Triaxial compression tests : laboratory procedures and trial test results on a cohesionless soil

Includes bibliographical references (pages 57-58)Recently acquired triaxial compression test equipment at\ud California State University, Northridge was assembled and\ud placed in operation. A series of trial tests on a\ud cohesionless soil was conducted to check the operation of\ud the equipment and to provide a basis for developing a set of\ud laboratory test procedures. A review of the literature\ud regarding commonly used laboratory test procedures and\ud possible sources for error has suggested modifications to\ud the trial test procedures which yield more accurate test\ud results. For example, in the trial tests it was difficult\ud to prepare a soil specimen with a high densty; suggested\ud improvements are included in this report. Also, because it\ud was impossible to obtain complete saturation of the soil\ud specimen prior to testing, changes in the saturation\ud technique are proposed. Lastly, because reuse of the\ud saturation water increased the amount of dissolved air and \ud resulted in soil particles in suspension, changes in the\ud plumbing are proposed so that fresh water can be used for\ud each test