Strain Localization in Sand: Plane Strain versus Triaxial

Compression
Khalid A. Alshibli, M.ASCE1; Susan N. Batiste2; and Stein Sture, F.ASCE3

Abstract: A comprehensive experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the effects of loading condition and confining
pressure on strength properties and localization phenomena in sands. A uniform subrounded to rounded natural silica sand known as F-75
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Ottawa sand was used in the investigation. The results of a series on conventional triaxial compression 共CTC兲 experiments tested under
very low-confining pressures 共0.05–1.30兲 kPa tested in a microgravity environment abroad the NASA Space Shuttle are presented in
addition to the results of similar specimens tested in terrestrial laboratory to investigate the effect of confining pressure on the constitutive
behavior of sands. The behavior of the CTC experiments is compared with the results of plane strain experiments. Computed tomography
and other digital imaging techniques were used to study the development and evolution of shear bands.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲1090-0241共2003兲129:6共483兲
CE Database subject headings: Sand; Triaxial compression; Plane strain; Banding; Radiography; Localization.

Introduction
The conventional triaxial compression 共CTC兲 test is the most
common procedure used by the geotechnical community and re-
searchers to evaluate the constitutive behavior of soils. It allows a
robust and simple experimentation of soils behavior where
samples are tested under axisymmetric loading condition. The
unavailability of standard plane strain 共PS兲 or biaxial apparatus
and procedure resulted in very limited studies aimed to thor-
oughly investigate the constitutive behavior of soils under PS
condition 共e.g., Vardoulakis 1980; Desrues et al. 1985; Tatsuoka
et al. 1986, 1990; Han and Drescher 1993; Finno et al. 1997兲. The
stress-strain behavior and failure patterns of soils under the plane
strain condition are different from the triaxial case. For example,
Lee 共1970兲 performed a series of drained and undrained PS and
CTC experiments on fully saturated fine-grained sand and showed
that PS specimens reach higher values of maximum principal
stress ratio than do CTC specimens, and the difference decreases
as void ratio increases. Moreover, PS specimens fail at smaller
axial strain with a severe softening compared to CTC specimens.
Lee 共1970兲 concluded that the difference between PS and CTC
results is greatest for dense specimens tested under low-confining
pressure and that the difference decreases as confining pressure
1 the properties of discontinuous bifurcation solutions for elastic-
Joint Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineer-
ing, 3507 CEBA Building, Louisiana State Univ.-Southern Univ., Baton
Rouge, LA 70803. E-mail: Alshibli@lsu.edu
2
Technical Manager, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
共LASP兲, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, CO 80303-7814. E-mail:
batiste@bechtel.colorado.edu
3
Professor, Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineer-
ing, Campus Box 428, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-
0428. E-mail: sture@bechtel.colorado.edu
Note. Discussion open until November 1, 2003. Separate discussions
must be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by
one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing
Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and pos-
sible publication on December 6, 2001; approved on September 13, 2002.
This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, Vol. 129, No. 6, June 1, 2003. ©ASCE, ISSN 1090-0241/
2003/6-483– 494/$18.00.
increases. He also concluded that failure of the plane strain speci-
mens always occurred along a single well-defined shear plane,
whereas in the axisymmetric triaxial tests, either localized shear
plane or bulging diffuse failure modes occur depending on the
density of the specimen and the confining pressure. Marachi et al.
共1981兲 also performed a series of PS and CTC experiments on
Monterey No. 20 sand. Specimens were prepared to initial void
ratios of 0.75, 0.65, and 0.55 corresponding to relative densities
of 27, 60, and 90%, respectively. All experiments were performed
under drained and air-dry conditions. Fig. 1 shows a comparison
of the stress-strain relationship for both cases. The results are very
similar to the behavior reported by Lee 共1970兲. Unfortunately,
Marachi et al. 共1981兲 did not present information about the failure
mechanism for the two cases 共i.e., do specimens fail through
shear bands or bulging?兲.
Additional important comparisons between PS and CTC con-
ditions were presented by Peters et al. 共1988兲, who conducted a
theoretical and experimental study of the formation of shear
bands in PS compression, CTC, and conventional triaxial exten-
sion tests. They also found that shear bands are more readily
initiated under PS than under CTC or CTE conditions. Hence,
shear band formation is highly influenced by the loading configu-
ration or boundary conditions. Peric et al. 共1992, 1993兲 studied
plastic solids by examining explicit expressions for the critical
bifurcation directions and the corresponding critical value of the
hardening modulus for different stress states and plasticity mod-
els. They showed 共analytically兲 that the stress state 共i.e., loading
configuration兲 is of the utmost importance for the localization of
deformations in homogeneous materials and bifurcation cannot
occur in the hardening regime under ideal CTC test conditions for
dilatant materials. Moreover, examples of von Mises, Drucker-
Prager’s, and MRS Lade’s models have indicated that bifurcation
under CTC test conditions is absolutely impossible. On the con-
trary, the plane strain case was found to be extremely susceptible
to early bifurcation.
The study reported in this paper is mainly motivated by the
lack of a thorough experimental investigation to study the local-
ization phenomena in sands under very low-confining pressures.

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Fig. 1. Stress-strain relationship for plane strain and triaxial specimens 共Marachi et al. 1981兲

Many researchers used to describe the failure of CTC experiments

as bulging or diffuse bifurcation based on observations of the
specimen surface deformation. However, Desrues et al. 共1996兲
used computed tomography to study the change of void ratio in Table 1. Summary of Conventional Triaxial Compression Experi-
sand specimens tested under CTC conditions and found that the ments and their Test Conditions
bulging is just an external manifestation of rather more complex Maximum
internal failure patterns. Computed tomography is a powerful Experiment ␴ c a 共kPa兲 D r b 共%兲 axial strain Test environment
nondestructive scanning technique capable of accurately mapping
␮g-F1-1 0.05 87.3 25% ␮-g STS-79
the internal structure of geomaterials. It is used to track the onset
␮g-F1-2 0.52 85.9
and progress of shear bands in some of the CTC experiments
reported in this paper. In addition, the results of a series of CTC ␮g-F1-3 1.30 86.4
experiments conducted on F-75 Ottawa sand under very low- ␮g-F2-1 0.05 64.8 25% ␮-g STS-89
confining pressure in microgravity 共aboard the NASA Space ␮g-F2-2 0.52 62.2
Shuttle兲 and in a terrestrial laboratory are presented. A compari- ␮g-F2-3 1.30 65.0
son between PS and CTC experiments with an emphasis on 1g-1 1.30 82.3 4.6% Terrestrial
evaluating the localization phenomena under both loading condi- 1g-2 1.30 80.7 9.2%
tions are presented and discussed. 1g-3 1.30 78.8 12.0%
1g-4 1.30 82.3 16.1%
1g-5 1.30 85.9 25.0%
1g-6 11.2 88.5 25%
1g-7 11.3 89.1
1g-8 11.5 91.3
1g-9 34.7 86.1
1g-10 34.5 87.2
1g-11 34.5 83.6
1g-12 68.2 87.5
1g-13 69.4 90.8
1g-14 69.6 91.3
1g-15 13.1 66.2
1g-16 13.1 67.4
1g-17 13.1 65.7
1g-18 34.2 67.8
1g-19 34.1 66.6
1g-20 34.3 67.1
1g-21 70.0 66.5
1g-22 69.7 67.9
1g-23 69.8 67.1
a
Nominal confining pressure.
Fig. 2. Particle-size distribution of F-75 Ottawa sand b
Initial relative density.

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Fig. 4. Principal stress ratio versus axial strain and volumetric strain
versus axial strain for CTC ␮g experiments 共confining pressure
⫽0.05 kPa)
Fig. 3. 共Color兲 Photograph of a PS specimen before compression

Materials and Methods

Ottawa sand was used to prepare the specimens. It is a fine-

grained, uniform, subrounded to rounded silica 共quartz兲 sand
共commonly denoted as F-75 banding sand兲 with a mean particle
size of 0.22 mm, a maximum porosity of 0.446, a minimum po-
rosity of 0.327, and a specific density of sand particles of 2.65.
The particle-size distribution is shown in Fig. 2. The specimens
were prepared in a terrestrial laboratory by air pluviation 共raining兲
of the sand into a mold at a certain intensity and velocity con-
trolled, respectively, by the opening of the funnel from which the
sand is poured and the distance between the funnel and the mold.
This ensured uniform specimen density. A thin latex membrane
共0.30 mm thick兲 was used to encase and isolate sand from the

Table 2. Summary of Plane Strain Experiments and their Measured

Shear Band Inclination Angles and Thicknesses
D ra ␴ cb ␾p c ␺d ␪ 1e ␪ 2f
Experiment 共%兲 共kPa兲 共deg兲 共deg兲 共deg兲 共deg兲
PS1 55 15 42.1 10.4 52.5 52.5
PS2 47 100 39.8 7.6 55 54
PS3 97 15 49.8 16.7 57 54
PS4 87 100 48.2 12.8 57 53
a
Relative density.
b
Confining pressure.
c
Peak friction angle.
d
Dilatancy angle 共calculated from the initial slope of volumetric strain
versus axial strain兲. Fig. 5. Principal stress ratio versus axial strain and volumetric strain
e
Inclination angle for the first shear band. versus axial strain for CTC ␮g experiments 共confining pressure
f ⫽0.52 kPa)
Inclination angle for the second shear band.

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Fig. 6. Principal stress ratio versus axial strain and volumetric strain
versus axial strain for CTC ␮g experiments 共confining pressure
⫽1.30 kPa)
surrounding water medium. The latex membrane was placed
along the inside of a split mold and held aligned by vacuum
pressure. The mold was then attached to the bottom pedestal of
the test cell, the membrane stretched over the bottom end platen
and sealed using two o-rings. The sand was rained into the mold,
then the top end platen was attached by stretching the membrane
over the end platen and sealing it using two o-rings. The vacuum
was then removed from the membrane-mold interface and applied
to the inside of the specimen to prevent its collapse as the mold
was split and removed. The external test cell was then assembled
Fig. 7. Summary of peak friction angle values for CTC experiments
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Fig. 8. Summary of dilatancy angle values for CTC experiments
around the specimen, filled with deionized water, and pressurized.
The internal vacuum was then removed and the specimen pores
space vented to atmosphere.
The CTC experiments were conducted on cylindrical speci-
mens 共75 mm in diameter and 150 mm long兲 using a hardware
especially developed for the purpose to run conventional quasi-
static triaxial experiments with very precise measurements and
controls for the axial load, axial displacement, confining pressure,
bulk volumetric changes, ambient temperature, environmental ac-
celeration levels, etc. 共see Alshibli et al. 1996 for more informa-
tion about the hardware description兲. In each experiment, five
axial compression unloading and reloading cycles were com-
pleted at regular intervals 共at 5% axial strain intervals兲 to a 25%
final axial strain. The microgravity experiments 共labeled as ␮g in
Fig. 9. Typical surface image of one of ␮g CTC experiments at 25%
axial strain
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Fig. 10. 共Color兲 Typical CT scans of a ␮g CTC experiment taken at 25% axial strain

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Fig. 10. „Continued兲

Table 1兲 were performed aboard the Space Shuttle during the

NASA STS-79 and STS-89 missions. Specimens were launched
on a Space Shuttle Orbiter to achieve a microgravity environment
while the confining pressure was maintained at 103.5 kPa. In
orbit, the confining pressures were lowered to the desired test
pressures 共0.05, 0.52, and 1.30 kPa兲 and specimens were com-
pressed to the prescribed axial strain level. The confining pres-
sures were then restored to 103.5 kPa for Orbiter reentry and
landing. Specimens were subsequently retrieved and subjected to
an extensive postflight analysis including computed tomography
and profile measurements. In addition, more CTC experiments
were conducted in a terrestrial laboratory 共herein labeled as 1-g
experiments兲 to further investigate the effects of gravity and the
confining pressure on the strength properties and deformation
characteristics of F-75 Ottawa sand. A correction in the confining
pressure value was made to account for the induced radial stresses
due to membrane stretching. Also, in order to compare the ␮g to
terrestrial experiments, a correction was made in the 1-g experi-
ments to account for the specimen self weight and nonuniform
confining pressure due to the confining water pressure head.
The PS specimens measured 80.8⫻83.3⫻152.4 mm. To im-
pose the plane strain condition, two Lexan walls with dimensions
of 11.1⫻104.1⫻152.4 mm were designed to be bolted to the
lower-end platen and braced by two stiff aluminum plates to pre-
vent lateral deflection 共Fig. 3兲. The inside walls were coated with
silicone oil to minimize friction at the membrane interface during
experimentation. A 5⫻5 mm square grid pattern with a line thick-
ness of 0.5 mm was printed on the membrane surface using a
special black rubber ink to enable deformation tracking. The mesh
Fig. 11. Principal stress ratio versus axial strain and volumetric
size was 120⫻180 mm to cover one side of a plane strain speci-
strain versus axial strain for CTC 共confining pressure⫽1.30 kPa)
men. A video camera was used to record specimens’ deformation

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Fig. 12. 共Color兲 CT scans for 1g-1, 1g-2, 1g-4, and 1g-5 experiments

during compression. Selected images were captured from the
video source for further analysis. Table 2 shows a summary of the
PS experiments.
Specimen Deformation Monitoring
Computed tomography 共CT兲 was used to analyze the CTC speci-
mens. It is a technique in which an incident beam of electromag-
netic radiation 共x rays or gamma rays兲 passes through an object
and is collected with an array of detectors; the object is rotated
such that the beam probes from several angles to collect attenua-
tion data and produce the equivalent of a ‘‘slice’’ through the
region of interest. The attenuation information collected during
the rotation is then used by a computer program to reconstruct a
slice image of the internal structure. It is a powerful nondestruc-
tive probing technique for mapping the internal structure of ob-
jects. High-energy CT systems can penetrate large objects built
from a wide variety of materials. The CT images provide more
clarity than conventional radiographs such as x-ray images.
Three-dimensional reconstructions can be made by stacking the
CT slices and attenuation is measured on individual planes
whereas conventional radiographs comprise attenuation data from
all planes within an object superimposed onto one plane.
The CT scans reported in this study were performed at the
NASA/ Kennedy Space Center, Industrial Computed Tomography
System using a CITA-201 scanner. A length scaling calibration of
0.387 mm/pixel was found through examination of known fea-
tures in CT data, namely, hardware geometry of the triaxial test
cell. In addition, spatial resolution was determined using ASTM
standards. Calibration of density was also performed according to
ASTM standards 共ASTM 1995, 1997兲.

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Fig. 13. Typical principal stress ratio versus axial strain and volu-
metric strain versus axial strain for terrestrial CTC experiments
showing effect of confining pressure
For the PS experiments, specimens’ deformation was readily
monitored by recording the deformation of the grid imprinted on
the membrane surface as compression proceeded. Then, grid
nodes were digitized to follow the development of shear bands
and calculating their thicknesses 共Alshibli and Sture 1999兲.
Conventional Triaxial Compression Experiments
Microgravity versus Terrestrial Experiments
The principal stress ratio versus axial strain and volumetric strain
versus axial strain relations for the ␮g experiments for the three
confining pressure 共CP兲 values are shown in Figs. 4 – 6. All speci-
mens exhibited very high-peak friction angles (52– 70°) with the
highest values were for the 0.05 kPa-CP experiments 共␮g-F1-1
and ␮g-F2-1兲. Fig. 7 shows a summary of the peak friction angle
values as a function of the nominal confining pressure. The ␮g
experiments also show severe softening after the peak value of
the principal stress that was reached after about 0.5% axial strain
for the 0.05 kPa-CP experiments 共Fig. 4兲 and the amount of soft-
ening decreases and the CP increases 共Figs. 5 and 6 compared to
Fig. 4兲. The residual stress condition was reached at about 3–5%
axial strain for the ␮g experiments depending on the value of the
CP.
The ␮g specimens also have exhibited high-volume increase
共10–15%兲 as shown in Figs. 4 – 6 with very high-dilatation rate
until the residual stress condition was reached. However, the
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specimens continued to dilate until the end of the experiment and
the critical state condition was not reached even though they were
compressed to 25% axial strain. Fig. 8 shows a summary of the
values of dilatancy angles 关dilatancy angle is calculated from the
initial slope of volumetric strain versus axial strain 共i.e. when
axial strain is smaller than 5%兲兴 with values as high as 32° com-
pared to 16° for similar specimens tested at 11–70 kPa-CP levels
in a terrestrial laboratory. The 360° video coverage of the ␮g
experiments has shown uniform bulging with no evidence of
single or multiple shear bands as shown in Fig. 9. However, post-
flight analyses using computed tomography have revealed valu-
able information about the internal structure of the specimens.
Fig. 10 shows typical CT scans for one of the ␮g experiments.
The color change in the CT scans represent density variation
where darker areas represent less dense material due to specimen
dilation as a result of shearing. The failure of the ␮g experiments
was characterized by the development of two major conical sur-
faces and multiple secondary symmetrical shear bands expand
outward in the radial and axial directions. The development of the
new shear bands may have caused the continuous increase of the
specimens volume change. Desrues et al. 共1996兲 observed similar
failure patters in CTC specimens tested at 60 kPa confining pres-
sure using the CT technique. Our CT images confirm Desrues
et al. 共1996兲 findings and present results for specimens tested at
much lower confining pressures.
The CT scans on the ␮g experiments did not reveal informa-
tion about the development and progress of the shear bands since
they were performed after the Shuttle landing. To further investi-
gate when shear bands will develop and how they progress, five
specimens 共Experiments 1g-1, 1g-2, 1g-3, 1g-4, and 1g-5 in Table
1兲 were prepared with similar densities and were tested at 1.30
kPa CP in a terrestrial laboratory. For 1g-1 through 1g-4 experi-
ments, the test was terminated at smaller axial strains as shown in
Table 1. As shown in Fig. 11, the principal stress ratio versus axial
strain and volumetric strain versus axial strain for these experi-
ments are very similar. The CT scans for 1g-1, 1g-2, 1g-3, and
1g-5 specimens are shown in Fig. 12 which shows two orthogonal
axial sections and two cross sections taken at one third and two
thirds of the specimens height. Generally, one would expect that
shear band共s兲 would develop at the peak principal stress. How-
ever, the CT scan for the 1g-1 experiment 共Fig. 12兲, which is
taken at 4.6% axial strain shows no evidence of shear bands and
the specimen had deformed uniformly. Fig. 11 shows that the
specimens nearly reached the residual stress at 4.6% axial strain
and yet no evidence of shear bands. Then, the first shear conical
surface accompanied by secondary shear bands develop between
4.6 and 9.2% axial strains 共1g-2 in Fig. 12兲. As the test proceeds,
more shear bands develop bounded by two main conical surfaces
that were affected by the two end plates. The continuous volumet-
ric increase 共dilation兲 of the specimens is due to continuous de-
velopment of shear bands. However, the dilation rate at the re-
sidual stress level is about one fourth of the dilation before 4.6%
axial strain.
Effects of Confining Pressure
The effect of the confining pressure is investigated by testing
additional specimens at higher confining pressures 共Experiments
1g-6 through 1g-23 in Table 1兲. Fig. 13 shows typical principal
stress ratio versus axial strain and volumetric strain versus axial
strain for specimens tested in a terrestrial laboratory at different
confining pressures. They show that as the confining pressure
increases, the peak principal stress value decreases and the
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Fig. 14. Principal stress ratio versus axial strain, and volumetric strain versus axial strain responses for PS experiments

amount of stress softening after the peak decreases. All specimens conclusions since multiple internal shear bands might not become
show nearly the same residual stress regardless of the confining visible at the specimen surface until high-axial strain levels are
pressure value. Also, all specimens show dilative behavior with reached.
no contraction even at relatively high-confining pressure. Speci-
mens also tend to continue in dilation and they never reached the
critical state condition. The effect of the confining pressure on the Plane Strain Experiments
peak friction angle and the dilatancy angle is also evident as
shown in Figs. 7 and 8 where both angles decrease as the confin- The deformation and failure patterns of the PS experiments are
ing pressure increases. explained with the help of overall axial strain versus principal
Desrues and Hammad 共1989兲 investigated the effects of con- stress ratio and axial strain versus volumetric strain responses of
fining pressure 共100, 200, 400, and 800 kPa兲 on the development
of shear bands in Hostun RF sand specimens tested under CTC
conditions. Stereophotogrammetric method was used to track de-
formations of loose (D r ⫽25%) and dense (D r ⫽95%) speci-
mens. They found that the increase in the confining pressure
共100– 800 kPa range兲 resulted in delaying localization and it was
more evident in dense specimens compared to loose specimens.
In 1998 Desrues wrote, ‘‘Mokni 共1992兲 has used tomodensitom-
etry in Grenoble to show that the occurrence of localized strain
patterns in dense axisymmetric specimen can be delayed signifi-
cantly beyond the stress peak strain, namely, up to 20% axial
strain, if very refined specimen preparation and test procedure are
used.’’ Our CT scans provide valuable findings about the devel-
opment of shear bands in granular materials under very low-
confining pressures and they present concrete evidence about the
development of localized deformations in the postpeak regime.
Finally, it should be pointed out that tracking shear band devel-
opments in CTC specimens from the deformation of the latex
Fig. 15. Typical failure mode for PS specimen 共PS4 specimen兲
membrane that encases the specimen might result in misleading

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Fig. 16. Comparison between CTC and PS experiments 共loose speci-
mens tested under low-confining pressures兲
loose and dense specimens shown in Fig. 14. The observed soft-
ening after each peak is a consequence of bifurcation instability in
the neighborhood of the peak. This causes localization of defor-
mations into narrow shear zones and enables the kinematics of a
failure mechanism to develop. As a consequence, softening be-
havior follows the peak strength level. In other words, the ob-
served softening is a global response to the slip mechanism at the
onset of shearing. Softening becomes more severe as the speci-
men density increases. Desrues et al. 共1985兲 showed, experimen-
tally, that the initiation of localizations in PS experiments was
observed in a very early stage of the deformation process before
the peak stress value, which implies that localization initiates in
the hardening part of the test. Vardoulakis et al. 共1978兲 found that
localized deformations develop at the peak. In our experiments,
the first shear band was developed at the peak stress and there
was no evidence that it was developed in the hardening regime
before the peak.
Failure in all experiments involved two conjugate shear bands
initiated at different axial strain levels depending on the confining
pressure and specimen density 共Fig. 15兲. For the loose specimen
关PS1 in Fig. 14共a兲兴 tested under low-confining pressure 共15 kPa兲,
the first shear band was initiated at about 2.5% overall axial strain
followed by softening in the nominal stress response. The second
shear band initiated after additional shearing 共overall ␧ 1 ⬇5.8%)
along the first shear band. Shearing then continued along the two
bands until the completion of the test. For the dense specimen
tested under low-confining pressure 关PS3 in Fig. 14共b兲兴 the first
shear band was initiated at about 2% axial strain followed by a
more pronounced softening compared to PS1 specimen. Then the
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Fig. 17. Comparison between CTC and PS experiments 共loose speci-
mens tested under high-confining pressures兲
second shear band was noticed at a slightly smaller axial strain
(␧ 1 ⬇5.3%) compared to the PS1 specimen, otherwise the failure
mechanism is very similar to that of the loose specimen. The
behavior of the specimens subjected to high-confining pressure
共100 kPa兲 was quite different in terms of the development of
shear bands as compression proceeded. For the PS2 and PS4
specimens, the first shear band started at approximately 3.3%
overall axial strain with shearing continuing along the band until
a relatively higher nominal axial strain level (␧ 1 ⬎10%) was
reached, when the second shear band initiated causing softening
in the stress response. Shear bands were initiated at a slightly
smaller axial strain in the dense specimen 共PS4兲 compared to the
loose specimen 共PS2兲 tested at the same confining pressure.
Lee 共1970兲 and Marachi et al. 共1981兲 concluded that as the
specimen density increases, specimens tend to fail at smaller axial
strain. Desrues and Hammad 共1989兲 found that as the confining
pressure increases from 100 to 800 kPa, the onset of shear bands
develop at higher-axial strains in Hostun RF sand specimens; and
loose specimens (D r ⫽25%) have shown no obvious peak stress
or postpeak softening as opposed to dense specimens (D r
⫽95%) which were marked with clear peaks followed by severe
softening. Furthermore, Desrues and Hammad 共1989兲 found that
shear bands develop sooner in dense specimens compared to
loose conditions. Experimental evidence observed in this study
shows that confining pressure is the main factor influencing the
instability of the PS experiments during compression. It seems
that localization of deformations develops sooner 共i.e., at smaller
overall axial strain兲 for specimens subjected to 15-kPa confining
pressure compared to those tested at 100-kPa confining pressure.
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Purdue University Libraries on 10/11/18. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Fig. 18. Comparison between CTC and PS experiments 共dense
specimens tested under low-confining pressures兲
Both shear bands were initiated at smaller axial strain for the
15-kPa confining pressure experiments.
Similar findings were reported by Han and Drescher 共1993兲,
who investigated the effects of the confining pressure on the onset
of shear bands by performing a series of biaxial experiments on
poorly graded Ottawa sand (d 50⫽0.72 mm) with rounded par-
ticles. They found that the shear strain at initiation of shear band
formation increases when the confining pressure increases. This
points to the importance of the confining pressure on the localiza-
tion phenomena in granular materials.
Desrues 共1998兲 emphasized on the importance of boundary
conditions 共unrestrained versus restrained end plates兲 in dictating
the failure of PS specimens via conjugate shear bands or parallel
shear bands. The bottom end platen of the biaxial apparatuses
used by Vardoulakis 共1980兲, Han and Drescher 共1993兲, and Finno
et al. 共1997兲 was restrained against rotation and was free to move
laterally, whereas both end platens were restrained against lateral
movements and rotation in the apparatuses used in this investiga-
tion.
All PS specimens showed dilative behavior with no evidence
of volume decrease for those tested at 15-kPa confining pressure,
and only a small amount of initial compression 共less than 0.3%
volumetric strain兲 was observed in the early stages of compres-
sion for specimens subjected to 100-kPa confining pressure 共Fig.
14兲. The dense specimens show more dilative behavior compared
to loose specimens, and the volume change decreased as the con-
fining pressure increased. Also, the specimens showed continuous
dilative behavior without reaching the constant volume condition
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JUNE 2003 / 493
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 2003, 129(6): 483-494
Fig. 19. Comparison between CTC and PS experiments 共dense
specimens tested under high-confining pressures兲
even at high-nominal axial strains 共up to 19% in some experi-
ments兲. The softening in the principal stress response is accom-
panied by a sudden volume increase, especially for the dense
specimen 共PS4兲 tested at 100-kPa confining pressure 关Fig. 14共b兲兴.
This might be attributed to the slip mechanism that occurred at
the onset of shear band formation, which resulted in a sudden
volume increase.
Conventional Triaxial Compression versus Plane
Strain Experiments
Figs. 16 –19 show a comparison between principal stress ratio
versus axial strain and volumetric strain versus axial strain of
CTC and PS experiments. For loose specimens tested under low-
confining pressures 共Fig. 16兲, the peak stress value of PS1 experi-
ment is slightly higher than that on the CTC experiment 共1g-16兲
followed by softening in the principal stress ratio for the PS1
experiment. For similar specimens tested at higher confining pres-
sures 共Fig. 17兲, the PS experiment has the same peak stress value
as the CTC experiment and the amount of strain hardening after
the peaks is smaller than the PS1 experiment. In both cases, the
volumetric strain of CTC experiments is much higher than that of
the PS experiments. For dense specimens 共Figs. 18 and 19兲, PS
specimens showed higher-peak stress value followed by severe
softening. Both PS and CTC dense specimens show very similar
initial volume expansion rates but the PS specimens depart after
the peak stress value is reached and they show a smaller dilation
rate as compared to the CTC experiments.
 In all cases, the CTC experiments show very similar principal
stress ratio versus axial strain responses where a very mild soft-
ening is observed after the peak stress value and the specimens
reached the residual stress condition at about 10% axial strain.
The observed hardening in the PS experiments may be due to
restraining both end platens of the PS specimens from lateral
movement during the experiments.
Conclusions
The confining pressure and specimen weight have a profound
influence on the behavior of CTC specimens. Specimens show a
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very high-peak friction angle followed by severe softening for
specimens tested under very low-confining pressures and the
amount of softening decreases as the confining pressure increases.
Moreover, in ␮g environment, the CTC experiments exhibited
very high-peak friction and dilatancy angles compared to similar
specimens tested in terrestrial laboratory. Both angles decrease as
the confining pressure increases. All CTC specimens show nearly
the same residual stress regardless of the confining pressure
value. Also specimens tend to show continuous dilation and they
never reached the critical state condition.
It was found that the nominal or overall stress-strain response
of PS experiments is strongly dependent on the specimen density
and confining pressure. The varying degrees of softening in nomi-
nal stress response at various axial strain levels were observed to
be dependent on the confining pressure. All PS specimens were
observed to have two conjugate shear bands developed at differ-
ent stages of overall axial strain. The confining pressure is the
main factor affecting the specimens’ stability. Localization into
shear bands was triggered sooner for specimens tested under low-
confining pressure compared to those tested under high-confining
pressure. Furthermore, shear bands initiate at slightly smaller
axial strain in dense specimens compared to loose specimen.
Experimental findings show that the failure of specimens sub-
jected to PS loading condition is characterized by distinct shear
bands accompanied by softening in the stress response depending
on the specimen density and confining pressure. In contrast, the
specimens in CTC experiments bulge uniformly in the vicinity of
peak stress and develop complex multiple symmetrical radial
shear bands at higher axial strain levels. It is apparent that CTC
specimens remain relatively well into the deformation process.
Based on these findings, it is quite clear that the deformation
processes and the stability behavior are quite different for triaxial
and plane strain tests. This also raises questions about our under-
standing of soil behavior under these two basic but very different
modes of loading.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided
by NASA/ George C. Marshall Space Flight Center under Con-
tract Nos. NAS8-38779 and NAS8-01042. Thanks are also due to
Peter Engel of NASA/ Kennedy Space Center for help in per-
forming the CT scans.
494 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JUNE 2003
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 2003, 129(6): 483-494
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