Dynamic Shear Modulus of Dry Sand: Effect of Test Method

摘要

Evaluation of dynamic soil properties plays a crucial role in the solution of many earthquake engineering problems. The dynamic shear modulus is commonly measured in the laboratory by means of resonant column or torsional shear tests. In recent years, the piezoelectric bender element technique has drawn an increasing attention in the determination of soil modulus. Each of these methods has different advantages and limitations. In this paper, the three methods are evaluated with respect to the measurement of small strain shear modulus of dry sand for a variety of packing densities and confining stresses. The uniqueness of this study lies in that the bender element, slow rate torsional shear and resonant column functions are built in a single system such that the three methods can be applied to an identical soil specimen in each test, thus allowing more reliable and insightful comparisons.