Abstract
To examine the effect of the fabric anisotropy of sands on the initial shear modulus, the shear wave velocity in three different directions was measured by the bender element method on specimens with different fabric anisotropy. Furthermore, to examine the effects of the induced anisotropy, a series of bender element and cyclic torsional shear tests was performed under various anisotropic stress conditions. Test results showed that; 1) the initial shear modulus obtained from the shear wave for propagating and vibrating parallel to the bedding plane is higher than the other two kinds of moduli, 2) these two moduli are almost same irrespective of the fabric anisotropy, 3) the measured initial stiffness decrease gradually from the values estimated by an equation as the stress state approaches to the failure criterion line. This degradation can be expressed by a proposed new function.
