Sand-Steel Interface Behavior Under Cyclic Loading

Abstract

This paper is to investigate the behavior of sand-steel interfaces under cyclic loading. A series of direct shear test results performed on a dune sand in contact with a stainless steel rigid plate, as well as those of a numerical simulation carried out using the Plaxis-2D (version 8.2) software were presented and discussed. The cyclic shear experimental and numerical curves are fairly well concordant. These curves make it possible to conclude that the sand-steel interface cyclic shear modulus and the corresponding damping ratio were influenced by the sand compactness and the steel plate roughness. The results also show that the rough plate is more effective than the smooth one mainly when it is in contact with a dense sand than with loose sand.