Measurement of small strain shear modulus of clean and natural sands in saturated condition using bender element test

• BE, RC and TS tests were carried out on the same specimen.
• BE tests of saturated sands with different fines contents were performed.
• The factors that influence the determination Vs in BE tests were discussed.
• Biot׳s theory is employed to consider the dispersion of shear wave in BE tests.
• A method for the determination of Gmax in BE test is proposed for saturated sands.

Bender element (BE) tests of saturated sand have increased interest to researchers currently. However, the measurement of small strain modulus from BE tests shows large difference between saturated and dry conditions. In this study, BE tests of a type of clean sand (Fujian sand) and two types of natural sands (Hangzhou sand and Nanjing sand) were performed. For the purposes of comparison, resonant column (RC) test and torsional shear (TS) test were also carried out on the same specimen. The factors that influence the determination of the travel time of shear wave in BE tests are discussed and a reliable method for the determination of the shear-wave velocity is obtained. It is found that the shear-wave velocities Vs of saturated Fujian sand (clean sand) and Hangzhou sand (natural sand) obtained from BE tests are 5–10% greater than those obtained from RC and TS tests. However, the Vs of saturated Nanjing sand (natural sand) obtained from BE, RC and TS tests show good agreement with a maximum difference of about 3%. Sands with various fines contents were also tested in an attempt to explain the differences between the two saturated natural sands. Biot׳s theory accounting for the dispersion of shear wave was employed to interpret the results of BE tests. The results indicate that the fines content of natural sand plays an important effect on the hydraulic conductivity, which affects the relative motion between soil particles and fluid when a high frequency shear wave propagates in the specimen. Based on this, a method for the determination of small strain shear modulus in BE test was proposed for both saturated clean sands and natural sands.