Geotechnicans in Sweden and rest of Scandinavia have a wide experience of stability calculations in cohesive soils. The two main parameters for this type of calculations are the undrained shear strength and the preconsolidation pressure. The most common methods in Sweden to determine the undrained shear strength in field is the vane shear strength test and CPT-test, in laboratories the fall cone test is well used. To determine the preconsolidation pressure CRS-analyses are well used. For more accurate measurements the odeometer tests are more suitable. However this method is both expensive and time-consuming form of analysis from a commercial aspect. Therefore is different correlation equations used as a compliment in these different stability evaluations.  This research will focus on the empirical Hansbo Correlation and its relation to results from commercial surveys. The commercial data come from Atkins Sverige’s project data base. The results after comparing Hansbo correlation with the commercial data showed on a significant divergence, which indicate a great unsureness of the Hansbo correlation. As a result of this contingency it is of importance to take cautiousness in the use of empirical correlations in stability calculations.

A presente pesquisa apresenta resultados de uma série de ensaios de palheta de laboratório, com a finalidade de determinar a resistência não drenada de um solo residual compactado. Durante o ensaio foram realizadas medições continuas de sucção com uso de um tensiômetro de alta capacidade, disposto na base dos corpos de prova, sendo este procedimento inédito. O objetivo secundário do estudo é a avaliação de aspectos relacionados com a variação da resistência e sucção quando a distância do tensiômetro de alta capacidade é modificada com relação à superfície inferior do plano de ruptura pré-estabelecido. Para a realização destes experimentos foram modificados e adaptados equipamentos de laboratório. O estudo foi realizado com um solo residual de gnaisse compactado obtido do antigo campo experimental da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. O estudo constata que o valor medido da resistência não drenada é afetado pela proximidade do tensiômetro a palheta. / This research presents results of a series of mini-vane tests in order to determine the undrained shear strength of a residual compacted soil. During the tests and for the first time, continuous measurement of suction has been made using a high capacity tensiometer placed at the base of the specimen. The secondary aim of this study is to evaluate aspects related to resistance and suction variation when the distance of the high capacity tensiometer is modified in relation to the lower pre-set failure surface. For this reason laboratory equipments were modified and adapted in order to perform the study. The tests were performed with a compacted residual soil of gneiss obtained from the experimental site of the Polytechnical School of the University of São Paulo. The study showed that the undrained shear strength is affected when the vane are closer to the tensiometer.

A presente pesquisa apresenta resultados de uma série de ensaios de palheta de laboratório, com a finalidade de determinar a resistência não drenada de um solo residual compactado. Durante o ensaio foram realizadas medições continuas de sucção com uso de um tensiômetro de alta capacidade, disposto na base dos corpos de prova, sendo este procedimento inédito. O objetivo secundário do estudo é a avaliação de aspectos relacionados com a variação da resistência e sucção quando a distância do tensiômetro de alta capacidade é modificada com relação à superfície inferior do plano de ruptura pré-estabelecido. Para a realização destes experimentos foram modificados e adaptados equipamentos de laboratório. O estudo foi realizado com um solo residual de gnaisse compactado obtido do antigo campo experimental da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo. O estudo constata que o valor medido da resistência não drenada é afetado pela proximidade do tensiômetro a palheta. / This research presents results of a series of mini-vane tests in order to determine the undrained shear strength of a residual compacted soil. During the tests and for the first time, continuous measurement of suction has been made using a high capacity tensiometer placed at the base of the specimen. The secondary aim of this study is to evaluate aspects related to resistance and suction variation when the distance of the high capacity tensiometer is modified in relation to the lower pre-set failure surface. For this reason laboratory equipments were modified and adapted in order to perform the study. The tests were performed with a compacted residual soil of gneiss obtained from the experimental site of the Polytechnical School of the University of São Paulo. The study showed that the undrained shear strength is affected when the vane are closer to the tensiometer.

Mobile offshore drilling units are being used in the Gulf of Mexico to produce oil and gas. Anchoring systems such as drag embedment anchors and vertically loaded anchors are used to keep these units in place. Past mooring system failures due to hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 initiated a need to better understand the performance of these anchors to in-plane and out-of-plane loading conditions. In-plane and out-of-plane loading cause the anchor to translate or rotate in the directions of its six degrees of freedom. Behavior and holding capacity of the anchors when loaded in each of is six degrees of freedom are important in understanding and predicting their behavior. An experimental program was devised to investigate the behavior of anchors in pure translation and rotation loading. The scaled-model anchors were embedded at a measured depth in a soil bed of clay with an undrained shear strength between 10 and 20 psf and then loaded to failure. A rotation testing frame was designed to impose rotational loading in the yaw, roll and pitch directions. Test results from the experimental program are consistent and repeatable. The bearing factors for pure bearing fell well within the range of existing experimental and analytical studies on simple plates. Bearing factors for in-plane and out-of-plane shear and for all rotations are higher than those for simple plates due to presence of the shank. When the resistance is normalized by area of the fluke, the wider model provide greater normalized resistance to yawing, similar normalized resistance to pitching and rolling and less normalized resistance to bearing and shearing. It was concluded that the holding capacity of an anchor in its six degrees of freedom depends largely on its geometry, including the fluke and the shank. / text

This thesis evaluates the commonly used geotechnical probing method CPTu, on how different probe configurations impact the resulting evaluated undrained shear strength in soft clay deposits, in comparison to each other and laboratory methods. This is done by performing field investigations on Lindefältet, Södermanlands län, Sweden. Comparison is done on the two Swedish manufacturers of CPTu probes, by different calibration limits, filter types and whether overloading the probe over the calibration limit affects the evaluated undrained shear strength registered. The main conclusions are that one of the manufacturers’ probes registers deviating results in one configuration, that calibration limit has a noticable impact on the results, and that overloading on the probe and filter choice has negliable impact on the results. / I detta examensarbete utvärderas den vanligt förekommande geotekniska sonderingsmetoden CPTu, på hur olika konfigurationer av sonder påverkar den resulterande utvärderade odränerade skjuvhållfastheten i lösa leravlagringar, 9i jämförelse med varandra och med laboratoriemetoder. Detta är genomfört genom fältundersökningar på Lindefältet, Södermanlands län. Jämförelsen gjordes på de två svenska CPTu-tillverkarnas sonder. Detta är gjort med hänsyn till olika kalibreringar av konspetstryck, filtertyper, och huruvida sonden har varit överlastad påverkar den utvärderade skjuvhållfastheten som registreras. De huvudsakliga slutsatserna är att en av tillverkarnas sonder registerar udda värden i en konfiguration, att kalibreringar av konspetstryck har en märkbar påverkan på de resulterande värdena på utvärderade odränerade skjuvhållfastheten, samt att överlastning av sonder och val av filtertyp har liten till omärkbar påverkan på resultatet.

Anisotropy in engineering properties of soils occurs due to the depositional process forming the soil fabric and/or different directional stresses in soil history. This study investigates the anisotropy in undrained shear strength and drained compressibility of preconsolidated, stiff and fissured Ankara Clay. The compressibility behavior is determined using standard oedometer testing while the shear strength anisotropy is investigated through large diameter unconsolidated-undrained triaxial testing on undisturbed samples taken in vertical and horizontal directions from several deep excavation sites along the Konya Road in &Ccedil / ukurambar-Balgat Area, Ankara. According to the results achieved, Ankara Clay is slightly anisotropic in compressibility, with an anisotropy ratio between 0.72 and 1.17 in terms of coefficient of volume compressibility for several pressure ranges between 50 kPa and 1600 kPa. On the other hand, while a slight anisotropy in undrained shear strength at a ratio ranging between 0.87 and 1.19 in terms of deviator stress can be observed in Ankara Clay, considering the great variation in the test results of samples in same direction which mostly overlaps with the range of results obtained in the other direction, it has been concluded that the Ankara Clay located in this area can be regarded as isotropic in terms of shear strength for practical purposes.

ABSTRACT SHEAR STRENGTH BEHAVIOUR OF SAND - CLAY MIXTURES &Ouml / LMEZ, Mehmet Salih M.S., Department of Civil Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ufuk ERGUN May 2008, 106 pages A clean sand having about 5 % fines has been mixed with 5 to 40 % commercial kaolin to form different sand-clay soil mixtures. The purpose of making this study is to observe the effects of fraction of fine materials in the soil mixture on the behavior of shear strength. Three series of experiments have been performed throughout the study. Undrained triaxial compression tests (series 1) are performed on specimens taken out from homogeneously mixed soil mixtures at specified kaolin contents consolidated in a box without keeping the mixture under water. In series 2 experiments specimens are taken from a box where soil mixtures are consolidated under water and undrained triaxial compression tests are performed on the samples. Drained direct shear tests are performed on samples prepared without performing initial consolidation in large boxes but directly prepared in the direct shear boxes and consolidated prior to shear (series 3). It has been found that about 20 % kaolin - 80 % sand mixture seems to be a threshold composition and changes in both undrained and drained shear stress-strength behaviour occur afterwards with increasing fine material content.

The purposes of this study are to investigate the possible effects of variables like testing depth, length to diameter ratio of the probe, presence of disturbed annulus around the borehole etc. on the derived parameters from the pressuremeter test, and to develop possible alternative methods for the determination of undrained shear strength of cohesive soils, and cohesion and internal friction angle of intermediate geomaterials. For this purpose numerical simulations of pressuremeter test were performed. In the study, it is also aimed to investigate the effect of rock quality designation (RQD) or some other rock mass parameters such as geological strength index (GSI) and rock mass rating (RMR) and intact rock strength on the deformation modulus determined from the pressuremeter test. To accomplish this task, Dikmen greywackes, weathered andesites and mudrocks exposed around Ankara - Sincan region were selected for field and laboratory studies. Empirical relationships using GSI, RMR, RQD were developed for the estimation of deformation modulus of greywackes and mudrocks cropping out around Ankara. Numerical simulations revealed the presence of disturbed annulus around the borehole causes underestimation of deformation modulus and overestimation of undrained shear strength. Test depth has no effect on the deformation modulus and undrained shear strength / the effect of length to diameter ratio of the probe on the deformation modulus is minor where as it causes overestimations of undrained shear strength. Pore pressure dissipation in low permeability soils around the pressuremeter was studied using numerical simulations. These analyses suggest that for permeabilities lower that 10-10 m/sec there is no pore pressure dissipation around the pressuremeter probe. It was determined that the inverse analysis yielded successful results for the determination of shear strength parameters of intermediate geomaterials.

O problema da disposição de resíduos de mineração e a ruptura de barragens de rejeitos preocupa engenheiros e órgãos ambientais nacionais e internacionais. Estes materiais possuem características geotécnicas distintas dos geomateriais encontrados em depósitos naturais, têm granulometria predominantemente siltosa e condutividade hidráulica intermediária. Como o ensaio de palheta constitui-se em uma técnica rotineira na estimativa da resistência ao cisalhamento não-drenada de argilas, procura-se através da presente pesquisa ampliar este conhecimento a solos siltosos. Dentre os fatores que influenciam as medições da resistência não-drenada, a velocidade de rotação pode ser considerada o mais importante, particularmente quando há ocorrência de drenagem parcial durante o cisalhamento. A ocorrência de drenagem parcial durante ensaios de campo em resíduos siltosos gera incertezas na interpretação e na estimativa de parâmetros de projeto. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho consiste em avaliar a influência da velocidade de rotação da palheta na resistência não-drenada de um material siltoso, de granulometria semelhante aos resíduos de ouro, através de ensaios de laboratório utilizando uma mini-palheta. Para tal, procedeu-se a automatização e adaptação de um equipamento de palheta de laboratório, inicialmente manual, para aplicação de diferentes velocidades de rotação. Os ensaios de mini-palheta foram realizados a velocidades de rotação entre 0,5 e 54 rpm, que correspondem a velocidades adimensionais (V) entre 2 e 276. Os resultados dos ensaios de mini-palheta mostraram, de modo geral, um aumento na resistência com a diminuição da velocidade de rotação da palheta, devido à ocorrência do adensamento a baixas velocidades de rotação. O tempo de ruptura diminuiu e o deslocamento até a ruptura aumentou com o aumento da velocidade de rotação. Observou-se uma grande dispersão nos resultados dos ensaios, provavelmente devido à relação entre o tamanho da palheta e o tamanho dos grãos do solo. Com relação às condições de drenagem impostas ao solo durante o cisalhamento, observou-se que as condições não-drenadas foram satisfeitas para valores de V superiores a 10+2, enquanto as condições drenadas ocorrem para V inferior a 1. Assim, quando 1<V<10+2 há ocorrência de drenagem parcial durante o cisalhamento. A interpretação através da normalização de resultados, correlacionando a velocidade adimensional V ao grau de drenagem U, possibilita a identificação da ocorrência de drenagem parcial, evitando a superestimativa das propriedades geotécnicas dos solos em ensaios de campo. / The problem of tailings disposal and dams failure concerns engineers and national and international environmental agencies. These materials have geotechnical characteristics that differ from geomaterials found in natural deposits, are predominantly silty and have intermediate hydraulic conductivity. As the vane test is a usual technique to estimate the shear strength of clays, the present study extend this knowledge to silty soils. Among the factors that influence the undrained strength measurements, the rotation rate can be considered the most important, particularly when partial drainage during shear occurs. The occurrence of partial drainage during field tests on silty tailings generate uncertainties in the interpretation and estimation of design parameters. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of mini-vane test rotation rate on the undrained strength of a silty soil, with a particle size similar to the gold tailings, through laboratory mini-vane tests. Thus, the automation and customization of a mini-vane test equipment initially manual was developed for the application of different rotation rates. Mini-vane tests were carried out at rotation rates between 0.5 and 54 rpm, corresponding to dimensionless velocities (V) between 2 and 276. The mini-vane tests results showed, in general, an increase in resistance with decreasing the rotation rate due to the occurrence of consolidation of soil at low shearing rates.The time to failure decreased and the displacement to failure increased with increasing rotation rate. There was a wide dispersion of test results, probably due to blade size to soil grain size ratio. Regarding the drainage conditions imposed to the soil during shear, the tests have shown that the undrained conditions are satisfied for V values greater than 10+2, while the drained conditions occurs for V values lower than 1. When 1<V<10+2 partial drainage occurs during shear. The interpretation using normalized results correlating the dimensionless velocity V to the drainage degree U allows the identification of partial drainage occurrence, avoiding the overestimation of soil geotechnical properties in field tests.

Um dos maiores problemas na utilização de ensaios geotécnicos de laboratório está na obtenção de amostras indeformadas. Os solos moles estão entre os mais difíceis de amostrar e há um grande trabalho de pesquisa no desenvolvimento de técnicas de amostragem. A fim de obter amostras de alta qualidade para o estudo do comportamento do material do depósito, foi desenvolvido nesta pesquisa uma modificação do Equipamento de Amostragem Japonês e foram adaptadas algumas das técnicas utilizadas para amostragem indeformada. O processo usual de extrusão de solo de dentro do tubo amostrador foi substituído pelo corte transversal do tubo, o que reduz a perturbação do solo. Para facilitar esta operação, os tubos foram construídos de latão (substituindo o aço inoxidável original). O depósito sedimentar objeto de estudo desta dissertação foi escolhido por ter apresentado em ensaios de campo um índice de sensibilidade (razão entre as resistências ao cisalhamento não drenadas indeformada e amolgada) bastante elevado, o que torna a sua amostragem cuidadosa ainda mais importante. A sensibilidade dos solos é um parâmetro importante em projetos de engenharia geotécnica, pois as deformações reduzem severamente a resistência ao cisalhamento não drenada nestes materiais. Foram utilizados diferentes ensaios de laboratório para permitir a determinação da resistência ao cisalhamento não-drenada do solo nas condições indeformada e amolgada, e para avaliação da sensibilidade (ensaio de cone de laboratório, ensaio de palheta de laboratório e ensaio triaxial), além de ensaios de caracterização do depósito. O depósito estudado apresenta lentes com dois materiais distintos (um argiloso e outro arenoso), entretanto apresentam ângulos de atrito interno semelhantes (~34°). Em ambos o solos as resistências ao cisalhamento não drenada foram baixas (Su ~10 kPa na condição indeformada e Su = 0,5 - 2,0 kPa na condição amolgada). A sensibilidade do material argiloso ficou em torno de 10 e no solo arenoso foi de aproximadamente 20. Análises qualitativas dos resultados indicam que as amostras coletadas pelo novo amostrador tiveram elevado grau de qualidade. Os resultados obtidos (a) confirmam o bom desempenho do novo equipamento amostrador; (b) permitiram determinar com precisão as resistências não-drenadas dos materiais; (c) comprovaram a grande sensibilidade das lentes arenosas; (d) ajudam a explicar o comportamento do depósito em campo. / One of the most difficult problems in the use of laboratory geotechnical tests is related to obtaining undisturbed samples. The soft soils are among the most difficult soils to sample and there is a great research effort in developing new sampling techniques. In order to obtain high quality samples for the study of the soil sensitivity, a modification of the Japanese thin-walled tube sampler has been build for this research and some modifications of the sampling techniques have been made. The conventional extrusion of the soil sample from the tube was substituted by a traverse cut of the tube in order to reduce the soil perturbation during its extraction. To make this operation easier, the material used for the tubes was brass (substituting the usual stainless steel). The sedimentary deposit studied on this research has been selected for having presented an high sensitivity on vane field tests (relation between peak and large deformation strengths) which gives even more importance to careful sampling. The sensitivity is an important parameter for geotechnical design as the deformations can severely reduce the undrained shear strength of these materials. Various laboratory testing techniques have been used to determine the undrained shear strength of these soils both in undisturbed and disturbed conditions (fall cone tests, lab vane tests and triaxial tests), besides characterization tests of the deposit. The studied deposit presents lenses of two distinct materials (clayey and sandy lenses), however they present similar internal angles of friction (~34°). In both soils the undrained shear strength are quite low (Su ~10 kPa in undisturbed condition and Su = 0,5 - 2,0 kPa in disturbed condition). The sensitivity of the clayey material is around 10 and around 20 in the sandy soil. Qualitative analyses of the results indicate that the samples taken with the new sampler have an high quality level. The results obtained (a) confirm the good performance of the sampler built; (b) allowed the undrained shear strength to be determined with precision; (c) showed the great sensitivity of the sandy lenses; (d) helped to explain the field behaviour of the soil.