Experimental and theoretical methods on determination of stress-dependent natural frequency of marine sedimentary clay

Excited by the vibration sources in dynamic engineering, the natural frequency and damping factor of the saturated marine sedimentary clay are key dynamic parameters that influence the responses under cyclic loads. Experimental and theoretical methods are proposed in this paper to analyze the natural frequency and the stress-dependent nonlinearity. The experimental method shows that the natural frequency of soils with specific stress state subjected to large cyclic shear strain can be estimated from the data of dynamic triaxial tests based on the amplitude–frequency response curve. Trial and error by the criterion from the half-power bandwidth method is used to determine the optimal fitting. The results of a theoretical study on the free vibration of soil layers are then presented to derive the analytic solution of natural frequency. In addition to the two frequency-independent elements (a lumped mass matrix and a stiffness matrix), the system’s equivalent damping coefficient matrix is iteratively determined based upon the forced vibration experimentally. Finally, the impacts of the resonance phenomenon on the dynamic shear modulus and hysteretic loop are discussed.     

循环应力下饱和黏土剪切变形特性试验研究

针对饱和重塑黏土,利用土工静力-动力液压三轴-扭转多功能剪切仪,在不固结不排水(UU)条件下进行了应力控制式循环扭剪和竖向-扭转耦合试验,通过对试验结果的对比分析探讨了初始预剪应力和应力反向对应力-应变关系特性的影响,并阐述了不同加荷模式下孔隙水压力发展特性。以此为基础,综合考虑剪切变形和正向偏差变形的共同效应,同时为了能够反映平均残余变形和循环变形的影响,建议了一个综合应变破坏标准的算式。进而通过利用试验数据与目前常用的应变标准比较,表明这种破坏标准具有普遍适用性和较好的稳定性,适用于判定各种应力条件下黏土试样破坏及其强度。     

海洋粉质粘土在波浪荷载作用后的不排水抗剪强度衰化特性

通过对南海重塑粉质粘土土样的大量动三轴试验结果分析,得到此种土在波浪荷载作用后不捧水抗剪强度衰化同动载作用引起的动应变幅及平均累积孔压之间的相互关系和预估公式;并通过与超固结土样的静三轴剪切试验结果的比较,发现动、静三轴两种试验结果具有很好的吻合关系。建议可用超固结土样的静三轴剪切试验同时结合部分动三轴试验来预估土样在波浪荷载作用后不排水抗剪强度衰化与平均累积孔压之间的关系。     

Undrained monotonic shear behavior of marine soft clay after long-term cyclic loading

Abstract

In the coastal area, nearshore and offshore structures have been or will be built in marine soft clay deposits that have experienced long-term cyclic loads. Therefore, the mechanical behavior of marine clay after long-term cyclic loading needs to be investigated. In this research, a series of monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to investigate the postcyclic mechanical behavior of the marine soft clay. The postcyclic water pore pressure, shear strength and secant stiffness are discussed by comparing the results with the standard monotonic test (without cyclic loading). It is very interesting that the postcyclic behavior of marine soft clay specimen is similar to the behavior of overconsolidated specimen, that is, the specimen shows apparent overconsolidation behavior after long-term cyclic loading. Then relationship between the overconsolidation ratio and the apparent overconsolidation ratio is established on the basis of the theory of equivalent overconsolidation. Finally, a validation formula is proposed which can predict the postcyclic undrained shear strength of marine soft clay.     

Undrained strength behaviour of a cemented marine clay under monotonic and cyclic loading

The paper presents the results of a series of monotonic and cyclic triaxial shear tests carried out to study the influence of the strain effect and load cycles on the undrained shear strength of a cemented marine clay from the East coast of India. The undrained shear strength of Indian coastal marine clay has been established from a detailed shear testing carried out in three phases. Undisturbed soil samples taken out from the seabed were used in the test. In the first part, a comprehensive monotonic shear testing has been carried out under both stress-controlled and strain rate-controlled conditions. In the second phase on identical soil specimen, undrained cyclic shear tests were carried out at various cyclic stress ratios (CSR) and these stress levels are chosen in such a way so that no failure occurred during testing. In the final phase post cyclic monotonic shear testing was conducted to qualitatively evaluate the damage caused by cyclic loading. The monotonic shear test results bring out the influence of cementation that can be detected by the stress-controlled test. The cyclic stress results are analysed in terms of CSR. Further, the results are correlated in terms of stress path.     

Experimental investigation on cyclic deformation behavior of soft marine clay involved principal stress rotation

To investigate cyclic deformation behavior of natural soft marine clay-involved principal stress rotation, a series of undrained tests were conducted by using GDS hollow cylinder apparatus. The principal stress rotates 5000 cycles while the deviator stress was kept at a constant level. The tests results show that the deformation behavior of the tested samples are significantly dependent on cyclic stress ratio (CSR). Furthermore, different type of generation of axial strains occur under different CSRs. With the same CSR, the type of axial strain is different between that considering and ignoring principal stress rotation. When CSR is larger than CSR = 0.42 under principal stress rotation, the axial strain grows rapidly after a few cycles. Compared with the results conducted by cyclic triaxial results, the effect of principal stress rotation on the axial strain is significant.     

Influence of viscosity on one-dimensional thermal consolidation of marine clay

ABSTRACT

The elastic mechanical response of porous materials under a heat source has many applications in civil engineering and has received considerable attention in the geotechnical literature. In this paper, a Kelvin viscoelastic model is combined with the thermohydromechanical governing equations for marine clay and solved using a numerical inversion of the inverse Laplace transform in the time domain. After validation against existing analytical solutions, numerical parametric studies are conducted to investigate the influence of viscosity on temperature, excess pore pressure, and displacement. It is shown that viscosity has little influence on temperature, a modest influence on displacements, and a quite significant influence on excess pore pressure.     

Effects of frequency and cyclic stress ratio on creep behavior of clay under cyclic loading

The mechanical behavior of clay subjected to cyclic loading is important to consider in the design of the foundations of many types of structures that must resist cyclic loading, such as subgrades and offshore foundations, because clay undergoes greater settlement under cyclic loading than under static loading. The difference in settlement between these two loading patterns due to creep behavior is affected by the cyclic frequency and the cyclic stress ratio. This study investigated the effects of the frequency and cyclic stress ratio of cyclic loading on the creep behavior of a natural clay in China using stress-controlled triaxial tests. The assessed the following parameters: three frequencies, four cyclic stress ratios, and six vertical stresses. The test results indicate that the soft clay displays accelerated creep behavior under dynamic loads. A specific “limit frequency” (in this case, 0.2 Hz) and a “safe load” at which the strain of the soft clay increases very slowly were observed. The effect of the effective axial stress on the creep behavior increases with the increase in the cyclic stress ratio. Based on the tests, the critical cyclic stress ratio is 0.267 at a certain effective axial stress and frequency.     

Microstructure analysis on the dynamic behavior of marine clay in the South China Sea

Abstract

The aim of this article was to study the dynamic behavior and microstructural variation of undisturbed marine clay from the South China Sea. First, dynamic cyclic triaxial tests were employed to investigate the dynamic stress–strain-pore pressure paths of the undisturbed clay. Then, scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry were used to measure the variations of the micromorphology and pore size distribution between before and after the dynamic cyclic tests. Through these tests, the dynamic failure process and microstructure variation of the marine clay were quantitatively analyzed. In particular, their relationships are qualitatively established from the macro-micro perspective. Furthermore, by comparing the tests of the remolded clay with those of the undisturbed marine clay, the influence of the microstructure on the dynamic behavior is systematically investigated. The results show that the microstructural variation of the marine clay is caused by the compression deformation of the mesopores among the granular clusters into the small pores between individual particles. The study provides an effective reference for the selection of the microstructural parameters of marine clay.     

Evaluation of the uplift behavior of plate anchor in structured marine clay

The uplift behavior of a plate anchor in a structured clay (soft Ariake clay) is investigated through a series of laboratory tests and method of finite element analysis. The tests are adopted to identify the factors influencing the behavior of the anchor, including the thixotropic nature of Ariake clay, consolidation time, and embedment ratio of the anchor. A finite element method (FEM) is used to analyze and predict the uplift behavior of the anchor plate well in the elastic region and the yield load. The results from both the laboratory tests and the FEM analysis suggest that the embedment ratio for a deep anchor in Ariake clay is close to 4. Further increase in embedment ratio improves the capacity to a lesser extent. FEM overestimates the failure load of the uplift anchor in soft Ariake clay by about 20%. This may be ascribed to the hypothesis in the FEM analysis that there is continuous contact between the clay and the anchor until failure. Vesic’s theory for deep anchors, which may be used to predict the ultimate pullout resistance of the plate anchor in reconstituted Ariake clay, is verified to be applicable. In this paper, the plastic flow zone around the anchor is discussed using FEM which makes the behavior of anchor more understandable during the design stage.     

Effect of angle between initial and cyclic shear stress on behaviors of marine clay

An angle exists between the initial static shear stress and cyclic shear stress when embankment and retaining walls are subjected to cyclic loadings. To investigate the influence of this angle on the dynamic properties of marine soft clay, tests were performed on Wenzhou soft clay. When the angle was varied from 0° to 90°, the shear strain and excess pore pressure decreased as θ increased while increased as θ increased from 120° to 180°. Shear strain developed more rapidly when θ was 120°, 150°, or 180° than that when θ was 0°, 30°, or 60°. These results indicate that the number of cycles to failure at the larger angles was greater than at the smaller angles. When θ was 90°, the strain in the x-axis direction increased as the number of cycles increased. The development of the excess pore pressure associated with specimen failure was different for different cyclic shear stress ratios and shearing angles. The effect of θ on the strain and excess pore pressure increased as the cyclic shear stress ratio increased.     

Experimental study on the cyclic behavior of loose calcareous sand under linear stress paths

Abstract

Hollow cylinder torsional shear tests on loose isotropically and anisotropically consolidated calcareous sand were conducted to investigate the cyclic behavior under three different linear stress paths, including horizontal line, oblique line, and vertical line stress paths, in a coordinate system of the normal stress difference and the horizontal shear stress. The dominant strain components of the isotropically consolidated specimens are affected by the stress paths. With increasing consolidation stress ratio, axial strain gradually becomes the dominant strain component under the three different stress paths. The cyclic strength of the isotropically consolidated specimens under the three different stress paths are almost the same, while for the anisotropically consolidated specimens, the cyclic strengths are strongly affected by the stress paths. These results indicate that conventional cyclic triaxial tests may overestimate cyclic strength in some cases. Irrespective of the stress paths and cyclic stress ratios, the terminal residual excess pore pressure ratio decreases with increasing consolidation stress ratio. Moreover, an empirical equation is proposed to describe the relationship between the normalized shear work and the normalized residual excess pore pressure ratio. The comparative study reveals that the relationship proposed for silica sand is not suitable for the dynamic analyses of calcareous sand.     

The tensile and swelling behavior of cement-stabilized marine clay reinforced with short waste fibers

Abstract

Short waste fibers are used to suppress the expansion and improve the tensile strength of cement-stabilized marine clay (CMC). The fiber-reinforced mechanism and characteristics are revealed by experimental and numerical methods. First, the curing effect of the CMC when adding a composite curing agent is observed by scanning electronic microscopy, as is the contact surface between the fiber and the matrix. Then, the expansion rate and the tensile strength of fiber-reinforced cement-stabilized marine clay (FCMC) are illustrated by an expansion experiment and a direct tensile experiment, respectively. The results show that the sample with the cement content of 0.1% and the fiber length of 10?mm is the best in terms of strength enhancement and expansion inhibition. Finally, the mechanism of fiber reinforcement is discussed following a single fiber pullout experiment and some comprehensive explanations are proposed to verify the results of the tensile experiment. A numerical simulation of a single fiber pullout from a matrix is established by using a cohesive contact model. The comparison between the numerical results and the experimental results shows that the two models can be in good agreement, indicating that the calculation model of the interaction between the fiber and the matrix is realistic.     

Laboratory and field test study on the improvement of marine clay slurry by in-situ solidification

Abstract

Soil solidification technology can create an artificial hard shell on a soft soil surface but the type and proportion of the curing agent, the construction technology, and the strengthening depth have large influences on the strengthening effect and engineering cost. This study introduces a new technology of soil solidification whereby an artificial hard shell layer is used as a new method to improve the soft ground. For the in-situ solidification technology, the soil and curing agent are mixed well by using a strong stirring machine so that the soil is strengthened rapidly and forms a hard crust. We introduce the key technology of the in-situ soil solidification method and determine the in-situ crust carrying capacity. The indoor experiment on the curing agent proportions is validated with field tests and a vane shear test, static penetration test, and plate loading test are used to evaluate the reinforcement effect. The experimental results show that the in-situ curing technology of dredged fill processing markedly reduced the reinforcement depth range of the soil water content, improved the physical and mechanical indices, and increased the bearing capacity and strength of the artificial hard shell layer, thereby fully meeting the requirements for the bearing capacity of construction machinery.     

Effects of frequency and confining pressure on consolidation drainage behavior of soft marine clays

Abstract

This article presents an experimental investigation on the dynamic consolidation (DC) drainage behavior of soft marine clays. A sinusoidal harmonic load with different frequencies was applied to simulate the DC method in which the conventional impact load was replaced by the cyclic load. Four geotextile-filter strips were used to form the side drainage channels simulating the wick drain method. A series of loading tests were conducted on soft soil specimens at different confining pressures (i.e., 20, 40, 70, and 100?kPa) and different vibration frequencies (i.e., 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 5?Hz). Test results showed that both confining pressure and frequency have significant influences on the drainage behavior of soft marine clay specimens. The magnitude of drainage volume consistently decreases linearly with increasing confining pressure. Compared to static loading condition, specimens under cyclic loading condition at different frequencies show a better drainage performance. Specimen at applied frequency of 1?Hz exhibits the maximum cumulative drainage volume due to the resonant effect.     

The effect of cyclic loading on the undrained shear strength of a silty clay

Abstract

The strength of saturated clays subjected to low‐frequency cyclic loading is of considerable importance in the design of offshore structures. A series of postcyclic undrained triaxial strength tests were carried out on samples of a silty clay (Keuper Marl), which had not failed under cyclic loading, to investigate the effect of this loading on the postcyclic monotonie effective stress path and strength of the soil. Undrained cyclic loading of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated samples by generating positive pore pressures caused the apparent degree of overconsolidation to increase. Samples subsequently subjected to monotonie testing followed effective stress paths commensurate with this apparent overconsolidation and failed on the “Hvorslev” surface on the “dry” side of the stable state boundary surface rather than on the critical state as would be expected of samples of this initial stress history. Samples which were initially heavily overconsolidated did not generate large pore pressures under cyclic loading and did not therefore exhibit large changes in postcyclic monotonie strength. The reduction in strength after cyclic loading therefore is greater for normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated samples. The pore pressures generated under postcyclic monotonie loading are related to the degree of apparent overconsolidation achieved during cyclic loading.     

Physical experimental study on the formation mechanism of pockmark by aeration

Abstract

As one of the common geological disasters on the seafloor, the occurrence of pockmarks often indicates the existence of submarine fluid. And the formation of the pockmarks is generally attributed to the soil carried away by the fluid. The research established physical model test and found: (1) The pockmark formed after aeration, and particle gradation changed in the center area of the pockmark where coarse particle (particle size/0.25?mm) increased obviously and fine particle (particle size ≤0.075?mm) decreased significantly; (2) Comparing the volume of the pockmark with the volume of the soil extracted by siphon, it can be found that the volume of the pockmark was much larger than the loss of soil, and the difference reached its peak when the inflation pressure was 20?kPa; (3) Comparing the cone resistance of the soil in the surface and boundary, it can be found that the resistance of the center and marginal soil was much bigger than the outside, and the cone resistance of the boundary was also improved greatly. The research considered that the formation of pockmark was not only related to the soil being carried away by the bottom current, but also the consolidation by vibration existed.     

Experimental study on the settlement of marine deposits of Anzali under cyclic loading by laminar box apparatus

The central Alborz mountain range, located in northern Iran, neighboring the Caspian Sea and where the two Persia and Eurasia plates meet, is known as a seismologically active area. In this regard, investigation of the behavior of saturated sand deposits located in this area may be of particular interest. Saturated sand deposits are subjected to instabilities owing to liquefaction or volume change due to earthquake shakings. A particular type of saturated sand deposits is Anzali sand which is abundant in Anzali port and other cities located in this area in northern Iran. This type of sand is a representative for most sands found in this area, i.e., the southern coastal line of Caspian Sea. This research is solely focused on the volume change behavior of marine deposits of Anzali area, often characterized as Anzali sand, in terms of the settlement of a model footing located on the surface of the sand by the aid of a transparent laminar shear box apparatus. Effects of a number of factors such as the frequency of the cyclic loading, the initial density of the sand, and the sample preparation method have been investigated. Observations indicated that the density index and the frequency of loading which are proportional to the energy of an earthquake have direct effects on the accumulation and amount of the final settlement of Anzali sand.     

Varied pathways of river-borne clay minerals in a near-shore marine region: A case study of sediments from the Elbe- and Weser rivers,and the SE North Sea

The <2 μm fraction of 45 sediment samples from the Elbe and Weser rivers and from the southeastern North Sea (German Bight) was analyzed for its contents of clay minerals and selected chemical elements. This was done to provide new information to the controversial question about the origin and distribution of clays in this near-shore marine region. The proportions of smectite, chlorite, illite and kaolinite were determined from intensities of the (001) basal reflection of the XRD pattern using weighted integrated factors and IR-mineral spectra, which were fitted to the values of the chemical analyses. Illite – the major clay mineral – was characterized by its K/Rb ratios and K-Ar ages. Anthropogenic metal contamination was demonstrated by the Cu, Pb and Zn contents.     

A review on the behavior of helical piles as a potential offshore foundation system

Abstract

Helical piles are used mainly to resist tension forces generated by uplift and overturning moments of various structures, therefore they have been suggested as a potential alternative to driven piles as offshore pile because they provide a large uplift capacity due to the anchor effect of the helix. To date no standards are available for the assessment of the use of helical piles in the offshore environment. State-of-the art installation and uplift capacity assessment is based on field onshore tests on small helical piles. The purpose of this review is to critically evaluate the current knowledge on helical piles considering uplift capacity, cyclic load, installation torque models and the parameters affecting the installation torque, to understand whether they can be considered for potential offshore applications. The paper could be of valuable interest for engineers and contractors involved in the offshore installation of piles.