Influence of Cementation on Liquefaction of Sands

Abstract

Cementation can exist in a sand naturally or it can be added artificially. In either case, it is known to increase the resistance of a sand to liquefaction, and can be a critical factor in engineering decisions about site response, This investigation involves testing of weakly cemented sands which have a range of cementation levels and unit weights. Both triaxial and cubical cyclic shear devices are used in the testing. The cubical shear apparatus is used to allow assessment of possible stress concentration effects in the triaxial device, and to investigate loading under multiaxial stress conditions. The experimental results are used to separate the effects of unit weight and cementation, and to define the conditions where cementation begins to override the influence of unit weight.