Modeling flow instability of an Algerian sand with the dilatancy rule in CASM

The aim of the present work was the study of instability in a loose sand from <i>Les Dunes</i> beach in Ain Beninan, Algeria, where the Boumerdes earthquake occurred in 2003. This earthquake caused significant structural damages and claimed the lives of many people. Damages caused to infrastructures were strongly related to phenomena of liquefaction. The study was based on the results of two drained and six undrained triaxial tests over a local sand collected in a region where liquefaction occurred. All the tests hereby analyzed followed compression stress-paths in monotonic conditions and the specimens were isotropically consolidated, since the objective was to study the instability due to static loading as part of a more general project, which also included cyclic studies. The instability was modeled with the second-order work increment criterion. The definition of the instability line for <i>Les Dunes</i> sand and its relation with yield surfaces allowed the identification of the region of potential instability and helped in the evaluation of the susceptibility of soils to liquefy under undrained conditions and its modeling. The dilatancy rate was studied in the points where instability began. Some mixed tests were also simulated, starting with drained conditions and then changing to undrained conditions at different time steps.