Effect of Anisotropy on Cyclic Properties of Chennai Marine Clay

Abstract

Variations of normalized shear modulus (G/Gmax) and damping ratio (D) with strain are important for site response studies, analysis of machine foundation, etc. In this study, an attempt was made to investigate the effect of anisotropic consolidation on cyclic behaviour of the Chennai marine clay. The anisotropic consolidation on the specimens was represented through a parameter called stress ratio (Kc), which is defined as the ratio of radial stress to the axial stress on the specimen. A series of cyclic triaxial and resonant column tests were conducted on reconstituted marine clay specimens at three stress ratio (Kc) of 1.00, 0.67 and 0.55. In this study, all the tests were conducted on normally consolidated specimen, where stress ratio (Kc) is less than or equal to one. The test results show that the normalized shear modulus and damping ratio are affected by the stress ratio (Kc). Moreover, the effect of cyclic loading parameters such as loading cycles and loading frequency on normalized shear modulus (G/Gmax) and damping ratio curves with stress ratio (Kc) is also presented. Based on the cyclic test results, a hyperbolic model was proposed to predict the variation of normalized shear modulus curve (G/Gmax) with stress ratio (Kc).