Small-strain constrained elastic modulus of clean quartz sand with various grain size distribution

Abstract

Approx. 120 resonant column (RC) tests with additional P-wave velocity measurements using piezoelectric elements have been performed on 19 clean quartz sands with piecewise linear, gap-graded, S-shaped or other smoothly shaped grain size distribution curves. For each material different pressures and densities were tested. It is demonstrated that the extended empirical equations for the small-strain constrained elastic modulus proposed by the authors in an earlier paper work well also for most of the more complex grain size distribution curves tested in the present study. These equations considering the influence of the uniformity coefficient of the grain size distribution curve were developed based on the data from tests on linear gradations. A further improvement of the prediction for the more complex grain size distributions can be achieved if the correlation equations are applied with a specially defined average inclination of the grain size distribution curve. Such an improvement is demonstrated not only for the small-strain constrained elastic modulus, but also for small-strain shear modulus, modulus degradation and Poisson's ratio.