An Experimental Study of the Effect of Water Absorption on the Behavior of Rockfill Materials Using Large-Scale Tests

The rockfill structures are widely constructed throughout the world and rockfills are largely used in these structures as main materials or filler materials. In the crust of earth dams, the rockfill materials role is to stabilize the body of the dam, however, the behavior of these materials in Particular their shear strength is not fully understood. In order to investigate the possible effects of two main factors on a rock fill material, several medium-scale direct shear tests have been conducted with different stress levels in dry, saturated and Dry saturated conditions. In addition, a comparison of the tests results with the results of the triaxial tests conducted on the same material indicates comparatively higher predictions by the direct shear tests.