Effect of Strain Rate on Strength Behaviour of Cohesionless Soil

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present, qualitatively, the impact of strain rate on the strength behaviour of dry cohesionless sands. The strength behaviour was studied from the aspect of friction angle and dilation angle. A significant number of tests were performed in the direct shear test apparatus for different combinations of normal stresses and shearing strain rates. Shearing strain seems to have a noticeable impact on both the measured strength parameters. For a constant normal load, it is observed that as the shearing rate increases, shear strength increases up to a certain level and then it decreases. The rate of this decrement with respect to the strain level is also a function of the applied normal load. Insightful observations were made for the dilation angle as well. These laboratory observations and interpretations would be further helpful in designing the geotechnical structures in practice. © 2020, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.