Dynamic Properties of Calcareous Sands from Urban Areas of Abu Dhabi

Abstract

Abu Dhabi (ABD) has recently developed its national building code that mandates dynamic analysis of large structures to seismic loadings. Large strain dynamic properties such as shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) of local undisturbed calcareous sands are not available. Designers are compelled to choose degradation models from studies on calcareous sands of other regions that are usually reconstituted. This research presents for the first time large strain dynamic properties of calcareous sands of urban ABD. Undisturbed samples are collected from different areas of urban ABD and are tested in cyclic triaxial (CT) devices fitted with bender elements (BE). The dynamic properties as functions of confinement are curve fitted with power models, whereas their variation with shear strain level is curve fitted with hyperbolic models. The results are compared with findings of previous studies on calcareous and silica sands. The results indicate that dynamic properties of all samples degrade with shear strain at almost the same rate irrespective of their spatial distribution. The proposed degradation models can therefore be used in dynamic analyses. The results from this study show smaller rates of degradation in dynamic properties compared to other studies on similar sands. The change in low-strain shear wave velocity (Vs) with confinement is significant among the tested samples; therefore, a site-specific evaluation of Vs is recommended. The dynamic properties of calcareous sands of ABD and previous studies however exhibit larger degradation with shear strain and a smaller increase in confinement compared to silica sands.