Vibrocompaction properties of dry sand

International audienceThe fundamental understanding of the behaviour of dry sand as it is being vibrated is necessary to properly address a number of engineering issues, such as the vibrocompaction process. The present paper first summarizes experimental works focusing on the effects of vibrations on the volume change of dry cohesionless soils. Original experiments characterizing the behaviour of dry sand subjected to vertical vibration are then presented. The volume change and the motion pattern displayed by vertically vibrated sand particles are discussed. When cohesionless soil, placed in a cylindrical container, is vertically vibrated under the gravitational field (g), experiments performed on dry Fontainebleau sand allow the distinction between three types of dynamic behaviours depending on the acceleration amplitude (a): the densification behaviour (a/g 1). In the densification range, the sand simply settles. When the acceleration amplitude is increased beyond 1g, granular convection is observed and there is an instability in the sand mass leading to the emergence of an inclined free surface. If the acceleration amplitude is further increased, the free surface progressively flattens. There is an impressive dilatation of the whole sample and grain saltation is observed. The sand becomes fully vibrofluidized. The efficiency of the vibrocompaction process is finally discussed especially with regard to these dynamic behaviours