Introduction To Soil Moduli

&
Stress-Strain Behavior

Dr. Ayman Lotfy Fayed

Professor (associate) of Geotechnical Engineering
Ain Shams University
Mail: ayman_fayed@eng.asu.edu.eg
 Presentation Outlines
 Definitions and types of soil moduli.
 Factors influencing soil moduli.
– State Factors.
Lecture 1

– Loading factors.
 Moduli for different applications.
 Soil stiffness.
 Coefficient of subgrade reaction.
 Stress-Strain behavior of soils.
 Soil deformations’ types.
The Soil modulus = 10,000 kPa

What does this mean??

 Tri-axial test
(Axi-symmetric loading) Linear elastic stress strain
assumption (not true for soil)

Nonlinear stress-strain curve

is the true soil behavior

‫ﺣﻔظ‬

Soil Modules Equations of elasticity for

axi-symmetric loading.
From eqn. (3)
• Equations 1&2 are
identical) due to
From eqns. (1 & 3) symmetry.
• Determination of E & N
require measuring the
Calculating a Modulus stresses and strains in
both directions)
 How does one obtain a modulus from
a stress strain curve?
 Determination of the soil modulus needs
measuring the stresses and strains in both
directions.
 The modulus is not the slope of the stress
strain curve. (exception is the case with the
confining stress = 0.0 as the unconfined
compression test on clay and testing
concrete cylinders).
 The Poisson’s ratio is not the ratio of the
strains in both directions and also needs
measuring the stresses and strains in both
directions.
Which modulus? Secant, tangent, unload,
reload, or cyclic modulus? (because the soil
stress strain relation is not linear).

Soil modulus is not the

slope but related and
associated to it.
Ss (O-A): Secant.
St: Tangent.
Su (A-B): Unloading.
Sr (B-D): Reloading.
Sc (B-C): Cyclic.

Definition of Soil Modulus

 Which modulus to be used?
 the secant slope Ss and the associated secant modulus Es would be
used for predicting the movement due to the first application of a
load as in the case of a spread footing.
 the tangent slope St and the associated tangent modulus Et would be
used to calculate the incremental movement due to an incremental
load as in the case of the movement due to one more story in a high-
rise building.
 the unloading slope Su and the associated unloading modulus Eu would
be used when calculating the heave at the bottom of an excavation or
the rebound of a pavement after the loading by a truck tire (resilient
modulus).
 the reloading slope Sr and the associated reload modulus Er would be
used to calculate the movement at the bottom of an excavation if the
excavated soil or a building of equal weight was placed back in the
excavation or to calculate the movement of the pavement under
reloading by the same truck tire.
 the cyclic slope Sc and the associated cyclic modulus Ec would be
used as a function of the number of cycles for the movement of a pile
foundation subjected to repeated wave loading.
Main parameters influencing soil moduli.
A-STATE FACTORS
- How closely packed are the particles?
(for the same soil type, the higher the density the higher the soil
modulus).

Evaluated by the dry density or porosity.

- How are the particles organized?
two soil samples can have the same dry
density yet different structures and
therefore different soil moduli.
 Single grained structure
coarse graned soils as gravel and sand
 Honey comb structure
soils of small granular particles having
cohesion because of their fineness as
Fine Sands & Silts
Flocculated and Dispersed Structure
(clay)

Flocculated Dispersed
- What is the water content?
Cohesive and cohesion-less soils are different in behavior.
• At low water content, water binds the particles of fine
grained soils and increases the effective stress between
the particles through the suction High soil
modulus.

• At very low water content, compaction of coarse grain

soil is not efficient as at higher content Low soil
modulus.

• If the water content during compaction of coarse grain

soil rises beyond the optimum value, compaction is not
efficient and compressibility increases Low soil
modulus.
What has the soil been subjected to in the
past?
 Under
OCR < 1
consolidated
 /
Effect of sample disturbance on e – log  curve
• An over-consolidated (OC) soil will generally have
higher moduli than the same normally consolidated
(NC) soil because the OC soil is on the reload part of
the stress strain curve while the NC soil is on the
first loading part.

• Under-consolidated soils have very low moduli.

• Under consolidated soils are still in the process of

consolidation under their own weight such as clays
deposited offshore of the rivers as the Nile and the
Mississippi delta (deposition rate is more rapid than
the rate would allow the pore water pressure induced
by deposition to dissipate.
 What about cementation?
cementation can be due to the deposition of
calcium at the particle to particle
contacts for example. Such cementation leads
to a significant increase in modulus.
B) LOADING FACTORS: (Assuming the state
factors are constant and considering the secant
modulus).
a) Mean stress level in the soil.
Direct Proportional relation.

- The higher the confinement is, the

higher the soil modulus will be.
- Eo: The soil modulus corresponding
to confinement stress equal to the
atmospheric pressure , Pa.
- A common value for the power
exponent (a) is 0.50
b) Strain level in the soil.
Inverse proportional relation. Consolidation
test is an exception.

Stress-Strain curve from consolidation test (arithmetic

scale) has an an upward curvature (because the
increase in confinement brought by the steel ring is
more influential than the decrease in modulus due to
the increase in strain in the soil.
c) Strain rate in the soil.
 d) Number of cycles experienced by the soil.

- The larger the number of cycles

the smaller the modulus becomes.
- This is due to the accumulation of
movement with an increasing
number of loading cycles.
- The exponent ( c ) has common
values of the order -0.10 to -0.30.
e) Time for the water to drain during the
loading process.
Moduli for different applications
 Shallow Foundations
 the mean stress level applied under the foundation is often between
100 and 200 kPa.

 The normal strain level in the vertical direction is about 0.01 or less
and is typically associated with a movement of about 25 mm.

 The rate of loading is extremely slow because that strain occurs

first at the construction rate and then the load is sustained over
many years.

 The number of cycles is one unless cycles due to seasonal variations

or other cyclic loading (such as compressor foundations) are included.

 Example values of the modulus in this case are 10,000 to 20,000 kPa.
 Deep Foundations
 the mean stress level varies because the side friction on the piles
occurs over a range of depth, while the point resistance occurs at a
relatively large depth.
 The strain level at the pile point is usually smaller than in shallow
foundations because a percentage of the load dissipates in friction
before getting to the pile point.
 The strain rate is similar to the case of shallow foundations with
rates associated with months of construction and years of sustained
loads.
 High strain rates do occur however in the case of earthquake or wave
loading.
 Cycles can be a major issue for earthquake loading of buildings and
bridges or for wave loading of offshore structures.
 deep foundations are used in very different types of soils and for
very different types of loading, the moduli vary over a much wider
range of values than for shallow foundations.
 Slope Stability and Retaining Structures
 movements are associated with the deformation of the soil mass
essentially under its own weight. Therefore the stress level
corresponds to gravity induced stresses.

 The strains are usually very small and the strain rate is again
associated with the rate of construction at first and the long term
deformation rate during the life of the slope or of the retaining
structure.

 Cycles may occur due to earthquakes or other cyclic phenomena.

 For properly designed slopes and retaining structures, the moduli tend
to be higher than in foundation engineering because the strain levels
tend to be smaller.
 Pavements
 the mean stress level in the subgrade is relatively low.
 The pressure applied to the pavement is of the order of 200 kPa for
car tires, 500 kPa for truck tires, and 1700 kPa for airplane tires.
 the vertical stress at the top of the subgrade under a properly
designed pavement may be only one tenth of the tire pressure applied
at the surface of the pavement.
 The strain level is very low because typical strain levels are 0.001 or
less at the top of the subgrade.
 The rate of loading is very high and associated with the passing of a
traveling vehicle.
 The loading time is of the order of milliseconds for a car at 100 km/h
but is measured in hours for an airplane parked at the gate.
 The number of cycles is tied to the number of vehicles traveling on
the pavement during the life of the pavement. This number varies
drastically from less than a million of vehicle cycles for small roads to
tens of millions for busy interstates.
 Typical modulus values range from 20,000 kPa to 150,000 kPa.
 MODULUS OR STIFFNESS?

E Vs K
MODULUS OR COEFFICIENT OF SUBGRADE
REACTION?
E Vs Ks

s
 Definition of stresses and strains

 The reaction of a solid body to a force

F or a combination of forces acting upon
or within it can be characterized in
terms of its relative deformation or
strain. The ratio of force to area where
it acts is called stress.
 Idealized and real stress-strain
behavior of soils

Idealized types of stress-strain behaviors: (a) nonlinear elastic

Model, (b) linear elastic model, and (c) elastoplastic model
 Idealized and real stress-strain
behavior of soils

Various types of elastoplastic behaviors: (a) strain hardening, (b) perfectly

plastic, (c) strain softening, and (d) combination of a to c.
 normal stress normal strain
 = Fn / A  = z / zo
»shear stress shear strain
»
 = Fs / A  = h / zo

Note that compressive stresses and strains are positive and

counter-clockwise shear stresses and strains are positive.
 Uniaxial stress and strain – Hook’s law

Young’s modulus
E   d a d a

Poisson's ratio     d r d a
Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are measured directly in uniaxial
compression or extension tests
 Shear stress and strain

As the shear stress ’ increases materials distort (change shape). This

change in shape can be expressed as an angular shear strain . The
shear modulus G' relates the change in shear stress d’ to the change
in shear strain d.





Shear modulus G  d  d
 Isotropic compression
As the isotropic stress ’ increases, materials compress (reduce in
volume). The bulk modulus K' relates the change in volumetric strain
dv=dV/V to the change in isotropic stress ’.

Bulk modulus K '  d d v

Hooke’s Law of Isotropic Elasticity
In bodies of isotropic elastic material the three stiffness moduli E',
K' and G' and Poisson’s ratio (') are related as:

Therefore the deformation behavior of an isotropic elastic material can be

described by only two material constants.
 Stiffness of soil material
The relationship between a strain and stress is termed stiffness

OA: linear and recoverable

ABC: non-linear and irrecoverable
BCD: recoverable with hysteresis
DE: continuous shearing

The stress-strain curve of a soil has features which are characteristic for
different material behavior. Soils show elastic, plastic and viscous
deformation when exposed to stresses.
 Elastic deformation
In linear-elastic behavior (OA) the stress-strain is a straight line and strains
are fully recovered on unloading, i.e. there is no hysteresis. The elastic
parameters are the gradients of the appropriate stress-strain curves and are
constant.
Young’s modulus
E   d a d a   a  a  const.
Poisson's ratio
    d r d a    r  a  const.
Shear modulus
G  d  d      const.
Bulk modulus
K '  d d v    v  const.
 Plastic deformation
With increasing stress the material
behavior goes over from elastic to
plastic. This transition is called yield
(A). Plastic strains (AB) are not
recovered on unloading (BC).
Unloading (BC) and reloading (CD)
show a hysteresis. With increasing
strain (at constant stress) the material
eventually fails if brittle or flows if
ductile (E).

Soils material behavior is often simplified

yield as elastic-perfectly plastic. During
perfectly plastic straining (AB), plastic
strains continue indefinitely at constant
stress. In a brittle perfectly plastic
material, the yield stress at point A this is
the same as the failure stress at a point
B.
 Viscous deformation
Change in volume and shape of soils are generally time-dependent.
One way to capture this time-dependency is to model soil as a viscous
solids. For the case of simple shear for example, this means that the
shear stress ’ is proportional to the shear strain rate ddt. The
viscosity  relates the change in shear stress d’ to the change in
shear strain rate ddt.


 ».

.
 »Shear strain rate
Viscosity   d  d
Linear viscosity     
Thank You
References:
References
- Briaud J. L., 2001, “Introduction to Soil
Moduli”, Geotechnical News, June 2001.