Undrained Cyclic and Monotonic Behavior of Hormuz Calcareous Sand Using Hollow Cylinder Simple Shear Tests

Abstract

Complete recognition of calcareous sediments engineering behavior considering their local expansion and wide variety of engineering properties is very important. In south parts of Iran, there are some carbonate hydrocarbon reservoirs which are covered by calcareous deposits. Hormuz Island in is one of the most strategic areas in Hormuz Strait between the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. In this study, a series of undrained monotonic and cyclic simple shear tests was performed on saturated Hormuz calcareous sand specimens using hollow cylinder torsional apparatus. The tests were carried out on specimens with various relative densities under different effective consolidation stresses. Based on the results, pore pressure generation, shear strain development, stress–strain characteristics of the specimens are presented and compared with the technical literature. In addition, dissipation of strain-based energy during the cyclic loading and its relation to excess pore water pressure is described. The cyclic resistance curves of specimens with different initial conditions are plotted. Also the results of monotonic and cyclic tests are compared together for better interpretation of Hormuz calcareous sand under undrained torsional loading.