Liquefaction Testing of Stratified Sands Interlayered with Silt

Abstract:

The cyclic behavior of stratified sands interlayered with silt is at present poorly understood, although stratified sands exist for various soil deposits and hydraulic fill, which have a history of liquefaction during earthquakes. The main objective of this research project was to compare the cyclic behavior of stratified and homogeneous sands for various silt contents. A comprehensive experimental program was undertaken in which stain-controlled undrained cyclic triaxial tests for stratified sand samples interlayered with different thickness silt were performed. The silt thickness ranged from 0 to 80mm was considered. The confining pressure in all test series was 100kPa. The results indicate that the thickness of the silt seam sandwiched in the sand samples has a significant influence on the liquefaction resistances of layered sands. In other words, there is a critical thickness of silt seam that the saturated stratified sands have a critical shear strain. This finding justifies applying the laboratory tests results of homogeneously reconstituted samples to the field conditions for the range of variable studied.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 256-259)
• Pages: 116-119
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.256-259.116
• Online since: December 2012
• Authors: Min Cai Jia, Bing Ye Wang
• Keywords: Critical Shear Strain, Cyclic Triaxial Testing, Liquefaction, Silt, Stratified Sand

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