It is commonly accepted that the onset of particle breakage in sands during compression marks the start of yielding. Although particle breakage is strongly associated with the tensile strength of a single soil grain, initial density and initial sample grading have great influence on the probability of particle breakage. This paper examines the effect of initial grading and density on the sample behaviour during one-dimensional compression for three sands with distinct mineralogies. It was found that a unique normal compression line is the outcome of a large amount of breakage in poorly graded samples and that by changing the initial grading to a better graded sample a significant reduction in particle breakage is observed, until for very well-graded samples no significant particle breakage can be measured. At this point a difficulty in defining a unique normal compression line for the sample was found and a transitional behaviour was identified. In addition to particle size, the paper examines the changes to some important particle characteristics such as particle shape and particle surface roughness in an attempt to relate the soil behaviour to the nature of the microscopic particle damage during yielding.

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A database of the mechanical behavior of 25 natural sands was compiled from the existing literature. Particle shape and size analysis, obtained by Dynamic Imaging Analysis, for each material in the database has subsequently been linked to its mechanical properties; selected sands were also subject to interferometry study for particle surface roughness measurements. This paper reviews the effect of the particle shape properties of these sands on their Critical State and stiffness parameters, introducing a new parameter to optimize the correlations.

A series of isotropic compression tests and drained and undrained triaxial compression tests have been performed on glacial sediment from Iceland. Langjökull sediment, which is well graded, is thought to have reached a critical grading during deposition and transportation. Multiple parallel normal compression lines (NCLs) were found, but a unique critical state line (CSL) could be identified. This is unlike other so-called “transitional” soils, whose grading varies between reasonably well graded to gap graded, which tend to have distinct NCLs and critical state lines depending on the specimen density. It is thought that in the case of the Langjökull sediment studied, its particular strain history that involved incessant shearing during deposition accounts for the difference in behaviour. This provides the interesting case of a soil that has been crushed to a critical grading in situ, which depends on the mineralogy of the grains, which was then sampled and tested. Despite the unique grading, samples with a range of different void ratios can be prepared and the combination of grading and density seems to set a fabric that cannot be changed by compression, resulting in multiple parallel NCLs. At the critical state, however, the fabric has been destroyed and the CSL is unique.