Soil aging refers to the increase in strength and stiffness that is exhibited over time after it is disturbed. It is common in granular soils, such as sands, occurring over periods from hours to years. There have been relatively numerous laboratory studies on sand aging phenomena. However the majority of these studies were conducted on relatively clean sand (fines content <5%) and were performed under isotropic condition. In nature, granular soils with fines content > 5% are not uncommon. This research is an attempt to gain further insight and understanding of mechanical aging on silty sand by conducting laboratory studies mostly under K0 condition, which better reflects the field condition, at both macro-scale (triaxial test) and micro-scale (fabric test). As many factors (e.g. plasticity of fines, fines content, grain size composition, angularity and shape) affect silty sand behaviour and not all those factors could be investigated during the study period, this study focused on mechanical aging of non-plastic silty sand with 15% fines content. Triaxial tests have been conducted in this study in order to observe creep behavior under different density, initial fabric, and consolidation stress paths (K0 and isotropic). The tests were conducted at low effective confining stress stresses i.e. ’3= 30 – 120 kPa as this is relevant to many geotechnical aging problems (e.g. time effects on freshly deposited or disturbed soils such as in the case of hydraulic fills, mine tailings, and post-liquefaction state of soil behaviour following earthquakes). Creep induced aging effects on undrained shear behaviour at small-strain (<0.1% of shear strain), were investigated, as this strain range is most common in geotechnical structures under gravity-induced working loads. Aging effects on one way cyclic behaviour were also studied. Some new key findings from these tests are as follows: (1) Creep following K0 consolidation indicated that the soil tends to expand radially over time, resulting in a tendency of increasing horizontal stress with time even at low stress. (2) Following K0 consolidation, density appears to have more significant effect on creep compared to initial shear stress ratio and mean effective stress; as demonstrated by loose samples (low stress ratio and mean effectives stress) which exhibited greater creep compared to those of dense sample (higher stress ratio and mean effective stress) (3) For loose soils, there is a trade-off between high confining stresses driving aging and collapsing pore space. Generally higher confining stress was found to increase creep tendency thus enhancing aging, however there was also found to be a certain confining pressure where the aging effects became less due to local structure collapse. (4) Initial fabric plays an important role on creep development, thus aging. For instance, dense dry pluviated samples developed larger axial strain over time but also gained less increase in stiffness compared to dense moist tamped samples. This suggests the importance of specimen preparation for laboratory testing that replicates the field scenarios e.g. natural deposition and associated fabric; (5) Dense K0 consolidated samples produce more increase in stiffness with time than corresponding isotropically consolidated samples. Hence, as the K0 condition generally reflects the level-ground free field stress condition better, it is important to test under K0 if the degree of stiffness gain is important; (6) The number of cycles to trigger cyclic softening and liquefaction for one way cyclic loading increases with the aging duration. In addition there is tendency that the aging effect is more pronounced at lower cyclic stress ratios. Fabric tests under K0 consolidation with similar variables as the triaxial tests were also performed. Some new insights and contributions have been obtained as follows: (1) Moist tamped samples, have particles that are more clustered together and structured than dry pluviated samples; (2) In terms of particle orientation, a change in the degree of orientation for both sand particles and ‘fines’ under constant loading was observed with time. The dominant (i.e. most) rotated particles (sand or “fines’) depends on the initial fabric and density; (3) Over time, under constant loading, growth of micro voids was observed for dense samples while those of loose samples contracted; (4) A new parameter, variance to mean void ratio of void distance, was introduced as a measure of the degree of interlocking during aging. The variance to mean ratio of void distance for moist tamped samples tends to decrease whereas those of dry pluviated samples tends to increase with time. An increase in variance and variance to mean ratio for dry pluviated samples indicates that particles are more clustered together with time; (5) Original work on spatial void distance for the numerical analysis of creep induced aging based on Kang et al. (2012) was conducted (note: the model’s boundary condition allows lateral expansion, which is not the same as the fabric tests conducted). The analysis showed that mean void size in dense soil tends to increase with time under constant load while for loose sample it tends to decrease. However the particles also clustered together more – increasing structure. (6) A microstructural study of “undisturbed samples”, obtained by gel-push sampling, of clean sand (fines content = 4%) and silty sand (fines content = 30%), was conducted to investigate anisotropy of natural fabric of granular soils. The results show that dry pluviation reflects the field condition more, in terms of natural deposition, than moist tamping. In addition, spatial void distance qualitatively indicated the undisturbed samples are relatively “very young”, even in terms of engineering time, as indicated by similar variance to mean ratio and kurtosis with those of 1 hour and 1 week reconstituted samples. This research has shown that there was a relation between changes in the microstructure over time and changes in macro mechanical properties of non-plastic silty sand. Further improvement in theoretical modeling (e.g. numerical modeling of creep on polydisperse granular material) and experimental aspects (e.g. examining different grain size composition and angularity, different fines content, the influence of the shape of sand and fines and use of the photo-elastic method) will allow a better understanding of the sand aging phenomenon in silty sand.

<p> The effects of sampling on the strength and preconsolidation load of a normally consolidated natural silty clay have been studied by means of laboratory simulations of "perfect" samples, "ground" samples, "tube" samples and "bottom of failed borehole" samples. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

abstract: One of the most economical and viable methods of soil improvement is dynamic compaction. It is a simple process that uses the potential energy of a weight (8 tonne to 36 tonne) dropped from a height of about 1 m to 30 m, depending on the project requirement, on to the soil to be compacted hence densifying it. However, dynamic compaction can only be applied on soil deposits where the degree of saturation is low and the permeability of the soil mass is high to allow for good drainage. Using dynamic compaction on saturated soil is unsuitable because upon application of the energy, a part of the energy is transferred to the pore water. The technique also does not work very well on soils having a large content of fines because of the absence of good drainage. The current research aims to develop a new technology using biogenic gas production to desaturate saturated soils and extend the use of dynamic compaction as a ground improvement technique to saturated soils with higher fines content. To evaluate the feasibility of this technology an experimental program has been performed. Soil columns with varying soil types have been saturated with substrate solution, resulting in the formation of nitrogen gas and the change in soils volume and saturation have been recorded. Cyclic triaxial tests have been performed to evaluate the change in volume and saturation under elevated pressure conditions and evaluate the response of the desaturated soil specimens to dynamic loading. The experimental results showed that soil specimens treated with MIDP under low confinement conditions undergo substantial volume expansion. The amount of expansion is seen to be a factor of their pore size, which is directly related to their grain size. The smaller the grain size, smaller is the pore size and hence greater the volume expansion. Under higher confining pressure conditions, the expansion during gas formation is suppressed. However, no conclusive result about the effect of the desaturation of the soil using biogenic gas on its compactibility could be obtained from the cyclic triaxial tests. / Dissertation/Thesis / Data sheets / Masters Thesis Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2018

Deformational properties of soil, in terms of modulus and damping, exert a great influence on seismic response of soil sites. However, these properties for sands containing some portion of fines particles have not been systematically addressed. In addition, simultaneous modelling of the modulus and damping behaviour of soils during cyclic loading is desirable. This study presents an experimental and computational investigation into the deformational properties of sands containing fines content in the context of site response analysis. The experimental investigation is carried on sandy soils sourced from Christchurch, New Zealand using a dynamic triaxial apparatus while the computational aspect is based on the framework of total-stress one-dimensional (1D) cyclic behaviour of soil. The experimental investigation focused on a systematic study on the deformational behaviour of sand with different amounts of fines content (particle diameter ≤ 75µm) under drained conditions. The silty sands were prepared by mixing clean sand with three different percentages of fines content. A series of bender element tests at small-strain range and stress-controlled dynamic triaxial tests at medium to high-strain ranges were conducted on samples of clean sand and silty sand. This allowed measurements of linear and nonlinear deformational properties of the same specimen for a wide strain range. The testing program was designed to quantify the effects of void ratio and fines content on the low-strain stiffness of the silty sand as well as on the nonlinear stress-strain relationship and corresponding shear modulus and damping properties as a function of cyclic shear strains. Shear wave velocity, Vs, and maximum shear modulus, Gmax, of silty sand was shown to be significantly smaller than the respective values for clean sands measured at the same void ratio, e, or same relative density, Dr. However, the test results showed that the difference in the level of nonlinearity between clean sand and silty sands was small. For loose samples prepared at an identical relative density, the behaviour of clean sand was slightly less nonlinear as compared to sandy soils with higher fines content. This difference in the nonlinear behaviour of clean sand and sandy soils was negligible for dense soils. Furthermore, no systematic influence of fines content on the material damping curve was observed for sands with fines content FC = 0 to 30%. In order to normalize the effects of fines on moduli of sands, equivalent granular void ratio, e*, was employed. This was done through quantifying the participation of fines content in the force transfer chain of the sand matrix. As such, a unified framework for modelling of the variability of shear wave velocity, Vs, (or shear modulus, Gmax) with void ratio was achieved for clean sands and sands with fines, irrespective of their fines content. Furthermore, modelling of the cyclic stress-strain behaviour based on this experimental program was investigated. The modelling effort focused on developing a simple constitutive model which simultaneously models the soil modulus and damping relationships with shear strains observed in laboratory tests. The backbone curve of the cyclic model was adopted based on a modified version of Kondner and Zelasko (MKZ) hyperbolic function, with a curvature coefficient, a. In order to simulate the hysteretic cycles, the conventional Masing rules (Pyke 1979) were revised. The parameter n, in the Masing’s criteria was assumed to be a function of material damping, h, measured in the laboratory. As such the modulus and damping produced by the numerical model could match the stress-strain behaviour observed in the laboratory over the course of this study. It was shown that the Masing parameter n, is strain-dependent and generally takes values of n ≤ 2. The model was then verified through element test simulations under different cyclic loadings. It was shown that the model could accurately simulate the modulus and the damping simultaneously. The model was then incorporated within the OpenSees computational platform and was used to scrutinize the effects of damping on one-dimensional seismic site response analysis. For this purpose, several strong motion stations which recorded the Canterbury earthquake sequence were selected. The soil profiles were modelled as semi-infinite horizontally layered deposits overlying a uniform half-space subjected to vertically propagating shear waves. The advantages and limitations of the nonlinear model in terms of simulating soil nonlinearity and associated material damping were further scrutinized. It was shown that generally, the conventional Masing criteria unconservatively may underestimate some response parameters such as spectral accelerations. This was shown to be due to larger hysteretic damping modelled by using conventional Masing criteria. In addition, maximum shear strains within the soil profiles were also computed smaller in comparison to the values calculated by the proposed model. Further analyses were performed to study the simulation of backbone curve beyond the strain ranges addressed in the experimental phase of this study. A key issue that was identified was that relying only on the modulus reduction curves to simulate the stress-strain behaviour of soil may not capture the actual soil strength at larger strains. Hence, strength properties of the soil layer should also be incorporated to accurately simulate the backbone curve.

No description available.

The liquefaction resistance of undisturbed soil samples collected from a selected location in Carbondale, Southern Illinois was evaluated by conducting cyclic triaxial tests. Index property tests were carried out on the sample for identification and classification of the soil. Cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on undisturbed sample after saturation, undisturbed sample at natural water content and remolded samples prepared by compaction in the lab. The results were used to evaluate the effect of saturation and remolding on liquefaction resistance of the local soil. Effect of effective confining pressure on dynamic properties of soil (Young's Modulus and Damping ratio) was also studied. Forty five stress controlled cyclic triaxial tests were performed. Three different values of initial effective confining pressure (5 psi, 10 psi and 15 psi) were used and cyclic stress ratio was varied from 0.1 to 0.5 in order to apply different cyclic shear stresses. The results show that the cyclic load resistance of soil decreases as a result of remolding. Saturated undisturbed samples show increase in resistance to liquefaction with increase in initial confining pressure. Remolded samples were prepared by compaction in the lab keeping unit weight and water content equal to that of undisturbed samples. Remolded samples show increase in liquefaction resistance with increase in confining pressure. Undisturbed samples at natural water content show increase in resistance to develop axial strain with increase in confining pressure. Both the rate of excess pressure development and axial strain development increase significantly as a result of remolding. While investigating the effect of saturation of undisturbed samples on liquefaction resistance of soil, interesting observations were made. The excess pressure buildup rate was faster in case of saturated undisturbed samples compared to that in samples with natural water content. On the other hand, rate of strain development was significantly high in case of sample with natural water content compared to that in saturated sample. Also, results obtained from cyclic triaxial tests on saturated undisturbed samples were compared with results obtained from similar tests on Ottawa Sand (Lama 2014) sample. The comparison shows that the saturated undisturbed soil samples of the selected local soil have very high resistance to liquefaction both in terms of initial liquefaction and development of 2.5% and 5% axial strain. Modulus of Elasticity and damping ratio were studied as important dynamic properties of soil. Young's Modulus was observed to decrease significantly at higher strain levels for all three types of samples. Young's modulus increased with increase in effective confining pressure, the effect of confining pressure being large at low strain level and almost insignificant at higher strain level. Damping ratio was highest in undisturbed sample at natural water content and smallest in remolded sample and damping ratio for saturated undisturbed sample falls in between. The damping ratio did not show any definite correlation with strain and confining pressure at lower strain level. But, for strain higher than 1% double amplitude axial strain, damping ratio significantly decreases with increase in strain. Damping ratio increases with increase in confining pressure as observed at high strain for all samples.

To investigate the liquefaction mitigation capability of Rammed Aggregate Piers® (RAP) in silty sand, blast liquefaction testing was performed at a soil profile treated with a full-scale RAP group relative to an untreated soil profile. The RAP group consisted of 16 piers in a 4x4 arrangement at 2 m center-to-center spacing extending to a depth of 9.5 m. Blasting around the untreated area induced liquefaction (ru ≈1.0) from 3 m to 11 m depth, producing several large sand boils, and causing settlement of 10 cm. In contrast, installation of the RAP group reduced excess pore water pressure (ru ≈0.75), eliminated sand ejecta, and reduced average settlement to between 2 to 5 cm when subjected to the same blast charges. Although the liquefaction-induced settlement in the untreated area could be accurately estimated using the CPT-based settlement approach proposed by Zhang et al. (2002), settlement in the RAP treated area was significantly overestimated with the same approach even after considering RAP treatment-induced densification. Analyses indicate that settlement after RAP treatment could be successfully estimated from elastic compression of the sand and RAP acting as a composite material. The composite reinforced soil mass, surrounded by liquefied soil, transferred load to the base of the RAP group inducing settlement in the non-liquefied sand below the group. This test program identifies a mechanism that explains how settlement was reduced for the RAP group despite the elevated ru values in the silty sands that are often difficult to improve with vibratory methods.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the organic N in silty clay loam soil as an indicator of soil fertility. The incubation method was used in this study. The N03 -N, the total N percent, and the organic matter were determined. The soil which was used in this study came from Evans Research Farm. The samples were taken from two different N experiments which were adjacent to each other. The soil samples were taken in October-November, 1973, after the crop had been harvested. These two experiments had different cropping histories. The results of the first experiment which had continuous corn for four years indicated that there was no correlation between the mineralizable-N and the crop performance, but there was a good correlation between the No3 -N and crop yield. The results of the second experiment which had alfalfa for three years prior to corn indicated that there was a good correlation between N03-N and the crop performance and also there was a correlation between mineralizable-N and crop performance. It was concluded that cropping history could be used as a guideline as to whether mineralizable-N should be tested as an indication of soil N availability. In situations where the cropping history is unknown, N03-N could be used exclusively since it was a good fertility predictor in both of these field experiments.

Pile caps are used in foundation design to aid multiple single piles to act as a pile group to resist lateral forces that may cause overturning moments. The pile cap and pile group resist these forces by pile-soil-pile interaction, base and side friction along the pile cap-backfill interface, and passive earth resistance. Passive earth resistance has been neglected in design due to a limited amount of full-scale testing. This research presents the results of a combination of hydraulic actuator and eccentric-mass shaker full-scale testing of a pile cap with loose silty sand backfill to quantify the contribution of the passive earth resistance to the lateral force resistance. The test cap is 1.12 m tall and 5.18 x 3.05 m in plan view, connecting 12 steel pipe piles (324mm O.D) placed in a 4 x 3 pattern with center-to-center spacing of 4.4 and 3.3 pile-diameters in the long and short dimensions, respectively. The hydraulic actuator applied a static load to the system (backfill + pile group) while the eccentric-mass shaker introduced cyclic and dynamic loading to the system. The passive earth resistance accounted for approximately 22% of the total system resistance, with piles contributing approximately 78%. Furthermore, the results produce general correlations between cyclic and dynamic effects on degradation of the backfill provided by the testing and soil characteristics obtained, including target (static) displacement, dynamic displacement amplitude, stiffness, and damping. The dynamic displacement amplitudes during the eccentric mass shaker tests typically ranged between .4 and 2 mm for frequencies between 5 and 9.5 Hz representing behavior under reloading conditions rather than virgin loading conditions. Generally, the presence of the loose silty sand backfill nearly doubled the dynamic stiffness of the pile cap. The stiffness of the backfill and pile cap combined was typically between 100 and 200 kN/mm for frequencies between 4 and 8 Hz, while the stiffness for the backfill alone was typically a decreasing trend between 100 and 40 kN/mm for the same frequency range. The overall isolated loose silty sand damping ratio shows a general increasing trend with values from 32% to 55% for frequencies 3 and 8 Hz.

A prática da engenharia geotécnica dispõe de métodos consagrados para obtenção de parâmetros constitutivos através de ensaios de campo aplicados a solos argilosos, que apresentam resposta não drenada, e a solos granulares, que apresentam resposta drenada. Solos que possuem granulometria intermediária podem apresentar resposta parcialmente drenada, trazendo incertezas na obtenção de parâmetros geotécnicos estimados a partir destes ensaios. Este trabalho apresenta resultados de ensaios de campo conduzidos em diferentes velocidades, em dois depósitos de granulometria intermediária, para avaliar tanto a influência da velocidade sobre as medidas do ensaio, quanto a transição das condições de fluxo ao redor do piezocone. O primeiro local de estudo é caracterizado por um depósito natural localizado no município de Joinville/SC, constituído na camada analisada de solo siltoso. O segundo local é caracterizado por um depósito de resíduo de mineração de ouro localizado no município de Barrocas/BA, constituído na camada analisada de silte arenoso. Ensaios de piezocone em velocidade padrão buscaram primeiramente verificar a estratigrafia do terreno e definir uma camada mais homogênea para concentrar as análises. Ensaios de dissipação foram realizados para obtenção dos parâmetros de fluxo. Ensaios de piezocone com variação de velocidade compreenderam o intervalo de 0,5 mm/s a 45 mm/s no depósito natural e 0,3 mm/s a 57 mm/s no resíduo de mineração de ouro. Adicionalmente, amostras foram coletadas para caracterização dos materiais. Os resultados dos ensaios de piezocone nos dois depósitos estudados mostraram que a diminuição da velocidade gerou aumento da resistência e redução da poro-pressão e que o aumento da velocidade não gerou mudanças significativas, sugerindo que os ensaios em velocidade padrão são predominantemente não drenados. As análises em termos de velocidade adimensional mostraram que a transição de não drenado para parcialmente drenado ocorre em torno de uma velocidade normalizada V da ordem de 300 e a transição de parcialmente drenado para drenado ocorre em V inferior a 5 no resíduo de mineração de ouro. Já no depósito de solo natural a transição não pode ser avaliada com clareza devido ao sistema complexo de macrodrenagem, típico de solos residuais. Por fim, foi proposta uma metodologia que busca identificar o grau de drenagem ocorrido nos ensaios, com base na curva de drenagem estabelecida do solo, e converter a resistência à penetração parcialmente drenada em uma condição não drenada para permitir a utilização dos resultados e interpretação através das teorias consagradas. / In geotechnical engineering practice, a series of methods has been established for obtaining constitutive parameters from field tests applied to clay soils (considering the response fully undrained) and sandy soils (considering the penetration response as drained). Soils with intermediate particle sizes may present partial drained response, which introduces uncertainties in the assessment of constitutive parameters. This paper presents results of field tests carried out at different penetration rates in two silty deposits to assess both the influence of rate effects on measured test results, as well as the transition of flow conditions around the piezocone. The first site is characterized by a natural deposit located in the city of Joinville/SC. The second site is characterized by a deposit of gold mining tailings in the city of Barrocas/BA. Piezocone tests performed in standard velocity were used to verify the site stratigraphy and define the presence of more homogeneous layers to concentrate the analysis of rate effects. Dissipation tests were conducted to obtain flow parameters characteristics of the deposit. Piezocone were tested with penetration rates in the range of 0.5mm/s to 45mm/s in the natural deposit and 0.3mm/s to57mm/sin the gold mining tailing. Additionally, samples were collected for characterization of materials. The results of the piezocone tests showed that the cone resistance increases with decreasing penetration rate while pore pressure reduces, and that tests performed under standard penetration rate are mainly undrained in the tested field. The analysis in terms of normalized velocity showed that transition between undrained and partially drained occurs for value of V around 300 and the transition between partially drained and drained occurs for value of V lower than 5 in the gold mining tailing. The transition in the natural deposit cannot be verified clearly due to the complex system of macro drainage typical of residual soils. Finally, a method was proposed to identify the degree of drainage occurring in penetration tests based on the soil drainage characteristic curve, and to convert the cone tip resistance measured under partially drained conditions into a value that corresponds to undrained conditions. This correction would enable the use and interpretation of results following methods currently adopted in engineering practice.