Behavior of Mexico City clay subjected to undrained repeated loading

Abstract

This note describes a series of cyclic triaxial tests on undisturbed soil samples of Mexico City clay, obtained near the SCT building. The site is a silty clay deposit of a very high water content and soft consistency. The material exhibits elastic behavior in spite of its very high water content. Three empirical relationships describing an equivalent Young's modulus, an equivalent damping ratio, and a cyclic stress level, associated with cyclic strain level, were obtained. Test results define two different patterns of strength loss. Key words: undrained strength, repeated load, clay, modulus, damping, Mexico City.