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Energy-based evaluation of undrained cyclic behavior of marine soft clay under multidirectional simple shear stress paths

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Abstract

During the service life of marine structures, environmental loads, such as earthquakes and ocean wave storms, may exert dynamic shear stresses of different amplitudes and orientations in the foundation soil. To investigate the undrained cyclic behavior of marine soft clay under a complex shear stress state, a laboratory study was performed on remolded clay specimens using a variable-direction dynamic cyclic simple shear system, through which two mutually perpendicular shear stresses can be simultaneously applied to the specimen within the horizontal x–y plane. Stress paths of linear, circular, and elliptical patterns were obtained by adjusting the amplitude ratio (η) between the two cyclic shear stresses and applied to investigate the undrained behavior of soft clay. The undrained cyclic responses of the clay specimens were presented and then analyzed from the viewpoint of energy dissipation. A strain-softening phenomenon was observed when the cyclic effective stress path reached the failure line determined by the monotonic test. The cyclic strength of clay subjected to multidirectional cyclic shear stresses (i.e., circular and elliptical stress paths) was 0.775η times that under unidirectional shear stress (i.e., linear stress path). The coupling effects of CSR and η on the cyclic strength and accumulation of residual pore water pressure can be uniformly correlated to energy dissipation.

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The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 51879234; U2006225 and 51978532) and the Zhejiang Province Natural Foundation projects of China (Grant No. LZ22E080009).

Funding

Funding for this study was received from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 51879234, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: U2006225, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 51978532, and the Zhejiang Province Natural Foundation projects of China, Grant/Award Number: LZ22E080009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, People’s Republic of China

    Hongxu Jin, Honglei Sun, Tingyu Wu, Li Shi & Yuanqiang Cai

  2. College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Wenzhou University, Chashan University Town, Wenzhou, 325035, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Guo

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  1. Hongxu Jin
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Contributions

HJ wrote and prepared the original draft; LG was responsible for conceptualization and methodology; HS took part in writing, reviewing, and editing; TW carried out data curation and investigation; LS was involved in supervision and plan as a whole; and YC participated in reviewing and editing, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Li Shi.

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Jin, H., Guo, L., Sun, H. et al. Energy-based evaluation of undrained cyclic behavior of marine soft clay under multidirectional simple shear stress paths. Acta Geotech. 18, 2883–2898 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01765-5

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