Experimental assessment of the response of sands under shear-volume coupled deformation

摘要

An experimental study of the behaviour of an alluvial sand under different strain increment paths representing shear-volume coupled deformation is presented. Both pore pressure and pore volume change simultaneously in these tests. Linear strain paths with different levels of limiting volumetric strain and nonlinear strain paths that simulate different pore pressure boundary conditions were applied to the soil specimen in the laboratory. The strain paths imposed included both expansive and contractive volumetric deformation. Nonuniform excess pore pressures generated during earthquakes (on account of the heterogeneity in natural soils) often lead to such deformation in situ following the end of strong shaking. The shear strength of the soil could decrease significantly when the pore pressure boundary conditions result in volume inflow that leads to a considerable reduction of the effective confining stress. The rate of volume inflow plays a significant role on the resulting stress-strain and pore pressure responses. Both the peak and the minimum shear strength mobilized during the test were significantly dependent on the strain path. The effective stress ratio at the instant of peak pore pressure is independent of the strain path followed, and it is equal to the effective stress ratio noted at the instant of phase transformation in undrained tests.