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Compressibility of Sands of Various Geologic Origins at Pre-crushing Stress Levels

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Abstract

This study quantifies the influence of various intrinsic soil properties including particle roundness, R, sphericity, S, 50% size by weight, D 50, coefficient of uniformity, C u, and the state property of relative density, D r, on the compression and recompression indices, C c and C r, of sands of various geologic origins at pre-crushing stress levels. Twenty-four sands exhibiting a wide range of particle shapes, gradations, and geologic origins were collected for the study. The particle shapes were determined using a computational geometry algorithm which allows characterization of a statistically large number of particles in specimens. One dimensional oedometer tests were performed on the soils. The new data was augmented with many previously published results. Through statistical analyses, simple functional relationships are developed for C c and C r. In both cases, the models utilized only R and D r since other intrinsic properties proved to have lesser direct influence on the compression indices. However, previous studies showed that the contributions of S and C u are felt through their effects on index packing void ratios and thus on D r. The accuracy of the models was confirmed by comparison of predicted and observed C c and C r values.

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(After Vesic and Clough 1968)

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI 1300010. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. ConeTec Investigations Ltd. and the ConeTec Education Foundation are acknowledged for their support to the Geotechnical Engineering Laboratories at the University of Michigan.

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  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, 2105 GG Brown, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2125, USA

    Junxing Zheng, Roman D. Hryciw & Andrea Ventola

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  1. Junxing Zheng
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  2. Roman D. Hryciw
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  3. Andrea Ventola
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Correspondence to Roman D. Hryciw.

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Zheng, J., Hryciw, R.D. & Ventola, A. Compressibility of Sands of Various Geologic Origins at Pre-crushing Stress Levels. Geotech Geol Eng 35, 2037–2051 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-017-0225-9

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