Experimental Study on the Approach to Predict the Shear Strength of In-Situ Sandy Gravel

Abstract

Large-size consolidated drained triaxial tests for a gravel and a rockfill were performed. Because of the limit of the apparatus size, test specimens with different maximum grain sizes ranging from 10 to 60 mm, and thus with different particle size distributions, were prepared using the replacement technique (gravel) and mixed method (rockfill) to reduce the particle size of the in-situ soil. The nonlinear or linear shear strength of sandy gravel considering stress state and maximum size was described and verified based on the test data. Furthermore, an approach to estimate the nonlinear shear strength of in-situ sandy soil was developed.