Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
581]
Tensile cracking in clay is an important phenomenon that La fissuration sous traction de l’argile est un phénomène
affects the strength and permeability of clays in many important qui affecte la résistance et la perméabilité des
facilities, such as dams, embankments and landfill liners, argiles pour de nombreuses structures telles que bar-
as well as being a precursor to slope failures in the rages, remblais et sous-couches de décharge. Elle consti-
natural terrain. This study investigates the stress–strain tue également un précurseur de fractures de versants en
criteria for cracking in clays by performing four-point terrain naturel. Cette étude examine les critères de con-
bending tests on consolidated kaolin clay beams. Load- trainte-déformation de la fissuration dans les argiles en
controlled and strain-controlled tests were performed on réalisant des essais de flexion quatre points sur des
clay beams with varying initial suction to understand the poutres en argile de kaolin consolidée. Des tests contrôlés
stress–strain criteria for crack initiation in clay. At no en charge et en déformation ont été réalisés sur des
stage was the negative pore pressure permitted to exceed poutres en argile en utilisant une succion initiale variable
the air entry value of the clay, so the clay remained pour mieux comprendre les critères de contrainte-défor-
saturated throughout. Strains in the clay were obtained mation d’initiation de fissure dans l’argile. La pression
by particle image velocimetry analysis of digital images interstitielle négative a été maintenue inférieure à la
of the clay beam, and suction measurements were ob- valeur d’entrée d’air de l’argile à tout moment, de sorte
tained from pore pressure and tension transducers in- que l’argile est restée continuellement saturée. Les défor-
stalled within the clay beams. Results from this mations dans l’argile ont été déterminées par vélocimé-
investigation showed that the threshold tensile strain to trie par images de particules sur des images numériques
cracking in kaolin clay decreased from about 4% at an de la poutre d’argile. Des capteurs de pression intersti-
initial mean effective stress of 15 kPa to about 1.5% at tielle et de tension intégrés dans les poutres d’argile ont
an initial mean effective stress of 100 kPa. The extreme permis d’obtenir des mesures de la succion. Les résultats
fibre stress at failure of the clay beams indicated an de cette étude montrent que la déformation en traction
effective tensile strength that was a fraction, dropping seuil pour la fissuration dans l’argile de kaolin diminue
from 0.27 to 0.11 of the preconsolidation pressure as the de près de 4 % pour une contrainte effective moyenne
overconsolidation ratio increased from about 2 to about initiale de 15 kPa à près de 1,5 % pour une contrainte
20. Alternatively, the tensile strength could be regarded effective moyenne initiale de 100 kPa. La contrainte ex-
as 0.45 6 0.15 of the geometric mean of the preconsoli- trême de la fibre à la rupture pour les poutres d’argile
dation pressure in the plane of shear and the initial mean indiquait une résistance effective en traction correspon-
effective stress. Most significantly, evidence is presented dant à une fraction, diminuant de 0,27 à 0,11 de la
of a new understanding of cracking in clays. Cracks were pression de préconsolidation tandis que le rapport de
seen to open either as pure tension cracks at zero minor surconsolidation augmentait de 2 à 20 environ. Une autre
principal effective stress, or as mixed-mode shear-tension alternative consiste à considérer la résistance à la trac-
cracks when an effective stress path reaches the Hvorslev tion comme 0,45 6 0,15 de la moyenne géométrique de la
criterion of brittle shear rupture, but only if the minor pression de préconsolidation dans le plan de cisaillement
total stress is also tensile. et de la contrainte effective moyenne initiale. Plus impor-
tant encore, on présente ici une nouvelle approche de
compréhension de la fissuration des argiles. On a pu
observer la rupture de fissures résultant uniquement de
la traction pour une contrainte principale mineure effec-
tive nulle ou survenant en mode mixe contrainte-tension
lorsqu’un cheminement de contrainte effective atteint le
critère de Hvorslev de rupture de cisaillement en régime
KEYWORDS: clays; cracking; negative pore pressure; suction; cassant, mais seulement lorsque la contrainte mineure
tensile failure totale est également en traction.
581
582 THUSYANTHAN, TAKE, MADABHUSHI AND BOLTON
liners, earth dams, etc.). In the vast majority of these EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
applications the clay is above the water table, and there- Flexural test set-up
fore the pore water pressure is typically in suction. The flexural test apparatus is shown schematically in Fig.
Despite the significance of cracking for the hydrological 1(a) in both elevation and profile. It consists of a motorised
and mechanical behaviour of clays, relatively little experi- actuator, a load cell, and four 30 mm diameter acrylic
mental work has been performed to investigate the criteria dowels to impart four-point loading. The aspect ratio of the
for crack initiation compared with the effort expended on test specimen and the positions of the loading points (Fig.
investigating plastic shearing. 1(b)) have been selected to conform to BS 1881: Part 118,
Early work on triaxial extension tests was performed by which describes the accepted procedure for performing four-
Parry (1960) on saturated Weald clay. This work demon- point bending tests on concrete specimens (British Standards
strated that the failure points of saturated clay in both Institute, 1983). Because of the stiffness of the clay to be
drained extension tests and undrained extension tests (in tested in the present study, no specific mechanical system
which the back-pressure had been elevated to maintain posi- has been included to counteract the self-weight of the clay
tive pore water pressures) satisfy Hvorslev’s failure concept beam. The self-weight of the beam was taken into account
(Hvorslev, 1937). Tension tests on clay were also carried out in the applied bending moment. In strain control tests,
by Bishop & Garga (1969), using a modified triaxial cell. loading was applied at a uniform vertical displacement rate
They performed drained tension tests on intact samples of of 0.23 mm/min. In load control tests, the motorised actuator
London clay to obtain tensile and compressive strengths was replaced by a dead weight system and load applied in
expressed in terms of effective stress and the corresponding 19.6 N (2 kg) increments every 180 s. Further details of the
failure strains. The investigators looked to rock mechanics experiment can be found in Thusyanthan (2005).
principles based on ‘true cohesion’ to analyse the results.
Adopting a fracture mechanics point of view, they used
modified Griffith crack theory to derive a ratio of drained Specimen preparation
tensile strength to unconfined drained compressive strength The clay to be used in the experimental programme of
in the range 0.144–0.178, closely comparable to their test bending tests was chosen to be in a remoulded rather than
results. More recently, fracture mechanics (Harison et al., an intact state in order to permit the creation of a large
1994) and Griffith’s theory have been applied to evaluate number of identical specimens, and to evaluate the zero
crack growth in unsaturated compacted clays (Hallett & tension line effective stress criterion often quoted for these
Newson, 2001) and saturated clays (Hallett & Newson, materials. The material chosen, E-grade kaolin, is well
2005), and crack-tip stress in saturated soils (Dégué et al., characterised and has a liquid limit of 51%, a plastic limit
2003). of 30%, and a saturated permeability of the order of
Ajaz & Parry (1975) continued to work towards a strength 109 m/s (Barker, 1998). The values of critical state para-
of materials (SOM) criterion for tensile crack initiation by meters of E-grade kaolin clay acquired from various sources
performing direct tension, unconfined compression and bend- in the literature are summarised in Table 1. The water
ing tests on two unsaturated compacted clays in order to retention curve for E-grade kaolin is given by Rabozzi
investigate the stress–strain characteristics leading up to (2005); it shows an air entry suction of 250 kPa. At no time
cracking. Since this research predated the development of during preparation and testing was the negative pore pressure
high-capacity tensiometers, stress analysis of their results in the current tests allowed to exceed 110 kPa, so the clay
can be performed only in terms of total rather than effective can be regarded as remaining fully saturated in every case.
stress. However, the work of Ajaz & Parry (1975) clearly The powdered E-grade kaolin clay was mixed under
demonstrated that the tensile strain at failure increased with vacuum with an equal mass of water. The resulting kaolin
an increase in clay moisture content, both above and below slurry of 100% water content was then one-dimensionally
the Proctor optimum for the two compacted clays, irrespec- consolidated in stages to a final vertical effective stress of
tive of the type of tension test. Tensile strain at failure in a either 250 kPa or 500 kPa. Unloading was then performed in
bending test was shown to increase with water content from increments of less than 100 kPa, with swelling permitted at
0.5% at a water content of about 22% to 1.5% at a water each stage to avoid generating large negative pore pressures,
content of about 35%. These values fall within the range of which could possibly lead to cavitation. Prior to the final
tensile strains at failure extracted from the literature by unloading increment from approximately 30 kPa to 0 kPa,
Lagatta et al. (1997), from 1.6% in dam embankments to the specimen was isolated from all sources of water to
4.4% in landfill clay liners. However, the need to rely on eliminate the possibility of swelling. On unloading, the clay
moisture content to describe the state of the clay in this block was therefore forced into an initial negative pore
work conflates the effects of void ratio and effective stress pressure of slightly less than 30 kPa. This modest initial
on the observed tensile behaviour, thus eliminating the suction was imposed on the clay to ensure sufficient stiffness
possibility of deriving an SOM criterion for crack initiation. to permit undisturbed beam specimens to be cut from the
Much the same conclusion applies to work on hydraulic large block of clay. Beams 320 mm long and of 80 mm
fracture. Murdoch (1993) investigated hydraulic facture in cross-section, weighing 4 kg, were cut from the 676 mm 3
clays by injecting dyed glycerine into silty clay in a triaxial 200 mm 3 400 mm clay block (Fig. 2(a)) and wrapped with
cell and observing through a transparent loading plate. a polythene cover for protection against evaporation. As
Results simply showed that an increase in the water content shown in Fig. 2(b), the longitudinal direction of the beam,
of the clay decreased the injection pressure required to herein defined as the z-direction, has been chosen to be
initiate a hydraulic fracture in clay. transverse to the direction of consolidation loading. The
This paper presents an investigation of the stress and significance of this and of the direction of plane strain will
strain criterion for crack initiation in kaolin clay using be discussed later in the paper.
beam bending tests equipped with embedded high-capacity
tensiometers and external digital-image-based strain meas-
urement to revisit the possibility of deriving an SOM Pore pressure measurement
criterion for crack initiation in clay by obtaining a full The ability to measure the magnitude and distribution of
record of total and effective stresses and strains leading to negative pore pressures within a clay beam is essential if an
failure. effective stress criterion is to be found for crack initiation.
CRACK INITIATION IN CLAY OBSERVED IN BEAM BENDING 583
Motorised
actuator
Load cell
Glass sheet
Glass sheet
Digital
camera
Clay beam 80 mm
(a)
20 mm
40 mm
20 mm
30 mm
80 mm
Compression PPTT
Middle PPTT
80 mm d
Tension PPTT
20 mm 160 mm
b 240 mm
320 mm
(b)
Fig. 1. Flexural test set-up: (a) elevation and profile view; (b) geometry of beam specimen
A: 500 kPa consolidated beams; B: 250 kPa consolidated beams; S: strain-controlled tests;
L: load controlled tests
586 THUSYANTHAN, TAKE, MADABHUSHI AND BOLTON
80 80
70 70
60 60
Elevation: mm
Elevation: mm 50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
⫺3 ⫺2 ⫺1 0 1 2 3 ⫺3 ⫺2 ⫺1 0 1 2 3
Strain: %
Strain: %
(b)
(a)
900 1200
Tension face Tension face
800
Compression face 1000 Compression face
700
600 800
Time: s
Time: s
500
600
400
300 400
200
200
100
0 0
⫺3 ⫺2 ⫺1 0 1 2 3 ⫺3 ⫺2 ⫺1 0 1 2 3
Strain: % Strain: %
(c) (d)
Fig. 5. Isochrones of longitudinal strain: (a) load-controlled beam AL15 strains profile every 30 s; (b) strain-
controlled beam AS45 strains profile every 50 s; (c) beam AL15, extreme fibre tensile and compressive strains
every 10 s; (d) beam AL45, extreme fibre tensile and compressive strains every 10 s
implies that the stiffness modulus of the clay in compression the mid-depth. As the magnitude of the effective stress
and in tension is similar in magnitude for the two tests decreased, the observed neutral axes rose to become slightly
presented in Fig. 5. The universality of this observation was higher than mid-depth. This implies that the stiffness of the
tested by analysing the strain profiles from all beam tests to clay in tension at low effective stress is lower than in
infer the depth of the neutral axis prior to the initiation of a compression, albeit slightly. The data also indicate that there
crack. A neutral axis found at the mid-elevation would is no significant difference between the neutral axis depth of
confirm that the two moduli are identical, whereas a neutral beams consolidated to 500 kPa (type A) or to 250 kPa (type
axis higher than mid-depth would imply a stiffer response in B). In all the beams, the neutral axis shifted upwards at the
compression than tension. initiation of a crack, as expected.
The observed depths of the neutral axis in all beam-
bending tests are plotted against the initial negative pore
pressure (equal to an isotropic effective stress) present in
each of the beams in Fig. 6. At the highest effective stresses, Other strain components
the neutral axes of the beams were found to be very close to While the bending of beams induces compressive and
tensile longitudinal strains, compensating strains must simulta-
1·0 neously occur in the plane of the cross-section to maintain
Type A beams
0·9 constancy of volume during an undrained increment of bend-
Elevation of neutral axis, d
0·8 Type B beams ing moment. Fig. 7 shows that the vertical strains, interpreted
0·7 from PIV, remain a small fraction of the longitudinal strains. It
0·6 must follow that the compensating strains occur across the
0·5
width of the clay beams (in the x direction), with their
0·4
magnitude roughly equal to the magnitude of the longitudinal
strains, but their signs reversed. A conceptual sketch of the
0·3
deformed longitudinal elevation and the cross-section of the
0·2
central portion of the beam are shown in Fig. 8. It follows that
0·1 an undrained deformation of the beam can be considered as
0 the superposition of horizontal laminae, each of which de-
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Initial effective stress in beam, s⬘i : kPa
forms approximately in plane strain with the intermediate
principal strain yy 0 lying in the vertical direction. This
Fig. 6. Neutral axis location against initial effective stress in ideal situation will not apply exactly, of course, if sufficient
beam time elapses for drainage to take place.
CRACK INITIATION IN CLAY OBSERVED IN BEAM BENDING 587
5·0
3
4·5 Type A beams, load controlled
2·0
0
1·5
1·0
⫺1 0·5
0
εzz of extreme fibre on 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
⫺2
tension side Initial effective stress in clay, s⬘i : kPa
z
Deformed central
section ⫺30 Compression PPTT
⫺50
(a)
Self-weight
⫺60 loading
Tension PPTT
Initial cross-
section ⫺70
y
Deformed ⫺80
central section
x ⫺90
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Time: s
(a)
⫺30
Middle PPTT
⫺45
Strain criteria for crack initiation
The measured tensile strain at the instant of crack initia-
⫺50
tion in each of the 17 beam tests is presented in Fig. 9. An
equation that may be used to predict the tensile strain at
⫺55 Tension PPTT
which a crack: initiates in clay is also given in Fig. 9
(crack ¼ 14s90
i
5
). The results indicate that the tensile strain
required for crack initiation in clays reduces with increasing ⫺60
mean effective stress, falling from about 4% at 10 kPa to
about 1.5% at 100 kPa. Although the scatter in the results ⫺65
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
precludes quantitative conclusions, type B beams consis-
Bending moment: N m
tently plot at the lower end of the range of observed strain
(b)
values, indicating that the tensile strain for crack initiation
increases with increasing preconsolidation pressure over the Fig. 10. Pore pressure measurements: (a) pore pressure against
range of values tested, although it is less significant than the time in beam AL45; (b) pore pressure against bending moment
effect of current effective stress. in beam AL45
588 THUSYANTHAN, TAKE, MADABHUSHI AND BOLTON
decrease on the tension side, as would be expected from the It is evident from Fig. 10 that the process of bending the
imposed changes of total stress. The absolute magnitude of clay beam was partially drained. Although there was negli-
each of these pore pressures then tended to decrease with gible evaporation, there clearly was some progressive inter-
time under constant bending moment, as would be expected nal drainage from the compression side to the tension side.
by considering transient flow due to the induced excess pore Since the objective is a description of bending and cracking
pressure gradient. As the imposed total stresses were in- in terms of effective stress changes, it is necessary only to
creased, the negative pore pressure increments due to tension deduce effective stress increments and relate them to strain
exceeded the positive increments due to compression. At this increments. This is attempted next.
time, the high-capacity tensiometer located at the neutral
axis correspondingly begins to register a build-up of increas-
ingly negative pore pressures. This indicates that the influ- Stress distribution in the beam
ence of shear-induced excess pore pressure is not The total and effective stresses imposed on the extreme
symmetrical. The magnitude of the pore pressure change is tensile and compression fibres and at the neutral axis of the
larger on the tension side as additional negative pore pres- clay beams during flexure are shown diagrammatically in
sures are induced due to suppressed dilation. Fig. 11(a). As expected with a four-point bending test, the
σzz σ ⬘zz ⫽ σ zz ⫺ u
Extreme (σ ⬘1)
compression
fibre
σxx ⫽ 0 σ ⬘xx ⫽ ⫺u
y
σyy ⫽ 0 σ⬘yy ⫽ ⫺u
x
τyx
τyz
σzz ⫽ 0 σ ⬘zz ⫽ ⫺ u
z Neutral
axis
τzy
Mx τzy (σ ⬘1)
σxx ⫽ 0 σ ⬘xx ⫽ ⫺u
σxx ⫽ 0 σ ⬘xx ⫽ ⫺u
(a)
y y
40 mm 40 mm
Compression Compression
σzz σzz
Tension Tension
⫺40 mm ⫺40 mm
(b) (c)
Fig. 11. (a) Principal stresses (xx , yy , zz ) and bending moment (Mx ) in a cross-section of a beam; (b) linear elastic stress
distribution; (c) non-linear elastic stress distribution
CRACK INITIATION IN CLAY OBSERVED IN BEAM BENDING 589
total stress in the longitudinal direction corresponds with the Equation (4) provides the predicted bending moment for a
maximum and minimum principal stresses at the two extre- given C, and k, of which the parameters C and remain
mities, in compression and extension respectively. Shear unknown. By comparing this predicted bending moment with
stresses induced at the neutral axis of the beam by four- the moment applied to the beam throughout the test, it is
point bending are zero. Further, the geometry of the beams possible to obtain the value of parameters C and for all
has been selected so that the shear stress induced by the the beams. In this process, the parameter C was considered
self-weight of the beam does not exceed 1 kPa. Shear to take the form C ¼ a(s90 )Æ (s9i ) , where a, Æ and are
stresses on the cross-sections are therefore negligible. As the material parameters, s90 is the mean effective consolidation
design of the experimental study has ensured that beams pressure defining the yield surface (Modified Cam Clay
have remained saturated throughout testing, the effective (MCC)), and s9i is the initial mean effective stress in the
stresses can be determined simply by Terzaghi’s equation beam (i.e. the initial negative pore pressure present in the
(Fig. 11(a)). beam). The values of 0.4 for , 2–2.5 for a, and 0.5 for Æ
The distribution of the longitudinal total stress in a beam and satisfied all the tested beams rather well. The full
of linear elastic material that is being subjected to four-point details of the evaluation of parameters C and are given in
bending can be derived from elastic beam bending theory. the Appendix.
This assumption leads to a linear stress distribution with Using these derived parameters, the full stress distribution
depth as shown in Fig. 11(b). However, in the present study in the beams during flexural testing can be obtained from
the beam material is overconsolidated clay, and will there- the observed strain profile. Fig. 12(a) shows such a plot for
fore exhibit non-linear stress–strain behaviour. The stress test AS45, in which the evolution of total stresses within the
distribution is therefore likely to be non-linear, as shown in beam has been plotted every 50 s. The observed stress
Fig. 11(c). distribution is significantly non-linear. The total stress at the
The stress distribution was not measured directly in the tensile face at the instant of crack initiation in this beam
beam-bending experiments. However, the imposed bending (the isochrone of Fig. 12(a) with the largest magnitude of
moments and the precise strain distributions have been stress before the strain rate jumps) was found to be
measured. Thus, if the stress–strain relationship of the over- 66 kPa.
consolidated clay were known, the measured strains could be Isochrones of observed pore water pressure and excess
used to infer the total stress distribution throughout the pore water pressure are given in Fig. 12(b) at corresponding
experiment. The bending moment, also known at every
stage, would then offer an independent check on the validity
of the stress–strain assumption. 80
A power law function, as given in equation (1), where C
and are parameters to be found, can be assumed to be an 70
t⫽0s
appropriate stress–strain relationship for overconsolidated 60
clay (Viggiani & Atkinson, 1995; Bolton & Whittle, 1999;
Elevation : mm
20
pretation.
zz ¼ C zz (1) 10
0
Since the strain profile in the beams remains linear till ⫺80 ⫺60 ⫺40 ⫺20 0 20 40 60 80
near crack initiation, it is possible to use equation (2) to Total stress: kPa
relate the curvature k of the beam to strain zz . (a)
Pore pressure: kPa
zz ¼ ky (2)
⫺65 ⫺55 ⫺45 ⫺35 ⫺25
80
The assumed stress distribution and the measured curva-
ture can be used to predict the corresponding bending 70
moment in the beam as a function of constants C and .
The bending moment predicted by this stress distribution is
t⫽0s
60
given by
ð d=2
Elevation : mm
50
BM xpredicted ¼ b zz y d y (3)
d=2 40
ð d=2 20
BM xpredicted ¼ 2b C ð kyÞ y d y
0 10
!
Cbk
d þ2 0
¼ (4) ⫺20 ⫺10 0 10 20
2 þ2 Excess pore pressure: kPa
" # (b)
Cbk d þ2
¼ Fig. 12. (a) Stress distribution in beam AS45 (every 50 s);
2 þ 2 (b) excess pore pressure in beam AS45 (every 50 s)
590 THUSYANTHAN, TAKE, MADABHUSHI AND BOLTON
times with that of the strain isochrones. As the pore water initiation now 95 kPa. Thus, in terms of effective stress,
pressure was measured at only three discrete locations in the this beam (AS80) has experienced crack initiation at an
beam profile, the assumption has been made that the pore effective compressive stress of 13 kPa. The zero effective
pressure distributions are linear, although it is recognised stress tension hypothesis was therefore not sufficient to
that some internal drainage may have reduced the magnitude predict cracking of clays when the soil was at moderate
of the excess pore pressures at the extreme fibres by a effective stress levels. The remaining task is to attempt a
few kPa. Thus the extrapolated pore water pressure at crack normalisation of the data so that ‘low’ and ‘moderate’ effec-
initiation in this beam can be approximated as 67 kPa. tive stress levels can be given objective definitions.
For remoulded materials, it is often assumed that tensile
cracking occurs when the effective stress hits the zero
tension line, 9 ¼ 0. In the beam AS45 presented in Fig. Effective stress criterion for crack initiation
12(b), the effective stress at cracking was observed to be 9 In an attempt to explain the observed cracking phenom-
¼ – u ¼ 66 kPa (67 kPa) ¼ 1 kPa. The zero ena, the behaviour will be analysed in terms of the stress
effective stress criterion for crack initiation has therefore paths followed by the extreme fibres of the beam. As
predicted cracking of this particular beam excellently, con- discussed earlier, the longitudinal stresses at the extreme
sidering the assumptions made. This crack initiation criterion fibres are principal stresses, and can be calculated using
was observed to work equally well for the other beams that equation (1) and the observed strain distribution, while the
began with low effective stress levels. other two principal stresses xx and yy are equal to zero. As
The stress distribution for a beam of identical preconsoli- yy was shown to be approximately zero, it follows that t–s9
dation pressure but with a higher initial effective stress level effective stress space would be the appropriate framework
(80 kPa) is presented in Fig. 13(a). This diagram is identical for the stress paths in a horizontal lamina deforming
in shape to that of the previous beam, with the total stress at approximately in plane strain. The shear stress t and mean
the tensile face at crack initiation now 82 kPa. The pore effective stress s9 at the two extreme fibres can be calculated
pressure isochrones for this beam are shown in Fig. 13(b), as
and indicate a pore pressure at the tensile face at crack
zz xx
t¼ (5)
2
xx þ zz
80 s¼ (6)
2
70 s9 ¼ s u (7)
t⫽0s
60
where u is the extrapolated pore pressure at the extreme
fibre.
Elevation: mm
50
Using the above equations, the effective stress paths
40 followed by the extreme tension and compression fibres up
to the instant of crack initiation are presented for the load-
30 controlled beams in Fig. 14, and for the strain-controlled
beams in Fig. 15. Since the results are being plotted in t–s9
20 space, equations (5)–(7) involve only the stress components
t⫽0s
50
50
40 Compression
MCC surface
30 0
Tension
t⫽0s
20
⫺50
10
Tension cut-off Apparent failure line
0 ⫺100
⫺20 ⫺10 0 10 20 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Excess pore pressure: kPa s⬘: kPa
Fig. 13. (a) Stress distribution in beam AS80 (every 50 s); (b) Fig. 14. Stress path to failure in load-controlled bending tests
excess pore pressure in beam AS80 (every 50 s) (type A beams)
CRACK INITIATION IN CLAY OBSERVED IN BEAM BENDING 591
100
whereas for beams with higher initial negative pore pres-
Critical state line
sures, crack initiation occurred near the ‘apparent failure
line’, which scales appropriately with the size of the MCC
50
yield surface. Thus the stress-path analysis provides an
MCC surface explanation for the complex behaviour of Fig. 4, in which
type A and B beams of low initial suction cracked at similar
t: kPa
MCC surface
0 cant for soil behaviour. In his Rankine Lecture, Schofield
⫺10
(1980) proposed a simplified map of remoulded soil behav-
iour in which he identified three classes of limiting failure
⫺20
states: tensile fracture, Coulomb rupture, and ductile yield-
⫺30 ing. In his diagram, the process of tensile cracking (Mode I
⫺40 Tension cut-off Apparent failure line fracture) was confined to the region of low effective stress,
⫺50 shear rupture (Mode II fracture) was deemed to occur at
0 50 100 150 higher effective stress levels on the dry side of critical, and
s⬘: kPa
the process of ductile yielding was regarded as occurring on
(b)
the wet side of critical. The present study has therefore
Fig. 15. Stress path to failure in strain-controlled bending tests: shown that what is missing from this view of soil behaviour
(a) type A beams; (b) type B beams is the shear-initiated cracking of soil on the Hvorslev sur-
face, in total stress tension but effective stress compression.
A modified map of soil behaviour is proposed in Fig.
The initial effective stress point of each beam, within the 17(c). As before, tensile fracture (Mode I) occurs at low
applicable MCC yield surface, is solely a function of the effective stresses, and ductile yielding at states wetter than
initial negative pore pressure, plotted for each beam in Figs critical. When total stress is positive (i.e. compressive), shear
14 and 15 as a star. Once the self-weight of the beam and failure is strictly Mode II as before. When total stress is
the subsequent external loading are applied, the maximum negative (i.e. tensile), shear failure will inevitably be accom-
shear stress within the outer compression lamina increases in panied by crack-tip opening. In other words, shear failure in
the positive t direction, while that of the outer tensile lamina this latter case will always be a mixed Mode I and Mode II
increases in the negative t direction. All stress paths end at fracture. This is more than just a pedantic change, as it will
the point of crack initiation at the tensile face. As shown greatly influence cracking in regions of soil in effective
consistently for all beams, crack initiation occurs when the stress compression, but in total stress tension such as the
stress path reaches either the tension cut-off line or an crests of embankments and the core of dams.
‘apparent failure line’, which is akin to the usual Hvorslev
line of failure states (Schofield & Wroth, 1968) observed on
the compression side in normal triaxial tests. As can be seen Total stress criterion for crack initiation
from a summary of all results in Fig. 16, for beams with Although the normalised effective stress criterion presented
low mean effective stress cracking occurred at the tension in Fig. 16 has been shown to define the point of crack
cut-off line ( 9zz ¼ 0) irrespective of the stress history, initiation, in many practical cases an estimated total stress
criterion would be useful. The normalised extreme-fibre
stress–strain relationship observed in the strain-controlled
0·3 tests on type A and type B beams is presented in Fig. 18, along
Critical state Type A, load controlled
line Type A, strain controlled with the proposed relationship of equation (1) using the
0·2 Type B, strain controlled
appropriate values of a (see Appendix and equation (8)). It is
evident from this figure that the stress–strain behaviour of the
0·1
extreme fibre agrees reasonably well with the proposed stress–
t/s0: kPa
Fig. 16. Stress state of extreme fibre in tension at failure Figure 19 shows the variation for all the beams of the
592 THUSYANTHAN, TAKE, MADABHUSHI AND BOLTON
q/p⬘u
Yield
(b) (c)
Fig. 17. Observed cracking pattern on: (a) the tensile cracking line (BS22); (b) the apparent failure line (BS45).
(c) Map of soil behaviour modified from Schofield (1980)
a⫽2
⫺0·4
Extreme fibre stress, (s⬘0·5
0
CONCLUSIONS
An investigation of the stress and strain criteria for crack-
⫺0·3
ing in kaolin clay has been performed using beam-bending
tests equipped with embedded high-capacity tensiometers and
⫺0·2 Crack initiation: Type A external digital-image-based strain measurements. Load-
Crack initiation: Type B controlled and strain-controlled bending tests were performed
⫺0·1 Tension side Compression side
on clay beams with various initial suctions. Longitudinal
strains along the depth of the clay beam at mid-length were
0
obtained by PIV analysis of the digital images obtained
⫺5 ⫺4 ⫺3 ⫺2 ⫺1 0 1 2 3 4 5 during the bending test, and the pore pressures were measured
Strain: % by the pore pressure and tension transducers (PPTTs) within
Fig. 18. Normalised extreme fibre stress against strain the beams.
Strain plots obtained in both load-controlled tests and
strain-controlled tests showed linear variation with depth
until near the initiation of a crack. The strain plots also
showed that the neutral axis remained at or close to the mid-
⫺0·45
depth of the beam until the initiation of a crack. The strain
Extreme fibre stress at failure, σT/
Type B
bounds level for crack initiation decreased from about 4% at 10 kPa
⫺0·30
to about 1.5% at 100 kPa. The tensile strength (in total
⫺0·25
stress) for the range of kaolin p beams
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi tested in the present
⫺0·20 study could be written as 0:45 s90 s9i 33%.
⫺0·15 The stress states of the extreme fibre in tension of all the
⫺0·10 beams at initiation of a crack showed that cracks initiated
σT ⫽ ⫺0·45 ⫻ s⬘0 s⬘i when the effective stress state reached either the tension cut-
⫺0·05
off line for low mean effective stresses or the ‘apparent
0 failure line’ for higher mean effective stresses corresponding
0 0·1 0·2 0·3 0·4 0·5
Initial effective stress in clay, s⬘i /Consolidation stress, s⬘0
to Hvorslev’s normalisation of the Mohr–Coulomb failure
envelope. These effective stress criteria for crack initiation
Fig. 19. Extreme fibre stress at failure/consolidation stress have been derived only from tests on remoulded saturated
against initial effective stress in clay/consolidation stress clays. However, the discovery of a crack-opening criterion
CRACK INITIATION IN CLAY OBSERVED IN BEAM BENDING 593
15
apparently coincident with the brittle shear failure criterion
can reasonably be regarded as more universally significant.
When total stress was negative (i.e. tensile), it was demon-
0
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 0 5 10 15
The authors would like to thank all staff at the Schofield Measured bending moment: N m
Centre, and especially the Chief Technician, Chris Collison, (a)
and Frank Sixsmith for their help with the experimental set-
up. This work has been funded by EPSRC Award GR/ 15
R91830/01 and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship awarded to
the first author.
AS62
tions of values of C and were analysed, and the best 8
AS75
match between predicted and experimental bending moment
AS80
was obtained for a value of C ¼ 300 kPa and ¼ 0.4, as 6 AS82
shown in Figs 20(a) and 20(b).
AS100
The value of is expected to be the same for all the
AS102
beams, whereas the value of C is expected to vary from 4
beam to beam. The comparison between predicted and BS15
experimental bending moments of all the beams confirmed BS22
2
that the best match was obtained for a value of 0.4 and BS45
various C values (Fig. 21). BS65
The value of C is expected to depend on mean preconso- BS92
0
lidation pressure (s90 ) and initial mean effective stress (s9i ). 0 2 4 6 8 10
Since there is no total stress in the beam initially, the mean Measured bending moment: N m
effective stress is equal to the negative pore pressure present Fig. 21. Comparison of predicted and applied bending moment
in the beam. The parameter C can be related to preconsoli-
dation pressure (s90 ) and initial mean effective stress (s9i ) by
equation (9), where a, Æ and are constants to be found.
Æ (9), can be used to find the values of Æ and . Fig. 22(a)
C ¼ a ð s9i Þ ð s90 Þ (9) shows the graph of log C against log s90 and Fig. 22(b) shows
log C ¼ log a þ Æ log s9i þ log s90 (10) the graph of log C against log s9i . It is clear from these
graphs that the values of Æ and can each be taken as 0.5.
Since the values of C for all the beams have already been A value of a in between 2 and 2.5 satisfies equation (9) for
obtained, equation (10), which is the logarithm of equation all the beams.
594 THUSYANTHAN, TAKE, MADABHUSHI AND BOLTON
2·0
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