The influence of the anisotropic stress state on the intermediate strain properties of granular material

This paper shows the effect of anisotropic stress state on intermediate strain properties of cylindrical samples containing spherical glass particles. Tests were carried out with the modified resonant column device available at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Dry samples were subjected to two anisotropic stress states: (a) cell pressure, σ′h, constant and vertical stress, σ′v, increased (stress state GB-I) and (b) σ′v/σ′h equal to 2 (stress state GB-II). The experimental results revealed that the effect of stress state GB-II on the modulus and damping ratio was more significant and obvious than stress state GB-I. The effect of the anisotropic stress state was explained through the impact of confining pressure and anisotropic stress components on the stiffness and damping ratio. The results showed that: (a) G(γ) increased, η(γ) decreased and their strain non-linearity decreased with an increase in the confining pressure component σ′vσ′h; (b) G(γ) decreased, η(γ) increased and their strain non-linearity increased with an increase in the anisotropic stress component, σ′v/σ′h. The analysis of results revealed that reference shear strain was also affected by anisotropic stress state. Therefore, an empirical relationship was developed to predict the reference shear strain, as a function of confining pressure and anisotropic stress components. Additionally, the damping ratio was written as a function of the minimum damping ratio and the reference shear strain.