A series of experiments was performed on Ottawa F-75 quartz sand under drained and undrained triaxial compression. The initial effective confining stresses applied to the specimens were extremely low, ranging from 0.05 to 1.30 kPa. In order to achieve the low effective stresses the experiments were performed in microgravity, in the shirt-sleeve environment of the Space Shuttle Orbiter. This paper describes the experimental technique, results from analysis of stresses and strains, and computed tomography imaging.
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