Shear Banding in True Triaxial Tests and Its Effect on Failure in Sand
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 127, Issue 8
Abstract
The occurrence of failure, mechanisms that create failure, and soil behavior in the vicinity of failure have been investigated. One mechanism is smooth peak failure, in which the soil continues to behave as a continuum with uniform strains, and smooth peak failure is followed by strain softening. Another mechanism is shear banding, whose occurrence in the plastic hardening regime limits the strength of the soil. True triaxial tests have been performed on tall prismatic specimens of Santa Monica Beach sand at three relative densities in a modified version of a cubical triaxial apparatus to study the effect of shear banding on failure in the full range of the intermediate principal stress. The experiments show that the strength increases as b [=(σ2 − σ3)/(σ1 − σ3)] increases from 0 to about 0.18, remains almost constant until b reaches 0.85, and then decreases slightly at b = 1.0. Shear banding initiates in the hardening regime for b-values of 0.18–0.85. Thus, peak failure is caused by shear banding in this middle range of b-values, and a smooth, continuous 3D failure surface is therefore not generally obtained for soils.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Arthur, J. R. F., and Dunstan, T. ( 1982). “Rupture layers in granular media.” Proc., IUTAM Symp. on Deformation and Failure of Granular Mat., P. A. Vermeer and H. J. Luger, eds., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 453–459.
2.
Arthur, J. R. F., Dunstan, T., Al-Ani, Q. A. J. L., and Assadi, A. ( 1977). “Plastic deformation and failure in granular media.” Géotechnique, London, 27(1), 53–74.
3.
Desrues, J., Chambon, R., Mokni, M., and Mazerolle, F. ( 1996). “Void ratio evolution inside shear bands in triaxial sand specimens studied by computed tomography.” Géotechnique, London, 46(3), 529–546.
4.
Desrues, J., Lanier, J., and Stutz, P. ( 1985). “Localization of the deformation in tests on sand sample.” Engrg. Fracture Mech., 21(4), 909–921.
5.
Finno, R. J., Harris, W. W., Mooney, M. A., and Viggiani, G. (1996). “Strain localization and undrained steady state of sand.”J. Geotech. Engrg., ASCE, 122(6), 462–473.
6.
Finno, R. J., Harris, W. W., Mooney, M. A., and Viggiani, G. ( 1997). “Shear bands in plane strain compression of loose sand.” Géotechnique, London, 47(1), 149–165.
7.
Lade, P. V. ( 1977). “Elasto-plastic stress-strain theory for cohesionless soil with curved yield surfaces.” Int. J. Solids and Struct., 13, 1019–1035.
8.
Lade, P. V. ( 1978). “Cubical triaxial apparatus for soil testing.” Geotech. Testing J., 1(2), 93–101.
9.
Lade, P. V., and Duncan, J. M. (1973). “Cubical triaxial tests on cohesionless soils.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 99(10), 793–812.
10.
Lade, P. V., and Wang, Q. (2001). “Analysis of shear banding in true triaxial tests on sand.”J. Engrg. Mech., ASCE, 127(8), 762–768.
11.
Molenkamp, F. ( 1985). “Comparison of frictional material models with respect to shear band initiation.” Géotechnique, London, 35(2), 127–143.
12.
Peters, J. F., Lade, P. V., and Bro, A. ( 1988). “Shear band formation on triaxial and plane strain tests.” Advanced triaxial testing of soil and rock, ASTM STP No. 977, R. T. Donaghe, R. C. Chaney, and M. L. Silver, eds., ASTM, West Conshohocken, Pa., 604–627.
13.
Rudnicki, J. W., and Rice, J. R. ( 1975). “Conditions for the localization of deformation in pressure-sensitive dilatant materials.” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 23, 371–394.
14.
Vardoulakis, I. ( 1980). “Shear band inclination and shear modulus of sand in biaxial tests.” Int. J. Numer. and Analytical Methods in Geomech., 4, 103–119.
15.
Yoshida, T., Tatsuoka, F., Siddiquee, M. S. A., Kamegai, Y., and Park, C.-S. ( 1993). “Shear banding in sands observed in plane strain compression.” Proc., 3rd Int. Workshop Localisation and Bifurcation Theory for Soils and Rocks, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 165–179.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 127 • Issue 8 • August 2001
Pages: 754 - 761
History
Received: May 3, 1999
Published online: Aug 1, 2001
Published in print: Aug 2001
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.