Failure state of a sand in simple shear

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muniram Budhu

The stress state in many practical geotechnical problems is analogous to simple shear strain. However, the devices available to test soil samples in simple shear strain impose nonuniform stress and strain fields. Consequently, the interpretation of results from simple shear tests is often questioned. In this article, results of tests on loose and dense Leighton Buzzard sand from two specially instrumented simple shear devices–Cambridge University's device and a Norwegian Geotechnical Institute type–are used to interpret the failure mode and the failure stress state. The data were obtained from the centre of the samples, a region removed from stress concentrations. Failure was observed to be initiated on vertical planes and occurred very soon after shear displacement was applied. However, neither these vertical planes nor the horizontal planes were the planes of maximum stress obliquity mobilized during the tests. Key words: deformation, failure, loads, sand, shear tests, simple shear, stresses.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 8433
Author(s):  
Hernán Patiño ◽  
Rubén Galindo ◽  
Claudio Olalla Marañón

This paper refers to cyclic shear strains (γc) and permanent shear strains (γp) of a soft cohesive soil, when both monotonic shear stresses (τo) and cyclic shear stresses (τc) are applied. The research is backed by an extensive experimental program with 139 cyclic simple shear tests that included identification and classification tests. These cyclic simple shear tests were conducted under different levels of stresses, τo, before the cyclic phase. Laboratory tests were carried out on undisturbed samples from the Port of Barcelona, located in Spain on the Mediterranean coast, and characterized by a monotonic strength (τmax) approximately equal to 30% of the initial effective vertical stress (σ′ov). The samples were taken at depths between 29 and 52 m and correspond to an initial effective vertical stress between 277 and 413 kPa, respectively. In general, the results indicate that: (a) the combination of τo and τc controls the generation of γc and γp, (b) it is not always true that when τo/σ′ov + τc/σ′ov ≈ τmax/σ′ov, the soil reaches failure cyclically, and (c) empirical relations useful for design can be established between γc, γp, and the number of cycles (N), for different relationships varying (τo/σ′ov) between 0% and 25%.


1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Atkinson ◽  
W. H. W. Lau ◽  
J. J. M. Powell

During a simple shear test the axes of stress rotate and, in a conventional apparatus in which the only stresses measured are the normal and shear stresses on horizontal planes, it is not possible to define the stress state completely. As a result, the measured failure stresses may not represent the true strength of the soil. Examination of possible Mohr's circles for soils at failure in simple shear tests demonstrates that the measured strength for a given soil depends on, among other things, the ratio of the horizontal and vertical effective stresses at failure. Results of laboratory tests on Cowden Till and on blue London Clay show the differences between strengths measured in simple shear and triaxial tests. A consequence of the conventional interpretation of the simple shear test is that effective stress failure envelopes have a false cohesion intercept with friction angles smaller than those measured in triaxial tests. Key words: clays, laboratory equipment, shear strength, shear tests, triaxial tests.


Author(s):  
Nathalie Boukpeti ◽  
Barry Lehane ◽  
J. Antonio H. Carraro

Design of offshore foundation systems requires assessment of the effects of cyclic loading on the soil strength. This paper investigates the applicability of the strain accumulation procedure, which is used to assess the effects of wave loading on the soil strength. Staged undrained cyclic simple shear tests were conducted on a carbonate sediment from the North West shelf of Australia, with varying shear stress amplitude in each stage. The shear strain mobilised at the end of the staged tests is compared with the value predicted by the strain accumulation procedure, using shear strain contours constructed from the results of single amplitude undrained cyclic simple shear tests. It was found that the strain accumulation procedure gives adequate prediction for normalised cyclic shear stress less or equal to 0.3, but largely underestimates the cyclic shear strain for normalised cyclic shear stress greater than 0.3 (the cyclic shear stress being normalised by the effective vertical stress at the end of consolidation).


1996 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Jun ◽  
T.H Jacka ◽  
W.F. Budd

Laboratory-prepared fine-grained, initially isotropic polycrystalline ice samples were deformed under conditions of simple shear with simultaneous uniaxial compression at a constant temperature of −2.0°C. The aim was to investigate the effects of stress configuration on the flow rate of initially isotropic ice and on ice with subsequent stress and strain-induced anisotropy. Experiments were carried out for various combinations of shear and compression with shear stress ranging from 0 to 0.49 MPa and compressive stress ranging from 0 to 0.98 MPa, but such that for every experiment the octahedral shear stress was 0.4 MPa.The strain curves resulting from the experiments clearly exhibit minimum strain rates while the ice is still isotropic, and steady-state tertiary strain rates along with the development of steady-state anisotropic fabric patterns. With constant octahedral stress (root-mean-square of the principal stress deviators), the minimum octahedral shear-strain rate has no dependence on stress configuration. This result supports the hypothesis that the flow of isotropic ice is dependent only on the second invariant of the stress tensor. This fundamental assumption has been used to provide a general description of ice-flow behaviour independent of the stress configuration (e.g. Nye, 1953; Glen, 1958; Budd, 1969).For the tertiary flow of anisotropic ice, the octahedral strain rate is stress-state dependent as a consequence of the developed crystal-orientation fabric, which is also stress-state dependent, and which develops with strain and rotation. The present tests indicate that the enhancement factor for steady-state tertiary octahedral shear-strain rate depends on the shear or compression fraction and varies from about 10 for simple shear (with zero compression) to about 3 for uniaxial compression (with zero shear).


2019 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 07010
Author(s):  
Kazem Fakharian ◽  
Danial Shirkavand ◽  
Manouchehr Hejazi

Shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) are both well known as principal soil dynamic parameters. In the present study, cyclic triaxial and simple shear tests are performed on Firuzkuh silica sand at various shear strain amplitudes using the developed testing devices and peripherals. It is well-understood that degrading curvature of G with shear strain appears in both triaxial and simple shear results. Nevertheless, mean confining stress has dissimilar effects in each of the two tests that does not provide comparable empirical correlations. It is noticed that the variations of G and D with suction stress in triaxial differs from those in simple shear. On the basis of cyclic simple shear results, the increase in suction pressure from zero to the end of transition zone in SWCC leads to increase in G values. In triaxial method, on the other hand, similar increase occurs only up to the inflection point in SWCC, starts reducing afterwards down to a limit value at residual water content. The damping ratio variations with shear strain are generally ascending despite local drops at the strain order of 0.1%, which has appeared in both triaxial and simple shear results.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Ahmed Moussa ◽  
Hany El Naggar ◽  
Abouzar Sadrekarimi

Due to the socio-environmental hazards arising from the stockpiling of disposed scrap tires, the necessity to utilize such material in civil construction and other applications is deemed mandatory. The lightweight of rubber and its high damping capacity are excellent properties of a geomaterial that could be used successfully in seismic isolation and vibration damping applications in civil construction. Scrap tires could be shredded into specific sizes, and their category and application depend on their particle size range. Thus, understanding the dynamic properties and behavior of shredded scrap tires under cyclic loading is of paramount importance. In this study, the dynamic characteristics of granulated rubbers (<12 mm) are investigated using cyclic triaxial and cyclic direct simple shear tests. The effect of using different testing techniques, i.e., cyclic triaxial test (CTT) and cyclic simple shear test (CSST), on the dynamic properties of granulated rubber material is further addressed. Undrained cyclic triaxial and constant-volume direct simple shear tests are conducted on granulated rubber samples under vertical consolidation stresses of 25, 50, 100 and 200 kPa at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. The shear strain amplitude is varied from 0.01% to 10%. Furthermore, the variations of shear modulus and damping ratio with shear strain amplitude are presented. In addition, the obtained dynamic properties from this study are compared with existing experimental data from the literature. It was found that the ranges of shear moduli of granulated rubber from the CTT and CSST are 278 to 2647 kPa and 85 to 2270 kPa, respectively. Moreover, the damping ratios obtained from CTT were higher than those from CSST at shear strains of less than 1%. The damping ratio of granulated rubber was also found to be independent of the vertical consolidation stress.


1996 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Jun ◽  
T.H Jacka ◽  
W.F. Budd

Laboratory-prepared fine-grained, initially isotropic polycrystalline ice samples were deformed under conditions of simple shear with simultaneous uniaxial compression at a constant temperature of −2.0°C. The aim was to investigate the effects of stress configuration on the flow rate of initially isotropic ice and on ice with subsequent stress and strain-induced anisotropy. Experiments were carried out for various combinations of shear and compression with shear stress ranging from 0 to 0.49 MPa and compressive stress ranging from 0 to 0.98 MPa, but such that for every experiment the octahedral shear stress was 0.4 MPa. The strain curves resulting from the experiments clearly exhibit minimum strain rates while the ice is still isotropic, and steady-state tertiary strain rates along with the development of steady-state anisotropic fabric patterns. With constant octahedral stress (root-mean-square of the principal stress deviators), the minimum octahedral shear-strain rate has no dependence on stress configuration. This result supports the hypothesis that the flow of isotropic ice is dependent only on the second invariant of the stress tensor. This fundamental assumption has been used to provide a general description of ice-flow behaviour independent of the stress configuration (e.g. Nye, 1953; Glen, 1958; Budd, 1969). For the tertiary flow of anisotropic ice, the octahedral strain rate is stress-state dependent as a consequence of the developed crystal-orientation fabric, which is also stress-state dependent, and which develops with strain and rotation. The present tests indicate that the enhancement factor for steady-state tertiary octahedral shear-strain rate depends on the shear or compression fraction and varies from about 10 for simple shear (with zero compression) to about 3 for uniaxial compression (with zero shear).


2019 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 08004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyong Rong ◽  
John S. McCartney

Backfill soils in many geotechnical applications are compacted and are likely to be in an unsaturated state during operation. In earthquake-prone areas, seismic compression of unsaturated backfill soils should be understood as small settlements may have significant impacts on the performance of overlying infrastructure like bridge decks, roadways, or railways. Accordingly, the goal of this paper is to describe the results from a series of constant suction, drained, cyclic simple shear tests on unsaturated sands subjected to a range of shear strain amplitudes. A new cyclic simple shear apparatus was developed that involves control of the matric suction and monitoring of changes in degree of saturation using the hanging column approach along with monitoring of the matric suction using an embedded tensiometer.


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