New Procedure for Saturating Sand Specimens
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 110, Issue 9
Abstract
Saturation of sand specimens in laboratory investigations is necessary to provide reliable measurements of volume change and pore pressure. Conventional methods utilize back pressuring or back pressuring with supplemental use of carbon dioxide. If no carbon dioxide is used, back pressures can easily become undesirably large. On the other hand, the percolation of carbon dioxide through the sand to reduce back pressures can lead to unwanted reaction with soil components. To overcome these problems, a new procedure is proposed that utilizes equipment available in almost any geotechnical laboratory. A theoretical and experimental basis is provided as justification. In the new method, an initial vacuum is applied to the sand specimen in such a manner as not to elevate effective stresses. The soil may be dry, saturated, or partially saturated. After the vacuum is held for no more than five minutes, normal back‐pressuring techniques are used. It is found that sands can be effectively saturated at very low values of back pressure. The procedure is especially useful in normally troublesome materials such as cemented sands.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Black, D. K., and Lee, K. L., “Saturating Laboratory Samples by Back‐Pressure,” Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 99, No. SMI, Jan., 1973, pp. 75–93.
2.
Chaney, R. C., “Saturation Effects on the Cyclic Strength of Sands,” Proceedings of the ASCE Geotechnical Engineering Division Specialty Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics, Vol. II, Pasadena, Calif., June, 1978.
3.
Clough, G. W., Sitar, N., Bachus, R. C., and Rad, N. S., “Cemented Sands Under Static Loadings,” Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, June, 1981, pp. 799–817.
4.
Frelund, D. G., “Density and Compressibility Characteristic of Air‐Water Mixtures,” Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 13, 1976, pp. 386–396.
5.
Hilf, J. W., “Estimating Construction Pore Pressure in Rolled Earth Dams,” Proceedings Second International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. III, 1948, pp. 234–240.
6.
Lowe, J., and Johnson, T. C., “Use of Back‐Pressure to Increase Degree of Saturation of Triaxial Test Specimens,” Presented at the 1960 ASCE Research Conference on Shear Strength of Cohesive Soils, Boulder, Colo., 1960, pp. 819–836.
7.
Rad, N. S., “Static and Dynamic Behavior of Cemented Sands,” thesis presented to Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif., in 1982, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
8.
Rad, N. S., and Clough, G. W., “Static and Dynamic Behavior of Cemented Sands,” The John A. Blume Center, Stanford University, Report No. 59, Prepared for the United States Geological Survey, Office of Earthquake Studies, Dec., 1982.
9.
Schuurman, E., “The Compressibility of an Air/Water Mixture and a Theoretical Relation Between Air and Water Pressure,” Geotechnique, Vol. 16, No. 4, Dec., 1966, pp. 269–281.
10.
Sherif, M. A., Ishibashi, I., and Tsuchiya, C., “Saturation Effects on Initial Soil Liquefaction,” Technical Note, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 103, No. GT8, Aug., 1977, pp. 914–917.
11.
Skempton, A. W., “The Pore Pressure Coefficients A and B,” Geotechnique, Vol. IV, Mar., 1954, pp. 143–147.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 ASCE.
History
Published online: Sep 1, 1984
Published in print: Sep 1984
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.