Strength Property and Feasibility Test of Transparent Soil to Model Clayey Soil

Abstract:

The transparent soil was developed to model clayey soil, which was composed by amorphous silica powder, white mineral oil and dodecane mixture (2.5∶1 by volume). Based on the consolidated quick direct shear tests of 120 transparent soil samples with different stress states and normal consolidated compression tests, the shear strength under different stress states was given, also the strength and deformation properties were studied and showed high similarity to clayey soil. The loadingsettlement curves, ultimate bearing capacity, and velocity field displacement field were obtained by plate loading tests with the same settlement rates. The feasibility of using transparent soil to model clayey soil was finally verified by comparing with some known results.