Multiaxial Behavior of Compacted Artificially Lightly Cemented Sands

The multiaxial behavior of an artificially lightly cemented sand was investigated using the cubical cell apparatus (CCA). Two different cement–sand blends were prepared by compaction at different densities and cement contents but featuring a similar porosity/volumetric cement content index. The two blends were subjected to a semirosette of probing stress paths in the octahedral plane with orientation from the vertical stress axis of 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 150°, and 180° in order to explore the multiaxial response and a full failure envelope for artificially lightly cemented sands. The stress–strain behavior and the strength failure envelope revealed the presence of some material cross-anisotropy. The experimental data were well fitted by a modification of well-established theoretical multiaxial failure envelopes to account for the material anisotropy. The shape of the strength envelope in the octahedral plane seemed to be independent of the individual blend compositions (porosity and cement content) because the porosity/cement content index was the same. Further tests exploring the material mixture space are required to validate this initial observation.