Liquefaction Resistances of Unsaturated Non-Plastic Silt

Abstract

It has been pointed out that there are two possible mechanisms that enhance liquefaction resistances of unsaturated sand. The first mechanism is where air in a partially saturated sand mass plays a role of absorbing generated excess pore pressures by reducing its volume. Okamura and Soga (2005) derived the influential factors of the liquefaction resistance for partially saturated sand from theoretical consideration and effects of the factors were examined through a series of triaxial tests on a clean sand. They found a unique relationship between liquefaction resistance ratios and the potential volumetric strain, which allows the estimation of the liquefaction resistance for partially saturated sand. The second is the matric suction of unsaturated sand which increases the effective stress and thus the strength of the soil mass. In this study two series of cyclic triaxial tests on non-plastic silt were carried out to observe the liquefaction resistance in both mechanisms. In the first series, a top cap with an accumulator tank was used to study the effect of compressibility of pore fluid on the liquefaction resistance. The empirical relationship derived by Okamura and Soga is found to be valid even for the silt provided that the matric suction is negligible. In the second test series an ordinary cap was used. The liquefaction resistance increased linearly with the matric suction, with the increasing ratio being higher than that for the net stress. A unique linear relationship is found between the normalized liquefaction resistance and the matric suction. Results are summarized in the form which can be easily applied to evaluate the liquefaction resistance of a partially saturated soil.