THE STRESS-STRAIN CURVES OF SOILS Steve J. Poulos vanuary 1971 GROTHCHNICAL ENGINEERS, INC. 1017 Main Street Winchester, Massechusetts 01890‘THE STRESS-STRAIN CURVES OF SOILS Steve J. Poulos January 1971 ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION DEFINITIONS 2.1 soil 2.2 Soil Structure 2.3 State of a Soil 2.4 Contractive and Dilative Behavior of Specimens 2.5 The Steady State of Deformation 2.6 Method of Loading QUALITATIVE DISCUSSION OF FACTORS CONTROLLING SHAPE OF STRESS-STRAIN CURVES IDEALIZED STRESS-STRAIN CURVES FOR SOILS IN 'DRAINSD' SHEAR 4.1 Uncemented Soils with Hard, Bulky Grains 12 Uncemented Soils with Substantial Proportion of Platey Grains EXAMPLES OF STRESS-STRAIN CURVES FOR SOILS IN 'DRATNED' SHEAR 5.1 Uncemented Soils with Bulky Grains (a) Highly Contractive Sand (‘Very Loose") (») Slightly Dilative sand (‘medium Dense") (c) Highly Dilative sand (‘Dense') 5.2 Uncomented Soils with Substantial Proportion of Platey Grains (a) Highly Contractive Clay (Normally Consolidated) (>) Very Highly contractive Clay (Quick) (c) Highly Dilative Clay (Heavily Cverconsolidated) 1a ua 25IDEALIZED STRESS-STRATN CURVES FOR SOILS SHEARED AY CONSTANT VOLUME aa +1 Uncemented Soils with Hard Bulky Grains 6.2 Uncemented Soils with Substantial Proportion of Platey Grains EXAMPLES OF STRESS-STRAIN CURVES FOR SOILS SHEARED AT CONSTANT VOLUME 4s 7.1 Uncemented Soils with Bulky Grains (a) Highly Contractive Sand (‘Very Loose") (b) Sand Close tc Steady State Void Ratio (c) Highly Dilative sand ('Dense') 7.2. Uncemented Soils with Substantial Proportion of Platey Grains (a) Very Highly Contractive Clay (Quick) (»).. Highly Contractive Clay (Normally Consolidated) (c) Highly Dilative Clay (overconsolidated) APPLICATIONS bad 8.1 Significance of the Texms "Normally Consolidated” and “Loose” 8.2 Selection of Apparatus for Measurement of Stress-strain Dehavior 8.3 Relation between Failures in Laboratory Specimens and Failures in the Field .4 Relation between Pore Pressures Before and After Failure 5 Selection of Shear Strength for Stability Analysis (a) Soils Containing Chiefly Bulky Grains (>) Soils Containing Chiefly Platey Grains {c) Comments on Use of Tables 3 and 4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 14