Undrained monotonic response of sand–silt mixtures: effect of nonplastic fines

Abstract

The effect of non-plastic fines (silt) on the undrained monotonic response of saturated and isotropically consolidated sand specimens prepared to various measures of their density was studied in detail through various approaches namely gross void ratio approach, relative density approach, sand skeleton void ratio approach, and interfine void ratio approach. Specimens of 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height were tested at a rate of loading of 0.6 mm/min for this purpose. The limiting silt content and the relative density of a specimen were found to influence the undrained monotonic response of sand–silt mixtures to a great extent. Undrained monotonic response was observed to be independent of silt content at very high relative densities; however the presence of fines significantly influenced this response of loose to medium dense specimens. Individual and combined analyses of undrained monotonic peak strengths which are closely related to the liquefaction related problems have been done in this paper to assess the variation patterns.