Consequences of scalping and scalping/replacement procedures on strength properties of coarse-grained gap-graded soils

• Published in: Canadian geotechnical journal Vol. 59; no. 10; pp. 1819 - 1832
• Main Authors: Hassan, Nadine Ali, Nguyen, Ngoc Son, Marot, Didier, Bendahmane, Fateh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa NRC Research Press 01-10-2022; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Coarse-grained soils; Engineering research; Engineering Sciences; Experiments; Fines; Glass beads; Gravel; Laboratory tests; Mechanical properties; Particle size distribution; Procedures; Scalping; Shear strength; Shear strength of soils; Soil; Soil analysis; Soil mechanics; Soil mixtures; Soil properties; Soils; Substitutes; Tests; France; scalping/replacement; scalping; triaxial device; Coarse-grained soils scalping scalping/replacement mechanical behavior triaxial device; Coarse-grained soils; mechanical behavior
• ISSN: 0008-3674; 1208-6010
• DOI: 10.1139/cgj-2021-0504

Evaluation of shear strength characteristics of coarse-grained soils by performing laboratory tests resorts often to a scalping or scalping/replacement procedure due to the presence of oversized particles in comparison with the device size. This work aimed to study consequences of these two procedures on the resulting shear strength characteristics. Experimental tests were performed on soils having gap-graded particle size distributions by using triaxial apparatuses with small and medium diameters Φ = 50 and 100 mm. Original soils were mixtures of fine particles (sand and glass beads) and coarse particles (two types of gravel). The original soils were scalped and (or) scalped/replaced by two different procedures. Different factors that influenced the mechanical properties of the scalped and scalped/replaced soils in comparison with those of the original soils were analyzed: ( i) the compactness parameter controlled for scalped and scalped/replaced soils, ( ii) the fine content of the original soils, and ( iii) the procedure used for the scalping/replacement.