Static liquefaction of very loose Hostun RF sand: Experiments and modelling

This paper highlights some new experimental results of the undrained behaviour of very loose Hostun sand and examines the possibilities offered by recent constitutive equations to model the static liquefaction phenomenon. The undrained behaviour of normally and lightly overconsolidated sand samples subjected to different initial anisotropic consolidation levels in triaxial compression and extension is described. The initial anisotropic consolidation strongly influences the instability concept, but the effective stress ratio increment stabilizes asymptotically. The systematic evaluation of the experimental errors assesses the nonuniqueness of the steady state of deformation within the double-side confidence limits. The performances and limitations of several recent constitutive equations to simulate the experimental data with emphasis to the extension domain from an anisotropic stress state are evaluated.