New Gradation Equation and Applicability for Particle-Size Distributions of Various Soils
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
A new gradation equation that can describe the particle-size distribution curves of soils with continuous gradation is presented. The results obtained for a large amount of test data from soil gradations prove that the equation is applicable over a wide range of soils, including rockfill, gravel, sand, and clay. Three parameter determination methods are proposed, with the optimization method yielding the best results. The possible values of the parameters m and b in the proposed equation were intensively investigated, and the suggested ranges of the parameters were found to be b < 1 and m > 0. However, for most soils, these parameters have values of –4 < b < 1 and 0 < m < 12. The study of the features of the gradation equation and the resulting curves in P-logd coordinates revealed that the parameter b determines the gradation curve shape. If b ≤ 0.5, the gradation curve is hyperbolic, and if 0.5 < b < 1, the curve is sigmoidal. The parameter m determines the gradation curve slope, which increases with increasing m. Several soil gradations used in earth-rockfill dams worldwide were investigated to summarize the gradation characteristics, and the results revealed that the values of the parameters b and m for the rockfill fall within a narrow range. The proposed equation is more convenient for expressing the soil gradation and makes it possible to quantitatively describe the relationship between the mechanical properties of the rockfill and the gradation.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0404800), a research grant (B13024) from the 111 Project, research grants (51479052 and 51579167) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and a research grant (YK915001) from the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Failure Mechanism and Safety Control Techniques of Earth-rock Dam of the Ministry of Water Resources.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 18 • Issue 2 • February 2018
Copyright
© 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 14, 2016
Accepted: Sep 11, 2017
Published online: Dec 14, 2017
Published in print: Feb 1, 2018
Discussion open until: May 14, 2018
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