Study on the small strain shear modulus of saturated sand-fines mixtures by bender element test

Abstract

The small strain shear modulus Gmax is an important parameter in geodynamic calculation and earthquake response analysis of site. To have a better fundamental understanding of the deformation behaviour of sand-fines mixtures, a total of 105 bender element tests have been performed. It is found that the Gmax is significantly dependent on fines content FC, initial effective confining pressure σ′3c and void ratio e. Furthermore, FC has an obvious influence on the trend of Gmax – e curve, but the impact decreases as σ′3c increases. According to Hardin’s equation, a modified model and an evaluation method of Gmax of sand-fines mixture are proposed and verified. Tests results and example of application indicate that the modified equation accounting for the influence of FC can predict the Gmax of sand-fines mixture satisfactorily.