VOLUME CHANGE BEHAVIOR AND DILATANCY CHARACTERISTICS OF GRANULAR MATERIALS

it is well established that the volume change behavior of sand is totally dependent on the initial void ratio and stress path application. When sand is sheared,unless in the case of very dense sand which may dilate, a progressive reduction in volume and hardening strain occurs after which it switches to expansion. Laboratory experiments are performed to investigate the factors such as stress path, initial void ratio and stress level which may affect the soil volumetric characteristics. Also the stress ratio corresponding to the passage from volumetric contraction to the volumetric expansion in both monotonic and cyclic test is studied and compared.