Monotonic and Cyclic Simple Shear Response of Well-Graded Sandy Gravel Soils from Wellington, New Zealand
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 7
Abstract
In the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, liquefaction of gravelly soils from reclaimed fills occurred in CentrePort, Wellington, New Zealand. This study presents constant volume monotonic and cyclic simple shear tests on well-graded gravel with sand collected from CentrePort. A large-scale cyclic simple shear device is utilized to evaluate the monotonic, cyclic, and postcyclic responses of the sandy gravel soils. Specimens prepared at various relative densities were subjected to a vertical effective stress of 100 kPa and then monotonically and cyclically sheared. After the cyclic loading, the postcyclic response was evaluated, including volumetric compression or monotonic shear with or without dissipation of excess pore water pressure. Shear wave velocity was measured before and after the cyclic loading. The results show that the well-graded sandy gravel has a high potential for liquefaction, with higher relative density specimens having higher liquefaction resistance. Postcyclic volumetric strain is primarily correlated with density and maximum shear strain during cyclic loading. Postcyclic reconsolidation causes densification of the liquefied specimens, resulting in higher monotonic shear resistance, while postcyclic monotonic shear without dissipation of excess pore water pressure reveals that substantial shear strain is required to develop the shear resistance. Shear wave velocity was significantly reduced after liquefaction, but recovered to slightly higher than its precyclic shear values after reconsolidation. Compared to other gravelly and sandy soils, the well-graded sandy gravel showed a similar or slightly higher liquefaction resistance than gap-graded and uniform gravels. Moreover, the well-graded sandy gravel had a relatively lower ultimate postcyclic volumetric strain due to a small variation between its maximum and minimum void ratios. The results advance our understanding of the liquefaction resistance and subsequent postcyclic responses of the well-graded sandy gravel soils.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CMMI-1663288, a Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center grant and the New Zealand QuakeCore Center. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF, PEER or NZ QuakeCore. The authors would like to thank Sean Rees from the Univ. of Canterbury, NZ, for assistance with soil specimens transport to UC Berkeley.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 7 • July 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Dec 9, 2021
Accepted: Feb 8, 2023
Published online: Apr 26, 2023
Published in print: Jul 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Sep 26, 2023
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