Journal of Engineering Geology

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Among dynamic parameters, the maximum shear modulus and damping ratio of the materials has the great importance in the dynamic analyses. In this paper, the high frequency GAP-SENSORs (20 kHz) is used to measure shear wave velocity of the sandy and gravelly Dacite materials in the cyclic triaxial equipment. The test procedure is as follows: firstly, a weak impact on the top cap triaxial specimen is induced. The induced low horizontal and vertical displacements time histories (strain in the range 10-6) are recorded using data logger with rate of 100,000 samples per secent for each channel. Then by traveling time and distance between two GAP-SENSORs, wave velocity is measured. Finally, by calculating the poison ratio via horizontal and vertical strains, the maximum shear modulus of the material is calculated. The results indicate that the value of wave velocity is increased by increasing confining pressure, and their values are dependent on particle size. Also, using the reduced vibration amplitude technique at different levels of specimen, damping ratio value is calculated by temping method. By comparing the results of shear modulus and damping ratio using local measurement of axial strain (with GAP-SENSORs in the cyclic triaxial) at small strain level with the results of the proposed method, cofirmed the high precision of the innovative used method.

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Introduction
When saturated sandy soils are subjected to seismic loadings, the pore water pressure gradually increases until liquefaction happens and settlement occurs during and after an earthquake. The mentioned problem is attributed to rearrangement of grains and redistribution of voids within the soils. Over the years many methods have been presented to increase liquefaction resistance. However, the main methods utilized in liquefaction mitigation are classified as densification, solidification, drainage and reinforcement techniques. Utilizing scrap tires in soils is a kind of soil reinforcement which has a wide range of application.
Waste material expulsion is one of the environmental problems each country faces. Accumulation of non-degradable polymeric materials in landfills has serious environmental consequences. Efforts to find new ways of soil reinforcement have drawn the attention of researchers towards the use of new recycled materials like scrap tires derivatives. Derivatives of scrap tires have different applications in civil engineering such as reinforcing soft soil, as a drainage layer in landfills and as filler materials.
Material and methods
In this paper a series of 1g shaking table tests were performed to investigate on the effect of tire powders-sand mixture in reducing liquefaction potential, settlements after earthquake and pore water generation. Shaking table is made of Plexiglas with inner dimensions of 200×50×70 cm. At bottom of the container a void chamber is made by using a number 200 sieve so that the saturation process could be done gradually and uniformly. A plastic plate was rigidly fixed at the center of container to separate reinforced and unreinforced samples from each other and waterproofing carefully. Therefore two models (reinforced and unreinforced) can be tested at once with the same input acceleration. An absorbing layer of foam with 2 cm thickness was employed to decrease the effect of boundary conditions in order to avoid a direct confrontation model with a rigid container. Firoozkuh No. 161 sand and tire powders were used for the mixture in reinforced side, and pure sand in unreinforced side. In this study 4 mixture ratio (TC=5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) were done. Both of unreinforced (pure sand) and reinforced (tire powders-sand mixture) models were prepared by wet tamping method, in which soil is mixed with 5% water. Each model was prepared in six layers. The required weight for each layer was considered based on the desired density (relative density is zero) and exact volume of the layer. Each portion was placed into the model container and then tamped to reach desired level. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) was allowed to pass through the specimen at a low pressure in order to replace the air that trapped in the pores of the specimen. Then water was allowed to flow upward through the bottom of the container at low pressures in order to flush out the CO₂ that cause increasing the final degree of saturation. Vibration with approximate uniform amplitude and 2 Hz frequency was applied to the container.
Results and discussion
Results indicate that acceleration within the soil tends to be increased towards the soil surface. On the other hand, after initial liquefaction (that occurred at un-reinforced models), acceleration is decreased due to the increase in excess pore water pressure. Also, it can be seen that the increase in tire powders ratio remarkably reduces the maximum excess pore-water pressure ratio. The settlement of the tire powders-reinforced models is significantly less than the unreinforced models, and with the increase of the tire powder percentage shows a very small increase of volume. The outcomes show that the value of the mean damping ratio versus the shear strain range of 0.01 is increased with the increase in tire powder content. Shear modulus is obtained from the ratio of the difference in maximum and minimum stress and strain developed in desired loop. The maximum of the shear modulus in reinforced models is more than the unreinforced models.
Conclusion
The main aim of the present paper was to investigate the influence of reinforcing a saturated sandy soil with tire powders on the soil dynamic properties and the mitigation of liquefaction potential. The following conclusions were drawn from this research.
- The increase of pore-water pressure leads to a reduction in soil shear stiffness and acceleration amplitude.
- Reinforcing sand with tire powders reduces the excess pore-water pressure ratio because of liquefaction and increases liquefaction resistance. 
- Reinforcing sand with tire powders decreases settlement caused by liquefaction.
- The damping ratio decreases at large shear strain as liquefaction occurs.
- Maximum shear modulus and mean damping ratio of reinforced soil has been increased with increasing tire powder content in the mixture../files/site1/files/123/3BahadoriFarzali.pdf

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Introduction
One-dimensional site response analysis is widely performed to account for local site effects during an earthquake. Most of these approaches assume that dynamic soil properties are frequency independent. Laboratory test results as well as in-situ testing show that shear modulus and damping ratio are dependent on the frequency of loading. Although the amplification factor at ground surface with respect to frequency dependent dynamic properties of mixed alluvium materials under different near-fault motions with various velocity period is recognized, it is not well characterized and quantified.
Material and analysis methods
In this study, the tests results of samples which obtained from the drilling borehole (BH14) form Pardis city in Iran, are used. The soil is classified as clayey of high plasticity/clayey sand (CH/SC) and almost uniform and similar in the whole log profile.
Shear modulus and damping ratios versus shear strain curves (ASTM D3999) of CH/SC natural materials at effective confining pressures of 1, 2 and 5 kg/cm² with frequency of 0.5, 2, 5, and 10 Hz were used in one dimension response analyses using EERA Code.
Generally the damping ratio versus shear strain of the studied materials under low loading frequency (i.e. 0.5 Hz) almost falls in the range identified in literature. However, at higher loading frequencies (5 and 10 Hz) the damping ratios completely fall above the known upper bound trend. It is observed that, in general, the G and D values increase as loading frequency increases. Moreover, at certain strain G/G_max ratio decreases as loading frequency is increased.
Different dynamics behaviour curves were used in analyses, in isotropic consolidation conditions. In order to assess the amplification, acceleration spectra, acceleration spectra ratio, coefficient of B, at ground surface under eight well-known near-fault ground motions, 1728 one dimensional analyses were carried out with EERA code. The analyses have been performed for three base acceleration levels, namely, 0.1 g, 0.35 g and 1 g, using the simple time history scaling method. Field and laboratory test results of shear wave velocity were used in the analyses.
In this study, several well-known near-fault motion records are utilized for ground response analyses. Near-fault earthquakes records were selected from the strong motion database of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and Iran Strong Motion Network (ISMN) for specific reasons of location of the near faults sites.
In current building codes, the upper 30 m soil deposits overlying the higher impedance earth crust are regarded as the most relevant and significant in characterizing the seismic behavior of a site. Therefore, it is useful to accomplish investigations for obtaining their amplification and spectral acceleration for 30 m and even thicker (e.g. 60 m, for usual deep excavation in Iran), in order to have economical and safe designs and constructions.
Results and discussion
Figure 1 presents a comparison of normalized spectral acceleration (B factor) versus period for 30 m and 60 m thick profiles and Vs testing for frequencies dependent and independent analyses under input base acceleration of 0.35g for longitudinal component of used earthquakes. B factor of Iranian Standard 2800 and UBC97 also has been presented in the figure. The spectral acceleration at short period for frequency dependent analysis is higher than that of the frequency independent analysis. The  increases in frequency dependent analysis and higher thick profile (i.e. 60 m).
Conclusion
Results show that the effect of loading frequency has a considerable influence on the acceleration response at the ground surface. For both 30 m and 60 m soil columns, the increase of the loading frequency, decreases the amplification factor especially in the short period zone of the spectra. Based on the acceleration response spectra of near field strong motions derived for soils types of I and IV in this study, the period corresponding to  in the design spectrum of Iranian Standard 2800 should increase to 0.5 and 1.4, respectively. Therefore, selection of the appropriate G and D curves measured at frequency similar to those of the anticipated cyclic loading (e.g. seismic) has a paramount importance../files/site1/files/134/1.pdf

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Introduction
Soil dynamic properties are used to evaluate the dynamic response of soils at different strain levels in geotechnical engineering. The shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) are among the most important dynamic properties of soils. In general, the factors affecting the dynamic behavior of soils are divided into two categories: first; soil type and characteristics such as water content, void ratio and soil plasticity and second; parameters of loads applied on the soil such as the number of loading cycles, loading frequency and loading waveform .Therefore, it is widely believed that the dynamic response of soils partially depends on the characteristics of the load. In this paper, 1-g shaking table tests were employed to investigate the effect of loading waveform and frequency content on dynamic properties of dry sands. The response obtained from soil samples during loading with different frequencies, input accelerations and waveforms were used to generate hysteresis loops of tested samples at different strain amplitudes. Then, hysteresis loops were used to determine the damping ratio and shear modulus at different strain levels. Finally, the effects of loading frequency and waveform on the changes of each parameter (G and D) were investigated.
Material and methods
A hydraulic shaking table with a single degree of freedom, designed and constructed at the Crisis Management Center of Urmia University, was used to conduct the experiments. Firoozkuh No. 161 sand was used in all the experiments. The Firoozkuh sand gradation curve is similar to that of Toyoura sand. In this study, accelerometers were used to measure the acceleration of the input to the sample as well as to record the acceleration caused by the input excitation at different depths of the soil sample. The displacement transducers (LVDT sensors) were also used to measure linear displacement. Each soil sample was constructed using dry Firoozkuh sand poured uniformly into the container from four equal heights of 150 mm to reach a total height of 600 mm. During the compaction process, the accelerometers A₁, A₂, and A₃ were placed at a depth of 150, 300 and 450 mm with respect to the bottom of container. Also, one accelerometer, A₀, was attached rigidly to the container base to measure base acceleration. A displacement transducer (L₁) was placed on the soil surface at a height of 600 mm from the floor of the container to measure the vertical displacement of the surface of the soil. In this study, 42 shaking table tests were performed to study the effect of loading frequency and waveform on dynamic properties of dry sand. The test samples were subjected to rectangular, sinusoidal and triangular loading at frequencies of 0.5 to 9 Hz and at input acceleration of 0.1g and 0.3 g.
Results and discussion
Given the importance of G-γ and D-γ curves in dynamic analyses, the changes in shear modulus with shear strain has been studied. The results show that the shear modulus increases as the frequency increases in all cases, and this increase is observed at lower frequencies and increases with increasing frequency. On the other hand, the shear modulus decreases with increasing shear strain. At a constant testing frequency, soil samples subjected to the rectangular waveform exhibited the largest shear modulus while the samples subjected to the triangular waveform showed the least shear modulus. The shear modulus of the samples under the sinusoidal waveform is barely more than the shear modulus of samples under triangular waveform. Moreover, by increasing the shear strain, the shear modulus values ​​of samples with different waveforms have become closer and the waveform effect is reduced. As for the effect of input acceleration on the shear modulus , increasing the input acceleration increases the shear strain and consequently, decreases the shear modulus in all states (the values ​​of shear modulus in various frequencies and the waveforms under the input acceleration of 0.1 g are larger than the shear modulus values ​​under the input acceleration of 0.3g). In the case of the damping ratio, the results show that, in all cases, damping ratio increases with shear strain. At low strain levels, the damping ratio values at various frequencies and waveforms are low and yet very close. At higher strain levels, the increase in frequency increases the damping ratio. This increase is more significant at higher frequencies. Also, the effect of waveform on the damping ratio is more apparent at larger shear strains, and at such shear strain levels, soil samples under rectangular loading exhibit the largest damping ratio. The damping ratio associated with the sinusoidal and triangular loading are also close to each other and it is a slightly larger for sinusoidal loading. On the other hand, the damping ratio increases with input acceleration. In addition, the effect of increased input acceleration on the increase in the damping ratio is more obvious at higher frequencies mainly due to the increase in shear strain.
Conclusion
In the present study, the effects of loading frequency and waveform on the dynamic properties of dry sand were investigated using shaking table tests. The following conclusions were drawn:

• The shear modulus increases with frequency. The trend is more obvious at larger frequencies. The effect of loading frequency on the damping ratio of the soil at low levels of strain is negligible, and at relatively large strain levels, damping ratio increases with loading frequency.
• Soil samples exhibit the highest shear modulus and damping ratio under rectangular loading. Therefore, in all the tested frequencies and input accelerations, the values of G and D for the rectangular waveforms are greater than those of the sinusoidal and triangular waveforms. The shear modulus and damping ratio for the sinusoidal waveforms are marginally greater than those of triangular waveforms, yet one can consider them practically similar.
• In all cases, the shear strain increased by increasing the amplitude of the input acceleration, and as a result, the shear modulus decreased and the damping ratio increased../files/site1/files/142/2.pdf

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