Effect of Sample Preparation on Steady State

Undrained Triaxial compression tests were performed on reconstituted samples of Ardebil sand to evaluate the effect of the specimen preparation procedure on the position of the steady state line under monotonic loading. Tests were performed on saturated samples by three distinctive methods of sample preparation, namely, “wet tamping”, “water sedimentation”, and “undercompaction”. In all cases, the loosest state of structure are tried to be obtained. The weakest samples were those formed by water sedimentation method because of non-uniformity of the sample. The steady state line of specimens prepared by water sedimentation method lies under those of wet tamping and undercompaction methods. The test results indicate that the normalized steady state strength of a given material tends to vary to some extent depending upon the fabric formed by different modes of deposition. Based on the data presented, it is found that the liquefaction behavior of specimens tested in triaxial equipment may be significantly affected by the method of sample preparation.