ABSTRACT
This paper reviews the preliminary results of an experimental study on fluidization of sand in the laboratory scale. The study aims to investigate the hydro-mechanical process that takes place when fluidization is initiated and evolves in sand. To that end, small-scale laboratory experiments are performed on fully saturated samples of silica sand with different initial relative densities. The sand samples are prepared inside a transparent cubic container with Plexiglas walls. A nozzle is embedded at the bottom corner of the container to discharge an upward axisymmetric flow into the sand sample. The discharge is generated through the controlled application of hydraulic gradient in the sample. Two high resolution digital cameras are utilized to take sequential images from the soil at two transparent sides of the container during the discharge process. The Digital Image Correlation technique (DIC) is used to analyse the images for quantification of soil displacement before and at the onset of fluidization. The results show that the soil failure at the onset of fluidization is highly dependent upon the initial state of the tested sand samples such that as the relative density of soil increases, a greater zone is influenced due to fluidization.
