Specimen size effects on behavior of loose sand in triaxial compression tests

Triaxial tests are often used to determine the behavior and strength characteristics of soils without due attention to the differences in specimen size. Several drained and undrained monotonic triaxial compression shear tests are performed in this study on three different specimen sizes of the same sand to investigate the influence of specimen size and scale effect on sand compression and shear behavior. The behavior of a sand specimen is strongly influenced by shear banding and specimen boundary conditions, which are manifested as specimen size effects in the test results of this study. The measured sand compressibility and shear strength parameters are employed to describe scale effects, and investigate specimen size effects in liquefaction triggering analysis. The results show that while larger specimens exhibit a less compressible behavior during isotropic compression, larger shear strengths and effective friction angles are mobilized in the smaller specimens during shearing. A number of geotechnical analyses can be significantly affected by variations in strength parameters of the same soil determined from different specimen sizes. While using small size specimens for determining shear strength parameters might result in an unconservative design, a large specimen size provides a more accurate representation of different soil strength conditions and field deformations.