(V / ('?

;>
CONFINING PRESSURE), (GRAIN ANGULARITY,
AND(LIQU^ACTION}
By Yoginder P.j Vaid,1 M. ASCE, Jing C. Chern, 2 and Hadi Tumi 3

INTRODUCTION
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

Among the many factors that influence the resistance to liquefaction

of saturated sands, the effect of high confining pressure a n d particle
angularity has not been studied m u c h . Seed (7) has presented some gen-
eral guidelines as to the reduction of cyclic stress ratio causing liquefac-
tion with increase in confining pressure in the range of 150-800 kPa.
These suggestions appear to be based on earlier work of Seed a n d his
co-workers on subangular to s u b r o u n d e d s a n d s (4-6). Some data for
several subangular to subrounded sands has also been presented by Castro
and Poulos (1), which shows a general reduction in cyclic stress ratio to
cause liquefaction with increasing confining pressure in the range of 5 0 -
600 kPa. Ishibashi et al. (3) have s h o w n that the resistance to liquefac-
tion increases with increase in particle angularity. Their observations are,
however, restricted to relatively low levels of confining stresses.
/ T h i s note presents results from a study aimed at seeking the influence •>
of- high confining pressures u p to 2,500 kPa and of particle angularity/li
on resistance to liquefaction^) Significance of these investigations is ap-*--'
parent in the seismic design of high tailings d a m s w h e r e saturated an-
gular tailings sands u n d e r high confining pressure could be p r o n e to
liquefaction. Tailings d a m s approaching 200 m in height are n o w being
either constructed or considered a real possibility in the future.

EXPERIMENTATION

Two m e d i u m sands with essentially identical gradation, one angular

and the other rounded were used. This enabled the influence of particle
angularity alone to be isolated without introducing a possible additional
variable in the form of gradation. The grain size distribution curves of
the two sands are illustrated in Fig. 1. It may be noted that except for
a small divergence in the region of particle sizes coarser than about 0.5
m m , the gradation curves of the two sands are essentially identical with
D 50 = 0.4 m m . The angular sand consisted of screened c o m p o n e n t of
tailings from a copper mine in British Columbia, whereas the r o u n d e d
sand was the standard Ottawa sand C-109. Ottawa sand is all quartz.
Tailings sands was composed of 35% quartz and 65% feldspar with oc-
Trof. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
2
Doctoral Student, Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver,
B.C., Canada.
3
Grad. Student, Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Queen's Univ., Kingston, Ontario, Can-
ada.
Note.—Discussion open until March 1, 1986. To extend the closing date one
month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The
manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on
December 18, 1984. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
Vol. I l l , No. 10, October, 1985. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9410/85/0010-1229/$01.00.
Paper No. 20110.

1229

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.

 Son d
Coor&@ Medium I Fins
Sieve size
10 2 0 3 0 4 0 60 100 2 0 0
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

80

a>
E 60
«*-
"c.
a>
o 40

20

0
4 2 10.8 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.04 0.02
Diometer, mm

FIG. 1 .—Grain Size Distribution

casional traces of mica and chalchopyrite. The maximum and minimum

void ratios of tailings sands were, respectively, 1.06 and 0.688 and that
of Ottawa sand 0.82 and 0.50.
The experimental results were obtained using the simple shear ap-
paratus, in order to simulate the most representative in situ stress con-
ditions during earthquake shaking. Cyclic loading was imposed under
the constant volume conditions and samples of dry sand were used. In
these tests, the changes in vertical confining pressure to maintain con-
stant volume are equivalent to changes in porewater pressure in the cor-
responding undrained tests.
Samples were deposited loose by air pluviation directly into the sam-
ple cavity in the apparatus using a constant height of drop of about 2
cm. Higher initial relative densities, if desired, were achieved by low
energy vibrations imparted to the apparatus table. All samples were K0
normally consolidated under the desired confining pressure. All creep
effects under consolidation stresses, which can be significant for angular
sand, were allowed to subside before initiating cyclic loading under stress
controlled conditions. Detailed description of the apparatus and experi-
mental techniques is given elsewhere (2,8).

TEST RESULTS

Liquefaction Resistance.—The resistance to liquefaction defined herein

is the cyclic stress ratio TCil/<?'m required to cause a shear strain amplitude
•y = ±5% in 10 stress cycles. The resistance to liquefaction of tailings
1230

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.

 sand is shown in Fig. 2 and that of Ottawa sand in Fig. 3 at several
levels of vertical confining pressure, u'vo. The relative density Drc or void
ratio ec refer to values at the end of consolidation. For both sands, as
expected, the resistance increases with relative density at each level of

0,20 r-
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

Y' t 3% in 10 eyclst /
Toilin,. / / 0 /
£ 0.18

| 0 , S

10,4 - WX
- X
U J?» ^^
J.,,
n in 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Rslaliva density, Drc %
_J I I J I L_
0.95 0.90 0.85 0.80 0.73 0.70
Void r a t i o , 9 t

FIG. 2.—Resistance to Liquefaction of Tailings Sand at Various Confining Pres-

sures

0.20r
y • t 5% in 10 eye lei
Ottawa Sand

0.08
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative density, D.,%

070 065 0.60 0.55 0.50

Void rotio , 9C

FIG. 3.—Resistance to Liquefaction of Ottawa Sand at Various Confining Pres-

sures
1231

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.

 confining pressure. The rounded Ottawa sand shows an extremely rapid
build up of resistance with increasing density, regardless of the level of
confining pressure. Angular tailings sand, in contrast, shows such rapid
increase only at lower levels of confining pressure. The resistance curves
become progressively flatter as the level of confining pressure increases.
It is apparent from Figs. 2 and 3 that in the range of higher relative
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

densities, liquefaction resistance of both sands at a given value of rela-

tive density decreases with increase in confining pressure. However, the
resistance curves for both sands at all confining pressure levels tend to
converge around a relative density of 50-55%. This implies that the in-
fluence of confining pressure on reduction of liquefaction resistance may
be significant only for densities larger than a certain minimum.
Considerable densification, particularly of angular sand, inevitably oc-
curs [Figs. 4(a-b)] under the application of large confining pressure. Be-
cause of this dependence of relative density on confining pressure, the
influence of relative density and confining pressure on resistance to liq-
uefaction cannot be isolated easily. Furthermore, certain relative densi-
ties may not even be accessible to a certain level of confining pressure.
Thus, relative density may not be considered a parameter that is inde-
pendent of confining pressure over the full range of confining pressure
considered here.
The combined influence of relative density and confining pressure on
resistance to liquefaction can be better assessed from Figs. 5(a-b). This
figure shows liquefaction resistance as a function of confining pressure
at fixed values of initial placement relative densities, D n . Since the re-
1.00

o 0.80

"^
0.70 J i_L
20 40 100 200 400 1000 2000 4000
(a) V e r t i c o l effective stress crj 0 , kPo

0.80
Ottawa Sand

' 0.70

o.so

0.50 i i j I_J
20 40 100 200 400 1000 2000 4000
(b) v e r t i c a l effective stress ov' kPo

FIG. 4.—One-Dimensional Compressibility: (a) Tailings; (b) Ottawa Sand

1232

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.

 sistance to liquefaction increases with increase in relative density and
generally decreases with increase in confining pressure, the resistance
curves in Figs. 5(a-b) show the net influence of these two factors. It may
be noted that for tailings sand at loose Drj, the effect of densification far
outweighs that of increasing confining pressure until o'vo ~ 1,600 kPa.
For larger a'm, the negative effect of confining pressure tends to be more
dominant. At higher Dri, however, a general continuous decrease in re-
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

sistance reflects that the positive effect of densification is too small to

offset the negative effect of increase in confining pressure. It may also
be noted in Fig. 5 that substantial increase in resistance to liquefaction
occurs at lower confining pressures as the initial relative density of tail-
ings is increased. For example, at confining pressure of 200 kPa, the
resistance can be increased by as much as 50% if the sand is placed at
a relative density Dri of 62% instead of 43%. But, a mere 10% increase
is achieved at a confining pressure of 2,500 kPa for similar initial den-

0.20

"bS 0.18 0,|" 7 0 %

! -

I..,
s ° '2 y - ± S % in 10 cyclon
Toilinga
o.ioh
(a) I i I _i I I L_j I i_J
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 2800

0.20r-

b" 0.18

o 0.16 -

S 0.14

0.12 -

y • t 5% in 10 C»cl8»
0 10 Ottawa Sand

(b) 0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 2800

cr'. It Pa

FIG. 5.—Effect of Confining Pressure on Liquefaction Resistance of Sands Pre-

pared at Various Initial Relative Densities: (a) Dri = 43-70%; {b) Dr, = 53-69%

1233

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.

 sification. This has considerable practical significance in deciding place-
ment densities of tailings at various locations in tailings dams, because
of the diminishing effect of initial densification on resistance under higher
confining pressures.
In general, similar observations can be made regarding the combined
influence of confining pressure and relative density on resistance to liq-
uefaction of rounded Ottawa sand, with the important difference that
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

the benefit of initial densification on liquefaction resistance prevails even

under higher confining pressures (Fig. 5). Furthermore, generally much
smaller initial densification than tailings sand contributes to significant
increase in resistance at essentially all levels of confining pressures.
Effect of Particle Angularity.—A direct comparison of results in Figs.
2 and 3 reveals that the resistance of angular tailings sand under the
lowest confining pressure of 200 kPa is greater than that of the rounded
sand over the entire range of relative densities considered. Under higher
confining pressure levels, the resistance of angular sand could be either
larger or smaller than that of the rounded counterpart, depending on
the range of relative density considered. Under the highest confining
pressure, the angular sand is much less resistant, in the range of high
relative densities, and could be susceptible to liquefaction even at rela-
tive densities approaching 100% under moderate earthquakes. Rounded
Ottawa sand, on the other hand is unlikely to liquefy even under the
strongest shaking for relative densities in excess of about 80-85% under
similar levels of confining pressures, as evidenced from the vertically
asymptotic nature of its resistance curves.
The particle gradation curves for both Ottawa and tailings sands after
testing were virtually identical to that for the untested sands, except for
a small increase in fines in tailings sand only. This increase in fines,
which constitutes the fraction passing #100 sieve, was of the order of
0.5% during consolidation and an additional increase of about 1.5% after
liquefaction under the highest confining pressure used. This implies that
both consolidation and shearing of angular sands results in some break-
age of sharp edges of particles, with no gross particle crushing under
the levels of confining pressure used. This was confirmed by examina-
tion of tested and untested sand under microscope. The consequence of
this particle breakage during cyclic loading is analogous to increased po-
tential compressibility, which would result in accelerated pore pressure
rise in liquefaction tests. The resistance to liquefaction of such sand will
then be smaller than the case if no particle breakage would occur. No
detectible increase in fines content was noted in tests with confining
pressure less than about 400 kPa. Consequently, the resistance of an-
gular tailings sands was larger than Ottawa sand under those confining
pressure levels for almost the entire range of relative densities consid-
ered.

CONCLUSIONS ya /

^Substantial decrease in resistance to liquefaction has-bee»=sh«*¥n to

occur with increase in confining pressure for two sands with essentially
identical gradation but differing in particle angularity. The decrease in
resistance with confining pressure increases with increase in relative
1234

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.

 density a n d is larger for angular t h a n for r o u n d e d sand./Angular sand
could be susceptible to liquefaction even at relative densities approach-
ing 100% u n d e r moderate earthquakes if the confining pressure is high.
At low confining pressures, angular sand is considerably more 1 resistant
to liquefaction than r o u n d e d sand over the entire range of relative den-
sities.
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by New York University on 05/10/15. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Science a n d

Engineering Research Council of Canada.

APPENDIX.—REFERENCES

1. Castro, G., and Poulos, S., "Factors Affecting Liquefaction and Cyclic Mo-
bility," Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 103, No. GT6,
June, 1977, pp. 501-516.
2. Finn, W. D. L., and Vaid, Y. P., "Liquefaction Potential from Drained Con-
stant Volume Cyclic Simple Shear Tests," Proceedings, 6th World Conference
on Earthquake Engineering, New Delhi, India, 1977, Vol. 3, pp. 2157-2162.
3. Ishibashi, I., Sharif, M. A., and Cheng, W. L., "The Effect of Soil Parameters
on Pore Pressure Rise and Liquefaction," Soils and Foundations, Vol. 22, No.
1, 1982, pp. 39-48.
4. Lee, K. L., and Seed, H. B., "Cyclic Stress Conditions Causing Liquefaction
of Sand," Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol. 93,
No. SMI, Jan., 1967, pp. 47-70.
5. Peacock, W. H., and Seed, H. B., "Sand Liquefaction Under Cyclic Loading
Simple Shear Conditions," Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division,
ASCE, Vol. 94, No. SM3, 1968, pp. 689-708.
6. Seed, H. B., and Lee, K. L., "Liquefaction of Saturated Sands During Cyclic
Loading," Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, ASCE, Vol. 92,
No. SM6, Nov., 1966, pp. 105-134.
7. Seed, H. B., "Earthquake-Resistant Design of Earth Dams," International Con-
ference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynam-
ics, Vol. Ill, St. Louis, Mo., 1981, pp. 1157-1173.
8. Vaid, Y. P., and Finn, W. D. L., "Static Shear and Liquefaction Potential,"
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 105, No. GT10, 1979, pp. 1233-
1246.

1235

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1229-1235.