Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of different preparation methods (dry tamping, moist tamping, dry pluviation and wet pluviation) on inherent fabric anisotropy of reconstituted sand samples in the laboratory. An image analysis approach was used to quantify the inherent fabric anisotropy in terms of the vector magnitude based on a second-order fabric tensor. In addition, the effects of reconstituted soil sample preparation methods on the void ratio and density index were investigated. This study shows that the specimens prepared by pluviation methods possess more pronounced inherent fabric anisotropy than those by tamping methods. Among all the methods considered in this investigation, the dry pluviation method provided the highest degree of inherent fabric anisotropy. It is shown that the mass-flow and drop height does not effectively influence the packing density. Also, it has been found that no significant effect on void ratio is observed while using different tamping methods, which may be attributed to the fact that the sand used in this study is less well graded. In addition, it is found that the increase in the height of tamper leads to an increase in packing density or a decrease in relative density, with an approximately linear relationship.
Highlights
Soils are composed of discrete particles together with voids and/or fluids, which are often treated as a continuum for engineering analysis and design
This paper investigates the effects of different sample preparation methods on inherent anisotropy
This paper aims to address the effects of different preparation methods on inherent fabric anisotropy in the laboratory using dry tamping (DT), moist tamping (MT), dry pluviation (DP) and wet pluviated (WP) methods
Summary
Soils are composed of discrete particles together with voids and/or fluids, which are often treated as a continuum for engineering analysis and design. To understand the relationship between the fabric anisotropy and mechanical behaviour of granular materials, quantifying fabric anisotropy is crucial. This is not an easy job and there is no standard way of doing it. Soil anisotropy and its importance have gained more and more attention in providing the effective geotechnical engineering solutions, and substantial research attempts have been made in the laboratory, as well as in the field (Yang, Li, & Yang, 2008)
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