Study on the Size Effect of Unconfined Compressive Strength of Rammed Earthen Site’s Soil Samples
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 2
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to study the influence of aspect ratio and end conditions on the strength and failure mode of remolded soil samples in unconfined compressive strength tests. The digital image correlation method is used in this research to obtain the evolution process of the horizontal displacement field in remolded soil samples and analyze the deformation and failure characteristics in various sample sizes. Two-dimensional discrete element models of the soil samples are established to simulate the impact of different end-frictional conditions on stress-strain processes of samples. Results show that, with the growth of aspect ratios, the failure of samples transforms from tensile mode to shear mode, and the defects in the middle of samples become more obvious. Characteristic values of earthen sites’ soil, such as peak strain, elastic modulus, and residual stress, change with various aspect ratios. The simulation results are in accordance with typical experiments, thus verifying the rationality of established discrete element models. By comparing the particle displacement directions and the respective proportions, the constraint caused by loading plate on samples is proved to be one of the reasons for the size effect. When the aspect ratio is higher than 1.0, the size effect disappears in end-frictionless samples. The research has practical significance to deepen understanding of the mechanism for unconfined compressive strength of site soil samples and provides scientific references for protection and reinforcement of earthen sites.
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Acknowledgments
The research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51578272) and the Outstanding Youth Research Plan for Protection of Cultural Relics (Grant No. 2014225).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 2 • February 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 13, 2018
Accepted: Jul 8, 2019
Published online: Nov 20, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Apr 20, 2020
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