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Abstract Stone fill materials are widely used in engineering projects such as earth-rock dams, railways, and highway embankments. Nevertheless, they are susceptible to particle breakage, which can lead to a decline in engineering performance. A complete set of studies on crushed stone aggregates was carried out to investigate particle crushing characteristics under various stress path conditions. To quantify the amount of particle crushing, the relative particle crushing rate was utilized as an indicator. The plastic work performed during the trials was compared across different stress routes, and the relationships between particle crushing and average stress p and generalized shear stress q were investigated. In triaxial testing, the differences in particle crushing behavior under different stress routes were thoroughly examined. The results show that particle crushing is substantially lower in the modelling of a rockfill dam constructed with a core wall and subjected to reservoir water pressure pathways than in conventional triaxial tests. A clear relationship was discovered. Across several stress routes, a clear link between plastic work and the relative particle crushing rate was detected, which was successfully characterized by a power function. Notably, the contributions of different stress components to the overall plastic work varied significantly. The plastic work exerted by the generalized shear stress q accounted for a large percentage of traditional triaxial testing, although the proportion of plastic work given by p and q changed significantly in complex stress path tests. This research enhances the understanding of the particle breakage characteristics of stone fill materials under complex stress paths.

Despite its vital importance to the contemporary economy, some drawbacks are mainly associated with waste derived from mining activity. This waste consists of tailings that are hydraulically disposed of in large impoundments, the tailings dams. As the dams are enlarged to accommodate higher amounts of materials, the stress states at which the deposited tailings are submitted change. This may be a concern for the stability of such structures once the geotechnical behavior of this material may be complex and challenging to predict, considering the existing approaches. Thus, the present study concerns the mechanical response of bauxite tailings under a wide span of stresses, ranging from 25 kPa to 4000 kPa. One-dimensional compression tests and isotropically drained and undrained triaxial tests were carried out on intact and remolded samples of the bauxite tailings. The after-shearing grain size distribution was characterized via sedimentation analysis. The results have shown a stress-dependency of the critical state friction angle for the intact material, which may be related to fabric alterations derived from structure deterioration and particle breakage. Overall, this research provides valuable insights into the response of structured and de-structured bauxite tailings, which are helpful for future constitutive modeling of such material.

Surrounding rocks at different locations are generally subjected to different stress paths during the process of deep hard rock excavation. In this study, to reveal the mechanical parameters of deep surrounding rock under different stress paths, a new cyclic loading and unloading test method for controlled true triaxial loading and unloading and principal stress direction interchange was proposed, and the evolution of mechanical parameters of Shuangjiangkou granite under different stress paths was studied, including the deformation modulus, elastic deformation increment ratios, fracture degree, cohesion and internal friction angle. Additionally, stress path coefficient was defined to characterize different stress paths, and the functional relationships among the stress path coefficient, rock fracture degree difference coefficient, cohesion and internal friction angle were obtained. The results show that during the true triaxial cyclic loading and unloading process, the deformation modulus and cohesion gradually decrease, while the internal friction angle gradually increases with increasing equivalent crack strain. The stress path coefficient is exponentially related to the rock fracture degree difference coefficient. As the stress path coefficient increases, the degrees of cohesion weakening and internal friction angle strengthening decrease linearly. During cyclic loading and unloading under true triaxial principal stress direction interchange, the direction of crack development changes, and the deformation modulus increases, while the cohesion and internal friction angle decrease slightly, indicating that the principal stress direction interchange has a strengthening effect on the surrounding rocks. Finally, the influences of the principal stress interchange direction on the stabilities of deep engineering excavation projects are discussed.

Stress path change has a great relationship with the effect of deformation and strength of rock. However, the underground rock body is in the engineering environment where the stress field, seepage field, and other fields are coupled to change, the law of fluid flow in the rock body is complex and variable. The change in the stress field has an important effect on the seepage characteristics of rock body; therefore, it is necessary to study the pattern of rock permeability evolution pattern by different stress paths. This study is based on the study of limestone, conducting triaxial unloading seepage mechanics experiments, the evolution of permeability properties of limestone specimens was analyzed based on the test results. The results show that in the conventional triaxial loading seepage test, the permeability of the limestone decreases before the rock stress reaches the peak intensity and increases after that. Increasing axial pressure unloading surrounding pressure compression section, permeability loss rate and effective stress are in line with the changing law of Gaussian distribution function. Under the action of constant axial pressure unloading surrounding pressure, with the increase in unloading amount, the permeability rate of change appears to increase slowly, and in the late stage of unloading section, the permeability rate of change appears to surge. Unloading section permeability change rate and cumulative unloading amount are in line with the law of change of the exponential function. Creep unloading pressure seepage test found that unloading pressure stage strain-time and permeability-time evolution characteristics are in line with the exponential rule of change. The experimental results of this study can provide an important experimental and theoretical basis for the permeability analysis of low-permeability rock body under complex stress conditions in underground engineering.

Viscoelastic plastic solutions for tunnel excavation in strain-softening rock mass and tunnel-rock interaction are proposed based on the Mohr-Coulomb and the Generalized Zhang-Zhu (GZZ) strength criterion considering stress path. The solutions are verified by numerical simulations, results show that the theoretical solutions are close to the simulated data. The evolutions of rock stresses, strains, displacements and support pressure were investigated and the influences of residual strength parameter, support stiffness, support timing, initial support pressure and viscosity coefficient on the rock deformation and the support pressure are discussed by proposed solution. It is found that strain-softening results in large deformation and high support pressure, with stiffer support and a larger viscosity coefficient contributing to even greater support pressure. Ductile support is recommended at the first stage to release the energy and reduce the support pressure by allowing a relatively large deformation. The support pressure, especially the additional support pressure at the second stage will be much smaller if a higher initial support pressure is applied at the first stage. This can not only control the displacement rate of surrounding rock and improve the tunnel stability at the first stage by exerting sufficient support pressure immediately after tunnel excavation, but also greatly reduce the pressure acted on permanent support and improve the structure stability at the second stage. Therefore, to avoid the instability of support structure, ductile support, which could not only deform continuously but also provide sufficient high support pressure, is recommended at the first stage.

Abstract The laws of acoustic emission (AE) before and during rock failure are different under different stress states. In this article, a new multi-functional true triaxial geophysical (TTG) apparatus was applied to analyze the AE law of sandstone under different stress paths. The results show that (1) with the increase of Lode angle, the tensile fractures in the sandstone increase initially, followed by a decrease. The number of AE decreases initially, followed by an increase, while the average energy of AE signal increases initially, followed by a decrease. (2) During the loading process, the IB values of rock can be divided into wave type, band type and mixed type, which represent crack propagation process driven by external force, self-driving and mixed driving. It can provide a basis for early warning of underground engineering construction disasters. (3) The variation characteristics of RA and AF in rock failure process show the corresponding relationship with IB value. The RA value corresponding to the IB value of band, wave and distribution type distribution mainly concentrated around 0.05, 0.03 and widely distributed, respectively. According to the value of RA, the types of cracks show different characteristics under different driving forces. (4) With the increase of Lode angle, the failure types of rocks change from single oblique fracture (− 30°) to double-X-type fracture (10°), and finally changes to single-X-type fracture when Lode angle is 30°. The fracture angle of rock decreases initially, followed by an increase with the increase of Lode angle. Therefore, it is important to explore the AE law of rock failure process under different stress states for the early warning of underground engineering construction disasters, and can provide a guidance for the application of human underground space.

For the rock burst disaster problems caused by unloading disturbance of deep roadway excavation, the study on the deformation and fracture mechanism of roadway surrounding rock under different unloading conditions was carried out. Taking the coal-rock combination as the object of research, the true triaxial testing machine for rock mechanics and acoustic emission monitoring system was used to carry out the unidirectional unloading test of constant axial pressure and unloading lateral pressure, explore the mechanical properties of coal-rock combination under the influence of unloading initial confining pressure and unloading rate, invert the propagation laws of different types cracks in the coal-rock combination through the acoustic emission signal characteristics, and quantify the damage of coal-rock combination during loading and unloading with the ringing count. The results showed that coal-rock combination had obvious failure characteristics of tensile and shear composite under the condition of unidirectional unloading, macroscopically the coal was dominated by shear failure and the rock was dominated by tensile failure; the increase of the unloading initial confining pressure led to aggravating the failure of coal-rock combination, and the increase of unloading rate promoted the expansion of tensile cracks along the stress unloading direction of rock samples; the change of RA–AF of acoustic emission parameter accurately described the proportion of different types cracks in the coal-rock combination, coal-rock combination mostly expanded in the form of shear cracks during the loading and unloading process, the proportion of shear cracks decreased with the increase of the unloading initial lateral stress, and the increase of unloading rate promoted the increase of the proportion of tensile cracks in the stress unloading stage, the proportion of shear cracks decreased; it was found that unloading initial lateral stress and unloading rate were the main factors affecting the damage development of coal-rock combination in unloading stage through studying the damage calibrated by acoustic emission ringing count during the loading stage; after unloading initial lateral stress exceeded 20 MPa, it basically had no effect on the damage of coal-rock combination in unloading stage. The research results could provide reference for the occurrence mechanism and disaster prevention of rock burst in deep roadway excavation.

The disposal of mining tailings has increasingly focused on the use of dry stacks. These structures offer more security since they use filtered and compacted material. Because of the construction method and the heights achieved, the material that compounds the structure can be subjected to different stress paths along the failure plane. The theoretical framework considered in the design of these structures generally is the critical state soil mechanics (CSSM). However, the data in the literature concerning the uniqueness of critical state line (CSL) is still controversial as the soil is subjected to different stress paths. With respect to tailings, this question is even more restricted. This paper studies two tailings with different gradings due to the beneficial processes over extension and compression paths. A series of drained and undrained triaxial tests was conducted over a range of initial densities and stress levels. In the q-p′ plane, different critical stress ratio (M) values were obtained for compression and extension stress paths. However, the critical state friction angle is very similar with a slightly higher critical state friction angle for extension tests. Curved stress path dependent CSLs were obtained in the ν-lnp′ plane with the extension tests below the CSL defined in compression. Regarding the fines content, the studied tailings presented very similar M and critical state friction angle values. However, the fines content affects the volumetric behavior of the studied tailings and the CSLs on the ν-lnp′ plane shift downwards with the increasing fines content for compression and extension tests. In relation to dilatancy analysis, the fines content did not present an evident influence on the dilatancy of the materials. However, different values of mean stress ratio N were obtained between compression and extension tests and can corroborate the existence of non-unique CSLs for these materials.

Calcareous sand is widely observed in the foundation of off-shore infrastructure. Although a lot of research has been carried out on the mechanical properties of calcareous sand, study into the influence of the stress–strain path on the mechanical behaviour of calcareous sand is very limited. In this study, a series of triaxial tests were performed on calcareous sand under three different stress paths. The particle morphology of calcareous sand before and after the tests, the stress–strain relationship under different stress paths, and the characteristics of shear strength and deformation were investigated. The results show that the consolidation pressure and stress path have significant effects on the volume strain, strength, and particle breakage of calcareous sand. In addition, the underlying mechanisms of the different behaviours of calcareous sand observed in this study were discussed.

The mechanical properties of soil often vary with stress state and stress paths. In order to investigate the mechanical properties of saturated soil under vertical loading and constant shear stress path, saturated remolded loess samples are prepared. Through consolidated undrained (CU) triaxial tests and constant shear stress drained (CSD) triaxial tests, the corresponding stress-strain curves, pore water pressure curves and stress path curves are measured. The results show that the saturated remolded loess has obviously different deformation characteristics under the two paths. In CU tests, the stress-strain curves are softening weakly. The pore water pressure rises rapidly and tends to be stable gradually. In CSD tests, the deviator stress is a constant and the pore water pressure is applied. The deformation of samples is small for a long time at the beginning. When the pore water pressure increases to 60%−75% of the confining pressure, the samples are destroyed rapidly. Because there is no peak value of deviator stress in CSD path, the equivalent peak failure line is defined according to the axial strain-mean effective stress curves. By comparison, it is found that the effective peak strength indexes of the saturated remolded loess are significantly different under the two paths. However, the effective residual strength indexes are similar, indicating that the effective residual strength indexes are the internal attribute of the remolded loess and are not affected by the stress path. This study can provide reference for selecting the correct stress path test in practical engineering.

A novel test method for analyzing the influence of stress path and roughness of structure on the strength characteristics of saturated sand-structure interface by using triaxial apparatus is presented. By making a triaxial specimen with a slope structure with a certain inclination angle, the soil slides along the preset failure surface during the shearing process, and the slope surface roughness of the structure can be controlled and adjusted. A triaxial instrument is used to control the changes in axial pressure,confining pressure to achieve loading in different stress paths. The soil slides along the structure surface with a certain angle during shearing when preformed failure surface exists. The roughness of the structure can be controlled and adjusted. The triaxial apparatus is used to control the confining pressure change of the sample to realize loading under different drainage conditions and stress paths. To verify the effectiveness of the method, direct shear test and triaxial shear tests are carried out on the specimen composed of Fujian sand and steel structures with different roughness and different stress paths. The results show that at the beginning of sliding, the friction angle of the interface in the interfacial constant normal stress path is smaller than that in the conventional shear path. Under smooth conditions, the interface friction angle obtained by direct shear test is 30% to 40% lower than that obtained by triaxial test. Under rough conditions, the interface friction angle obtained by direct shear test is slightly smaller than that obtained by triaxial test, and closer to the friction angle in normal stress shear paths.

Sand roughness is now accessible to measurement. Incorporating this parameter into sand models using the discrete element method (DEM) is known to improve bulk small strain response. In this work we explore the effect on problems where particle crushing takes place. A well-established DEM particle crushing model and a rough Hertzian contact model are here combined to incorporate both effects in a single contact model. Including contact roughness results in stronger particles whilst all other material parameters being equal. The model is then used to simulate high pressure oedometric compression tests on a strong silica sand. It is shown that including realistic values of surface roughness enables to correctly capture both load-unload behaviour and particle size distribution evolution while using realistic values of elastic bulk properties for the sand grains. Roughness is then a model refinement that may result in simpler, more objective DEM calibrations.

Engineering rock structures containing joints and fissures are frequently subjected to discontinuous periodic disturbances of varying amplitudes. To attain the quantitative relationship between the crack angle and the mechanical and deformation properties of rock under complex stress paths, uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading tests with increasing stress gradients were conducted on sandstone specimens containing a single crack of different angles. Our results showed that the bearing capacity of the sandstone increased as the crack angle increased. The irreversible strain and elastic moduli of the rock presented a sudden increase when entering the next cycle of the stepped loading. However, the entire loading process can be divided into three stages according to their respective trends. These three stages correspond to the three stages of rock deformation, i.e., the pore crack compaction stage, the elastic deformation to the stable micro-elastic crack development stage, and the unstable crack development stage. In addition, the crack angle of sandstone showed a negative correlation with the irreversible strain, but a positive correlation with the elastic modulus. With the increasing crack angle, the failure mode of the rock changed from the tensile-shear failure to the shear failure, and then to the interlayer dislocation failure.

Based on the changes of total stress and pore water pressure in the spring model, the mechanism of vacuum preloading consolidation is studied by theoretically discussing the consolidation behavior of soil in vertical and horizontal directions with different boundary conditions. The variation of effective stress and development of deformation are analyzed for the soil under vacuum preloading under stress paths of K0 consolidation and isotropic consolidation based on the boundary conditions, respectively. Meanwhile, the theoretical earth pressure coefficient (K0MC) at rest for soft soil is deduced based on modified Cam-clay model. With engineering applications, the correctness and effectiveness of the mechanism is confirmed by the application in large area of ground improvement for soft soil and statistical analysis of some engineering cases. It is found that the drainage boundary condition and the scale of treated area have effects on deformation of soil mass. For the middle part of the treated zone under large-area vacuum preloading, the variation of effective stress is not isotropic, but following the pattern of one-dimensional compression. According to the statistic results from some site investigations, one-dimensional compression equation (Cc-Cr method) can be applied to predict the settlement at the center of the treated zone when the one dimensional condition is found in the center of treated zone as the ratio between treated breadth and length of vertical drains larger than 4-5.

In this study, we numerically investigate the influence of hysteretic stress path behavior on the seal integrity during underground gas storage operations in a depleted reservoir. Our study area is the Honor Rancho Underground Storage Facility in Los Angeles County (California, USA), which was converted into an underground gas storage facility in 1975 after 20 years of oil and gas production. In our simulations, the geomechanical behavior of the sand reservoir is modeled using two models: (1) a linear elastic model (non-hysteretic stress path) that does not take into consideration irreversible deformation, and (2) a plastic cap mechanical model which considers changes in rock elastic properties due to irreversible deformations caused by plastic reservoir compaction (hysteretic stress path). It shows that the irreversible compaction of the geological layer over geologic time and during the reservoir depletion can have important consequences on stress tensor orientation and magnitude. Ignoring depletion-induced irreversible compaction can lead to an over-estimation of the calculation of the maximum working reservoir pressure. Moreover, this irreversible compaction may bring the nearby faults closer to reactivation. However, regardless of the two models applied, the geomechanical analysis shows that for the estimated stress conditions applied in this study, the Honor Rancho Underground Storage Facility is being safely operated at pressures much below what would be required to compromise the seal integrity.

The critical damage value of rock is an important parameter of stability analysis when engineering rock mass. Based on the previous single test method, this paper, combined with the deformation characteristics of rock residual phase under different stress paths, proposed a single specimen repeated loading method to measure the critical damage value of rock based on different damage variables. The paper also proposed to modify the critical damage value based on residual constitutive energy and to improve the definition of damage variables based on constitutive energy dissipation. According to the microstructure characteristics of the rock sample, the mechanism of the single specimen method to determine the critical value of rock sample damage is revealed. The results show that: 1) Comparing the results of triaxial failure test of rock under different stress paths and single specimen repeated loading test, the residual strength of rock sample is mainly controlled by the confining pressure of loading, which is not an obvious relationship with initial confining pressure and stress path; 2) The number of repeated compressions has little effect on the internal structure, particle flatness, and particle surface smoothness of their specimens, which is reflected at the macroscopic level that the residual strength of sandstone tends to achieve a stable value; and 3) The corrected critical damage value based on residual strain energy is closer to the theoretical value. Test methods in this paper can provide useful references for determination of critical damage value.

It is important to determine the volumetric change properties of hydrate reservoirs in the process of exploitation. The Skempton pore pressure coefficient A can characterize the process of volume change of hydrate-bearing sediments under undrained conditions during shearing. However, the interrelationship between A value responses and deformation behaviors remain elusive. In this study, effects of hydrate saturation and effective confining pressure on the characteristics of pore pressure coefficient A are explored systematically based on published triaxial undrained compression test data of hydrate-bearing sand and clay-silt sediments. Results show that there is a higher value of the coefficient A with increasing hydrate saturation at small strain stage during shearing. This effect becomes more obvious when the effective confining pressure increases for hydrate-bearing sand sediments rather than hydrate-bearing clayey-silt sediments. An increasing hydrate saturation leads to a reduction in A values at failure. Although A values at failure of sand sediments increase with increasing effective confining pressure, there are no same monotonic effects on clayey-silt specimens. A values of hydrate-bearing sand sediments firstly go beyond 1/3 and then become lower than 1/3 at failure even lower than 0, while that of hydrate-bearing clayey-silt sediments is always larger than 1/3 when the effective confining pressure is high (e.g., >1 MPa). However, when the effective confining pressure is small (e.g., 100 kPa), that behaves similar to hydrate-bearing sand sediments but always bigger than 0. How the A value changes with hydrate saturation and effective confining pressure is inherently controlled by the alternation of effective mean stress.

Longwall top-coal caving mechanisms and cavability optimization with hydraulic fracturing are analysed in this study. Based on the geological and geotechnical conditions of the Dongzhouyao coal mine, it is revealed that top-coal failure mechanisms are dominated by both compressive and tensile stresses. Ahead of the face line, shear failure initiates at the lower level of the top-coal and propagates to the upper level. Compressive stress-induced damage leads to obvious deterioration in tensile strength, causing the onset of tensile failure in the top-coal behind the face line. Accumulated plastic strain (APS) is selected as a top-coal cavability indicator. The cavability degrades gradually at the higher elevation of the top-coal while it is greatly strengthened as the top-coal approaches closer to the face line. In a thick coal seam without hydraulic fractures, the maximum APS occurs at the middle section of the face length in the Longwall top-coal caving (LTCC) panel. After hydraulic fracturing, top-coal cavability is significantly enhanced. But the spatial distribution of the APS transitions from uniform to non-uniform type due to the existence of hydraulic fractures, causing great variety in the cavability along the panel width. With increasing fracture intensity and fracture size, the failure zone expands significantly ahead of the longwall face, which means the cavability becomes increasingly favourable.

Granite residual soil is one of the most frequently encountered problem soils in tropical regions, whose mechanical behavior heavily depends on the pattern of variation of mean effective stress (p’) during shearing, which can be classified into three categories: increasing-p’, constant-p’, and decreasing-p’. Unfortunately, so far, the stress–strain strength characteristics of granite residual soils have been studied mainly under increasing-p’ stress paths, although it is very likely to encounter stress paths with decreasing p’ in practice, especially in excavation engineering. Moreover, most pertinent research has focused on remolded granite residual soils, whereas undisturbed specimens have not yet received enough attention. In this paper, stress path triaxial tests considering different patterns of variation of mean effective stress were conducted on an undisturbed granite residual soil. Subsequently, a variable termed loading angle was introduced to quantitatively represent stress path. The influences of stress path on the Mohr–Coulomb strength parameters, deformation characteristics, ductility, and shearing stiffness were analyzed, with an emphasis on the role of pattern of variation of mean effective stress. The experimental results show that friction angle of the soil increases while cohesion decreases with the increase in loading angle. The increase in loading angle leads to less volume contraction and smaller failure strain. During shearing, the soil exhibited a less brittle response under stress paths with smaller loading angles. The initial secant shear modulus first decreased and then increased as the loading angle increased, with the minimum shearing stiffness occurring at a certain loading angle lying between 90° and 123.7°.

Abstract We present a workflow linking coupled fluid-flow and geomechanical simulation with seismic modelling to predict seismic anisotropy induced by non-hydrostatic stress changes. We generate seismic models from coupled simulations to examine the relationship between reservoir geometry, stress path and seismic anisotropy. The results indicate that geometry influences the evolution of stress, which leads to stress-induced seismic anisotropy. Although stress anisotropy is high for the small reservoir, the effect of stress arching and the ability of the side-burden to support the excess load limit the overall change in effective stress and hence seismic anisotropy. For the extensive reservoir, stress anisotropy and induced seismic anisotropy are high. The extensive and elongate reservoirs experience significant compaction, where the inefficiency of the developed stress arching in the side-burden cannot support the excess load. The elongate reservoir displays significant stress asymmetry, with seismic anisotropy developing predominantly along the long-edge of the reservoir. We show that the link between stress path parameters and seismic anisotropy is complex, where the anisotropic symmetry is controlled not only by model geometry but also the nonlinear rock physics model used. Nevertheless, a workflow has been developed to model seismic anisotropy induced by non-hydrostatic stress changes, allowing field observations of anisotropy to be linked with geomechanical models.

This paper examines the impact of the effective stresses that develop during depletion of a faulted reservoir. The study is based on finite element modeling using 2D plane strain deformation analysis with pore pressure and elastoplastic deformation of the reservoir and sealing shale layers governed by the Drucker–Prager plasticity model. The mechanical properties and response of the rock formations were derived from triaxial test data for the sandstone reservoirs and correlation functions for the shale layers. A normal fault model and a reverse fault model were built using seismic data and interpretation of field data. The estimated tectonic in-situ stress field was transformed to the plane of the modeled geometry. Sensitivity studies were performed for uncertainties on the values of the initial horizontal stress and for the friction of the fault surfaces. It was found that the stress path during depletion is mainly controlled by the initial lateral stress ratio (LSR). The developed effective stresses with depletion are influenced by the fault geometry of the compartmentalized blocks. Plastic deformation develops for low LSR whereas for high values the system tends to remain in the elastic region. When plastic deformation takes place, it affects mainly the region near the fault. The reservoir deformation is dominated by vertical displacement which is higher near the fault region and nearly uniform in the remote area. The volumetric strain is dominated by compaction. More volatile conditions in relation to change of the friction coefficient and LSR were found for the normal fault geometry.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the stress path, size and shape of the specimen, on the optimum values of the plastic input parameters of Concrete Damaged Plasticity-CDP- model of the ABAQUS software. This study concentrates on eccentricity, dilatation angle and viscosity input parameters. To finding optimum values of the mentioned parameters, an objective function which estimates the error of the model predictions was defined and tried to minimize. For evaluating the effect of the stress path on this optimization procedure, four different standard tests were simulated by the ABAQUS software: uniaxial compression, dual compression, dual-border cut specimen and three-point bending tests. For studying the effect of the size of the specimen, the three-point bending test, with three different sizes of the beam were modeled in the ABAQUS software. Furthermore, for investigating the effect of the specimen shape on the input parameters, a notched disk in a tensile stress field was modeled. Obtained results demonstrated that the path of the stress can influence significantly on the optimum values of the input parameters, while it was revealed that the CDP model can automatically take into account the size and shape effects in the simulation.

The strength of structural loess consists of the shear strength and tensile strength. In this study, the stress path, the failure envelope of principal stress (Kf line), and the strength failure envelope of structurally intact loess and remolded loess were analyzed through three kinds of tests: the tensile strength test, the uniaxial compressive strength test, and the conventional triaxial shear strength test. Then, in order to describe the tensile strength and shear strength of structural loess comprehensively and reasonably, a joint strength formula for structural loess was established. This formula comprehensively considers tensile and shear properties. Studies have shown that the tensile strength exhibits a decreasing trend with increasing water content. When the water content is constant, the tensile strength of the structurally intact soil is greater than that of remolded soil. In the studies, no loss of the originally cured cohesion in the structurally intact soil samples was observed, given that the soil samples did not experience loading disturbance during the uniaxial compressive strength test, meaning there is a high initial structural strength. The results of the conventional triaxial shear strength test show that the water content is correlated with the strength of the structural loess. When the water content is low, the structural properties are strong, and when the water content is high, the structural properties are weak, which means that the water content and the ambient pressure have significant effects on the stress-strain relationship of structural loess. The established joint strength formula of structural loess effectively avoids overestimating the role of soil tensile strength in the traditional theory of Mohr-Coulomb strength.

Reliable estimation of geotechnical parameters is often based on reconstruction of a complete loading process of subsoil on a specimen in laboratory tests. Unfortunately laboratory equipment available in many laboratories is sometimes limited to just a triaxial apparatus - the use of which generates difficulties whenever a non-axisymmetric problem is analysed.

Coarse aggregates are the major infrastructure materials of concrete-faced rock-fill dams and are consolidated to bear upper and lateral loads. With the increase of dam height, high confining pressure and complex stress states complicate the shear behavior of coarse aggregates, and thus impede the high dam's proper construction, operation and maintenance. An experimental program was conducted to study the shear behavior of dam coarse aggregates using a large-scale triaxial shear apparatus. Through triaxial shear tests, the strain-stress behaviors of aggregates were observed under constant confining pressures: 300 kPa, 600 kPa, 900 kPa and 1200 kPa. Shear strengths and aggregate breakage characteristics associated with high pressure shear processes are discussed. Stress path tests were conducted to observe and analyze coarse aggregate response under complex stress states. In triaxial shear tests, it was found that peak deviator stresses increase along with confining pressures, whereas the peak principal stress ratios decrease as confining pressures increase. With increasing confining pressures, the dilation decreases and the contraction eventually prevails. Initial strength parameters (Poisson's ratio and tangent modulus) show a nonlinear relationship with confining pressures when the pressures are relatively low. Shear strength parameters decrease with increasing confining pressures. The failure envelope lines are convex curves, with clear curvature under low confining pressures. Under moderate confining pressures, dilation is offset by particle breakage. Under high confining pressures, dilation disappears.

Coarse aggregates are the major infrastructure materials of concrete-faced rock-fill dams and are consolidated to bear upper and lateral loads. With the increase of dam height, high confining pressure and complex stress states complicate the shear behavior of coarse aggregates, and thus impede the high dam's proper construction, operation and maintenance. An experimental program was conducted to study the shear behavior of dam coarse aggregates using a large-scale triaxial shear apparatus. Through triaxial shear tests, the strain-stress behaviors of aggregates were observed under constant confining pressures: 300 kPa, 600 kPa, 900 kPa and 1200 kPa. Shear strengths and aggregate breakage characteristics associated with high pressure shear processes are discussed. Stress path tests were conducted to observe and analyze coarse aggregate response under complex stress states. In triaxial shear tests, it was found that peak deviator stresses increase along with confining pressures, whereas the peak principal stress ratios decrease as confining pressures increase. With increasing confining pressures, the dilation decreases and the contraction eventually prevails. Initial strength parameters (Poisson’s ratio and tangent modulus) show a nonlinear relationship with confining pressures when the pressures are relatively low. Shear strength parameters decrease with increasing confining pressures. The failure envelope lines are convex curves, with clear curvature under low confining pressures. Under moderate confining pressures, dilation is offset by particle breakage. Under high confining pressures, dilation disappears.

Investigations of soil shear strength properties for Baltic Sea shore sand along Klaipėda city are presented. Investigated sand angle of internal friction (φ) and cohesion (c) is determined via two different direct shear tests procedures. First procedure is standard and ordinary in geotechnical practice, when direct shear test is provided using constant shearing area A0. Second test procedure is different because shearing area according to horizontal displacement each test second is recalculated. This recalculated shearing area author’s call corrected shearing area A. Obtained normal and tangential stresses’ difference via two different testing procedures was 10%. Santrauka Šiame straipsnyje yra pristatyta idėja, kaip įvertinti grunto kerpamojo stiprumo parametrus, t. y. vidinės trinties kampą (φ) ir sankibą (c). Eksperimentiniams bandymams atlikti buvo naudotas Baltijos jūros pakrantės smėlinis gruntas ties Klaipėda. Grunto tiesioginio kirpimo bandymai atlikti dviem skirtingomis kirpimo metodikomis. Pirmoji metodika yra standartizuota ir įprasta atliekant geotechninius tyrimus, kai kerpamasis plotas yra vertinamas kaip pastovus plotas A. Antroji kirpimo metodika skiriasi nuo pirmosios grunto kirpimo ploto įvertinimu. Antrojoje metodikoje grunto kerpamasis plotas yra perskaičiuojamas tiesiogiai pagal horizontalųjį poslinkį. Horizontaliojo poslinkio indikatoriaus rodmenys yra registruojami kiekvieną sekundę, todėl kas sekundę yra perskaičiuojamas vis naujas grunto kerpamasis plotas. Atliekant bandymus skirtingomis metodikomis, nustatytas vertikalaus normalinio ir tangentinio įtempių skirtumas, kuris apytiksliai lygus 10 %. Reikšminiai žodžiai: kintamas kerpamasis plotas; tiesioginis kirpimas; įtempių kelias; grunto kerpamasis stipris.