Experimental Study on the Influence of Inherent Anisotropy on the Behavior of Sands and Sand-Steel Interfaces

Experimental studies have shown that anisotropic sands behave differently when direction of loadingchanges with respect to the bedding plane. Recently, direct shear device has been re-considered as aninexpensive means to study the outcome of fabric anisotropy on soils response. In this paper, direct shearsamples with bedding plane orientation angles 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, 120°, 135°, 150°, and 165°measured with respect to the shearing plane were prepared using an adjustable table. Inspection of directshear tests indicates that the peak shear strength and volume change response of initially anisotropic sandare highly influenced by inherent anisotropy. However, a unique residual friction angle was obtained. Forthe interfaces between dense sand and rough steel plate, it is observed that inherent anisotropy has anegligible influence on the peak and residual shear strengths and the volume change response.

Keywords:

Anisotropy , direct shear device , dilation , peak friction angle , roughness