Effect of the Interaction of Fines and Granular Particles on Cyclic Liquefaction Resistance Using the Equivalent Granular Void Ratio and Capacity Energy Approach
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 7
Abstract
A series of strain-controlled cyclic triaxial tests were performed on Firoozkuh sand‒silt mixtures with wide ranges of fines content (FC), relative density (Dr), and effective confining stress ( ) to investigate their liquefaction resistance in terms of capacity energy (Wliq). Also, several cyclic test results from previous studies were collected and reanalyzed. The results showed that Dr could be used as a proper parameter to define soil density state for predicting Wliq of clean sands and sand‒silt mixtures when FC is greater than dispersing fines content (FCdis). However, due to the complicated role of FC in coarse‒fine assemblies, no universal relationship between Wliq and FC has been reported for the soil mixtures when FC is less than the threshold fines content (FCth). Therefore, the concept of equivalent granular void ratio ( ) was used to capture the coarse‒fine interactions in such mixtures. It was also found that the fines contribution factor (b), which is the fraction of fines participating in load transfer, is dependent on Dr, as well as particle size disparity ratio (χ) and FC, neglected in previous studies. Finally, a new model was proposed for the prediction of the b value and also a unique relationship between and Wliq was obtained for all mixtures of specified sand and silt where FC ≤ FCth.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- b
- fines contribution factor;
- bth
- value of b at FCth;
- b0
- value of b for a Dr of 0%;
- b100
- value of b for a Dr of 100%;
- Dr
- relative density;
- equivalent relative density;
- D10
- sand particle diameter at 10% finer;
- d50
- fines particle diameter at 50% finer;
- e
- void ratio;
- equivalent granular void ratio;
- ecr
- void ratio at the critical state;
- equivalent granular void ratio at the critical state;
- emax
- maximum void ratio;
- emin
- minimum void ratio;
- emax,cs
- maximum void ratio of the host clean sand;
- emin,cs
- minimum void ratio of the host clean sand;
- FC
- fines content;
- FCdis
- dispersing fines content;
- FCth
- threshold fines content;
- W
- dissipated energy per unit volume of soil;
- Wliq
- capacity energy, which is the amount of dissipated energy required to trigger liquefaction;
- WN
- normalized capacity energy, ;
- effective confining stress;
- χ
- particle size disparity ratio, χ = D10/d50;
- ψ
- state parameter; and
- equivalent state parameter.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 7 • July 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 16, 2023
Accepted: Jan 13, 2024
Published online: Apr 24, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 24, 2024
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