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Use of similitude theory for determining the mechanical characteristics of soil

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Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Aims and scope

Conclusions

1. Analysis of the results of tests conducted in a triaxial machine with Sedletsk kaolin specimens indicates that the mechanical behavior of these specimens is similar only in a relatively narrow zone of the stressed state. This is explained by the fact that the stress (load) assumes the character of a state parameter, i.e., the structure of the specimens is modified to a large degree. Geomechanical modeling in any construction should assume that stress is a state parameter.

2. Only specimens with a similar structural transformation in the deformation process (for example, loose sands, normally consolidated clays, a region of higher stresses) manifest physical similitude.

3. Local structural instability, which may be observed on the load paths, is explained primarily by the stepwise reduction of the kaolinite aggregates (pseudograins), which make up the greater part of the Sedletsk clay investigated.

4. The hypothesis described is based on the similar shape of the load paths of eluvial sand with weathered grains, which are clearly reduced in size during the deformation process.

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Literature cited

  1. C. C. Ladd, R. Foott, K. Ishihara, F. Schlosser, and H. G. Poulos, Stress-Deformation and Strength Characteristics, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference of the Society of Mechanical Foundation Engineers, Tokyo (1977), pp. 421–494.

  2. J. K. Mitchell, Fundamentals of Soil Behavior, Wiley (1976).

  3. J. Feda, Mechanics of Particulate Materials — The Principles, Elsevier-Academia (1982).

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  6. J. Kozesnik, Teorie Podobnosti a Modelovani (Theory of Similitude and Modeling (in Czechoslovakian), izd. Akad., Prague (1983).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Czechoslovak Union of Socialist Republics, Czechoslovakias

    J. Feda

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  1. J. Feda
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Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 3, pp. 26–29, May–June, 1989.

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Feda, J. Use of similitude theory for determining the mechanical characteristics of soil. Soil Mech Found Eng 26, 123–128 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02302822

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02302822

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