Dynamic Properties of Highly Organic Soils from Montezuma Slough and Clifton Court
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 4
Abstract
The nonlinear dynamic properties of highly organic soils from two levee sites in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California are described. Cyclic triaxial, resonant column and torsional shear tests were performed on thin-walled tube samples obtained from beneath levee crests, beneath adjacent berms, and in the free field such that the in situ vertical effective stresses ranged from about . These highly organic soils had considerably different organic characteristics from those used in previous studies of dynamic properties. The tested samples had organic contents of 14 to 61%, initial water contents of 88 to 496%, shear wave velocities of , and organic components that ranged from highly fibrous to highly decomposed and amorphous. Secant shear modulus , normalized secant shear modulus , and equivalent damping ratio versus cyclic shear strain amplitude relations are presented, and their dependence on variables such as consolidation stress, organic content, prior loading history, testing device, and loading frequency are illustrated. Findings are compared to previously published results.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR), State of California. 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 State of California. Bill Sluis and Daret Kehlet assisted with the equipment development. Brent Lamkin of the CDWR assisted with the drilling and sampling work. All of the above support and assistance is greatly appreciated.
References
ASTM. (2002). “Standard classification of peat samples by laboratory testing.” D 4427-92 (reapproved 2002), American Society of Testing and Materials, Vol. 04.08, 643–645.
ASTM. (2005a). “Standard practice for classification of soils for engineering purposes (Unified Soil Classification System).” D 2487-00, American Society of Testing and Materials, Vol. 04.08, 249–260.
ASTM. (2005b). “Standard test methods for moisture, ash, and organic matter of peat and other organic soils.” D 2974-00, American Society of Testing and Materials, Vol. 04.08, 332–335.
Boulanger, R. W., Arulnathan, R., Harder, L. F., Jr., Torres, R. A., and Driller, M. W. (1998). “Dynamic properties of Sherman Island peat.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(1), 12–20.
California (1992). “Seismic stability evaluation of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levees.” Phase I Rep.: Preliminary Evaluations and Review of Previous Studies, Division of Design and Construction, California Dept. of Water Resources.
Kishida, T. (2008). “Seismic site effects for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of California, Davis.
Kishida, T., Boulanger, R. W., Wehling, T. M., and Driller, M. W. (2006). “Variation of small strain stiffness for peat and organic soil.” Proc., 8th U.S. National Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Paper No. 1057.
Kramer, S. L. (1996). “Dynamic response of peats.” Final Research Rep. No. WA-RD 412.1, Washington State Transportation Center, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
Kramer, S. L. (2000). “Dynamic response of Mercer slough peat.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(6), 504–510.
Landva, A. O., Korpijaakko, E. O., and Pheeney, P. E. (1983). “Geotechnical classification of peats and organic soils.” Testing of peats and organic soils, ASTM STP 820, P. M. Jarrett, ed., American Society of Testing and Materials, 37–51.
Meng, J., and Rix, G. J. (2004). “Measurement of strain rate effects on dynamic soil properties.” Proc., Skempton Conf., Advances in Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 1, R. J. Jardine, D. M. Potts, and K. G. Higgins, eds., Thoma Telford, London, 545–555.
Mesri, G., and Ajlouni, M. (2007). “Engineering properties of fibrous peats.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 133(7), 850–866.
Seed, H. B., and Idriss, I. M. (1970). “Analyses of ground motions at Union Bay, Seattle during earthquakes and distant nuclear blasts.” Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 60(1), 125–136.
Shibuya, S., Mitachi, T., Fukuda, F., and Degoshi, T. (1995). “Strain-rate effects on shear modulus and damping of normally consolidated clay.” Geotech. Test. J., 18(3), 365–375.
Stokoe, K. H., II, Bay, J. A., Rosenbald, B. L., Hwang, S. K., and Twede, M. R. (1994). “In situ seismic and dynamic laboratory measurements of geotechnical materials at Queensboro Bridge and Roosevelt Island.” Geotechnical Engineering Rep. No. GR94-5, Civil Engineering Dept., Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, Tex.
Tokimatsu, K., and Sekiguchi, T. (2007). “Effects of dynamic properties of peat on strong ground motions during 2004 mid Niigata prefecture earthquake.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering, Thessaloniki, Paper No. 1531.
Vucetic, M., and Dobry, R. (1991). “Effect of soil plasticity on cyclic response.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 117(1), 89–107.
Wehling, T. M., Boulanger, R. W., Arulnathan, R., Harder, L. F., Jr., and Driller, M. W. (2003). “Nonlinear dynamic properties of a fibrous organic soil.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 129(10), 929–939.
Wehling, T. M., Boulanger, R. W., Harder, L. F., Jr., and Driller, M. W. (2001). “Dynamic properties of Sherman Island peat: Phase II study.” Rep. No. UCD/CGM-01/01, Center for Geotechnical Modeling, Univ. of California, Davis, Calif.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 8, 2007
Accepted: Jul 1, 2008
Published online: Apr 1, 2009
Published in print: Apr 2009
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.