International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp 89-93

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Study on soil structure interface strength property

Gireesha N. T
Postgraduate student, Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli620015, India, E-mail:gireesha.nt@gmail.com

K. Muthukkumaran
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli620015, India, E-mail: kmk@nitt.edu

ABSTRACT: In soil-structure interaction problems it often becomes important to make a good estimation of
frictional resistance between ground and foundation. The interface friction angle of soil against structural materials is of great interest among the researchers in soil structure interaction. This study conducts a series of direct shear tests to investigate the interface friction angle of different structural materials (concrete, steel and wood) against well graded sand and poorly graded sand with varying relative density. The experimental results showed that both internal friction angle () of the sand and the interface friction angle () increases with increasing the relative density in both well graded sand and poorly graded sand. The ratio of / is calculated for all the three (concrete, steel and wood) materials and among these three materials concrete is gives the higher value. The soil gradation is significantly changes the interface friction angle in all three materials.

Key words: Direct shear test, Sand, Internal friction angle, Interface friction angle
INTRODUCTION: The understanding of soil structure interface shear strength is essential to the design and analysis of structures. In the present study the direct shear test is used to find the friction angle between sand and structural materials. Among a number of studies on friction between soil and construction materials, there are some on the friction between the sand with concrete, steel and wood. Based on the extensive experimentation, Potyondy (1960) proposed to express the skin friction resistance in a similar form to that of the Coulomb failure envelope as a sum of the adhesion and the normal stress dependent component. In a study on the uplift capacity of piles, Esashi et al. (1966) showed that skin friction coefficient between sand and construction material, such as steel, concrete, and wood, would be a function of the quantified surface roughness.While direct shear apparatus were used in the above mentioned studies, Yoshimi et al. (1981) used a ring torsion apparatus to overcome the disadvantages of direct shear apparatus. It was found that the quantified roughness of the metal surface could be correlated with the frictional coefficient, irrespective of the sand density. The several kinds of apparatus were used to investigate the interfacial friction between sand and various construction materials are direct shear test apparatus, simple shear apparatus, ring torsion apparatus and dual shear apparatus. Several factors affecting the value of the interface friction angle are: (i) soil properties such as mineralogical composition, density, grain shape, grain size and gradation; and (ii) the properties of the material surface such as hardness and surface roughness. The object of the present paper is to study the soil structure interface strength property of sand with other structural materials (concrete, steel and wood) with varying relative density of sand. And also to study the effect of gradation on interface strength. NOTATIONS: SYMBOL SW SP Dr d DESCRIPTION Well Graded Sand Poorly Graded Sand Angle of Internal Friction Angle of Interface Fiction Relative Density Dry Density

: : : : : :

EXPERIMENT TEST PROCEDURE: For the present study the direct shear test is used. The direct shear test box of lower valve is filled with structural material and upper valve is filled with sand of varying density. the size of the structural material is 60mm*60mm*10mm, the sand used is local available sand of different gradation. The test apparatus setup as shown in Fig.1

Figure 1: Direct shear test apparatus setup

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Gireesha N. T, K. Muthukkumaran Angle of Internal Friction The variation of the angle of internal friction for both well graded and poorly graded sand are shown in from Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 respectively. The percentages of reduction in , for minimum and maximum relative densities are 9.8 and 9.9 respectively but for 50% Dr the percentage of reduction is 8.9. From the Figures it is clearly seen that the increasing relative density increases the angle of internal friction for both well and poorly graded sand. However the rate of change of friction angle is more in well graded sand than poorly graded sand. The percentage of reduction in with respect to relative densities is presented in Table 2.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This test is carried out for the classification of sand and the test was carried out as per IS: 1498(1970). Fig.2 shows the particle size distribution of both well and poorly graded sand. The properties of sand are presented in Table 1

Fig.2 Gradation curve for well and poorly graded sand Table 1 Properties of sand Properties Uniformity coefficient(Cu) Coefficient of curvature(Cc) Max. dry density in g/cc (dmax) Min. dry density in g/cc (dmin) Specific gravity(Gs) Well graded sand 6.12 1.86 2.28 1.74 2.64 Poorly graded sand 1.8 0.89 2.11 1.71 2.58 Fig. 3 for well graded sand

Effect of Gradation on Friction Angle The friction angle depends on the surface roughness of the material, type of sand, loading system and relative density. In the present study the effect of particle size on the friction angle investigated for different relative density. The different relative densities are taken as relative density corresponding to minimum and maximum density of the soil and 50% of the maximum relative density. Using the known relative density, the weight of sample has been calculated to carry out the direct shear test. Estimation of weight of sample for different relative density d(min) is the density corresponding to the soil in loose state and d(max) is the density corresponding to the soil in dense state. The d(min) is obtained by conducting density test by sand replacement method where d(max) has obtained by using vibrating the soil to the maximum densification. Relative density =

Fig. 4 for poorly graded sand Table 2 for SW and SP Well graded sans 36.6 38.2 40.1 Poorly graded sand 33 34.8 36.1 % of Reduction in 9.8 8.9 9.9

Dr Min Dr 50%Dr Max Dr

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp 89-93

Study on soil structure interface strength property Interface Friction Angle In the direct shear box the bottom portion is filled with structural material and top portion is filled with soil. The weight is varying due to the change in volume Interface friction angle between sand and concrete The variation of for well graded and poorly graded sand is shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 respectively. The value of / for Max.Dr of well graded sand is 0.8 and for poorly graded sand is 0.79. The Min.Dr of well graded sand has low value of / which is 0.76 as reported in Table 3

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Friction angle between sand and steel The variation of for well graded and poorly graded sand is shown in Fig 7 and Fig 8 respectively. The value of / for Max.Dr of well graded sand is 0.78 and in poorly graded sand is 0.79. The Min.Dr of well graded sand has low value of / is 0.75 as reported in Table 4

Fig. 7 for Steel and SW

Fig. 5 for Concrete and SW

Fig. 8 for Steel and SP Table 4 and / for SW and SP of Steel Dr Fig. 6 for Concrete and SP Table 3 and / for SW and SP of Concrete Dr Well graded sand
in degree in degree /

Well graded sand in degree in degree 27.5 29.6 31.5 / 0.75 0.77 0.78

Poorly graded sand in degree 33 34.8 36.1 in degree 25.6 27.2 28.7 / 0.77 0.78 0.79

Poorly graded sand

in degree in degree /

Min Dr 50% Dr Max

36.6 38.2 40.1

Min Dr 50% Dr Max Dr

36.6 38.2 40.1

28.1 30 32.1

0.76 0.78 0.8

33 34.8 36.1

25.9 27.5 28.8

0.78 0.79 0.79

Interface friction angle between sand and wood The variation of for well graded and poorly graded sand is shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 respectively. The value of / for Max.Dr of well graded sand is 0.76 and in poorly graded sand is 0.78. The value of / for Min.Dr of well graded sand is 0.72 and in poorly graded sand is 0.76. The well graded sand shows the lower value of / than the poorly graded sand it is reported in the Table 5

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp 89-93

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Gireesha N. T, K. Muthukkumaran

Fig. 9 for Wood and SW Fig. 11 Variation for different materials with SW

Fig 12 Variation for different materials with SP Fig. 10 for Wood and SP Table 5 and / for SW and SP of Wood CONCLUSIONS The following are the conclusions drawn from the present study. 1. The angle of interface friction or wall friction angle () increases with increase in relative density for both well graded sand and poorly graded sand. 2. The soil gradation has significant effect on the wall friction angle (), for instant the / value is 0.80 for well graded soil and 0.7 for poorly graded soil with maximum relative density in soil concrete interface friction. 3. The well graded sand shows the lower value of / than the poorly graded sand in soil wood interface friction. The value of / is 0.76 and 0.78 for well graded and poorly graded sand respectively in maximum relative density, where has in minimum relative densities there values are 0.72 and 0.76. 4. Concrete has more interface friction angle compared to other two materials of steel and wood in both well graded and poorly graded sand.

Dr

Well graded sand in degree in degree 26.7 29 30.7 / 0.72 0.75 0.76

Poorly graded sand in degree 33 34.8 36.1 in degree 25.4 27 28.4 / 0.76 0.77 0.78

Min Dr 50% Dr Max Dr

36.6 38.2 40.1

Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 shows the variation of interface friction angle () for different structural materials (concrete, steel and wood) with both well graded and poorly graded sand respectively. It shows that concrete has more interface friction angle compared to other two materials of steel and wood in both well graded and poorly graded sand.

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp 89-93

Study on soil structure interface strength property REFERENCES [1] Abdullah I.Al-Mhaidib (2006), Influence of shearing rate on interfacial friction between sand and steel. Engineering Journal of the University of Qater, Vol.19 [2] API: 2000, Design and construction of pile foundations. [3] Bosscher, P. J. and Ortiz, C. (1987), Frictional Properties between Sand and Various Construction Materials. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 113, No. 9, pp. 1035-1039. [4] Boulon M. (1989), Basic Features of Soil Structure Interface Behavior. Computers and Geotechnics 7, 115-131. [5] Hong, Z., and Hua, X, G. (1995), A study of deformation in the interface between soil and concrete. Computers and Geotechnics 71, 7592 [6] Hsieh, C., Hsieh, M.W. (2003), Load plate rigidity and scale effects on the frictional behavior of sand/geo-membrane interfaces. Geotextiles and Geomembranes 21(1), 2547.

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[7] Lui, S.H., Dean Sun and Hajime Matsuoka (2005), On the interface friction in direct shear test. Computers and Geotechnics 32, 317325 [8] Nan Liu, Hsien Ho and Huang, W., (2009), Large scale direct shear test of soil/PET-yarn geogrid interfaces. Geotextiles and Geomembranes 27, 19-30 [9] ORourke, T. D., Drushel, S. J. and Netravali, A. N., (1990), Shear Strength Characteristics of Sandpolymer Interfaces. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 116, No. 3, pp. 451-469. [10] Subba, Rao, K.S., Allam, M.M, Robinson, R.G, (1988), Interfacial Friction between Sand and Solid Surfaces. Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 131, pp. 75-82. [11] Uesugi, M., and Kishida, H., (1986), Influential factors of friction between steel and dry sands. Soil and foundations Vol.26, N0. 2, 33-46. [12] Wang, Z., and Richwien, W., (2002), A study of soil-reinforcement interface friction. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol.128 No.1

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering ISSN 0974-5904, Volume 04, No 06 SPL, October 2011, pp 89-93