Professional Documents
Culture Documents
S V Dinesh
Professor,
Dept. of Civil Engg.,
Siddaganga Institute of Technology,
Tumakuru, Karnataka
T G Sitharam
Professor,
Dept. of Civil Engg.,
Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore
ABSTRACT
Dynamic deformation characteristics of soil namely shear modulus and damping are input parameters for the soil dynamic problems
such as ground response analysis, soil structure interaction problems, response of marine sediments and marine structures to wave
induced cyclic loading. In this paper, a series of laboratory undrained stress controlled cyclic triaxial shear tests were conducted on
reconstituted samples of sand-fines mixtures to evaluate the dynamic properties. Sand was procured from Cauvery river bed,
Karnataka and locally available low plasticity clay fines were used to prepare sand-fines mixtures. The results indicate that shear
modulus decreases with increase in fines content and damping ratio decrease with increase in plasticity index.
INTRODUCTION
Engineers are concerned with the design and construction of
civil structures and are obliged to perform calculations which
demonstrate the safety and serviceability of new structures.
But before these calculations are performed, the mechanical
behaviour of engineering materials such as steel, concrete and
soil must be understood. The Earthquake induced dynamic
activities are the major destructors for the infrastructure such
as bridges, slopes and embankments. The response of soil
subjected to dynamic loads will be governed by the dynamic
properties of soils which are expressed in terms of shear
modulus and damping ratio. Many investigations based on
laboratory and field testing have revealed that the dynamic
properties namely, shear modulus and damping ratio are
influenced factors like soil type, plasticity index, cyclic strain
amplitude, relative density, frequency, confining pressure,
overconsolidation ratio and number of loading cycles (Hardin
and Drnevich.,1972, Iwasaki et al., 1978, Kokusho., 1980.,
Ishibashi & Zhang., 1993 and Vucetic and Dobry., 1991).
Empirical relationships between shear modulus and confining
pressure based on void ratio/relative density, confining
pressure and shear strain amplitude were proposed by many
researchers (Hardin and Drnevich., 1970, Seed and Idriss.,
1970, Seed et al., 1986, Silver and Park., 1975, Sitharam et al.,
2004, Sitharam et al., 2004,). The dynamic properties of clays
depends upon factors i.e., void ratio, confining pressure, grain
Paper No. 54
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
Materials used
For the present experimental investigation the materials used
are sand and clayey sand soil. Sand samples were collected
from Cauvery river bed, Karnataka state and clayey sand from
a local site near Tumakuru. Figure 1 shows the grain size
distribution curves for both the soils and curves for
liquefaction susceptible soils proposed by Tsuchida (1970). It
is observed that the Cauvery river sand lies within the
boundaries of most liquefiable soils. The sand is basically
angular in shape. The specific gravity (G) is 2.62, co-efficient
of curvature (Cc) is 0.9 and co-efficient of uniformity (Cu) is
2.4. The other engineering properties of sand and fines used
are mentioned in Table 1. From the above data according to IS
classification, the sand is classified as poorly graded sand (SP)
and the soil is classified as clayey sand (SC).
Sand (%)
100
53
Silt (%)
28
Clay (%)
18
Cu
2.4
Cc
0.9
emax
0.99
emin
0.72
46
27
Plasticity Index
19
IS classification
SP
SC
Sand-Fines Mixtures
In order to understand the influence of fines on dynamic
properties, fines were separated from the clayey sand and
mixed with Cauvery river sand to prepare the sand-fines
mixtures. The details of sand-fines mixtures prepared are
shown in Table 2. The fines fraction of size less than 0.075mm
was separated from clayey sand and used as fines in the
experimental program. These clay fines were mixed with the
Cauvery river sand (S1) in various proportions (S1:90 + F1:10
and S1:80 + F1:20). The index properties of sand-fines
mixtures are shown in Table 2. The grain size distribution
curves of sand-fines mixtures used in the present investigation
are shown in Fig. 3.
Cauvery
river clean
sand
(S1)
2.62
Gravel (%)
Properties
Clayey
sand
(F1)
2.65
Fig.3. Grain size distribution curves of sand-fines mixtures
01
Fines
(%)
D10
Cu
Cc
emax
emin
LL
PI
IS
Classification
S1:100
0.25
2.36
0.93
0.99
0.72
SP
S1:90+F1:10
10
0.13
3.46
1.54
0.98
0.60
22
SP-SM
Paper No. 54
S1:80+F1:20
20
0.08
5.25
1.86
Sample preparation
Triaxial specimens of 50 mm diameter and height 100 mm
were prepared by dry deposition method. The required mass of
oven dried Cauvery river sand (S1) and clay fines
corresponding to gross void ratio of 0.794, 0.755 and 0.717
were weighed separately and both mixtures were divided into
ten equal parts. The sand and clay fines were mixed uniformly
and each part was gently poured into the mould in dry state
with zero fall height so that a loose soil sample is formed. It
was then gently tamped by a wooden mallet giving uniform
blows on all the four sides, so that the required relative density
is achieved. In this way, the sample was prepared by filling the
mould in ten layers of equal height. Then the sample was
subjected to small vacuum and carbon-dioxide gas was passed
for one hour. After this, de-aired distilled water was drained
through soil sample at a very small head of 5 kPa. The
specimens were saturated by applying a back pressure of
100kPa and saturation time was maintained till the
Skemptons pore pressure coefficient B value exceeds
0.96.Required cell pressure (100kPa) was applied and
specimens were isotropically consolidated till the end of
Casagrandes primary consolidation. In this way, all the
samples were prepared at gross void ratio of 0.794, 0.755 and
0.717 before consolidation and after consolidation the void
ratio of the samples were around 0.752, 0.719 and 0.670.
1.06
S1:100
S1:90+F1:10
S1:80+F1:20
0.855
0.828
0.150,0.190,0.200,0.250
0.198,0.220,0.267,0.289
0.801
70
0.230,0.250,0.300,0.320
0.747
90
0.296,0.281,0.260,0.210
0.792
50
0.145,0.161,0.180,0.200
0.752
0.719
0.670
0.837
0.794
0.747
0.698
60
70
80
50
60
70
80
0.145,0.151,0.187,0.207
0.152,0.168,0.187,0.210
0.190,0.202,0.207,0.239
0.115,0.136,0.156,0.177
0.150,0.140,0.130,0.110
0.110,0.111,0.158,0.261
0.190,0.202,0.207,0.239
Void
Ratio
SP-SC
Further,
and
Where
Soil
mixtures
26
0.61
E d /
(1)
(2)
E
21
= Deviator stress,
= Shear strain
(3)
= Axial strain
AL
4 AT
(4)
Paper No. 54
Paper No. 54
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first two authors thank AICTE for funding the research
project tilted Liquefaction potential of Sand-clay Mixtures
under RPS scheme No.:20/AICTE/RIFD/RPS(POLICYIII)31/2012-13.
REFERNCES
1. ASTM D 5311(1996). Standard test methods for load
controlled cyclic triaxial strength of soil, American
Society for Testing and Materials, USA
Fig.8. Shear modulus versus single amplitude axial strain for
sand-fines mixtures at constant relative density
CONCLUSIONS
A laboratory experimental programme involving a series of
stress controlled undrained cyclic triaxial tests were carried
out on sand-fines mixture to evaluate the influence of fines
content on dynamic properties. Based on the analysis of the
experimental results the following concluding remarks are
made.
1. The shear modulus is strain dependent and decreases with
increase in shear strain. At low strain levels shear
modulus of sand is independent of relative density.
2.
Paper No. 54
Paper No. 54