The JapaneseGeotechnical

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SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS 36, No. 2,81-91,June 1996

JapaneseGeotechnica]
SocietyVoL

THE STEADYSTATEOF SANDY SOILS

RAMoN VERDuGoi) and KENJI IsHIHARAii)

ABSTRACT
An alternative procedure to evaluate the yoid ratio of triaxialtestsamples isintroduced. Thismethod isrecommend-
ed particularlywhen very loosesamples are tested and an important volume change occurring during the saturation
processisexpected. In addition, using Toyoura sand a comprehensive set of triaxialtestscarried out under both un-
drainedand drained conditions of monotonic loadingis presented. For the undrained contractive responses, the
results showed two stages associated with the steady state. After the peak strength, the deviator stress dropsto a mini-
mum value which can be seen as a quasi steady state, thereafter,the strength increases to an ultimate value corre-
sponding to the actual steady state. Undrained dilativeresponses clearly indicatedthe existence of an ultimate state de-
veloped at largedeformationswhich represents the steady state of deformation.The results indicate that the quasi
steady state isslightly affected by the initial mean stress, whereas, the steady state isunafiected by the initial mean
stress. Furtherrnore, the locusof the ultimate states achieved through drainedconditions of loadingwas shown to be
coincident with the steady state line evaluated by means of undrained tests. Finally, according to the relative position
of the steady state linewith respect to the isotropic consolidation curves for the loosest and densest states of a given
soil, the index,Relative Contractiveness, R., isproposed. Itispostulated thatR. isrelated to theinherent liquefaction
vulnerability of a soil.

Key words: liquefaction,

sandy soil, silt,triaxial compression test, undrained shear (IGC:D61D7)

poorly compacted sandy soil deposithas increased. This

INTRODUCTION factcomes as a consequence of the occurrence of large
In the past, the term "liquefaction"
hasbeen used to landslidesin natural slopes, dam failuresand flow
deseribe
all phenomena that are related with the un- failures of hydraulic placement of artificial islandfi11s
or
drainedresponse of cohesionless material where an im- reclaimed land areas along coast lines(Ishihara et al.,
portant buildup of pore pressure as well as a sig-
water l991),A betterunderstanding and a more suitable charac-
nificant amount of deformationtake place.At least two terization of the undrained response of saturated co-
different phenomena, however, should be distinguished: hesionless materiais are therefore needed. Consequently,
fiow failureor true liquefactionand cyclic mobility. in the presentstudy experimental evidence useful to ob-
Although these concepts were presented early by tain a betterunderstanding of sandy soil behavior is
Casagrande (1975) and Castro (1975), perhapsonly since presented. In addition, a parameter to identifythe intrin-
the iastdecade they have been widely recognized and ac- sic potential for Iiquefaction of a given soil isintroduced.
cepted. The phenomenon definedas "true liquefaction''
ischaracterized by a quick incrementof pore water pres-
sure followedby a sudden lossof strength until a residual TESTING EQUIPMENT AND SOIL TESTED
value isachieved. The term mobility" introduced by In order to cover a wide range of confining pressures,
"cyclic

Casagrande (1975)denotes the undrained cyclic soil and at the same time to have accurate measurements, two
response where the soil mass does not undergo any loss triaxial test apparatuses designedfor a different levelof
of strength, but itundergoes a kind of strain softening, pressureand load were used. A low and a high pressure
which is mainly a consequence of the buildup of pere triaxialcell formaximum pressures of 1 MPa and 5 MPa
water pressure caused by thecyclic loading. study dis- were designed.For each test, the most appropriate testap-
The
cussed hereinis concerned with the firstphenomenon. paratuswas selected depending on the desiredconfining
Recently,interest in the importance of developinga pressure and the anticipated undrained response. For in-
suitable methedology to analyze the stability of saturated stance, when Iargedilative behaviorof the soil specimen

i);i)Geotechnical
Section IDIEM University of Chile,PlazaErcilla 883,Santiago,Chile,Former GraduateStudent,Univ. of Tokyo, Japan,
Former Professer, Departmentof CivilEngineering, Universityef Tekyo, Bunkyo-ku 113, Tekyo.
Manuscript was received for review on May 17, 1994.
Written discussionson this paper shoulcl be sllbmitted before January1, 1997to the Japanese Geotechnical Society,Sugayama Bldg. 4 F,
Kanda Awaji-cho 2-23, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, Japan, Upon request the closing datemay be extended ene month.

81

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82 VERDUGO AND ISHIHARA

was expected, the cavitation was effectively avoided by has occurred. An improvement in the procedure has been
means of high back pressure using the high pressureap- used however, avoiding the dismanteling of the cell after
paratus. Lubricated as well as enlarged end plates were the saturation of the samples has been completed. After
used in order to minimize non-homogeneities in the theair in the voids of the sample has been replaced by
strain distribution throughout the samples and particu- C02, a vacuum of O.02MPa forthe sample tested in the
larly to avoid the development of shear bands. The axial low pressure triaxial cell and O,05MPa for the sample
load, pore water pressure, axial deformation and volu- tested in the high pressure triaxial cell was applied
metric strain were measured by electrical transducers and thTough the upper and lower drainagelinesof the speci-
automatically stored in a personal computer. Allthe tests men with tanks A and B as illustrated in Fig.1(a).When
were conducted under strain-controlled condition ofload- the vacuum is applied, the position of tanks A and B is
ing.The deformationrates were 1 and O.5mmlmin for such that the water levelin the tanks isbelow the sample.
undrained and drained tests, respectively. The initial Next,in order to inducepercolation of water throughout
dimensions of the specimens were 5 cm in diameterand the specimen under vacuum, tankA ismoved up from its

10 crn in heightforthose specimens testedinthe low pres- initial position to a second location approximately 50 cm
sure triaxialcell, and 6cm in diameter and 12cm in above the top of the sample. As the water flowsintothe
heightin the case of samples tested in the high pressure specimen, a sort of collapse on the very loose soil struc-
cell. ture occurs, and accordingly, the sample dimensions
Allthe testswere performed on the standard Japanese change. The percolationof water is performed until in
Toyoura sand. This sand has a mean diameter of the pipe connected to the top of the sample airbubbles
Dse=O.17mm, a uniformity coethcient of U}=1.7, a are not observed any more. Thereafter, tank A ismoved
maximum void ratio of O.977,a minimum void ratio of down to itsinitial positionand then the dimensionsof
O,597, and a specific gravity of 2.65. Toyoura sand isa the sample are measured. The diameters were taken to an
uniform fine sand consisting of subrounded to subangu- accuracy of O.Olcm with a calibrated metal tape and the
larparticles and composed of 75% quartz, 22% feldspar heightwas measured to an accuracy of O.O1cm by means
and 3% magnetite (Oda et al,, 1978). of a calibrated caliper, Consequently,the initialvolume
of the sample was evaluated and modified laterconsider-
ing the volume change that occurs during consolidation,
SAMPLE PREPARATION b) Using the water content of the specimen.-This
To prepare the specimens, the so-called moist place- method was developed considering that for saturated
ment or wet tamping method of sample preparation was samples, thevoid ratio isdirectly related with the amount
used. Oven dry soil was mixed well with distilled water in of water in the sample. For clayey soils, the procedure
a proportion of 5% by weight and compacted in six and
tenlayers in the case ofthe Iow and highpressureappara-
tus, respectively. After the initial densitywas deter-
mined, and the total weight computed, each layer was

carefully compacted with identical

heightand amount of
wet Thereafter, the specimens were installed
soil. in the
pedestal and C02 gasfollowedby de-airedwater circulat-
ed throughout from the bottom to the top, After the cell

was assembled, the degree of saturation was improved by

means of back pressure which was considered acceptable
when the B-valuewas equal to or greater than O.95.

EYALUATION OF SAMPLE VOID RATIO

O.96O.95O.94OS3O.92O.91
Samples looselycompacted are susceptible to potential
error in the evaluation of the void ratio. During the satu-
ration processa partial collapse of the unstable structure
me-=gP.o>
occurs and a significant variation in the sample dimen-
sion takes place, which can net be measured using ordina-
ry test procedures(Sladen et al.,1987). Two alternative

procedures to assess the void ratio of the specimens after

they have been saturated were therefore develepedwhich

are describedbelow:
O.90
a) Vsing sample dimensions.-This method cor- o.oo o.o2 o,e4 o.o6 o.os e.1 o,12
responds to the ordinary procedure based on the direct Effeetive cenfining pressure (MPa)
evaluation of the height and diameter of the samples af- Fig. 1. a) System for watev clrculation; b) Comparisonbetweenwater
ter C02 and de-airedwater have been percolated
through- content and sample dimension procedures for eyaluation of sam-
out the specimens, and therefore, any possible collapse ple void ratio

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STEADY STATE OF SANDY SOILS 83

does not involvesignificant diMculty,but in sandy soils been adopted as a more reliable procedureto evaiuate the
some special technique isnecessary, ferinstance, Hence, void by this method
``freez-
void ratio. ratios estimated
ing" thesample. The authors have developedan alterna- have been used as the representative values of the sam-

tive method however that seems to be simpler than the plesand reported in this paper.
current procedures, which involvethe followingsteps: af-
ter the testisfinished, the drainagevalves are closed, so
that the specimen isin an undrained condition. The back MONOTONIC UNDRAINED RESPONSE
pressure on the linesiscompletely released and the level Three series of undrained monotonic compression
of the water in the burette, Vl,isrecerded. The drainage testswith consolidation pressures varying in a wide range

valyes are then opened and connected to the burette. and constant void ratios achieved after consolidation,

Next,the cell pressureisincreasedto the maximum capac- were carried out. Figure2 forexample,
shows the stress-
ityof the equipment, and then an axial loadingand un- strain the corresponding
curves and effective stress paths

loadingprocessis applied in order to remove from the fora seTies of tests with a common void ratio after con-

sample as much water as possiblewhich flowsinto the solidation of e= O.735.The effective mean stress iseval-
burette.Thereafter,the cell pressure is decreased to uated as p'=(oi+2a3)13 and the deviatorstress as
- issuch thatan
around O.2MPa, the drainagevalves are closed again, q= (ai a3). As can be seen, the soil response
and the levelof the water in the burette,PG･, recorded. ultimate condition is developed at large deformation
Then, the cell pressure istotallyreleased and the triaxial which isidenticalto all the specimens, independentof the
cell dismounted. Because the specimen isfinally unload- initialconfining pressure. Itisimportant to note that dur-
ed under an undrained condition, itdevelopsa negative ing unloading the effective stress paths are coincident,
pore water pressure which allows the sample to remain suggesting that a special comrnon fabricwas developedat
upright. Next, the upper cap is removed and air goes into Iargedeformation.
the sample (because
of the negativepore water pressure) Another series of testsperformed with a void ratio af-
creating an apparent cohesion that permitsthe sample to ter consolidation of differentinitial
e=O.833 and
be handled. Immediately, the membrane is removed confining pressures isshewn in Fig. 3 in terms of stress-
from the sample, and by means of a spatula, all the soil strain curves and efiective stress paths. For initial
attached to both the membTane and to the end platens is confining pressures of 2 and 3 MPa, the response of the
carefu11y removed. The remaining water content of the specimens shows a drop in strength, and conse-
soil sample, to,, isthen measured. Therefore,the void ra- quently,the specimens develop a minimum strength
tio of the specimen can be computed from the following which occurs between 5 to 1O% of axial strain. Itisof in-
expresslon: terestto note, that the minimum strength developed is

(K･-Vl･+ co, PVb)

e==
w},
Gs (1) s.oGiE4,eVv$'3.02-co2.0tsti･;

where., MLiisthedryweightof the sample and (l,is the

specificgravity of the soil.
The firstmethod isbasically
the common practiceto
evaluate the void ratio of a sample, while the second
method is an alternative procedure,To investigate the
effectiveness this alternative
of procedure, three series of
samples prepared repeating as close as possible alI
were 1.0oa
the steps involvedin the preparation. Figure 1(b)shows
the results of these three series of tests.Itcan be observed o.o
e 5 IC IS 20 2S30
that the scattering in the void ratios evaluated through Axial strain {%}
the water content is much smaller than the one obtained
by the ordinary precedure using the sample dimensions. s.eGi4.0Eva

This factis indicative

of the repetitiveness and effective-
ness of the proposed procedure. In addition, as shown in
Fig. 1(b), the results using these two procedures consis-
-3.0$eU2.05rt
tently indicatedthat the void ratios measured through
the water content were smaller than the void ratios com-
puted from the sample dimensions.For dense specimens
however,the difference between these two methods was t,oita
negligible. The discrepancybetween these two methods
may arise from the subsequent steps wherein the triaxial o.o
cell is assembled and likely,some additional volume O l 2 3

change takes place which can not be computed by the Effective mean stress, p' (MPa)

firstmethod. The procedurebased on the measurement Fig. 2. Undrained triaNial tests for e=O,735: a) stress-strain curves; b}
of the water content at the end of the testhas therefore effectiye stress path

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84 VERDUGO AND ISHIHARA

2.0G!t t.oRa

e.sEvcr
1.S:.!1.0-totste

O.6op-ca9U

O.4Le.g

o.s,;dia
o.2>oo

-o.o
20 o.o
o s 10 tS 253e
o 5 10 15 2e 2530
Axlal strain (%}
Axial strain (%)
2.0
1.0
GtrELSvv..g
b)TOYOURA SAND (es O.S33, Dr = 37.9% ) TOYOURA SAND{
Ga b)
o.sEvtr -e=
O.907, D-r 18.5% )
=

1.otuatsts O.6co-ca9U t/t

O.4tsW
o.s;oo

O.2'io
o.o
o 1 2 3
o.o
Effective mean stress, p' (MPa} e 1 2 3
Effective mean stress, p' {MPa)
Fig.3. Undrainedtriaxialtestsfore==O.833:
a) stress-strain curves; b}
effective stress path Fig.4. Undfainedtriaxialtestsfore=O.907: a) stress-straincurves; b)
effectlve stress path

slightly affected by the initial effective confining pressure. tion nevertheless israther small, so in this situation the
It should alsobe noted that, despitethe largedifTerence state of stress developedclose to 26% of axial strain has
in the stress-strain behaviorat an early stage of the load- been considered as the condition associated with the ulti-
ing,the samples tend to have the sarne ultimate strength mate state. The authors believethat the stresses devel-
at a1arge level of deformation.In addition, in thisseries, oped at this level of deformationare from any practical
the effective stress paths duringunloading are coincident point of view, close enough to the actual ultimate condi-

with each other suggesting the developmentof a common tion in the case of sandy soils.
fabricat the stage of Iarge deformation. The stress-strain This series of undrained test results have shown two
curves and the corresponding effective stress paths for soil responses, a dilative one with a deviator stress that is
another series of testsperformed with a void ratio after always monotonically increasing up to an ultimate state
censolidation of e=O.906-O,908 and with effective achieved at large defoTmation where the soil sample
confining pressures varying from O.1 to 2 MPa are shown deforms continuously under a constant shear stress, and
in Fig.4. As can be observed, forthe complete range of censtant effective mean stress. Another soil response is
pressureused, the soil behavior indicates a peak deviator the contractive one with the development of a mini-
stress, and the higher the initial confining pressurethe mum strength that is followedby a dilative behavior
higherthe peak deviator stress. A minimum strength isde- where the strength isregained and iteventually reaches
veloped at a medium range ef axial deformatienbetween an ultimate value at largestrains. The Iattersoil response
4 to 16%, As the previous results, the minimum strength indicates two particular conditions that require especial
seems to be only slightly affected by the initial cenfining attention: a) the minimum strength and b) the ultimate
pressure,while the ultimate deviatorstress developedin state developed at large strain level,These stages are of
these three specimens isthe same, regardless of the value particularimportancedue to the factthat they represent
of the initial confining pressure, It is also of interest to different levels of strength. It isapparent that these two
note that for the specimen consolidated under O.1 MPa, conditiens can be associated with the steady state of
the effective stress path reaches the ultimate state to the deformation(Poulos, 1981),becausethe requirements of

right of the initial state indicating that, the response is continuous deformationunder constant shear stress and

finally dilative, even though in the range of axial deforma- constant normal stress are to some extent satisfied. The
tien between 1 to 6%, the behaviorwas clearly contrac- additional requirement of constant volume isautomati-
tive with a small drop of strength. It is important to cally satisfied duringundrained tests and the condition of

mention that, in this case, the condition of continuous constant velocity is fullysatisfied by the strain controlled
deformation under a constant shear stress level is not Ioadingsystem.
strictly satisfied at largedeformation.The rate of varia- The condition of minimum strength has been referred

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STEADY STATE OF SANDY SOILS 85

to as the quasi steady state, (Alarcon-Guzman et al., 2.S

1988; Ishihara, 1993; Verdugo, 1992) whereas, the condi-
tion reached at large levelof strain is likelyassociated
with the actual steady state. The shear stress mobilized at
a. ,,,inyv

the minimum strength stage isdefinitelysmaller than the

'･5
stress mobilized at the ultimate steady state, however, the
levelrequired state ismuch larger
strain

than the strain associated

for the ultimate
with the minimum strength.
ge.
i.o22.

o,scoo.o
THE QUASI STEADY STATE
From those specimens where a drop in strength
takes place,the minimum strength condition or the quasi e.o e.s 1.o 1.s zo 2.s 3,o 3.5
steady state has been plotted in Fig.5 in terms of void ra- Effective mean stress, p' (MPa)
tio and efiective mean stress. The initial states of void ra-
Fig.6. Strengthenyelope at the qllasisteady state
tio and consolidation pressuresare indicatedby squares.
As can be observed, forthe wide range of initial effective
confining pressures and void ratios used, there exists a
clear correlation between the void ratio and the effective cated the steady state linein the eip' plane.
well above
mean stress developedat the stage where the minimum This observation
confirrns previous results reported by
strength ismobilized. This line isreferred to as thequasi Castro (1969);
Castro et al. (1982);
Been et al. 1985; Dob-
steady state line (Verdugo, 1992; Ishihara, 1993). In spite ry et al. (1985),and Poulos et al. (1985),
among others.
of the clear trend shown in Fig. 5 by the quasi steady Itisof particularimportanceto mention that the state
state line, some scatter inthe dataisapparent. Thisisdue of minimum strength coincides with the condition of
to the fact that the mobilized minimurn strength isaffect- phasetransformationintroducedbyIshiharaetal.(1975).
ed to some degreeby the initial consolidation pressure. The phase transformation was definedhowever to imply
The largerthe initial
effective confining pressure, the larg- a temporary state of transition from contractive to dila-
er the minimum and the corresponding
strength effective tive behaviorof sand, irrespectiveof whether itinvolves
mean stress. Nevertheless, the experimental results indi- a temporary drop in shear stress or not. The quasi steady
cate that this effect isnot significant and accordingly, it state has to be seen therefore as the particular case of
would be possibleto draw linerepresenting
a singlean phase transformation where a temporary drop in shear
average condition of state in the e:p'
the quasi steady stress takes place over a Iimitedrange of shear strains.

planeand use itas a convenient reference lineto facilitate Regarding the resistance developed during the quasi
the evaluation of the minimum strength. It has been steady state, itcan be easily understood that the shear
shown elsewhere (Verdugo,1992; Ishihara, 1993) stress mobilized at this stage of deformation is a conse-

however, that thislineisstrongly affected by both the ini- quence of frictional resistance between the particles of
tial fabric and structure ofa soil mass. The use of the qua- the soil. The effective normal stress and shear stress
si steady state lineis therefore restricted to those cases should therefore be uniquely correlated through some
where the soil depositand the soil sampie tested in the angle of internal friction. To explore this aspect, the
laboratoryhave similar fabric, shear stress, q12, and the effective mean stress, p', at-
The contractive respense is only developed by those tained at the quasi steady state have been plottedin Fig.
samples with an initial combination of void ratie and 6. As can be observed, the state of stresses at the quasi
effective mean stress that can be represented by a point lo- steady state can be represented fairlywell by a straight
Iine passing through the origin in the q12p' plane. The
angle of internalfriction obtained from these data is
close to 310.
O.P5

o,gov.td'
THE STEADY STATE OR ULTIMATE STATE FROM
UNDRAINED TESTS
o,ss;7 Under undrained loadingcondition, irrespectiveof the
initial
state of the specimens, when the strain levelislarge
o,so
enough, the soil mass tends to be in a state of continuous
deformation under constant shear stress and constant
O.7S
mean This stage of the soil response
stress. isquite appar-
ent in those testsshown in Figs. 2 and 3 when the axial
O.02 O.OS O,1 O.2 O.S 1.0 :,O strains are 1argerthan 20--25%.As can be observed in
Effective p' tMPa)
mean stress,
Fig.4 however, there are responses where the deviator
Fig. 5. Quasi steady state Iineand initialstates stress and the effective mean stress are still incTeasing af-

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86 VERDUGO AND ISHIHARA

ter an axial strain of 28%. Nevertheless, the increments steady state of deformation
of around 31e,
are small and always at a decreasing
rate, hence in these
cases, the stresses at an axial strain around 26% have
been taken as representative of the ultimate state of the
MONOTONIC DRAINED RESPONSE
specimens. In Fig. 7, a good correlation can be ob- A series of conyentional triaxialtests with constant
served between the specimen void ratios and the effective lateralstress under drainedcondition of Ioading were per-
mean stress developedat Iargedeformation,which cor- formed forthree different
states of packing; very loose,
responds to the steady state line,The initial states of the looseand medium. The deviator stress versus axial strain
samples are indicated in Fig. 7 by squares showing that, and void ratio for consolidation pressures of O.1 and O.5
in contrast to the quasisteady state line,the steady state MPa, are inFigs.9 and 10,respectively,
shown As can be
linecan be obtained independentlyof the initial state of observed, under a small levelof strain, the stress-strain
the specimens. In addition, experimental results reported curves are different depending upon the initialdensityof
by Verdugo (1992) and Ishihara(1993) have shown that the sample. As the levelof strain becomes largehowever,
the steady state lineisunaffected by the initial fabricas all the curves merge intoa singleone. Similarbehavior is
long as the soil mass ishomogeneous. observed in terms of deviator stress and void ratio. Initial-
Concerning the frictional resistance developedat this ly,at zero levelof shear stress, the starting void ratios are
state, Fig. 8 shows the shear stress, ql2, and the effective different, but as the strain levelincreases, the curves tend
mean stress, p', computed from each test. As can be to aehieye a common void ratio and a common deviator
seen, all the data points fallin a straight linepassing stress, which confirms experimental results reported by
through the origin indicating that a unique friction angle Casagrande (1936), Roscoe et al. (1958) and Been et al.
ismobilized at the ultimate state or steady state which is (1991). The soil response achieved at a largelevelof
in perfectagreement with experimental data reported by strain under drained condition of loadingtherefore can
Negusseyet al. (1988) using ring shear tests.For Toyoura be seen as the corresponding drained steady state of
sand, the experimental results indicated that the slope of deformatien
thislineisclose to O.62,confirming a frictionangle in the For all the testsperformed under drainedcondition of
loading,Fig. 11 shows the paths in terms of void ratio
and mean stress. The circles indicatethe datapoints relat-
ed to the steady state condition evaluated frem un-
O.9S
drained tests, and the black squares indicatethe ultimate

e.po9.9

e.35o.seO.25O.20O.ISo.leo.oso.oo
-cocrEvUcotmditco-e.g>eo
o.ss-tuLp.s

e,so

e.75

O,02 o.ofO.1 O.2 O.S 1.o

Effective mean stress, p' {MPa)2.0

Fig,7, Steadystate line alld initialstates

o 10 20 30
Axial strain (%)
2.5
e.35
-
:t2.0gny lO'30
w e.25
a
LSvdicoo
co`020
co
di
: O.15
l.etopLas co

tsO.10
ti
';
o.so=coe,o O.05
e
o
o.oo
ff
O.82 O.S6 O,90 O.94 O.98
e.o e,s 1.o 1.s 2.o 2.s 3.o 3,5 f Void ratio, e
Effectivemean stress, p' (MPa)
Fig. g. Drained triaxial tests for a6=O.1 MPa: a) stress-strain curves;
Fig. S. Strength enyelope at the steady state b) yoid ratio versas deviator stress

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STEADY STATE OF SANDY SOILS 87

1.4E. 2
a} TOYOURA SAND {08t O.5 MPa) a) TOYOURA SAND
,.2EV

1.0vve" t/ ' aNvo--+-;si:9as oS to.1 Mpa

O.8co9'm"
1
O.6L2 '

ee" O.960
ee' O.996
o.4gts ee= O.886
ee' O.917
eo= O.8tO
e,2oo.o ee" O,831
' t t ' '

o
o le 2o 30
e s 10 15 20 2S3e
Axial straln (%) Axial strain (%)
1.4-tu
2
1.2aE.-- b)' TOYOURA SAND

1.0crco-
aNcro''.'- OS rO.5
MPa
o.sm95 /
O.6:t 1tu-opopmtco x
O.4.gdi ee= O.960
O.2n
eo= O.886
O.810
' tee= /
o.e
O,79 O.83 O,S7 e.91 O.9S o
Void ratie, e O S 10 15 20 2S 30
Axial strain {%)
Fig. 10. Drained triaxial tests for o6==O.5MPa: a) stress-strain
curves; b) void ratio yersus deviator stress Fig. 12. Stressratio, glp', yersus axial strain for a) o6==O.1 MPa and
b) a6=O.5 MPa

/lS
"-"
1,O TOYOURA SAND bletests to evaluate the steady state linewith undrained
c Undtained test tests being more preferable.
- Drained test
In addition, fOrthree different initialdensitiesand for
H:-)-80g consolidation pressures of O.1and O.5MPa, the stress ra-
tio,qlp', versus the axial strain are shown in Figs.12(a)
g. and (b), respectively. It can be seen that at a largestrain
level, the mobilized stress ratio, qlp', isconstant in-
.Tl,
"is--
and
-.'xX.e dependent of the initial densityand confining pressure.
x-"oe
This factindicates that, forthe levelof pressuresand den-
sities investigated, thefriction angle mobilized at a large
-x
X....mX.-
y'
--) strain levelis unique and unaffected by sample density
O,B
o.e o,2 O.4 o,6 o.s lo and consolidation pressure.In addition, the computed
Effectivemean (MPa)
p'
ql2p' is close to O.62 which isabout the same
stress,
value of
Fig. 11. Statediagram eyaluated from both drained and undrained value obtained from undrained tests.The frictionangle
triaxialtests mobilized at the steady state condition therefore is a
unique value regardless of the density, levelof pressure,
and type of loading(drained or undrained).
conditions by the drainedtestswhich should be
achieved
associated the drainedsteady state. As can be ob-
with
served, there isa very good agreement betweenthe steady CHARACTERISTIC LINES IN THE e-p' PLANE
state conditions obtained from both undrained and The e-p' plane providesa good representation of the
drainedtests.Itisimportant,however,to note that even steady state Iine,and itmay alse be useful to definebound-
though the generaltrend presentedby the drainedtestsis aries which can characterize the soil response. For
clear, the scatter in the datapoints concerning the ulti- sandy and silty soils itisconceptually possibleto define
mate state of thesetests is much more significant than an upper boundary using the isotropicconsolidation
those obtained for the case of undrained tests.In this curve for the Ioosest state that a given cohesionless soil
regard, itseems that drainedtestsare not the most suita- may attain. This curve isequivalent to the normal consoli-

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88 VERDUGO AND ISHIHARA

dated curve forclays in the sense that defines

alimit over

which a combination of void ratio and efiective mean

LIQUEFACTION VULNERABILITY
stress can not exist. It is important, however, to keep in A lackof a suitable parameter exists at presentto classi-
mind that this curve may be differerit fordifferent sarnple fy any givensoil according to itsintrinsic vulnerability
preparation procedures as shown in Fig. 13 (Ishihara, against liquefaction, Some general ideas have been
1993).Itisrecommended that the consolidation curve for presented in this regard, and they have basically been es-
the looseststate be evaluated by means of a sample per- tablished based on the shape of the grain size distribution
formed by the rnoist placement(wet tamping) method of curves (Tsuchida, 1970;Ishiharaet al., 1980).Itiswell
preparation and then saturated. Based on the authors' ex- known however that there are others factorsthat also
perience,this method of sample preparation permitsthe control the Iiquefaction vulnerability of a cohesionless
achievement of the loosestpacking compared to any soil, for example, particle shape, particle hardness,fines
other method of sample preparation. In some soils it content (Verdugo, 1989),and plasticity of the fines. All
even provides a largervoid ratio than the maximum void of these factorsthat are not dependenton the state of a
ratio evaluated using either the USA or the Japanese soil mass, and are material properties, are some-
codes (Verdugo, 1992). what refiected in the location of the steady state line and
Similarto the upper boundary definedby the consolida- on the position of both the consolidation curves of the

tion lineof the loosest state, itispossible to definea low- Ioosest and denseststate. In order to definea parameter
er boundary. For the common range of pressures antici- that refiect to some extent the intrinsicpotential of Iiq-
pated in engineering practice, the isotropic consolidation uefaction of a given material, therefore these three refer-
curve forthe densestpacking providesthe lowestlimitof ences curves will be considered.
states in the eip' plane. For Toyoura sand both the In a cohesionless material, the projection of the steady
isotropic consolidation curve for the loosestand densest state linein the e:p' planerepresents the combination of
state are shown inFig, 13 (Ishihara, 1993). Itisreadily ap- void ratio, and effectivemean stress attained ultimately
parentthat forthe case of the denseststate, the volumet- when the soil isdeformed greatly.For a homogeneous soil

ric strains caused by isotropic loading are very smal1 even mass, the steady state lineisa unique reference lineun-
theugh the confining pressure is significantly high.For afiected by the type of soil deposition and initial state con-
practicalpurposes therefore this curve can be approximat- ditions of density and pressure. It isalso independent of
ed by a horizontal straight linepassing through the mini- whether the load is drained or undrained. For an un-
mum void ratio. This simplification isobviously limited drainedIoadingcondition, the steady state lineprovides
by the pressure from which the particle crushing began to a very stable and physically meaningful reference line
be important,According to the testresults shown in Fig. dividingthose states that ultimately developeither posi-
13, in the case of Toyoura sand this pressure would be tive or negative pore pressure. Although it may be
greater than 4 MPa which includes most of the cases en- thought that the quasi steady state Iine can also be used

coutered in practice. There are other soils such as car- as a reference line,thisideadoesnot work when an intrin-
bonate containing sands and decomposed granite sandy sic soil propertyisexpected to be defined. ThisTestriction
soils however that are much more crushable. For these comes from the factthat the quasi steady state lineis
soil types the proposed simplification isstill valid, but for strongly affected by the initial soil fabric (Verdugo, 1992;
a smaller region. Nevertheless, ifthe particular soil under Ishihara, 1993).
consideration seems to be extremely crushable, the sim- The isotropic consolidation curves foT the loosestand
plification can be avoided and the corresponding isotrop- densest states provide a set of boundariesfor any possi-
ic consolidation test for the denseststate performed. blesoil state. If attention isdrawn to the positionof the
steady state linewith respect to these two boundaries,it
ispossible to realize that when the steady state lineislo-
cated very close to the upper boundary definedby the
isotropic consolidation lineof the looseststate, as shown
in Fig, 14(a),the area, A,, that is associated with those
states where the soil mass can be potentially unstable is
small. Conversely,Fig. 14(b) shows a material with a
tu
steady state Iinecloser to the isotropic consolidated curve
-:-
of the densest state, hence with a dilativearea, Ad, rather

9v smal1. In thissituation, there exists a significant possibili-

'5> ty forthe soil depositto be in such states that can develop
a contractive response associated to a flow failureor
"true
liquefaction''. Consequently,itissuggested that ac-
cording to the relative position of these curves with
respect to each other, itispossible to evaluate the intrin-
sic vulnerability of a given soil against liquefaction.Thus
Fig. 13. Isotropicconsolidation curves forToyoura sand samples pre- a parameter of the form ofA./(A.+Ad) seems to be an
pared usillg three different
methods (Ishihara,
1993) appropriate parameter concerned the intrinsic liquefac-

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STEADY STATE OF SANDY SOILS 89

cated to the leftand below the isotropic consolidation

lines. Itisclear, however,that fora low pressure and an

initial dense state, the soil behaviorisdilative which im-
plies that the steady state linehas to be located to the
¢
right of the isotropic lineforthe denseststate. Therefore,
O-=-Ep.e>
in the e-logp plane,the steady state linehas to cross the
isotropicconsolidation linefor the denseststate.
From a practicai point of view, the complete evalua-
tion of the areas A. andAd isdithcult,becauseitwould
benecessary to use very highpressureinorder to evaluate
the consolidation curves to the point where
they merge
with each other. It seems reasonableto nevertheless,
Effective mean stress, p' make a simplificationand only take into account the ra-
tio betweenthe range of void ratios where the soil iscon-
tractiveand the total range of void ratios where the soil
can exist for an arbitrary value of effective mean stress of
O.1MPa. In order to account for the intrinsic potential
¢
of liquefaction of a given soil, the indexproperty, Rela-

tive Contractiveness, R., ispreposed which isexpressed

.9"rsLp.o>
as follows,
(emax)1-(ess)1
RC=(emax)im(emin)i (2)
Figure 16 shows schematically (emax)i,
(emin)i
and (ess)i
which denote respectively, the maximum, minimum and

steady state void ratios, al1foran effective mean stress of

Effective mean stress, p' O.1 MPa. Ifthe proposed approximation of the isotropic
Fig.14. Representation of a soi}with a) small vlllnerability against lineforthedensest state isused, the value of (emin)i
would
b) large yulnerability
liqllefactioll; against liqllefaction be equal to ehiin.Itshould be noted that the definedrelative
contractiveness, R., isnot a parameter specifying a state
of thesoiJ, butisrather
jndexrepresenting an intrinsic
an
tion potential. Figure 15 illustrates the areas Ac and Ad property
material is largely dependenton the grain
which
considering the general trend of the steady state lineand composition of a soil. It is important also to keep in
the isotropic consolidation lines for the loosestand den- mind that the actual resistance against liquefaction is a
sest states. Itisimportantto note, that for high pressure functionof the state of the material, From a theoretlcal
the loosestand densest states merge with each other point of view, R. may have values between O and 1. A
which has been shown experimentally by Vesic et al. value of Re=1 represents a hypothetical soil that for any
(1968) and Miura et al. (1984),among others. In addi- initial states will have a contractive response, whereas R, =O
tion, itiswell known that under a suMciently high pres- represents a hypotheticalsoil that will always have a
sure, the soil behavior is fullycontractive independ- dilativeresponse. For real soils, R, should have a tend-
ent of the initial void ratio. This means that in the e7p' ency to be closer to O or 1 according to the intrinsic capaci-
plane the steady state line,for high pressures, must be lo- ty of contraction or dilatation of the soil. For Toyoura

¢ eO-L'Ep-o>
o'=-Ep..o>

p'.e" MPe
Effective mean stress, p' Effective mean stress, p'
Fig. 15. State diagram indicating
the contraetiye and dilatiye
regions Fig. 16. Definition
of the relatiye contractiveness, R,

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90 VERDUGO AND ISHIHARA

sand, Fig, 17 shows the locationof the loosestand den-

sestisotropicconsolidatien curves and the steady state CONCLUSIONS
line.Itisimportantto note that the looseststate achieved Ithas beenshown that in those cases of undrained load-
by the moist placement sample preparation method ing with peak strength, there exist two conditions that
reproduces a state looser than the one obtained by the may be associated with the steady state of deformation.
conventional procedure using dry soil. In addition, in The first one corresponds to the development of the mini-
Fig.17 forO.1 MPa, the corresponding values of (e.ax)i, mum strength, and it has been named the quasi steady
(emin)iand (ess)i are shown. For thissand the relative con- state. Itisdevelopedat a small to medium Ievelof defor-
tractiveness has a yalue, R,=O.25, which can be consi- mation, typicallybetween 1 to 16% of axial strain, The
dered as a fairlysmall contractive material. second condition is achieved at a high levelef deforma-
Different sandy soils containing Iow plastic finesand sil- tion, typicallybeyond 25% of axial defoTmation,and it
ty soils classified as ML were tested followingthe same is associated with the ultimate state developed by the soil
procedure explained above; the corresponding relative sample. This ultimate condition corresponds to the ac-
contractiveness, R., was evaluated and plotted against tual steady state,and itisalways achieved irrespective of
the finescontent in Fig.18.The set of dataforeach soil is the initial state of the soil sample and whether the
presented elsewhere (Verdugo, 1992).The soil with 100% response iscontractive or dilative. Conversely, the quasi
fineswas produced from the Toyoura sand crushing itby steady state can only occur when the initial states of the
means of a ball-mill, As can be seen in Fig. I8,the value soil are well above the steady state line, so the response is
'
of R, tends to increase with increasing finescontent Iead- contractlve.
ing to the conclusion that the more low plasticfines cen- The experimental results strongly indicatedthat the
tent,the greater would be the opportunity forthe soil to steady state or ultimate condition isnot affected by the in-
exist in the field in a contractive state that can induceflow itial confining pressure. The results have shown, however,
failureor liquefaction. that the quasisteady state isslightly affected by the initial
confining pressure,but for practical purposes it seems
reasonable to assume that itisindependent.
L2
A series of undrained testsconducted under different
initial effective confining pressures,but at the same void

1.0 ratio after consolidation, have indicatedidentical effec-

m
-o･--caLv.-o> tive stress paths during unloading from the steady state
condition. Thisobservation strongly supports the ideaof
e.s Casagranderegarding the existence of a unique fabric de-
veloped during the steady state.
The results ofdrainedtestsat largedeformationsindi-
O.6
cate the existence of an ultimate state without volumetric
strain and continuous deformationunder constant shear
O.4
stress. The ultimate states evaluated from drained tests
･o.4 o.s in good
o.o e.1 o.2 o.3 o.6 o.7 o,s o.g 1.o are agreement with the steady state obtained
Effective mean stress, p' (MPa) from undTained tests. At large deformations,therefore,
Fig.17. Steadystate line and the isotropiccollsolidation curves for both undrained and drained
loadingconditions converge

the ]oosestand dellseststate of Toyoura sand to the same curve in the e-qip' space, which corresponds
to the steady state line,
Based on the range of void ratios where the soil
1.0 response iscontractive with respect to the total range of
void ratio where a seil can exist for an effective mean
O.8 stress of O.1 MPa, the parameter,Relative Contractive-
ness, R., ispToposed to evaluate the intrinsicpotential of
e.6 liquefaction for a givensoil. The larger the value of R.
oor
the largerthe intrinsic potential of liquefaction for a
O.4O.2
given soil,

e,o ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
o lo 2o 3o 4e so 6o 7o se go loo The authors gratefullyacknowledge the financial
sup-
Fines content (%} port provided by the Ministryof Education,Scienceand
Fig,18. Effectof the low plasticfinescontent on the relative contrac- Culture,Government of Japan (MONBUSHO) which
tiyeness made this present study possible,

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STEADY STATE OF SANDY SOILS 91

K.,Verdugo,R. and Acacio,A. A. (1991}:

l3) Ishihara, ``Characteriza-

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