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NOTES

Undrained and drained (?) stress–strain response

Y.P. Vaid and A. Eliadorani

Abstract: The deformation response of saturated soils to a total stress increment at the ambient void ratio and effective
stress state is shown to be dependent on the direction of the effective strain increment. It is argued that in a given field
problem, most soil elements neither deform fully drained nor undrained, but do so partially drained. The degree of
partial drainage controls the direction of the effective stress increment and hence the deformation response.
Experimental data are presented which demonstrate how shear stiffness changes with the direction of effective stress
increment as a function of the ambient effective stress state.

Key words: stress–strain, undrained, drained, partially drained, stress path, stiffness.

Résumé : On montre que la réponse en déformation des sols saturés à un incrément de contrainte totale à l’indice de
vide ambiant et dans un état de contrainte effective est dépendant de la direction de l’incrément effectif de
déformation. On soutient que dans un problème de terrain donné, la plupart des éléments de sol se déforment dans un
état ni complètement drainé, ni non drainé, mais dans un état partiellement drainé. Le degré de drainage partiel
contrôle la direction de l’incrément de contrainte effective et ainsi la réponse en déformation. On présente des données
expérimentales qui démontrent comment la rigidité en cisaillement change avec la direction de l’incrément de
contrainte effective en fonction de l’état ambiant de contrainte effective.

Mots clés : contrainte–déformation, non drainé, drainé, partiellement drainé, cheminement de contrainte, rigidité.

[Traduit par la Rédaction] Notes 1130

Introduction cause of the inherently coupled nature of the problem, that is

equilibrium and diffusion (Biot 1941).
The solution of deformation problems of soils requires a
Traditionally, a saturated soil element response to an ap-
confident characterization of their effective stress – strain
plied stress increment is assumed to be bounded between the
behaviour. This behaviour, in general, is nonlinear and in-
two extremes, fully drained and undrained. While the conno-
elastic and stress history and stress path dependent. On load
tation with the term undrained is explicit (as it signifies zero
application, the effective stress path experienced by a satu-
volume change, which implies loading along a prescribed
rated soil element in a given earth structure depends on the
strain path), the term drained is often viewed as the behav-
induced spatial distribution and changes with time of both
iour recorded, for example, in conventional drained triaxial
total stresses and excess pore pressures. These changes with
type loading (Fig. 1a, paths Ñ and Ñ′, assuming an axi-
time of total stresses and pore pressures are governed by the
symmetric state of stress). In fact, the conventional drained
boundary conditions on stresses and displacements, and
triaxial loading is only one of an infinite number of possibil-
drainage triggered due to excess pore-pressure gradients over
ities by which increments of effective stresses can increase
the entire loading domain of the geotechnical structure.
on the soil element. This loading merely represents loading
Since most field problems are of the mixed boundary value
along a linear effective stress path, dσ r′ = 0, and implies no
type (stresses specified on some boundaries while displace-
time lag between the application of total, dσ, and effective,
ments on others), and excess pore pressures cannot dissipate
dσ ′, stresses, i.e., dσ = dσ′ and excess pore pressure, du = 0.
immediately, except at the drainage boundaries, the total
In most field situations, however, the soil elements drain and
stresses in the soil elements undergo time-dependent
experience volume and pore-pressure changes with time
changes during this pore-pressure dissipation phase, even if
(volumetric strain, d ε v ≠ 0, du ≠ 0) simultaneously. The ef-
the boundary loads remain constant. The total stress changes
fective stress path to which these elements get subjected are
and dissipation of excess pore pressure occur with time be-
stress paths in which dσ r′ ≠ 0. The response would be fully
drained only if on loading the total and effective stress paths
Received August 9, 1999. Accepted March 9, 2000. are parallel (pairs Ñ, Ñ′and Ð, Ð′) so that the loading corre-
Published on the NRC Research Press website on October 24, sponds to dσ = dσ′ and du = 0 at all times. If they are not,
2000. the deformation response would be partially drained. An un-
Y.P. Vaid and A. Eliadorani. Department of Civil drained response that enforces zero volume change then
Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2324 Main amounts to a special case of this suite of partially drained
Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. responses, and since it represents loading along a unique

Can. Geotech. J. 37: 1126–1130 (2000) © 2000 NRC Canada

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Notes
Fig. 1. Undrained, fully drained, and partially drained effective stress paths and the associated strain paths. TSP, total stress path; ESP,
effective stress path; ∆u, excess pore pressure.
strain path, the effective stress path the soil experiences is
independent of the applied total stress path (Henkel 1960;
Vaid and Campanella 1974).
The relationship between stress and strain increments at
an ambient effective stress state P can be established by lab-
oratory element tests, by applying controlled effective stress
increments and recording the induced strain increments
(Fig. 1b). Alternatively, controlled strain increments may be
applied and the effective stress increment to induce this
strain is recorded (Vaid et al. 2000). The former constitutes
loading along a controlled stress path, in contrast to a con-
trolled strain path in the latter case.
The objective of this note is to demonstrate that for a
given initial state (stress history and stress state) the soil re-
sponse is not necessarily bounded by the two extremes,
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1127
namely fully drained and undrained. Partially drained condi-
tions are generally the norm in field situations and may, in
certain situations, constitute a more damaging loading condi-
tion when compared to the undrained case. A typical exam-
ple of such a situation occurs while loading a dense
saturated sand which, for a given total stress path, is re-
garded to be more resistant undrained than if drainage can
occur. These issues are of particular concern in problems of
sand liquefaction where saturated sand is tacitly assumed
undrained during and soon after earthquake loading. In fact,
experimental and field studies by Seed (1987), Liu and Qiao
(1984), and Whitman (1985) have demonstrated that drain-
age, howsoever small, does occur even during these short
loading durations. The spatial variations in excess pore
pressures generated within the loading domain and the
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1128
Fig. 2. Undrained, conventional drained, and partially drained response of loose, saturated Fraser River sand. Drc, relative density at
the end of consolidation. σ 1′ and σ 3′, effective major and minor principal stresses.
relatively high permeability of sands are clearly the contrib-
uting factors in the occurrence of partial drainage.
Drainage conditions and measured
response
Results from a series of partially drained, undrained, and
conventional drained triaxial compression tests on Fraser
Delta Sand (D50 = 0.30) are illustrated in Fig. 2. The initial
stress history and void ratio at the ambient stress state were
identical for each specimen. Specimens reconstituted by
loose water pluviation were initially confined under about
20 kPa during preparation. They were then consolidated to a
confining stress of 200 kPa along a constant stress ratio line
Rc = σ a′/σ r′ = 2.10 before the shearing phase was com-
menced, where σ a′ is the effective axial stress and σ r′ is the
total radial stress. The relative density at the end of consoli-
dation was about 30%. For convenience, partially drained
shear was carried out using linear strain paths, i.e., dε v /dε a =
constant, where ε a is the axial strain. The resulting effective
stress paths were nonlinear and simulated both volume expan-
sions and contractions. The total stress path in each test was
dσ r = 0.
Figure 2 illustrates both the effective stress paths and the
conventional deviator stress – axial strain response during
shear and clearly shows that the stress–strain response of
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Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000
sand is profoundly affected by the direction of the effective
stress increment. To compare the shear stiffness at the ambi-
ent state σ r′ = 200 and Rc = 2.1 along different effective
stress increment directions, the initial sections of the
stress–strain curves are shown on an expanded scale in the
inset to Fig. 2a. Results for only those stress paths which in-
volve loading, i.e., increase in R, the effective stress ratio,
are shown. The remaining paths involve unloading (decrease in
R) and thus are not comparable to the loading paths.
The initial secant shear modulus Gsec at a small shear
strain γ = ∆ε a – ∆ε r of 0.05%
1  ∆(σ 1− σ 3) 
[1] Gsec =  
2  0.05 × 10− 2 
where σ1 and σ3 are the major and minor principal stresses,
is plotted as a function of the direction α of the effective
stress increment (Fig. 3). The angle α = tan–1( ∆q/ ∆p′ ) is
defined as the angle the effective stress increment vector
makes counterclockwise with the horizontal p′ axis in p′ ,
q space, in which
(σ a′ + 2σ r′ )
[2] p′ =
3
and
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Fig. 3. Variation of shear stiffness with the direction of effective stress increment at a given ambient stress state. σ hc
hydrostatic pressure at the end of consolidation.
[3] q = (σ a′ – σ r′ )
The data in Fig. 3 also include Gsec values along conven-
tional drained (CTC-d) and undrained (U) paths. Gsec de-
creases slightly as α increases from the CTC-d value of 72°
to the undrained value of 90°. The modulus degradation with
further increase in α in excess of the undrained case towards
180° becomes very steep. This region of the stress space
represents partially drained stress paths associated with
small expansive volumetric strains. The more expansive the
ratio d ε v /d ε a, the larger is the modulus reduction.
Data similar to those shown in Fig. 2 at identical σ r′ = 200
were now obtained at other Rc levels of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.8, and
the ensuing values of Gsec are also plotted in Fig. 3. As Rc
increases (Rc = 2.8), the shear modulus at a given α de-
creases, as would be expected. The degradation with α is
gradual and appears smooth over the entire range of partially
drained shear that involves compressive volumetric changes.
On the other hand, Gsec values for a given α increase with a
decrease in Rc, and the largest values are associated with the
initial hydrostatic Rc = 1 state. It is interesting to note that at
Rc = 1, transformation of the nature of partial drainage from
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1129
′ , effective
small compressive volumetric strains towards zero and be-
yond to the expansive type causes little change in Gsec.
Studies are now underway to investigate similar Gsec–α
relationships that encompass other initial state variables, i.e.,
level of σ r′, relative density, and prior strain history.
Conclusions
Triaxial test results on a saturated sand are presented
which demonstrate that at a given effective stress state, the
deformation response to a total stress increment depends on
the degree of drainage experienced by the soil element. The
shear stiffness is not bounded by the fully drained (du = 0,
dσ ′ = dσ) and undrained (εv = 0) limits on drainage, as is
often believed. It depends on the direction of the effective
stress increment, which is related to the degree of drainage.
Relative to the undrained value, the shear stiffness increased
if partial drainage caused compressive volumetric changes,
but decreased when expansive volumetric changes occurred.
Plasticity idealizations of soils which assume that incremen-
tal strain response is a function of stress state only and not
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1130
the direction of stress increment must therefore be used with
caution.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Pre-
cision machining of the test equipment by Herald Schrempp
and electronic instrumentation supports of Scott Jackson and
John Wong are gratefully acknowledged. Selene Loke pre-
pared the manuscript.
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© 2000 NRC Canada