Abstract
The shear wave (S-wave) velocities in dry and saturated sand specimens at various confining pressures and densities were measured by bender elements (BE) incorporated in a resonant column (RC) apparatus with the cyclic torsional shear (TS) function. The received BE signals were analyzed by different interpretation methods, including the start–start method, the peak–peak method, the cross correlation method and the cross power method. Parametric studies on several scenarios of input and output wave forms were also carried out to examine the reliability of the different interpretation methods and the underlying reasons for the discrepancies. The results obtained from the BE, RC and TS tests were compared carefully. They showed that, for BE tests on saturated sand specimens, the effective density accounting for the wave dispersion effect should be used to convert the measured S-wave velocity into small strain shear modulus G0, whereas, for RC tests, the conventional saturated density should be used. It was also found that under the same void ratio and confining pressure, the G0 value of saturated sand is about 7–10% lower than that for dry sand, and that the effect of the sample preparation method is coupled with the test method in the evaluation of the G0 values.
Published Version
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