Engineering Geology 297 (2022) 106502

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Engineering Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

Undrained shear and stiffness degradation of intact marine clay under

monotonic and cyclic loading
K. Pan a, Z.H. Yuan a, C.F. Zhao b, J.H. Tong a, Z.X. Yang c, *
a
College of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
b
Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, Enschede 7500 AE, the Netherlands
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Optimal whole-life design for marine structures requires an accurate assessment of how their underlying geo-
Intact marine clay materials respond to various static and cyclic loads. This study experimentally investigates the undrained
Monotonic and cyclic loading shear behavior and stiffness characteristics of intact, soft marine clay that outcrops an offshore wind farm in
Undrained response
southeast China. A series of monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on the highly compressible
Elastic shear modulus
Secant modulus
marine clay, and the test results were interpreted within the critical state framework. The elastic shear modulus
Stiffness degradation measured using bender elements in triaxial tests was compared with the secant modulus that gradually degraded
with the strain during monotonic and cyclic loading. An interesting finding was that the elastic stiffness
measured at various loading stages increased exponentially with the mean effective stress; a power-law
increasing trend was also observed in the secant modulus normalized by the void ratio at various strain
levels. It was also demonstrated that the intact sample under cyclic loading is stiffer than that under monotonic
loading at the same strain level. Furthermore, a close correlation between the nonlinear undrained shear stiffness
and the elastic stiffness measured during monotonic or cyclic loading was observed, which is of vital importance
when evaluating the stiffness degradation behavior of natural soils over strain ranges relevant to major engi­
neering works.

a static load caused by the gravitational force of the superstructures or

cyclic loads due to winds, waves, and machine vibrations, the marine
1. Introduction
clay deposits often undergo excessive strain accumulation and severe
stiffness degradation, which consequently results in the deterioration or
Marine clay is characterized by high compressibility and a low
instability of the wind turbine foundations.
bearing capacity; it has a high water content and accounts for a large
The monotonic and cyclic behavior of marine clays has been exten­
proportion of the seabed ground (Vucetic and Dobry, 1988; Indraratna
sively investigated through laboratory experiments in the last few de­
et al., 1992; Wichtmann et al., 2013). As a very soft and problematic
cades (Andersen et al., 1980; Hyde et al., 1993; Chu et al., 2002; Lunne
engineering material, marine clay is widely distributed off the coast of
et al., 2006; Wichtmann et al., 2013; Cai et al., 2018; Ren et al., 2018).
southeast China, which is one of the most developed parts of China.
These studies, along with others, have aided in identifying how the
Numerous geo-structures such as breakwaters, embankments, and
undrained shear strength of different soils are governed by their physical
foundations have been constructed on the soft marine clay in this area
properties (e.g., water content, Atterberg limits, particle size) and stress
and could inevitably encounter stability issues and potentially even
conditions (e.g., confining pressure, over-consolidation ratio, stress
incur damage (Li et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2013; Qian et al., 2016; Wu
path). Based on the experimental findings, various empirical models for
et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2020). One such recent
predicting the strength and permanent strain considering the key factors
example is the 300 MW Jiaxing 1# offshore wind farm, which is under
have been developed (Hyodo et al., 1999; Moses et al., 2003; Xiao et al.,
construction and is located in the northwest area of Hangzhou Bay, as
2014; Shan et al., 2020). In particular, to provide an intuitive inter­
shown in Fig. 1. A geological survey shows that the underlying strata of
pretation of the database composed of various types of soils, Andersen
the wind farm mainly comprise soft clay sediments, which were
(2009) proposed a cyclic failure envelope diagram through connecting
deposited in the Quaternary period (Lu et al., 2020). When subjected to

* Corresponding author at: Room B712 Anzhong Building, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, China.
E-mail address: zxyang@zju.edu.cn (Z.X. Yang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2021.106502
Received 23 August 2021; Received in revised form 8 November 2021; Accepted 11 December 2021
Available online 15 December 2021
0013-7952/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
K. Pan et al.
Acknowledgements
The research described in this paper was supported by Natural Sci­
ence Foundation of China (Nos. 52178362, 51908502 and 51825803).
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