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6 - Models and Soil Mechanics - Wood PDF
6 - Models and Soil Mechanics - Wood PDF
p; AB’ in Fig, 1.18b). ‘An undrained test is usually assumed to be a constant volume test (the term isochoric is sometimes used), but it is more strictly a constant mass test (isomassic) because closure of the drainage tap merely prevents any material from leaving the sample. It will be a truly constant volume test only if all the constituents of the soil sample are incompressible. For most soils this is a reasonable assumption provided the pore fluid is a saturated liquid. Air is certainly compressible, and if the pore fluid is a mixture of water and air not in solution, then it too will be significantly compressible, Hence, it may be important to perform undrained tests on soils which might develop negative pore pressures with an extra back pressure, to prevent the absolute pressure in the pore water from becoming so low that cavitation occurs and air comes out of solution. The limiting negative pressure that can be sustained without cavitation is of the order of the atmospheric pressure, in other words about — 100 kilopascals.(kPa). For an undrained test on a dilating soil performed with a back pressure, the relative positions of total stress path AB and effective stress path A’B' are shown in Fig. 1.18¢; though the pore pressure falls during the test, it never becomes negative, and cavitation is never in prospect. Data from conventional triaxial compression tests performed with constant cell pressure (6c, =0) are usually presented in terms of the quantities that are most readily determined: plots of the variation with14 Soil testing: stress and strain 27 (ominal) axial strain ¢, of deviator stress q and (nominal)’ volumetric strain ¢, (for drained tests) or pore pressure u (for undrained tests) (Fig, 1.19). These are unlimited plots in the sense that the axial strain can in principle increase indefinitely. It seems unlikely, however, that the stresses can increase indefinitely -for someone familiar with the mechanical behaviour of metals, a limit to the shear stress (or deviator stress) that can be supported might be anticipated - and it is clear that the volume of the sample cannot either decrease below the point at which the voids have disappeared (specific volume v= 1, void ratio e=0) or increase above the point at which the particles are no longer in contact with each other. (Of course, during the process of deposition and formation ofa soil, the particles may initially not be in contact as they settle through water towards the bottom of a lake or sea; but once a soil has formed, it can be assumed ‘or engineering purposes that no particle will again lose contact with all its neighbours.) Stresses and specific volumes are thus limited quantities. In this book, although familiar stress:strain curves will be presented, much of the discussion will be conducted with the aid of limited plots involving stresses (in particular, effective stresses, given the importance of these in determining soil response) and specific volumes. The particular piots to be used are the effective stress plane p':q, which Fig. 1.19 Standard plots of results of conventional triaxial compression tests: (a) drained tests and (b) undrained tests. aa 128 1 Introduction: models and soil mechanics hhas already been used in Figs. 1.15, 1.16, and 1.18 to illustrate the capabilities of the triaxial apparatus, and also a plot of specific volume and mean effective stress p':0, which will be called the compression plane. The paths of the typical drained and undrained conventional triaxial compression tests, for which data were shown in Fig. 1.192, b, are replotted the p'zq effective stress plane and the p’:v compression plane in Fig. 1.20. AB is the drained test for which the eflective stress path is forced to have slope éq/5p’ = 3,and AC is the undrained test for which the volume remains constant, 6 = 0. The way in which plots of test data in the stress plane and the compression plane can lead to clearer insights into patterns of soil behaviour will become evident in Chapter 6. 1.4.2. Other testing apparatus ‘Some of the practical field stress paths that one might attempt to emulate in the triaxial apparatus are described in Section 10.3. One will be mentioned here because it has led to the development of its own testing device, the odometer. Many soils are deposited under seas or lakes, over areas of large lateral extent. Symmetry dictates that the depositional Fig. 1.20 Results of conventional drained and undrained triaxial compression tests replotted in (a) effective stress plane and (b) compression plane. 4 B @ () Fig. 121 Purely vertical movement of soil particles during one-dimensional deposition. Tila!1.4 Soil testing: stress and strain 29 history of such soils must have been entirely one-dimensional (Fig. 1.21); there is no possibility for a soil element to have moved or deformed to one side or another. If a large surface load, such as an embankment or large spread foundation, is then placed on such a soil deposit, conditions beneath the centre of the loaded area will be similarly one-dimensional, One-dimensional deformation is a special case of axisymmetric deformations, which can be applied in a triaxial apparatus by suitable control of the cell pressure as the deviator stress is changed in such a way that the radial strain of the sample is always zero (5e, = 0), which implies from (1.40) that ev _l 777 (1.50) Continual application of this equation to check that volume and length changes are in step is possible though tedious to do manually but is perfectly feasible with computer controlled triaxial apparatus. However, if all that is required is one-dimensional deformation of soils, then this complexity can be avoided by using a device intended for just this purpose, the oedometer. In the oedometer, the cylindrical soil sample is contained in a stiff metal ring which prevents any lateral deformation of the soil (Fig. 1.22). The use of oedometers to study time-dependent dissipation of excess pore water pressures in soils - the process of consolidation ~ is described in many textbooks of soil mechanics (e.g. Atkinson and Bransby, 1978). This, Fig. 122. Schematic section through oedometee “| Jt = Fig. 1.23 Typical results of oedometer test.301 Introduction: models and soil mechanics is a straightforward application of the solution to the one-dimensional diffusion equatior order to deduce the diffusion coefficient, known in soil mechanics as the coefficient of consolidation; so it will not be repeated here. The oedometer also produces information about the stress:strain behaviour of soils during one-dimensional deformation. Experimental data are usually plotted in a compression plane of specific volume v and vertical effective stress o’ (Fig. 1.23). The horizontal effective stress acting on the soil is not usually measured, so it is not usually possible to calculate values of mean effective stress p’ or deviator stress q. Historically, the first soil-testing apparatus to be developed was the direct shear box (Fig. 1.24). It was originally developed (e.g. see Collin, 1846) because it was observed in many landslides in clay that failure occurred on a thin, well-defined failure surface. In the shear box, failure of the soil sample on just such a thin, well-defined failure surface is produced by moving the top half of the box laterally relative to the bottom half of the box by means of a shear load Q (Fig. 1.24). The soil is loaded by a normal load P through a piston which can move up or down if the soil wishes to change in volume as it is sheared. This apparatus is still widely used, primarily for estimating strengths of soils. Its use for studying the stress:strain behaviour of soils before failure 1s limited because there can be no pretence that the stress and strain conditions in the soil sample are uniform. Although knowledge of P and Q might be sufficient to estimate the average normal and shear stress atting on a horizontal plane through the sample, there is no information about the stresses on other planes (in particular, the vertical plane); hence, there is insufficient information to Fig. 1.24 Schematic section through direct shear box. P Fig. 1.25 Schematic diagram of simple shear apparatus. LL ey15 Plane strain 31 specify the position and size of the Mohr circle of stress for the plane of shearing. A slight improvement on the direct shear box is provided by the simple shear apparatus (Roscoe, 1953; Bjerrum and Landva, 1966), shown schematically in section in Fig. 1.25. In this apparatus, there is more guarantee that the deformation of the soil sample will be reasonably uniform as the cross section changes from rectangle to parallelogram, but itis still mot possible to guarantee that the stress state in the sample will be uniform (e.g. see Wood, Drescher, and Budhu, 1980). The simple shear apparatus is also commercially available and quite widely used. Some data from direct shear box tests and simple shear tests on soils will be presented in Chapters 6-8 to illustrate ideas connected with the strength and dilatancy of soils. 15 Plane strain Although most of the discussion in this book will be concerned with states of stress that can be reached in a conventional axially symmetric triaxial apparatus, there will be some discussion of stress paths appropriate to plane problems. The direct shear and the simple shear apparatus test soil samples under conditions of plane strain; such conditions are of more frequent practical occurrence than conditions of axial symmetry since they are relevant for any long geotechnical structure - embankment, wall, or footing - whose length is large compared with its cross section (Fig, 1.26a). For such structures, the displacement and strain along the length of the structure (the y axis in Fig. 1.26a) are zero: &,=0 (1.51) Discussion of piane-strain stress paths can usefully be conducted in terms of the stresses in the plane of shearing ~ ¢/,,'.,t,, (Fig. 1.26a) ~ leaving the eflective stress in the y direction, o',, which from symmetry must be a principal stress, to be considered as a dependent rather than an independent variable because it is forced to adopt whatever value is necessary to comply with the imposed condition of zero strain in the y ection. Under such conditions of plane strain, expression (1.24) for the increment of work per unit volume when an increment of strain occurs under certain imposed stresses becomes OW = OS ng + 02 5b,2 + OceSVeg - (1.52) since 5¢,,=0 and, from symmetry, (1.53) ty = tye and (1.54)32 I Introduction: models and soil mechanics The principal effective stresses in the plane of shearing can be calculated from the Mohr circle construction (Fig. 1.26b): % } =i, % For the special case in which the principal axes of strain increment coincide with the principal axes of stress, the expression for the work increment (1.52) can be written in terms of o',,0, and the corresponding principal (1.55) Fig. 1.26 Stress and strain variables for plane strain. \ ve @ : ° ay MP NY) 2 () o1.6 Pore pressure parameters 33 strai increments de, and 625: SW = 04 be, +04 50 (1.56) For this case, with coaxiality of principal axes, it is again convenient to separate the strain increment and stress into volumetric and distortional parts. Appropriate pairs of variables are then the volumetric strain increment ~ be, = be, + des (1.57) the mean effective stress in the plane of shearing amt s (1.58) the shear strain increment (diameter of the Mohr circle of strain increment, Fig. 1.26b) be, = be, ~ 505 - (1.59) and the maximum shear stress in the plane of shearing (1.60) The variables s’ and ¢ will be used in Section 10.4 to present stress paths for a number of geotechnical situations of piane strain. The stress plane is a rotation through 1/4 of the stress plane o',:0', (Fig. 1.26c), the shear stress ¢ is the radjus of the Mohr circle of stress, and the mean stress s’is the centre of this circle (Fig. 1.26b). With these variables, the expression, (1.56) for the work increment can be written as OW as be, + te, (1.61) Again, the subscripts on the symbols for the strain increment variables have been chosen to suggest the correct pairing of work-conjugate stress and strain increment quantities. Although the validity of (1.56) and (1.61) is limited to situations in which the principal axes of strain increment and of stress coincide, this limitation may not be unduly restrictive. In many of the situations considered in Section 10.4, the principal effect of construction is expected to be a change of the horizontal and vertical stresses from an initial state in which the soil is one-dimensionally compressed, and the horizontal and vertical stresses are principal stresses. Thus, rotation of principal axes may not be of primary significance. 1.6 Pore pressure parameters The response of soils depends on the effective stresses acting on them, but in many geotechnical situations, it is much easier to estimate,34 1 Introduction: models and soil mechanics from rough considerations of equilibrium, the changes in total stresses that may occur as a result of the progress of construction. Thus, an analysis of the expected behaviour of the ground (such as whether it will fail or how much it will deform) requires an estimate of the pore pressures that are likely to develop as a result of the applied changes in total stresses so that the changes in effective stresses may in turn be estimated. The detailed linking of pore pressure and stress changes requires a consistent model of soil response: for example, an elastic model (Chapter 2) or an elastic plastic model (such as those in Chapters 4 and 5). It is often useful to describe pore pressure development with the aid of so-called pore pressure parameters. The basic idea of pore pressure parameters will be introduced here, and the relationship between this basic idea and the models of soil response will be discussed in later chapters. The principle of effective stress indicates that pore pressure is the difference between the total and effective mean stress: u=p-P (1.62) In incremental form this can be written as éu= dp —6p' (1.63) which says that the pore pressure increase is due in part to the increase in total mean stress and in part to the decrease in effective mean stress (Fig. 1.27). For a sample sitting in a triaxial apparatus with the drainage connections closed, the change in total stress is the result of actions taken by the operator, who can vary the total stresses at will. The change in effective stress is not under the control of the operator; it merely assumes whatever value is necessary for the volume of the soil to remain constant. The volume of the soil may want to change as it is sheared and as a result of the changes in deviator stress which the operator has chosen to apply. Ina typical soil which wants to contract as it is sheared (Fig. 1.18a), the Fig. 1.27 Generation of pore pressure from changes in total and effectiveExercises 35 mean effective stress has to drop as the deviator stress is increased, to keep the volume constant. Suppose that at a particular stage of an undrained test, the changes of deviator stress and mean effective stress (Fig. 1.27) are linked by bp = —26q (1.64) Then, (1.62) becomes bu= 5p+adq (1.65) and if the pore pressure parameter a is known, the pore pressure change can be deduced from the changes in total stresses. It is important to appreciate that it is only the second term aq which says anything about the soil; the first part of the pore pressure change dp is entirely the result of arbitrary external actions over which the soil has no control. The pore pressure parameter a is not usually a soil constant but will depend on the past history of the soil and on the nature of the loading. A slightly modified form of (1.65), ‘bu = (6p + 25a) (1.66) has rather wider application. The extra pore pressure parameter b should be unity for saturated soils but will be lower than unity for soils with com- pressible pore fluids, or for porqus materials in which the compressibility of the matrix is of the same order as the compressibility of the pore fluid. This will be discussed in Chapter 2. 17 Conclusion The scene has now been set for the development of numerical models for the description of soil behaviour, which will be presented in later chapters. These models will concentrate on the response of soil in the axially symmetric conditions imposed by the conventional triaxial apparatus. It is necessary to choose correct pairs of strain increment and stress variables to study soil response in the triaxial apparatus and to develop numerical models. These variables separate volumetric and distortional effects and are the mean effective stress p’ = (o', + 20’)/3 and volumetric strain increment 5¢, =e, + 26e, on the one hand, and the deviator stress ¢=0,—; and triaxial shear strain increment de, = 2(6e, — d¢,)/3 on the other. Exercises El.L. A triaxial sample supporting total axial and radial stresses o, and g, undergoes increments of axial and radial strain ée, and d¢,. The pressure in the pore water remains constant. Show that the work input to the soil skeleton is given by p’ de, +4 5e,.36 E12. El: 1 Introduction: models and soil mechanics Data of triaxial tests are often presented in terms of the so-called MIT stress variables {p'} = (0, + 0/)/2 and {q} = (0, — 07)/2. Find, as functions of the strain increments ée, and é¢,, the corresponding work conjugate strain increment quantities 6a and 6, which should be associated with these stress variables so that the work increment can be written as SW = (p'} da + {q} 58. ‘The form of the pore pressure expression that has achieved widest use is not (1.66) but is the expression proposed by Skempton (1954a), Au = B[Ag; + A(Ao, — Aos)) which was produced with exclusively triaxial compression conditions in mind, so that Ac; = 4g, and Ao, = Ac,. Show that the pore-pressure parameter B is identical to b in (1.66) but the parameter A =a +4 (with a assumed constant over the large stress changes de, and Ao,); so, for non-dilatant materials, a=0 but Ak