Steady State Strength of Sands in a Constant Volume Ring Shear Apparatus

Abstract

Abstract A modified volume ring shear test apparatus has been developed to undertake constant volume ring shear tests on sand. This constant volume test is a useful means of assessing the steady state strength of granular soils at large strain to determine the liquefaction potential of a soil mass. The apparatus and specimen preparation tools and methods are presented herein. The paper also presents the device and method used to verify the uniformity of the specimens prepared and the repeatability of the specimen preparation method. An experimental program has been conducted using both constant volume (CV) and constant load (CL) tests to investigate the effect of saturation, and of fines on the steady state line (SSL) and the steady state strength (SSS) envelope.