LONG-TERM CYCLIC CUMULATIVE DEFORMATION OF SOFT CLAY IN SHANGHAI YANGSHAN PORT AREA

The foundations of infrastructure, such as rail transit and roads, are typically subjected to cyclic loads from traffic, mechanical vibrations, and other sources. The long-term effects of these cyclic loads on foundation settlement cannot be overlooked. To investigate the long-term settlement of a road subjected to traffic load in Shanghai Yangshan port area, a series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests were performed on soft clay samples from this region. The experimental results indicated that the cumulative deformation increases with the number of load cycles. The stable deformation value depended not only on the applied cyclic stress and confined stresses, but also on the void ratio of the soil. Based on the experimental results, an explicit model was proposed to calculate the axial plastic cumulative strain of saturated clay subjected to cyclic loading. Furthermore, the relationship between factors such as void ratio, the applied cyclic stress, confined stresses, and model parameters was further analyzed. The results demonstrated that the model exhibited good fitting performance and could effectively predict the undrained cyclic cumulative deformation of soft clay.