Abstract:
The objective of the thesis is to study the shear modulus value by a conventional triaxial test which is installed a bender element at the top-bottom cap to act as a sensor and a actuator of the signal. The qualification of the bender element is when an electric current run into it, which is the actuator, the electric current will be changed from an electrical signal to a mechanical energy to create a propagation of the clay particle from the resource. Then, the shear wave that runs through the clay particle will move toward another bender element, which is the sensor, and it will be changed from the mechanical energy to the electrical signal. In addition, by checking time arrival of the shear wave with an oscilloscope machine, we can calculate the shear wave velocity and the shear modulus value. The testing process of this thesis is to prepare the sample of an isotropic clay into 2 types; the normally consolidated clay (NC clay) and the overconsolidated clay (OC clay). Moreover, the process to test the shear modulus value can be divided into 2 stages. The first stage is to find out the modulus value when the consolidation finished in each condition. The second one is to find out the shear modulus value while testing a shearing. The result of the shear modulus value in the stage when the consolidation finished in each condition reveals that the trend of the shear modulus value will be increased when the effective confining pressure increased. As for the stage which is the test of the shearing, it reveals that the shear modulus value did not have any effect on the normally consolidated clay due to the increasing of the deviatoric stress. However, comparing with the consolidation stage, the shear modulus value will be decreased when the sample failed. In addition, according to the overconsolidated clay, the shear modulus value will be decreased due to the increasing of deviatoric stress. Furthermore, in shearing stage the decreasing trend of the shear modulus value will bend into the consolidation stage.