Shear Strength Investigations for a Class of Extraterrestrial Analogue Soils
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 4
Abstract
A class of granular materials is presented that was obtained from quarried intrusive igneous rock, further processed to match the grain-size distribution of typical Apollo samples. Texture, mineralogy, and chemical composition have been investigated; and the material is classified as basaltic andesite. A series of triaxial compression tests have been performed to assess the influence of confining stress on the shearing behavior at medium to low stress levels. A medium sand is used as reference. In one of the test series, corundum was added to simulate the glass particles found in the lunar regolith. Both stress-strain curves and volumetric strains are reported. All samples tested exhibit a purely dilatant behavior at low confining stress levels. Shear strength can be expressed either by a curved Mohr-Coulomb envelope or by a linear one with a cohesion intercept. Results are shown to agree well with those obtained on common lunar soil simulants.
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Acknowledgments
The writer wishes to thank Mr. R. Guenther for carrying out the laboratory tests, Prof. D. Kolymbas and Dr. A. Becker for discussions on soil behavior, and the reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 4 • April 2012
Pages: 508 - 515
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 13, 2010
Accepted: Aug 16, 2011
Published online: Aug 18, 2011
Published in print: Apr 1, 2012
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