The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Undisturbed sampling and cyclic load testing of sands

Singh, Sukhmander; Seed, H. Bolton; Chan, Clarence K.

UCB/EERC-79/33, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1979-12, 134 pages (475/S57/1979)

The increasing need to construct or evaluate structures such as earth dams and nuclear power plants has increased the emphasis on testing high-quality undisturbed samples. Sampling of sands, particularly loose sands, presents special problems when compared with clay sampling. This report describes studies to investigate, by laboratory experimentation, the effects of undisturbed sampling on the cyclic load characteristics of sand, utilizing blocks, push-tube and freezing techniques, and the influence of disturbance due to shipping and handling on the cyclic strength characteristics of Monterey # 0 sand.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-79-33.pdf (11 MB)