2 PARTICLE-FLUID INTERACTIONS 3.4. EFFECTIVE STRESS (Macroscale} The coexistence of the fluid phase and the solid phase brings significant complexity to the behavior of particulate materials. The two phases exhibit different properties and behavior: different bulk stiffnesses, the fluid phase has virtually zero shear rigidity and can flow through pores, shear strength is contributed only by the granular skeleton, and the stiffness and strength of the granular skeleton depend on the forces it carries, Such major differences in the behavior of the two phases, and the need to compute the deformation and the strength of the soil mass (which ultimately depends ‘on the soil skeleton) requires the ability to separate the response of the skeleton from that of the Muid The concept of effective ‘skeletal’ stress permits computing the load- deformation response of the granular skeleton, including shear strength and volume change, independently of the pore fluid pressure. Therefore, the effective stress concept unifies the interpretation of the drained and undrained behavior of granular materials, 3.4.1 Effective stress ~ Boundary-level conditions In the 1910s, P. Fillunger hypothesized and experimentally observed that the pore fluid pressure has no effect on the behavior of particulate media subjected to a constant effective stress. In 1923, Terzaghi proposed the following relation (Terzaghi 1936): of =a —u Terzaghi’s effective stress 32 where o is the external confinement and w is the pressure in the pore fluid (or the “neutral stress’ in Terzaghi’s words). In tensor notation, where 8 is Kronecker’s delta (8, and 84 = 0 for 14 /), indicating that the pore pressure only affects the normal stress as fuids cannot sustain shear. Expressions for effective stress can be sought following compatibility or equilibrium criteria. In general, expressions of the following form are reached (for comprehensive reviews see de Boer and Ehlers, 1990; Oka, 1996; Lade and de Boer, 1997) for i= of =o—nw (334) where n is a model parame! From an equilibrium point of view, the concept of effective stress states that given aan applied stress , the granular skeleton must carry the stress that the fluid does rot take. The validity of this relation in hydrostatic conditions can be demonstrated based on Archimedes’ buoyancy effect. However, the integral of fluid pressure around a particle cannot explain the validity of effective stresses. Figure 3.11© pore dtoa “zaghi, (3.32) or the (333) -ating stain ly or rhed ad de 3.34) does rated 3.11 EFFECTIVE STRESS cy A particle is suspended inside a pressure chamber filled with fluid. The radial uid pressure w experi- enced at any point on the surface ofthe particle isthe sum of the hydrostatic pressure (1) plus the cell pres. sure (2). For any cell pressure, the integral of the radial fluid pressure renders the same force, which is the buoyancy force (particle volume times the unit weight of the pore fluid). Therefore, the change in cell pressure does not alter the forees acting on the particle 01@ | Consider two particles in contact placed inside the cell, Because the change in cell pressure does not create a force on cither particle, the particles do not move and the interparticle contact force does pot change Conclusion: effective stress is not a particleslevel phe- nomenon related to the fluid pressure experienced by particles The assembly of particles is surrounded by a mem- brane. The membrane experiences: (1) the outside cell Pressure a (2) the inside pore pressure w and (3) the reaction from the particles per unit area o. The equil- ‘brium of the membrane requires that o'=a-u Conclusion: effective stress is established at the boundary Figure 3.11 Terzaghi’s effective stress as a boundary condition shows a sequence of sketches involving particles inside a pressure chamber. These jhousht experiments demonstrate that the effective stress is the esult of boundary. level equilibrium conditions, rather than particle-evel conditions related to the fluid Pressure experienced by particles, Ina laboratory experiment (e..,a triaxial test), the boundary is the membrane that surrounds the soil. In the field (e.g. beneath a footing), the “boundary” is created by the hydraulic gradient that develops when a Yolumetric change is demanded in some region of the space. At limiting equilibrium, Skempton (1960) proposed a modified definition of effective stress to evaluate shear Strength that takes into consideration the interparticle friction coefficient p (Table 3.714). When the effective stress definition is obtained taking into consideration the Gompatiility of deformation among the phases, the bulk modulus of the dry or Gisined skeleton Bi, the luid B;, and the material that makes the particles B, are invoked. These parameters are considered in mixture models in Chapters 4 and 7 (hc elfective stress expression for load-deformation behavior obtained by Skempton (1960), and subsequent similar expressions, consider compressible particles and skeletons, but incompressible pore Muids, 1/B;=0 (Table 3.7(a)), Because thea PARTICLE-FLUID INTERACTIONS Table 37 Effective stress models Part oft | Condition Reference Expresion Notes ne {@) Boundary-based definitions Saturated Tereaghi (1936)! | + The rai | ‘Skempton (1960)? Shear strength + Stra | Stempton (180) of =a -u( 1-54) Compressbiity By Nur and Byeriee Unde: asa satura | chan; (©) Modifications for local contact forces (caution: se limitations in txt) Sat Unsaturated Bishop and See Fredlund and | Small Blight (1963) ~ ba Xgl =) Morgenstern | Pewar (1977); Fredhund | and Rahardjo (1993) 342 Electrical forces Lambe (1960) a’ =o ~u=o.+(Rpt Att) Shear strength | | (Constant volume) | Ther | Bolt (1956) of =0-u= (Rot — Att) Series model ~ no readit material contact specif | (equal stress in | the a) Hl solid and double incres layer) | men i Sridharan and of = 0¢=6~u~ (Rox ~ Att) Strain place. Rao (1973) compatibility bounc parallel model | readil i {qual deformation | effect in solid and double local layer) | finem | Not: = indicates definition: = total ness; o = effective stress = intergranular pressure or short | bait | Fange stress at contact: u= water presse; m= air pressures Roy ~ double layer repulsion; | accou | aut nterparice attraction; «~ area of contact between parses per utara of materia, 3.10) f modulus of the mate that makes the grains, By = bulk modulus of the dry sl skeleton; & {ng j= ction between paces; st 8 parameter (yy 0 dry, yl saturated). See also: Cryer (1963); Carol and Katsbe (1983); Alla and Sridharan (1984); Oka (1988, 1996; de a Boer and Ehlers (190) Huschl (1992); Chopra and Dargush (1995); Lace and de Boer (1997) | Insa Then stiffness of the skeleton increases with effective confinement, the stiffness ratio effect By./By ranges from By/By~0 at low confinement to By/By~1 at ve equiv high confinement when particle contacts flatten and diagenetic sintering takes packi j place. It follows from Skempton’s Equation that Terzaghi’s effective stress effect | relationship applies when By/B,~0 (ie., at low effective stress - compare cause Terzaghi's and Skempton’s Equations in Table 3.7). In summary, this analysis (coor discloses the following interrelated assumptions involved in Terzaghi’s effective cffect stress becorpirical vear strength vear strength ompressibility ar and Byerlee my ¢ Fredlund and orgenstern ); Fredlund 4 Rahardjo 93) car strength onstant volume) ies model — no terial contact ual stress in id and double er) patibility - allel model val deformation solid and double e) Pressure oF short ayer repulsion: tate, Bp = bulk leton: &= frietion sa), (1988, 1996; de ‘nd de Boer (1997. stiffness ratio 21 at very iimtering takes fective stress ss ~ compare + this analysis ahi’s effective EFFECTIVE STRESS 8s + Particles and fluid are incompressible, therefore (a) the volumetric compressibility of the mixture is negligible under a change in isotropic confining stress, and (b) Bu/By 0. ‘* The bulk stiffness of the fluid is much greater than the bulk stiffness of the dry or drained soil skeleton, + Strains are only due to changes in pore geometry. Under these assumptions, Terzaghi’s definition of effective stress applies to most saturated soils at low confinement, subjected to middle or large strains where fabric changes control volumetric strains. These conditions are common to most geotech- nical engineering applications. However, these assumptions lead to inconsistencies at small strains. For example, incompressible particles and fluids would render infinite P-wave velocities in saturated soils. 3.4.2. Modifications for local contact forces (capillary and DLVO) The relevance of local contact forces on strength and deformation behavior can be readily demonstrated. Consider a saturated clay specimen, prepared with a high specific surface clay and subjected to a low level of effective confinement. While the applied confinement is held constant, the ionic concentration in the Muid is increased by diffusion. As the ionic concentration in the pore fluid inside the speci- men increases with time, interparticle repulsion decreases and global shrinkage takes place. Likewise, an initially saturated soil shrinks during drying even if constant boundary confinement and air pressure are maintained. In both cases, which are readily verified in the laboratory, volumetric changes take place while Terzaghi's effective stress remains constant. These results confirm the need to account for local contact forces, particularly in soils with high specific surface and at low con- finement. Several modifications of Terzaghi’s effective stress concept have been proposed to account for local contact capillary and electrical forces, and are summarized in Table 3.1(b). A brief discussion follows. Unsaturated media ‘The negative pore-water pressure that develops in an unsaturated medium affects the effective interparticle forces (Section 3.3.2). From a micromechanies perspective, the equivalent effective stress og due to capillarity can be estimated for a given particle packing (the equivalent effective stress o/, due to capillarity is herein defined as the effective boundary stress that should be applied to a dry or saturated sol specimen to cause similar interparticle contact forces). In the case of a simple cubic packing (coordination number on = 6, void ratio ¢ = 0.91), the force F is spread over the effective particle area, 4R?, From Equation (3.19), the equivalent effective stress becomes86 PARTICLE-FLUID INTERACTIONS )"} 00 For platy particles oriented parallel to each other (Figure 3.7(c)), the equivalent effective stress contributed by capillarity is (from Equation (3.22)) » _TSem (336) ca The equivalent effective stress predicted using these equations is plotted versus particle size (specific surface) and water content in Figure 3.12 (G, = 2.65). The ‘equivalent effective stress increases with decreasing water content, decreasing particle size, and increasing specific surface. It is important to recognize the significant contribution of these contact level forces. For example, a 0.1 wm size particle experiences an equivalent effective stress due to capillarity on the order of | MPa, which corresponds to the effective stress felt by a saturated soil at a depth of approximately 100m. The equivalent effective stress of spherical particles is less sensitive to water content than flat particles. Indeed, as the water content decreases, the negative pressure in the meniscus increases, but the effective area of the meniscus between spherical particles decreases. On the other hand, the effective area in flat parallel particles remains constant, assuming that the particles move closer together. At the macroscale, the equilibrium analysis takes into consideration the reduced area occupied by the water in the pores. Bishop (1959, 1961) proposed a modified expression for the effective stress in an unsaturated soil: = 4) + xp (4 ~ he) 637) where xp is a parameter to be experimentally determined. To a first approximation, the parameter x, varies with the degree of saturation, from x, ~ 1 for saturated soils to xp =0 for dry soils (see Aitchison and Donald, 1956; Aitchison, 1960; Blight, 1967; theoretically, xp can be greater than 1.0 due to the contribution of the surface tension along the air ~ water interface). Experimental results show that x, also depends on wetting history, loading path, soil type, internal structure of the soil, and specimen size near the percolation water content. Furthermore, the value of the constant x, may not be the same for volume change and shear strength problems. Electrical forces ‘The characteristics of the pore fluid (e.g., valence, concentration, permittivity, and temperature) affect interparticle electrical forces and may have crucial implications cn the behavior of fine-grained geomaterials, such as changing the shear strength and producing volumetric strains. Terzaghi’s definition of effective stress has been heur- istically modified to take into consideration the co-participation of local contact electrical forces and skeletal forces. Both series and parallel models have been assumed (see the review in Hueckel, 1992). The effective stress o in the series model is equal to the electrochemical stress Ron. — Att, of 20 —u= Rp, — Att series model (3.38) and this ton for} isat Srid strer dou becc(335) equivalent (3.36) ted versus 2.65). The ing particle significant ze particle of 1 MPa, 1 depth of cles is less decreases, e meniscus rea in flat + together. 1e reduced 4 modified (337) vximation, rated soils 30; Blight, he surface Xt Xp also £ the soil, tue of the ‘oblems. ivity, and plications ength and veen heur- 4 contact ave been the series (3.38) EFFECTIVE STRESS 87 10% tt 10 mig GRO. ui) Syl mig (RA um) Timely i iy uivaletefetve stress [Pa] 0.1 ig Ri 0.001 mig i ma) 1g _—___. ‘oor oor 01 1 1 Geometry limit: This limit is derived from the torus geometry ata high degree of saturation (boundary between pendular water and funicular water region) 2 Cavitation limit: The location ofthis boundary depends on the assumed cavitation pressure for the fluid. The one shown is for a pressure of Pury = 10° Pa, Much higher cavitation pressures can develop (Section 5.3) 3 Molecular size limit: This upper bound is drawn for an interparticle spacing 2r, ~ 10 molecular diameters Figure 3.12 Equivalent effective stress versus gravimetric water content (Cho and Santamar- ina, 2001) and the total strain is the sum of the strain in the particles and in the double layers. In this model, an increase in applied stress must be opposed by an increase in repulsion {to maintain equilibrium. This model is most applicable to describe volumetric strains for parallel particle packings (face-to-face aggregations) ot for very fine soils such as ‘montmorillonite. The increase in shear strength with normal stress in the series model is attributed to the increase in the viscosity of the water between particles (Allam and Sridharan, 1984, argue that viscosity alone cannot explain the measured shear strength). Compatibility of deformations in parallel models enforces the deformation in double layers to be equal to the deformation in contacts. The effective stress becomes 0 = oo, = (Roe ~ Att) parallel modet (339)88 PARTICLE-FLUID INTERACTIONS. ‘Changes in the shear strength due to changes in the pore fluid characteristics at constant confinement are readily explained using this model. Alternatively, the Parallel model by Lambe (1960) presented in Table 3.7(b) can be adopted to explain changes in the shear strength with changes in the pore fluid chemistry at constant volume. At the macroscale, the behavior of most clays resembles a combination of both series and parallel models Validity of modified effective stress relations While the relations presented in Table 3.7(b) may be convenient for many engineer- ing applications, the shortcomings in modified effective stress relations go beyond the difficulty in predicting the parameters involved. In fact, they can fail to. predict Phenomena altogether, for example: * The collapse of some soils upon wetting, such as loess. As saturation increases, Suction decreases (ic., uw becomes less negative) and a’ decreases; thus expansion is expected; yet massive volume contraction takes place. * Soft specimens made of kaolinite and bentonite contract during the diffusion of a high concentration ionic front, as predicted by modified effective stress principles for parallel conditions. However, while the stiffness of bentonite increases, in agreement with the modified effective stress principle, the stiffness of kaolinite decreases (Santamarina and Fam, 1995), Upon consideration of Bishop's Equation (Table 3.7), two main objections can be made, First this relation involves a constitutive soil parameter x, in a definition of the state of stress. Second, it combines physical processes with distinct characteristics and effects, mixing global-boundary conditions (Terzaghi) with local contact forces Difficulties in Bishop's formulation for unsaturated media were quickly recognized (eg., Bishop and Blight, 1963). Current interpretations of unsaturated soil behavior are based on separate state Yarlables or independent dimensions, such as 6 ~ uy and u ~ ue (Bishop and Blight, 1963; Fredlund and Morgenstern, 1977; Fredlund, Morgenstern and Widger 1978, Frediund and Rahardjo, 1993). A similar approach is suggested to model the behavior ofsoils sensitive to electrical contact forces (Barbour and Fredlund, 1989), In the mean. ‘ime, other developments are underway. For example, Bennethum, Murad and Cush. man 1997) developeda thermodynamically admissibleformulation by spatial averaging of the microscale field equations in an attempt to derive formal effective stress criteria valid for swelling clays; their formulation remains to be experimentally tested. 3.5 FABRIC ‘The initial spatial arrangement of particles is defined during formation, and reflects the participation of gravimetric and local contact electrical forces. The higher the