Effects of non-plastic fines on minimum and maximum void ratios of sand

The role of non-plastic fines content on minimum and maximum void ratios, compressibility, and static liquefaction potential of sand and the relationships between these quantities are not well understood. This paper presents a study of the effects of non-plastic fines on the extreme void ratios of sand. Included in this paper is a review of previous theoretical and experimental studies of minimum and maximum void ratios of single spherical grains, packings of spheres of several discrete sizes, as well as optimum grain-size ratios to produce maximum densities. A systematic experimental study of the variation of minimum and maximum void ratios with contents of fines for sands with smoothly varying particle size curves and a large variety of size distributions is performed. It is shown that the fines content plays an important role in determining the sand structure and the consequent minimum and maximum void ratios. It is indicated how the fines content and sand structure affects the compressibility and the static liquefaction potential of the sand.