Effect of Strain-Rate on Stress–Strain Behavior of Dredged Material at Different Moisture Contents—An Experimental Study

Abstract

AbstractThis study presents the results of a laboratory investigation of the effects of strain-rate on the stress–strain behavior of dredged material, remolded at different moisture contents. The rate of loading or strain-rate is found to be one among the most important factors affecting the shear strength parameters of soil. In the practical world, the soils supporting various structures are subjected to varying strain-rates which may be low, intermediate, and high. The objective of the current investigation is to obtain a better understanding of the strain-rate effects on strength behavior for different moisture conditions of the soil. The soil selected for this purpose was a dredged soil taken from Brain area of Srinagar city (J&K). A series of triaxial compression tests were executed on the test soil under unconsolidated undrained (UU) conditions. The rate of strain was studied from 6 mm/min to 0.24 mm/min. Consequently, three different cell pressures as 50 kPa, 100 kPa, and 150 kPa were used and soil was molded and tested at optimum moisture content (OMC) and on both sides of OMC (dry and wet). The specimen is sheared at a strain-rate, and the load readings are taken for a set of deformation readings, thereby determining the deviator stresses at failure. This study supported the previous literature that the shear strength increases with an increase in strain-rate. However, shear strength was highly affected by moisture content wherein the deviator stress at failure experienced an increase with reducing moisture content irrespective of the applied strain-rate.KeywordsDredged materialStrain-rateOptimum Moisture Content (OMC)Monotonic triaxial compression test