Shear modulus and damping ratios of transparent soil manufactured by fused quartz

Abstract

The mixture of fused quartz and pore fluid with the same refractive index has been used as a synthetic transparent soil to mimic the behavior of natural soil. Previous research has focused on its static properties. In this paper, the dynamic properties of fused quartz (dry samples and oil saturated samples), including shear modulus and damping ratio, were examined through a series of resonant column tests and dynamic torsional shear tests. It was found that fused quartz has similar dynamic behavior to that of natural soil. With the test results, fused quartz shows a great potential as a substitute for natural soil and is expected to be widely used in dynamic transparent soil model tests.