Small-Strain Shear Modulus of Quartz Sands under Anisotropic Stress Conditions
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 5
Abstract
The empirical expressions for predicting the small-strain shear modulus () of granular soils in current engineering practice are established mainly on experimental data under isotropic stress conditions. In most geotechnical applications, however, soils are subjected to anisotropic stress conditions. The impact of stress anisotropy on is a critical concern but is not yet fully understood. In this paper, we present a specifically designed experimental study to address the question. Various principal stress ratios were applied to isotropically consolidated sand specimens in a triaxial apparatus, and the elastic shear waves were generated by the bender elements installed in the apparatus such that the variations of from isotropic stress states to anisotropic stress states were determined. Three quartz sands with different particle shapes were tested under a range of states in terms of void ratio, axial stress, and radial stress. The study shows that the impact of stress anisotropy is much more complicated than commonly thought. It depends on the magnitude of the stress ratio and the loading mode. A simple model that accounts for two primary mechanisms associated with the impact of stress anisotropy is proposed, and its performance is evaluated using various sources of data in the literature.
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Data Availability Statement
Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The financial support provided by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (17206418; C7038-20G) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 5 • May 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 26, 2023
Accepted: Dec 14, 2023
Published online: Mar 5, 2024
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Aug 5, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Anisotropy
- Axial forces
- Continuum mechanics
- Deformation (mechanics)
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering mechanics
- Forces (type)
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Mechanical properties
- Seismic waves
- Shear modulus
- Shear stress
- Shear waves
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil modulus
- Soil properties
- Soil stress
- Solid mechanics
- Stress (by type)
- Structural analysis
- Structural engineering
- Structural mechanics
- Triaxial loads
- Waves (mechanics)
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