THE EFFECTIVE STRESS RESPONSE OF A SATURATED CLAY SOIL TO REPEATED LOADING

Abstract

The results of a series of tests designed to examine the behavior of saturated clay soil under repeated loading are reported. Triaxial tests, under conditions of axial symmetry, were used and the rates of deformation were chosen so as to permit the accurate measurement of pore water pressure at all stages of the tests.It was found that, for any particular consolidation history, a critical level of repeated stress existed. Below this critical level, a state of nonfailure equilibrium was reached in which the stress-strain curves followed closed hysteresis loops. Above the critical level of repeated stress, effective stress failure occurred; and each cycle of loading produced cumulative increases in deformation.An interesting feature of the test results was that a linear relationship between the magnitude of the applied repeated stress and the increase in pore water pressure was found for stress levels below the critical value.