Derivation of Contour Plots for the Characterization of the Behaviour of Sand under Undrained Loading

Abstract

The soil response under the inherent cyclic loading conditions when dealing with offshore foundations can be considered by using contour plots. These plots are derived from several cyclic laboratory tests and characterize the general cyclic soil behaviour. In the design process with explicit numerical methods, such plots are needed in order to assess the soil behaviour under arbitrary loading conditions and hence estimate the cyclic foundation response. In the paper, excess pore pressure contour plots for a poorly graded medium sand are derived from numerous constant volume (CV) cyclic direct simple shear (DSS) tests and a new approach for parametrization of the plots is presented. Subsequently, the data are assessed regarding scaling for other sand soils, i.e., construction of contour plots with only a small number of test results by using the general trends observed.