Influence of clay content on static shear strength of sand-clay mixture

Abstract

Static liquefaction will occur in saturated sand-clay mixtures under static loading. Understanding the mechanical behavior of sand-clay mixtures is crucial for evaluating its safety and stability. Through a series of isotropically consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests (CU), the effect of clay content (CC) on static shear strength of sand-clay mixtures were studied under constant sand skeleton void ratio (e_s). Test results demonstrate that static liquefaction happened for specimens with CC = 0 % (pure sand), 3 %, 5 %, 7 %, and 10 % under different confining pressures. By contrast, no static liquefaction occurred for specimens with CC = 12 % and 15 %. When CC = 0 %∼15 %, the peak deviator stress (q_peak) and mean effective stress at the steady state (p_ss') of corresponding specimens raise 305.6 %, 94.4 % and 97.6 % as well as 114.1 %, 987.9 % and 266.2 % under three different confining pressures, respectively. In addition, the microscopic characteristics of sand-clay mixtures with various clay contents were observed. It can be found that when CC ≤ 10 %, the clay particles primarily filled in the inter-sand voids, distributed on the surfaces of sand particles and located at the sand-sand contact points. And these clay particles can lubricate and bond sand particles, which can promote the liquefaction of mixed soil. The bonding effect of clay on sand is further enhanced when CC = 12 % and 15 %, and clay play an inhibitory role in the liquefaction of sand. Finally, a calculation equation of clay participation coefficient was proposed in current study, which can consider the effect of content, particle size and plasticity index of clay on the mechanical properties of sand-clay mixtures. The equation demonstrates excellent fitting results for both steady state data and cyclic stress ratio data in the present study and relevant literature.