Effects of Drying-Wetting Cycles on the Mechanical Behavior of Reconstituted Granite-Residual Soils
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 8
Abstract
In Central South of China, granite residual soil (GRS) is one of the main subgrade soils for transportation infrastructures. To further understand the effects of drying and wetting (D-W) cycles on the mechanical responses of GRS, this paper presents a series of experimental tests on the microscopic characteristics and mechanical behaviors of reconstituted GRS under different D-W cycles (0, 1, 2, 4). The particle size distribution curve of GRS exhibited an evident unimodal peak. However, the unimodal distribution gradually transformed into a bimodal form with an increase of D-W cycles. A novel designed consolidation apparatus equipped with paired bender elements in three orthogonal directions is developed to investigate the compression behavior and small-strain stiffness of reconstituted GRS. Test results show that the GRS exhibited complicated compression behaviors in response to the cyclic D-Ws. The preconsolidation stress reached a maximum value at the end of the 2nd cycle and then decreased with the subsequent D-W cycles. Cyclic D-Ws resulted in a drastic increase in the small-strain stiffness, and the beneficial effect was more pronounced in the 1st cycle. Stress-induced fabric anisotropy occurred during the compression test. Both the stiffness and stiffness anisotropy increased with increased loading. In the triaxial shearing test, the volume change of the GRS was characterized by coupling effects between the suction history and confining pressure.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The following items are included
1.
Data in DLS tests,
2.
Data in triaxial shear tests,
3.
Data in consolidation tests,
4.
Data in small-strain stiffness tests.
Acknowledgments
The present work was carried out with the support of the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0800207), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51938005, 51808207, 51608188).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 8 • August 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 9, 2019
Accepted: Jan 22, 2020
Published online: May 22, 2020
Published in print: Aug 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Oct 22, 2020
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