Formulation of undrained behavior of saturated sands from drained rebounded response

The stress-strain relationship and effective stress path obtained in undrained monotonic loading can be assessed based upon the results of several drained triaxial tests. Appropriate formulation of the drained rebounded triaxial test response would alleviate the need for undertaking drained tests (except for optional calibration). Such formulation is presented here; it is based upon the experimental results from different investigators using different testing techniques. The formulated response is a function of the confining pressure and basic properties of the sand such as its relative density, uniformity coefficient and roundness. The formulas presented allow one to predict the potential of a sand to liquefy, the type of liquefaction (limited or complete liquefaction) or dilative behavior, and the undrained stress-strain curve and effective stress path. The simplicity of this approach makes it an attractive method for preliminary evaluation of the undrained behavior of sands; there is no need to run sophisticated experimental tests.