Experimental Investigation and Probabilistic Modeling Of Shear Resistance and Stress-Volumetric Unit Deformation Behaviors of Sands Having Different Mineralogies

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the shear strength and stress-unit deformation behaviors of dry sands under static loads with the help of shear box experiments. For that purpose, sea sand taken from Trabzon, Sinop, and Zonguldak Provinces and river sand taken from Aydın Çine District were used. We attempted to evaluate geological and mineralogical properties of natural sand of different origins. For the classification of samples, specific gravity, sieve analysis, and maximum and minimum dry density tests were performed in the first stage. During the shear box experiments, the samples prepared at different empirical (varying) compaction varying between 45% and 85% were consolidated under vertical stresses varying between 30 and 400 kPa and then loaded up to failure. On the basis of the test results, Mohr-Coulomb failure parameters were determined according to relative compaction and effective stress. Semi-empirical relationships specific to the sands were developed due to relative compaction and effective stress in accordance with the principles of soil mechanics, as well as critical conditions for determination of Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters and volumetric unit deformation and bounded module values. The maximum likelihood method was used to determine the model parameters of the equations. In addition, physical properties were determined by experiments, and static parameters of sand samples were obtained. For this purpose, the material properties, stress-strain properties, and grain crush pressures of sand samples were calculated. A probabilistic model has been introduced by using soil parameters obtained from experiments.

Keywords: shear resistance, shear stress, maximum likelihood, limited module, sand