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Influence of initial state and intermediate principal stress on undrained behavior of soft clay during pure principal stress rotation

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Abstract

It is important to be fully aware of the dynamic characteristics of saturated soft clays under complex loading conditions in practice. In this paper, a series of undrained tests for soft clay consolidated with different initial major principal stress direction ξ were conducted by a hollow cylinder apparatus (HCA). The clay samples were subjected to pure principal stress rotation as the magnitudes of the mean total stress p, intermediate principal stress coefficient b, and deviator stress q were all maintained constant. The influences of intermediate principal stress coefficient and initial major principal stress direction on the variation of strain components, generation of pore water pressure, cyclic degradation and non-coaxiality were investigated. The experimental observations indicated that the strain components of specimen were affected by both intermediate principal stress coefficient and initial major principal stress direction. The generation of the pore water pressure was significantly influenced by intermediate principal stress coefficient. However, the generation of pore water pressure was merely influenced by initial major principal stress direction when b = 0.5. It was also noted that the torsional stress–strain relationships were affected by the number of cycles, and the effect of intermediate principal stress coefficient and initial major principal stress direction on the torsional stress–strain loops were also significant. Stiffness degradation occur under pure principal stress rotation. Anisotropic behavior resulting from the process of inclined consolidation have considerable effects on the strain components and non-coaxial behavior of soft clay.

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Acknowledgements

This work present in this paper was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YC0800205); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51639002); “111” Project under No. B13024; Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M610461). This financial support is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Conservancy and Environmental Engineering, Zhengzhou University, No. 100, Science Road, Zhengzhou, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Yuke Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University, No. 1, Xikang Road, Nanjing, 210098, People’s Republic of China

    Yuke Wang & Yufeng Gao

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Water Conservancy and Transportation Infrastructure Safety Protection, Henan Province, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Yuke Wang

  4. Jiangsu Research Center for Geotechnical Engineering Technology, Hohai University, No. 1, Xikang Road, Nanjing, 210098, People’s Republic of China

    Yufeng Gao

  5. College of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, People’s Republic of China

    Bing Li

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

    Lin Guo

  7. Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People’s Republic of China

    Yuanqiang Cai

  8. Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez, 43721, Egypt

    Ali H. Mahfouz

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  1. Yuke Wang
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  2. Yufeng Gao
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  3. Bing Li
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  4. Lin Guo
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Correspondence to Yufeng Gao.

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Wang, Y., Gao, Y., Li, B. et al. Influence of initial state and intermediate principal stress on undrained behavior of soft clay during pure principal stress rotation. Acta Geotech. 14, 1379–1401 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-018-0735-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-018-0735-5

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