Development and assessment of transparent soil and particle image velocimetry in dynamic soil-structure interaction

This research combines Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and transparent soil to investigate the dynamic rigid block and soil interaction. In order to get a low viscosity pore fluid for the transparent soil, 12 different types of chemical solvents were tested and the two best-matching pore fluids were identified. Transparent soil was adopted in the research as a substitute for natural sand. To examine the dynamic properties of transparent soil, a series of resonant column tests were carried out on dry silica gel under different confining pressures. The test results showed that transparent soil has a similar dynamic behavior as natural soil under low confining pressure. Hence, transparent soil can be used as an effective substitute for natural soil in the shake table test, in which the confining pressure is usually lower than 400 kPa --Abstract, page iii