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Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585
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Technical Paper

Small strain dynamic behavior of two types of carbonate sands

Huan He a,1, Wei Li b,2, Kostas Senetakis a,⇑
a
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
b
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Received 2 July 2017; received in revised form 21 July 2018; accepted 3 November 2018
Available online 31 January 2019

Abstract

The study reports on the small-strain dynamic behavior of two types of carbonate sands from Western Australia and the Philippines.
Basic characterization of the soils was performed in terms of specific gravity, grading information, angle of shear strength at critical state,
particle shape characterization and composition analysis. Piezo-element inserts were utilized to carry out the dynamic tests. For the Wes-
tern Australia (WA) carbonate sand, both bender and extender element tests were performed, thus the shear modulus, the Young’s mod-
ulus and the Poisson’s ratio were examined. Both vertical and lateral bender element tests were performed on a set of specimens from the
Philippines (PH) carbonate sand to study the shear modulus and, from which, no fabric anisotropy of the reconstituted specimens was
found. It was observed that the overconsolidated specimens had higher stiffness than those during the first loading stages for both car-
bonate sands. In the pressure range of the study, grain breakage was small and its effect on the behavior of the samples was almost neg-
ligible. Empirical equations in the literature proposed from quartz sands could not predict the stiffness of the carbonate soils
satisfactorily. In this regard, a preliminary study was carried out adopting the assumed void ratio that only considers the inter-
particle voids instead of the summation of inter- and intra-particle voids; based on this concept, the predicted and measured stiffness
(including both small-strain shear modulus, Gmax and small-strain Young’s modulus, Emax) were found to be satisfactorily close.
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Keywords: Carbonate sand; Small-strain dynamic properties; Stiffness; Poisson’s ratio; Stiffness anisotropy; Bender/extender element test; Resonant
column test; Intra-particle voids; Inter-particle voids

1. Introduction small strains, the behavior is linear-elastic and the soil

Soil mechanics modeling requires the investigation of
soil behavior at different strain ranges, including the very
small strain range with deformations to be less than
10
3%, the small-to-medium strain range with typical
strains to be between about 10
3% and 10
1% and the
behavior at larger strains (Atkinson, 1993; Vucetic, 1994;
Ishihara, 1996; Kramer, 1996; Clayton, 2011). At very
Peer review under responsibility of The Japanese Geotechnical Society.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ksenetak@cityu.edu.hk (K. Senetakis).
1
Formerly University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.
2
Formerly City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region.
properties, commonly expressed in terms of stiffness, mate-
rial damping and Poisson’s ratio, are pressure-dependent.
With a focus on the very small strain behavior of unce-
mented sands, previous laboratory and theoretical studies
have indicated that the mechanical properties of soils are
strongly linked to the grain characteristics. These charac-
teristics include, for example, the shape of grains (e.g.
Cho et al., 2006; Payan et al., 2016), the coefficient of uni-
formity (e.g. Iwasaki and Tatsuoka, 1977; Menq, 2003;
Wichtmann and Triantafyllidis, 2009; Senetakis and
Madhusudhan, 2015), the type of the material and its com-
position (Cascante and Santamarina, 1996; Jovicic and
Coop, 1997; Fioravante, 2000; Senetakis et al., 2012;
Senetakis and Madhusudhan, 2015). The investigation of

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2018.11.003
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572 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585
the very small strain range of behavior requires the applica-
tion of dynamic test methods, and two typical methods
used in many research laboratories include the resonant
column, which is a medium frequency method, and the
use of piezo-element testing, which is a high frequency
technique (Richart et al., 1970; Shirley and Anderson,
1975; Ishihara, 1996; Jovicic et al., 1996; Leong et al.,
2005, 2009; Gu et al., 2013, 2015).
Previous studies on the small strain behavior of sands
have focused, primarily, on quartz soils. However, other
types of granular soils may be of significant interest in
geotechnical engineering practice. For example, carbonate
sands, which are found in natural deposits, comprise typi-
cal foundation soils for offshore engineering structures such
as oil platforms and subsea infrastructure. Due to their
geological origin, the carbonate soils are found, predomi-
nantly, in calcareous sediments (i.e. calcium carbonate)
(Fioravante, 2000; Coop and Airey, 2003; Fioravante
et al., 2013). The carbonate sands are usually found either
cemented or uncemented in different gradings, which are
closely related to the environmental factors they are
exposed to (e.g. water temperature, depth, etc.) (Coop
and Airey, 2003). In the literature, carbonate sands, in a
cemented or uncemented state, have been extensively exam-
ined particularly in the range of large deformations (Coop,
1990; Airey, 1993; Coop and Atkinson, 1993; Coop et al.,
2004; Miao and Airey, 2013, among others). In general,
the carbonate sands are found to have high shear strength
but also high compressibility which is due to the irregular
shape and interlocking of angular particles and presence
of intra-particle voids. These characteristics of the carbon-
ate soils result in breakable and of low strength grains
(Coop, 1990; Fioravante, 2000; Coop et al., 2004), which
in turn may give rise to an unstable behavior of offshore
structures founded on carbonate soil deposits, for example,
low side friction and high deformation during pile driving.
There have been quite a few empirical equations proposed
in the literature predicting the stiffness – pressure relation-
ship of quartz sands (e.g., Hardin and Richart, 1963;
Hardin, 1978; Iwasaki et al., 1978; Chung et al., 1984;
Saxena and Reddy, 1989; Menq, 2003; Wichtmann and
Triantafyllidis, 2009, 2010; Senetakis et al., 2012;
Senetakis and Madhusudhan, 2015; Payan et al., 2016,
2017 among others). However such studies for carbonate
sands are relatively limited (Jovicic and Coop, 1997;
Fioravante, 2000; Fioravante et al., 2013; Senetakis and
He, 2017; He et al., 2017).
In this study, a comprehensive experimental investiga-
tion was conducted exploring the small strain dynamic
behavior of two types of uncemented carbonate sands from
two different locations (Western Australia and the Philip-
pines). For the carbonate soil from Western Australia,
experiments were carried out using bender/extender ele-
ment tests and the results were compared with additional
tests from resonant column. The focus of this testing pro-
gram was the study of the small strain stiffness in terms
of shear modulus (Gmax), Young’s modulus (Emax) and
material Poisson’s ratio (m) as well as the comparison of
the results between different methods in measuring soil stiff-
ness (i.e. bender elements against resonant column). As for
the carbonate sand from the Philippines, the small strain
shear modulus was investigated, with a particular focus
on the comparison between different shear moduli, named
Gvh, Ghv and Ghh to examine the fabric anisotropy of
reconstituted specimens. The dynamic behavior of the car-
bonate sands was analyzed during isotropic compression
and additional information is provided in the paper during
isotropic swelling of the samples where the samples were
overconsolidated. The grain breakage of the materials
was measured and quantified after the tests and its effect
on the dynamic properties of the carbonate sands is briefly
discussed in the paper. Published equations proposed for
quartz sands were used to predict the behavior of the car-
bonate soils and the effects of inter- and intra-particle voids
on the prediction accuracy of these expressions are also
discussed.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Characterization of materials used
Two types of poorly-graded carbonate sands were used
in the study. Both soils are classified as SP based on the
USCS system. The basic characteristics of the materials
are summarized in Table 1. The finer grained carbonate
sand (mean grain size D50 = 0.23 mm) is a beach sand with
origin from Western Australia (WA), while the coarser
grained one (D50 = 0.50 mm) was from the Philippines
(PH). The Western Australia carbonate soil has a specific
gravity of solids, Gs, equal to 2.68, a coefficient of unifor-
mity, Cu, equal to 1.70, while the Gs and Cu values for the
Philippines carbonate sand are equal to 2.72 and 1.85,
respectively. The grading curves for both sands are given
in Fig. 1. Both soils have a higher specific gravity than that
for quartz sands (typically in the range of 2.62–2.67). Con-
solidated drained monotonic triaxial shearing tests were
conducted on both materials and their angles of shear
strength at critical state (ucritical) are summarized in Table 1.
Note that the ucritical value for the PH sand was found to be
greater in magnitude than that of the WA sand (39.4°
against 36.4°), which is possibly related to the more irreg-
ular grain shape of the former material.
The shape of the grains from both carbonate sands was
examined visually through an optical microscope and SEM
images. In total, forty grains were randomly chosen from
the parent sand and the empirical chart proposed by
Krumbein and Sloss (1963) was used to quantify the
particle shape descriptors, namely sphericity, S, and round-
ness, R. Thereafter, the regularity, q, which represents the
mean arithmetic value of the shape descriptors S and R
(first introduced by Cho et al., 2006), was estimated. From
the SEM images in Fig. 2, it can be seen that both sands
have grains which are rather irregularly shaped. The
particle shape descriptors and the corresponding standard
 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585 573

Table 1
Basic characteristics of the Western Australia (WA) and the Philippines (PH) carbonate sands.
Material WA Carbonate PH Carbonate
Sand Sand
Specific gravity Gs 2.68 2.72
Mean grain size D50 (mm) 0.23 0.50
Coefficient of uniformity Cu 1.70 1.85
Coefficient of curvature Cc 0.90 0.88
ucritical (°) 36.4 39.4
Sphericity S (mean) 0.60 0.53
Sphericity standard deviation 0.20 0.20
Roundness R (mean) 0.53 0.30
Roundness standard deviation 0.18 0.18
Regularity q 0.565 0.415
Normalized Silicon weight percentage (%) 1.80 0.42
Normalized Calcium weight percentage (%) 41.20 44.60

PH CS WA CS
100
90
Percent finer by weight

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0.01 0.1 1 10
Grain size (mm)
Fig. 1. Grading curves of both types of carbonate sands: the Philippines
(PH) and the Western Australia (WA) carbonate sand.

deviation among the values are summarized in Table 1. The

PH carbonate sand had slightly more angular grains than
the WA sand. The average value of the regularity for the
WA carbonate sand was found to be 0.565, while that for
the PH carbonate sand was 0.415 (Table 1).
In order to quantify the chemical composition of the
carbonate sands, scanning electron microscope (SEM) –
Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis was car-
ried out for both materials (Knight et al., 2002). The
EDS analysis indicated that both sands are dominated by
calcium compounds with a very small inclusion of silicon.
Typical plots of the EDS analysis from both sands are
given in Fig. 3.
Fig. 2. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of: (a) the Western
2.2. Dynamic experimental methods and testing program Australia carbonate sand; (b) the Philippines carbonate sand.

For the WA carbonate sand, fourteen specimens were
prepared and tested at the Geotechnical Engineering Lab-
oratory of UNSW Australia (Centre for Infrastructure
Engineering and Safety) using two different resonant col-
umn apparatuses. One apparatus is the Stokoe-type which
can accommodate specimens of 50 mm in diameter and
100 mm in length and the second is the Hardin-type which
can accommodate specimens of 70 mm in diameter and
140 mm in length. Both resonant columns are embedded
with vertically placed piezo-element inserts on the top
574 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585

3500 out shear waves propagating in the horizontal direction

Calcium (a)
3000 with one of them inducing vertical vibration of the soil par-
Intensity (Counts)

Calcium ticles (measuring Vs,hv and Ghv) while the other triggers
2500
Oxygen horizontal particle motion (measuring Vs,hh and Ghh).
2000 The system gives the advantage of testing the shear wave
1500 velocity in both vertical and horizontal directions simulta-
Silicon neously and thus the fabric anisotropy of the specimen can
1000
be examined, where the corresponding wave velocity and
500 stiffness measured from the vertical bender elements are
0 denoted as Vs,vh and Gvh.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thereafter, Eqs. (1) and (2) were used to quantify, in a
Energy (keV) straightforward way, the small-strain shear modulus, Gmax,
for all the experiments of the study for the WA and PH car-
3500 bonate sands and constrained modulus, Mmax, when ben-
Calcium (b)
3000 der/extender element tests were performed which was the
Intensity (Counts)

2500
2000 Calcium
1500 Oxygen
1000
500
0 specimens through Eq. (4).
0 1 2 3 4 5
Energy (keV)
Fig. 3. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of: (a) the Western
Australia carbonate sand specimen; (b) the Philippines carbonate sand
specimen.
cap and the pedestal, respectively, which work as both ben-
der elements and extender elements, similar to the configu-
ration described by Leong et al. (2009). This allows the
propagation of S-waves (bender element configuration)
and P-waves (extender element configuration) through
the body of the specimen, thus measurements of shear
and compression wave velocities (Vs and Vp respectively)
can be conducted based on the obtained time arrivals of
the waves with direction of the wave propagation along
the axis of the specimen. The Stokoe-type resonant column
has been described in the previous studies by Payan et al.
(2016, 2017) and He and Senetakis (2016). The Hardin-
type resonant column has been described in the recent stud-
ies by Li et al. (2018) and Senetakis and He (2017).
The Philippines carbonate sand was tested in a Bishop
and Wesley type of triaxial system (Bishop and Wesley,
1975) at the Soil Mechanics Laboratory of City University
of Hong Kong. The apparatus is equipped with both verti-
cal and lateral bender element inserts (no extender element
mode is available in this case). Like the vertical bender ele-
ment system, the lateral bender element inserts are in pairs,
but they are placed horizontally oppose to each other to
measure the horizontally propagating shear wave velocity.
There are two bender element inserts placed orthogonally
in a T shape on each side of the system (described in the
recent study by Li and Senetakis, 2017a). This configura-
tion allows both pairs of lateral bender elements to send
case for the WA carbonate sand. In Eqs. (1) and (2), qs is
the mass density of the specimen and Eq. (3) is used to
quantify the Poisson’s ratio (m) for a given specimen based
on the measurement of Vp and Vs, where the shear wave
velocity corresponds in this case to Vs,vh. The small-strain
Young’s modulus Emax was quantified indirectly based on
both bender/extender element test results for the WA sand
6
2
Gmax ¼ qs  ðV s Þ ð1Þ

2
M max ¼ qs  V p ð2Þ
0:5  V
V
2
p
2
s
m¼ ð3Þ
V 2p
V 2s
M max  ð1 þ mÞ  ð1
2  mÞ
Emax ¼ ð4Þ
ð 1
mÞ
Note that the soil specimens were reasonably assumed
to be homogeneous based on the specimen preparation
methods. Generally, the specimens were divided into multi-
ple layers of soil with the same weight and less compaction
was applied on the initial layers while greater effort was
applied on the top ones. Moreover, no anisotropic stress
state was applied on any of the specimens and significant
intrinsic anisotropy of the material was not observed as dis-
cussed later in the paper. Consequently, Eqs. (3) and (4),
which should be used for homogeneous, isotropic and elas-
tic materials, could be applied to estimate the Poisson’s
ratio and Young’s modulus of the soil, in this case. In
Eqs. (1) and (2), dry mass density was used for the case
of dry specimens, but for saturated specimens, equivalent
density was adopted (as described by Youn et al., 2008),
which accounts for the relative movement of the solid
and fluid phases during high frequency dynamic excitation
(i.e. bender element tests). The use of equivalent density in
the analysis of bender element test results, provides a better
matching between bender element and resonant column
tests, as also described by Li and Senetakis (2017b).
The dynamic testing program and specimen details for
the WA carbonate sand are summarized in Table 2, while
those for the PH carbonate sand are listed in Table 3. All
the specimens from both materials were prepared in a dry
 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585 575

state into split molds of appropriate dimensions using the

dry compaction method. In order to achieve variable initial

0.14

0.14

0.06

0.16

0.14

0.06

0.13

0.07

0.15

0.07

0.06

0.06

0.10

0.21
Poisson’s ratio

densities, the specimens were compacted with a light weight

bm

–
–
tamper applying variable compaction energies. After the
constants

preparation of the specimen, prior to the setting of the

0.53
0.51
0.30
0.42
0.48
0.30
0.44
0.31
0.56
0.37
0.34
0.34

0.95
apparatus and application of the first isotropic confining

0.4
am

–
–
pressure, vacuum of about 10 kPa was applied in order
to support the specimen and measure its actual dimensions.
0.36
0.37
0.29
0.29
0.29
0.29
0.31
0.30
0.32
0.34
0.36
0.36

0.32
buE

The initial void ratios, eo, of the WA carbonate specimens

–
–

–
Emax unloading

ranged from 1.17 to 1.47 (Table 2). The PH carbonate spec-

imens had lower in magnitude eo values, from 0.89 to 1.07
auE (MPa)
constants

(Table 3). Except for specimens WA-13 and WA-14, which

103.2

103.0

were tested in a fully saturated state, all the other speci-

67.4
65.0
95.0

96.0
89.6
92.8

80.2
64.5
66.7
69.7

82.8
mens were tested in a dry state. Note that the void ratio
–
–

–
values for both carbonate soils are relatively high. This is
0.42
0.41
0.34
0.37
0.40
0.34
0.39
0.35
0.42
0.41
0.41
0.41

0.39
0.44
because the sands have intra-particle voids, and the void
bE

–
–

ratio calculation considers the total volume of voids as

Emax loading

the summation of inter- and intra-particle voids.

aE (MPa)
constants

All the specimens were subjected to an isotropic stress

41.8
46.8
69.3
59.9
46.1
67.7
50.0
70.0
69.6
40.6
40.2
42.9

53.7
19.5

path (compression) and the dynamic tests were conducted

–
–

at progressively increasing mean effective confining stres-

ses, p0 , equal to 25 (if applicable), 50, 100, 200, 400, 600
0.37
0.37
0.28
0.28
0.27
0.30
0.28
0.29
0.29
0.33
0.34
0.31
0.42
0.37
0.32
buG

and 800 kPa (if applicable). For the four specimens tested
–
Gmax unloading

in the Hardin resonant column (i.e. specimens WA-11 to

WA-14 in Table 2), a greater maximum effective confining
auG (MPa)
constants

pressure, equal to 1.6 MPa was applied. For most of the

specimens, measurements of the dynamic properties were
26.7
26.6
41.3
45.9
44.6
37.6
40.2
43.3
47.0
27.7
31.0
40.0
20.7
28.3
35.8

also performed following an unloading isotropic path

–

(swelling) after the completion of the test at the highest

level of p0 .
0.45
0.44
0.35
0.40
0.43
0.45
0.35
0.41
0.37
0.43
0.42
0.47
0.41
0.41
0.41
0.49
bG

Additional measurements of small-strain shear modulus

Gmax loading

in torsional resonant column testing were performed for

aG (MPa)
constants

the WA carbonate specimens in order to validate the signal

analysis interpretation from the bender element tests. For
14.3
16.2
26.8
21.6
16.2
13.8
26.2
18.0
26.9
14.8
16.1
12.0
18.0
19.6
18.6
Testing program and specimen details for the Western Australia carbonate sand.

5.5

the dry specimens, the volume changes were estimated

based on the measured axial strain, ea, from a vertically
Average constant values

positioned displacement transducer and the assumption

Literature predicted
Initial inter-particle

of isotropic compression (i.e. the volumetric strain ev

void ratio (esg)

equals to three times the axial strain). The sensitivity of

stiffness measurements to possible inaccuracies to the esti-
mated volumetric strains (and void ratio) of the specimen
0.67
0.75
0.79
0.77
0.77
0.77
0.72
0.81
0.78
0.66
0.63
0.89
0.70
0.73

has been described briefly by He and Senetakis (2016). In

that study, the authors found insignificant effect of the
Initial void

inaccuracy in the estimation of the volumetric strain on

ratio (eo)

Gmax, as in their example, a 100% error in volumetric strain

1.22
1.31
1.36
1.33
1.33
1.33
1.27
1.38
1.34
1.21
1.17
1.47
1.25
1.29

resulted in no larger than 5% of over- or under-estimation

of Gmax values. For saturated specimens, the volume
Saturation

Saturated
Saturated

changes were measured in a straightforward way from a

status

back volume controller.

Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry
Dry

3. Results and discussion

Specimen Code

3.1. Piezo-elements signal analysis

WA-01
WA-02
WA-03
WA-04
WA-05
WA-06
WA-07
WA-08
WA-09
WA-10
WA-11
WA-12
WA-13
WA-14

The estimation of the wave velocities from the bender/

Table 2

extender element tests was performed adopting the first

No.

10
11
12
13
14

time of arrival method applying a sinusoidal type input

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
576 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585

Table 3
Testing program and specimen details for the Philippines carbonate sand.
Gmax loading constants Gmax unloading constants
No. Specimen Saturation Initial void Initial inter-particle aG (MPa) bG auG (MPa) buG
Code status ratio (eo) void ratio (esg)
1 PH-01 Dry 0.89 0.56 10.6 0.45 33.4 0.27
2 PH-02 Dry 0.93 0.60 8.0 0.49 34.1 0.27
3 PH-03 Dry 0.96 0.66 9.1 0.47 23.2 0.32
4 PH-04 Dry 1.07 0.82 8.1 0.51 39.3 0.27
5 PH-05 Dry 0.92 0.59 9.4 0.43 – –
6 PH-06 Dry 0.95 0.64 7.7 0.50 38.2 0.27
7 PH-07 Dry 0.96 0.65 9.8 0.46 32.2 0.29
8 PH-08 Dry 0.95 0.64 8.7 0.49 38.3 0.26
9 PH-09 Dry 1.00 0.71 8.3 0.49 – –
10 PH-10 Dry 0.92 0.59 7.1 0.52 – –
Average constant values 8.7 0.48 34.1 0.28
Literature predicted 3.7 0.53 – –

excitation of 10 kHz for both S-waves and P-waves. During Output signal for VS
the experiments, bender/extender element tests with 15 kHz p'=200kPa
source waves were also performed to verify and eliminate p'=400kPa
possible mistakes during the interpretation, especially for
the bender element tests at high confining pressure, and Peak to peak

the difference in wave velocity measurements between the

Amplitude

two frequencies was found to be small (less than 5%). Typ-

ical plots of the input and output waves from bender and
0 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006
extender element tests for the specimen with code name
WA-06 are given in Fig. 4(a) and (b). Additional measure-
First Time Arrival
ments of Vs and Vp were performed adopting the peak-to-
peak method for the time arrival estimation, however, it is
worth mentioning that the results from the first-time of
arrival method were adopted for further analysis through- (a)
out the study. A comparison between the two different
Time (s)
interpretation methods of shear and compression wave
velocities is given in Fig. 5, where the data are clustered
around the 45° line indicating an excellent agreement Output signal for Vp
between the two methods (5% error). Even though there p'=200kPa

is a discussion in the literature on the signal analysis inter- p'=400kPa

pretation from bender element tests using additional meth-

Peak to peak
ods (for example in the studies by Lee and Santamarina,
Amplitude

2005; Gu et al., 2015; Ogino et al., 2015; Kawaguchi

et al., 2016 among others), the authors have been working
mostly in the time domain particularly using the first time 0 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006
of arrival and peak-to-peak methods (e.g. He and
Senetakis, 2016; Li et al., 2018; Li and Senetakis, 2017a, First Time Arrival
2017b). Typically, the signal analysis from previous
research works by the authors has been validated based
on comparisons with resonant column tests. Fig. 6 provides
(b)
a comparison of the shear moduli (Gmax) obtained from the
bender elements exercise against the torsional resonant col- Time (s)
umn tests for the WA sand specimens tested at UNSW,
Fig. 4. Example of the signal analysis-interpretation for: (a) the bender
Australia. The differences between the Gmax measured from
element tests for specimen WA-06; (b) the extender element tests for
the two methods were mostly below ±10%, with a small specimen WA-06.
scatter when the stiffness was in the lower range. These
results indicated a satisfactory agreement between piezo- nal analysis. Note that the Gmax values in Fig. 6 corre-
element tests and resonant column tests and validated the sponded to the values measured during both the isotropic
interpretation method adopted for the bender element sig- loading (compression) and unloading (swelling) stages.
 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585 577

800 400
Vs Vp 350
700
300

Gmax /f(e) (MPa)

600
Vs or Vp (m/s) PP

250 WA-01
WA-03
500 200
WA-07
±5% range 150
400 WA-11
100 PH-01
300 50 PH-02
PH-03
200 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
100 p' (kPa)
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Fig. 7. Typical plots of small-strain shear modulus measured from bender
Vs or Vp (m/s) FTA element tests against the confining pressure during the isotropic loading
for both WA and PH carbonate sand specimens (Note that modulus is
Fig. 5. Comparisons of S-wave and P-wave velocities between the first-
normalized with respect to a void ratio function).
time of arrival (FTA) and peak-to-peak (PP) methods of signal analysis
(note: Vs results include both the Philippines and the Western Australia
carbonate sand tests while Vp results are only from the Western Australia
carbonate sand). the coefficient of uniformity, Cu, and the particle shape
(expressed here with the regularity q) with respect to unce-
mented sands (e.g. Santamarina et al., 2001; Menq, 2003;
Wichtmann and Triantafyllidis, 2009, 2010; Payan et al.,
Gmax (MPa): Bender element tests

300
2016, 2017, among others). The term f(e) corresponds to
a void ratio function used for normalization purposes. In
this study, the widely adopted void ratio function f(e)
= e
1.3 proposed by Jamiolkowski et al. (1991) was used
200
in order to eliminate the effect of initial specimen density
and determine the model parameters aG and bG. In Eq.
(5), the pressure p0 is normalized with respect to a reference
pressure of 1 kPa to unify the units. Note that the carbon-
ate sands have intra-particle voids; in Eq. (5) and the sub-
100
sequent analysis, the void ratio, e, corresponded to a global
void ratio accounting for both inter- and intra-particle
voids. It means that the development of stiffness expres-
sions is based on the combined inter- and intra-particle
0
0 100 200 300 voids, which would be the typical approach to be adopted
Gmax (MPa): Resonant column tests to develop design parameters for carbonate sands. How-
ever, as it will be discussed later in the paper, there can
Fig. 6. Comparison between shear stiffness (Gmax) of the WA carbonate be an alternative approach in the development of stiffness
sand measured from the piezo-element inserts and the torsional resonant expressions, adopting an equivalent void ratio which con-
column tests.
siders only inter-particle voids.
Based on the analysis of the results from the carbonate
3.2. Small strain shear modulus Gmax against effective sand specimens, the constants aG and bG were obtained.
isotropic confining pressure (p0 ) relationship for both soils The values of the elastic constants for the individual Wes-
tern Australia carbonate sand specimens as well as their
Typical plots of Gmax/f(e)
p0 from a representative set average values for all the experiments are summarized in
of specimens for both soils during the isotropic loading Table 2 and those for the Philippines carbonate sand spec-
stages are given in Fig. 7. The stiffness development trends imens are given in Table 3. It is noticed from Fig. 7 that
followed the general power law expression in Eq. (5) for after normalization, at a given pressure, the PH carbonate
small strain shear modulus: sand specimens yielded lower Gmax/f(e) values. The aG val-
 0 bG ues for the WA carbonate sand ranged between 12.0 and
p 26.9 (MPa) with an average value of 18.6 (MPa), while
Gmax ¼ aG  f ðeÞ  ð5Þ
1kPa those for the PH carbonate sand were observed to be lower,
between 7.1 and 10.6 (MPa) and the average value was
where aG (MPa) and bG are elastic constants (model equal to 8.7 (MPa). On the other hand, the Philippines car-
parameters) which depend, primarily, on material type, bonate sand appeared to be more sensitive to the increase
578 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585

of the pressure since the average power law exponent bG 1000

for the PH carbonate sand was equal to 0.48 (Table 3) 900 (a)
while that for the WA carbonate sand was equal to 0.41 800
(Table 2). Therefore, adopting the computed average val-

Emax/f(e) (MPa)
700
ues of model parameters aG (given in MPa) and bG, Eqs. 600
(6a) and (6b) can be used for the estimation of the small- 500
strain shear modulus of the WA and the PH sands, respec- 400 WA-01
tively (considering isotropic compression): 300 WA-03
 0 0:41
p 200 WA-07
Gmax ¼ 18:6  f ðeÞ  ð6aÞ 100
1kPa WA-11
 0 0:48 0
p 0 500 1000 1500 2000
Gmax ¼ 8:7  f ðeÞ  ð6bÞ p' (kPa)
1kPa
0.40
where Gmax is given in MPa. (b)
The differences in Gmax constants between the WA and
0.35
PH sands may be attributed, predominantly, to the differ-
ent particle shapes, the slight differences of the coefficients

Poisson's ratio ν
0.30
of uniformity as well as possible differences of the overall
grain morphologies between the two sands. With respect
0.25
to quartz sands, it has been reported in the literature that
the increase of Cu and the decrease of the regularity, q,
would result in a drop in aG value and an increase in bG 0.20
value (Menq, 2003; Senetakis et al., 2012; Payan et al.,
0.15 WA-01 WA-02 WA-03
2016), which explains the observed differences in the model
parameters between the two sands. WA-04 WA-08 WA-10
0.10
0 200 400 600 800 1000
3.3. Small strain Young’s modulus Emax and Poisson’s ratio
(m) against effective isotropic confining stress (p0 ) p' (kPa)
relationships for WA carbonate sand Fig. 8. Typical plots of: (a) small strain Young’s modulus from bender/
extender element tests against the confining pressure during the isotropic
Similar to the small strain shear modulus, the Emax/f(e)
loading of the WA carbonate sand specimens; (b) the Poisson’s ratio from
p0 and m
p0 plots for representative specimens from the WA bender/extender element tests against the confining pressure during the
isotropic loading of the WA carbonate sand specimens (Note that
carbonate sand are given in Fig. 8(a) and (b), respectively.
modulus is normalized with respect to a void ratio function).
The variation of the stiffness with respect to pressure can
be depicted by the power law type equations as follows:
 0 bE constant bG (equal to 0.41). Based on the listed average val-
p
Emax ¼ aE  f ðeÞ  ð7Þ ues of the model parameters for Young’s modulus and
1kPa Poisson’s ratio in Table 2, Eqs. (7) and (8) are re-written as:
 0 bm  0 0:39
p p
m ¼ am  ð8Þ Emax ¼ 53:7  e
1:3
 ð9Þ
1kPa 1kPa
where like in Eq. (5), aE (expressed in MPa), bE, am and bm  0 
0:10
p
are model parameters. The same void ratio function, f(e) m ¼ 0:40  ð10Þ
1kPa
= e
1.3, was adopted in the normalization of the small-
strain Young’s modulus (i.e. considering inter- and intra- Note that in Eq. (9) Emax is expressed in MPa and that
particle voids). Since no specific trend of Poisson’s ratio the expressions above correspond to isotropic compression
against void ratio (e) was observed in the study, the Pois- (loading process).
son’s ratio is not normalized by the void ratio function. The Poisson’s ratio was found to decrease in magnitude
Through the analysis of the results with respect to the as the isotropic confining pressure increased (power law
WA sand, the model parameters for both small strain exponent bm values are negative), which is in agreement
Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio were quantified and with the previous experimental and numerical studies by
the resulted values are listed in Table 2. The aE values Yang et al. (2008), Kumar and Madhusudhan (2010), Gu
are more scattered compared to the aG values with a min- and Yang (2013), He and Senetakis (2016) and Payan
imum value of 40.2 and a maximum value of 70.0 et al. (2017). Through this set of tests, the Poisson’s ratio
(expressed in MPa). The average power law exponent bE dropped from ranging between about 0.25 to 0.35 at (p0 )
value (equal to 0.39) is close to the average Gmax power equal to 25 kPa, to about 0.18 to 0.23 at (p0 ) equal to
 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585 579

800 kPa. No systematic effect of the void ratio on the Pois-
son’s ratio was observed through this set of tests, which
coincides with the observations by He and Senetakis
(2016) and Payan et al. (2017).
3.4. Behavior during isotropic unloading
During the isotropic unloading (swelling) process, both
the WA and PH carbonate sands showed to have greater
stiffness in comparison to the loading process. In particu-
lar, based on power-law type fitting, the constants aG and
aE were found to be greater, whereas the constants bG
and bE were found to be lower during the unloading pro-
cess (swelling) in comparison to the compression stage.
Typical plots for specimens WA-01 and PH-02 during the
isotropic loading and unloading paths are given in Fig. 9
(Gmax/f(e)-p0 relationships in Fig. 9(a) and Emax/f(e)-p0
relationships in Fig. 9(b)). Compared to the loading stages,
the average aG and aE values for the WA carbonate sand
increased from 18.6 to 35.8 MPa (for aG) and from 53.7
to 82.8 MPa (for aE) during unloading. For the PH carbon-
ate sand, the average aG had an increase of about 290%
from the loading to the unloading stage, with the average
350
(a)
300
250
Gmax /f(e) (MPa)
value to increase from 8.7 to 34.1 (MPa). On the other
hand, during the unloading stages, the sensitivity of stiff-
ness (for both Gmax and Emax) to pressure was less pro-
nounced in comparison to that during the loading stages,
which was mirrored from the lower bG and bE values dur-
ing the swelling process. The drop of the average bG and bE
values for the WA sand and the average bG values for the
PH sand, between the compression and swelling stages, are
0.09, 0.07 and 0.20, respectively. A summary of the unload-
ing stiffness constants (denoted as auG, buG, auE and buE) of
the individual specimens, are given in Table 2 for the WA
specimens and in Table 3 for the PH specimens. These
observations are in contrast with the general trend
observed in quartz sands, where for a typical range of pres-
sures, for example from 25 to 800 kPa, quartz sands would
show the same sensitivity to pressure during the loading or
unloading processes resulting in almost unchanged values
of the power law exponent. However, these observations
of the study coincide with previous research works on other
types of carbonate sands studied by Fioravante et al. (1994,
1998, 2013), Jovicic and Coop (1997) and Yamashita et al.
(2000), as well as the recent study by He and Senetakis
(2016) on an engineered crushable sand. From the current
study, as well as the previous study by Fioravante et al.
(2013) where the authors included the over-consolidation
ratio factor into the model, the increase in stiffness during
the unloading process could not be solely normalized by
the void ratio function.

200 WA-01 3.5. Particle breakage analysis and its effect on dynamic
properties
150 WA-01
unloading
100 PH-02 The change of the stiffness from the loading to the
unloading process is hypothesized to be mainly attributed
50 PH-02
to the elastoplastic to plastic in nature contact response
unloading
0 between the particles (Cascante and Santamarina, 1996),
0 200 400 600 800 1000 and, perhaps, due to particle breakage during the compres-
p' (kPa) sion of the specimens (Jovicic and Coop, 1997). Therefore,
the grading of the materials was measured after the speci-
800 mens were subjected to a maximum confining pressure of
(b)
700 800 kPa during compression and thereafter the specimens
600
were unloaded. The comparisons between the grading
Emax /f(e ) (MPa)

curves before and after the tests are given in Fig. 10(a)
500
for a WA carbonate sand specimen and in Fig. 10(b) for
400 a PH carbonate sand specimen. Through the relative
300 breakage analysis of the grading curves adopting Hardin
WA-01 (1985) method, it was found that the WA carbonate sand
200
(Fig. 10(a)) had a relative breakage of 3.7% while the PH
100 WA-01 carbonate sand (Fig. 10(b)) yielded almost identical grad-
unloading
0 ing curves before and after the compression indicating neg-
0 200 400 600 800 1000 ligible breakage. These breakage values are representative
p' (kPa) for the whole study.
Since there was observable breakage particularly for the
Fig. 9. (a) Small strain shear modulus of specimens WA-01 and PH-02
WA sand, though small in magnitude, an analysis of the
against the confining pressure during isotropic loading and unloading; (b)
small strain Young’s modulus of specimen WA-01 against the confining power-law exponent bG was carried out to examine
pressure during isotropic loading and unloading (Note that modulus is whether there is any dependency of model parameter bG
normalized with respect to a void ratio function). on the grain breakage during the isotropic loading process,
580 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585

Original WA CS 800kPa tested WA CS 0.50

(a)
100

bG for WA carbonate sand

(a) 0.40
90
Percent finer by weight

80
70 0.30
60
50 0.20
40
30 0.10
WA-01 WA-08 WA-11 WA 12
20
10
0.00
0 200 400 600 800 1000
0
0. 05 0. 5 Maximum pressure (p') reached (kPa)
Grain size (mm)

0.6
Original PH CS 800kPa tested PH CS (b)

bG for PH carbonate sand

100 0.5
(b)
90
80 0.4
Percent finer by weight

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Maximum pressure (p') reached (kPa)
0. 07
Grain size (mm)
Fig. 10. Grading curves before and after the specimens being isotropically
compressed to 800 kPa for: (a) the Western Australia carbonate sand; (b)
the Philippines carbonate sand.
where the breakage could happen progressively as the pres-
sure increases. If there is a massive grain crushing, it is
expected that the crushing would have an impact on the
bG values. For example, Cascante and Santamarina
(1996) found that for brittle materials, the power-law expo-
nent bG at higher stress levels was lower, which was attrib-
uted, mainly to the breakage of the grains. In this study, for
a set of four specimens from each material, the power law
fitting regression analysis was conducted at different maxi-
mum pressures and the bG values are plotted against the
maximum pressure in Fig. 11(a) and (b) for the WA and
PH carbonate sands, respectively. Note that there was no
breakage found through sieving analysis for both materials
after the soil specimens were confined isotropically to
200 kPa, thus comparing the power-law exponent bG val-
ues regressed from 25 to 200 kPa and to higher pressures
would give an indication of whether there is an effect of
grain breakage on the modulus – pressure relationship.
For both materials, there is observed a slight increase of
the power-law exponent bG as the maximum pressure
increases. Thus, the minor particle crushing should not
0.3
0.2
0.1
PH-02 PH-03 PH-06 PH-04
0
0 200 400 600 800
0. 7
Fig. 11. The power for shear modulus (bG) at different maximum isotropic
confining pressures for representative specimens: (a) the WA carbonate
sand specimens; (b) the PH carbonate sand specimens.
be a dominant factor in the range of pressures in the cur-
rent study, even though it caused a slight increase of the
power-law exponent bG for the WA sand of the order of
8% as an averaged value throughout the four specimens
presented in Fig. 11(a).
This analysis is in agreement with the previous work on
Kenya carbonate sand by Bellotti et al. (1991) and
Fioravante et al. (2013), where they neglected the effect
of breakage on the dynamic test results since they did not
find more than 2.5% of relative breakage until the vertically
applied stress yielded 11 MPa. Thus, the higher values of
stiffness exhibited during the unloading compared to the
loading process could possibly be due to the breakage of
the micro asperities on the grain surfaces and a higher level
of interlocking caused by the compression of the specimen
(Fioravante et al., 2013).
3.6. Lateral bender element test results and study of fabric
anisotropy of carbonate sand
For the Philippines carbonate sand, four specimens were
tested with both vertical and lateral (horizontal) bender ele-
ments (PH-07, PH-08, PH-09 and PH-10). Note that the
 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585
frequency used for the lateral bender element tests was
20 kHz instead of 10 kHz to ensure that the distance
between the bender element tips over the wavelength is at
least 3.33 (Leong et al., 2005, 2009). The interpretation of
the lateral bender element test results is identical to the ver-
tical ones given in Fig. 4(a). Three shear wave velocity com-
ponents are recorded at each stress level, denoted as Vs,vh,
Vs,hv and Vs,hh, from which, the corresponding stiffness is
derived from Eq. (1) in a straightforward way, denoted
as Gvh, Ghv and Ghh, respectively. Isotropic stress paths
were followed, thus no stress anisotropy was induced to
the specimen. The ratios between Ghv and Gvh and between
Ghh and Ghv are both plotted against the confining pres-
sure in Fig. 12 to examine the intrinsic anisotropy of the
reconstituted specimen. The ratio Ghh/Ghv was scattered
around unity (ranging from 0.90 to 1.05), thus no system-
atic anisotropy could be identified from the current set of
tests. In contrast to the cross-anisotropy observed in the lit-
erature (Bellotti et al., 1996; Fioravante, 2000; Kuwano
et al., 2000; Gu et al., 2017), the PH carbonate sand sam-
ples were found to be fairly isotropic from the experiments
performed in the study. However, the Gvh appears to be
slightly higher than the other two components for most
tests. The reason of the small difference between the verti-
cal and horizontal bender element test results is believed to
be affected, partly, by the different boundary conditions.
In their recent study examining tailings of silt to sand
size, Li and Senetakis (2017a) reported a fairly isotropic
behavior in terms of similar values of the different compo-
nents of stiffness. Based on reported trends in the literature
(Santamarina and Cho, 2004; Yang et al., 2008), Li and
Senetakis (2017a) highlighted that even though the soils
they tested were very angular, the observed isotropic
behavior was perhaps due to the moderate grain sphericity,
i.e. the grains were not too elongated in shape to give rise
to a notable intrinsic anisotropy. Similarly, the PH carbon-
ate sand of the study was very angular but the grains were
not too elongated in shape.
1.5
1.4
1.3
Ghv/Gvh or Ghh/Ghv
1.2
1.1
1 respectively. These figures and the constants in the tables
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa)
Ghv/Gvh Ghh/Ghv
Fig. 12. Ratios of Ghv/Gvh and Ghh/Gvh against p0 for the Philippines
carbonate sand (from specimens: PH-07, PH-08, PH-09 and PH-10).
581
3.7. Comparison with published models: the use of inter-
particle void ratio
There are extensive studies in the literature aiming at
predicting the small strain stiffness of granular materials,
especially for quartz sands. It has been reported in the lit-
erature that apart from the confining pressure and void
ratio (or density), the dominant factors that affect the elas-
tic stiffness of granular soils are material type, coefficient of
uniformity and particle shape. In the recent works by
Payan et al. (2016, 2017), the shear moduli and Young’s
moduli of a wide range of quartz sands with a variety of
particle shapes and coefficients of uniformity were exam-
ined and the following models for the prediction of elastic
modulus of quartz sands were proposed:


Gmax ¼ 84C u
0:14  q0:68  e
1:29
 0 ðC0:12
u Þð
0:23qþ0:59Þ
p
 ð11Þ
pa


Emax ¼ 245C u
0:09  q0:82  e
1:29
 0 ðC0:11
u Þð
0:44qþ0:66Þ
p
 ð12Þ
pa
where Cu is the coefficient of uniformity, q is the regularity
of the soil particles, e is the void ratio, pa is the atmospheric
pressure (taken as 100 kPa), while Gmax and Emax are
expressed in MPa. These empirical equations are adopted
to predict the behavior of the carbonate sands and compare
the estimated with the measured values. The reason to use
these particular expressions in the present study, among
other formulae proposed in the literature, for comparison
purposes with the results on the WA and PH sands, is that
these expressions incorporate the important effects of both
grading and particle shape characteristics of sands. Note
that in Eqs. (11) and (12), the particle shape influence has
been incorporated through the regularity, q, which is the
arithmetic mean of sphericity and roundness.
The predicted stiffness constants are given in Tables 2
and 3 for both carbonate sands. For representative speci-
mens, based on the Cu and q values of the carbonate sands,
the predicted against the measured shear moduli of the WA
carbonate sand and the PH carbonate sand and the
Young’s moduli of the WA carbonate sand are plotted
against the confining pressure in Fig. 13(a), (b) and (c),
reveal the significant underestimation of the stiffness of
the carbonate sands from the empirical equations. When
plotting the predicted values against the measured values
for both materials (Gmax and Emax), the overall under-
prediction falls in a range of about 30% to 60% (as shown
600 700
in Fig. 14).
As discussed previously, the void ratio is a key parame-
ter that influences the stiffness of the soil. Therefore, con-
sidering the porosity of the material, it is hypothesized
that one of the main reasons for the under-prediction of
582 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585

350 WA CS Gmax PH CS Gmax WA CS Emax

(a)
300 600
WA-01 Measured
250 WA-03 Measured
500 ±60%
Gmax (MPa)

200 WA-07 Measured

Gmax or Emax predicted

WA-11 Measured
150 400 -30%
WA-01 Predicted
100 WA-03 Predicted
50-63% WA-07 Predicted 300
50
Underpredicted WA-11 Predicted
0
200
0 1000 2000 3000
p' (kPa)
100
250
(b)
0
200
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Gmax or Emax measured
Gmax (MPa)

PH-01 Measured
150
PH-02 Measured
Fig. 14. Predicted versus measured stiffness for both materials (including
100 PH-03 Measured Gvh and Emax).
PH-01 Predicted
40-52%
50 PH-02 Predicted
Underpredicted role of the intra-particle voids on the engineering behavior
PH-03 Predicted of those soils (Coop, 1990). However, when proposing Eqs.
0
(11) and (12), the authors tested quartz sands that consist
0 500 1000
of solid grains, thus only inter-particle voids were consid-
p' (kPa)
ered. The high void ratio values would lead to a lower stiff-
900 ness prediction. This arouses the interest to study whether
800
(C) the empirical equations could predict the carbonate sands
WA-01 Measured
behavior if only inter-particle voids are considered in the
700
calculation of the void ratio.
600 WA-03 Measured
The maximum and minimum void ratio of a granular
Emax (MPa)

WA-07 Measured
500 soil with solid particles (i.e. without intra-particle voids)
WA-11 Measured
400 has been related, predominantly, with the coefficient of uni-
WA-01 Predicted
300 formity (Winterkorn and Fang, 1975; Kokusho et al., 1995;
WA-03 Predicted Menq, 2003) as well as the shape of particles (Santamarina
200
40-50% WA-07 Predicted et al., 2001). From a large number of literature and exper-
100
Underpredicted WA-11 Predicted imental results, Menq (2003) derived the following equa-
0
tions for the estimation of the maximum and minimum
0 1000 2000 3000
void ratios of reconstituted granular materials for different
p' (kPa)
coefficients of uniformity as follows:
Fig. 13. Predicted and measured stiffness against pressure for represen-
emax ¼ 0:95  ð1=C u Þ þ 0:43; 200 P C u P 1:0 ð13Þ
tative specimens: (a) predicted and measured shear moduli against
pressure for the WA carbonate sand specimens (empirical equation given emin ¼ 0:60  ð1=C u Þ þ 0:22; 200 P C u P 1:0 ð14Þ
in Eq. (11), proposed by Payan et al. (2016)); (b) predicted and measured
shear moduli against pressure for the PH carbonate sand specimens; (c) According to these equations, a sand of solid grains (i.e.
predicted and measured Young’s moduli against pressure for the WA
carbonate sand specimens (empirical equation given in Eq. (12), proposed
no intra-particle voids) with a coefficient of uniformity of
by Payan et al. (2017)). the WA carbonate sand (=1.70) would have maximum
and minimum void ratios of around emax, sgWA = 0.99
and emin,sgWA = 0.57, respectively. Similar, a sand of solid
the stiffness from the models in Eqs. (11) and (12) is the grains with a coefficient of uniformity of the PH carbonate
high void ratio values of the carbonate sand. From the sand (=1.85) would have maximum and minimum void
SEM images in Fig. 2, there was observed a significant por- ratios of around emax,sgPH = 0.94 and emin,sgPH = 0.54,
tion of intra-particle voids for the grains of both carbonate respectively. These upper and lower bounds could corre-
sands, which resulted in high void ratios of the specimens. spond to the carbonate sands if intra-particle voids were
This is true for any carbonate soil as it has been noticed not considered, i.e. these bounds give a rough estimation
since early 1990s in the literature the possible important of the inter-particle voids assuming solid grains. On the
 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585 583

other hand, the measured maximum and minimum void 300

ratio (which includes inter- and intra-particle voids) for

Gmax predicted (with inter-particle e)

the Western Australian carbonate sand are emax, 250
WA = 1.60 and emin,WA = 1.10, while those for The Philip- ±20%
pines carbonate sand are emax,PH = 1.19 and emin, 200
PH = 0.86. The much higher range of void ratios in com-
parison to the predicted from Eqs. (13) and (14) were, pre-

(MPa)
150
dominantly, a result of the intra-particle voids. It is worth
mentioning that this estimation of limiting void ratio val-
100
ues, based on Eqs. (13) and (14), gives only some general
view of possible values. Cho et al. (2006) have shown that
particle shape, apart from the coefficient of uniformity, 50

also affects the packing of a granular assembly. However, PH CS WA CS

the effect of particle shape was not included in Eqs. (13) 0
and (14). Therefore, the use of Eqs. (13) and (14) in this 0 50 100 150 200 250 300

study is only approximate, for a rough estimation of limit- Gmax measured (MPa)
ing emax and emin values. To be more precise, in future Fig. 15. Predicted shear moduli (based on assumed inter-particle void
works it is recommended that more rigorous estimation is ratios) versus measured shear moduli for all the specimens from both the
conducted to de-couple inter- and intra-particle voids Western Australia and the Philippines carbonate sands.
based, for example, on micro-CT scanning or other ade-
quate techniques. 700
Based on this, the relative density concept is adopted to WA CS Ema x predicted (with inter-particle e)
assume the inter-particle void ratio of the carbonate sands 600
(i.e. ignoring the intra-particle voids). Relative density is ±20%
defined as: 500
emax
e
Dr ¼ ð15Þ 400
emax
emin
(MPa)

where emax is the maximum void ratio, and emin is the min-
imum void ratio. With the calculated relative density of a
carbonate sand specimen, its corresponding inter-particle
void ratio could be assumed (as a rough estimation) by
the following equation:


esg ¼ emax;sg
Dr  emax;sg
emin;sg ð16Þ
where esg is the solid grain void ratio, which is an assumed
inter-particle void ratio (i.e. corresponds to a rough estima-
tion based on Eqs. (13) and (14)) for the carbonate sand.
emax,sg and emin,sg are the maximum and minimum void
ratios of a solid grained sand with the uniformity coeffi-
cient of the carbonate sand.
Adopting the assumed inter-particle void ratio, the shear
moduli and Young’s moduli of the carbonate sands are re-
predicted using the empirical equation proposed for quartz
sand (Eqs. (11) and (12)). The comparison between the re-
predicted and measured shear moduli for both carbonate
sands is given in Fig. 15 and the re-predicted Young’s mod-
uli are compared with measured Young’s moduli in Fig. 16.
Despite the small scatter (within a ±20% error range), from
the comparisons in Figs. 15 and 16, the predicted stiffness
values based on the assumed inter-particle voids are satis-
factorily close to the measured values without systematic
under- or over-prediction. In practice, the results of Figs. 15
and 16 reveal that empirical expressions developed on the
basis of quartz sands of solid grains work satisfactorily also
for carbonate sands which have intra-particle voids, if only
inter-particle voids are assumed based on some reasonable
300
200
100
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
WA CS Ema x measured (MPa)
Fig. 16. Predicted Young’s moduli (based on assumed inter-particle void
ratios) versus measured Young’s moduli for all the specimens from the
Western Australia carbonate sand.
assumptions and consideration that the grains are solid. It
is believed however, as mentioned before, that more precise
de-coupling of inter- and intra-particle voids could be per-
formed in future works based on micro-CT scanning anal-
ysis and image processing and/or the combined use of
micro-CT scanning with other adequate techniques. The
results of the study presented in this Section 3.7, can give
an indication that the concept of inter-particle voids could
work effectively for carbonate sands (as well as other soils)
which have intra-particle voids. It is needed to be men-
tioned however, that the application of the general expres-
sions of Eq. (5) and the development of model parameters
for stiffness prediction considering global void ratio, is the
mainstream method to produce design parameters to be
used in engineering practice. Depending on the type of soil,
possible grain breakage could add some complication in
584 H. He et al. / Soils and Foundations 59 (2019) 571–585
the use of inter-particle void ratio, excluding the intra-
particle voids from the void ratio function, which is a topic
that is worth further investigation.
4. Conclusions
The paper studied and compared two poorly graded car-
bonate sands from two distinct origins, namely Western
Australia (WA) and the Philippines (PH) with a focus on
the small strain stiffness. Basic characterization of the
materials was performed and the results showed that the
two sands are composed of irregularly shaped grains based
on the quantification of the particle shape descriptors with
the help of SEM analysis. Piezo-element inserts were used
to carry out the dynamic tests during the progressive iso-
tropic confinement of the specimens. The interpretation
method for bender element test results was validated by
making comparisons between the shear wave velocities
measured from bender element and torsional resonant col-
umn tests. For the WA carbonate sand, the small strain
shear modulus, the Young’s modulus and the Poisson’s
ratio were examined using bender/extender elements. For
the PH carbonate sand, the small strain shear modulus
was studied using bender elements with a focus on the com-
parison between the vertical and the lateral bender element
test results, thus possible stiffness anisotropy could be iden-
tified. The dynamic tests were also performed during the
isotropic unloading (swelling) stage and both carbonate
sands were found to be noticeably affected by the over-
consolidation stress history which is aligned with previous
works published in the literature on different carbonate
sands. No massive particle breakage was noticed through
the comparison between the grading curves before and
after the isotropic confinement up to 800 kPa. No signifi-
cant fabric anisotropy was observed for the reconstituted
PH carbonate sand specimens since the shear moduli Ghh
and Ghv measured from the lateral bender elements were
almost identical. It was assumed that the fairly isotropic
behavior was majorly related to the moderate sphericity
of the grains, since both sands consisted of grains which
were not too elongated and that the angularity of the grains
might play a secondary role on the intrinsic isotropy/
anisotropy.
Published empirical equations in the literature proposed
from quartz sands gave unsuccessful prediction of the car-
bonate sands stiffness. From a novel approach, the intra-
particle voids in the carbonate sands were eliminated in
the void ratio calculation assuming the grains as solid, thus
equivalent inter-particle void ratio was derived based on
some rough estimation from empirical expressions. When
taking the equivalent inter-particle void ratio into the
empirical literature equations, the stiffness prediction was
found to be satisfactory. This means that for sands with
intra-particle voids, particularly for carbonate soils which
are very important geo-materials in critical infrastructure
such as offshore structures and subsea facilities, empirical
expressions developed on the basis of quartz sands may
work well to predict the stiffness of a carbonate soil when
the intra-particle voids are ignored. It was however stressed
in our study that the basic method to compute void ratio
and derive design values of soil stiffness is based on the glo-
bal void ratio which accounts for both inter- and intra-
particle voids. The use of inter-particle voids into a stiffness
expression, de-coupling inter- and intra-particle voids for
high porosity materials, would worth further investigation
using adequate image analysis.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the anonymous review-
ers for their kind comments and detailed suggestions that
helped us to improve the quality of our manuscript. The
grant No. 7200533 (ACE) from the City University of
Hong Kong is acknowledged for supporting partly the
research work described in this paper as well as the grant
from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Spe-
cial Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU
112813).
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