James Graham

Stress-strain behaviour of reconstituted illitic clay at different temperatures☆

Abstract Tests on specimens of reconstituted illitic clay have examined the influence of temperature on the mechanical behaviour of clay soils. The program involved consolidation to effective confining pressures up to 1.5 MPa, heating to 100°C, and tests on normally consolidated and overconsolidated specimens with OCR = 2. The tests included isotropic consolidation, undrained triaxial compression with pore water pressure measurement, drained tests along controlled stress paths to investigate yielding behaviour, and undrained tests which involved heating and measurement of the resulting induced pore water pressures. The large strain strength envelope is independent of temperature. However, peak undrained strengths increase with temperature because smaller pore water pressures are generated during shearing. An important contribution from the study is a series of results for the yielding of illitic clay at three different temperatures. For the first time, there is clear evidence of yield loci decreasing in size with increasing temperature. An associated flow rule can be assumed without serious error. The results contribute to the confirmation of a thermal elastic-plastic soil model developed by the authors from cam clay following the addition of a small number of extra assumptions. Depending on the initial stress state, heating under undrained conditions may produce shear failure.

Influence of suction on the strength and stiffness of compacted sand-bentonite

This paper examines the constitutive behaviour of unsaturated mixtures of compacted sand-bentonite material. Two different techniques have been used to modify soil suction in laboratory specimens to examine the influence of suction on the behaviour of compacted materials. The two methods generated inherent differences in material fabric and therefore in stress-strain behaviour. The difference in microstructure generated by these two preparation techniques created different properties for the two series of specimens. This paper compares the behaviour of the two series of specimens and relates the observed mechanical behaviour to the initial soil fabric created by the two different preparation techniques. Specimens of similar compacted material were taken from two full-scale in-ground experiments conducted at Atomic Energy of Canada Limiteds Underground Research Laboratory at Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba and sheared using the same triaxial equipment. The results are compared to the results of shearing laborator...

Effects of temperature on strength and compressibility of sand-bentonite buffer

Abstract Dense sand-bentonite buffer (γd = 1.67Mg/m3) has been proposed in Canada as one of several barriers for isolating nuclear fuel waste. The buffer will be required to function under conditions of high total pressures and elevated temperatures approaching 100°C. Summary results are presented from two test programs: (1) isothermal consolidated undrained triaxial (CIU¯) tests; and (2) isothermal drained constant-p′ (CID) triaxial tests. Specimens were consolidated at effective stresses up to 9.0 MPa and temperatures up to 100°C. The results indicate parallel hardening lines at systematically lower values of specific volume at elevated temperatures. In shear, increased temperatures produced lower values of maximum deviator stressqf, and higher pore water pressure changesΔuf. The net result is curved peak strength envelops in plots ofqf versuspf′ that are higher at elevated temperatures, even though the strengths,qf of individual specimens are lower. The critical state strength envelope is curved inq, p′-planes. The effect of drained heating on buffer to 100°C is not marked. Compressibilities, stiffnesses, strengths, and pore water pressure generation are all affected, but none of the changes are great.

Suctions, stresses and strengths in unsaturated sand–bentonite

Abstract This paper presents suction and strength characteristics for a dense, compacted, unsaturated sand–bentonite mixture under a variety of preparation and stressing conditions. Suctions were determined experimentally using thermocouple psychrometers and the filter paper method. They are shown to be related to water contents, saturation, dry densities and osmotic agents. The influence of the initial suctions on strength was evaluated using quick undrained triaxial compression tests, here called ‘constant-mass’ tests. Examination of the suction response to applied external stresses was carried out using stress-controlled triaxial tests along selected stress paths. These tests measured suctions in tests where the mean stress p and deviator stress q were changed systematically to give a series of constant values of Δ q /Δ p . The results showed that suction decreased as mean stress loading increased. Suction changes appear to be produced only by the mean stress component of the stress tensor and not by the shear stress component. In this compacted sand–bentonite material, for the pressure range at which the tests were performed ( p ′≤3 MPa), changes in suction produced by changes in mean stress are largely reversible.

An improved elastic–viscoplastic soil model

This paper develops an improved and accessible framework for modelling time-dependent behaviour of soils using the concepts of elasticity and viscoplasticity. The mathematical description of viscoplastic straining is formulated based on a purely viscoplastic and measurable phenomenon, namely creep. The resulting expression for the viscoplastic strain rates includes a measure of both effective stress and the corresponding volumetric packing of the soil particles. In this way, the model differs from some earlier viscoplastic models and arguably provides a better conceptual description of time-dependent behaviour. Analytical solutions are developed for the simulation of drained and undrained strain-controlled triaxial compression tests. The model is then used to back-analyze the measured response of normally consolidated to moderately overconsolidated specimens of a soft estuarine soil in undrained triaxial compression. The model captures aspects of soil behaviour that cannot be simulated using time-independ...

Particle orientation and its influence on the mechanical behaviour of isotropically consolidated reconstituted clay

Abstract The behaviour of naturally occurring geological materials such as clay and sand depends on many factors. For example, stresses, strains, previous stress history, mineralogy and the depositional environment all contribute in some degree to a characteristic that all natural soils share, namely “structure”. The structure of clay, or more generally, the microstructure of microscopically sized clay mineral particles, is just as important as the many other parameters that are used to quantify the performance of clays. This paper examines the microstructure that results from the particle arrangement brought about during reconstitution in the laboratory and considers its relevance to the resulting stress–strain behaviour. Samples of reconstituted kaolin clay were produced using two different procedures. In the first series of tests, kaolin slurry was simply isotropically compressed in one increment. In the second series, the slurry was first isotropically compressed to a low pressure and then completely remoulded. This was followed by isotropic compression to the same pressure as the other series. Specimens were taken from the two series of samples, reconsolidated at various isotropic pressures, and sheared under undrained conditions. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images indicated that the monotonically compressed samples (Series 1) exhibited an anisotropic microstructure that was distinct from the remoulded (Series 2) samples. Significant differences were also found in the consolidation and stress–strain characteristics of the samples produced in the two series.

A capillarity-advective model for gas break-through in clays

Abstract Laboratory testing has investigated how gases can break through compacted specimens of illite, bentonite, and sand–illite or sand–bentonite mixtures. Specimens were formed with a wide range of initial clay densities, water contents and degrees of saturation. Tests were done using two different test procedures. In one, equal increments of gas pressure were applied at constant time intervals until break-through was observed. In the second, the pressure was held constant, and the time required for break-through recorded. Results show that the pressure at break-through increases with clay density and decreases with degree of saturation. When the degree of saturation is below about 85% in illite and clay–illite, and 93% in bentonite and sand–bentonite, there is only a small resistance to gas migration. Above these degrees of saturation, break-through pressures rise sharply. In an approach that differs from some others that have been reported, it is postulated that gas migration is only possible when its pressure is higher than a Gas Entry Value (GEV) that is related to capillarity effects in the largest pores of the material. Thereafter, the rate of advance of the gas–water interface depends on advective flow, that is, on the pressure (hydraulic) gradient across the specimen. Analysis shows that times to break-through should decrease inversely with pressure increase and this was observed in the experiments. Tests were also done on specimens made with non-polar paraffin instead of water. This inhibited the development of bound water in diffuse double layers (DDLs) and led to break-through at much lower pressures.

Influence of geology and geological processes on the geotechnical properties of a plastic clay

Abstract The complex properties of postglacial clay at Winnipeg, Canada have major impact on civil engineering construction in the city. Problems include house foundation movements, low stability of riverbanks, poor highway pavement performance, difficult excavation, and a high incidence of watermain breaks. The research in this paper presents an understanding of the geologic factors that cause these problems, and how to ameliorate their effects in engineering design. The geotechnical properties of the clay were measured from carefully sampled, 76 mm diameter triaxial specimens. The clay is nonhomogeneous, anisotropic, active, overconsolidated and fissured. These properties are related to the depositional and post-depositional geology of the area. The depositional geology of the extensive Lake Agassiz clays is straightforward and well known. However, it does not fully explain the measured geotechnical properties. Attention is then directed towards post-depositional geological processes such as regional groundwater hydrology, cementation, aging, freeze-thaw and desiccation. Consideration of effective stress strengths, quasi-elastic anisotropy, the variation of overconsolidation ratio with depth, yielding and porewater pressure generation, suggests strongly that the clay is cemented by carbonates and sulphates from upwards movement of salt-rich groundwater. Freeze—thaw disturbance causes marked changes in behaviour, especially at low stresses.

High-pressure triaxial testing on the canadian reference buffer material

Abstract Triaxial testing is being carried out on a mixture of Na-bentonite and sand to provide parameters for computer modelling of a nuclear-fuel waste disposal vault when the material is used as a sealant. Drained and undrained tests with porewater pressure measurement have been performed at confining pressures up to 6 MPa. The program is now being extended to 10 MPa and elevated temperatures. In the long term, at room temperatures, it is predicted that the material will behave like a normally consolidated clay and strain harden plastically with increasing mean effective stress. In shear, its undrained strength will decrease slightly after failure. Working relationships, based on critical state soil mechanics, have been established for the normal consolidation and failure conditions of the material. The behaviour of the material in drained conditions can be predicted from these relationships.

Hydraulic conductivity and pore fluid chemistry in artificially weathered plastic clay

Abstract Triaxial and oedometer tests have examined how freezing–thawing (FT) and drying–wetting (DW) affect the hydraulic conductivity of a natural plastic clay. Because the clay was expansive, FT and DW in the laboratory produced only one order of magnitude increase in hydraulic conductivity above the ‘undisturbed’ value when permeated with water. Permeation with sodium carbonate or dimethyl sulfoxide reduced the hydraulic conductivity towards the undisturbed value, though some increases still remained. Hydraulic conductivities measured by oedometer were lower than those in the triaxial tests and varied strongly with applied pressure.