Undrained cyclic shear characteristics and crushing behaviour of silica sand

This paper presents an investigation of the liquefaction characteristics and particle crushing of isotropically consolidated silica sand specimens at a wide range of confining pressures varying from 0.1 MPa to 5 MPa during undrained cyclic shearing. Different failure patterns of silica sand specimens subjected to undrained cyclic loading were seen at low and high pressures. The sudden change points with regard to the increasing double amplitude of axial strain with cycle number were identified, regardless of confining pressure. A higher cyclic stress ratio caused the specimen to liquefy at a relatively smaller cycle number, conversely producing a larger relative breakage Br. The rise in confining pressure also resulted in the increasing relative breakage. At a specific cyclic stress ratio, the relative breakage and plastic work increased with the rise in the cyclic loading. Less particle crushing and plastic work consumption was observed for tests terminated after one cyclic loading. Majority of the particle crushing was produced and majority of the plastic work was consumed after the specimen passed through the phase transformation point and until reaching the failure state. The large amount of particle crushing resulted from the high-level strain induced by particle transformation and rotation.