ISSN: 1945-7545
CODEN: GTJODJ
Page Count: 11

A Cyclic Simple Shear Apparatus for Dry Granular Materials

Ansell, P
Civil engineer, Sir William Halcrow and Partners, Aberdare, Glamorgan, Wales,

Brown, SF
Senior lecturer, University of Nottingham, Nottingham,

Abstract

The development of a simple shear apparatus for cyclic loading of dry granular material is described. Full details of the equipment are given together with information on its performance. The motivation for this work was provided by the need to determine the response of granular material in roads and railroads to the modes of cyclic loading imposed by moving traffic. The equipment is relatively simple and is operated by pneumatic rams. Stress conditions on the central third of a rectangular specimen are measured by load cells attached to the loading platens. The top platen is split into three parts to allow differential dilation of the specimen to occur when failure conditions are approached near the ends. Thus, uniform stress conditions are maintained over the central third. Both one directional and reversed shear tests can be performed at frequencies up to about 0.5 Hz on specimens 210 by 140 by 30 mm.

Keywords:
shear apparatus, direct shear tests, shear stress, stress analysis, highway loads, moving loads, aggregates, railroads

Paper ID: GTJ10375J
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ10375J
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