A Revisiting of Undrained Shear Banding in Water-Saturated Sand

The paper revisits the analysis of undrained shear banding in water saturated sand. By taking into account the coupling between potential volume change and excess pore water pressure as well as the continuity of stresses and pore pressure across the shear band, it is theoretically shown that incipient localisation may take place in loose sand but is precluded for dense sand under undrained conditions. The undrained shear band orientation primarily depends on the Poison’s ratio and the dilatancy characteristics of the material. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the variation of shear band inclination with void ratio and the initial consolidation pressure.