ISSN: 0149-6115
Published Online: 16 June 2004
Page Count: 10

The Louisiana Plane Strain Apparatus for Soil Testing

Alshibli, KA
Joint Assistant Professor,Louisiana State University and Southern University,LA,

Godbold, DL
Undergraduate Student,Louisiana State University,LA,

Hoffman, K
Graduate Student,Louisiana State University,LA,

(Received 12 May 2003; accepted 19 November 2003)

Abstract

The mechanical description of a new plane strain (biaxial) apparatus for soil testing is presented. The design took into consideration flexibility in accomodating different specimen sizes, easy assembly procedure, and well-controlled boundary conditions. The apparatus is well instrumented with load, displacement, and pressure sensors and has the capabilities to capture localization and shear band development. A comparison between two experiments that were conducted on F-75 Ottawa sand is presented and the effect of inhibiting lateral movement of bottom end platen is presented and discussed. It has been found that restraining lateral movement of bottom end platen has resulted in higher peak and residual load values.

Keywords:
Strength, soil testing, shear bands, boundary conditions, clay, sand, deformation, localization

Paper ID: GTJ19103
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ19103
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