Similarity Law in Model Ground Tests Focused on Shear Modulus Under Low Confining Stress

Abstract eng:
It is popular that model ground tests concerning dynamic problems are conducted under 1g gravitational condition. In those model tests, the similarity law is very important to predict the actual behavior of the real ground. Experimental results, where shear moduli of soils are proportional to the square root of confining stress (here, this is referred to as “square root law of G”), have been frequently available for making a similarity law. This experimental assumption is mainly examined in soil element tests under quite high confining stress comparing with small model ground tests. However, there is little data concerning the shear modulus under extremely low confining stress because of the difficulty of soil element tests under low confining stress conditions. Therefore, shear modulus was estimated under low confining stress conditions using bender elements (BE) not only in the triaxial tests but also in the model ground in this study. Moreover, the shear wave generated by plate hitting is also used to evaluate the shear modulus of soil in the model ground. The shear moduli at various confining stress level are measured using BE and plate hitting in soil container and triaxial tests. There was a good agreement in the shear moduli obtained from the BE tests using the triaxial apparatus and the soil container. However, the shear moduli obtained from the plate hitting method were larger than those from the BE tests. Finally, it was demonstrated that the assumption of “square root law of G” is roughly established under low confining stress although small difference appears in the type of experiments.

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