Experimental Evaluation of Shear-Strength Behavior of Delhi Silt under Static Loading Conditions
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 5
Abstract
The capital city of India, Delhi, lies in the Indo-Gangetic alluvial trough. The soils of the Delhi region are known as “Delhi silt” because of the dominance of silt and, by and large, are nonplastic. The strength properties of Delhi silt, which contains either 60% or 20% sand, are experimentally evaluated with samples prepared using a slurry deposition technique in the laboratory and a stress-path triaxial system. Stress-strain-volume change and pore pressure behavior of these specimens under conventional triaxial compression (CTC) and the reduced triaxial extension (RTE) test for four values of confining pressures were measured, and strength properties are reported. These strength parameters as well as stress-strain volume change/pore pressure response were also compared with the results reported by other researchers; the observed behavior of Delhi silt is in good agreement with that of other silts reported in the literature. The study corroborated that the nature of Delhi silt is transitional, that is, it can be described by neither a sand nor a clay type of framework. All aspects of the mechanical behavior captured in this study (e.g., stress-strain volumetric response, pore pressure, and shear strength) were found to be affected by the amount of fines present in the sand and the loading conditions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Amini, F., and Qi, G. Z. (2000). “Liquefaction testing of stratified silty sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(3), 208–217.
Atherton, L. (1994). “Testing the state boundary surface for granular soil.” Internal Rep., Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London.
Axelsson, K., Yu, Y., and Runesson, K. (1989). “Constitutive properties and modeling of silty soils.” Proc., 12th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 1, Taylor and Francis, London, 687–690.
Bishop, A. W., and Wesley, L. D. (1975). “A hydraulic triaxial apparatus for controlled stress path testing.” Géotechnique, 25(4), 657–670.
Brandon, T. L., Rose, A. T., and Duncan, J. M. (2006). “Drained and undrained strength interpretation for low plasticity silts.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(2), 250–257.
British Standards Institution (BSI). (1975). “Methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes.” BS 1377-9, London.
Burmeister Martins, F., Bressani, L. A., Coop, M. R., and Bica, V. D. (2001). “Some aspects of the compressibility behavior of clayey sand.” Can. Geotech. J., 38(6), 1177–1186.
Burmister, D. (1948). “The importance and practical use of relative density in soil mechanics.” Special Publ. No. 48, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 1–20.
Chang, N. Y., Hseih, N. P., Samuelson, D. L., and Horita, M. (1982). “Static and cyclic behavior of Monterey No. 0 sand.” Proc., 8th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, 929–944.
Coop, M. R., Atkinson, J. H., and Taylor, R. N. (1995). “Strength, yielding, and stiffness in structured and unstructured soils.” Proc., 11th European Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 1, 55–62.
Coop, M. R., Colleselli, F., and Nocilla, A. (2005). “The mechanics of silt seen as a transition between sand and clay behavior.” Project Report, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London.
Datta, M., Gulhati, S. K., Dadu, U. S., and Kaushik, N. P. (1995). “Use of plate load test for bearing capacity evaluation in silts.” Indian Geotech. J., 25(4), 454–472.
Fleming, L. N., and Duncan, J. M. (1990). “Stress-deformation characteristics of an Alaskan silt.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 116(3), 377–393.
Hoeg, K., Dyvik, R., and Sandbaekken, G. (2000). “Strength of undisturbed versus reconstituted silt and silty sand specimen.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(7), 606–617.
Hyde, F. L., Higuchi, T., and Yasuhara, K. (2006). “Liquefaction, cyclic mobility and failure of silt.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(6), 716–735.
Kuerbis, R., Negussey, D., and Vaid, Y. P. (1988). “Effect of gradation and fines content on the undrained response of sand in hydraulic fill structures.” Hydraulic Fill Structures (GSP 21), ASCE, New York, 330–345.
Kuerbis, R., and Vaid, Y. P. (1988). “Sand sample preparation—Slurry deposition method.” Soils Found., 28(4), 107–118.
Lade, P. V., and Yamamuro, J. A. (1997). “Effects of non-plastic fines on static liquefaction of sands.” Can. Geotech. J., 34(6), 918–928.
Lambe, T. W., and Whitman, R. V. (2000). “Soil Mechanics.” SI Version, Wiley, New York.
Mitchell, J. K., and Kenichi, S. (2010). Fundamentals of soil behavior, Wiley, New York.
Nacci, V. A., and D’Andrea, R. A. (1976). “A technique for the preparation of specimens of loose layered silts.” ASTM STP 599, Philadelphia, 193–201.
Nikhilesh, R., and Parth, S. (1976). “Strain rate behavior of compacted silt.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., 102(4), 347–360.
Nocilla, A., Coop, M. R., and Colleselli, F. (2006). “The mechanics of an Italian silt: An example of transitional behavior.” Géotechnique, 56(4), 261–271.
Penman, A. D. M. (1953). “Shear characteristics of a saturated silt, measured in triaxial compression.” Géotechnique, 3, 312–328.
Pitman, T. D., Robertson, P. K., and Sego, D. C. (1994). “Influence of fines on the collapse of loose sands.”Can. Geotech. J., 31, 728–739.
Ramamurthy, T., Soota, M. K., and Anjaiah, B. (1975). “Shear behavior of compacted silt at high stresses.” Proc., 5th Asian Regional Conf., Vol. 1, 26–31.
Roscoe, K. H., Schofield, A. N., and Thurairajah, A. (1963). “An evaluation of test data for selecting a yield criterion for soils.” STP 361, ASTM, Philadelphia, 111–129.
Roscoe, K. H., Schofield, A. N., and Wroth, C. P. (1958). “On the yielding of soils.” Géotechnique, 8(1), 22–53.
Selig, E. T., and Ladd, R. S. (1973). “Evaluation of relative density measurements and applications.” STP 523, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 487–504.
Sharma, A. (2007). “Geotechnical evaluation and numerical modeling of railway tracks on compacted subgrade.” Ph.D. thesis, Indian Institute of Technology, India.
Sladen, J. A., D’Hollander, R. D., and Krahn, J. (1985). “The liquefaction of sands—A collapse surface approach.” Can. Geotech. J., 22, 564–578.
Tavenas, F., and La Rochelle, P. (1972). “Accuracy of relative density measurements.” Géotechnique, 22(4), 549–562.
Terzaghi, K. (1956). “Varieties of submarine slope failures.” Proc., 8th Texas Conf. on Soil Mech. and Found. Eng., Special Res. Publ. No. 29, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX, 1–41.
Thevanayagam, S. (1998). “Effect of fines and confining stress on undrained shear strength of silty sands.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(6), 479–491.
Tuli, R. (1994). “Shear behavior of Delhi silt.” M.Tech. thesis, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India.
Wang, J. L., and Vivatrat, V. (1982). “Geotechnical properties of Alaska OCS silts.” Proc., 14th Annual Offshore Technology Conf. (OTC 4412), 415–420.
Yamamuro, J. A., and Lade, P. V. (1997). “Steady-state concepts and static liquefaction of silty sands.” Can. Geotech. J., 34(6), 905–917.
Yu, Y. (1993). “Testing and modeling of silty and sulphide rich soils.” Ph.D. thesis, Luleå Univ. of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 2, 2010
Accepted: Oct 15, 2010
Published online: Oct 19, 2010
Published in print: May 1, 2011
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.