DEVELOPMENT OF DATABASE OF CYCLIC SOIL PROPERTIES

FROM 94 TESTS ON 47 SOILS

Leo Matesic Chu-Chung Hsu Marco D’Elia Mladen Vucetic

Faculty of Civil Engineering Civil and Environmental Eng. DMS Geotechnical Eng. srl Civil and Environmental Eng.
University of Rijeka, Rijeka University of California, Via San Lucio, 25 University of California
and Geokon-Zagreb Los Angeles, California 90095 00165 Rome Los Angeles, California 90095
Croatia USA Italy USA

ABSTRACT

Cyclic properties of 47 soils were tested in several investigations between 1994 and 2004 in the standard Norwegian Geotechnical
Institute (NGI) direct simple shear (DSS) device and an NGI-type dual-specimen DSS (DSDSS) device for small strain testing. In
each investigation many cycles of different amplitude, c, and frequency, f, were applied at different levels of vertical stress, v, and
overconsolidation ratio, OCR. In DSDSS device many consecutive series of different small c=0.0003-0.01% were applied on the
same specimens without changing their structure, because at such small c cyclic shearing is nondestructive. Consequently, the vast
amounts of small-strain data were generated. This necessitated the development of new approach to data processing and analysis. New
procedure for reading, checking, organizing, combining, comparing and analyzing the vast arrays of cyclic test data has been
developed and structured into a database that has the cyclic loop as its elementary unit. Each cyclic loop in the database is
characterized by the soils’ plasticity index, moisture content, void ratio, degree of saturation, v, OCR, c, f, secant shear modulus,
damping ratio, and the shape of cyclic straining. Using the database very large number of cyclic loops can be compared to instantly
obtain graphical presentation of different behavioral trends. The structure of the database and its application is summarized.

INTRODUCTION descriptive, (ii) density and corresponding void ratio, e, (iii)

Many soil dynamics analyses consider cyclic behavior of soil
in pure shear. An example is the behavior of soil at level
horizontally layered ground due to vertically propagating
seismic shear waves presented in Fig. 1. Under such
conditions soil element is on top of the normal vertical and
horizontal consolidation effective stresses, ’v and ’h,
existing before the earthquake, subjected to shear stresses,,
caused by the earthquake. The main feature of such a behavior
and the cyclic loading behavior in general are the cyclic stress-
strain loops the properties of which need to be known to
perform the soil dynamics analysis. The characterization of
cyclic loop is presented in Figs. 2 and 3. The loop is typically
characterized by its cyclic shear strain amplitude, c, cyclic
shear stress amplitude, c, secant shear modulus, Gs, maximum
shear modulus, Gmax, and the equivalent viscous damping
ratio,  that depends on its thickness. In any given soil
dynamics event these parameters depend on the: (i) soil type
that can be characterized by the classification properties such
as the grain size distribution and Atterberg limits, among
which the plasticity index, PI, seems to be the most
moisture content, w, (iv) degree of saturation, S, (v)
consolidation stresses v and h, (vi) overconsolidation ratio,
OCR, (vii) frequency of cyclic loading, f, and (viii) the shape
of cyclic straining (cyclic strain versus time) that is typically
sinusoidal but can vary between triangular and trapezoidal.
CYCLIC TESTING
Between 1994 and 2004, in a soil dynamics laboratory of the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a series of
investigations of cyclic soil properties listed above was carried
out (Doroudian and Vucetic, 1999; Hsu and Vucetic, 1998;
1999; Matesic and Vucetic, 1998; Tabata and Vucetic, 2000;
2002; Vucetic, 2000; Vucetic et al., 1998; 1999). In these
investigations the following two types of tests were conducted
in two direct simple shear (DSS) devices, (i) the constant
volume equivalent undrained test aimed at investigating the
behavior of fully saturated soils in undrained conditions, and
(ii) the variable volume test to investigate the cyclic
compression of unsaturated soils (volume change due to cyclic

Paper No. 1.07b 1

loading). Both DSS devices were of the Norwegian
Geotechnical Institute (NGI) type where specimens are
enclosed in a wire reinforced rubber membrane that greatly
restricts and almost prevents lateral strains during
consolidation and shear. One device was the standard NGI
DSS devices shown in Fig. 4 that was originally introduced by
Bjerrum and Landva (1966). The other was an NGI-type dual-
specimen DSS (DSDSS) device for small strain testing shown
in Fig. 5 that was designed and built at UCLA by Doroudian
and Vucetic (1995; 1998). The standard NGI DSS device was
the investigations even further, in each stage of DSDSS test
the cyclic testing parameters were often varied, such as shown
in Fig. 7 where the frequency of cyclic straining, f, was varied.
It should be mentioned that in this figure and some other
figures θ is the strain-time history shape parameter defined by
Vucetic et al. (1998 that measures the effect of the shape of
cyclic straining on  
Shear stress, 
Gmax
c
1

employed to investigate the cyclic properties in the range of

moderate to large c between approximately 0.1% and 10%. In Gs
the DSDSS device the cyclic properties over the wide range of 1

c between approximately 0.0003% and 10% were c O c

Shear strain, 
investigated, with a focus on very small to small strains
between 0.0003% and 0.1%.

c

Fig. 2. Idealized fully closed initial cyclic stress-strain

loop (first 1.25 cycles) with definition of cyclic shear strain
amplitude, c, cyclic shear stress amplitude, c, secant shear
modulus, Gs, and maximum shear modulus, Gmax

Shear stress, 

W c
 c c
W
2

c O c
Shear strain, 

1 W 1 W
 
4 W 4  c c
2
 c

Fig. 1. Idealized stress-strain conditions of soil element at

horizontally layered level ground due to vertically Fig. 3. Definition of the equivalent viscous damping ratio, 
propagating seismic shear waves

DATABASE OF CYCLIC SOIL PROPERTIES

The investigations at UCLA between 1994 and 2004
encompassed 47 soils that were tested in 94 tests, most of
which were cyclic strain-controlled with constant c. Many
tests were conducted in several stages where c was constant in
each stage but varied from stage to stage. In the DSDSS
device in particular, many consecutive series of different small
c between 0.0003 and 0.01% were applied on the same set of
two specimens without changing their structure, because at
such small c below the cyclic threshold shear strain (Dobry et
al., 1982; Vucetic, 1994; Hsu and Vucetic, 2004; 2006) the
cyclic shearing is nondestructive. To optimize the outcome of
From the above description of the testing it is evident that
vast amounts of data were collected during the investigations
of cyclic soil properties, in particular during the small-strain
nondestructive cyclic testing with the DSDSS device in which
the conditions and parameters such as c, v, f, and  can be
changed repetitively on a single pair of specimens without
affecting their integrity and hence the integrity of the
parameters measured. Such a convenience not only stimulated
but necessitated the development of a new innovative
approach to data processing, analysis and sharing that takes

Paper No. 1.07b 2

advantage of today’s fast computers and sophisticated
software. Consequently, a new procedure for reading,
checking, organizing, combining, comparing and analyzing
the vast arrays of cyclic test data was developed. The main
product of this procedure is a conveniently structured database
with a cyclic loop as its elementary unit. In the database, each
cyclic loop is characterized by a series of parameters such as
PI, e, w, S, v, OCR, c, c, f, Gs, θ and 
Fig. 4. Standard NGI direct simple shear (NGI DSS)
apparatus (introduced by Bjerrum and Landva,1966)
Paper No. 1.07b
The main premise of the database is that cyclic loops obtained
following different cyclic loading paths are very similar,
basically the same, as long as they pertain to the same PI, e, w,
S, v, OCR, c, f, and θ. It is thus presumed that cyclic
behavior parameters of these loops, such Gs and  are almost
identical, which has been verified and is pretty much correct.
The power of such database is that very large number of cyclic
loops from many different tests and their characteristics can be
compared and manipulated in various ways, thus enabling the
creation and instant graphical presentation of many useful
behavioral trends and comparisons.
Fig. 5. NGI type of dual-specimen direct simple shear (NGI
DSDSS) apparatus for small-strain testing (Doroudian and
Vucetic, 1995; 1998)
3
The "Microsoft Access" database software was employed to
develop the database the structure of which is rather complex.
It includes 10 separate tables and over hundred fields with the
characteristics of cyclic loops that are linked and can be
related to each other. The structure of the database is shown in
Fig. 6. The structure of the UCLA database of cyclic soil properties the elementary unit of which is the cyclic stress-strain loop
The input of the recorded test data into the database and its
utilization consists of the following four consecutive steps: (i)
identification and inspection of the cyclic stress-strain loops
recorded during the testing and digitized by the data
acquisition system, (ii) organization of the relevant raw data
into the "Microsoft Excel" worksheet files, (iii) input of the
data into the database, and (iv) manipulation and automatic
Paper No. 1.07b
Fig. 6. In spite of its complexity, the database is rather
flexible and relatively easy to use. Using the customized
"Microsoft Excel" worksheets the database is also easily
maintainable and updateable with the data from new tests.
graphical presentation of the data with “Microsoft Excel”.
These steps are somewhat elaborate, in particular the first step,
and their description is beyond the scope of this database
summary. They are described in relative detail in Hsu and
Vucetic (2002).
4
The database was designed not just for handling the simple
shear test results generated at UCLA, but also to accommodate
the results of other types of tests that can be gathered from the
literature.
PRESENTATION OF SOME DATA AND EXAMPLES OF
THEIR MANIPULATION AND COMPARISOSNS
Currently, only the UCLA simple shear test results have been
included into the database. To date over 120 cyclic DSS and
DSDSS tests were conducted at UCLA on more than 60 soils,
yielding enormous amounts of data. The results in this paper,
however, encompass only 94 tests on 47 different soils that are
represented in the data base with around 10,000 cyclic loops,
i.e., by approximately 10,000 data points. Below are some
examples of plots and charts generated automatically or semi-
automatically from this part of the database.

450

400

Secant Shear Modulus, G s (MPa)

94 cyclic simple shear tests
350
47 different soils - PI=0 to 44
300  v = 24 to 1700 kPa
9,300 data points
250

200

150

100

50

0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Cyclic Shear Strain Amplitude,  c (%), and Shear Strain, 
(%)

60

50
94 cyclic simple shear tests
47 different soils - PI=0 to 44
Damping Ratio,  (%)

40
 v = 24 to 1700 kPa
6,700 data points
30

20

10

0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

Cyclic Shear Strain Amplitude,  c (%)

Fig. 7. Typical results from one cyclic stage of DSDSS test

on Kaolinite clay (PI=20, ’vc=300 kPa, OCR=1.0) aimed at
investigating the effects of cyclic frequency and average rate
of straining at very small cyclic strains (data treated in
Matesic and Vucetic,2003; Vucetic and Tabata, 2003; Vucetic
et al., 2003)
Fig. 8. Distribution of the secant shear modulus and damping
ratio data points with the logarithm of cyclic shear strain
amplitude retrieved from the database of cyclic soil properties
– each data point pertains to a cyclic loop
(Hsu and Vucetic, 2002)

Paper No. 1.07b 5

Figure 8 shows two relationships, one between Gs and c and The figure shows how the curves plot higher as PI of the soil
the other between  and c, for 47 different soils consolidated increases, which is the recognized trend of this curves
prior to cyclic shearing to different v (Hsu and Vucetic, (Kokusho et al., 1982; Vucetic and Dobry, 1991). In Fig. 10
2002). The data also include different levels of frequency, f, the logc trend obtained in a similar manner is plotted,
and magnitudes of θ. From this pool of data many behavioral showing a recognized trend of the curves plotting lower as PI
trends have been derived, some of which are presented below. increases.

1 60
47 different soils - PI=0 to 44
0.9 47 different soils - PI=0 to 44
50
v = 24 to 1700 kPa
v = 24 to 1700 kPa 62 curves
Normalized shear modulus, G s/Gmax

Damping ratio,  (%)

0.8 63 curves
40 Plasticity Index
0.7 PI (%)
Plasticity

0.6
Index PI (%)
0
30 0
1-7
PI
0.5 20 8-20
1-7
21-40
0.4 8-20 41-44
10

0.3 21-40

0.2
PI 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c (%)

0.1

0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 60

47 different soils - PI=0 to 44

Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c (%), and shear strain,  (%)
50 v = 24 to 1700 kPa
62 curves
Damping ratio,  (%)

40
1

0.9 47 different soils - PI=0 to 44 30

v = 24 to 1700 kPa PI
Normalized shear modulus, G s/Gmax

0.8 63 curves 20

0.7
10

0.6
0
0.5 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c (%)

0.4

0.3 PI
0.2
0.1
0
0.0001 0.001
Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c (%), and shear strain,  (%)
Fig. 9. Normalized secant shear modulus reduction curves
derived from the data points presented above in Fig. 8a using
routines incorporated in the database (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002
From the data in Fig. 8a the secant shear modulus reduction
curves, Gslogc, for the same soils were constructed, the
corresponding values of Gmax were then estimated by
extrapolation, and the corresponding normalized secant shear
modulus reduction curves, Gs/Gmaxlogc, derived. The 63
normalized secant shear modulus reduction curves,
Gs/Gmaxlogc, obtained in this way are presented in Fig. 9.
Fig. 10. Equivalent viscous damping ratio curves derived
from the data points presented above in Fig. 8b using routines
incorporated in the database (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002)
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
From the data in Fig. 9 that are part of the database, the
distributions of the Gs/Gmax data points with PI for three levels
of c have been derived and plotted in Fig. 11 along with the
data points obtained earlier by other investigators. This
comparisons reveal that the trends obtained earlier for
c=0.01% and 0.1% are pretty good and in agreement with
new data, while for c=1.0% new Gs/Gmax data plot more or
less around 0.1 and do not show an increase with PI in the
range of tested PI from 0 to 40.
In Figs. 12 and 13 there are two types of trends derived rather
directly from the database for two groups of soils. First, all of
the values of Gs/Gmax and for nonplastic cohesionless sandy
and silty soils (labeled as the PI=0 soils), and the clayey soils

Paper No. 1.07b 6

having PI between 31 and 44, were extracted from the From the average trends plotted in Figs. 12 and 13 the charts
database. These data were then automatically separated in in Figs. 14 and 15 are derived, showing the effect of v on
groups corresponding to c=0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, 3.0, and Gs/Gmax and  curves.
10.0% and plotted versus vertical consolidation stress, v. In
this way the presented effects of v on Gs/Gmax and  at In Fig. 16 is an example of the analysis of the DSDSS test
different levels of c are obtained. results on kaolinite clay (PI=20, 'vc=300 kPa, OCR=1)
extracted from the database. The corresponding tests were
1
aimed at investigating the effect of cyclic frequency, f, on the
0.9
secant shear modulus, Gs, and damping ratio, . The Gs and 
0.8
data were first separated into groups corresponding to certain
0.7
narrow ranges of c and then plotted against corresponding
 c (%) = 0.01 Upper bound, average, frequencies.
0.6 and lower bound from
Gs/Gmax

Vucetic and Dobry

0.5
(1991) The last example of the analysis of the cyclic data
0.4 This study - simple shear
test
incorporated into the database is presented in Fig. 17. It shows
0.3 how different data in the database pertaining to a selected soil
Data by others compiled by
0.2 Vucetic and Dobry (1991) - are crossplotted to obtain interesting trends. The single chart
0.1
various types of tests
in Fig. 17 shows how damping ratio, , is influenced by
0 vertical consolidation stress and the average strain rate defined
as  =4 cf.
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Plasticity Index (%)

1 1
This study - simple shear test
0.9 0.9
Data by others compiled by Vucetic and PI=0
0.8 Dobry (1991) - various types of tests 0.8
Sands and
0.7 nonplastic silts
0.7
0.6
Gs/Gmax

0.6 Cyclic shear strain amplitude

Gs/Gmax

0.5 and shear strain (%)

0.001
0.5
0.4
0.01
0.4
0.3 Upper bound, average, and 0.1
lower bound from Vucetic
0.2  c (%) = 0.1 and Dobry (1991)
0.3 1

3
0.1 0.2
10
0 0.1
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0
Plasticity Index (%) 10 100 1000 10000
Vertical stress (kPa)
1
1
0.9
 c (%) = 1.0 0.9
0.8
0.8
0.7
This study - simple shear test Upper bound, average, 0.7
0.6
Gs/Gmax

and lower bound from

Cyclic shear strain amplitude
0.5 Data by others compiled by
Vucetic and Dobry (1991) 0.6
PI = 31 - 44 and shear strain (%)
Gs/Gmax

0.001
Vucetic and Dobry (1991) - 0.5
0.4
various types of tests 0.01
0.4
0.3 0.1
0.3
0.2 1
0.2 3
0.1
0.1 10
0
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0
10 100 1000 10000
Plasticity Index (%)
Vertical stress (kPa)
Fig.11. Distribution of the normalized secant shear modulus
data points with soil’s plasticity index for three cyclic shear Fig.12. Variation of normalized secant shear modulus,
strain amplitudes (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002) Gs/Gmax , with vertical stress, v , for two groups of soils
derived from the database – each data point pertains to a
cyclic loop (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002)

Paper No. 1.07b 7

FINAL REMARKS 1

0.9 Vertical
stress (kPa)
This paper provides just a brief description of the database of 0.8 700

0.7
cyclic soil properties created at UCLA from more than 120 0.6
300

Gs/Gmax
120
direct simple shear tests on more than 60 soils. More about it 0.5 v 50
can be found in Hsu and Vucetic (2002). The elementary unit 0.4
20
of the database is the cyclic loop. In the database each cyclic 0.3
PI = 0, Sands and
loop is assigned a series of properties. They are the plasticity 0.2
nonplastic silts
index of the soil, void ratio, moisture content, degree of
0.1

0
saturation, vertical stress prior to cycling, overconsolidation 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

ratio, cyclic shear strain amplitude, frequency of cyclic Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c, and shear strain,  (%)

loading, secant shear modulus, shape of cyclic straining, and 1

damping ratio. The database also contains procedures for 0.9

Vertical
comparing and analyzing the data so that it can be used to 0.8 stress (kPa)
generate various correlations and trends between different 0.7
1600

data. Several examples of such correlations and trends are 0.6 700
v

Gs/Gmax
presented above and many more can be found in Hsu and 0.5 300

Vucetic (2002), Matesic and Vucetic (2003) and some other 0.4
120
publications listed below. 0.3
50
0.2 PI = 31 - 44
0.1

0
20 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

18 PI = 0 Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c, and shear strain,  (%)

Sands and nonplastic silts
Damping ratio,  (%)

16
14
Fig. 14. Effect of vertical stress on the normalized secant
12 Cyclic shear strain
amplitude (%) shear modulus reduction curve for two groups of soils derived
10 0.1 from Fig. 12 above (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002)
8 0.01
6
0.001
4 18
Damping ratio,  (%)

16 Vertical
2 PI = 0, Sands and Stress (kPa)
14 nonplastic silts 20
0 12
10 100 1000 10000 50
Vertical stress,  v (kPa)
10
8 v  120
6
300
20 4
Cyclic shear strain 2 700
18
amplitude (%) 0
Damping ratio,  (%)

16 PI = 31 - 44
0.1 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
14
Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c (%)
12 0.01

10 18
0.001
8 16 Vertical
Damping ratio,  (%)

14 PI = 31 - 44 Stress (kPa)
6 50
4 12
120
10
v
2
8 300
0
10 100 1000 10000 6 700
Vertical stress,  v (kPa) 4 1600
2
0
Fig.13. Variation of damping ratiowith vertical stress, 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
v , for two groups of soils derived from the database – each Cyclic shear strain amplitude,  c (%)
data point pertains to a cyclic loop (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002)

Fig. 15. Effect of vertical stress on the equivalent viscous

damping ratio curve for two groups of soils derived from Fig.
13 above (Hsu and Vucetic, 2002)

Paper No. 1.07b 8

 < 0.6
0.4 <
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66 4
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64 3

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