STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONSHIP OF FROZEN SAND AS A COMPOSITE GEOMATERIAL

Abstract

The present paper aims at developing a simplified model for a stress-strain relationship at small strains up to an initial yielding of homogeneous saturated frozen sand. The modelling of elastic moduli for an ice-sand mixture as a composite geomaterial is first introduced based on previous studies, where a saturated frozen sand is treated as the icesand mixture. The applicability of modelling the elastic moduli under constant temperature is then discussed from the theoretical and experimental points of view. In addition, the hyperbolic stress-strain modelling of saturated frozen sand at small strain is presented. The effect of the volume fraction of sand, stiffness of sand inclusion and temperature changes on the elastic moduli and the stress-strain behaviour up to about 1-2% axial strain, which is defined as an upper yield stress, are investigated through the model, whose applicability is verified in comparison with the experimental data.