Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference IGC-2014

December 18-20, 2014, Kakinada, India

THE EFFECT OF GRADING ON STRENGTH AND DILATANCY

PARAMETERS OF SANDS

K.V.S.B.Raju, Assistant Professor, U.V.C.E,Bangalore University, India. Email: kvsbraju.2007@gmail.com

Mohamed Shoaib Khan, Formerely Post Graduate Student, U.V.C.E, India

Abstract: In the present work the effect of grading on shear strength and dilatancy behaviour of sand are
investigated. The sand is graded into coarse sand (4.75mm 2mm), Medium Sand ( 2mm 0.425mm) and fine
sand ( 0.425mm 0.075mm). A number of direct shear tests were conducted on each type of graded sand at three
different relative density states namely dense, medium dense and loose. The effect of stress level is also bought out
by varying the effective normal stress. The tests were conducted on dry sand having different relative densities (i.e.,
20%, 50%, & 80%) subjecting them to different constant values of vertical normal stress ranging from 50kPa to
400kPa.At each stress level and density state for each type of sand peak frictional angle and dilatancy angle were
found out by conducting direct shear tests. It was found from the present results with increase in effective normal
stress the peak frictional angle and dilation angle is found to decrease. Also it is found that with increase in density
leads to increase in peak friction angle and dilation angle. Also it is found that the as the grain size of sand
decreases from coarse to fine there is a substantial reduction in peak frictional angle, critical state friction angle and
dilation angle. In the present study critical state friction angle is found out for the three different types of graded
sand. It was found that cv for coarse sand is 35.34o, cv for medium sand is 27.07o and cv for fine sand is 24.08o .
In the present study a number of correlations were established between peak frictional angle, dilation angle, critical
state friction angle and dilatancy index. The correlations are compared with published correlations and found that
the present results compare favorably well.

KEYWORDS: Strength, Dilatancy, Grading, Relative density, Friction angle, Critical state, Correlations, Sands.

1.1 Introduction earliest observations to monitor change in

All aspects of soil stability - bearing capacity of
shallow and deep foundations, slope stability, the
penetration resistance to name a few depends on
soil strength. The basic contributions to soil
strength are frictional resistance between soil
particles in contact and internal kinematic
constraints of soil particles associated with
changes in soil fabric. The magnitude of these
contributions depends on the effective stress and
volume change tendencies of soils. One of the
dx
1
dy
1
dx (1)
peak n
n right hand side of the expression is the energy
Where peak is the applied shear stress at peak,
n1 is the effective normal stress on the shear
plane, dx is the incremental horizontal
displacement at peak, dy is the incremental
vertical displacement (positive for expansion) at
Rearranging equation (1),
volume during shearing processes was recorded
by Reynolds (1885). Reynolds showed that
dense sands exhibit expansion in volume and
loose sands contract during shear deformation.
The role of volume changes during shear
especially dilatancy was recognized by Taylor
(1948). He carried out direct shear tests on dense
sand specimens and deduced the work at peak
shear stress state and showed that the energy
input is dissipated by the friction using the
expression.
peak stress and is the friction coefficient. The
dissipated by friction which is equal to the sum
of the work done by shearing (first component in
the left hand side) and that needed to increase the
volume ( the second component in the left hand
side). The latter component is referred to as
dilatancy.

peak dy (2)
1
tan p shots, Bishop (1972) has shown that an increase
dx
Thus, the peak shear stress ratio, or the
mobilized peak friction angle p consists of
both interlocking (dy/dx) and sliding friction
between grains ( ). This equation which relates
stress to dilation is called the stress dilatancy
rule, and it is an important relationship in
characterizing the plastic deformation of soils.
Taylor (1948) followed by Skempton and Bishop
(1950) attempted to separate the strength
component ( cv ) purely on an account of friction
from that p cv due to an expansion of the
material; where p is the angle of internal
friction corresponding to peak stress ratio.
Roscoe et al. (1958) using a novel shear
apparatus (Roscoe 1953) later proved that the
value of cv depends only on particles shape and
material grading. The ideal method of
determining cv is by drawing a plot between
p and corresponding rate of dilation, (at p ) so
that the value of p associated with the zero rate
of dilation, which is termed cv , can be
extrapolated (Bolton 1986). Rowe (1962) also
recognized that the mobilized peak friction angle
p must take into account particle
rearrangements as well as the sliding resistance
at contacts and dilation. Friction angle
component due to work of dilation is influenced
by particle packing arrangements and number of
sliding contacts. The denser the packing, the
more important is dilation. As the void ratio
increases, the mobilized friction angle decreases.
The critical state is defined as the condition
corresponding to no volume change by shearing
i.e. (dy/dx) =0 in equation (2). The
corresponding mobilized peak friction angle
p will be equal to cv . The original stress-
dilatancy model (Rowe 1962) does not capture
important behavioral features such as density
and stress level dependencies. Bishop (1966)
shown that the stress strain dilatancy behavior
of sand varies remarkable with confining
169
The effect of grading on strength and dilatancy parameters of sand
pressures. By carrying out experiments on steel
in confining pressure leads to a reduction in the
angle of shearing. Vesic and Clough (1968) and
Billiam (1972) have also reported the similar
behavior regarding the effect of stress level on
p . Bolton (1986) reviewed a large number of
triaxial and plane strain test results and proposed
a much simpler relationship among p , cv .and
p , which he found operationally equivalent to
Rowe (1962)s stress dilatancy relationship;
where p is the angle of dilatancy which
indirectly quantifies the rate of dilation. Bolton
(1986) provided the following simplified
expressions:
p cv 0 . 8 p (3)
p cv 5 I R for plane strain
condition (4) p cv 3 I R for
triaxial condition (5)
The quantity IR, is referred to as dilatancy
index and its magnitude is related to the relative
density (Dr) and the effective stress (v1) by the
relationship
I R D r ( Q ln(
1
)) R (6)
v
In the above equation v1 is expressed in kPa
and Dr in decimal; Q and R are constants.
It should be mentioned that in equation
(6), the effect of stress level is incorporated.
Bolton (1986) recommended the values of R=1
and Q=10. Later Salgado et al.
(2000)recommended the values of Q=9 and
R=0.49 based on his test results on clean Ottawa
sand (without any percentage of silt)
Simony and Houlsby (2006) conducted a
number of direct shear tests on large direct shear
box apparatus to investigate the strength and
dilatancy of sand gravel mixtures. They
concluded that addition of different proportion of
gravel to sand causes an increase in peak friction
K.V.S.B.Raju,Assistant Professor, University Visveswaraya college of Engineering,(U.V.C.E) Bangalore University & Mohamed Shoaib Khan
angle, peak dilatancy angle and critical state
friction angle. They did not focus on the effect of
stress level but conducted the tests for a wide
range of relative densities for each gravel sand
mixtures.
Kumar et al. (2007) examined further the
correlations between p , cv , p and IR by
conducting a number of direct shear tests on
Bangalore (quartz sand). The effect of stress
level and density on p , p were incorporated. A
correlation between p and
between p and v similar to that of Bolton
(1986) and Salgado et al.(2000) has been
suggested.
Kumar et al. (2007) provided the following
expressions
p cv 0 . 932 p (7)
p cv 3 . 5 I R (8)
Where I R D r (10 ln( 1
)) 1
v and Cu and Cc are the uniformity coefficient and
In the above equation v1 is expressed in kPa
and Dr in decimal
It is found from the literature not much
work was done on the effect of grading of sand
particles on strength and dilatancy parameters.
Hence in the present work sand is graded into
three different zones namely coarse sand
(4.75mm 2mm), medium sand (2mm
0.425mm) and fine sand (0.425mm 0.075mm).
Again each graded sand is subjected to direct
shear tests at different chosen unit weights
corresponding to loose, medium dense and dense
states of the material. All the tests were
continued upto a substantial value of horizontal
displacement so that critical state was achieved
in all the tests. The values p , p were
determined in all the tests for different
combination of v and Dr. All the test results are
compared with widely known recommendations
of Bolton (1986), Salgado et al. (2000) and
Kumar et al.(2007) and suggests a suitable
correlations which fits the present experimental
data. Also the effect of stress level and density
on residual friction angle for the chosen graded
sand is presented.
2.1 Properties of Bangalore Sand
The Bangalore sand was found to be generally
comprise of sub angular grains as can be seen
from the scanning electron micrograph provided
by kumar et al. (2007). The grain size
p and distribution of the chosen (Bangalore) sand is
shown in Figure1. It can be noticed that the
material comprises of hardly of any fraction of
silt. The average specific gravity(G) of the sand
particles was found to be 2.67. The sand was
graded into three zones namely coarse, medium
and fine and their corresponding maximum and
minimum unit weights are shown in Table1. The
values of the different grain size parameters of
the chosen sand associated with the grain size
distribution curve are as follows: D10 = 0.27, D30
= 0.38, D50 = 0.52, D60 = 0.70, Cu = 2.59 Cc =
0.76; D10, D30, D50 and D60 are the sizes
corresponding to respective percentages of finer,
coefficient of curvature of the material,
respectively. As per the Indian standard for
classification of soils (IS 1498 1970,
reaffirmed 2002), Bangalore sand was found to
be poorly graded.
3.1 Test Results and Discussions
A number of direct shear tests were
conducted on chosen dry sand graded into three
zones namely coarse, medium and fine sand
based on grain size. Table 2 shows the chosen
unit weights and relative densities of the graded
sand. As can be seen from Table 2 each type of
sand is subjected to direct shear tests at three
different unit weights corresponding to loose,
medium dense and dense states. Each type of
graded sand were tested at a relative densities of
20%, 50% and 80%. The size of the shear box
was 60mm x 60mm and the sample height was
kept equal to 30.08mm for all the tests. All the
samples were sheared at a uniform relative
170

horizontal movement of 0.05 mm/minute
between the upper and lower box. The vertical
effective normal stress on all samples was varied
in between 50 kPa and 400 kPa. The samples of
a given density were prepared by either raining
the material from a constant height of fall ( for
loose to medium dense states) or with tamping
technique using a fixed number of blows (for
dense state of the material). All the tests were
continued upto u/H = 40%; where H is the initial
height of the sample and u is the horizontal
displacement at any point of time.
For all the tests, the variation of the
horizontal (shear) force (Ph) and the
corresponding change (v) in the vertical height
of the sample with increase in the shear strain or
the horizontal displacement (u) was continuously
monitored at regular time interval; all the
samples were sheared upto a large strain to
achieve critical state of the material. Volumetric
strain becomes equal to v/H. The test results are
shown in Figure 2 only for coarse sand for
dense state respectively, typical results are
provided only for coarse sand where as all other
figures are not provided herein just for restricting
the size of the article. The test results are
provided in terms of (i) the variation of Ph/Pv
with u/H, and (ii) the variation of v/H with u/H;
where Pv is the magnitude of the vertical force.
From these plots the values of friction angles
( ) and dilatancy angles ( ) were determined
using the following expressions:
P
a tan 1
h
(9)
P v
v on the changes in the values of p and p was
a tan 1 (10)
u seen to be more significant in the case of
The peak value of and are designated by
p and p respectively. The variation of p and
p for coarse sand at three density states are
shown in Figure 3. Following observations were
drawn from Figure 2-3:
1. It is found that the peak values of friction
angle and dilation angle invariably occur almost
171
The effect of grading on strength and dilatancy parameters of sand
at the same value of the horizontal
displacement.
2. The magnitude of the (u/H) corresponding to
p increases with increase in v. Also the
magnitude of shear strain corresponding to p
increases with increase in v.
3. An increase in the relative density of the
material causes a marginal decrease in the
value of shear strain associated with p and
p.
4. For a given relative density of the material,
the behavior of the material at low stress
level always remains typically that of a dense
sand which indicates a well defined peak
corresponding to p and then followed by a
decrease in the shear stress which ultimately
leads to the critical state of the material at
very high values of shear strain; in such
cases the material initially shows a decrease
in volume followed by an increase in
volume.
5. At low values of v, the rate of dilation
becomes maximum corresponding to p and
subsequently the value of dilatancy angle
again decreases and finally becomes equal to
zero in the critical state. On the contrary at
very high values of v, the behavior of the
material remains similar to that of loose sand
where the shear stress increases continuously
to yield the critical state at very high values
of horizontal displacement. In such cases the
material experiences a continuous decrease
in volume until reaching the critical state.
6. The values of p and p decreases with
increase in the value of v. The effect of v
coarse sand and medium sand than fine sand.
Also it is observed that upon shearing fine
sand at loose and medium dense states
dilatancy (increase in volume during shear
was not observed) in which case contraction
was observed.
3.2 Correlation between p and p
A linear relationship is established between peak
friction angle and peak dilation angle as shown
K.V.S.B.Raju,Assistant Professor, University Visveswaraya college of Engineering,(U.V.C.E) Bangalore University & Mohamed Shoaib Khan
in Figure 4. The critical state friction angle (cv)
is determined by the intercept made
corresponding to zero dilation state. It is a
unique parameter, which remains independent of
density, stress level and type of test conducted. It
depends only on the grain size and mineral
comprising the sand grains.
For different chosen values of v and relative
density (Rd) of the material, the obtained values
of p were plotted against the corresponding
values of p for different types of graded sand
namely coarse, medium and fine sand. All the
data points are indicated in Figure 4 for coarse
sand. It can be noted that the relationship
between p and p can be best described by the
following expression for coarse sand:
p cv 0 . 933 p (11)
It can be noticed from Figure 4 that the
value of cv for the graded coarse sand (4.75mm
2mm) is found to be equal to 35.34 o (that is /
v = 0.71). It can also be noticed from Figure 2
that the value of / v at very large value of
Shear strain (35 40%) remains close to 0.71
indicating the achievement of the same critical
state in all the tests.
It can be noted that the relationship
between p and p can be best described by the
following expression for medium sand:
p cv 0 . 919 p (12)
It can be noted that the relationship
between p and p can be best described by the
following expression for fine sand:
p cv 1 . 574 p (13)
A comparison of Equations (11)
to (13) with Equation (3) indicates that the
recommendation of Bolton (1986) remains only
marginally different from the present
experimental finding in case of coarse and
medium sand. It should be mentioned that
Boltons expression relating p , cv and p is
172
operationally indistinguishable from Rowes
stress dilatancy relationship (1962).
3.3 Correlation between p and v
As seen from Figure 3, that the value of p
reduces with increase in the value of v. Bolton
provided Equation (4) (for the plane strain
case),the following equation for plain strain case,
where IR (dilatancy index) is defined by
Equation (6) with Q=10 and R=1.
From the regression analysis, it was found that
the following relationship holds quite good for
the present data:
2 .5 I (14)
p cv R
where I D r ( 10 ln( )) 1
R v
with v expressed in kPa and Dr in decimal.
Experimentally measured values of (p - cv )
were plotted against those estimated using (i)
Boltons recommendation (Equation 4), (ii)
present correlation (Equation 14), and (iii)
Salgado et al (2000) recommendation and
Kumar et al., (2007) Equation 8, the
corresponding comparison from four different
correlations are shown in Figure 5 for all the data
points comprising coarse, medium and fine
sands. It can be noted that estimated value of
p by Bolton (1986) and Salgado.et al. (2000)
are found to be slightly higher than those
actually measured. On the other hand, the
estimation from Equation (14) seems to be
better.
By knowing the mineral composition /
particle shape and the grain size of the graded
sand, it is possible to estimate an approximate
value of cv. For a given relative density of the
material, from the knowledge of cv and the
stress level (v), the secant value of p for a dry
cohesionless material can then be determined
using any of the four relationships namely, (i)
Boltons recommendation(1986) Equation (4),
(ii) present recommendation (Equation 14) and
(iii) Salgado et al. (2000) recommendation
 The effect of grading on strength and dilatancy parameters of sand

Equation (4) but with the usage of Q=9.0 and ( min ) kN ( max ) kN /
R=0.49 in Equation (6) and (iv) Kumar et / m3 m3
al.,(2007)Equation(8).The four recommendations Coarse sand
marginally differ in the estimation of p and the (4.75 mm - 2 15.2 18.4
average of three can be adopted for carrying out mm)
the analysis where the effect of stress level on p Medium sand
has to be taken into consideration. After (2 mm - 15.0 18.0
determining the value of p, Equation (3) or 0.425 mm)
Equations (11) to (13) can then be used to find Fine sand
the value of dilatancy angle (p). The knowledge (0.425 mm - 14.6 17.6
of dilatancy angle is useful when adopting a non 0.075 mm)
associated flow rule in theory of plasticity and
also it is useful in constitutive modeling of soils.
Table 2 : Chosen Unit weights and Relative
4.1 Conclusions densities of graded sand.
Based on a number of direct shear tests Type of Relative
State of Unit weight
on different types of graded sand namely coarse, graded density
material ( kN / m3 )
medium and fine sand at different density states sand (%)
and stress level, an empirical relationship Coarse Loose 15.7 20
correlating p , cv and IR similar to that sand Medium
16.6 50
recommended by Bolton (1986), Salgado et al. (4.75 dense
(2000) and Kumar et al. (2007), has been mm - 2 Dense
17.6 80
suggested. Using this relationship from the mm )
knowledge of relative density (Dr) and critical Medium Loose 15.5 20
state friction angle ( cv ), the value of peak sand Medium 16.3 50
(2 mm -
friction angle can be determined for any required Dense
0.425 17.3 80
effective stress level (v). Further, an expression
mm)
correlating p with cv and p has also been
Fine Loose 15.1 20
provided for the three types of graded sand sand Medium
namely coarse, medium and fine sand on the 15.9 50
(0.425 dense
basis of which the value of p can also be mm -
Dense
predicted. The suggested expressions are found 0.075 16.9 80
to match well with the test results. Based on the mm )
test results, it can be concluded that decrease in
v leads to an increase in the values of p and
p . It is also concluded from the test results the
values of p and p not only depends on stress
level and density but also on the type of graded
sand or grain size of sand particles comprising
coarse, medium and fine sand.
Table 1 : Minimum and Maximum unit weights
of graded sand.

Material Minimum Maximum

unit weight unit weight
173
K.V.S.B.Raju,Assistant Professor, University Visveswaraya college of Engineering,(U.V.C.E) Bangalore University & Mohamed Shoaib Khan

100 (a) Ph/Pv with u/H, and (b) v/H with u/H
90

80

50
70
p
P erc e n ta g e F in e r

60
40
50

f p , y p ( d eg rees)
40
30
30 g 15.7 16.6 17.6 kN/m3

20 20
yp
10

0 10
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Particle size (mm)
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
sv (kPa)
Fig. 1 Grain Size Distribution Curve of the
Sample Fig. 3 The Variation of p and p with v for all
1.200
the tests corresponding to coarse sand
50kPa
100kPa
200kPa
1.000
300kPa
400kPa

0.800

(Ph / Pv)
0.600

3
g = 17.6 kN/m
0.400
Coarse sand - dense state

0.200

0.000
0.000 5.000 10.000 15.000 20.000 25.000 30.000 35.000 40.000 45.000

u/H (%)

1.60
400kPa 300kPa 200kPa 100kPa 50kPa
Fig.4 The correlation between p and p from all
1.40 the test results corresponding to coarse sand
1.20

1.00

0.80
v/H (% )

0.60
3
0.40 g = 17.6 kN/m
0.20 Coarse sand - dense state

0.00

-0.20

-0.40
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
u/H (%)

Fig. 2 For = 17.6 kN/m3, the observed variation

of

174

Fig.5.The prediction of ( p - cv ) using different
formulae against measured values of ( p - cv )
for all the tests.
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176