Volumetric Strains of Clean Sands Subject to Cyclic Loads
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 8
Abstract
We utilize simple shear testing to investigate the volume change of clean sands subject to cyclic loads. We examine the effects of a number of compositional and environmental factors on the vertical strain at 15 uniform shear strain cycles and on the cycle-to-cycle variation of vertical strain. The compositional factor found to principally affect seismic compression susceptibility is relative density. Compositional factors found to not significantly affect cyclic volume change include gradation parameters (mean grain size and uniformity coefficient), particle angularity, soil fabric, mineralogy, and void ratio “breadth” . An environmental factor found to affect seismic compression susceptibility is confining stress, with volumetric strains decreasing with increasing stress. Environmental factors that do not significantly affect seismic compression susceptibility for clean sands are saturation and age. Stress history can decrease vertical strains from seismic compression for certain conditions, but we find such effects to be insignificant for the levels of overburden stress where compacted fills are typically overconsolidated from compaction-induced stresses. An empirical model is developed to represent the major trends of the data for application in engineering practice, which improves upon an earlier model that is based on a much smaller database and does not account for the aforementioned environmental factors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Partial support for this research was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior, under USGS Award No. 05HQGR0050. Additional support was provided by Subcontract No. 10 between the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE) and the Regents of the University of California, with funding provided by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). This support is gratefully acknowledged. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government, CUREE, or the CEA. We acknowledge the significant contributions of Matthew Moyneur to this work, who performed many of the preliminary tests on clean sand materials. We would also like to thank Mladen Vucetic of UCLA for his valuable insights in helping to interpret the test results.
References
Alpan, I. (1967). “The empirical evaluation of the coefficient and .” Soils Found., 7(1), 31—40.
ASTM. (2001a). “Standard test method for particle-size analysis of soils.” D422, West Conshohoken, Pa.
ASTM. (2001b). “Standard test methods for maximum index density and unit weight of soils using a vibratory table.” D4253, West Conshohoken, Pa.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard test methods for minimum index density and unit weight of soils and calculation of relative density.” D5254, West Conshohoken, Pa.
Boulanger, R. W. (2003). “High overburden stress effects in liquefaction analyses.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(12), 1071–1082.
Budhu, M. (1985). “Lateral stresses observed in two simple shear apparatus.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 111(6), 698–711.
California Geological Survey (CGS). (2005). “Engineering geology and seismology for public schools and hospitals in California.” Rep. to Accompany California Geological Survey Note 48 Checklist, Sacramento, Calif., R. H. Sydnor, ed.
Cho, G., Dodds, J., and Santamarina, J. C. (2006). “Particle shape effects of packing density, stiffness, and strength: Natural and crushed sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(5), 591–602.
Chu, H. H., and Vucetic, M. (1992). “Settlement of compacted clay in a cyclic direct simple shear device.” Geotech. Test. J., 15(4), 371–379.
Dobry, R., Ladd, R. S., Yokel, F. Y., Chung, R. M., and Powell, D. (1982). “Prediction of pore water pressure buildup and liquefaction of sands during earthquakes by the cyclic strain method.” National Bureau of Standards Building Science Series 138, Washington, D.C.
Dyvik, R., Berre, T., Lacasse, S., and Raadim, B. (1987). “Comparison of truly undrained and constant volume direct simple shear tests.” Geotechnique, 37, 3–10.
Dyvik, R., Zimmie, T. F., and Floess, C. H. L. (1981). “Lateral stress measurements in direct simple shear device.” Laboratory shear strength of soil, ASTM STP, 740, 191–206.
Duku, P. M. (2007). “Seismic compression of compacted soils.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles.
Duku, P. M., Stewart, J. P., and Whang, D. H. (2006). “Effect of post-compaction ageing on seismic compression of fine-grained soils.” Ground Modification and Seismic Mitigation, Proc., Sessions of GeoShanghai Conf., A. Porbaha, S.-L. Shen, J. Wartman, and J.-C. Chai, eds., ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 152, 411–416.
Duku, P. M., Stewart, J. P., Whang, D. H., and Venugopal, R. (2007). “Digitally controlled simple shear apparatus for dynamic soil testing.” Geotech. Test. J., 30(5), 368–377.
Duncan, J. M., Williams, G. W., Sehn, A. L., and Seed, R. B. (1991). “Estimation of earth pressures due to compaction.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 117(12), 1833–1847.
Finn, W. D. L. (1981). “Liquefaction potential: Developments since 1976.” Proc., 1st Int. Conf. Recent Adv. Geotech. Earthquake Engrg. Soil Dyn., Univ. of Missouri, Rolla, St. Louis, Mo., 2. 655–681.
Goodman, L. E., and Brown, C. B. (1962). “Energy dissipation in contact friction: Constant normal and cyclic tangential loading.” J. Appl. Mech., 29, 17–22.
Hsu, C.-C., and Vucetic, M. (2004). “Volumetric threshold shear strain for cyclic settlement.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(1), 58–70.
Idriss, I. M., and Boulanger, R. W. (2003). “Estimating for use in evaluating cyclic resistance of sloping ground.” Proc., 8th US–Japan Workshop on Earthquake Resistant Design of Lifeline Facilities and Countermeasures against Liquefaction, Report No. MCEER-03–0003, M. Hamada, T. D. O’Rourke, and J. P. Bardet, eds., MCEER, SUNY, Buffalo, N.Y., 449–468.
Ishihara, K., and Takatsu, H. (1979). “Effects of overconsolidation and conditions on the liquefaction characteristics of sands.” Soils Found., 19(4), 59–68.
Jaky, J. (1944). “The coefficient of earth pressure at rest.” J. Soc. Hung. Archit. Eng., 78(22), 355–358.
Johnson, K. L. (1955). “Surface interaction between elastically loaded bodies under tangential forces.” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 230, 531–548.
Johnson, K. L. (1961). “Energy dissipation of spherical surfaces in contact transmitting oscillating forces.” J. Mech. Eng. Sci., 3, 362–368.
Kokusho, T., Hara, T., and Hiraoko, R. (2004). “Undrained shear strength of granular soils with different particle gradations.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 130(6), 621–629.
Ladd, R. S. (1974). “Specimen preparation and liquefaction of sands.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 100(10), 1180–1184.
Lee, K. L., and Focht, J. A. (1975). “Liquefaction potential of Ekofisk tank in North Sea.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 101(1), 1–18.
Martin, G. R., Finn, W. D. L., and Seed, H. B. (1975). “Fundamentals of liquefaction under cyclic loading.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 101(5), 423–438.
Mindlin, R. D., and Deresiewicz, H. (1953). “Elastic spheres in contact under varying oblique forces.” J. Appl. Mech., 20, 327–344.
Mindlin, R. D. Mason, W. P., Osmer, T. F., and Deresiewicz, H. (1951). “Effects of an oscillating tangential force on the contact surface of elastic spheres.” Proc. 1st U.S. National Congress of Applied Mechanics, ASME, 203–208.
Mulilis, P. J., Seed, H. B., Chan, C., Mitchell, J. K., and Arulanandan, K. (1977). “Effect of sample preparation on sand liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 103(2), 91–109.
National Research Council (NRC). (1985). “Committee on Earthquake Engineering, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems.” Liquefaction of soils during earthquakes, National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
Ohara, S., and Matsuda, H. (1988). “Study on the settlement of saturated clay layer induced by cyclic shear.” Soils Found., 28(3), 103–113.
Pettijohn, F. J., Potter, P. E., and Siever, R. (1987). Sand and sandstone, Springer, New York, 53—67.
Polito, C. P., and Martin, J. R. (2001). “Effects of nonplastic fines on the liquefaction resistance of sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 127(5), 408–415.
Pyke, R., Seed, H. B., and Chan, C. K. (1975). “Settlement of sands under multidirectional shaking.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 101(4), 379–398.
Seed, H. B., Pyke, R. M., and Martin, G. R. (1977). “Effect of multidirectional shaking on pore pressure development in sands.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 104(1), 27–44.
Shahnazari, H., and Towhata, I. (2001). “Torsion shear tests on cyclic stress-dilatancy relationship of sand.” Soils Found., 42(1), 105–119.
Silver, M. L., and Seed, H. B. (1971). “Volume changes in sands due to cyclic loading.” J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., 97(9), 1171–1182.
Stamatopoulos, C. A., Balla, L. N., and Stamatopoulos, A. C. (2004). “Earthquake-induced settlement as a result of densification, measured in laboratory tests.” Proc., 13th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Vancouver, BC, International Association for Earthquake Engineering.
Stewart, J. P., Bray, J. D., McMahon, D. J., Smith, P. M., and Kropp, A. L. (2001). “Seismic performance of hillside fills.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 127(11), 905–919.
Stewart, J. P., Smith, P. M., Whang, D. H., and Bray, J. D. (2004). “Seismic compression of two compacted earth fills shaken by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 130(5), 461–476.
Timoshenko, S., and Goodier, J. N. (1951). Theory of elasticity, McGraw-Hill, New York, 372.
Tokimatsu, K., and Seed, H. B. (1987). “Evaluation of settlements in sands due to earthquake shaking.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 113(8), 861–878.
Tsukamoto, Y., Ishihara, K., Sawada, S., and Kanno, T. (2004) “Residual deformation characteristics of partially saturated sandy soils subjected to seismic excitation.” Proc., 11th Int. Conf. on Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 1, Berkeley, Calif., 694–701.
Vaid, Y. P., Sivathayalan, S., and Stedman, D. (1999). “Influence of specimen reconstitution method on the undrained response of sand.” Geotech. Test. J., 22(3), 187–195.
Wartman, J. et al. (2003). “Ground failure.” Earthquake Spectra, 19(S1), 35–56.
Whang, D. H., Moyneur, M. S., Duku, P., and Stewart, J. P. (2005). “Seismic compression behavior of nonplastic silty sands.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Advanced Experimental Unsaturated Soil Mechanics, A. Tarantino, E. Romero, and Y. J. Cui, eds., Trento, Italy, Balkema, 257–263.
Whang, D. H., Stewart, J. P., and Bray, J. D. (2004). “Effect of compaction conditions on the seismic compression of compacted fill soils.” Geotech. Test. J., 27(4), 371–379.
Yamamuro, J. A., and Wood, F. M. (2004). “Effect of depositional method on the undrained behavior and microstructure of sand and silt.” Soil Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 24, 751–760.
Youd, T. L. (1972). “Compaction of sands by repeated shear straining.” J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., 98(7), 709–725.
Youd, T. L., and Craven, T. N. (1975). “Lateral stress in sands during cyclic loading.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 101 (GT2), 217–221.
Zettler, T. E., Frost, J. D., and DeJong, J. T. (2000). “Shear-induced changes in HDPE geomembrane surface topography.” Geosynthet. Int., 7(3), 243–267.
Zlatovic, S., and Ishihara, K. (1997). “On the influence of nonplastic fines on residual strength.” Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Balkema, Rotterdam.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 8 • August 2008
Pages: 1073 - 1085
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 17, 2007
Accepted: Oct 24, 2007
Published online: Aug 1, 2008
Published in print: Aug 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.