Effect of Gas on the Mechanical Behavior of Medium-Dense Sands
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper presents the results of monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests performed on gassy, medium-dense sand specimens. These sands are representative of conditions in a loose-sand deposit that was densified using multiple blasting passes at a site in South Carolina. The equipment and laboratory testing procedures used to reproduce the postblast densification conditions observed at a field test are described in detail. Results of undrained and drained compression tests showed that the gassy-specimen responses were bounded by the fully saturated drained and undrained responses. The undrained test results showed that the presence of gas, even in small amounts, made the soil more compressible and restricted the buildup of excess pore-water pressures as compared with those pressures observed in fully saturated specimens. Additionally, the shear strengths of gassy, medium-dense sand specimens were similar to those observed in saturated, loose sands sheared under drained conditions. For a given cyclic stress ratio and number of cycles, the axial strains and excess pore-water pressures were significantly smaller than those for a saturated specimen with the same void ratio. Implications of the behavior of such blast-densified sands are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this work was provided by the Infrastructure Technology Institute (ITI) of Northwestern University and the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Grant CMMI 1235440. The support of Dr. Richard Fragaszy, program director at NSF, is greatly appreciated. The authors thank Dr. Robert Bachus of Geosyntec Consultants for providing the sand samples for the laboratory testing and for his interest in the work.
References
Amaratunga, A., and Grozic, J. L. H. (2009). “On the undrained unloading behaviour of gassy sands.” Can. Geotech. J., 46(11), 1267–1276.
Been, K., Jefferies, M. G., and Hachey, J. (1991). “The critical state of sands.” Géotechnique, 41(3), 365–381.
Bowman, E. T., and Soga, K. (2003). “Creep, ageing and microstructural change in dense granular materials.” Soils Found., 43(4), 107–117.
Castro, G., Seed, R. B., Keller, T. O., and Seed, H. B. (1992). “Steady-state strength analysis of lower San Fernando Dam slide.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 406–427.
Chaney, R., and Mulilis, J. P. (1978). “Suggested method for soil specimen remolding by wet-raining.” Geotech. Test. J., 1(2), 107–108.
Chern, J. C. (1981). “Effect of static shear on resistance to liquefaction.” M.A.Sc. thesis, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Chern, J. C. (1985). “Undrained response of saturated sands with emphasis on liquefaction and cyclic mobility.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Christian, H. A., and Cranston, R. E. (1997). “A methodology for detecting free gas in marine sediments.” Can. Geotech. J., 34(2), 293–304.
Christian, H. A., Woeller, D. J., Robertson, P. K., and Courtney, R. C. (1997). “Site investigations to evaluate flow liquefaction slides at Sand Heads, Fraser River delta.” Can. Geotech. J., 34(3), 384–397.
Dowding, C. H., and Hryciw, R. D. (1986). “A laboratory study of blast densification of saturated sand.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 187–199.
Dusseault, M. B. (1979). “Undrained volume and stress change behavior of unsaturated very dense sands.” Can. Geotech. J., 16(4), 627–640.
Fourie, A. B., Hofmann, B. A., Mikula, R. J., Lord, E. R. F., and Robertson, P. K. (2001). “Partially saturated tailings sand below the phreatic surface.” Géotechnique, 51(7), 577–585.
Geosyntec Consultants. (2007). “Ground improvement implementation phase II—Zones 4, 5, 19, 20, 21 and 22.” Project No. GD3989-01 Prepared for USA Waste Services.
Grozic, J. L. (1999). “The behavior of loose gassy sand and its susceptibility to liquefaction.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Grozic, J. L., Robertson, P. K., and Morgenstern, N. R. (1999). “The behavior of loose gassy sand.” Can. Geotech. J., 36(3), 482–492.
Grozic, J. L. H., Robertson, P. K., and Morgenstern, N. R. (2000). “Cyclic liquefaction of loose gassy sand.” Can. Geotech. J., 37(4), 843–856.
Hryciw, R. D. (1986). “A study of the physical and chemical aspects of blast densification of sand.” Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL.
Knai, H. B. (2011). “Measuring the effect of occluded gas bubbles on stress-strain response of a loose to medium sand.” M.S. thesis, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL.
Ladd, R. S. (1974). “Specimen preparation and liquefaction of sands.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 100(10), 1180–1184.
Ladd, R. S. (1978). “Preparing test specimens using undercompaction.” Geotech. Test. J., 1(1), 16–23.
Lade, P. V. (1992). “Static instability and liquefaction of loose fine sandy slopes.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 51–71.
Menzies, B. K. (1988). “A computer controlled hydraulic triaxial testing system.” Advanced triaxial testing of soil and rock, R. T. Donaghe, R. C. Chaney, and M. L. Silver, eds., ASTM, Philadelphia, 82–94.
Menzies, B. K., Hooker, P., Sutton, J. A., and Snelling, K. (2002). GDS software-based dynamic and seismic laboratory soil testing systems, GDS Instruments, Hampshire, U.K.
Mesri, G., Feng, T. W., and Benak, J. M. (1990). “Postdensification penetration resistance of clean sands.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 1095–1115.
Michalowski, R. L., and Nadukuru, S. S. (2012). “Static fatigue, time effects, and delayed increase in penetration resistance after dynamic compaction of sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 564–574.
Mitchell, J. K., and Solymar, Z. V. (1984). “Time-dependent strength gain in freshly deposited or densified sand.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 1559–1576.
Mulilis, J. P., Arulanandan, K., Mitchell, J. K., Chan, C. K., and Seed, H. B. (1977). “Effects of sample preparation on sand liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 103(2), 91–108.
Nageswaran, S. (1983). “Effect of gas bubbles on the sea bed behaviour.” Ph.D. thesis, Oxford Univ., Oxford, U.K.
Narsilio, G. A., Santamarina, J. C., Hebeler, T., and Bachus, R. (2009). “Blast densification: Multi-instrumented case history.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 723–734.
Ng, C. W. W., Zhang, L. T., and Cui, Y. J. (2002). “A new simple system for measuring volume changes in unsaturated soils.” Can. Geotech. J., 39(3), 757–764.
Oda, M. (1972). “Initial fabrics and their relations to mechanical properties of granular material.” Soils Found., 12(1), 17–36.
Okamura, M., et al. (2011). “In-situ desaturation test by air injection and its evaluation through field monitoring and multiphase flow simulation.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 643–652.
Okamura, M., Ishihara, M., and Tamura, K. (2006). “Degree of saturation and liquefaction resistances of sand improved with sand compaction pile.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 258–264.
Okamura, M., and Soga, Y. (2006). “Effects of pore fluid compressibility on liquefaction resistance of partially saturated sand.” Soils Found., 46(5), 695–700.
Poulos, S. J., Castro, G., and France, J. W. (1985). “Liquefaction evaluation procedure.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 772–792.
Rad, N. S., and Lunne, T. (1994). “Gas in soil. I: Detection and -profiling.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 697–715.
Rad, N. S., Vianna, A. J. D., and Berre, T. (1994). “Gas in soils. II: Effect of gas on undrained static and cyclic strength of sand.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 716–736.
Schmertmann, J. H. (1987). “Discussion of ‘Time-dependent strength gain in freshly deposited or densified sand’ by James K. Mitchell and Zoltan V. Solymar (November, 1984).” J. Geotech. Engrg., 173–175.
Schmertmann, J. H. (1991). “The mechanical aging of soils.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 1288–1330.
Schofield, A. N., and Wroth, P. (1968). Critical state soil mechanics, McGraw Hill, New York.
South Carolina DOT (SCDOT). (2008). “South Carolina geology and seismicity.” Chapter 11, SCDOT geotechnical design manual, Columbia, SC, 11-1–11-36.
Thomann, T. G. (1990). “Stiffness and strength changes in cohesionless soils due to stress history and dynamic disturbance.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Thomann, T. G., and Hryciw, R. D. (1992). “Stiffness and strength changes in cohesionless soils due to disturbance.” Can. Geotech. J., 29(5), 853–861.
Thomas, S. D. (1987). “The consolidation behaviour of gassy soil.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.
Thomson, P. R., and Wong, R. C. K. (2008). “Specimen nonuniformities in water-pluviated and moist-tamped sands under undrained triaxial compression and extension.” Can. Geotech. J., 45(7), 939–956.
Tsukamoto, Y., Ishihara, K., Nakazawa, H., Kamada, K., and Huang, Y. (2002). “Resistance of partly saturated sand to liquefaction with reference to longitudinal and shear wave velocities.” Soils Found., 42(6), 93–104.
Vaid, Y. P., and Negussey, D. (1988). “Preparation of reconstituted sand specimens.” Advanced triaxial testing of soil and rock, R. T. Donaghe, R. C. Chaney, and M. L. Silver, eds., ASTM, Philadelphia, 405–417.
Vaid, Y. P., and Sivathayalan, S. (2000). “Fundamental factors affecting liquefaction susceptibility of sands.” Can. Geotech. J., 37(3), 592–606.
Vaid, Y. P., Sivathayalan, S., and Stedman, D. (1999). “Influence of specimen-reconstituting method on the undrained response of sand.” Geotech. Test. J., 22(3), 187–195.
Vega-Posada, C. A. (2012). “Evaluation of liquefaction susceptibility of clean sands after blast densification.” Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL.
Verdugo, R., and Ishihara, K. (1996). “The steady state of sandy soils.” Soils Found., 36(2), 81–91.
Wijewickreme, D., Sriskandakumar, S., and Byrne, P. M. (2005). “Cyclic loading response of loose air-pluviated Fraser River sand for validation of numerical models simulating centrifuge tests.” Can. Geotech. J., 42(2), 550–561.
Xia, H., and Hu, T. (1991). “Effects of saturation and back pressure on sand liquefaction.” J. Geotech. Engrg., 1347–1362.
Yamamuro, J. A., and Wood, F. M. (2004). “Effect of depositional method on the undrained behavior and microstructure of sand with silt.” Soil. Dyn. Earthquake Eng., 24(9–10), 751–760.
Yegian, M. K., Eseller-Bayat, E., Alshawabkeh, A., and Ali, S. (2007). “Induced-partial saturation for liquefaction mitigation: Experimental investigation.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 372–380.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 11 • November 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 24, 2013
Accepted: Jun 23, 2014
Published online: Jul 30, 2014
Published in print: Nov 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Dec 30, 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.