Triaxial compression tests were performed on dense specimens of Virginia Beach sand at low and high confining pressures to study time effects that relate to grain crushing due to static fatigue or delayed fracture. Experiments to study effects of loading strain rate on subsequent creep showed negligible time effects and no grain crushing at low confining pressures, while tests at high confining pressures indicated increasing amounts of creep with increasing initial loading strain rates and with increasing deviator stress at creep. Investigation of effects of grain-size distribution indicated stiffer initial response and smaller amounts of creep for more uniformly graded soils at high confining pressures. The experimental results showed that structuration effects were not present in the dense Virginia Beach sand. A long-term creep test at high confining pressure indicated continuous creep with no indication of its termination. Sieve analyses following each triaxial test showed that grain crushing, as quantified by Hardin’s relative breakage factor, was proportional to energy input and amount of creep observed for each soil specimen. The creep is due to the time-dependent static fatigue by which the grains crush and cause rearrangement of the grain structure, and this is the reason behind the time effects in granular materials.
Triaxial tests have been performed to demonstrate the conditions for stability and instability in loose silty sand. Drucker (1951) and Hill (1958) stability conditions in terms of the sign of the second work increment were employed in the design of the stress paths used in the triaxial compression and extension tests performed with quasi-constant shear stress while the mean normal stress was reduced until failure occurred. It is shown that the sand is completely stable under drained conditions for any stress path and irrespective of the sign of the second work increment. This is demonstrated by completely stopping the change in stresses and observing the stable behavior in the range of stresses where the sand contracts and where it dilates. Once the effective stress failure surface is passed, the sand becomes unstable, and the sign of the second work increment is always negative. Run-away instability can occur inside the failure surface for loose silty sand under undrained conditions for which the sand tends to contract, pore pressures continue to develop, and the second work increment is negative. Liquefaction may follow if the loose silty sand is sufficiently loose.
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