Concept:
Since the sand is saturated with seawater we need to use the unit weight of seawater for calculation.
Gsea=γWγSea
Gsea - Specific gravity of seawater, γsea - Unit weight of seawater
γw - Unit weight of water
Relative density (ID) is given by
\({I_D} = \left( {\frac{{{{\rm{e}}{\max }} - ;e}}{{{{\rm{e}}{\max }} - ;{{\rm{e}}_{{\rm{min}}}}}}} \right) × 100\)
emax - void ratio at loosest state, emin - void ratio at densest state
e - void ratio at state
\({{\rm{γ }}{{\rm{sat}}}} = \left( {\frac{{{\rm{G}} + {\rm{e}}}}{{1 + {\rm{e}}}}} \right) × {{\rm{γ }}{\rm{sea}}}\)
γsat – Saturated unit weight of soil, G – Specific gravity of soil solids
e – Void ratio of soil, γ – Unit weight of seawater
Calculation:
Given:
Relative density = 40%, Maximum void ratio = 1.0, Minimum void ratio = 0.5
Specific gravity of seawater =1.03, Unit weight of water = 9.81 kN/m3
Specific gravity of soil solids = 2.67
Using the Eqn \({I_D} = \left( {\frac{{{{\rm{e}}{\max }} - ;e}}{{{{\rm{e}}{\max }} - ;{{\rm{e}}_{{\rm{min}}}}}}} \right) × 100\)
40=(1−;0.51−;e)×100
e = 0.8
1.03=9.81γSea
γsea = 10.1043 kN/m3
γsat=(1+0.82.67+0.8)×10.1043
γsat = 19.478 kN/m3
Total stress distribution:
σA = 20 × 10.1043 = 202.086 kN/m2
σB = 202.086 + 30 × 19.478 =786.426 kN/m2
Neutral stress distribution:
uA = 20 × 10.1043 = 202.086 kN/m2
uB = 202.086 + 30 × 10.1043 =505.215 kN/m2
Effective stress distribution:
σ'A = σA - uA = 202.086 - 202.086 = 0
σ'B = σB - uB = 786.426 - 505.215 = 281.211 ≈ 281 kN/m2