Influence of sampling methods and stress paths on the consolidated undrained shear behavior of saturated fine sand with medium density

The consolidated undrained shear tests are conducted on saturated fine sand with relative density of 50% prepared by using the dry-rapping method and wet tamping method under three stress paths of conventional tri-axial compression CTC, constant stress tri-axial compression TC, reduced tri-axial compression RTC. According to the test results, a comprehensive analysis of the influence of sampling methods and stress paths on mechanical behavior of fine sand with medium density is proceeded. The test results show that the sample preparing methods have considerable influence under various stress paths. The saturated fine sand with medium density exhibits obvious dilatancy. The strongest shear dilatancy is shown for samples with RTC path. The influence of stress path is not obvious on the effective internal friction angle and the peak effective principal stress ratio, but that of the sampling methods is significant.