Undrained cyclic loading behavior of stiff Eocene-to-Jurassic plastic, high OCR, clays
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Pan, Kun
Zhou, Gaoyun
Yang, Zhongxuan
Jardine, Richard J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Assessing foundation response to cyclic loading is vital when designing transport infrastructure, such as road pavements and rail tracks, as well as offshore, port, and tall tower structures. While detailed guidance is available on characterizing many soil types’ cyclic behavior, relatively few studies have been reported on stiff, geologically aged, plastic clays. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by reporting cyclic loading experiments on three natural stiff UK clays that were deposited and buried between the Jurassic Age and Eocene Epoch before geological unloading to their currently heavily over-consolidated states. High-quality samples taken at relatively shallow depths were reconsolidated to nominally in-situ K0 stresses in triaxial and hollow cylinder apparatus before imposing cyclic loading. The completely stable, metastable, or unstable outcomes invoked by different levels of undrained cyclic loading are interpreted within a kinematic yielding framework that is compatible with monotonic control experiments’ outcomes. The cyclic limits marking the onset of significant changes in permanent strain accumulation, pore pressure development, and stress-strain hysteresis demonstrate that the weathered Gault clay offers the lowest cyclic resistance. The experiments show that energy considerations provide a promising way of evaluating undrained pore pressure generation and stiffness degradation. They also provide a basis for developing cyclic constitutive models and analysis procedures for cyclic foundation design in stiff, high OCR, plastic clay strata.
Date Issued
2024-04
Date Acceptance
2023-06-08
Citation
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 2024, 61 (4), pp.717-731
ISSN
0008-3674
Publisher
Canadian Science Publishing
Start Page
717
End Page
731
Journal / Book Title
Canadian Geotechnical Journal
Volume
61
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Permission for reuse (free in most
cases) can be obtained from copyright.com.
cases) can be obtained from copyright.com.
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2022-0552
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2023-06-15