For the lack of accurate test results in design and maintenance of desert‐crossing highways in the Tengger Desert of western China, the GDS true‐triaxial system was used to conduct the drained test on dense sand. Under the condition of different intermediate principal stress ratio b‐value, the results showed that the stress‐strain relationships in three orthogonal directions had significant differences, presenting significant anisotropy. The peak of the generalized shear stress increased with the increase of b‐value. Except under the condition of b = 0, the specimen contracted firstly and then dilated, while the others dilated. The results of the different confining pressures showed that the stress‐strain relationships appeared as a hardening type at low confining pressures, and as the confining pressure increased, the stress‐strain relationships exhibit hardening, peaking, softening, and stable deformation characteristics. At low confining pressure, the contractive behaviors were not obvious, mainly as dilatancy, and as the confining pressure increased, the dilatancy increased gradually. The specimen transformed contract to dilatancy, and when the confining pressure reached 800 kPa, the specimen exhibited contractive behavior. The test results will provide data for subgrade design and construction in desert area.