Hyperbolic Parameters for Compacted Soils

Abstract

Finite element methods are being used more and more during design, in cases involving compacted soil‐structure interaction. In general, it is not practical to conduct extensive tests to obtain the compacted soil properties required by the finite element methods during the design phase. Alternatively, if finite element approaches are used for developing design tables, soil properties representative of typical soil types and compaction specifications are required. To provide the needed design soil parameters for a wide variety of soil conditions, laboratory testing is carried out on three soils: a sand, a silt, and a clay. These soils are prepared at density states ranging from loose to 95% of the maximum from the standard compaction tests [American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D698, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) T‐99]. The tests used to obtain the soil parameters are triaxial compression, isotropic compression, and one‐dimensional compression. A consistent set of soil design parameters are obtained by fitting test results to a hyperbolic soil model representing Young's modulus and bulk modulus as functions of stress.