Elimination of membrane compliance in undrained triaxial testing. I. Measurement and evaluation

Abstract

Several alternative approaches have been suggested for evaluation and correction of the testing errors caused by membrane compliance. The degree to which membrane may affect the results of an undrained test is a function of the soil grain size and overall geometry of the test specimen, as well as specimen density and range of effective confining stresses during a given test. The scope of this paper is threefold: firstly, to review, examine, and evaluate the variety of methods to measure and characterize membrane compliance; secondly, to develop an improved understanding of the factors affecting membrane compliance; and thirdly, to provide an enhanced, updated, and expanded correlation for estimating membrane compliance characteristics as a function of material grain size for a range of soil types. -from Authors