Dynamic Properties of Undisturbed Guiyang Red Clay in the Small-Strain Range
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 7
Abstract
Red clay is commonly used as filler for roadbed or subgrade, but it always leads to engineering problems of uneven settlement and strength decay under cyclic dynamic loading because of its engineering characteristics such as high water content, high plasticity, and poor compaction. It is essential to assess the dynamic characteristics of undamaged red clay in the small-strain range, but few relevant researches are reported. In this study, the small-strain dynamic property of undisturbed red clay from Guiyang, Southwest China, was investigated. Multistage dynamic triaxial shear tests were performed to analyze the development of the skeleton curve (σd–ɛd), the maximum dynamic modulus of elasticity, the maximum dynamic shear modulus, and the maximum dynamic damping ratio in the small-strain range of undisturbed red clay with different confining pressures, consolidation stress ratios, loading frequencies, and water content ratios. Moreover, under the small-strain conditions, the small-strain dynamic deformation mechanism of the specimens with isobaric consolidation and anisotropic consolidation was analyzed. In addition, some empirical prediction models for the dynamic constitutive relationship, dynamic elastic modulus, and dynamic damping ratio of undisturbed red clay under small-strain range test conditions were proposed. Results indicate that the skeleton curve of undisturbed red clay showed softening behavior when the dynamic axial strain ɛd > 1.0%, the center of the hysteresis curve, shifted positively along the coordinate axis with the increasing confining pressure and the loading number. The undisturbed specimens exhibited mainly two types of deformation under small-strain test conditions, including axial compression deformation when the consolidation ratio Kc was 1.0 and bulging deformation when the Kc was 1.5 and 2.0. The proposed models could be used to predict the skeleton curve, dynamic elastic modulus, and dynamic damping ratio of the undisturbed red clay in the small-strain range.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 42307219, 52108332, 52104080), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province of China (No. LQ23E080005), Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Support Plan Project (No. Qiankehe Support [2023] 136), and Guizhou Outstanding Young Science and Technology Talent Program (YQK[2023]012). The Central Government Guides Local Science and Technology Development Fund Projects of China (YDZJSX20231A022) and Research Project Supported by Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (2023-042).
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- a, b, k
- fitting model parameters of τd–γd curve;
- Cc
- curvature factor;
- Cu
- unevenness factor;
- CH
- clay with high liquid limit;
- d
- soil particle size;
- d10
- effective grain size;
- d30
- intermediate grain size;
- d60
- boundary grain size;
- Ed
- dynamic elastic modulus;
- Edmax
- maximum dynamic elastic modulus;
- F
- loading frequency;
- FdN
- dynamic axial load of multistage cyclic test;
- Gd
- dynamic shear modulus;
- Gdmax
- maximum dynamic shear modulus;
- GN
- grading number;
- GNmax
- maximum grading number;
- Kc
- consolidation stress ratio;
- Sloop
- area of hysteresis loop;
- Striangle-OAB
- area of the triangle OAB;
- w
- water content;
- wop
- optimum water content;
- αw
- water content ratio;
- γd
- cyclic shear strain;
- γdr
- reference strain;
- ɛd
- dynamic axial stress;
- ɛdmax
- maximum dynamic stress;
- ɛdmin
- minimum dynamic stress;
- ɛdr
- reference dynamic axial strain;
- λd
- dynamic damping ratio;
- λdmax
- maximum dynamic damping ratio;
- μd
- dynamic Poisson’s ratio;
- σd
- dynamic stress amplitude;
- σdmax
- maximum dynamic stress amplitude;
- σdmin
- minimum dynamic stress amplitude;
- σ3
- confining pressure;
- ρd
- dry density;
- ρdmax
- maximum dry density;
- τd
- cyclic shear stress;
- τdult
- ultimate dynamic shear stress; and
- ω
- phase angle.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 7 • July 2024
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Nov 18, 2022
Accepted: Jan 10, 2024
Published online: Apr 30, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 30, 2024
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