Creation of an artificial carbonate sand

This paper deals with the efficacy of creating artificial carbonate sand from crushed chalk to model the natural carbonate sand. Direct drained shear using 100 mm shear box and compressibility tests using 150 mm Rowe cell have been performed on artificial carbonate sand in order to determine the shear stress-strain and compressibility characteristics of the artificial material. These are compared with data from natural carbonate sands given in the literature. The results obtained demonstrate that shear stress-strain and compressibility characteristics of the artificial material closely mirror that of natural carbonate soils. The artificial carbonate sand shows generally similar characteristics, which are in the range of the natural carbonate material.