Volume 40, N. 3, September-December 2017 | DOWNLOAD PDF(41 downloads)
Abstract
Considering the increasing incidence of cyclic loadings on engineering structures and the enhancement of design analysis, soil testing under cyclic conditions has renewed its importance. Laboratory tests are conducted to simulate as near as possible field conditions. Assumed conditions aid on the choice of the tests to be conducted in order to determinate the relevant geotechnical parameters to each situation observed on the field. The simple shear test is highlighted among the typical tests in Geomechanics. This is the only laboratory test capable of submitting the specimen to plane strain conditions under constant volume while allowing the rotation of principal stresses. Such conditions are representative of situations such as the adjacent shear mechanism to the shaft of piles or under offshore platforms. In this sense a simple shear testing apparatus was developed. Contrasting with commercial equipment where confinement is made by means of a rigid membrane, specimens are confined by cell pressure in the developed apparatus. Consolidation can be conducted under isotropic or anisotropic paths and shearing, under monotonic and cyclic conditions (either stress or strain controlled). Validation tests were conducted on the equipment using an well-known material. The results obtained were satisfactory, validating the developed apparatus.
