Stress dilatancy and fabric dependencies on sand behavior

A stress dilatancy model with embedded microstructural information, originally developed by the writers, is used to illustrate the pivotal importance of dilatancy and fabric on the behavior of sand. Fabric, as a second-order tensor, enters into the stress dilatancy equation obtained from a microscopic analysis of an ensemble of rigid particles. Model simulations of sand behavior are carried out in triaxial stress conditions along strain paths with varying degrees of controlled dilation (or compaction) including isochoric deformations as a particular case. Under particular strain paths and fabric conditions, it is shown that a relatively dense sand can succumb to instability or liquefaction under other than isochoric (undrained) conditions. This phenomenon is in accord with laboratory experiments in which dilation or compaction is controlled by modulating the amount of water flowing in or out of a sand specimen during shearing. Mixed drained-undrained loading paths are also simulated with particular reference to fabric dependence at a fixed void ratio. Model simulations capture most of the observed characteristics of sand response, such as instability and asymptotic behavior under various conditions.