Particle Breakage Observed in Both Transitional and Non-transitional Carbonate Sands

Particle breakage of carbonate sands is widely encountered during the construction of harbor facilities. In this study, a series of one-dimensional compression tests on carbonate sands with different initial particle size distributions (PSDs) and initial void ratios were completed at high vertical stress (32 MPa), to investigate the influence of PSD and void ratio on the compression behavior of carbonate sands and the corresponding breakage properties. The PSDs used in this study were prepared by fractal distribution with two different fractal dimensions, i.e., 0.5 and 2.0. The results show that samples with fractal dimension of 0.5, where the initial PSDs are poorly graded, have a unique normal compression line (NCL), implying the occurrence of non-transitional behavior. However, when the PSD of samples tend to be better graded with fractal dimension of 2.0, non-convergent compression paths are likely to occur, which means a transitional behavior is identified. Particle breakage is observed after compression tests on samples with two different initial PSDs. It can, therefore, be concluded that particle breakage may have happened in both transitional and non-transitional behavior soils.