Undrained monotonic and dynamic triaxial properties of the aeolian sand

The aeolian sand from the Mu Us Sandy Land was tested by triaxial tests, and the shear strength and dynamic mechanical characteristics were explored. A novel way was used to prepare the sand specimens. The shear strengths were tested under isotropic consolidation pressure of 50 kPa, 100 kPa and 200 kPa, respectively; the dynamic mechanical characteristics were tested under initial effective confining pressures of 50 kPa, 100 kPa and 200 kPa, respectively, with a consolidation ratio of 1.5 or 1.0. A fully compressive sine wave was adopted in cyclic triaxial tests with an excitation frequency of 1Hz in cyclic triaxial tests in which eight progressive displacement amplitudes were adopted. The test result showed that the aeolian sand had an effective angle of 33.9º, and the relationship between the dynamic shear modulus and the dynamic axial strain could be expressed by Hardin-Drnevich equation in which the best fitted value for reference strain was also suggested.