Effect of particle breakage and strain path reversal on the properties of sands located near to driven piles

摘要

Model pile experiments indicate that grain crushing beneath the bases of piles driven in sand contribute to marked stress relaxation developing immediately above the advancing pile tips. This paper reports stress path triaxial tests that investigate how these processes modify the sand's mechanical behaviour. Specimens of the sand employed by Yang et al (2010) for pile experiments were subjected first to intense active compression. Stress and strain path reversals were then imposed, following a range of stress paths. The final stages involved re-shearing the specimens to failure in either drained compression or extension under greatly reduced mean effective stresses.