Undrained dynamical behavior of Nanjing flake-shaped fine sand under cyclic loading

Abstract

A series of dynamic behavior tests on Nanjing flake-shaped fine sand were performed by using the WFI cyclic triaxial apparatus made in England. The dynamic behaviors of Nanjing flake-shaped fine sand under different static deviator stress levels and cyclic stress ratios were studied. Through comparing the effective stress path under cyclic loading with static loading, the processes of liquefaction of saturated Nanjing flake-shaped fine sand with development of dynamic pore-water pressure, including the initial compact state, compression state and dilative state, were investigated. The variation of the shear stiffness with the number of cycles and cyclic strain was investigated by analyzing the secant shear modulus in each unload-reload loop of dynamic stress-strain relationship. And by means of the exponential function, the empirical equations of the relationship between secant shear modulus G_sec, shear modulus ratio G_sec/G_max and cyclic strain ε were established based on series of test results. The results show that according to different combinations of static deviator stress and cyclic stress, two kinds of failure patterns with deviator stress reversal or no deviator stress reversal are observed in the samples tested in this series, including cyclic mobility and the failure of accumulation residual strain. In addition, the degradation of dynamic shear modulus is due to the development of vibration pore-water pressure and it is observed that the shear modulus reduces with the progressive number of cycles.

Keywords

Nanjing flake-shaped fine sand / cyclic triaxial tests / failure pattern / effective stress path / degradation of dynamic shear modulus