Dynamic Characteristics of Saturated Soft Clays under Cyclic Loading in Drained Condition

摘要

This study presents an experimental investigation on the effects of cyclic loading waveform and cyclic stress ratio (CSR) on dynamic behaviors through laboratory tests on a source of soft clay under cyclic loading in drained condition. Test results showed that under different cyclic loading waveforms at a given frequency (f = 1 Hz) and CSR = 0.6, the axial strain increases significantly at a relatively lower number of cycles (N) and then became stable, while the axial strain consistently decreases with the increasing N and tend to be stable. At a given N, specimen under sine wave cyclic loads shows a higher axial strain rate than that under triangle wave or square cyclic loads. Test results also indicated that at different CSRs, the axial strain increases rapidly at a relatively lower N and then gradually tends to be stable with the increasing N at lower CSR yet there is no stable trend for specimens at higher CSR, which indicates there is a critical value of CSR. It is recommended to apply the cyclic loading in sine waveform with CSR close to and less than the critical value to get a better treatment effect.