Application of Soil Stiffness Gauge in Assessing Small-Strain Stiffness of Sand with Different Fabrics and Densities

Abstract

Abstract The soil stiffness gauge (SSG) exhibits particular promise for determining the in situ soil stiffness at small strains. Because the SSG is new, its application in laboratory stiffness measurements is limited. The use of the SSG in assessing small-strain stiffness of sand with different fabrics, densities, and specimen sizes is presented herein. Two types of test containers were utilized and the results indicate that the SSG stiffness obtained from both containers show a similar trend but are offset by a constant value, which might be due to the effect of specimen dimensions and boundary configurations. A comparison with other small-strain stiffness tests indicates that the Young's moduli obtained from the seismic tests are consistently higher than those from the SSG tests. The plots of shear modulus versus shear strain amplitude suggest that the SSG modulus appears to be corresponding to a strain amplitude level higher than the strain amplitude of the seismic test, even though the SSG induces a strain amplitude comparable to that of seismic tests. Nonetheless, the SSG is found to be a potential and useful device for assessing the stiffness of sand with different fabrics and densities.