抄録
A traditional method of studying the yielding of soil is to examine the stress-strain response obtained from laboratory shear tests. In this paper, the alternative method is presented and it is to examine the acoustic energy released from soil specimen during shear. A series of drained triaxial tests was performed on sand specimens which had been isotropically pre-stressed, and the on-set of plastic deformation was detected by the measurement of acoustic emission (AE).The test results show that there is a small elastic deformation without AE even for the sandy soil and the end of elastic responses is clearly indicated by the emission of acoustic energy. The results also suggest that the behaviour of the soil is elastic as long as the shear stress does not exceed the yield locus in three-dimensional stress space which is determined by the AE measurement.
