Cyclic Volumetric Strain Behavior of Sands with Fines of Low Plasticity
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 4
Abstract
This work investigates the seismic compression characteristics of nonplastic and low-plasticity silty sands with varying fines content (). Cyclic simple shear testing was performed on various sand-fines mixtures at a range of modified Proctor relative compaction levels and degrees of saturation. Aside from the expected strong influence of relative compaction, increasing fines content is found to generally decrease volume change for fines fractions consisting of silts and clayey silts of moderate-to-low plasticity index (). With truly nonplastic fines (rock flour), cyclic volume change increases with . Some materials also exhibit an effect of as-compacted saturation in which moderate saturation levels associated with high matric suction cause volume change to decrease. Additionally, the data consistently demonstrate that vertical strains decrease as overburden pressure is increased in a manner consistent with a previous clean sands model. This paper presents empirical equations to capture these effects, which extend a previous clean-sand volumetric-strain material model to account for the previously unconsidered effects of fines content and saturation.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Support for this work was provided by the USGS, Department of the Interior, under USGS award Nos. 05HQGR0050 and 07HQGR0112. This support is gratefully acknowledged. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. The authors thank the three anonymous reviewers of this manuscript for their helpful comments.
References
ASTM. (2001). “Standard test methods for maximum index density and unit weight of soils using a vibratory table.” D4253, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2003). “Standard test method for measurement of soil potential (suction) using filter paper.” D5298, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2006). “Standard test methods for minimum index density and unit weight of soils and calculation of relative density.” D4254, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using modified effort.” D1557, West Conshohocken, PA.
Duku, P. M., Stewart, J. P., Whang, D. H., and Venugopal, R. (2007). “Digitally controlled simple shear apparatus for dynamic soil testing.” J. ASTM Geotech Test., 30(5), 368–377.
Duku, P. M., Stewart, J. P., Whang, D. H., and Yee, E. (2008). “Volumetric strains of clean sands subject to cyclic loads.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 1073–1085.
Ghayoomi, M., Khosravi, A., McCartney, J. S., and Ko, H.-Y. (2010). “Challenges in predicting earthquake-induced settlements of partially saturated sands.” Proc., GeoFlorida 2010, D. O. Fratta, A. J. Puppala, and B. Muhunthan, eds., ASCE, Reston, VA, 3052–3061.
Ladd, R. S. (1974). “Specimen preparation and liquefaction of sands.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 100(10), 1180–1184.
Lee, K. L., and Singh, A. (1971). “Relative density and relative compaction.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., 97(SM7), 1049–1052.
Mulilis, P. J., Seed, H. B., Chan, C., Mitchell, J. K., and Arulanandan, K. (1977). “Effect of sample preparation on sand liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 103(2), 91–109.
National Research Council. (1985). Committee on Earthquake Engineering, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems. Liquefaction of soils during earthquakes, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Poulos, S. J., and Hed, A. (1973). “Density measurements in a hydraulic fill.” Evaluation of relative density and its role in geotechnical projects involving cohesionless soils, ASTM STP 523, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 402–424.
Pyke, R., Seed, H. B., and Chan, C. K. (1975). “Settlement of sands under multidirectional shaking.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 101(4), 379–398.
Seed, H. B., Mori, K., and Chan, C. K. (1977). “Influence of seismic history on liquefaction of sands.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 103(GT4), 246–270.
Silver, M. L., and Seed, H. B. (1971). “Volume changes in sands during cyclic loading.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., 97(9), 1171–1182.
Stewart, J. P., Smith, P. M., Whang, D. H., and Bray, J. D. (2004). “Seismic compression of two compacted earth fills shaken by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 461–476.
Thevanayagam, S. (1998). “Effect of fines and confining stress on undrained shear strength of silty sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 479–491.
Tokimatsu, K., and Seed, H. B. (1987). “Evaluation of settlements in sand due to earthquake shaking.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 861–878.
Townsend, F. C. (1973). “Comparisons of vibrated density and standard compaction tests on sand with varying amounts of fines.” Evaluation of relative density and its role in geotechnical projects involving cohesionless soils, ASTM STP 523, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 348–363.
Vaid, Y. P., Sivathayalan, S., and Stedman, D. (1999). “Influence of specimen-reconstituting method on the undrained response of sand.” J. ASTM Geotech Test., 22(3), 187–195.
Whang, D. H., Moyneur, M. S., Duku, P., and Stewart, J. P. (2005). “Seismic compression behavior of nonplastic silty sands.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Advanced Experimental Unsaturated Soil Mechanics, A. Tarantino, E. Romero, and Y. J. Cui, eds., Balkema, Lisse, Netherlands, 257–263.
Whang, D. H., Stewart, J. P., and Bray, J. D. (2004). “Effect of compaction conditions on the seismic compression of compacted fill soils.” J. ASTM Geotech Test., 27(4), 371–379.
Yee, E. (2011). “Investigation of nonlinear site response and seismic compression from case history analysis and laboratory testing.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of California, Los Angeles.
Yee, E., Stewart, J. P., and Duku, P. M. (2012). “Seismic compression behavior of sands with fines of low plasticity.” Proc., Geo-Congress, R. D. Hryciw, A. Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, and N. Yesiller, eds., ASCE, Reston, VA, 839–848.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 4 • April 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 11, 2013
Accepted: Sep 10, 2013
Published online: Sep 12, 2013
Published in print: Apr 1, 2014
Discussion open until: May 4, 2014
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.