Abstract
Bender elements are a powerful and increasingly common laboratory tool for determining the shear wave velocity hence the small strain shear stiffness (G0) in soil samples. There are several advantages of the bender element technique, namely its simplicity and ease of use; however, there is no standard developed for this technique as the interpretation of the results involves some uncertainty and subjectivity. Different approaches have been proposed to deal with these issues, especially in terms of the interpretation techniques, based on the time and on the frequency domain. In the present work, a modified resonant column, equipped with bender elements, has been used, where shear wave velocities can be measured independently and different interpretation methodologies of the bender element results can be applied. For this study, natural samples of Porto granitic residual soil were tested, since this geomaterial has been object of research and interest for many years in the University of Porto. The paper will focus on the comparison of simultaneous results of shear wave velocities by the resonant column and the bender elements. It is intended to provide some contribution to the routine laboratory practice using bender elements, with further insight in the interpretation of the results.
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Ferreira, C., da Fonseca, A., Santos, J.A. (2007). Comparison of Simultaneous Bender Elements and Resonant Column Tests on Porto Residual Soil. In: Ling, H.I., Callisto, L., Leshchinsky, D., Koseki, J. (eds) Soil Stress-Strain Behavior: Measurement, Modeling and Analysis. Solid Mechanics and Its Applications, vol 146. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6146-2_34
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6146-2_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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