Characterizing the Effect of Water Content on Small-Strain Shear Modulus of Qiantang Silt

Due to the impact of natural and artificial influence, such as waves, tides, and artificial dewatering, the small-strain shear modulus of soils may vary with the water content of soil, causing deformation of excavations and other earth structures. The present study used a resonant column device to investigate the effects of water content, void ratio, and confining pressure on the small-strain shear modulus of a silt extracted from an excavation site near Qiantang River in Hangzhou, China. The test results revealed that the effects of the three factors are not coupled and can be characterized by three individual equations. In particular, the small-strain shear modulus decreases with increasing water content under otherwise similar conditions, which can be characterized by a power function. The classical Hardin’s equation is modified to consider the effect of water content by introducing an additional function of water content.