Effect of the confining method on the cyclic undrained behavioursof sand

Abstract

Cyclic Simple Shear (CSS) test is widely considered to best simulate vertically propagating shear waves and in-situ stress conditions. CSS test is always performed to generate reliable laboratory data for development and calibration of models in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering design. Soil sample is laterallyconfined to simulate in-situ stress condition (k0). Stacked rings (SR) and Wire-reinforced membranes (WR) are the two widely used confining methods. Studies have been conducted on the effect of the two confinement methods on the static behavior of soil. In this paper, the effect of the SR and WR confinement methods on the dynamic soil behavior is studied. Undrained cyclic stress controlled tests were performed on loose and medium dense samples of Ottawa sand laterally confined by SR and WR. The comparison of the tests results showed that the dynamic behavior of the two confinement methods is mostly similar.