Effect of Uniformity Coefficient on and Damping Ratio of Uniform to Well-Graded Quartz Sands
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 1
Abstract
The modulus degradation curves, , and the damping ratio, , of 27 clean quartz sands with specially mixed grain size distribution curves were measured in approximately 280 resonant column tests. For each material, tests with various pressures and densities were performed. Based on the test data it is demonstrated that the shear modulus degradation is larger for higher values of the uniformity coefficient, , while it is rather independent of the mean grain size, . The observed dependence of curves is not adequately described by common empirical equations because these equations were developed based on tests on uniform granular materials. To consider the influence of the uniformity coefficient, the paper proposes correlations of the parameters of the common empirical equations with . Good agreement between the prediction of the extended empirical equations and the experimental data collected from the literature is demonstrated. Furthermore, the test data reveal that the curves of damping ratio, , and the threshold shear strain amplitude indicating the onset of residual deformation accumulation, , are rather independent of and . The threshold shear strain amplitude at the onset of modulus degradation, , slightly decreases with increasing values of and .
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Acknowledgments
The presented study has been performed within the framework of Project No. TR218/11-1 funded by the German Research Council (DFG). The authors are grateful to DFG for financial support. The RC tests were performed during previous work by the authors at Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
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© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Oct 26, 2010
Accepted: Mar 20, 2012
Published online: Mar 22, 2012
Published in print: Jan 1, 2013
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