Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-023-02035-8 (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().
,- volV)

RESEARCH PAPER

Experimental study of stress direction dependence of sand

under biaxial rotation of principal stress
Chao Liu1,2 • Tong Dong3 • Liang Kong1,2 • Sui Wang4

Received: 4 December 2022 / Accepted: 19 July 2023 / Published online: 25 September 2023
Ó The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023

Abstract
The principal stress rotation is often studied by considering the uniaxial rotation of principal stress. In this paper, the stress
path on biaxial rotation of principal stresses is considered. The hollow cylindrical apparatus was used to achieve the
principal stress rotation around the second stress principal axis. A novel specimen preparation device was developed, which
was used to achieve the principal stress rotation around the third principal stress axis. The influence of principal stress
biaxial rotation on the dense sand behavior was investigated under undrained conditions. The results revealed that the
deformation properties of dense sand were closely associated with the stress direction dependence of the soil. An increase
in the inherent anisotropy changed the slope of the effective stress path and the phase transition pore pressure, influenced
the shear dilatancy and shear shrinkage characteristic of sand. Likewise, an increase in the stress-induced anisotropy
changed the shape of the effective stress path, the development of pore pressure, the shear dilatancy and shear shrinkage
characteristic of sand. More importantly, deformation properties of sand were affected by the coupling of the two factors,
which was predominantly controlled by stress-induced anisotropy.

Keywords Biaxial rotation of principal stress  Deformation properties  Dense sand  Hollow cylindrical apparatus 
Specimens with inclined bedding plane  Stress direction dependence

1 Introduction Under the influence of external forces such as gravity, soil

particles are generally arranged in a certain way to form
The research object of classical materials mechanics is several bedding planes. The mechanical properties of soil
deformable solid, which is uniform, continuous, and iso- are similar in all planes parallel to the bedding plane and
tropic [18]. Thus, the variation of its mechanical properties are axisymmetric in the direction perpendicular to the
may be neglected during multiaxial loading. However, soil bedding plane (i.e., cross-anisotropy) [1, 21]. Under the
is a loose accumulation of numerous irregular particles. influence of additional factors like topography, hydrology,
and geological movement, there is often an angle between
the bedding plane of soil and horizontal plane. In other
& Tong Dong
words, the soil bears complex anisotropic characteristic. In
dt0706@126.com
addition, soil also has the phenomenon of principal stress
& Liang Kong
rotation in geotechnical engineering such as earth-rockfill
qdkongliang@163.com
dams, foundations, and tunnels. Therefore, the soil’s
1
School of Science, Qingdao University of Technology, mechanical behaviors are closely related to the direction of
Qingdao 266520, China material and stress. This characteristic of soil can be
2
School of Civil Engineering, Qingdao University of referred to as stress direction dependence [10, 11]. The
Technology, Qingdao 266520, China stress direction dependence of soil includes two aspects:
3
Academy of Military Sciences, Institute of Defense the directionality of material (anisotropy) and the direc-
Engineering of People’s Liberation Army, Beijing 100850, tionality of stress (principal stress rotation).
China Presently, most scholars regard the directionality of the
4
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Ningbo material and the directionality of the stress as two
University of Technology, Ningbo 315211, China

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2920 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

independent properties and have separately conducted stresses in geotechnical engineering. The aforementioned
experimental studies. From the material perspective, sand apparatus poses limitations in controlling the principal
specimens of the inclined bedding plane can be prepared stress direction. In 1983, Hight et al. [20] improved and
with the aid of a special specimen mold. Subsequently, the perfected the hollow cylindrical apparatus(HCA) to
directional relationship between stress and material is achieve free rotation of the principal stresses around the
indirectly controlled through the direct shear test, triaxial second-principal stress axis, thereby realizing the control of
test, and other tests. This method (Fig. 1b), referred to as three magnitudes and one direction of the principal stress.
the ‘‘rotating specimen, no rotating stress’’ test method, can The hollow cylinder torsional shear test is a typical test
investigate the soil mechanical properties influenced by method with ‘‘rotating stress, no rotating specimen’’
various directions of the bedding plane. Oda et al. [25] and (Fig. 1c). Some studies performed shear tests on clay using
Tatsuoka et al. [30] conducted plane strain tests with this method to examine the effect of principal stress
specimen bedding angle a3 ranging from 0° to 90°. The direction a2 on pore pressure, strength and anisotropy
results revealed that the minimum anisotropic strength was [4, 32–34, 41]. A number of scholars have been conducted
attained a3 of between 23° and 34°, and the maximum fixed-axis shear tests on sand under drained conditions,
value was attained at a3 ¼ 90 . Several scholars have revealed that the strength, friction angle, stress–strain
conducted a series of direct shear tests [2, 9, 15, 19, 31], to relationship and non-coaxial properties of sand were all
characterize the influence of a3 on sand, such as strength, related to a2 [5–8, 22, 23, 36]. In particular, the minimum
friction angle, and dilatancy angle. These studies showed value of strength occurred in the range a2 ¼ 60 70 . In
that the strength of the sand initially decreases, subse- addition, under undrained conditions, numerous studies
quently increases, and eventually decreases as a3 increases; have demonstrated that the accumulation of excess pore
the maximum value of strength was obtained between a3 of pressure in sand is associated with a2 , the minimum value
105° and 120°. Furthermore, Zamanian et al. [38, 39] of strength occurs between a2 of 45 and 90°, and the
performed triaxial tests with a3 ranging from 0° to 90° and mechanical properties of sand such as friction angle and
found that the strength of sand decreased with increasing non-coaxiality all rely on the rotation angle of a2
a3 , thereby affecting the shear band. Rodriguez and Lade [13, 16, 17, 28, 29, 37]. The above tests either controlled
[27] conducted true triaxial tests on sand specimens with the specimen bedding angle or controlled the principal
both horizontal and vertical bedding planes, to study their stress direction. However, they could only independently
strength, internal friction angle, and stress–strain relation- control the one direction of three-dimensional stresses.
ship at different b values on the octahedral plane, where b Thus, they may be collectively referred to as the uniaxial
denotes the intermediate principal stress coefficient. rotation of principal stress test.
However, a method for preparing hollow cylindrical Based on a large number of experimental studies, it is
specimens with an inclined bedding plane has not been gradually recognized that the mechanical properties of soil
developed. were closely related to the directionality of the material and
From the stress perspective, the stress state at any point stress. In addition, the soil particles are naturally deposited
can be expressed based on the second-order stress tensor in in a single direction, whereas the additional loads from
the three-dimensional space. According to the shearing waves, earthquakes or artificial engineering are most likely
stress theorem, the second-order stress tensor in a static to accumulate in a different direction [26]. This indicates
steady state can be simplified into six components. The that the stress has rotated relative to the two axes of the
principal stress space includes the three directions and soil, in a stress state in which biaxial rotation of principal
three magnitudes of the principal stress [40]. To study the stress (simultaneous rotation of a3 and a2 ). Herein, this
effects of complex stress conditions on the behavior of paper achieved the biaxial rotation of principal stress from
geotechnical materials, laboratory test apparatus with var- the perspective of integrated ‘‘rotating specimen’’ and
ious functions has been developed, such as unconfined ‘‘rotating stress.’’ On the one hand, the rotation of stress
compression apparatus, conventional triaxial apparatus, can be realized via HCA. On the other hand, the prepara-
and true triaxial apparatus. The control of the three mag- tion apparatus of sand specimen with inclined bedding
nitudes of principal stress has been gradually realized plane was developed, which could precisely control the
[3, 35]. Consequently, the influence of the variations in the specimen bedding angle and realize the rotation of speci-
magnitude of principal stresses on the soil mechanical men. On this basis, a series of undrained fixed-axis shear
characteristics was appropriately revealed and considerably tests on saturated dense sand were conducted, the influence
promotes the development of soil mechanics and of biaxial rotation of principal stress on excess pore pres-
geotechnical engineering. However, an alteration in sure, effective stress path, and shear dilatancy-shear
external loads, boundary conditions, and additional factors shrinkage characteristics were investigated, the foundation
commonly produces a rotation in the direction of principal for deepening further understanding of the soil stress

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Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933 2921

Fig. 1 Tests considering the direction of specimen and the direction of stresses: a traditional test; b rotating specimen; c rotating stresses

1 6

2
7
3

4
9

Fig. 2 Hollow cylinder apparatus test system and schematic diagram: (1) axial force and torque sensor; (2) inner pressure cell; (3) outer pressure
cell; (4) axial force and torque control system; (5) data control collection system; (6) outer cell pressure controller; (7) inner cell pressure
controller; (8) back pressure controller; (9) computer control system

direction dependence was established. Overall, this study - 20 mm to 60 mm with an accuracy of 0.001 mm, a
aimed to overcome the limitations of current geotechnical maximum torque is 100Nm with an accuracy of 0.1Nm,
mechanics. and an unlimited torsion angle with an accuracy of 0.1°.
The test apparatus could realize diverse and complex stress
paths, achieve the requirement of completely simulating
2 Apparatus the stress path of principal stress rotation in static and
quasi-static environments.
2.1 Testing apparatus
2.2 Load parameters
The test apparatus used in this study was HCA (Fig. 2)
from Ningbo University of Technology. The main com- Figure 3 features the stress state of the specimen in the
ponents of the test apparatus include pressure cell, axial HCA at the polar coordinates. The specimen had an inner
force, torque control system, inner and outer pressure, back diameter ri of 60 mm, an outer diameter ro of 100 mm, a
pressure control system, data control and collection system, wall thickness of 20 mm, and a height H0 of 200 mm. The
and computer control system. The apparatus could execute load parameters comprised axial force W, torque MT , inner
a maximum axial force of 10kN at an accuracy of 0.01kN; cell pressure Pi , and outer cell pressure Po . HCA achieves
a measuring range of axial displacement between control of the four stress variables by independently

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2922 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

applying the load parameters. In the general stress space,

the four stress variables were vertical stress rz , radial stress
rr , circumferential stress rh , and shear stress szh . In the
principal stress space, which are the three principal stresses
ri (i ¼ 1, 2, 3), and the one direction of the principal stress
a2 (angle of principal stresses rotating around the interme-
diate principal stress r2 axis). Thus, in the torsional shear
test, HCA could control the major principal stress r1 and
minor principal stress r3 to rotate around the axis of r2 ,
wherein the direction of r2 remained constant.
Hight et al. [20] derived the relationship between the
load parameters and each average stresses component, i.e.,
the expression for the general stress force system(rz ,rr ,rh
and szh ). Then, Dong et al. [14] established an equation to
directly determine the loading method of load parameters
from the generalized stress path and simplified the control
Fig. 3 Stress state of hollow cylinder specimen process of HCA. Accordingly, on the basis of the loading
performance of Ningbo University of Technology HCA,
this paper designs the generalized stress path for the biaxial
rotation of principal stresses test, to derive the corre-
sponding method for applying load parameters as follows:
 
2b  1
po ¼ E p þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q
2
 3 b bþ1 
1  2b 1
þ F p þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q cos 2a2
6 b2  b þ 1 b2  b þ 1
ð1Þ
 
2b  1
pi ¼ G p þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q
2
 3 b bþ1 
1  2b 1
 H p þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q cos 2a2
6 b2  b þ 1 b2  b þ 1
ð2Þ

Fig. 4 The schematic diagram of preparation device for inclined sand

hollow cylinder specimen

Fig. 6 The relationship curve of rotational speed and specimen

Fig. 5 Preparation device for inclined sand hollow cylinder specimen bedding angle a3

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Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933 2923

Table 1 Physical properties of FS q

Gs emax emin Dr d50 (mm) Cu
q=2kPa
2.643 0.861 0.510 75 ± 3% 0.31 1.548 0kPa q=1.5kPa/min
α2
α2=0°-90°

  0°
1  2b 1 p
W ¼ A p þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q cos 2a2 500kPa
6 b2  b þ 1 b2  b þ 1 440kPa
D 380kPa
ð3Þ 330kPa
B Moment Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Loading t
2C
MT ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q sin 2a2 ; ð4Þ Consolidation
2
3 b bþ1
where Fig. 8 Stress path of consolidation and loading in fixed-axis shear test
E ¼ ðro þ ri Þ=2ro ,F ¼ ðro  ri Þ=2ro ,G ¼ ðro þ ri Þ=2ri , and
H ¼ ðro  ri Þ=2ri . thrown vertically under gravity, a horizontal bedding plane
The loading paths for the four load parameters were was formed. Therefore, to prepare hollow cylindrical
obtained with the help of the calculations in Eqs. (1) to (4), specimen with the inclined bedding plane, the direction of
which could design the stress paths for the tests under the the resultant force on the particles was required to be
force system of p,q,b and a2 , and control HCA to carry out inclined inward or outward at all instances during the
rigorous mechanical tests. The detailed derivation method throwing process. As gravity is an objective force and its
is displayed in the Appendix. direction is vertically downward, only the application of an
additional horizontal force was required on the sand par-
2.3 Specimen preparation device ticles during specimen preparation. In principle, centrifugal
force is horizontal in direction, controllable in magnitude,
As discussed, the preparation of the special specimen to and symmetrically distributed about the axis. If centrifugal
achieve biaxial rotation of the principal stresses constitutes force can be applied to the sand particles, then the sand
an ideal approach. In this special specimen, the bedding particles can be subjected to a sloping downward resultant
plane is at a certain angle to the radial direction of the force under the combined effect of gravity and centrifugal
specimen, which enables r1 and r2 to rotate around the force. Hence, a unique specimen preparation device should
axis of r3 . In the sand raining method, the resultant force of be developed, as illustrated in Fig. 4. It could rotate the
the sand particles determined the throwing direction and hollow cylindrical mold at high speeds, thereby imparting
bedding plane pattern. For instance, the particles were centrifugal force to the sand particles, and resulting in

Fig. 7 Inclined sand hollow cylinder specimen

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2924 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

90.0 α3=0°
α3=22.5°
α3=45°
67.5
α3=67.5°
α2 (°)

45.0

22.5

0.0

0 4000 8000 12000 16000 20000

t (s)

Fig. 9 Measured consolidation path

hollow cylindrical sand specimens with inclined bedding

plane.
Based on the above specimen preparation principle, a
preparation device for inclined sand hollow cylinder Fig. 10 Measured fixed-axis shear path
specimens was designed and developed in this research
[12]. As depicted in Fig. 5, the device comprised a sand- components. Specifically, the operating system was inte-
throwing unit, specimen mold, safety guard, rotating base, grated with the control software, to enable digital control of
motor, operating system, foundation support, and other the motor speed. The rotor of the motor was connected to
the rotating base through the track, and the base was
attached to the specimen mold and sand-throwing unit. The
Table 2 Plan of fixed-axis shear test
motor could drive the entire superstructure to rotate at high
Test a3 ð Þ a2 ð Þ b p0 ðkPa) qðkPa) speeds, thereby exerting angular velocity and centrifugal
ID
force on the sand particles. The foundation support at the
F00-00 0 0.00 200 Gradually increase to bottom protected the entire drive mechanism and improved
failure the overall stability of the device during operation with the
F00-22 22.5 0.15 addition of counterweights. Moreover, to augment the
F00-45 0 45 0.50 device safety, a safety guard was provided at the exterior of
F00-67 67.5 0.85 the superstructure. The top of the safety guard was covered
F00-90 90 1.00 with a tempered glass with a sand filling hole in the center,
F22-00 0 0.00 which can observe the working condition of the sand-
F22-22 22.5 0.15 throwing unit and specimen mold.
F22-45 22.5 45 0.50
F22-67 67.5 0.85 2.4 Control of specimen bedding angle
F22-90 90 1.00
F45-00 0 0.00 As portrayed in Fig. 4, the sand particles were primarily
F45-22 22.5 0.15 subjected to gravity G and horizontal centrifugal force F in
F45-45 45 45 0.50 the process of throwing, as follows:
F45-67 67.5 0.85 G ¼ mg ð5Þ
F45-90 90 1.00
F ¼ mx2 r: ð6Þ
F67-00 0 0.00
F67-22 22.5 0.15 Therefore, the angle a3 between the direction of resul-
F67-45 67.5 45 0.50 tant force and gravity satisfied the following relation:
F67-67 67.5 0.85  2 
x r
F67-90 90 1.00 a3 = arctan : ð7Þ
g

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Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933 2925

600 700

500 600

500
400
q (kPa)

q (kPa)
400
300
α2=0° α3=0° α2=22.5° α3=0°
300
200 α2=0° α3=22.5° α2=22.5° α3=22.5°
200
α2=0° α3=45° α2=22.5° α3=45°
100
100
α2=0° α3=67.5° α2=22.5° α3=67.5°
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(a) (b)
600 600

500 500

400 400
q (kPa)

q (kPa)
300 300
α2=45° α3=0° α2=67.5° α3=0°

200 α2=45° α3=22.5° 200 α2=67.5° α3=22.5°

α2=45° α3=45° α2=67.5° α3=45°

100 100
α2=45° α3=67.5° α2=67.5° α3=67.5°
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(c) (d)

600

500

400
q (kPa)

300
α2=90° α3=0°

200 α2=90° α3=22.5°

α2=90° α3=45°
100
α2=90° α3=67.5°
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa)
(e)

Fig. 11 Effect of specimen bedding angle a3 on effective stress path: a a2 ¼ 0 ; b a2 ¼ 22:5 ; c a2 ¼ 45 ; d a2 ¼ 67:5 ; e a2 ¼ 90

The average radius of the specimen r ¼ 40mm was Accordingly, the preparation of a hollow cylindrical
considered to calculate the rotational speed. Thereafter, sand specimen with inclined bedding plane required only
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi the control of the motor rotor to drive the rotating base to
n ¼ 4.952 tan a3 : ð8Þ
rotate according to Eq. (8) by the operating system.
Through trial calculation, the relationship curve of the

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2926 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

700 700
600 600
500 500
q (kPa)

q (kPa)
400 400
300 α3=0° α2=0° 300 α3=22.5° α2=0°
α3=0° α2=22.5° α3=22.5° α2=22.5°
200 200
α3=0° α2=45° α3=22.5° α2=45°
100 α3=0° α2=67.5° 100 α3=22.5° α2=67.5°
α3=0° α2=90° α3=22.5° α2=90°
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(a) (b)
700 600

600 500
500
400
q (kPa)
q (kPa)

400
300
300 α3=45° α2=0° α3=67.5° α2=0°
α3=45° α2=22.5° 200 α3=67.5° α2=22.5°
200
α3=45° α2=45° α3=67.5° α2=45°
100 α3=45° α2=67.5° 100 α3=67.5° α2=67.5°
α3=45° α2=90° α3=67.5° α2=90°
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(c) (d)

Fig. 12 Effect of principal stress direction a2 on effective stress path: a a3 ¼ 0 ; b a3 ¼ 22.5 ; c a3 ¼ 45 ; d a3 ¼ 67.5

rotational speed and specimen bedding angle is plotted in

Fig. 6.

3 Specimen preparation and test procedure

3.1 Materials

In this paper, Fujian standard sand (FS) was used to prepare

the test specimens; its maximum and minimum dry den-
sities are 1.75 g=cm3 and 1.42 g=cm3 . As the specimen
preparation required different angular velocities for dif-
ferent bedding angles, and the apparatus produced marginal
but unavoidable centrifugation and vibration during the
preparation process. So, there were differences in the rel-
ative density Dr of the prepared specimens, approximately
75  3%. The physical properties of the specimens are
presented in Table 1.
Fig. 13 Coupling effect of specimen bedding angle a3 and principal
stress direction a2 on pore pressure

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Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933 2927

700 600
α3=0°, α2=22.5° α3=0°, α2=45°
600 500
α3=22.5°, α2=0° α3=45°, α2=0°
500
400
q (kPa)

q (kPa)
400
300
300
200
200

100 100

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(a) (b)

600 600
α3=0°, α2=67.5° α3=22.5°, α2=45°
500 α3=67.5°, α2=0° 500 α3=45°, α2=22.5°

400 400
q (kPa)

q (kPa)
300 300

200 200

100 100

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(c) (d)
600 600
α3=22.5°, α2=67.5° α3=45°, α2=67.5°
500 α3=67.5°, α2=22.5° 500 α3=67.5°, α2=45°

400 400
q (kPa)

q (kPa)

300 300

200 200

100 100

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
(e) (f)

Fig. 14 Coupling effect of specimen bedding angle a3 and principal stress direction a2 on effective stress path

3.2 Specimen preparation specimen mold was fixed on the rotating base, and the
sand-throwing unit was installed on top of the specimen
The specimens with a bedding angle of 0° were directly mold. Second, the safety guard was installed, and a funnel
prepared on the operating table using the sand raining was placed at the top opening of the safety guard. Even-
method, whereas other specimens were prepared using the tually, the rotational speed and time of the device were set
specimen preparation device. First, the assembled by the operating system, and after the mold attained the

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2928 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

predetermined speed, the weighed sand was segmented into Step 3 Shear loading stage. Because this paper used the
seven equal portions and poured into the funnel one by one. loading method shown in Eqs. (1–4), the load parameters
The sand was poured as slowly as possible such that it is varied depending on a2 . When a2 was 0°,Po and Pi were
deposited completely under gravity and centrifugal force. gradually decreasing,W was gradually increasing, and MT
The quicklime-colored sand mixture specimens were was unchanged. When a2 was 45°, Po , Pi , and W were
prepared using the above apparatus with a quicklime-to- unchanged, while MT was gradually increasing. Therefore,
colored sand mass ratio of 1:3. The profile of the specimen the loading rate of load parameters was controlled by the
with a3 ¼ 22:5 is shown in Fig. 7a. The profile featured deviatoric stress q, and the loading rate of q was 1.5 kPa/
strong bedding characteristics, such that the bedding planes min [7].
were inclined and approximately equal in distance. More- Figure 9 displays the variation of the principal stress
over, the characteristics of specimens prepared by the direction a2 during the actual measured consolidation
specimen preparation device are presented in Fig. 7b. The stage. It is observed that the rotation angle around the
thicknesses of the upper and lower part of the specimen second principal stress was consistent with the initial angle
remained the same, and particle distribution was relatively of shear in the consolidation stage in all instances.
uniform. These indicated the adequacy of the device in Admittedly, the adjusted principal stress direction
specimen preparations. After preparing the specimen, it before loading was a shear test with non-isotropic consol-
was installed in the pressure cell for saturation, consoli- idation. This method generated stress-induced anisotropy
dation, and loading. and had some effect on the inherent anisotropy of the
The specimen was saturated in two steps: initial satu- specimen. However, the impact on specimen during the
ration and back pressure saturation. The initial saturation consolidation stage was negligible in practice because of
required the passage of 5000 mL of airless water into the the extremely small value of q. By contrast, it was rigorous
specimen. The back pressure saturation required the in mechanics for the shear loading stage.
maintenance of an effective confining pressure p0 of 30 kPa Besides, it is possible to perform isotropic consolidation
at all times, with the application of the inner cell pressure, and adjust the loading direction for shear loading. In other
outer cell pressure, and back pressure in a staged and linear words, the order of Steps 2 and 3 was interchangeable. In this
manner until the back pressure reached 300 kPa. The entire case, the consolidation stage was strictly isotropic consoli-
process spanned about 10 h. Thereafter, the specimens dation, but a low value of q was applied to adjust the loading
were tested for pore water pressure coefficient B value, and direction before shearing. After which, the specimen would
all the tested B values were greater than 0.97, implying the be loaded. This created a stress path that was first torque and
complete saturation of specimens. At this instant, the stress then shear, the measured shear deformation could be affected
state of the specimen was p0 ¼ 30 kPa, q ¼ 0 kPa, b ¼ 0, by the stress history. Thus, this approach was strictly con-
a2 ¼ 0 . sistent from a material perspective, but there were some
differences from a stress perspective.
3.3 Test process Existing researches indicated that the influence of stress
path on the soil mechanical behavior was more significant
The stress paths for the consolidation and loading stages of than the condition of consolidation. This paper mainly
the test are illustrated in Fig. 8. The main processes are focused on the stress state to carry out the research. There-
described as follows: fore, the path with rigorous stress state in the loading stage is
Step 1 Adjusting direction stage. In the fixed-axis shear the optimal selection. Considering all the above factors, the
test, the effect of q in a constant principal stress direction a2 is first consolidation method is selected in this study.
crucial, which necessitates the adjustment of a2 to a specified The test plan is illustrated in Table 2. Undrained fixed-
value before loading. According to the load parameters of the axis shear tests were conducted for saturated sand speci-
HCA, the torque could not be applied when q ¼ 0 kPa, and mens with inclined bedding plane, where the specimen
the value of a2 could not be altered. Thus, a small value of q bedding angles a3 were 0°, 22.5°, 45°, and 67.5°, while the
was first applied to the specimen, taken q ¼ 2 kPa, and a2 principal stress directions a2 were 0°, 22.5°, 45°, 67.5°, and
was controlled to the specified value. 90°. The initial effective confining pressure of the test was
Step 2 Consolidation stage. The confining pressure was p0 ¼ 200 kPa.To ensure that the inner cell pressure and
increased stepwise under the same pore pressure. Eventu- outer cell pressure of the specimen were equal, the inter-
ally, the specimens were consolidated at an initial effective mediate principal stress coefficient was kept at b ¼ sin2 a2
confining pressure of p0 ¼ 200 kPa, and the consolidation during loading. The loading pattern was gradually
degree of the specimen attained 95% after completing the increased from the deviatoric stress q until the specimen
consolidation. was destroyed.

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Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933 2929

4 Test results significant and the specimen generated a positive

excess pore pressure. The excess pore pressure reached
In the q  a3  a2 coordinate system, the actual shear the maximum value at the phase transition point and
stress paths observed in the fixed-axis test are plotted in then decreases. The maximum values of the phase
Fig. 10. The tests were terminated at 20% axial strain. transition pore pressure were observed for all speci-
However, owing to the limitation of the axial displacement mens with a3 ¼ 67:5 . As the deviatoric stress q
of the apparatus, the termination condition could not be increased, the pore pressure development law dis-
achieved at the end of the tests when the principal stress played an upward trend and a subsequent downward
direction a2 was 67.5° and 90°. As observed, the test was trend, similar to the characteristics of loose sand. In the
accurately loaded according to the designed stress path, effective stress path, the specimen bedding angle a3
except for the minor fluctuations in the stress path at the influenced both stages of the effective stress path at
starting and end points of the test. a2 ¼ 45 . When a2 = 67.5° and 90°, a3 posed a
significant affected the first stage and weakly affected
4.1 Effect of specimen bedding angle the second stage, which could be ascribed to the
limitation of the apparatus function.
To study the effect of specimen bedding angle a3 on sat- In conclusion, the specimen bedding angle a3 influenced
urated dense sand, the test results for the same principal the development law of pore pressure and the effective
stress direction a2 were compared, as shown in Fig. 11. stress path of saturated dense sand. As the a3 increased, the
The fundamental development laws are stated as follows: slope of the curve gradually increased in the first stage of
1. The development of the effective stress path curve can the effective stress path, and the phase transition pore
be classified into two stages, and the dividing point of pressure gradually increased as well. The pore pressure
the two stages was called the phase transition point. accumulation phenomenon became more obvious, and the
The pore pressure at the phase transition point is shear shrinkage characteristic was enhanced. In the second
referred to as the phase transition pore pressure. The stage of the effective stress path, as the a3 increased, the
specimens before and after phase transition displayed slope of the curve gradually decreased, and the pore
prominent variations in the pore-pressure development pressure dissipation rate increased. On the contrary, the
laws. The effective stress path exhibited a steeper slope shear dilatancy characteristic was enhanced. This indicated
in the first stage of the curve, which flattened in the that inherent anisotropy plays a role in the course of the
second stage of the curve. test. It weakened the shear dilatancy of sand in the initial
2. According to the effective stress path in Fig. 11a, b, as stage of the test and enhanced the shear dilatancy of sand
the specimen bedding angle a3 increased, the phase after the phase transition. However, the shear dilatancy and
transition pore pressure initially increased but later shear shrinkage characteristics of sand were not altered by
decreased in the case of a2 ¼ 0 , and its maximum inherent anisotropy.
value appeared in the specimen of a3 ¼ 45 ; when
a2 ¼ 22:5 , the phase transition pore pressure contin- 4.2 Effect of principal stress direction.
ued to increase up to the maximum value at
a3 ¼ 67:5 . With the increase of deviatoric stress q, Figure 12 presents the effective stress paths of sand under
although the pore pressure accumulation phenomenon various principal stress directions a2 for a constant value of
occurred in the specimens, the excess pore water a3 . Figure 12a shows the stress path of the fixed-axis shear
pressure was negative in all cases. This indicated that test along different a2 when a3 = 0°. This is a typical test of
the pore pressure was in a dissipated state in all ‘‘rotating stress, no rotating specimen,’’ and similar results
instances and the effective stress p0 was always to the existing fixed-axis shear test [16, 24].
increasing, which was consistent with the characteris- The relationship between the effective stress path and a2
tics of dense sand. Furthermore, the influence of a3 on was similar in different a3 (Fig. 12a–d). Thus, the principal
the first stage of the effective stress path was small. In stress directions a2 was found to be essential for the
contrast, the slope of the curve exhibited a gradually development laws of the effective stress path. Likewise, the
decreasing trend with the increasing a3 in the second slope of effective stress path and the phase transition pore
stage. Therefore, the pore pressure dissipation rate pressure were gradually increased with a2 increased (at-
gradually accelerated with increasing of a3 , and the tained the maximum value at a2 ¼ 90 ). The excess pore
specimen strength decreased. pressure changed from negative to positive. At a2 = 0° and
3. When the principal stress direction a2 [ 45 (Fig. 11c– 22.5°, the effective stress paths were approximately par-
e), pore pressure accumulation phenomenon was allel after the phase transition. There was a decrease in both

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2930 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

q and p0 , and an increase in pore pressure at the end of the difference between the specimens of different a2 increased
effective stress path, indicating the specimen liquefaction. from 110 to 196 kPa.
At a2 ¼ 45 ,a2 ¼ 67:5 , and a2 ¼ 90 , the curves were The results revealed the pore pressure was influenced by
parallel and their slopes were smaller than that at a2 = 0° the coupling effect of inherent anisotropy and stress-in-
and 22.5°, but the liquefaction phenomenon was not duced anisotropy. The difference in phase transition pore
observed. Furthermore, the effective stress path changed pressure increased with both a3 and a2 , wherein the vari-
from the oblique upward development to the ‘‘S’’ type ations in a2 more significantly affected phase transition
development. The pore pressure development law changed pore pressure than those in a3 . Hence, stress-induced ani-
from always diminishing to initially increasing and later sotropy is identified as the predominant factor affecting
decreasing with the increase of q. This caused the trans- pore pressure development.
formation of the sand from single shear dilatancy to first Notably, the pore pressure appears to pit at four positions
shear shrinkage followed by shear dilatancy. ða3 ; a2 Þ ¼ ð0 ; 67:5 Þ, ða3 ; a2 Þ ¼ ð22:5 ; 45 Þ, ða3 ; a2 Þ ¼
From the above analysis, stress-induced anisotropy ð45 ; 22:5 Þ, and ða3 ; a2 Þ ¼ ð67:5 ; 0 Þ, whereby the
caused the pore pressure to accumulate before the phase strength of the sand specimens increased. Their pore pressure
transition state, which resulted in the dense sand change values approximated a straight line in the three-dimensional
from shear dilatancy to shear shrinkage. After the phase coordinate system, as shown in Fig. 13. The stress loading
transition, it made the pore pressure to dissipate quicker, directions corresponding to these four groups of specimens
leading to enhanced shear dilatancy characteristic of sand. were also located in the same vertical plane.
Therefore, stress-induced anisotropy could alter the shear The test data were selected to equally correspond
dilatancy and shear shrinkage characteristic of sand. In between the specimen bedding angle a3 and the principal
addition, compared with the laws of Fig. 11, it could be stress direction a2 . For small values of a3 and a2 (Fig. 14a),
seen that the changed of both inherent anisotropy and the effective stress path curves of the two groups of tests
stress-induced anisotropy affected deformation behavior of reported a greater overlap, which all exhibited shear dila-
saturated dense sand. tancy behavior. As the difference between a3 and a2
increased (Fig. 14b-c), the effective stress paths deviated,
4.3 Coupling effect of specimen bedding angle the sand exhibited shear shrinkage and subsequent shear
and principal stress direction dilatancy in the influence of a2 , and it always exhibited
shear dilatancy in the influence of a3 . The same pattern is
To visually demonstrate the coupling effect of the speci- observed in Fig. 14d–f. Larger the differences between a3
men bedding angle a3 and principal stress direction a2 on and a2 resulted in greater differences in effective stress
the pore pressure development. The values of the phase path and the shear dilatancy-shear shrinkage characteris-
transition pore pressure of all specimens were extracted tics. This indicated that the effective stress path and the
and were plotted in a three-dimensional diagram as Fig. 13. shear dilatancy-shear shrinkage characteristics were influ-
As observed, the minimum phase transition pore pressure enced by the coupling effect of inherent anisotropy and
was attained at ða3 ; a2 Þ ¼ ð0 ; 0 Þ and the maximum pore stress-induced anisotropy, wherein stress-induced aniso-
pressure was attained at ða3 ; a2 Þ ¼ ð67:5 ; 90 Þ. The phase tropy acted as the major influencing factor and inherent
transition pore pressure increased with a2 , but a3 did not anisotropy was a secondary factor.
have a regular effect on it. For further analysis, the dif- Strictly from a mechanical viewpoint, both a3 and a2
ference between the phase transition pore pressures of the should have the same effect. However, the experimental
specimens was calculated separately. At a2 of 0° and 22.5°, results revealed certain variations. The reason may be that
the maximum difference in phase transition pore pressure non-isotropic consolidation was adopted, resulting in
at different a3 was only 15 kPa. At a2 ¼ 45 , the maximum stress-induced anisotropy in the consolidation stage. This
difference was 23 kPa. At a2 ¼ 67.5 , the maximum dif- affected the bedding plane of specimen and weakened the
ference increased to 56 kPa, and at a2 ¼ 90 , it soared up to influence of a3 . It may also be that a3 was the inclination
88 kPa. When a3 ¼ 0 , the phase transition pore pressure angle of the material, while a2 was the rotation angle of
was -36 kPa at a2 ¼ 0 and 74 kPa at a2 ¼ 90 , reflecting a principal stress. Therefore, the influence mechanisms of
difference of 110 kPa. When a3 ¼ 22.5 , the difference was these three factors are different during shearing, which
156kPa. When a3 ¼ 45 , the difference slightly decreased should be further evaluated in the future.
to 147kPa. The largest difference in phase transition pore
pressure reaching 196 kPa was observed at a3 ¼ 67.5 .
Consequently, as a2 increased, the phase transition pore
pressure difference among the specimens with varying a3
increased from 15 to 88 kPa. Similarly, as a3 increased, the

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Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933 2931

5 Conclusions effect of soil stress direction dependence on the pore

pressure and effective stress path of sand was investigated.
In this research, a series of tests on saturated dense sand The biaxial rotation of principal stress was a more com-
were performed under biaxial rotation of principal stress, prehensive loading method for cross-anisotropy materials.
the influence of the stress direction dependence on the Therefore, this test could fill the gap of soil mechanics and
deformation properties of sand was comprehensively provide new ideas for the research related to solid
investigated. The main test results and conclusions are mechanics. However, the operation of specimen prepara-
stated as follows: tion was complicated, and the test method needs further
improvement. Furthermore, a multitude of interesting
1. Previously, the stress direction dependence was mostly
phenomena were recorded (e.g., the pore pressure depres-
studied in uniaxial rotation of principal stress test,
sion point and the difference of effective stress path men-
where only one direction of principal stress could be
tioned in Sect. 4.3). But the mechanism behind them was
controlled. Based on this, the biaxial rotation of
unclear. Thus, further rigorous tests were required to dee-
principal stress method was proposed from the per-
pen our understanding of the phenomenon and the mech-
spective of material and stress directionality. The
anism of biaxial rotation of principal stresses, and to
fixed-axis shear test of inclined hollow cylindrical
establish a supporting theory. In general, the current
specimen was carried out, which actually controlled
research on biaxial rotation tests of principal stress was still
two angular quantities. The key breakthrough was in
in the exploration stage; it was deficient and solicits much
the control of specimen bedding angle a3 achieved by
followup work.
the preparation device of specimen.
2. The deformation behaviors of dense sand were related
to inherent anisotropy. The phase transition pore
Appendix
pressure gradually increased with a3 , and the slope of
effective stress path was changed. Inherent anisotropy
According to the conversion relationship between the
enhanced the shear shrinkage of sand before phase
principal stress force system (r1 ,r2 ,r3 ) and the general
transition and the shear dilatancy of sand after the
stress force system(Hight et al. [20]), the relationship
phase transition.
between the principal stress force system and the four load
3. The influence of stress-induced anisotropy was also
parameters can be obtained as follows:
significant. As a2 increased, the shape of effective " #12
stress path was altered, and the pore pressure devel- W þ 2D  B ðW þ BÞ2 9MT
opment law changed from continuously decreasing to r1 ¼ þ þ ð9Þ
2A 4A2 4C 2
initial increasing followed by a decreasing. The dense
sand changed from single shear dilatancy to shear po r o þ p i r i
r2 ¼ ð10Þ
shrinkage followed by shear dilatancy. ro þ ri
4. The sand exhibited stress direction dependence, and its " #12
deformation behaviors were affected by the coupling W þ 2D  B ðW þ BÞ2 9MT
r3 ¼  þ : ð11Þ
effect of inherent anisotropy and stress-induced 2A 4A2 4C 2
anisotropy. The pore pressures differences of phase
transition point gradually increased with a2 and a3 , The deviatoric stress force system contains the average
whereby the maximum difference was 200 kPa. The stress p, deviatoric stress q, intermediate principal stress
difference in effective stress path and shear dilatancy- coefficient b, and principal stress direction a2 , which can be
shear shrinkage characteristic increased with the as follows:
increase in the difference between a2 and a3 . Among r 1 þ r2 þ r3
p¼ ð12Þ
them, stress-induced anisotropy was the main factor, 3
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
and inherent anisotropy was the secondary factor. 1
q ¼ pffiffiffi ðr1  r2 Þ2 þðr2  r3 Þ2 þðr3  r1 Þ2 ð13Þ
2
r 2  r3
b¼ ð14Þ
6 Discussion r 1  r3
 
1 2szh
The directionality of materials and the directionality of a2 ¼ arctan : ð15Þ
2 r z  rh
stress supplement each other. This study presented a new
test method under biaxial rotation of principal stresses. The

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2932 Acta Geotechnica (2024) 19:2919–2933

axes: Impact of sample preparation. Eng Geol 241(26):33–40.

Adopting Eqs. (9) to (15) into the deviatoric stress force https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.05.002
system, the relationship between the deviatoric stress force 7. Cai Y, Wanatowski D, Li X (2013) Noncoaxial behavior of sand
system and the load parameters can be derived as follows: under various stress paths. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng
139(8):1381–1395. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-
W þ 3D 5606.0000854
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 2 1 sands subjected to principal stress rotation. Acta Geotech
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q¼ þ ð17Þ 9. Chen R, Lei W, Li Z (2014) Anisotropic shear strength charac-
A2 4C 2
teristics of a tailings sand. Environmental Earth Sciences
 1
2 2 2 71(12):5165–5172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2918-6
2 9A MT 10. Dong T (2018) Mathematical and mechanical mechanisms of the
b ¼ ð W þ BÞ þ ð18Þ
C2 stress directional dependence of soil and the equivilent stress
method. Chin J Rock Mech Eng; 37(12):2856–2856. (in Chinese).
1 3AMT np
a2 ¼ arctan þ ð1Þn ; ð19Þ https://doi.org/10.13722/j.cnki.jrme.2018.0813
2 C ð W þ BÞ 2 11. Dong T, Kong L, Wang X (2022) Equivalent unified hardening
    model of sand considering the stress direction dependence. Chin J
where A ¼ p ro2  ri2 ,B ¼ pro ri ðPi  Po Þ,C ¼ p ro3  ri3 , Rock Mech Eng; 41(9): 1935–1944. (in Chinese). https://doi.org/
 2 
and D ¼ p Po ro  Pi ri2 : 10.13722/j.cnki.jrme.2021.0930
12. Dong T, Liu C, Fang YY (2022) Preparation method of hollow
Accordingly, the expressions of load parameters (Eqs. 1 cylindrical specimen of inclined sedimentary sand. Chin J Rock
to 4) can be inverted according to the deviatoric stress force Mech Eng 41(1): 3551–3558. (in Chinese) https://doi.org/10.
system. 13722/j.cnki.jrme.2022.0102
13. Dong T, Zheng YR, Kong L et al (2022) Shear strength and shear
Acknowledgements The research described in this paper was finan- bands of anisotropic sand [J]. Acta Geotech 17(7):2841–2853.
cially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01372-w
(Contract Number 51909268), the National Natural Science Foun- 14. Dong T, Zheng YR, Kong L, Tuo M (2017) Control and real-
dation of China (Contract Number 12172187), and the project funded ization of generalized stress paths in HCA test. Chin J Geotech
by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (BX2021115). Eng 39(s1): 106–110. (in Chinese) https://doi.org/10.11779/
CJGE2017S1021
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