Mechanical Behavior of Clean Sand at Low Confining Pressure: Verification with Element and Model Tests
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 8
Abstract
Confining pressure significantly influences the mechanical behavior of soil. Understanding geotechnical problems related to low confining pressures requires precise modeling of soil behavior at low confining stress. Yet laboratory tests, including element tests under low confining pressure, are so far quite limited. In this note, a series of element tests under low confining pressure (5–20 kPa) were carried out to investigate the effect of low confining pressure on the mechanical behavior of loose and medium dense Toyoura sand. Element tests include undrained cyclic loading tests, as well as drained and undrained strain-controlled monotonic loading tests. The results show that loose sand under low confining pressure behaves much like dense sand under higher pressure. Model tests of slope failure flow under microgravity, carried out to supplement the element test results, also confirmed the previously mentioned mechanical behavior. The results obtained in this paper provide a more fundamental understanding of geotechnical problems related to low confining stress.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41372355 and 41072202) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-11-0382).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 8 • August 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 6, 2014
Accepted: Mar 5, 2015
Published online: Apr 8, 2015
Published in print: Aug 1, 2015
Discussion open until: Sep 8, 2015
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