Static Liquefaction of Sands under Isotropically and -Consolidated Undrained Triaxial Conditions
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 1
Abstract
By using the state-dependent strength criterion and dilatancy function, a state-dependent nonassociated elastoplasticity hardening model was proposed to unify modeling the constitutive relationships of sands with different initial void ratios. According to the second-order work theory, the criteria for predicting the potential instability and static liquefaction of sands were obtained. The proposed model and criteria were used to predict a series of isotropically consolidated and -consolidated undrained triaxial tests. The results showed that the potentially unstable point and the onset of static liquefaction under undrained conditions coincided with the attainment of a deviatoric stress peak in very loose sand, whereas, with the decrease of the initial void ratio, the onset of static liquefaction fell behind the potential instability. When the sand specimen was dense enough, static liquefaction did not occur, although the stress state was located inside of the potentially unstable region. The potential instability and static liquefaction occurred before the effective stress reached the failure surface, and they were the precursors though not the results of the sand failures.
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Acknowledgments
The financial support given by the National Basic Research Program of China (grant 2012CB719803), National Science Foundation of China (NSFC grant 11372228), and Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (grant 13ZR1443800) are gratefully acknowledged. The first author also extends his thanks to Professor José E Andrade at the California Institute of Technology for his help in doing the research. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Nov 10, 2012
Accepted: Sep 2, 2014
Published online: Sep 29, 2014
Published in print: Jan 1, 2015
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