State-of-the-Art Paper: Hollow Cylinder Torsional Devices: Their Advantages and Limitations

Hollow cylinder torisional devices have recently attracted the attention of both researchers and practitioners as tools of great promise to be used in the development of constitutive relations as well as in the determination of strength parameters of both isotropic and anisotropic soils. They are a natural extension of the standard triaxial devices and provide a much wider variety of stress paths to be investigated or to simulate. This state-of-the-art paper reviews the relevant literature, examines the advantages and limitations of these devices, and discusses some of the difficulties encountered in their use. Their versatility is pointed out, and the role they play in the development of constitutive relations is evaluated. Examples, drawn from both static and dynamic conditions, help illustrate the wide variety of stress paths these devices are capable of producing.