Effect of Particle Size, Moisture Content and Density on the Hyperbolic Model Parameters for Non-cohesive Soil

The hyperbolic non-linear elastic constitutive model for idealization of non-cohesive soil has been commonly used by researchers in numerical modeling. The hyperbolic model includes parameters (HMP) such as modulus number ‘K’, exponent ‘n’, angle of internal friction ‘φ’ and failure ratio ‘Rf’, which are evaluated using laboratory shear test. The parameters ‘K’, ‘n’ and ‘Rf’ are evaluated from transformed stress-strain curve whereas ‘φ’ is directly evaluated from normal and shear stress. When the samples are in large numbers, the process becomes very tedious and there will be no correlation for evaluation of such parameters. These parameters are highly dependent on particle size, moisture content and density. In this paper, box shear test has been performed on coarse, medium and fine sand as well as on fine gravels with varying densities. The tests have been conducted in dry and moist conditions. Based on the experiments performed, the HMP have been evaluated. The correlations have been established for every parameter based on particle size, moisture content and density. These correlations will be useful in direct evaluation of model parameters.