Dynamic behavior of geocell-reinforced rubber sand mixtures under cyclic simple shear loading

Abstract

<p>Due to the attributes of low <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/shear-modulus" title="Learn more about shear modulus from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">shear modulus</a> and high initial damping, rubber sand mixtures (RSM) can be used as a soil alternative to reduce ground motions when seismic loads are of great concern. However, when RSM is used as a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/vibration-isolation" title="Learn more about vibration isolation from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">vibration isolation</a> material for geotechnical <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/seismic-isolation" title="Learn more about seismic isolation from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">seismic isolation</a> systems, it suffers from a lack of load-bearing capacity. To overcome this, a three-dimensional interconnected <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/geocell" title="Learn more about geocell from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">geocell</a> (one type of geosynthetics) is placed within RSM to increase the vertical confinement of the system. In this technical note, to investigate the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/shear-modulus" title="Learn more about shear modulus from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">shear modulus</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/damping-ratio-zeta" title="Learn more about damping ratio from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">damping ratio</a> of geocell-reinforced RSM, large-scale <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/cyclic-triaxial-test" title="Learn more about cyclic triaxial tests from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">cyclic triaxial tests</a> were conducted on specimens prepared with four granulated rubber contents (by weight) and sheared under different cyclic shear <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/strain-amplitude" title="Learn more about strain amplitudes from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">strain amplitudes</a>. The results show that Geocell reinforcement can restrict the development of local shear bands in the specimen, weaken the anti-S-shaped characteristics of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/hysteresis-loop" title="Learn more about hysteresis loops from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">hysteresis loops</a> and enhance the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/damping-ratio-zeta" title="Learn more about damping ratio from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">damping ratio</a> of RSM at large <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/strain-amplitude" title="Learn more about strain amplitudes from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">strain amplitudes</a>. The tuck net effect causes an increase in the normal stress of both contact particles, and then leads to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/degradation-rate" title="Learn more about degradation rate from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">degradation rate</a> of the maximum shear modulus of RSM varying with the rubber content and vertical pressure. The normalized shear modulus degradation curves show the influence range of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/geocell" title="Learn more about geocell from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">geocell</a> reinforcement, and demonstrate that a rubber content of 20% for reinforced specimen may be an optimal value from the perspective of the stability of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/dynamic-characteristics" title="Learn more about dynamic properties from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">dynamic properties</a>. Additionally, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/quantitative-measurement" title="Learn more about quantitative analysis from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">quantitative analysis</a> of the effect of geocell reinforcement on the mechanical behavior of RSM can provide a reference for subsequent theoretical research and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/engineering-application" title="Learn more about engineering applications from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">engineering applications</a>.<br></p>