Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

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Engineering Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

Influence of shear stress level on cyclic deformation behaviour of intact MARK

Wenzhou soft clay under traffic loading
Tingyu Wua, Yuanqiang Caia,b, Lin Guoc,⁎, Daosheng Linga,d, Jun Wange
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PR China
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, PR China
c
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, The Key Laboratory of Engineering and Technology for Soft Soil Foundation and Tideland Reclamation of Zhejiang
Province, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, PR China
d
Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, PR China
e
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Under traffic loading, the soil elements in subgrade are subjected to a cyclic cardioid-shaped stress path in the
Soft clay 2τvh ~ (σv − σh) stress plane. This significantly differs from the conventional stress paths that have been si-
Hollow cylinder apparatus mulated using the cyclic triaxial and simple shear apparatuses, as widely reported in the literature. To date, the
Cyclic torsional shear test influence of shear stress level on cyclic deformation behaviour of intact soft clay subjected to cyclic traffic
Traffic loading
loading were rarely considered in the existing experimental investigation. For this reason, a series of cyclic
Permanent strain
hollow cylinder experiments that mimic cardioid-shaped stress paths are carried out on intact samples of
Wenzhou soft clay. A wide range of vertical stress levels combined with different shear stress levels (i.e., different
cardioid-shaped stress paths) are simulated in the experiments. The results show that the shear stress level
significantly influences the cyclic straining and exacerbates the potential of cyclic shear failure. The difference of
cyclic tests with variable shear stress level increases as the vertical cyclic stress ratio value increases. Based on
the test results, an allowable cyclic stress ratio is determined to be about 0.22, which may serve as the upper
bound limit of cyclic traffic loadings on soft clayey deposit. For the hollow cylinder specimens used in this study,
a resilient axial strain of 3% could be a proper failure criteria value. A simplified permanent strain model that
considers shear stress is proposed for the deformation behaviour of soft clay under cyclic traffic loading.

1. Introduction
Adjacent to the East China Sea, Wenzhou is a typical costal city in
southeast China (Fig. 1). Marine sedimentary clay formed in the Qua-
ternary period is widely distributed in this area. Fig. 2 shows a typical
geotechnical profile in Wenzhou. It can be seen that the geotechnical
profile is dominated by soft clay deposit which has unfavourable en-
gineering properties such as low bearing capacity, high compressibility,
low permeability, and high water content.
Over the recent decades, a large number of transportation facilities
including highways, railways, and runways in the airport have been
constructed on soft clay deposits in southeast China. Excessive settle-
ments are consistently developed under these transportation facilities,
leading to operational difficulties and high maintenance costs. Take
Pingcang section of Ningbo–Taizhou–Wenzhou highway for example,
an average settlement of 450 mm was developed over the first
13 months, and an additional settlement of 3.46 mm per month remains
thereafter (Wu et al., 2016). Another example is Shanghai Metro Line-1,
which rarely settled (smaller than 6 mm) during the 27 months after its
construction end and prior to the operational service. However, an
unfavourable excessive settlement of 60 mm was developed during the
first 8 months of service, with a settlement rate of 5–10 mm per month
(Xiao et al., 2014). Despite the incomplete consolidation and creep
settlement, a large proportion of this excessive post-construction set-
tlement is likely to be caused by cyclic loadings. Therefore, it is of
scientific value and practical significance to characterize the deforma-
tion behaviour of soft clays under traffic loading.
Differing from the conventional stress paths that have been ex-
tensively simulated through triaxial and simple shear tests, the soil
element underneath a moving single loaded wheel is subjected to a
more complex stress path, as shown in Fig. 3. During one certain
loading cycle, the vertical stress exerting on the soil element increases
from zero to a peak value, followed by decrease to zero. The shear stress
changes not only in magnitude, but also reverses in direction at the

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wutingyuzju@163.com (T. Wu), caiyq@zju.edu.cn (Y. Cai), lingpray@126.com (L. Guo), dsling@zju.edu.cn (D. Ling), sunnystar1980@163.com (J. Wang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.06.013
Received 26 January 2017; Received in revised form 11 May 2017; Accepted 24 June 2017
Available online 29 June 2017
0013-7952/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
T. Wu et al.
Fig. 1. Study area on the map of China.
Grey-yellow gravel filling, 0 to -2 m
Underwater level, -0.8 m
Soft flowable plastic mud, -2 to -17 m
Grey plastic soft clay, -17 to -66 m
Interlayer with sand or gravel
Light grey stiff rhyolitic tuff
Fig. 2. Typical geotechnical profile in the study area.
Fig. 3. Stress components of soil element in soft subsoil induced by traffic loading.
62
Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70
same time, leading to the rotation of principal stress axes (Ishikawa
et al., 2011; Tang et al., 2015). The stress paths resulting from a moving
single loaded wheel can be characterised by a cardioid shapes in the
2τ12 ~ (σ11–σ22) space (see Fig. 3).
According to the finite element analyses by Powrie et al. (2007), the
shear stress attenuates faster than the axial stress as the depth increases
(Fig. 3). Thus the ratio of shear stress to the axial stress decreases with
an increasing depth, leading to a change in the shape of the cardioid
loading path. However, the coupling effects between principle stress
rotation and shear stress levels is rarely considered in the existing ex-
perimental investigation. Qian et al. (2016) and Chan (1990) have
conducted two series of hollow cylinder tests with and without con-
sidering the effect of shear stress, respectively. The ratios of shear stress
to axial stress in these experiments were kept either constant or zero. A
systematic investigation into the effect of shear stress level on de-
formation behaviour of soft clay under traffic loading is, therefore,
essential for understanding the response of the soil at various depths
under moving wheels.
To better predict the ground settlement that occurs under the
transportation facilities, the permanent deformation behaviour of soil
under long-term cyclic loading has been studied over the years (Lekarp
et al., 2000). A number of theoretical or semi-empirical models have
been proposed, considering the effects including stress level, number of
loading cycles, principal stress reorientation, stress history, moisture
content (Lekarp et al., 2000; Niemunis et al., 2005; Guo et al., 2013;
Wang et al., 2013; Sun et al., 2015). However, most of these researches
were carried out using cyclic triaxial or simple shear test apparatuses,
which are not able to simulate the cardioid-shaped stress paths re-
sulting from moving wheels. Although Chan (1990) proposed a model
considering the effect of shear stress on the permanent deformation of
crushable limestone, there is still a lack of such models for soft clay,
which exhibits much poorer mechanical behaviours than limestone. Cai
et al. (2016) investigated the effect of different shear stress levels on
cyclic behaviour of K0-consolidated soft clay, but the research remained
in qualitative analysis.
In view of the afore-mentioned issues, this study aims to (a)
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

investigate the influence of shear stress level on cyclic deformation Table 1

behaviour of soft clay under traffic loading, and (b) propose a simplified Basic properties of tested Wenzhou clay.
permanent strain model that considers the shear stress effect. To ad-
Basic properties Value
dress these objectives, laboratory experiments consisting of 3 static and
16 cyclic tests are carried out on intact samples of Wenzhou soft clay by Specific gravity Gs (g/cm3) 2.66–2.68
using a cyclic hollow cylinder apparatus. Cardioid-shaped stress paths Natural density ρ (g/cm3) 1.63–1.65
Natural water content w (%) 63.7–64.6
were imposed in each cyclic test to mimic the traffic loadings that could
Liquid limit wL (%) 66
be induced by moving wheels. A relative wide range of vertical stress Plastic index Ip 42
levels combined with different shear stress levels are adopted in the Cohesion c (kPa) 6.7
experiment programme. The influence of shear stress level on the de- Frictional angle φ (°) 21
velopment of resilient strain and permanent strain have been inter- Initial void ratio e0 1.64–1.71
Preconsolidation pressure pc (kPa) 68
preted and discussed with their practical implications. Finally, a sim-
Unconfined compression strength qu (kPa) 20.2
plified permanent strain model that considers shear stress is proposed
for the deformation behaviour of soft clay under cyclic traffic loading.

2. Sample preparation and test apparatus

2.1. Sampling method and soil properties

The intact clay samples used in this experimental investigation was

obtained from the bottom of an excavation at a depth of about 10 m in
Wenzhou, SE China (see Fig. 1). The samples were obtained by gently
pressing thin-wall tubes (160 mm in diameter and 300 mm in length)
into a level ground in the excavation (see Fig. 4). Each sample was
carefully excavated out and sealed at the both ends. Then the samples
were transported to the laboratory and stored in a moist room. Similar
ways of sampling have been adopted by the previous researchers for
obtaining high-quality intact samples (Li et al., 2011; Guo et al., 2013).
The quality of samples in this paper had been checked according to the
method and criteria recommended by Lunne et al. (2006) and could be
classified as “good to fair”. Fig. 5. Stress and strain state of soil element in a HCA specimen.
The basic properties of the intact samples reported herein are
summarized in Table 1. 1 1
p= (σ1 + σ2 + σ3) = (σz + σθ + σr )
3 3 (1)

2.2. Test apparatus q = σ1 − σ3 = (σz − σθ )2 + 4τzθ 2 (2)

Dynamic hollow cylinder apparatus (DHCA) developed by GDS 1 2τzθ ⎞ π

Corporation in England was used for this experimental investigation. It
is able to independently control the axial force W, torque MT, inner cell
pressure pi and outer cell pressure po, thus the magnitudes of these three
principal stresses and the angle of the major principal stress axe α. With
this operational capability, the cardioids-shaped stress paths resulting
from traffic loadings can be simulating using the DHCA (Huang et al.,
2015; Chen et al., 2016a; Qian et al., 2016; Wu et al., 2016).
The stress and strain states of a soil element in the DHCA are shown
in Fig. 5. Based on the previous research by Hight et al. (1983), the
element stress components can be described with loading parameters of
DHCA as shown in Table 2.
Additionally, the mean principal stress p, deviatoric stress q, and
angle of major principal stress axe α are defined as follows:
Fig. 4. Sampling process in situ: (a) press thin-wall tubes and (b) seal at both ends.
α= arctan ⎜⎛ ⎟ ±
2 ⎝ − σθ ⎠
σz 2 (3)
where σz, σθ, σr and τzθ denote axial stress, circumferential stress, radial
stress and shear stress, respectively.
3. Test procedure
Prior to each undrained cyclic experiment, each sample was pushed
out of the thin-wall tube. A special apparatus then was used to cut each
sample and shape it into a hollow cylindrical specimen of 200 mm in
height, 100 mm in outer diameter and 60 mm in inner diameter. The
specimen was then installed at the base of HCA. Before each test, the
specimen was saturated under a back pressure of 300 kPa with an ef-
fective confining pressure of 20 kPa for 24 h. By doing so, the pore
pressure coefficient, B, was no less than 0.97 in the check at the end of
the stage (Skempton, 1954). Subsequently, the test specimen was iso-
tropically consolidated under an effective confining pressure of 100 kPa
for at least 48 h until the volume change of each specimen is less than
60 mm3/h (as given by the back volume measurement of the GDS
machine). On completion of the primary consolidation, static and cyclic
tests were conducted under the undrained condition.
Three undrained static tests were firstly carried out under a con-
trolled strain rate, because it is easier to indentify the yield point in a
strain-controlled test, and hence, the enveloping surfaces obtained in
the tests will be more accurate. With a proper control of each strain
component three typical angles of the major principal stress axe α (i.e.,
0°, 45° and 90°) can be resulted, as summarized in Table 3.

63
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

Table 2
Equations for data interpretation.

Stress Strain

Vertical z
W po ro2 − pi ri2 εz =
σz = + H
π (ro2 − ri2 ) (ro2 − ri2 )
Circumferential po ro + pi ri uo + ui
σr = εθ = −
ro + ri ro + ri
Radial po ro − pi ri u −u
σθ = εr = − o i
ro − ri ro − ri
Shear 4(ro3 − ri3 ) θ (ro3 − ri3 )
τzθ =
T ⎡ 3
+ ⎤ γzθ =
2 ⎢ 2π (ro3 − r 3 ) 3π (ro2 − ri2 )(ro4 − ri4 ) ⎥ 3H (ro2 − ri2 )
⎣ i ⎦
Major principal σz + σθ σz − σθ 2 εz + εθ εz − εθ 2
σ1 =
2
+ ( 2 ) + τzθ2 ε1 =
2
+ ( 2 ) 2
+ γzθ
Intermediate principal σ2 = σr ε2 = εr
Minor principal σz + σθ σz − σθ 2 εz + εθ εz − εθ 2
σ3 =
2
− ( 2 ) + τzθ2 ε1 =
2
− ( 2 ) 2
+ γzθ

Table 3 Δσz ampl

Summary of static tests.
Test ID Control of strain
S00 ε̇z = 0.01%/min γzθ̇ = 0
S45 ε̇z = 0 γzθ̇ = 0.01%/min
S90 ε̇z = − 0.01%/min γzθ̇ = 0
There are two main reasons of selecting such angles. First, because
the non-coaxial phenomenon could not be ignored under most condi-
tions. Only at these three angles, the direction of stress increments
coincide with the direction of strain (Chen et al., 2016b). Secondly, at
these angles, the direction of strain increments is easier to control
during the tests. For test S00 and S90 (see Table 3), the axial strain was
controlled to increase and decrease at a constant rate, whereas the
torque was set to zero. For test S45, the shear strain was controlled to
increase at a constant rate, whereas the axial force was set to zero.
After obtaining the monotonic strength of the intact sample, 16
cyclic loading tests were also performed. To simulate the stress path
induced by traffic loading, the waveforms of the axial force W and
torque MT (Fig. 6) were imposed; the outer cell pressure po and the
inner cell pressure pi were kept constant. The equations for the four
stress components are listed in Table 2 (Hight et al., 1983).
For introducing the tests scheme conveniently, two parameters, the
vertical cyclic stress ratio (VCSR) and the shear cyclic stress level (η),
are defined as follows (Cai et al., 2015, 2016):
VCSR =
2p0′ (4)
Angle of deformation, αε
Δτzθ ampl
0°
η=
Δσz ampl (5)
45°
90° where Δσzampl is the amplitude of the cyclic axial stress, p0 is the initial
mean principal stress and Δτzθampl is the amplitude of the cyclic shear
stress.
The tests scheme is summarized in Table 4. To investigate the in-
fluence of the shear stress level on the deformation behaviour of soft
clay, three typical values of η = 0.00, 0.25 and 0.50 were considered in
the test programme. The loading frequency was set to 0.1 Hz. Fifty data
points (one per 0.02 s) were recorded per cycle. All the specimens were
subjected to 1000 cycles except the failed ones (for which the axial
strain exceeded 10%) and specimen A15 (10,000 cycles).
4. Test results of static tests
Fig. 7 illustrates the relationship between each stress component
and the deviatoric strain εq, which is defined as 2/3(ε1–ε3). The de-
velopment of excess pore water pressure is also included in the figure
for reference. Since the tests are strain-controlled, the magnitudes of the
stress components in the specimens increase as the strains increase.
When the deviatoric strain exceeded 10%, the specimen S00 and S90
show a slightly softening response. Conversely, the specimen S45 ex-
hibited a hardening response throughout the entire shearing process.
These different trends are probably related to the geometric properties

Table 4
Scheme of cyclic tests.
Axial force and torque, W ampl & MTampl

Test ID
0.00 0.25 0.50
VCSR

Series I Series II Series III

0.05 A05 B05 C05

W ampl 0.15 A15a B15 C15

0.20 A20 B20 C20

MTampl
0.25 A25 B25 C25

0.30 A30 B30 –

0.35 – B35 –

0.40 A40 – –

a
Fig. 6. Loading waves used in study. This specimen was subjected to 10,000 cycles.

64
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

200

180

160
/ kPa

140

120

q/2p0'
100

80
= 1%
Stress State ,

60

40
= 3%
20
= 5%
0
= 10%
-20
0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0
Deviatoric Strain, /%

200 Fig. 8. Anisotropy of undrained shear strength under different angles of deformation.
180

160 Therefore, the data measured after the deviatoric strain reaches 10%
/ kPa

are not adopted.

140
Fig. 8 presents the mobilized undrained shear strength (q/2) of
120 three specimens subjected to different angles of deformation when εq
100 reaches four typical values (i.e., 1%, 3%, 5% and 10%). Each value of
mobilized strength was normalised by the effective initial mean prin-
80
cipal stress (p0′) of the specimen. At a given εq, the normalised strength
Stress State ,

60 decreases as the angle of deformation increases. For example, the

40 normalised strength of specimen S90 is 23.8% smaller than that of
20 specimen S00 when εq reached 1%. The difference decreased to 11.9%
when the value of εq increased to 10%. Similar trends of anisotropy
0
were also observed by Hong and Lade (1989) and Lin and Penumadu
-20 (2005) through stress-controlled HCA tests on clay. This implies that
0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0
the fabric-induced anisotropy of the K0-consolidated natural soft
Deviatoric Strain, /% Wenzhou clay is not completely eliminated by the isotropic con-
solidation in the HCA, and the anisotropy still remains during the un-
200
drained shearing (Lin and Penumadu, 2005).
180 Fig. 9 shows enveloping surfaces of these static tests in the 2τzθ ~
160 (σz − σθ) space. The solid points in this figure indicate the measured
/ kPa

stress states of specimens. The line segments join the original point and
140
the solid points indicate the values of deviatoric stress q, which is de-
120 fined by Eq. (2). The dashed lines connecting the solid points show an
100 unsymmetrical enveloping surface, which suggests the fabric-induced
80 anisotropy of the K0-consolidated clay. The presence of anisotropy led
to the considerable effect of rotation of major principal stress axe α,
Stress State ,

60

40

20
= 10%
0
5%
S45
-20 3%
0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0 1%
Deviatoric Strain, /%

Fig. 7. Stress states of specimens during static tests: specimens (a) S00, (b) S45 and (c)
/p '

S90.
q /2po'

of hollow cylinder specimen. For specimens S00 and S90, which were
mainly loaded along the axial direction of the thin-walled cylindrical
specimen, leading to localised buckling and therefore a softening be- S90 S00
haviour. On the other hand, localised buckling is less likely to occur in
specimen S45 which was torsionally sheared, causing the hardening
response, as shown in the figure. Further explanation on this phe-
nomenon is presented in Section 5.2.2. Once obvious softening is ob-
2po'
served, the tests are terminated. According to the test results, failure
mostly occurs when deviatoric strain reaches approximately 10%. Fig. 9. Enveloping surfaces obtained in static tests.

65
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

100 which is elaborated in the following section.

a) VCSR = 0.05
80
= 10%
5. Test results of cyclic tests
60
5.1. Stress paths
40

20
Fig. 10 presents typical stress paths (cycle No. 100) of cyclic tor-
sional shear tests under three different VCSR (i.e., 0.05, 0.15, 0.25) and
/ kPa

0 η values (i.e., 0, 0.25, 0.5) in the 2τzθ ~ (σz − σθ) space. Take Fig. 10(c)
for example, the linear distance from A (an arbitrary stress state in the
-20
path) to the original point O is the corresponding deviatoric stress qcyc
-40 formulated by the Eq. (2). While, the angle between OA and horizontal
axis is twice the angle of major principal stress axe α, as formulated by
-60 the Eq. (3). During each cycle of undrained shearing, the deviatoric
stress increases from zero to a peak, and followed by a decrease till
-80
reaching zero. Meanwhile, the major principal stress angle rotates from
-100 − 90° to 90°. The shape of stress paths varies with η values. For a given
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 η = 0, the trajectory of the stress paths is simply a horizontal straight,
/ kPa with no torsional shearing involved during the entire loading process.
This scenario becomes the same as that in cyclic triaxial tests reported
100 by Cai et al. (2015) and Wu et al. (2016).
b) VCSR = 0.15
80
5.2. Axial strain
60
Fig. 11 presents the development of axial strain with number of
40
loading cycles under various VCSR and η values. The previous studies
20 (Lekarp et al., 2000; Guo et al., 2013) have shown that after application
/ kPa

of 100 cycles, the permanent axial strain starts to increases almost

0
linearly with number of cycles in logarithmic axes. This observation
-20 was confirmed by the result of a trial test (Specimen A15, η = 0,
VCSR = 0.15) being repeatedly sheared for 10,000 cycles (see
-40
Fig. 11(a)). Consequently, the number of cycles in the remaining tests
-60 was set as 1000, which are summarized in Table 4.
As defined in Fig. 11(b), the axial strain consists of two components:
-80
the resilient strain εzr and the permanent strain εzp. At a relatively low
-100 VCSR (i.e., 0.05), the permanent axial strain is rarely accumulated
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
while the resilient strain almost remains as a constant, regardless of the
/ kPa number of cycling and shear stress level. With increasing VCSR, the
permanent strain starts to get cumulated and the resilient strain in-
100 creases with number of loading cycles. These trends are consistent with
c) VCSR = 0.25 the cyclic test results reported in the literature (Lekarp et al., 2000; Li
80
et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2013). The shear stress starts to play a det-
60 rimental role when the value of VCSR is not smaller than 0.15. For a
VCSR = 0.15, the permanent strain increases by three times (from
40 A
0.12% to 0.36%) when the value of η increase from 0.00 to 0.50. When
20 VCSR reaches a critical value, the pattern of permanent strain devel-
/ kPa

opment becomes entirely different and rises sharply (i.e., ratcheting

0
O
behaviour). The critical value of VCSR reduces as the shear stress in-
-20 creases. As shown in the figure, the specimen with η = 0.50 starts to
exhibit a ratcheting behaviour when the VCSR value exceeds 0.15.
-40 While the cyclic response of the specimen with η = 0 remains stable
-60
even when the VCSR value reaches 0.25. The detrimental role of the
shear stress on the cyclic strain cumulative is evident. Similar ob-
-80 servation had also been presented by Wu et al. (2016), but in their
-100
research only one VCSR value had been considered.
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 As shown in Fig. 12, a series of strain response envelopes and some
/ kPa stress paths of specimens under different η values are plotted together.
It explains the considerable effect of shear stress during the cyclic tests.
Fig. 10. Stress paths in the 2τzθ ~ (σz − σθ) space: (a) VCSR = 0.05, (b) VCSR = 0.15 The envelopes are unsymmetrical and the contours are stretched in the
and (c) VCSR = 0.25. direction of 0°. The stress path of a specimen cyclically loaded with is a
relative high shear stress is close to a larger envelop, as anticipated,
leading to a larger magnitude of cyclic shear strain. Similar relationship
between the monotonic behaviour and cyclic behaviour of soil had also
been proposed by Wang et al. (2013). That can probably explain the
significant effect of the principal stress axes rotation on the cyclic de-
formation behaviour of the soil.

66
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

5 100
, (%)
a) 0.10
80 0.20
4 60 0.30
0.40 0.40
40 0.50
/%

3 0.60
20
z

0.70
Axial Strain,

/ kPa
0.30
0 0.80
2 0.90
-20
VCSR 1.00
0.25 -40 2.00
1 3.00
0.20
-60 4.00
0.15
0.05 5.00
-80
10.00
1 10 100 1000 10000 -100
-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
Number of Cycles, N
/ kPa
5
b) Fig. 12. Unsymmetrical enveloping surfaces and typical stress paths under three different
η values (VCSR = 0.25).
4 0.35 0.30
/%

VCSR = 0.25
3 r
z

z VCSR = 0.15
Axial Strain,

= 0.50
VCSR = 0.05
2 VCSR
/%

1
= 0.25
r

p 0.25
Resilient Strain,

z
1 0.20 = 0.00
0.15 = 0.50
0.05 = 0.25
0
1 10 100 1000 10000 = 0.00
Number of Cycles, N
= 0.50
5 = 0.25
= 0.00
c)

4
0.25
Fig. 13. Variations in axial resilient strain under different VCSR and η values.
/%

0.20
3
z

between these 3 curves caused by different η values is relative small.

Axial Strain,

With increasing VCSR, the resilient strain values increase and their
2 difference under various η values become increasingly obvious. For
VCSR = 0.15, the resilient strain values after 1000 cycles, εrz,1000, with
η = 0.25 and 0.50 are 0.10% and 0.18%, which increase 100% and
VCSR
1 260% than that with η = 0.00 (εrz,1000 = 0.05%). For VCSR = 0.25,
0.15 εrz,1000 with η = 0.00 is only 0.18%, while the resilient strain with
η = 0.50 reaches 3% before 100 cycles and then the specimen failed.
0.05
0 Moreover, it is worth noting that, as marked in Fig. 14 for failed
1 10 100 1000 10000
specimens, independent of η value, the specimens all failed before the
Number of Cycles, N axial resilient strain reach 3%. This observation is consistent with some
previous studies, according to which the failure criteria of double am-
Fig. 11. Variations in axial strain responses under different amplitudes of deviatoric
stress with three different η values: (a) η = 0.00, (b) η = 0.25 and (c) η = 0.50.
plitude strain for clay are 3% (Andersen, 1980; Li et al., 2011). The
criteria value of strain in this paper is relative small, as compared with
those (e.g. 5% or 10%) suggested in other similar experimental studies
5.2.1. Axial resilient strain (Hyodo et al., 1992, 1999). The difference could be attribute to the low
Fig. 13 shows the development of axial resilient strain with cycle stiffness of soft clay reported herein, as well as the localised buckling of
numbers of repeated loading under different VCSR and η values in the specimens, which is less likely to occur in a triaxial apparatus (as
double logarithmic axes. As shown in the figure, the η value has effect adopted by Hyodo et al., 1992, 1999) than that in a HCA (as used in this
on the specimen at various given values of VCSR. However, the degree study). Fig. 15 shows photographs of three specimens after static tests.
of effect is different for different VCSR values. For VCSR = 0.05, the An obvious strain localization (as marked) occurred in specimens S00
resilient strain values are small and less than 0.05% (apparatus accu- and S90, because they are mainly loaded along the axial direction.
racy: 10− 4) after 1000 cycles at all given η values. The difference While there is no obvious localization strain occurred in specimen S45,

67
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

= 0.00
= 0.25
Failure Strain

/%
= 0.50
/%

p
r
Resilient Strain,

Permanent strain,
= 0.00, CSR = 0.30 = 0.00
= 0.00, CSR = 0.40 = 0.25
= 0.25, CSR = 0.30 = 0.50
= 0.25, CSR = 0.35
= 0.50, CSR = 0.20
CSR = 0.25

Fig. 16. Permanent strain after 150 cycles for different VCSR and η values.
Fig. 14. Variations in axial resilient strain for specimens that failed before 1000 cycles.

Purely elastic Shakedown state Ratcheting

as it is mainly loaded by a torsional shear, which is less likely to trigger
3
local buckling. Because of the unstable structure of thin-wall specimen
(hollow cylinder), strain localization appears first instead of a total
deformation. For unit cell test, once the strain localization occurs, the
data is no longer reliable. Therefore, if it is the axial strain that is used
/% 0.25
0.50
to measure the deformation of hollow cylinder specimen, a resilient
2
p

axial strain of 3% could be a proper failure criteria value.

z,1000
Permanent strain,

5.2.2. Axial permanent strain

Permanent strain for each specimen after 150 cycles is plotted Allowable CSR
versus corresponding VCSR in Fig. 16. For a given VCSR, the permanent 1
strain of specimens with higher values of η gets accumulated more
significantly, indicating the detrimental effect of shear stress. There-
fore, in engineering practice, a subgrade with a higher shear stress level
indicates a less favourable working condition, and should be treated
with more caution. 0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
To normalize these three curves and consider the shear stress level,
cyclic stress ratio (CSR) is introduced (Cai et al., 2016): CSR
Fig. 17. Permanent strain after 1000 cycles for different CSR values.
CSR = VCSR 1 + 4η2 (6)

Permanent strain for non-failed specimens under different CSR after
1000 cycles are plotted in Fig. 17. It can be seen that the relationship
between permanent strain and CSR is relative unique. It means the
parameter CSR is able to describe the stress level considering the
principal stress rotation.
The shakedown theory has been widely used in pavement analysis
and design (Sharp and Booker, 1984; Werkmeister et al., 2005; Karg
et al., 2010; Tang et al., 2015). According to this theory, critical CSR
and threshold CSR are pointed out to separate different categories of
cyclic soil behaviour. According to the theory, the critical CSR is not
suitable to be a design criterion for pavement, because below this value,

Fig. 15. Deformation of specimen after shearing at dif-

ferent angles: specimens (a) S00, (b) S45 and (c) S90.

(a) (b) (c)

68
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

the soil would still generate a large amount of pore pressure and per- 10
manent strain (as high as 10% (Guo et al., 2013)). The threshold CSR is a a)
critical value below which no excess pore pressure or permanent strain VCSR
p
is accumulated. Obviously, the threshold CSR can be too conservative to = aNb

/%
1 z 0.25
be adopted as a design criterion. The concept of allowable CSR, which is

p
0.20

z
between these two CSR values, was proposed by Guo et al. (2013) to

Permanent strain,
0.15
guide a more practical design for the engineering structures under
cyclic loading. The intention of proposing allowable CSR is to allow a 0.1
certain amount of settlement on the premise of no destruction. In b
Fig. 16, the allowable VCSR value significantly decreases with the in- 1
creasing value of η, indicating a more severe working condition. As
shown in Fig. 17, considering the principal stress rotation, the threshold 0.01

CSR is about 0.05, the critical CSR is about 0.30, and the allowable CSR a
is measured to be about 0.22 according to the method of Guo et al.
(2013). This value is close to the allowable CSR (about 0.227 according 1E-3
to the definition in this paper) obtained by cyclic triaxial tests on the 1 10 100 1000 3000
same batch of soil samples after isotropic consolidation (Guo et al., Number of cycles, N
2013).
To better predict the ground settlement under various transporta- 10
tion facilities, the permanent strain behaviour of soil under cyclic
b) VCSR
loading has been studied over the years (Lekarp et al., 2000). A number
of theoretical and semi-empirical prediction models based on test re-

/%
0.25
sults have been proposed, considering the effects including cyclic stress, 1
0.20

p
z
number of loading cycles (Sweere, 1990; Lekarp et al., 2000; Niemunis 0.15
et al., 2005; Guo et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2013; Sun et al., 2015). A Permanent strain,
prediction model based on power function was firstly proposed by
0.1
Sweere (1990) to fit a series of long-term cyclic triaxial test results, as
follows:

εz p = aN b (7) 0.05
0.01
This equation also showed satisfying prediction of the long-term
response of Wenzhou clay in 50,000 triaxial load repetitions in the
previous research (Guo et al., 2013), where the effect of principal stress
1E-3
rotation was not taken into account. In this paper, the development of 1 10 100 1000 3000
permanent axial strain also shows a very good fit with power expression
Number of cycles, N
in double logarithmic axes (as shown in Fig. 18). Therefore, the pre-
diction model in this study will also be determined based on Eq. (7). It 10
is worth noting that Eq. (7) is only applicable to specimens exhibiting
a)
shakedown behaviour, rather than the ones showing ratcheting re-
VCSR
sponse (i.e., failed before 1000 numbers of cycling).
/%

As shown in Fig. 18(a), the parameters a and b denote the perma- 1 0.15
nent strain of specimen after the first cycle and the slope of curves in
p
z
Permanent strain,

double logarithmic axes, respectively. The relationships between these

two parameters versus CSR values are:
0.1
a = 0.0004e 23.7CSR (8) 0.05

b = −1.7CSR + 0.7 (9)

In order to validate the model, a set of studies was attempted
through the tests under VCSR = 0.10 with three different η values. The
measured and predicted vertical permanent strains are presented in
Fig. 19. As shown in the figure, the model used was able to reasonably
predict the experimental data well.
In general, the analysis above proved that the proposed permanent
strain model can capture the permanent deformation of soft clay. This
model accounts for the effect of shear stress level, which significantly
governs the permanent strain behaviour but was rarely considered in
the previous studies.
6. Conclusions
Static and cyclic HCA tests have been conducted on intact Wenzhou
soft clay to study its anisotropy and cyclic deformation behaviour under
traffic loading. Considering that the stress condition changes with the
depth of subgrade, three shear stress level are adopted. The following
conclusions can be drawn:
0.01
1E-3
1 10 100 1000 3000
Number of cycles, N
Fig. 18. Development of permanent axial strain under different η values: (a) η = 0.00, (b)
η = 0.25 and (c) η = 0.50.
(1) The shear stress level is found to play a detrimental role in wor-
sening the cyclic degradation and accelerating the permanent
strain. The effect of shear stress level becomes increasingly detri-
mental at a higher VCSR value. These observations can be explained
by the relationship between cyclic stress paths and the enveloping
surface obtained from the corresponding static tests.
(2) The allowable VCSR value decreased with an increasing value of η,
which indicates a more severe working condition. CSR is introduced

69
T. Wu et al. Engineering Geology 228 (2017) 61–70

0.5 Chen, J., Guo, L., Cai, Y., Chen, J., 2016a. Experimental study of anisotropy and non-
coaxiality behavior of natural clay by using drained shear test. Chin. J. Rock Mech.
Eng. 3291–3298.
0.50 VCSR = 0.10 Chen, G., Zhou, Z., Pan, H., Sun, T., Li, X., 2016b. The influence of undrained cyclic
0.4 0.25 loading patterns and consolidation states on the deformation features of saturated
0.00 fine sand over a wide strain range. Eng. Geol. 204, 77–93.
/%

Guo, L., Wang, J., Cai, Y., Liu, H., Gao, Y., Sun, H., 2013. Undrained deformation be-
Calculated Data havior of saturated soft clay under long-term cyclic loading. Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng.
p
z

0.3 50, 28–37.

Permanent strain,

0.2
0.1
0.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Number of cycles, N
Fig. 19. Comparison of the measured and predicted permanent strains.
to normalize the relationship between permanent strain and VCSR.
By taking shear stress level into consideration, the allowable CSR is
measured to be about 0.22 for Wenzhou soft clay.
(3) The axial permanent strain increases linearly with number of
loading cycles in double logarithmic axes. Based on this trend, a
simplified permanent strain model for predicting cyclic permanent
strain with consideration of shear stress effect was proposed.
Acknowledgements
The work presented in this paper was financially supported by the
National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.
2016YFC0800201, 2016YFC0800202 and 2014CB047005), the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51408441,
51238009, 51108414 and 51622810), and the Specialized Research
Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No.
20130101110028). Their financial supports are gratefully acknowl-
edged.
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