameter,namely when the sample is relatively thick,crack from one end to the other while others crack from both ends towards the middle.During test,the actual normal stress on the shear surface is greater than the target value because of the extra compressive stress from the part of sample outside shear surface.

Analysis of Crack Expansion and Morphology of Cross-Laminated Timber Planar Shear Test

To describe the dynamic cracking process of the CLT vertical layer,the correlation between a load-displacement curve,specimen cracking,and planar shear failure mechanism of the CLT were explored.A three-point bending test and an improved planar shear test are used to evaluate the shear performance of the CLT.In this study,the load-displacement curve is recorded,the experimental part is synchronized with the video,the dynamic process of cracking of the vertical layer is observed and analyzed throughout the test.From the load-displacement curve,the image characteristics of the initial cracking and the sudden increase of the cracking of the specimen are summar-ized.The description results of the whole dynamic process of the CLT vertical layer cracking are analyzed by pla-nar shear strength value,cracking phenomenon,and azimuth angle of cracking surface.The main conclusions show that the three-point bending test and the improved plain shear test can be used to test the plain shear strength of the CLT,with a difference of only 5.7%.The original crack and the new crack expansion account for 18.9%and 81.1%of the main cracking surface,respectively.And the vertical layer of the CLT specimen under three-point bending has three cracking morphologies,such as radial shake,ring shake,neither along with the radial shake nor along with the ring shake.The azimuth angle of the cracking surface of the CLT vertical layer under planar shear is quite consistent with the first main plane azimuth of the vertical layer of the CLT specimens under the three-point bending test and the shearing test.The shape in the cracking direction of the left half-span or the right half-span of the vertical layer of the specimen is similar to the Chinese character eight.

Cyclic Shear Tests on Key Connection Joints of Modularized Constructions

Modularized construction is a new type of prefabricated building system with green environmental protection and excellent performance. There are few studies on the seismic performance of its key connection joint. This paper presents a new type of assembled connection joint for the high-rise modularized construction. Cyclic shear tests of full-scale joints were carried out, and the key indexes of their seismic performances including the hysteretic performance, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity were analyzed and obtained. The results show that the hysteresis loops of longitudinal and lateral cyclic shear tests were both plump in shapes. The ductility coefficients were 4.54 and 4.98, and the energy dissipation coefficients were 1.83 and 1.43, respectively. The test joint had good ductility and energy dissipation capacity. The positions of yield failure of specimens were mainly concentrated in the connection areas between the column and short beam or end-plate. The research can provide the technical reference for the seismic design and engineering application of related modularized constructions.

Mathematical Modeling of Shear Stress and Direct Shear Test for Compressible Soil: Case of Soil Bordering the Wouri River

This paper focuses on the development of the mathematical model of shear stress by direct shear test for compressible soil of the littoral region, which will be a great tool in the hand of geotechnical engineers. The most common use of a shear test is to determine the shear strength which is the maximum shear stress that a material can withstand before the failure occurs. This parameter is useful in many engineering designs such as foundations, roads and retaining walls. We carried out an experimental laboratory test of ten samples of undisturbed soil taken at different points of the border of Wouri river of Cameroon. The samples were collected at different depths and a direct shear test was conducted. The investigations have been performed under constant vertical stresses and constant sample volume with the aim to determine the frictional angle and the cohesion of the compressible soil which are so important to establish the conditions of buildings stability. Special care was taken to derive loading conditions actually existing in the ground and to duplicate them in the laboratory. Given that the buildings constructed in this area are subjected to settlement, landslide, and punch break or shear failure, the cohesion and the frictional angle are determined through the rupture line after assessed the mean values of the shear stress for the considered ten samples. The bearing capacity of the soil, which is the fundamental soil parameter, was calculated. From the laboratory experimental results, the least squared method was used to derive an approximated mathematical model of the shearing stress. Many optimizations methods were then considered to reach the best adjustment.

ANALYSIS OF SIZE EFFECT,SHEAR DEFORMATION AND DILATION IN DIRECT SHEAR TEST BASED ON GRADIENT- DEPENDENT PLASTICITY

The paper concerns the issue of size law,localized deformation and dilation or compaction due to shear localization. It is assumed that the shear localization initiates at the peak shear stress in the form of single shear band,and based on gradient-dependent plasticity,an analytical solution on size effect or snap-back is obtained. The results show that the post peak response becomes steeper and even exhibits snap-back with increasing of length. For small specimen,the relative shear displacement when specimen failure occurs is lower than that of larger specimen and the shear stress-relative displacement curve becomes steeper. The theoretical solution on non-uniformity of strains in shear band is obtained and evolution of the relative shear displacement is represented. By resorting to the linear relation between local plastic shear strain and local plastic volumetric strain,the dilation and compaction within shear band are analyzed. Relation between apparent shear strain and apparent normal strain and relation between shear displacement and vertical displacement are established.

Presentation of Empirical Equations for Estimating Internal Friction Angle of GW and GC Soils in Mashhad, Iran Using Standard Penetration and Direct Shear Tests and Comparison with Previous Equations

Presentation of empirical equations for estimating engineering properties of soils is a simple, low cost and widely-used method. One of the major concerns in using these equations is evaluating their accuracy in different conditions and regions which often lead to doubts about obtained results. Most of these equations were derived in special laboratories, different climate conditions and in soils with different geotechnical and geological engineering properties and were generalized to other conditions. The main question is that whether these methods are also applicable to other conditions. Using local equations and narrowing the usage range of various methods based on each region’s properties are appropriate methods to solve these problems. This leads to simplified and faster analysis and high reliability in the obtained results. In this paper, empirical equations were derived to estimate internal friction angle, based on SPT numbers of Mashhad City’s soils in Iran, using SPT and direct shear tests results from 50 samples (25 GW and 25 GC soil samples). The results showed similar values for predicted?φ?values by SPT test and?φ?values determined by direct shear tests.

Direct shear tests of coarse-grained fillings from high-speed railway subgrade in cold regions

In order to study the shear behavior of coarse-grained fillings taken from the subgrade bottom layer of a cold region high-speed railway,large scale direct shear tests were conducted with different normal pressures,water contents and temperatures.The results indicate that the relationship between shear displacement and shear stress changed from strain-softening at lower normal pressures to strain-hardening at higher normal pressures,in both unfrozen and frozen states.This phenomenon was mainly due to the shear dilatation deformation effect.The shear displacement-shear stress curves show similar stages.Besides,the shear stress rapidly increased and there was not an increment in the shear displacement during the initial stage of the shear process in the frozen state.In both the unfrozen or frozen states at the same water contents,the shear strength increased with increasing normal pressure.

Field testing of shear strength of granite residual soils

The characteristics of residual soils are very different from those of sedimentary soils.Although the strength characteristics of sedimentary soils have been studied extensively,the shear strength characteristics of granitic residual soils(GRS)subjected to the weathering of parent rocks have rarely been investigated.In this study,the shear strength characteristics of GRS in the Taishan area of southeast China(TSGRS)were studied by field and laboratory tests.The field tests consisted of a cone penetration test(CPT),borehole shear test(BST),self-boring pressuremeter test(SBPT),and seismic dilatometer Marchetti test(SDMT).The shortcomings of laboratory testing are obvious,with potential disturbances arising through the sampling,transportation,and preparation of soil samples.Due to the special structure of GRS samples and the ease of disturbance,the results obtained from laboratory tests were generally lower than those obtained from situ tests.The CPT and scanning electron microscopy(SEM)results indicated significant weathering and crustal hardening in the shallow TSGRS.This resulted in significant differences in the strength and strength parameters of shallow soil obtained by the BST.Based on the SDMT and SBPT results,a comprehensive evaluation method of shear strength for TSGRS was proposed.The SBPT was suitable for evaluating the strength of shallow GRS.The material index(ID)and horizontal stress index(KD)values obtained by the SDMT satisfied the empirical relationship proposed by Marchetti based on the ID index,and were therefore considered suitable for the evaluation of the shear strength of deep GRS.