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Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
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Static liquefaction and effective stress path response of Kutch soils

Majid Hussain, Ajanta Sachan ⇑
Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

Received 19 December 2018; received in revised form 2 August 2019; accepted 1 November 2019
Available online 23 December 2019

Abstract

The current research is focused on the static liquefaction and effective stress path characteristics of soils of the high seismicity Kutch
region, India. In previous studies, the effects of the fines content and the plasticity of the fines on the undrained behavior were explored in
a controlled and systematic manner with either non-plastic or plastic fines added to standard or river sands. The undrained character-
istics of natural soil deposits having the simultaneous presence of both silt and clay fractions have not been explored. In the present
study, the effects of a varying fines content and the nature of the fines on the static liquefaction and effective stress path characteristics
of various soil deposits in the Kutch region at their in-situ densities have been studied. Various liquefaction indices were determined to
quantify the static liquefaction, namely, the undrained brittleness index, the collapse potential, the liquefaction potential, and the resis-
tance to further deformation. The variation in these parameters was analyzed in the context of the fines content, silt content, clay content,
and plasticity. The effective stress paths of the Kutch soils exhibited a strain softening, limited strain softening or strain hardening
response and their behavior was controlled by the fines content and its nature. Due to the presence of non-plastic fines, and irrespective
of the content, the silty sands exhibited intense strain softening which was captured by the liquefaction indices.
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Keywords: Static liquefaction; Effective stress path; Silty sands; Plasticity index; Fines content

1. Introduction
The mechanical behavior of a soil mass is largely depen-
dent on its current material state, stress state, and bound-
ary conditions (Terzaghi, 1944; Wood, 1990). Loose silty
sands display a contractive response under undrained
shearing conditions (Castro, 1969; Pitman et al., 1994),
and thus, are susceptible to liquefaction. Liquefaction is a
phenomenon whereby a loose saturated granular soil mass
loses its strength when subjected to undrained loading. It is
the consequence of solid-fluid instability resulting from
shear-induced excess pore water pressure, Du, due to which
the effective stresses within the soil mass are reduced to
Peer review under responsibility of The Japanese Geotechnical Society.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: majid.hussain@iitgn.ac.in (M. Hussain),
ajanta@iitgn.ac.in (A. Sachan).
zero (Seed and Lee, 1966). Depending on whether the load-
ing is monotonic or dynamic, soils can undergo either static
or cyclic liquefaction, respectively. Static liquefaction man-
ifests when a soil mass loses most of its shear strength
under undrained monotonic loading and flows like a liquid
(Castro and Poulos, 1977). Three main undrained
responses were introduced by Castro (1969) for the mono-
tonic compressive behavior of sands: strain softening, SS,
limited strain softening, LSS, and strain hardening, SH.
Loose saturated cohesionless soils exhibit SS and LSS,
subsequently leading to liquefaction and limited liquefac-
tion, respectively. Strain hardening is an attribute of highly
dilative soils and does not lead to liquefaction (Fig. 1).
Strain softening in loose cohesionless soils induces pre-
failure instability, subsequently leading to static liquefac-
tion. Instability occurs inside the effective stress failure
envelope and is associated with the large, rapid, and disor-
dered movement of the soil mass. The collapse of the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2019.11.004
0038-0806/Ó 2019 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Japanese Geotechnical Society.
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055 2037

Notations

Af Skempton’s pore pressure parameter during un- G percentage of gravel

drained shearing S percentage of sand
B Skempton’s pore pressure parameter M percentage of silt
GSD grain size distribution C percentage of clay
GS specific gravity FC percentage of fines, (M + C)
LL liquid limit cdi in-situ dry density
PL plastic limit bmax angle of maximum obliquity
PI plasticity index IB undrained brittleness index
Du excess pore water pressure su(liq) maximum deviatoric stress
uf excess pore water pressure at peak deviatoric su(yield) minimum deviatoric stress after peak
stress CP collapse potential
ur excess pore water pressure at maximum axial r0 3i initial effective minor principal stress
strain r0 3f final effective minor principal stress
r1 maximum principal stress Lp liquefaction potential
r3 minimum principal stress RFD resistance to further deformation
r0 1 effective maximum principal stress p0 i initial mean effective confining pressure
r0 3 effective minimum principal stress p0 ss steady state mean effective confining pressure
rdf deviatoric stress at failure, peak deviatoric stress p0 qss quasi-steady state mean effective confining pres-
rdr deviatoric stress at axial strain of 25% sure
eo in-situ void ratio qpeak peak deviatoric stress
ev volumetric strain qss steady state deviatoric stress
ea axial strain E secant modulus at 0.02% axial strain
ef axial strain at peak deviatoric stress R correlation coefficient
er maximum axial strain reached SS strain softening
q deviatoric stress, stress difference LSS limited strain softening
p0 mean effective stress SH strain hardening

metastable inter-particle soil structure of loose silty sands
during undrained monotonic loading is enunciated as a
possible cause of static liquefaction (Terzaghi, 1956;
Sladen et al., 1985; Yamamuro and Lade, 1997). The
results of previous experimental studies and case histories
revealed that loose silty sands are the most susceptible to
static liquefaction (Sladen et al., 1985; Yamamuro and
Lade, 1998). The static liquefaction of cohesionless soils
is triggered by instability, a failure mode which occurs well
before Mohr-Coulomb failure, as reported by Lade et al.
(1988), Pradel and Lade (1990), and Lade (1992). Static liq-
uefaction in sandy soils with different silt contents has been
explored by various researchers (Pitman et al., 1994; Lade
and Yamamuro, 1997; Yamamuro and Lade, 1997;
Thevanayagam, 1998; Salgado et al., 2000; Papadopoulou
and Tika, 2008; Yamamuro et al., 2008; Monkul and
Yamamuro, 2011). Most of the reported studies used either
standard or river sands, like Houston sand, Toyoura sand,
Ottawa sand, and Nevada sand, in combination with non-
plastic fines, like SilCoSil, Nevada fines, Toyoura silt, and
crushed quartz. Few researchers (Georgiannou et al., 1990;
Georgiannou et al., 1991; Pitman et al., 1994) have mixed
standard sand with standard Kaolin clay as plastic fines.
Recently, attempts have been made to understand the
behavior of standard sand in the presence of both types
of fines, plastic and non-plastic (Papadopoulou and Tika,
2016). Natural deposits of sandy soils pose a challenge
when determining the controlling factors to be considered
for understanding their undrained response. The gradation
of standard sands is generally uniform between particular
grain sizes; however, the gradation of natural soil deposits
varies over a wide range and changes both with depth as
well as with horizontal distance. The undrained response
of such soils inherently depends on the coupled effect of
the silt and clay fractions with the plasticity index, PI,
becoming the governing factor at a given fines content,
FC. Understanding the undrained mechanical behavior of
such soils needs to be addressed.
In the current experimental study, naturally occurring
soil samples from ten locations in the high seismicity Kutch
region, including five major dams at different depths, were
collected. Disturbed representative samples were collected
from locations identified by the incidences of earthquake-
induced liquefaction during the 2001 Bhuj earthquake.
The region is seismically active with a history of devastat-
ing earthquakes, namely, the 1819 Rann of Kutch, the
1956 Anjar, and the 2001 Bhuj earthquakes. Silty sands
mostly underlie the region with lenses of clay (Rajendran
2038 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
(a)
(b)
p'c
Fig. 1. Three types of undrained response under monotonic loading
(Castro, 1969): (a) Stress-strain and (b) Effective stress path.
and Rajendran, 2001). Sitharam et al. (2004) and
Ravishankar et al. (2005) explored the dynamic behavior
of one type of Kutch soil collected from near the epicenter
of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. The soil deposits of the
Kutch region experienced liquefaction and liquefaction-
related damage spreading over an area of 10,000 square
kilometers during the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. The static liq-
uefaction characteristics of the vulnerable soil deposits of
the region under undrained monotonic loading have yet
to be explored. In the present study, therefore, the static
liquefaction and effective stress path behavior of soils from
different locations and depths in the region were studied,
and the response was further evaluated with respect to
the fines content, silt content, clay content, and plasticity
index. Various parameters, such as the undrained brittle-
ness index, IB, the collapse potential, CP, the liquefaction
potential, Lp, and the resistance to further deformation,
RFD, were determined to analyze the static liquefaction
characteristics of Kutch soils.
2. Material properties
The soil samples for the present study were collected at
three depths up to 2.5 m from ten locations in the Kutch
region of Gujarat, India, including five major dams.
Fig. 2 shows a map of India displaying the study area
and the sample collection locations dispersed over approx-
imately three thousand square kilometers. The in-situ dry
density and water content of the 32 collected samples
showed variability with both horizontal distance and
depth. While the dry density varied between 12.3 kN/m3
and 17.7 kN/m3, the water content was found to vary
between 1.0% and 35.6%. The basic geotechnical properties
of the Kutch soils, like Grain Size Distribution, GSD,
Specific Gravity, GS, and Atterberg limits, are presented
in Table 1. The silty sands were determined to be non-
plastic with a liquid limit, LL, of less than 20% and an
indeterminate plastic limit. The clayey sands were found
to be either low-plastic (PI = 5–10%), medium plastic
(PI = 10–20%) or high plastic (PI = 20–40%) (Burmister,
1949). Grain size distribution curves for the soils of the
Kutch region are given in Fig. 3.
2.1. Specimen preparation and experimental program
A series of isotropically consolidated undrained com-
pression, CIUC, triaxial tests was performed on 30 recon-
stituted solid cylindrical soil specimens 50 mm in
diameter and 100 mm in height, as per ASTM D4767-11
(2011). Specimens S1 and S10 were not tested as S1 was
collected near the location of S2 and S10 could not be sat-
urated. The specimens were prepared at the in-situ dry den-
sity using the moist tamping technique. The mixture of
oven-dried soil and water was moist tamped in a three-
piece mold in three layers of equal height having the same
amount of soil. The specimens were then mounted on the
pedestal of the triaxial apparatus and further subjected to
the saturation process. The saturation of the specimens
was accomplished in three stages: CO2 flushing, water
flushing, and back pressure saturation. During the CO2
flushing, CO2 at a low pressure of 5 kPa was pushed
through the bottom of the specimens for 45 min at a cell
pressure of 20 kPa. In the water flushing stage, de-aired
water equivalent to 2–3 times the volume of the specimen
was slowly percolated through the bottom of the specimen.
Back pressure was then applied in two saturation ramps to
acquire Skempton’s pore pressure parameter, B, at values
greater than 0.95. The desired B values were attained
within back pressure values of 280 kPa. After saturation,
all the specimens were isotropically consolidated to the ini-
tial effective confining pressure, p0 c, of 100 kPa. The initial
effective confining pressure of 100 kPa was chosen based on
the fact that liquefaction is a low-pressure phenomenon
and captures the liquefaction characteristics up to around
10 m with no external structural loads. However, the
deposits may be carrying some external loads, like embank-
ments and over-ground structures, leading to vertical stres-
ses much higher than the soil overburden at lower depths.
The isotropically consolidated specimens were further sub-
jected to undrained, constant-volume shearing at a strain
rate of 0.1% per minute. All the tests were performed in
the GDS Triaxial Automated System with automated soft-
ware control. The setup was equipped with a low-pressure
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055 2039

Fig. 2. Map of India showing study area and sample collection locations.
2040 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055

Table 1
Geotechnical properties of soils in Kutch region.
Soil Name GSD Atterberg Limits
Depth cdi G S M C FC LL PL PI Soil Class
m kN/m3 GS % % % % % % % %
Chang Dam 23°27.5910 N 70°24.4080 E
S1 (L1) 0.5 15.00 2.67 6 78 11 5 16 – – – SM
S2 (L2) 0.5 15.69 2.66 0 82 15 3 18 15.5 NP NP SM
S3 (L2) 1.5 15.70 2.68 5 76 17 2 19 20.0 NP NP SM
Kharoi 23°28.3670 N 70°23.3300 E
S4 0.5 16.01 2.67 0 82 13 5 18 15.7 NP NP SM
S5 1.5 16.90 2.67 5 84 9 2 11 13.8 NP NP SP-SM
S6 2.5 16.00 2.67 1 86 11 2 13 12.7 NP NP SM
Suvai Dam 23°36.4280 N 70°29.8210 E
S7 0.5 17.03 2.67 0 72 21 7 28 15.1 NP NP SM
S8 1.0 14.37 2.66 2 74 19 5 24 14.6 NP NP SM
S9 1.5 13.55 2.66 1 82 14 3 17 14.8 NP NP SM
Fatehgarh Dam 23°41.3690 N 70°48.0570 E
S10 0.5 17.17 2.72 0 1 62 37 99 54.0 19.0 35 CH
S11 1.5 15.53 2.67 1 54 42 3 45 19.9 NP NP SM
S12 2.5 15.45 2.69 0 78 21 1 22 16.3 NP NP SM
Chobari 23°30.7220 N 70°20.8810 E
S13 0.5 17.51 2.70 0 56 42 2 44 24.2 14.2 10.0 SC
S14 1.5 16.96 2.71 0 51 42 7 49 26.2 14.8 11.4 SC
S15 2.5 17.57 2.70 0 59 37 4 41 24.6 16.2 8.4 SC
Khadir 23°50.820 N 70°14.390 E
S16 0.5 15.94 2.66 2 79 17 2 19 16.9 NP NP SM
S17 1.5 16.82 2.66 1 74 22 3 25 15.6 NP NP SM
S18 2.5 16.96 2.66 2 88 9 1 10 13.7 NP NP SP-SM
Tappar Dam 23°15.0170 N 70°07.5860 E
S19 0.5 17.36 2.67 0 58 24 18 42 34.1 11.2 22.9 SC
S20 1.5 16.39 2.66 5 66 14 15 29 31.4 10.1 21.3 SC
S21 2.5 17.67 2.68 4 72 14 10 24 22.2 10.5 11.7 SC
Budharmora 23°20.6340 N 70°11.5010 E
S22 0.5 17.71 2.68 2 69 21 8 29 23.2 14.6 8.6 SC
S23 1.5 14.27 2.71 1 34 46 19 65 44.3 15.7 28.6 CL
S24 2.5 12.26 2.70 2 18 57 23 80 65.8 26.9 38.9 CH
Banniari 23°24.2990 N 70°09.9100 E
S25 0.5 13.37 2.74 0 17 81 2 83 26.4 NP NP ML
S26 1.5 14.59 2.75 0 5 68 27 95 47.2 18.6 28.6 CL
S27 2.0 16.26 2.68 0 68 26 6 32 24.6 11.6 13.0 SC
S28 2.5 17.60 2.69 1 78 13 8 21 28.0 11.7 16.3 SC
Shivlakha Dam 23°24.6590 N 70°35.1280 E
S29 0.5 14.43 2.69 0 71 25 4 29 16.8 NP NP SM
S30 1.5 14.88 2.70 1 88 9 2 11 17.4 NP NP SP-SM
S31 2.0 16.37 2.69 1 74 18 7 25 15.0 NP NP SM
S32 2.5 13.40 2.68 0 28 50 22 72 39.0 15.5 23.5 CL

triaxial cell having a submersible load cell and advanced
pressure volume controllers.
3. Results and discussion
The results from the CIUC triaxial tests conducted on
the soils collected from the high seismicity Kutch region
were analyzed in the context of static liquefaction and effec-
tive stress path characteristics. Four liquefaction indices,
namely, IB, CP, Lp, and RFD, were determined for quanti-
fying the static liquefaction behavior of the Kutch soils
from their undrained shear responses. The effective stress
paths of the soils were presented in the q-p0 stress space
where q = (r1  r3) and p0 = (r0 1 + 2r0 3)/3. The effects
of the variations in the FC, silt content, clay content, and
PI of the soils on their stress-strain behavior and effective
stress path response were evaluated. The void ratio of the
soil samples and the specimens at various stages of the
investigation are presented in Table 2. The specimens were
prepared at or very close to the in-situ void ratio (e0) to
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
Fig. 3. Grain size distribution curves for Kutch soils.
evaluate their response at the respective in-situ dry densi-
ties. The void ratio after isotropic consolidation (ec) at
100 kPa was calculated by taking into consideration the
volumetric strain (ev) at the end of consolidation. The vol-
umetric compressibility and excess pore pressure response
of the Kutch soils can be seen in Hussain and Sachan
(2018).
3.1. Static liquefaction characteristics of Kutch soils
In the present study, the Kutch soil specimens showed
behavior largely of three types: strain softening, limited
strain softening, and strain hardening. Intense SS indicated
static liquefaction as a common feature in silty sands of the
Kutch region with the FC ranging from 11% to 45%. After
attaining the initial peak, qpeak, deviatoric stress, q,
decreased at a rapid rate and then stabilized at a constant
value, qss, with continued deformation. The observed
response of the specimens was found to be controlled by
the FC and the proportion of clay to silt in a particular soil.
The remaining 13 clayey soil specimens (including nine SC,
three CL, and one CH), with high FCs of either low, medium
or high plasticity, exhibited very little or no reduction in
deviatoric stress after attaining the initial peak, indicating
LSS and SH, respectively. The decrease in deviatoric stress
varied over a wide range and was essentially a function of the
FC, silt content, clay content, and plasticity of the soils.
The tendency of the soil specimens to undergo static liq-
uefaction was quantified by evaluating the following four
indices:
(i) The undrained brittleness index, IB, quantifies the
reduction in deviatoric stress, q, after attaining peak
2041
deviatoric stress, qpeak, as mentioned in Eq. (1)
(Bishop, 1971) as
su ðyield Þ  su ðliqÞ
IB ¼ ð1Þ
su ðyieldÞ
where su(yield) is the same as qpeak, and su(liq) is the
minimum deviatoric stress after the initial peak. The
undrained brittleness varies between 1 and 0; IB is
equal to 1 for soils showing complete liquefaction,
whereas IB is equal to 0 for soils showing hardening
behavior.
(ii) The collapse potential, CP, quantifies the extent of
the decrease in mean effective confining pressure, p0 ,
resulting from the shear-induced excess pore water
pressure, Du. The collapse potential for specimens
displaying static liquefaction is nearly unity; however,
the CP is set at zero for specimens dilating from the
onset of shear loading. The collapse potential is
defined by Eq. (2) (Thevanayagam et al., 2002) with
p0 i and p0 ss representing the mean effective pressure
at the start of shearing and at the steady state,
respectively.
0 0
p p
CP ¼ i 0 ss ð2Þ
pi
(iii) The liquefaction potential, Lp (Casagrande, 1976), is
evaluated by incorporating steady state concepts for
determining the liquefaction hazard. It is computed
in terms of the effective minor principal stress, r0 3,
as defined by Equation (3), where r0 3i and r0 3f
2042 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055

Table 2
Void ratio during sampling and testing stages of Kutch soils.
Relative Void Ratio
Soil Name Depth Compaction, RC ev In-situ Reconstituted Shearing
m % % e0 E ec
Chang Dam
S1 (L1) 0.5 – – 0.75 – –
S2 (L2) 0.5 82.2 2.5 0.66 0.685 0.677
S3 (L2) 1.5 79.5 3.5 0.67 0.697 0.686
Kharoi
S4 0.5 76.8 4.3 0.64 0.670 0.655
S5 1.5 82.4 3.2 0.55 0.574 0.560
S6 2.5 83.5 2.6 0.64 0.664 0.655
Suvai Dam
S7 0.5 81.9 4.3 0.54 0.565 0.545
S8 1.0 74.1 2.6 0.82 0.846 0.841
S9 1.5 78.3 3.4 0.93 0.899 0.896
Fatehgarh Dam
S10 0.5 – – 0.55 – –
S11 1.5 84.7 1.7 0.69 0.691 0.686
S12 2.5 81.1 1.0 0.71 0.712 0.709
Chobari
S13 0.5 86.3 5.0 0.51 0.540 0.512
S14 1.5 89.0 3.4 0.57 0.560 0.540
S15 2.5 88.5 2.6 0.51 0.530 0.515
Khadir
S16 0.5 80.7 1.7 0.64 0.663 0.658
S17 1.5 85.0 2.7 0.55 0.583 0.571
S18 2.5 85.5 1.5 0.54 0.559 0.552
Tappar Dam
S19 0.5 94.4 7.8 0.51 0.528 0.489
S20 1.5 88.0 7.7 0.59 0.612 0.580
S21 2.5 92.0 3.6 0.49 0.498 0.479
Budharmora
S22 0.5 88.5 5.0 0.48 0.503 0.477
S23 1.5 83.7 4.3 0.86 0.867 0.861
S24 2.5 85.5 7.7 1.16 1.164 1.177
Banniari
S25 0.5 84.3 2.2 1.01 1.030 1.031
S26 1.5 91.6 4.6 0.85 0.828 0.820
S27 2.0 80.5 4.5 0.62 0.641 0.624
S28 2.5 87.1 3.9 0.50 0.523 0.504
Shivlakha Dam
S29 0.5 83.0 2.3 0.83 0.853 0.850
S30 1.5 82.2 3.3 0.78 0.773 0.765
S31 2.0 84.5 1.9 0.61 0.630 0.623
S32 2.5 73.4 6.1 0.96 0.907 0.901

represent the initial and final minor principal stresses, tant for soils showing limited liquefaction and
respectively. measures the degree of dilation beyond the quasi-
steady state, as defined by Eq. (4) (Thevanayagam
0 0 et al., 2002). Parameters p0 ss and p0 qss represent the
r3i  r3f
Lp ¼ 0 ð3Þ mean effective confining pressure at the steady state
r3f and at the quasi-steady state, respectively.

(iv) The resistance to further deformation, RFD, quantifies

0 0
the dilation beyond the minimum deviatoric stress dur- pss  pqss
ing the undrained deformation of soils. This is impor- RFD ¼ ð4Þ
p0ss
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
(a)
IB=0.77
IB=0.88
(b)
IB=0.73
IB=0.97
IB=0.00
(c)
IB=0.85
IB=0.89 IB=0.80
Fig. 4. Stress-strain behavior of Kutch soils: (a) Chang Dam, (b)
Fatehgarh Dam, and (c) Shivlakha Dam.
3.1.1. Undrained brittleness index, IB
The Kutch soils exhibited IB values ranging from 0.97 to
0.00, indicating the spread of the undrained response over
the extremes of SS and SH. The undrained brittleness
index was evaluated from the stress-strain response of the
soils. Fig. 4a–c shows the stress-strain behavior of soils col-
lected from Chang Dam, Fatehgarh Dam, and Shivlakha
Dam, respectively. The stress-strain response of these soils
indicated near static liquefaction, with IB values greater
than 0.73, under undrained monotonic loading conditions
except for Shivlakha Dam at 2.5 m (S32). These soils were
non-plastic with a LL of less than 20% and a contained FC
up to 45% (Table 1). The observed behavior was typical of
highly liquefiable loose silty sands even though the soils in
the present case were either loose or medium dense as evi-
dent from the in-situ density and relative compaction, RC,
2043
values (Tables 1 and 2). For specimens S3, S12, and S31,
with nearly the same FCs, the specimens with a slightly
higher ratio of clay content to silt content exhibited more
resistance to softening, which was captured by the lower
IB (Table 3). The specimens from Chang Dam, Fatehgarh
Dam, and Shivlakha Dam exhibited increased resistance
to softening as the FC increased, and the effect was found
to be sensitive to the clay fraction. This might be due to the
agglomeration of fine sand and silt particles in the presence
of clay, thereby reflecting the signature of increased cohe-
siveness. However, the silty sands with FCs up to 20%
and clay contents less than 3% displayed collapsible
stress-strain behavior owing to the metastable inter-
particle soil structure created by the finer silt and clay par-
ticles on the coarser sand particles. At a given FC, the ten-
dency to collapse was observed to decrease with an
increased clay fraction. In a related study, Hussain et al.
(2019) reported the large static liquefaction susceptibility
of the Chang Dam soil at pressures amounting to
300 kPa and investigated the observed behavior in light
of the instability.
Fig. 5 shows the relationship of the liquefaction indices
with the FC, clay content, and silt content for the Kutch
soils. The variations in IB, CP, and Lp are shown for sandy
(SM and SC) soils including S25, whereas the variation in
RFD is shown for clayey (SC, CL, and CH) soils. The rea-
son could be due to the strain softening displayed by sandy
soils, whereas only clayey soils experienced non-zero RFD
values. Fig. 5a shows the influence of the FC, silt content,
and clay content on the IB of the sandy Kutch soils. The
response displayed the role of the FC of soils in controlling
the undrained behavior at the in-situ density. It is evident
that the silty-sand specimens with clay contents lower than
3% and FCs up to 45% exhibited undrained brittleness of
greater than 0.64. However, specimen S25 with a FC equal
to 83%, including a 2% clay content, also exhibited high
undrained brittleness of 0.88 owing to the presence of a
high silt content. Although the density varied vastly both
in horizontal and vertical directions, the undrained brittle-
ness of the Kutch soils was explored at their respective in-
situ dry densities and revealed very high vulnerability to
static liquefaction. It was observed that the data points
formed a cluster lying between FCs of 11% and 20% with
clay contents less than 3% (Fig. 5a–c). For the same FC,
the IB was observed to decrease as the clay content
increased. The IB values that varied with location and
depth indicated a variation in strength loss of the Kutch
soil deposits. The silty sands of the Kutch region exhibited
variable residual strength at axial strains as large as 25%;
this feature was reflected in the stress-strain response of
the soils. The residual strength was found to be strongly
related to the FC and to the relative proportion of the clay
content to the silt content. The Kutch soils exhibiting lim-
ited strain softening and strain hardening responses were
relatively fewer in number. Ten soils with fines contents
ranging between 24% and 95% exhibited IB values nearly
equal to 0.00, indicating either no loss in strength or strain
2044 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055

Table 3
Peak shear strength parameters, residual shear strength parameters, and liquefaction indices of Kutch soils.
Soil Name M C FC Peak Parameters Residual Parameters E Liquefaction Indices
% % %
rdf ef uf Af bmax rdr er ur MPa IB CP Lp RFD
Chang Dam
S1 (L1) 11 5 16 – – – – – – – – – – – – –
S2 (L2) 15 3 18 42 0.45 46 1.1 0.27 9 25 96 10 0.77 0.93 27.6 0
S3 (L2) 17 2 19 38 0.42 48 1.3 0.27 5 25 96 11 0.88 0.94 25.5 0
Kharoi
S4 13 5 18 34 0.6 57 1.6 0.27 16 25 92 15 0.52 0.87 12.2 0
S5 9 2 11 40 0.5 53 1.3 0.29 13 25 96 18 0.64 0.92 25.7 0
S6 11 2 13 42 0.48 52 1.2 0.29 9 25 98 20 0.78 0.95 41.6 0
Suvai Dam
S7 21 7 28 38 0.54 51 1.4 0.27 14 23 95 25 0.63 0.86 10.8 0
S8 19 5 24 38 0.48 49 1.3 0.26 18 22 89 21 0.52 0.84 8.5 0
S9 14 3 17 36 0.42 45 1.2 0.24 5 25 97 20 0.86 0.95 30.5 0
Fatehgarh Dam
S10 62 37 99 – – – – – – – – – – – – –
S11 42 3 45 44 0.55 51 1.1 0.3 18 25 95 20 0.73 0.86 11.5 0
S12 21 1 22 67 0.56 46 0.7 0.36 1 19 95 56 0.97 0.94 17.3 0
Chobari
S13 42 2 44 48 0.76 53 1.1 0.32 42 25 85 15 0.17 0.71 5.8 0.03
S14 42 7 49 49 0.5 34 0.7 0.26 52 25 75 18 0.07 0.62 3.4 0.11
S15 37 4 41 37 0.5 28 0.7 0.2 47 25 76 11 0.06 0.61 3.2 0.07
Khadir
S16 17 2 19 33 0.46 50 1.5 0.24 6 25 96 22 0.82 0.95 32.4 0
S17 22 3 25 38 0.54 53 1.4 0.27 13 25 93 20 0.65 0.88 12.3 0
S18 9 1 10 42 0.38 44 1.0 0.27 4 25 90 30 0.86 0.95 24.0 0
Tappar Dam
S19 24 18 42 45 0.5 35 0.7 0.25 60 25 73 13 0.01 0.52 2.6 0.10
S20 14 15 29 49 0.5 41 0.7 0.2 54 25 72 14 0.01 0.54 2.5 0.08
S21 14 10 24 49 0.5 41 0.8 0.28 53 25 80 23 0.01 0.63 2.4 0.04
Budharmora
S22 21 8 29 46 0.5 44 0.7 0.14 29 25 90 15 0.39 0.81 9.2 0.00
S23 46 19 65 27 0.5 20 0.7 0.14 72 25 76 13 0.01 0.62 3.1 0.01
S24 57 23 80 31 0.5 15 0.5 0.15 61 25 66 9 0.05 0.46 1.4 0.11
Banniari
S25 81 2 83 49 0.56 46 0.9 0.3 6 25 97 21 0.88 0.95 36.6 0
S26 68 27 95 37 0.5 21 0.6 0.18 77 25 70 11 0.00 0.36 1.6 0.27
S27 26 6 32 45 0.76 52 1.2 0.3 43 25 85 18 0.04 0.70 5.4 0.02
S28 13 8 21 42 0.7 46 1.4 0.29 37 25 85 19 0.12 0.68 4.5 0.01
Shivlakha Dam
S29 25 4 29 40 0.47 44 1.1 0.26 8 25 96 12 0.80 0.94 26.1 0
S30 9 2 11 53 0.45 48 0.9 0.3 6 25 98 19 0.89 0.98 49.5 0
S31 18 7 25 50 0.5 37 0.7 0.27 6 25 96 17 0.88 0.93 21.3 0
S32 50 22 72 38 0.5 30 0.8 0.21 50 25 75 20 0.00 0.56 2.7 0.14

hardening behavior. The soils were either clayey sand or
clay with low, medium, and high plasticity characteristics
(Tables 1 and 3).
Fig. 6a and b shows the undrained shear behavior of
soils collected from Tappar Dam (S19, S20, and S21) and
Chobari (S13, S14, and S15), respectively. The fines con-
tents of the soils collected from Chobari were 44%, 49%,
and 41% at depths of 0.5 m, 1.5 m, and 2.5 m, respectively.
The corresponding values for Tappar Dam were 42%, 29%,
and 24%, respectively. While the soils from Chobari had
higher FCs than the soils from Tappar Dam, the IB values
were essentially the same (Table 3). The similar results
might be attributed to the higher plasticity of the soils of
Tappar Dam as compared to that of Chobari (Table 1).
A small increase in the amount of high plasticity fines dom-
inated the effect of a higher fraction of low plasticity fines
and could be due to the high plasticity fines sticking
strongly around the fine sand and silt grains creating
agglomerates clothed in clay. Thus, the increased cohesive-
ness of the soil resulted in a reduction in the decrease of
deviatoric stress. Georgiannou et al. (1990), Zlatović and
Ishihara (1995), Thevanayagam and Mohan (2000), and
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055 2045

Fig. 5. Static liquefaction indices of Kutch soils: (a) IB (Sandy soils and S25), (b) CP (Sandy soils and S25), (c) Lp (Sandy soils and S25), and (d) RFD (SC
and clays).

Thevanayagam et al. (2002) previously explored the
undrained shear strength behavior of sand with plastic fines
and non-plastic fines independently. Centering their studies
on the inter-granular void ratio, researchers have reported
that plastic and non-plastic fines contribute to the shear
strength differently. The findings showed that plastic fines
generally reduce the shear strength, while non-plastic fines
may act as voids or may increase the shear strength. The
results from these previous studies indicated an increased
IB with an increased FC (Fig. 7a). However, the Pitman
et al. (1994) observations were dissimilar; they reported
that the presence of either plastic fines or non-plastic fines
led to reduced undrained brittleness with an increased fines
content. Fig. 7a and c shows the different observations
reported in the literature on the effect of fines on the
undrained brittleness response of sands. The Lade and
Yamamuro (1997) findings showed an increased undrained
brittleness index with increased non-plastic fines;
Georgiannou et al. (1990) and Zlatović and Ishihara
(1995) reported a similar trend in the case of plastic fines.
The findings by Bouferra and Shahrour (2004) also
revealed an increasing IB with increased low plasticity fines.
The increased loss in strength and the increased IB with an
increasing FC, reported in the above-mentioned studies,
were restricted only up to low fines contents below 15%.
With the further increase in the FC, an increase in soil resis-
tance was reported. At higher fines contents, ranging from
20% to 40%, and depending on the nature of the fines, the
2046 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
(a) IB=0.01 IB=0.01
IB=0.01
(b) IB=0.17 IB=0.06
IB=0.07
Fig. 6. Stress-strain behavior of Kutch soils: (a) Tappar Dam and (b)
Chobari.
mechanical behavior was reported to be dominated by the
fines matrix. The findings in the current study exhibited a
reduced IB with an increased FC, silt content, and clay con-
tent in the natural soil deposits of the Kutch region at the
in-situ dry density. However, the PI played a crucial role in
determining the undrained response of the soil specimens at
a given FC. For nearly the same FC, the undrained behav-
ior of specimens S7, S8, S17, S20, S21, S22, S29, and S31
was observed to be controlled by the plasticity index. The
influence of the PI at similar FCs on liquefaction indices
IB, CP, Lp, and RFD of the Kutch soils is illustrated in
Fig. 14; details are described later in the Discussion section
of the article. The soil specimens with a low, medium or
high plasticity index exhibited no loss in strength, whereas
the non-plastic soils experienced a large loss in strength,
nearly attaining static liquefaction. In the presence of fine
sand and silt, the increased clay fraction exhibited a signif-
icant impact on the decrease in the q and IB values. The IB
values were observed to decrease with an increase in the FC
and the PI. The introduction of plasticity increases the sta-
bility of silty sand and can be reflected in the undrained
brittleness (Pitman et al., 1994). The coupled effect of the
silt and clay fractions in the studied range shown in
Fig. 5a was found to be different than their individual
effects, as reported in Fig. 7a (Georgiannou et al., 1990;
Zlatović and Ishihara, 1995). The undrained brittleness
index values for all the soils investigated in the current
study are presented in Table 3.
3.1.2. Collapse potential, CP
Static liquefaction is the consequence of the decrease in
mean effective pressure or confinement resulting from the
shear-induced excess pore water pressure. The collapse
potential captures the loss of confinement and is a direct
measure of static liquefaction. In the current study, the
decrease in p0 during undrained shearing was observed
to spread over a wide range; and subsequently, the CP
for the Kutch soils was found to vary between 0.98 and
0.36. It reflected the strong relationship of the CP with
the FC and plasticity. Fig. 5b shows the variation in the
CP with the FC, silt content, and clay content for the
sandy soils of the region. Soils with a CP close to unity
were found to exhibit near static liquefaction and could
also be captured by very high IB values. For a given
FC, variations in the clay content had a stronger impact
on the CP than variations in the silt content (Fig. 5b).
It is evident that the specimens with clay contents lower
than 3% exhibited large CP values at their respective in-
situ dry densities. With increases in the FC and the clay
content, the collapse potential decreased, although the
specimens had extremely different in-situ dry densities.
The collapse potential for the soil specimens shown in
Fig. 4 was found to be higher than 0.95, except for that
of the Shivlakha Dam soil (S32) at a depth of 2.5 m,
which had a high FC of 72%, including a 22% clay frac-
tion and a high PI of 23.5%. Specimen S32 exhibited a
CP equal to 0.56, which was found to be in alliance with
its undrained brittleness index of zero, namely, IB = 0.
The clayey sands shown in Fig. 6 exhibited a CP of less
than 0.71 and did not undergo static liquefaction. These
soils contained high FCs with either a low, medium or
high PI, and also exhibited very low IB values (Table 3).
Specimens S15 and S19 had nearly the same FCs, but had
low and medium PIs, respectively. While specimen S15
exhibited a CP value of 0.71, S19 exhibited a value of
0.52, revealing the strong impact of the PI on the collapse
potential of the Kutch soils.
In the current study, the CP was found to decrease with
the increase in the FC, which was different from the obser-
vations made by Georgiannou et al. (1990), Zlatović and
Ishihara (1995), Lade and Yamamuro (1997),
Thevanayagam and Mohan (2000), Thevanayagam et al.
(2002), and Bouferra and Shahrour (2004), but was aligned
with the observations made by Pitman et al. 1994 (Figs. 5b,
7b, and d). While Fig. 7b and d shows the effect of the FC
on the CP, as observed by previous researchers, Fig. 5b
shows the observations from the current study. While the
Lade and Yamamuro (1997) findings indicated an
increased CP with increased non-plastic fines, the studies
by Georgiannou et al. (1990) and Zlatović and Ishihara
(1995) exhibited a similar trend for plastic fines. The find-
ings by Bouferra and Shahrour (2004) also revealed an
increasing CP with increased low plasticity fines. The
results of the current study exhibited a reduced CP with
increases in the silt content and the clay content in the nat-
ural soil deposits of the Kutch region at the in-situ dry den-
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055 2047

Fig. 7. Effects of FC on static liquefaction parameters from previous studies: (a) Increasing IB with both plastic and non-plastic fines, (b) Increasing CP
with both plastic and non-plastic fines, (c) Decreasing IB with both plastic and non-plastic fines, and (d) Decreasing CP with both plastic and non-plastic
fines.

sity. However, for nearly the same FCs, the plasticity of the
fines governed the collapse potential response of the soils.
Similar observations were reported by Pitman et al.
(1994) and Gratchev et al. (2006). As the FC increased,
the resistance to static liquefaction increased owing to the
simultaneous presence of silt and clay fractions resulting
in the coarse sand and silt grains being clothed by the clay
fraction. It is important to note that the lower values of the
CP for the clayey sands of the Kutch region represented a
characteristic feature of cohesive geomaterials which was
also captured by lower undrained brittleness values. A very
strong positive correlation (R = 0.94) could be found to
exist between the IB and the CP, implying that they were
controlled by the same factors, namely, the FC and the nat-
ure of the fines. The collapse potential values of the Kutch
soils are presented in Table 3.
2048 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
3.1.3. Liquefaction potential, Lp
The evolution of the minor principal stress during
undrained shearing strongly governs the soil response
and is controlled by the development of the shear-
induced excess pore water pressure. The magnitude of Du
is indirectly captured by the liquefaction potential, Lp.
Large Du leads to a large and rapid reduction in r0 3, and
hence, a higher value of Lp, an indicator of its susceptibility
to static liquefaction. The liquefaction potential of soils in
the current study was found to be spread over a wide range
of 1.4 and 49.5. Silty sands exhibited Lp values on the
higher side, typical of liquefiable soils, while the remaining
soil specimens (clayey sands and clays) exhibited relatively
lower values. Silty sands of the region exhibited large val-
ues of Lp, greater than 8.5, and were controlled by both
the FC and the type of fines (silt and clay). With a FC less
than 20% and a clay content less than 3%, the specimens
displayed Lp values greater than 24.0, indicating the occur-
rence of static liquefaction (Casagrande, 1976). However,
with increases in the FC and the clay content, Lp decreased
for the silty sands and exhibited a minimum value of 8.5 for
specimen S8 with a FC and a clay content of 24% and 5%,
respectively. For the clayey sands and clays of the Kutch
region, the Lp was evaluated to be less than 9.2 and 3.1,
respectively, and was strongly controlled by the plasticity
index of the soil. As the PI increased, the Lp of the speci-
mens was observed to decrease and attained a minimum
value of 1.4 for specimen S24 with a FC and a clay content
equal to 80% and 23%, respectively. The minimum value of
Lp of 1.4 for specimen S24 corresponded to the maximum
plasticity index value of 38.9% (Tables 1 and 2). With an
increased PI, the clayey-sand and clay specimens exhibited
increased resistance to softening and displayed either LSS
or SH behavior.
The decreasing liquefaction potential response with the
increasing FC displayed by the Kutch soil specimens in
the current study agrees with that of Pitman et al. 1994.
It was found to be different from the response observed
by Georgiannou et al. (1990), Ovando-Shelley and Pérez
(1997), Wood and Kumar (2000), Bouferra and Shahrour
(2004), and Ni et al. (2004). However, the magnitude and
nature of the individual effects of both the clay and silt
fractions on the liquefaction potential were seen to be
aligned with the previous findings (based on one nature
of fines). They reported that, at the same inter-granular
void ratio, plastic fines lead to lower degradation of the
effective minor principal stress, whereas non-plastic fines
due to a collapsible inter-particle soil structure induce large
decreases, thereby resulting in a higher liquefaction poten-
tial. However, the undrained strength in the case of non-
plastic fines could be higher than that in the case of plastic
fines. In the current study, Lp was observed to decrease as
the FC increased; however, at nearly the same FC, the plas-
ticity index strongly controlled the Lp response. The
observed behavior might be due to the simultaneous
response of the silt and the clay fractions with varying plas-
ticity, and also to the FC being greater than 20%. Like IB
and CP, the Lp was strongly affected by the FC, silt con-
tent, and clay content and in a similar fashion. Fig. 5c
shows the relationship of Lp with the FC, silt content,
and clay content for the sandy soils of the Kutch region
with the silty sands exhibiting very high Lp and the clayey
sands exhibiting relatively lower values. The liquefaction
potential was found to correlate very well with the IB and
CP with very strong positive correlations values, R, equal
to 0.84 and 0.8, respectively, indicating the same factors
controlling these parameters (Table 4). The liquefaction
potential values for the soils of the Kutch region are pre-
sented in Table 3.
3.1.4. Resistance to further deformation, RFD
For soils exhibiting LSS, also known as limited liquefac-
tion, the resistance to further deformation, RFD, quantifies
the opposition to continued shearing after the quasi-steady
state. It is essentially a function of the void ratio. In the
current study, however, it was evaluated to capture the
effect of the FC and the type of fines on the post-quasi-
steady state deformation characteristics of the Kutch soils
at their in-situ densities. The plasticity index strongly con-
trolled the RFD response of the Kutch soils with silty sands
exhibiting nearly zero RFD values owing to their non-
plastic nature. However, soils with either low, medium or
high plasticity displayed positive RFD values that increased
with an increase in the PI. Thirteen soils from Chobari
(S13, S14, and S15), Tappar Dam (S19, S20, and S21),
Budharmora (S22, S23, S24), Shivlakha Dam (S32), and
Banniari (S26, S27, S28) exhibited RFD values ranging
between 0.27 and 0.01. The fines content in these soils
was relatively higher with significant plastic fines (Table 1).
At large axial strains, high plasticity fines get sandwiched
between the coarser sand and silt particles, creating a wedg-
ing effect, thereby leading to increased deviatoric stress of
the soil matrix. Resistance to further deformation showed
a strong negative correlation to IB, CP, and Lp with R val-
ues equal to 0.62, 0.76, and 0.5, respectively. For the
remaining 17 soils (13 SM, 3 SP-SM, and 1 ML), the RFD
was set to zero as there was no increase in deviatoric stress
after reaching the minimum value. The negative correlation
of the RFD (Table 4) with the other three liquefaction
indices was expected, as it captured the hardening
response, whereas the other three indices captured the soft-
ening response. While the RFD values increased with the
FC and the PI, the other parameters showed a reverse
trend. Fig. 5d shows a variation in RFD with the FC, silt
content, and clay content for soils exhibiting non-zero
Table 4
Correlation coefficient, R, for IB, CP, Lp, and RFD.
IB CP Lp RFD
IB 1.00 0.94 0.84 0.62
CP 0.94 1.00 0.81 0.76
Lp 0.84 0.81 1.00 0.50
RFD 0.62 0.76 0.50 1.00
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055 2049

resistance after attaining the minimum deviatoric stress.

The RFD values for the soils of the Kutch region are pre-
sented in Table 3. The variation in RFD with the FC, silt
content, and clay content exhibited nearly a parallel rela-
tionship (Fig. 5d). However, a smaller fraction of clay
resulted in a significant change in the RFD as compared
to that of silt. The effect of the PI on the RFD for soil spec-
imens with similar FCs is shown in Fig. 14.

3.1.5. Evolution of angle of maximum obliquity, bmax

The mobilization of the undrained shear strength up to
the peak deviatoric stress was found to be in a very narrow
range for the Kutch soils (Table 3). The evolution of the
angle of maximum obliquity, bmax, showed similar behav-
ior for all the soils until the peak stress. The post-peak
stress, bmax, was significantly affected by the FC and the
type of fines. The angle of maximum obliquity is defined
by Eq. (5) as
0 0
r1  r3
bmax ¼ tan1 0 0 ð5Þ
r1 þ r3

where r0 1 and r0 3 are the major and minor effective princi-

pal stresses, respectively. Essentially, bmax quantifies the
magnitude of shear strength mobilized at a particular strain
level. At large strain levels, the value of bmax is controlled
by the residual strength of the soil specimens.
Fig. 8a–c shows the evolution of bmax for the soil spec-
imens from Chang Dam, Fatehgarh Dam, and Shivlakha
Dam, respectively. At very low strain levels, the soil speci-
mens exhibited similar bmax values that were found to exist
in a very narrow range. At axial strains greater than 1%,
the specimens exhibited widely different bmax values owing
to the variations in the post-peak response exhibited by the
specimens. The observed behavior could be attributed to
the varying degrees of strain softening displayed by the
specimens with a strong influence of the residual strength
at large axial strains. In the case of silty sands undergoing
post-peak softening, the peak stress was found to mobilize
before the maximum value of bmax was attained; similar Fig. 8. Evolution of bmax of Kutch soils: (a) Chang Dam, (b) Fatehgarh
findings were reported by Vaid and Eliadorani (1998). Dam, and (c) Shivlakha Dam.
Lade (1989) referred to this type of response as pre-
failure instability, a characteristic of loose silty sands sus-
ceptible to static liquefaction. Fig. 9a and b shows the evo- tion) under undrained boundary conditions. Most soils of
lution of bmax for the soil specimens from Tappar Dam and the Kutch region, with either low, medium or high plastic-
Chobari. Similar to their stress-strain response, bmax was ity, exhibited lower values of bmax as compared to those of
found to increase continuously for these soils before attain- silty sands. This could be attributed to the increased cohe-
ing a plateau. The values of bmax at the peak deviatoric sive nature. The secant modulus of elasticity (E) for the
stress for the silty sands of the Kutch region were evaluated Kutch soils under undrained compression was evaluated
to be in the vicinity of 0.3 rad (Table 3). Such low values at an axial strain level of 0.02% and is presented in Table 3.
were reported to be indicative of pre-failure instability The values for the majority of the soils, mostly silty sands,
(Lade, 1989) and to result in geotechnical failures before lie in a narrow range typical of highly liquefiable soils.
the full strength could be mobilized. The maximum values
of bmax for the Kutch soils were also found to be very low, 3.2. Effective stress path behavior of Kutch soils
namely, 0.5 rad for most soils. The values in this range
would be typical of loose to medium dense silty sands with Changes in the stress state of a soil specimen throughout
very high susceptibility to post-peak softening (liquefac- the loading stage are best represented in stress-space p0 -q.
2050 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055

Fig. 9. Evolution of bmax of Kutch soils: (a) Tappar Dam and (b)
Chobari.

The capacity of the soil to resist the applied load at any

stage depends on the current mean effective stress, p0 . As
the soil is loaded under undrained boundary conditions,
p0 either increases or decreases depending on the initial
material and the stress state of the soil. In the current
study, all soils exhibited a decrease in p0 to varying degrees
as the shearing progressed. The stress paths presented in
the p0 -q space showed decreasing p0 with continued shear-
ing. Deviatoric stress q increased with continued shearing
until the peak deviatoric stress was mobilized. After attain-
ing the peak value, q decreased rapidly and reached a
steady state at large strains, exhibiting the post-peak soft- Fig. 10. Effective stress path diagrams of Kutch soils: (a) Chang Dam, (b)
Fatehgarh Dam, and (c) Shivlakha Dam.
ening response for silty sands. Fig. 10a–c shows the effec-
tive stress paths in the p0 -q stress-space for specimens of
Chang Dam, Fatehgarh Dam, and Shivlakha Dam soils, and clay on the mechanical response of the soils. The slope
respectively. After achieving qmax, the deviatoric stress of the line joining the stress origin and qpeak, the instability
decreased until it reached a minimum value corresponding angle, was always less than the slope of the drained failure
to the steady state strength. The effective stress paths des- envelope, the internal friction angle, for soils exhibiting sta-
cended to the stress origin with both p0 and q tending to tic liquefaction (Sladen et al., 1985; Lade, 1989; Lade and
be zero, namely, the state of static liquefaction. However, Pradel, 1990; Chu et al., 1993; Hussain et al., 2019).
the tendency to undergo static liquefaction decreased with Fig. 11a and b shows the effective stress paths for the
an increase in the FC, silt content, and clay content and clayey-sand specimens of Tappar Dam and Chobari,
was reflected in the evaluated liquefaction indices. In previ- respectively. The soils collected from Tappar Dam had a
ous studies, Lade and Yamamuro (1997), Yamamuro and higher PI than the soils from Chobari (Table 1). Even
Lade (1997), and Yamamuro and Lade (1998) observed though the FC was significantly higher in the soils of Cho-
an increase in static liquefaction susceptibility with an bari than in the soils of Tappar Dam, both exhibited LSS
increase in non-plastic fines. The observed behavior in behavior, thereby revealing the dominant effect of the PI
the current study might be due to the combined effect of silt over the FC at their respective in-situ densities. In these
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
Fig. 11. Effective stress path diagrams of Kutch soils: (a) Tappar Dam
and (b) Chobari.
soils, p0 initially decreased and then increased to attain val-
ues greater than 29 kPa, while q increased continuously to
values greater than 42 kPa with a plateau in-between.
These soils exhibited relatively low values of static liquefac-
tion indices IB, CP, and Lp and indicated positive RFD val-
ues. The values of IB, CP, and Lp exhibited by these
specimens were lower than 0.10, 0.71, and 5.70, respec-
tively. After attaining the initial peak, there was little or
no reduction in q before it started to increase once again,
displaying a condition of limited strain softening. The sig-
nificant residual strength might be attributed to both the
large FC and its plastic nature. Furthermore, soils from
Tappar Dam exhibited higher residual strength than soils
from Chobari due to the higher PI. While the silty sands
displayed p0 and q values of less than 16 kPa and 18 kPa,
respectively, the corresponding values for the clayey sands
were higher than 29 kPa and 39 kPa, respectively, signify-
ing the degradation-resistant behavior of soils with plastic
fines (Figs. 10 and 11).
3.3. Effect of density on static liquefaction characteristics of
Kutch soils
The stability of sandy soils is governed by several factors
with density being the most important and the most deci-
sive factor. In this study, the soil specimens of the Kutch
region were subjected to CIUC triaxial tests at their respec-
2051
tive in-situ densities. Since the soil specimens showed a
wide range of variation in GSD and plasticity with the
FC and the PI varying from 11% to 95% and the non-
plastic varying to 38.9%, respectively, the minimum and
maximum index densities could not be determined
(ASTM D4253-16, 2016) by the standard methods due to
the presence of plastic fines. Thus, the relative packing of
the specimens was determined by evaluating the relative
compaction, RC, as the ratio of the specimen dry density,
cdi, to the maximum dry density, cdmax, obtained from the
Standard Proctor compaction test (ASTM D698-12e2,
2012), in Eq. (6).
c
Relative compaction ðRC Þ ¼ di ð6Þ
cdmax
Lee and Singh (1971) proposed a correlation between
RC and relative density (Dr) for granular soils. Relative
compaction (RC) is a good indicator of the state of com-
pactness as the relative density (ASTM D4253-16, 2016).
The relative compaction (RC) of all the Kutch soils was
determined and is listed in Table 2.
Fig. 12 shows the relationship of the four liquefaction
indices with RC. The undrained brittleness values for the
silty-sand specimens were significantly higher than those
of the clayey soils with different RC values (Fig. 12a).
The soils exhibited increasing IB with RC, signifying that
the observed behavior could not be attributed to RC alone.
This might be due to variations in the particle shape, par-
ticle size range, and variances in the GSD curve among
many other factors that could control the minimum and
maximum index densities as well as the undrained behavior
of the sandy soils (Youd, 1973). Soil specimens S17 and
S18 from Khadir, with similar RC but different FCs, exhib-
ited response that could be controlled by the FC. A higher
FC at similar RC led to lower IB values. A similar response
could be observed in the case of the CP and the Lp as evi-
dent from Fig. 12b and c. The relationship of the RFD and
RC for the soils of the Kutch region showed silty sands
exhibiting zero RFD values at all RC values, whereas the
RFD values for clayey soils were evaluated to be non-
zero. The RFD values slightly increased with RC, indicat-
ing the stronger role of the FC and the PI of soils in their
static liquefaction response.
3.4. Discussion
Undrained soil behavior is controlled by several factors,
including the density, FC, and PI, among many others.
Papadopoulou and Tika (2016) reported that for sandy
soils at very low FCs of 5–6%, most of the fine particles
occupy the voids of the larger sand particles without inter-
fering in the load transfer mechanism. Even at lower FCs, if
the ratio of the diameter of large sand grains to the diam-
eter of small finer particles is large, a few particles might be
trapped at the contact points of larger sand and silt parti-
cles participating in force transfer. The clay particles
trapped at the contact points between the sand-to-sand
2052 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055

Fig. 12. Relationship of RC to the four liquefaction indices: (a) IB, (b) CP, (c) Lp, and (d) RFD.

and the sand-to-silt particles form low strength collapsible
clay bridges resulting in an open microfabric susceptible to
collapse. In this range in the FCs, the PI has a minor effect
on the undrained behavior. Papadopoulou and Tika (2016)
reported that as the FC increases up to 15%, the number of
sand-silt, sand-clay, and silt–clay contacts will increase and
start participating in the force chains. As the number of
low-strength clay bridges increase, the undrained response
will become more brittle as compared to that at lower FCs.
At this range in FCs, the plasticity of the fines will play an
important role in the nature of the open microfabric.
Gratchev et al. (2006) explored the microfabric of clayey
sands. As the open microfabric was rich in low strength
clay connectors, non-plastic and low plasticity sandy soils
experienced intense strain softening. However, medium
plasticity sandy soils exhibited open microfabric with gran-
ular particles clothed in clay, resulting in an increased resis-
tance to strain softening. With an increased FC, greater
than 20%, the medium and high plasticity clayey sands dis-
played compact microfabric and were dominated by a clay
matrix, displaying very low or no strain softening.
In the current study, the results of the CIUC triaxial
tests on the Kutch soils at their respective in-situ densities
revealed that the liquefaction and effective stress path char-
acteristics were significantly affected by the FC, silt content,
clay content, and PI. The four liquefaction indices (IB, CP,
Lp, and RFD), bmax, and the effective stress path captured
the influence of the FC and the PI on the static liquefaction
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055 2053

characteristics of the Kutch soils. Fig. 13 shows the
microstructure of the typical silty sand (S12) and the clayey
sand (S27) of the Kutch region. The specimens used to
investigate the microstructure were prepared by compress-
ing the silty sand and clayey sand to the required density
and taking snapshots at a magnification of x50 using a
CELESTRON Hand Held Digital Microscope. The silty
sands exhibited SS owing to the collapsible metastable
structure which comprised the coarse granular part with
silt and clay particles either sitting in the large sand voids
or on the sand-sand contacts or the larger sand particles
(Fig. 13a). It was anticipated that SM and SP-SM could
have an open microfabric with a collapsible metastable
structure dominating the undrained behavior. With
increases in the FC and the PI, the microfabric of the
clayey sands and clayey soils of the Kutch region became
more compact with granular fraction clothed in clay,
exhibiting the domination of the clay matrix causing no liq-
uefaction (Fig. 13b). The compactness of the microstruc-
ture increased with both the FC and the PI, consequently

(a) ×50
0.5 mm
Sand particle

Silt particle

Sand void Silt particles

sitting at the
sand-sand contact

(b) ×50
0.5 mm

Filled void
Sand particle
clothed in clay

Empty void

(c) ×50
0.5 mm

Fig. 13. Microstructure of sandy soils of Kutch: (a) Silty sand (S12), (b) Clayey sand (S27), and (c) Coarse fraction of clayey sand (S27).
2054 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
Fig. 14. Influence of PI on the liquefaction indices of specimens S7, S8,
S13, S17, S19, S0, S21, S22, S29, and S31.
leading to stable undrained behavior. For clayey sands
with similar FC, the resistance to liquefaction was found
to be strongly controlled by the PI of the soils. Fig. 13c
shows the granular fraction of specimen S27, obtained after
washing off the fines fraction from S27 (Fig. 13b). The
effects of the fines on the microstructure and the packing
of the clayey sand are evident from Fig. 13b and 13c.
The coarser fraction in the clayey-sand specimen was
clothed by the finer plastic fraction, which consequently
caused the higher resistance against static liquefaction.
Fig. 14 shows the influence of the PI on the liquefaction
indices of the specimens with nearly similar FCs, but widely
different PIs. Specimens S13 and S19 contained nearly the
same FCs, but had a different PIs of 10% and 22.9%,
respectively. Although neither specimen experienced lique-
faction, specimen S19 exhibited lower values of IB, CP, and
Lp and a higher value of RFD as compared to specimen S13
(Table 3). Similarly, specimens S7, S8, S17, S20, S21, S22,
S29, and S31 had similar FCs, ranging between 24% and
29%, but their PIs were vastly different, ranging from being
non-plastic (0%) to 21.3%. It is evident from Fig. 14 that
with an increase in the PI, liquefaction indices IB, CP,
and Lp decreased, whereas as the RFD started to display
non-zero positive values although the specimens had simi-
lar fines contents. The nature of the fines in these soils con-
trolled their monotonic undrained behavior with non-
plastic specimens exhibiting near-static liquefaction,
whereas specimens with either low, medium or high plastic-
ity fines did not exhibit liquefaction.
4. Conclusions
The static liquefaction characteristics and effective stress
path response of soils collected from ten different locations
of the Kutch region were explored in the current study. A
majority of the soil samples, 17 out of the 30, were classi-
fied as either SM or SP-SM. The static liquefaction charac-
teristics of Kutch soils at the in-situ dry density were
significantly affected by the FC, silt content, clay content,
and PI. Naturally occurring soils with varying levels of
in-situ density, GSD, and FC, as well as the nature of the
fines, were subjected to CIUC triaxial loading. The static
liquefaction (IB, CP, Lp, and RFD), stress-strain, and effec-
tive stress path analysis of the experimental results revealed
the following:
1. The static liquefaction indices indicated that the silty
soils of the Kutch region are highly susceptible to under-
going liquefaction. Irrespective of the in-situ density,
these soils have FCs up to 45% and exhibit near-static
liquefaction with four indices nearly reaching the limit-
ing values. However, the values of the four indices were
strongly controlled by the FC, the proportion of clay
content to silt content, and the PI.
2. The fines content, the proportion of clay content to silt
content, and the plasticity index affected the residual
strength, p0 ss, p0 qss, and r0 3f, of the Kutch soils at their
in-situ densities. Soils with FCs greater than 20% and
clay contents greater than 3% exhibited low values of
IB, CP, and Lp. With an increased plasticity index, IB,
CP, and Lp decreased; however, RFD exhibited a reverse
trend.
3. A stress path analysis of the soils indicated three types of
behavior, namely, strain softening, limited strain soften-
ing, and strain hardening. Soils with FCs between 11%
and 20% and clay contents less than 3% exhibited SS
leading to liquefaction, whereas soils with FCs greater
than 20% and clay contents greater than 7% exhibited
LSS. For similar FCs, the stress path response was con-
trolled by the PI with plastic soils exhibiting no liquefac-
tion instead of either LSS or SH.
4. The effective stress paths of the non-plastic soils nearly
descended to the stress origin with p0 and q less than
16 kPa and 18 kPa, respectively. For soils with low,
medium or high plasticity and FCs greater than 20%,
the effective stress paths appeared far away from the
stress origin rather achieving the steady state with p0
and q greater than 29 kPa and 39 kPa, respectively. With
FCs greater than 20%, clay contents greater than 3%,
and the plastic nature of soils, the effective stress paths
did not exhibit any reduction in deviatoric stress after
attaining qpeak.
5. The coupled effect of the silt and clay fractions was
found to be opposite that of the individual effect of plas-
tic and non-plastic fines, as reported in previous studies.
The behavior changed from SS to SH at a clay content
of around 3% and a FC of 20% in naturally occurring
soils of the Kutch region, as compared to that reported
in previous studies, greater than 20%, based on standard
sand or river sand and plastic fines.
Acknowledgments
The financial support of IIT Gandhinagar (IITGN002)
is gratefully acknowledged. Any opinions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material
 M. Hussain, A. Sachan / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 2036–2055
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the
views of IIT Gandhinagar.
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