Abstract
In this work, the cyclic behavior of bentonite–sand mixtures and factors affecting it were studied by means of a ring-shear apparatus and a scanning electron microscope. It was found that bentonite content had a significant influence on the liquefaction potential of the studied soils. A small amount of bentonite in the mixtures would cause the formation of “loose” microstructures, resulting in the occurrence of rapid liquefaction under cyclic loading, while a high bentonite content would cause the formation of clay matrixes, thus raising the soil resistance to liquefaction. In addition, the effect of pore water chemistry on the cyclic behavior of a high plasticity bentonite–sand mixture was carefully examined. It was also found that the presence of ions in pore water would change the clay microfabric, making it more open and thus more vulnerable to liquefaction. Finally, the effects of loading frequency on the cyclic behavior of mixtures with different amounts of bentonite were investigated. It was found that as the bentonite content increased, the influence became more pronounced.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dr. V. Sokolov, Professor of Moscow State University, for his invaluable help with SEM analysis.
This study is a part of International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) Project M124-“The influence of clay mineralogy and ground water chemistry on the mechanism of landslides” conducted by the Institute of Geoscience of the Russian Academy of Science, Russia, and Kyoto University, Japan.
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Gratchev, I.B., Sassa, K., Osipov, V.I. et al. Undrained cyclic behavior of bentonite–sand mixtures and factors affecting it. Geotech Geol Eng 25, 349–367 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-006-9115-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-006-9115-2