See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/280181487

Cyclic behaviour of an unsaturated silt at various suctions and temperatures

Article  in  Géotechnique · July 2014

DOI: 10.1680/geot.14.P.015

CITATIONS READS

78 1,355

2 authors, including:

C.W.W. Ng
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
603 PUBLICATIONS   19,545 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Debris Impact Analysis View project

Design of pile foundation in consolidating ground View project

All content following this page was uploaded by C.W.W. Ng on 23 July 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Ng, C. W. W. & Zhou, C. (2014). Géotechnique 64, No. 9, 709–720 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.14.P.015]

Cyclic behaviour of an unsaturated silt at various suctions and

temperatures
C . W. W. N G  † a n d C . Z H O U 

Subgrade soils are constantly subjected to daily variations of temperature and suction in the field.
Their deformation under cyclic traffic loads can greatly affect the performance of a pavement. Yet, the
behaviour of unsaturated subgrade soils under cyclic loads at various temperatures and suctions is not
fully understood. In this study, a new suction- and temperature-controlled cyclic triaxial apparatus was
developed. Using temperature-compensated Hall effect transducers, the accumulated plastic axial and
volumetric strains and resilient modulus of an unsaturated silt under cyclic loads were measured at
suctions ranging from 0 to 60 kPa and temperatures ranging from 20 to 608C. Experimental results
show that yield stress increases with increasing suction (suction-induced hardening), but decreases
with increasing temperature (thermal-induced softening). Consequently, axial plastic strain accumu-
lated during cyclic loading–unloading is larger at lower suctions and higher temperatures. At a given
temperature, measured resilient modulus significantly increases when suction increases. On the other
hand, the influence of temperature on resilient modulus depends on suction level. At zero suction,
resilient modulus is slightly affected by temperature. At suction larger than zero, an increase in
temperature induces an obvious decrease in resilient modulus. It is evident that thermal effects on
resilient modulus are more significant at unsaturated than saturated states.

KEYWORDS: partial saturation; pavements and roads; repeated loading; suction; temperature effects

INTRODUCTION
It is well recognised that deformation of subgrade soils
under cyclic traffic loads is crucial to pavement performance
(Brown, 1996). In the field, subgrade soils are often unsatu-
rated and subjected to daily variations of water content and
hence pore-water pressure (or suction) and temperature (Jin
et al., 1994; McCartney & Khosravi, 2012). Many theor-
etical and experimental studies have demonstrated that un-
saturated soil behaviour is highly dependent on suction and
temperature (Romero et al., 2003; François & Laloui, 2008;
Tang et al., 2008; Uchaipichat & Khalili, 2009). Most of
these studies, however, focused on soil behaviour under
monotonic loading. As far as the authors are aware, there is
no study of coupled effects of suction and temperature on
cyclic behaviour of unsaturated soils in the literature, which
includes plastic strain accumulation and resilient modulus.
The resilient modulus (M R ) was defined by Seed et al.
(1962) as the ratio of repeated deviator stress to axial
recoverable strain. Accumulated plastic strain and resilient
modulus are widely used in pavement engineering to predict
irreversible and reversible deformations, respectively.
To study suction effects on the cyclic behaviour of unsatu-
rated soil, some researchers prepared soil specimens at different
initial water contents. The resilient modulus and accumulated
axial plastic strain of each specimen were then measured during
cyclic loading–unloading (e.g. Khoury & Zaman, 2004; Siva-
kumar et al., 2013). As shown by Tarantino & De Col (2008)
and Sivakumar et al. (2013), different initial compaction water
Manuscript received 22 January 2014; revised manuscript accepted 10
July 2014. Published online ahead of print 22 September 2014.
Discussion on this paper closes on 1 February 2015, for further details
see p. ii.
 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong
Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay,
Kowloon, Hong Kong.
† Guangzhou HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute, Guangzhou,
contents result in differences not only in initial suction, but also
in pore size distribution. It is difficult to separate the effects of
suction on cyclic behaviour from the effects of pore size
distribution. To address this problem, Yang et al. (2008) and Ng
et al. (2013) carried out suction-controlled cyclic triaxial tests
to measure the resilient modulus of unsaturated soil. All soil
specimens were prepared at the same initial water content.
From the same initial state, soil specimens were dried or wetted
to states with different suctions before the application of cyclic
stresses. Yang et al. (2008) reported that when cyclic stress
increases, M R decreases at low matric suction but increases at
high matric suction. Ng et al. (2013) observed that M R in-
creases by up to one order of magnitude when suction increases
from 0 to 250 kPa. Since these cyclic tests were conducted at
room temperature, however, the coupled effects of suction and
temperature were not thoroughly investigated.
As for thermal effects on the cyclic behaviour of unsatu-
rated soil, Zhou & Ng (2013) investigated thermal effects on
the resilient modulus of a compacted silt at zero suction
only. They found that resilient modulus changes by about 5%
when temperature is increased from 20 to 408C. Cekerevac
& Laloui (2010) carried out undrained cyclic triaxial tests on
saturated consolidated kaolin (zero suction) at two different
temperatures (22 and 908C). Their experimental data showed
that cyclic loads at 908C lead to lower axial plastic strain
and smaller excess pore-water pressure per cycle than in
unheated specimens. Although thermo-mechanical soil be-
haviour depends on stress history (or overconsolidation ratio)
and suction (Baldi et al., 1988; Cekerevac & Laloui, 2004;
Tang et al., 2008), both Zhou & Ng (2013) and Cekerevac &
Laloui (2010) considered zero suction only, with the latter
testing only normally consolidated soil. Coupled effects of
stress (overconsolidation ratio), suction and temperature un-
der cyclic loadings are not fully understood.
In this study, a new suction- and temperature-controlled
triaxial system was developed. A series of cyclic triaxial
tests on unsaturated soil were carried out using the new
system. The scope of this study is to investigate influences

709
710 NG AND ZHOU
of number of cycles, cyclic stress, suction and temperature
on the cyclic behaviour of unsaturated silt, including the
accumulation of plastic strain and resilient modulus. In
particular, coupled effects of stress, suction and temperature
under cyclic loadings are analysed. The measured and inter-
preted results would be useful for predicting settlement of
subgrade soils and hence the performance of pavements.
TESTING APPARATUS AND MEASURING DEVICE
To test unsaturated soil at various suctions and tempera-
tures, a suction-controlled triaxial apparatus (Ng & Yung,
2008) was modified to allow independent control of suction
and temperature. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the
new apparatus. Matric suction (ua  uw), where ua and uw
are pore-air pressure and pore-water pressure respectively,
was controlled using the axis-translation technique. This
technique imposes ua  uw on the soil specimen by control-
ling ua and uw independently. ua was controlled through a
coarse, low air-entry value (AEV) porous stone sitting on
top of the soil specimen. uw was controlled through a
saturated, high AEV (i.e. 3 bar) ceramic disc sealed to the
pedestal of the triaxial cell. The saturated ceramic disc
permitted the exchange of water through it but prevented the
passage of free air as long as ua  uw was lower than its
AEV. However, dissolved air in water may pass through the
ceramic disc and accumulate either underneath the ceramic
disc or in the water drainage system. In this study, any
accumulated air bubble was flushed out and collected once
every 24 h using a diffused air volume indicator (Fredlund,
Small fan for air circulation
Hollow aluminium cylinder
for accelerating heat transfer
Porous stone
Soil specimen
Radial Hall effect transducer
Axial Hall effect transducer
Thermocouple B
Pore-air pressure
Air flushing system
Fig. 1. Suction- and temperature-controlled cyclic triaxial system
1975). The volume of collected air was used to correct the
measured change in soil water content.
To apply thermal loading, a heating system was added to
the triaxial apparatus. The heating system consisted of a
thermostat, a heater and thermocouple A. As shown in Fig.
1, the heater and thermocouple A were installed inside the
triaxial cell. Both of them were connected to the thermostat,
forming a closed-loop control and feedback system. During
testing, the thermostat adjusted the heater output based on
feedback from thermocouple A. When the dissipating energy
and the heater output were balanced, the air temperature
inside the triaxial cell reached equilibrium. It is reasonable
to assume that the soil temperature is equal to the air
temperature in the triaxial cell at equilibrium state. Depend-
ing on the target temperature, 1–3 h are required to achieve
thermal equilibrium. The duration adopted is consistent with
that reported by Cekerevac et al. (2005). More discussion
about temperature control is given in the later section ‘Test
programme and procedures’.
To enhance the uniformity of temperature inside the
triaxial cell, two small fans and a hollow aluminium cylinder
were installed in the triaxial cell. The fan improves air
circulation, while the aluminium cylinder enhances heat
transfer because of its high thermal conductivity. To check
the uniformity of temperature, two thermocouples (A and B)
were installed at different locations inside the triaxial cell.
They measured air temperature at a distance of about 5 mm
from the soil specimen. When thermal equalisation was
reached, the readings of the two thermocouples were almost
identical. They remained fairly constant with a maximum
fluctuation of 0 .58C.
Load cell
LVDT
Thermostat
Thermocouple A
(feedback to thermostat)
Heater
Suction probe
High AEV ceramic disc
Cell pressure
Pore-water pressure
 CYCLIC BEHAVIOUR OF AN UNSATURATED SILT AT VARIOUS SUCTIONS AND TEMPERATURES 711
400 20°C – Loading
In addition to the conventional external measurement of
axial strain using a linear variable differential transformer 20°C – Unloading
(LVDT), the cyclic triaxial system was equipped with three 40°C – Loading
300
Hall effect transducers (Clayton et al., 1989). As shown in 40°C – Unloading
Fig. 1, the Hall effect transducers measured local soil 60°C – Loading

Pressure: kPa
deformation at the mid-height of each specimen. One of 60°C – Unloading
200
these Hall effect transducers was used to measure radial
deformation, while the other two were used to measure axial
deformation independently. After calibration, the resolution
100
and accuracy of each Hall effect transducer were about 1
and 3 ìm, respectively, corresponding to vertical strains of
about 0 .001% and 0 .003% (Ng & Xu, 2012). As expected,
0
axial strain obtained using an LVDT (external device) was 0 10 20 30 40
generally larger than that obtained using a Hall effect Output voltage: mv
transducer (local device). This is because the former method (a)
measures the overall deformation of a soil specimen together 5 20°C – Loading
with bedding errors and compliance of the system (Jardine 20°C – Unloading
et al., 1984), whereas the latter records the actual displace- 40°C – Loading
4
ment of the soil specimen. For greater reliability, axial strain 40°C – Unloading
measured using Hall effect transducers was used and re- 60°C – First loading

Displacement: mm
ported. 3 60°C – First unloading
Since the Hall effect transducers measured local deforma- 60°C – Second loading
tion at the mid-height of a specimen, it was sensible to 60°C – Second unloading
2
measure pore-water pressure also at this level. A suction
probe was employed to monitor pore-water pressure at the
mid-height of a specimen during cyclic loading–unloading, 1
although a conventional pore-water pressure transducer was
still used to measure pore-water pressure at the bottom. For 0
unsaturated soil testing, pore-water pressure measured at the ⫺8 ⫺4 0 4 8
mid-height also provides guidance for suction equalisation. Output voltage: mv
(b)
The suction probe was modified from a Druck PDCR-81
miniature pore-water pressure transducer by replacing the Fig. 2. Calibration of transducers at different temperatures:
low AEV ceramic tip with a high AEV ceramic tip (a) suction probe; (b) Hall effect transducer
(500 kPa) (Ng & Xu, 2012). Thus it was able to measure
negative pore-water pressure of up to 480 kPa, close to the
AEV of the ceramic tip. 100
Considering that the Hall effect transducers and the
suction probe were exposed to elevated temperatures, they
80
were carefully calibrated in a temperature-controlled oven at
Percentage passing: %

three temperatures (20, 40 and 608C). At each temperature,

they were calibrated under both loading and unloading 60
conditions. Fig. 2(a) shows the calibration curves for the
suction probe. The relationship between output voltage and 40
applied pressure is fairly linear. The value of R2 is larger
than 0 .99. Moreover, thermal effects on sensitivity, zero shift
and hysteresis are almost negligible. Fig. 2(b) shows the 20
calibration results for one of the Hall effect transducers.
Similar to the suction probe, the Hall effect transducer is 0
sufficiently temperature compensated in the temperature 0·001 0·01 0·1 1 10
range from 20 to 608C. The thermal insensitivity of these Particle size: mm
transducers ensures accurate measurement of pore-water Fig. 3. Particle size distribution of tested silt
pressure and soil deformation during thermal loading.

SOIL TYPE AND SPECIMEN PREPARATION Table 1. Index properties of tested silt
The material investigated in this study is a completely
Index test Measured value
decomposed tuff (CDT) sampled from Hong Kong. It is
yellowish-brown, slightly plastic and contains very small Standard compaction tests
percentages of fine sand and coarse sand. Fig. 3 shows the Maximum dry density: kg/m3 1760
particle size distribution as determined by sieve and hydro- Optimum water content: % 16 .3
meter analyses (BSI, 1990). In addition, the physical proper- Grain size distribution
ties are summarised in Table 1. According to the Unified Percentage of sand: % 24
Soil Classification System, CDT is classified as silt (ML) Percentage of silt: % 72
(ASTM, 2006). Percentage of clay: % 4
Previous studies have shown that the mechanical and Specific gravity 2 .73
Atterberg limits (grain size , 425 ìm)
hydraulic behaviours of unsaturated soils are fully coupled
Liquid limit: % 43
(e.g. Wheeler et al., 2003). To study the hydraulic behaviour Plastic limit: % 29
of CDT, the water retention curve of compacted CDT was Plasticity index: % 14
measured using a triaxial pressure plate system (Ng et al.,
712
2013). The soil specimen tested was prepared using the
identical method adopted in this current study. It was 70 mm
in diameter and 35 mm high. The initial water content and
initial dry density prepared were 16 .3% and 1 .73 g/cm3,
respectively. After compaction and set-up in the pressure
plate system, the soil specimen was first wetted to zero
suction along a scanning path. Then, the specimen was
subjected to a cycle of drying and wetting. Fig 4 shows the
measured drying and wetting curves. On drying the soil
specimen, it is expected to follow a primary drying path.
Owing to the limited suction range applied, however, it is
very likely that the residual condition was not reached. On
the subsequent wetting, the soil should follow a scanning
wetting path, not the primary one. The figure reveals that
along the drying path, volumetric water content decreases
non-linearly as suction increases. The AEV is estimated to
be 60 kPa. Along the wetting path, adsorption rate changes
abruptly at a suction of about 30 kPa. Although the water
retention curve was measured only at 208C, thermal effects
on the curve may be estimated based on previous experi-
mental studies, where it has been found that the water
retention capacity of unsaturated soil reduces slightly at
higher temperatures (Romero et al., 2001).
Each specimen, about 76 mm in diameter and 152 mm
high, was statically compacted in ten layers in the current
study. The compaction water content was about 16 .3%,
corresponding to the optimum water content as determined
in the standard Proctor compaction test (BSI, 1990). To
minimise excessive compaction of the lower layers during
compaction of the upper layers, the process of compaction
was stress-controlled with a maximum compaction pressure
of 1200 kPa. After sample compaction, the initial dry density
of each soil specimen was found to be about 1 .73 g/cm3,
which corresponds to a dry density ratio of 98%. The height
and diameter of the specimen were measured by a calliper
(readable to 0 .01 mm) and a Pi tape (readable to 0 .01 mm),
0·45
AEV: 60 kPa
Volumetric water content, θ
NG AND ZHOU
respectively. The average initial suction of the specimens
after compaction was 95 kPa as measured by a high-capacity
suction probe (Ng & Xu, 2012). The variations in measured
initial suction at different heights of each specimen and the
variations in measured initial suction among different speci-
mens were all less than 2 kPa.
TEST PROGRAMME AND PROCEDURES
Seven suction- and temperature-controlled cyclic triaxial
tests were carried out in this study. Three of them (S0T20,
S30T20, S60T20) were carried out at 208C, but at different
suctions (0, 30 and 60 kPa). The other four tests (S0T40,
S0T60, S30T40 and S60T40) were conducted at elevated
temperatures (408C and 608C). Each test consisted of three
stages: suction equalisation, thermal equalisation and cyclic
loading–unloading. Suction equalisation took 1–2 weeks in
the suction range from 0 to 60 kPa. The duration of thermal
equalisation was 3–5 days, depending on suction and tem-
perature conditions. Details of the test programme are given
in Table 2. It should be noted that there is no test at 608C at
suctions of 30 and 60 kPa in the current test programme.
This is because according to previous experimental studies
on unsaturated soils (for example, Tang et al., 2008; Uchai-
pichat & Khalili, 2009), thermal effects on mechanical be-
haviour such as yield stress and shear stress–strain
relationship follow the same trend in the temperature range
from 20 to 608C. It is expected that testing soil specimens at
608C with suctions of 30 and 60 kPa would not alter the key
conclusions of the current study. Given that suction- and
temperature-controlled tests are very time consuming. Each
test takes about 20 days, as shown in Table 2. It was
therefore decided that tests at 608C with suctions of 30 and
60 kPa would not be carried out for the sake of complete-
ness in this study.
Figure 5 shows the thermo-hydro-mechanical path of each
specimen in the first two stages. After compaction, each
specimen was set up in the triaxial system. The initial stress
state of each specimen was controlled at point A. Each
specimen was first isotropically compressed to a net confin-
ing stress of 30 kPa at constant water content (A!B).

0·35
According to AASHTO (2003) for resilient modulus tests on
Drying path subgrade soil, the confining pressure applied should be in
the range from 2 to 6 psi (13 .8 to 41 .4 kPa). A single
0·25
pressure of 30 kPa, which is close to the mean value (4 psi),
is therefore considered and adopted. It should be pointed out
30 kPa
that effects of net confining pressure on cyclic behaviour are
0·15 Wetting path
not investigated in this study. This is because they have been
widely investigated in previous studies (for example, Sivaku-
mar et al., 2013). After isotropic compression, each soil
0·05 specimen was then wetted by decreasing suction from
0·1 1 10 100 1000
Suction, s: kPa 95 kPa to 0, 30 and 60 kPa (B!E, B!D and B!C). To
control soil suction, predefined ua and uw were applied from
Fig. 4. Water retention curve of a recompacted specimen at 208C the top and bottom, respectively. Then the soil specimen was

Table 2. Details of experimental programme

Specimen identity Matric suction: Temperature: Initial water Initial void S r (ua  uw ) after Suction Thermal
kPa 8C content: % ratio suction and thermal equalisation equalisation
equalisation duration: days duration: days

S0T20 0 20 16 .6 0 .57 0 12 0
S30T20 30 20 16 .6 0 .59 26 7 0
S60T20 60 20 16 .5 0 .56 50 4 0
S0T40 0 40 16 .0 0 .56 0 13 5
S0T60 0 60 16 .4 0 .56 0 14 6
S30T40 30 40 16 .4 0 .58 26 8 4
S60T40 60 40 16 .4 0 .58 50 14 3
 CYCLIC BEHAVIOUR OF AN UNSATURATED SILT AT VARIOUS SUCTIONS AND TEMPERATURES
Application of cyclic
loading-unloading
Temperature: °C
60
40
60
30
E
20
0 30
Fig. 5. Thermo-hydro-mechanical path of each specimen before cyclic test
subjected to suction equalisation. The equalisation was con-
sidered to be completed when the water flow of the soil
specimen was less than 0 .5 cm3 within 24 h, corresponding
to a rate of water content change of less than 0 .04% per day
(Sivakumar, 1993). After suction equalisation, suction
throughout the soil specimen was equal to the difference
between predefined ua and uw.
The second stage of each test was thermal equalisation.
For the three tests carried out at room temperature (208C)
(S0T20, S30T20, S60T20), it was not necessary to change
the soil temperature. For the four tests carried out at
elevated temperatures, however, three specimens (S0T40,
S30T40 and S60T40) were heated to 408C (E!E1, D!D1
and C!C1), while a fourth (S0T60) was heated to 608C
(E!E2). It should be noted that thermal loading may induce
excess pore-water pressure. In this study, 3–5 days were
needed for the dissipation of excess pore-water pressure,
depending on suction and temperature conditions. With such
a long duration, it was sufficient for each soil specimen to
reach the predefined temperature and suction conditions.
Ng & Yung (2008) carried out a series of isotropic com-
pression tests on compacted CDT specimens. The initial dry
density of soil specimens in their study is 1 .68 g/cm3, which
is about 3% smaller than that used in the current test
programme. The compaction water contents in both studies
are 16 .3%. Considering that these two studies adopt very
close initial density and water content, experimental results
reported by Ng & Yung are used to assist the interpretations
of current data. At suctions of 0, 50 and 100 kPa, the yield
stresses of compacted specimens were found to be about
120, 170 and 200 kPa, respectively. Based on these results,
the loading collapse (LC) curve at 208C was determined and
is shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that yield stress increases
with increasing suction (suction hardening). In addition, an
isotropic compression test was carried out at zero suction
and 408C in this study. The corresponding yield stress was
about 105 kPa. Assuming that the shape of the LC curve is
independent of temperature, the LC curve at 408C was
deduced and is also shown in the figure. It is revealed that
yield stress decreases with an increase in temperature at a
given suction (thermal softening). The evolution of yield
713
Test Suction and
ID thermal paths
S0T20 A→B→E
S30T20 A→B→D
S60T20 A→B→C
Suction: kPa S0T40 A→B→E→E1
S0T60 A→B→E→E2
E2 S30T40 A→B→D→D1
C1
S60T40 A→B→C→C1
95 A B
LC curve
(40°C)
D1
E1
C
LY curve
LC curve
(s ⫽ 0)
D (20°C)
105 120
Net confining pressure: kPa
surface with temperature is described by the position of the
loading yield (LY) curve. It is obvious that stress paths
during the first two stages are all inside the LC curves.
Consequently, the volume change induced by wetting and
heating was quite small (less than 0 .1%). On the contrary,
Cekerevac & Laloui (2010) heated soil specimens at nor-
mally consolidated state prior to application of cyclic load-
ing–unloading. Contractive volume change of up to 1% was
measured under thermal loadings. This is one of the key
differences between their study and the present one. The
influence of this difference on cyclic soil behaviour is
discussed later.
After equalisation of both suction and temperature, a
cyclic triaxial test was carried out on each specimen to
investigate soil deformation under cyclic loads. Cyclic devia-
tor stress in haversine form was applied, while net confining
pressure was maintained constant at 30 kPa. At each suction
and temperature condition, 100 cycles were applied at a
frequency of 1 Hz. Fig. 6 shows variations in deviator stress
during the first and last ten cycles of a typical test. The
difference between maximum and minimum applied deviator
stresses is defined as cyclic stress qcyc : With references to
AASHTO (2003) standard for resilient modulus tests, four
levels of cyclic stress (30, 40, 55 and 70 kPa) were applied
to each specimen in succession. Although the standard
procedure was adopted, it is possible that soil response
would be affected by previous cyclic stress levels. This is
because soil behaviour is dependent on stress history. Brown
& Hyde (1975) investigated effects of stress history on
resilient modulus and plastic axial strain accumulation. They
found that resilient modulus is insensitive to previous cyclic
stress level, provided that applied stress is low enough to
prevent substantial axial plastic strain. The rate of plastic
strain accumulation is reduced by the application of previous
cyclic stress. To minimise effects of stress history on meas-
ured cyclic behaviour, the magnitude of cyclic stress is
larger than previous cyclic stress levels. During cyclic load-
ing–unloading, the condition of constant water content was
simulated for subgrade soil because the dissipation rate of
excess pore-water pressure was relatively low compared to
the rate of repeated traffic loads in the field. In each test,
714 NG AND ZHOU
120 100 Deviator stress 65 70
0·5 s Pore-water pressure (base)
Pore-water pressure (mid-height)
Deviator stress 80 0·6 s 60
0·7 s

uw: kPa
60 55

q: kPa
Pore-water pressure (base)
100 65
40 50
Pore-water pressure (mid-height)
20 45

Pore water pressure, uw: kPa

0 40
80 0 0·5 1·0 1·5 2·0 60
Deviator stress, q: kPa
Time: s

...
60 55

40 50

20 45

...

0 40
0 2 4 6 8 10 ... 90 92 94 96 98 100
Number of cycles

Fig. 6. Applied deviator stress and pore-water pressure measured at the base and mid-height of a
specimen during a cyclic triaxial test

the drainage valve for water was closed and pore-water
pressure was measured at the base and mid-height of soil
specimen.
INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Typical cyclic behaviour of unsaturated soil
Figure 6 shows measured variations in pore-water pressure
at the base and mid-height of a specimen during a typical
cyclic loading–unloading test. For clarity, only the first and
last ten cycles are illustrated. It can be seen that pore-water
pressures measured at the base and mid-height both vary
with the applied deviator stress but with different magni-
tudes. The magnitude of variation is about 10 kPa and 5 kPa
at the base and at the mid-height, respectively. The larger
oscillation of pore-water pressures at the base can likely be
attributed to the cyclic stress applied there. It is thus
expected that the pore-water pressure response should be
faster and larger at the base than that at the mid-height. This
is illustrated by pore-water pressure responses measured
during the first two cycles as shown in an insert of the
figure. Compared to the applied cyclic stress, pore-water
pressure measurement delays for about 0 .1 s and 0 .2 s at the
base and mid-height, respectively. The relatively small varia-
tions in pore-water pressure suggest that changes in suction
under cyclic loading–unloading may be negligible in this
study.
Figure 7(a) shows the stress–strain relationship measured
during a typical 100-cycle triaxial test (S0T40: ó 3  ua ¼
30 kPa, ua  uw ¼ 0, qcyc ¼ 30 kPa and T ¼ 40 8C). For
clarity, only results from the first and last ten cycles are
shown. During the first ten cycles, axial plastic strain
accumulates as the number of cycles increases, but at a
decreasing rate. Furthermore, axial plastic strain induced by
the first cycle is much more significant than each incremen-
tal plastic axial strain induced by any subsequent cycle.
During the last ten cycles, there is no obvious additional
accumulation of axial plastic strain. This implies that the
soil specimen has reached a stable resilient response.
To quantitatively investigate soil deformation under cyclic
loads, two parameters are considered and used, as shown in
the figure. The first parameter is axial plastic strain (åpa )
accumulated during 100 cycles of loading–unloading. For
the test shown in the figure, åpa is equal to about 0 .3%. The
other parameter is resilient modulus (M R ), which is equiva-
lent to secant Young’s modulus along the unloading path. As
summarised by Brown (1996), åpa and M R are important
parameters for analysing cracking and rutting failures of a
pavement.
Figure 7(b) shows volumetric strain measured during
cyclic loading–unloading. It can be seen that during the first
ten cycles, contractive volumetric strain accumulates as the
number of cycles increases, but at a decreasing rate. The
contractive volume change during cyclic loading–unloading
induces soil densification and strain hardening. According to
the theory of elastoplasticity (Alonso et al., 1990), the
preconsolidation pressure of soil specimen would increase
owing to the occurrence of strain hardening. The LC curve
shown in Fig. 5 would shift to the right. During the last ten
cycles, the soil response becomes almost reversible. This is
consistent with the measurement of axial strain, as shown in
Fig. 7(a). Lackenby et al. (2007) carried out a series of
cyclic triaxial tests on dry sand. They found that accumula-
tion of axial strain is not obvious after 10 000 cycles, while
volumetric strain accumulates continuously even after
1 000 000 cycles. Through drained cyclic triaxial tests on
loose, saturated Dogs Bay sand, Lopez-Querol & Coop
(2012) found that soil volume reaches equilibrium within
100–1000 cycles. Compared to these previous studies, the
number of cycles required to reach a stable response in this
study is much smaller. This may be because the CDT speci-
mens in this study were overconsolidated to a large extent,
as shown in Fig. 5, and hence more resistant to cyclic
shearing.
Suction effects on axial plastic strain accumulation
Figure 8 shows the relationship between åpa and qcyc : It
can be seen that åpa increases with an increase in qcyc at all
suction and temperature conditions, but at different rates. At
 CYCLIC BEHAVIOUR OF AN UNSATURATED SILT AT VARIOUS SUCTIONS AND TEMPERATURES 715
40
First ten cycles

Last ten cycles

30
Deviator stress, q: kPa

20
MR

10

ε pa

0
0 0·1 0·2 0·3 0·4
Axial strain, εa: %
(a)
40
First ten cycles

Last ten cycles

30
Deviator stress, q: kPa

20

10

0
0 0·05 0·10 0·15
Volumetric strain, εv: %
(b)

Fig. 7. Typical cyclic behaviour of unsaturated soil (T 408C; ua  uw 0; ó 3  ua 30 kPa):

(a) stress–strain relationship; (b) volumetric strain under cyclic loads

4·0 S0T20 S30T20 S60T20 zero suction, measured åpa increases exponentially with an
S0T40 S30T40 S60T40 increase in qcyc : At suctions of 30 and 60 kPa, the relation-
S0T60
ship between qcyc and åpa is almost linear. Furthermore, at a
3·0 given stress and temperature condition, åpa is consistently
lower at higher suction. The decrease in axial plastic strain
Axial plastic strain: %

with increasing suction may be explained by several reasons.

2·0 First, voids in unsaturated soil are occupied by both water
and air. The Bishop’s stress (ó  ) between soil particles may
be expressed as (Gallipoli et al., 2003)
1·0 ó  ¼ ó ij  ua þ S r (ua  uw ) (1)
where ó ij is total stress; ua is pore-air pressure; uw is pore-
0 water pressure; and S r is degree of saturation. It can be seen
0 20 40 60 80 that ó  depends not only on net stress, but also on the
Cyclic stress, qcyc: kPa product of degree of saturation and suction. As shown in
Table 2, S r (ua  uw ) increases with increasing suction in the
Fig. 8. The accumulated axial strain under cyclic loading– suction range considered. An increase in S r (ua  uw ) and
unloading hence ó  minimises the possibility of slippage at particle
716
contacts and therefore reduces accumulation of axial plastic
strain.
Second, soil water may be classified as bulk water and
meniscus water (Wheeler & Karube, 1996). Similar to net
stress, pore-water pressure in bulk water affects both normal
and tangential forces between soil particles. Effect of bulk
water on mechanical behaviour can be captured through
equation (1). On the contrary, pore-water pressure in menis-
cus water affects only normal forces at particle contacts.
Meniscus water provides additional bonding forces at the
particle contacts and hence stabilises the soil skeleton
(Wheeler & Karube, 1996). This effect may not be captured
by equation (1). The normal force induced by meniscus
water between two spherical particles can be expressed as
ð T 2s
Fn ¼
(ua  uw )
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
[ 9 þ 8R(ua  uw )=T s  3] [ 9 þ 8R(ua  uw )=T s þ 1]
3
4 because thermal softening is relatively less significant than
where T s is the coefficient of surface tension and R is radius
of a spherical particle. Based on this equation, normal force
F n is larger at higher (ua  uw ): Therefore, as suction
increases, the stabilisation effect induced by meniscus water
becomes more significant. The accumulation of axial plastic
strain is thus reduced.
Thermal effects on axial plastic strain accumulation
The influence of temperature on åpa is clearly illustrated
in Fig. 8. At a given suction and cyclic stress, åpa is
consistently larger at 408C than at 208C. Cekerevac &
Laloui (2010) carried out a series of temperature-controlled
cyclic triaxial tests on saturated reconstituted kaolin clay in
the normally consolidated state. They observed that cyclic
loading–unloading on the heated sample induced a smaller
NG AND ZHOU
nificantly with suction, as shown in Fig. 5. Thermal effects
on plastic strain accumulation are too small to be measured.
Coupled effects of suction and temperature are further
discussed in the later section on ‘Influence of temperature
on resilient modulus at different suctions’.
Based on a series of cyclic triaxial tests on unsaturated
compacted fine-grained soil, Brown (1996) found that there is
a threshold qcyc above which accumulation of åpa becomes
much more significant. For the CDT tested in this study, at
zero suction, åpa increases non-linearly with an increase in
qcyc at an increasing rate. The threshold qcyc is estimated to be
between 40 and 55 kPa. On the contrary, the threshold qcyc at
suctions of 30 and 60 kPa should be larger than 70 kPa. The
increase of threshold qcyc with suction is likely to be due to
suction hardening. As shown in Fig. 5, yield stress increases as
suction increases. Given a larger yield stress, a larger qcyc is
required to induce significant accumulation of axial plastic
strain. For CDT, the thermal effect is much less significant
than the suction effect on threshold qcyc : This is likely to be
(2) suction hardening within the range of suctions and tempera-
tures considered.
Influence of number of cycles on resilient modulus
Figure 9(a) shows the relationship between M NR =M 1R and N at
zero suction, where M 1R and M NR are resilient moduli measured
from the first and Nth cycles respectively. At 208C, the ratio
M NR =M 1R increases consistently with increasing N : The rate of
increase is highly dependent on cyclic stress. At cyclic stresses
of 30 and 40 kPa, M NR =M 1R increases by 10% during the first
20 cycles. There is no obvious change during the subsequent
cycles. At cyclic stresses of 55 and 70 kPa, M NR =M 1R increases
qcyc ⫽ 30 kPa (20°C) qcyc ⫽ 30 kPa (60°C)
1·4 qcyc ⫽ 40 kPa (20°C) qcyc ⫽ 40 kPa (60°C)
qcyc ⫽ 55 kPa (20°C) qcyc ⫽ 55 kPa (60°C)
Normalised modulus, M NR /M 1R

1·3 qcyc ⫽ 70 kPa (20°C) qcyc ⫽ 70 kPa (60°C)

axial strain per cycle than cyclic loading–unloading on the
unheated sample. The seemingly contradictory results from
their study and the present one may be attributed to the 1·2
fact that the soil specimens in the two studies were heated
at different overconsolidation ratios (OCRs). According to 1·1
thermo-hydro-mechanical models (e.g. François & Laloui,
2008), yield stress decreases with an increase in tempera-
ture in the pT plane, where p is mean Bishop’s stress 1·0
and T is temperature. For overconsolidated soil (CDT in
this study), soil stress state was inside LY surface during 0·9
the heating process, as illustrated in Fig. 5. Apparent OCR 0 20 40 60 80 100
Number of cycles, N
decreased as temperature increased (thermal softening). (a)
Given a smaller OCR, larger axial plastic strain developed
in the heated specimen during the subsequent stage of 1·4
cyclic loading–unloading. For normally consolidated soil, S0T20 S30T20 S60T20
soil stress state lies on the yield surface. Heating a soil S0T40 S30T40 S60T40
Normalised modulus, M NR /M 1R

specimen in the drained condition does not alter the pre- 1·3 S0T60
consolidation pressure and OCR. This is because effects of
thermal softening could be compensated by effects of strain 1·2
hardening. Cekerevac & Laloui (2010) measured contractive
volumetric strains of up to 1% when normally consolidated 1·1
kaolin clay was heated from 22 to 908C. Thermal loads
densified the soil specimen. At the subsequent stage of
cyclic loading–unloading, a smaller axial plastic strain was 1·0
induced on the heated specimen than on the unheated
specimen. 0·9
It is revealed in Fig. 8 that thermal effects on accumulated 0 20 40 60 80 100
axial plastic strain are not obvious at a suction of 60 kPa. Number of cycles, N
(b)
The OCR of the soil specimen is up to about 6 and axial
plastic strain induced by cyclic loads is very small. This is Fig. 9. Influence of number of cycles on resilient modulus: (a) at
probably because the preconsolidation pressure increases sig- zero suction; (b) at cyclic stress of 70 kPa
 CYCLIC BEHAVIOUR OF AN UNSATURATED SILT AT VARIOUS SUCTIONS AND TEMPERATURES
continuously with N : With 100 cycles, the increase in
M NR =M 1R is up to 20%. On the other hand, soil response at
608C is qualitatively similar to that at 208C. However, the
increase in M NR =M 1R with N is larger at 608C than at 208C. At
cyclic stresses of 30 and 40 kPa, M NR =M 1R is larger at 608C
than at 208C by about 10%. At cyclic stresses of 55 and
70 kPa, M NR =M 1R is larger at 608C than at 208C by only about
5%. More discussion on the thermal effects will be given in
the next section.
The influence of N on M NR =M 1R is at least partially attrib-
uted to the accumulation of contractive volumetric strain, as
shown in Fig. 7(b). Contractive behaviour induces soil
densification and an increase in M NR =M 1R : Furthermore, it is
illustrated in Fig. 8 that the threshold qcyc is between 40 and
55 kPa. When qcyc is below the threshold value (30 and
40 kPa), accumulated axial plastic strain is low so that the
increase in M NR =M 1R is small. When qcyc is above the thresh-
old value (55 and 70 kPa), the increase in M NR =M 1R becomes
significant due to a much higher axial plastic strain.
Figure 9(b) shows the relationship between M NR =M 1R and N
at cyclic stress of 70 kPa for different suction and temperature
conditions. At 208C, M NR =M 1R increases with N by up to 20% at
zero suction, but it remains almost constant at suctions of 30
and 60 kPa. This is because axial plastic deformation is much
smaller at suctions of 30 and 60 kPa than at zero suction, as
illustrated in Fig. 8. On the other hand, as temperature in-
creases from 20 to 608C, the change in M NR =M 1R is less than
5%. Compared to the suction effect, thermal effects on
M NR =M 1R are not so obvious. The relationship between M NR =M 1R
and N is almost independent of temperature at suction of
60 kPa. This observation is consistent with findings from Fig.
8. At suction of 60 kPa, temperature seems to have no effect on
plastic strain accumulation and soil densification induced by
cyclic loads. The variation of resilient modulus with number of
cycles, which mainly results from soil densification, would be
therefore very similar at various temperatures.
Figure 9 illustrates that M NR =M 1R generally achieves
a constant value within 100 cycles of loading–unloading.
This is consistent with the observations from Fig. 7 that soil
response is almost reversible during the last ten cycles.
Influence of temperature on resilient modulus at zero suction
Following AASHTO (2003) standard for resilient modulus
tests, resilient moduli M R during the last five cycles were
determined for each stress level. Fig. 10 shows influence of
temperature on M R at zero suction. As temperature increases
from 20 to 608C, M R increases by about 5% at cyclic
stresses of 30 and 40 kPa, but decreases by about 5% at
cyclic stresses of 55 and 70 kPa. The two different responses
35
Resilient modulus, MR: MPa
30
25
qcyc ⫽ 30 kPa
20 qcyc ⫽ 40 kPa
qcyc ⫽ 55 kPa
qcyc ⫽ 70 kPa
15
0 20 40
Temperature, T: °C
Fig. 10. Influence of temperature on resilient modulus at zero
suction
717
may be due to the fact that temperature could affect M R
through different mechanisms. On the one hand, the electri-
cal force between soil particles becomes relevant for fine-
grained soil. Based on Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek
(DLVO) double layer theory (Israelachvili, 2011), electric
repulsive forces between soil particles increase as tempera-
ture increases. This would reduce inter-particle forces and
hence cause a decrease in soil stiffness (Santamarina et al.,
2001). On the other hand, as illustrated in Fig. 9(a), the
increase in M NR =M 1R with the number of cycles is larger at
608C than at 208C by about 5%. This suggests that effects of
soil densification on M R are more significant at higher
temperature. These two mechanisms appear to produce op-
posite effects on M R :
Figure 9(a) reveals that thermal effects on M NR =M 1R at
equilibrium are dependent on cyclic stress. At cyclic stresses
of 30 and 40 kPa, M NR =M 1R is larger at 608C than at 208C by
about 10%. At cyclic stresses of 55 and 70 kPa, M NR =M 1R is
larger at 608C than at 208C by only about 5%. Therefore, at
low cyclic stress (30 and 40 kPa), the second mechanism is
more significant. Measured M R increases with increasing
temperature. At high cyclic stress (55 and 70 kPa), the
second mechanism is relatively less important. Soil behav-
iour is likely dominated by the first mechanism and in this
case measured M R decreases as temperature increases.
Influence of temperature on resilient modulus at different
suctions
Figure 11 shows influence of temperature on M R at differ-
ent suctions. Two different responses can be identified. At
zero suction, the difference in M R induced by temperature is
less than 5 MPa. At suctions of 30 and 60 kPa, M R measured
at 408C is smaller than that measured at 208C by up to
10 MPa. This illustrates that thermal effects on M R are more
significant at suctions of 30 and 60 kPa than at zero suction.
Through a series of suction- and temperature-controlled triax-
ial tests, Uchaipichat & Khalili (2009) observed that, for
overconsolidated soil, the yield surface shrinks with an in-
crease in temperature. Moreover, the size of the yield surface
is more sensitive to temperature at higher matric suction. The
observations from their study and the current one suggest that
thermal effects on mechanical behaviour are more significant
at unsaturated state than at saturated state. This may be
attributed to the temperature dependency of surface tension.
The coefficient of surface tensions at temperatures of 20, 40
and 608C are 72 .8, 69 .6 and 66 .2 mN/m, respectively (Ng &
Menzies, 2007). A decrease in surface tension affects unsatu-
rated soil behaviour in at least two ways. First, as temperature
increases, the water retention ability of unsaturated soil
100
S0T20
S0T40
80 S0T60
Resilient modulus, MR: MPa
S30T20
60 S30T40
S60T20
S60T40
40
20
0
60 80 0 20 40 60 80 100
Cyclic stress, qcyc: kPa
Fig. 11. Influence of temperature on resilient modulus at different
suctions
718 NG AND ZHOU
slightly decreases and hence the degree of saturation at a
given suction becomes smaller (Romero et al., 2001). A
reduction in the degree of saturation would induce a decrease
of Bishop’s stress, as illustrated by equation (1). Second,
equation (2) suggests that normal forces induced by meniscus
water decrease with decreasing surface tension. For these two
reasons, the contribution of suction to soil stiffness may be
reduced due to thermal loading. Thermal effects on the mech-
anical behaviour of unsaturated soil would be more significant
at unsaturated state.
It is revealed in the figure that the influence of qcyc on
M R can be classified into two types. As qcyc increases from
30 to 70 kPa, M R is almost constant at zero suction, but it
decreases by about 40% at suctions of 30 and 60 kPa. This
is related to the strain dependency of soil stiffness. Re-
searchers have found that soil stiffness decreases with an
increase in strain level for both saturated soil (Atkinson,
2000) and unsaturated soil (Ng & Xu, 2012). As illustrated
in Fig. 7, reversible axial strain (åra ) can be calculated using
the following equation
qcyc
åra ¼ (3)
MR
Using equation (3), åra during the last ten cycles in each
test can be estimated from M R and qcyc : For instance, when
cyclic stress increases from 30 to 70 kPa at zero suction and
208C, åra increases from 0 .1% to 0 .3%. An increase in strain
level induces a decrease in M R :
The fact that reduction of M R is more significant at
suctions of 30 and 60 kPa suggests that the degree of non-
linearity of soil stress–strain behaviour depends on suction.
As discussed above, for the four levels of qcyc , åra at zero
suction ranges from 0 .1% and 0 .3%. Similarly, åra at suctions
of 30 and 60 kPa is in the range from 0 .03% to 0 .15%. On
the other hand, Xu (2011) and Ng & Xu (2012) carried out
a series of suction-controlled triaxial tests to investigate the
small strain stiffness of unsaturated CDT at three suctions
(1, 150 and 300 kPa). The soil specimens were prepared
using the identical method as that used in the current study.
Their experimental results showed that the degradation rate
of soil stiffness with strain is slightly affected by suction. At
suctions up to 300 kPa, the stiffness degradation rate is
consistently larger in the strain range from 0 .03% to 0 .15%
than that in the strain range from 0 .1% to 0 .3%. Therefore,
the rate of decrease of M R with qcyc is much larger at
suctions of 30 and 60 kPa than at zero suction. Suction
effects on M R are further discussed in the next section.
Based on results shown in Figs 8 and 11, it is clear that
cyclic behaviour of subgrade soil, including the accumula-
tion of axial plastic strain and resilient modulus, are affected
by temperature. As far as the authors are aware, current
pavement design methods do not consider thermal effects on
soil behaviour since the soil specimen is only required to be
tested at room temperature (Highways Agency, 2006;
AASHTO, 2008). When in-situ temperature is significantly
higher than room temperature, ignoring the thermal effects
may underestimate soil deformation induced by cyclic traffic
loads. This is because at higher in-situ temperatures, plastic
strain increases (see Fig. 8) and resilient modulus decreases
(see Fig. 11) at suctions of 30 and 60 kPa. Pavement design
using soil parameters determined at room temperature can
therefore be unconservative at these suctions.
Influence of suction on resilient modulus
Figure 12(a) shows the influence of s on M R at 208C.
At each level of qcyc , M R increases non-linearly with an
increase in s at a decreasing rate. For example, at qcyc of
30 kPa, M R more than doubles when s increases from 0
100
Resilient modulus, MR: MPa
80
60
40
qcyc ⫽ 30 kPa
qcyc ⫽ 40 kPa
20 qcyc ⫽ 55 kPa
qcyc ⫽ 70 kPa
0
0 20 40 60
Matric suction, s: kPa
(a)
100
80
Resilient modulus, MR: MPa
60
40
qcyc ⫽ 30 kPa
qcyc ⫽ 40 kPa
20
qcyc ⫽ 55 kPa
qcyc ⫽ 70 kPa
0
0 20 40 60
Matric suction, s: kPa
(b)
Fig. 12. Influence of suction on resilient modulus at different
temperatures: (a) 208C; (b) 408C
to 30 kPa. Then when s further increases from 30 to
60 kPa, M R increases by only 10%. Fig. 12(b) shows the
influence of s on M R at 408C. Measured M R also in-
creases with increasing suction at a decreasing rate. These
figures illustrate that suction effects on M R are more
significant in the low suction range. Similarly, Mancuso et
al. (2002) carried out suction-controlled resonant column–
torsional shear tests to investigate the very small strain
stiffness (G0 ) of unsaturated soil. They observed that the
rate of increase of G0 is the highest when the soil speci-
men starts to desaturate. A comparison between Figs 9
and 12 in the current study illustrates that suction effects
on both M R and åpa are more significant in the lower
suction range (from 0 to 30 kPa). These observations may
be related to the water distribution within unsaturated soil.
In this study, soil specimens were wetted from 95 kPa to
60, 30 and 0 kPa. The adsorption rate along the wetting
path changes abruptly at suction of about 30 kPa, as
illustrated in Fig. 4. This may indicate that when suction
is smaller than 30 kPa, the effects of air–water interface
may start to diminish and hence the stabilising effects
described by equation (2) may be no longer relevant. The
soil should change from menisci-water-governed behaviour
to bulk-water-regulated behaviour. Thus, the soil stiffness
decreases significantly when suction reduces from 30 to
0 kPa. It should be pointed out that, owing to the limited
suction range applied in the water retention test reported
in Figure 4, it is very likely that the residual condition
was not reached during drying. On subsequent wetting of
the soil specimen, it followed a scanning wetting path, not
the primary one. If so, it is expected that different
scanning wetting paths could result in different estimates
of suction at which adsorption rate changes abruptly.
 CYCLIC BEHAVIOUR OF AN UNSATURATED SILT AT VARIOUS SUCTIONS AND TEMPERATURES
A comparison between Figs 12(a) and 12(b) shows that
suction effect on M R is slightly more significant at 208C.
This may be attributed to the decreases in surface tension
with temperature, as discussed in the preceding section.
Some current design guides have considered effects of soil
moisture on soil behaviour using empirical methods. For
example, AASHTO (2008) for pavement design suggests that
the soil specimen is prepared and tested at a reference
moisture condition at or near optimum water content. Varia-
tions in soil behaviour with soil moisture are then estimated
using some empirical models. Since suction effects on soil
behaviour depend on temperature (see Fig. 12), regression
parameters in these empirical models should be a function
of temperature. To incorporate coupled suction and thermal
effects on soil behaviour, suction- and temperature-controlled
cyclic tests are recommended for calibrating the empirical
models.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
A suction- and temperature-controlled cyclic triaxial sys-
tem has been newly developed. It is equipped with three
pairs of temperature-compensated Hall effect transducers for
accurate measurement of local deformation of a soil speci-
men. Using this new system, a series of cyclic triaxial tests
were carried out at suctions ranging from 0 to 60 kPa and
temperatures varying from 20 to 608C. The influences of
number of cycles (N ), cyclic stress (qcyc ), suction (s) and
temperature (T ) on the cyclic behaviour of unsaturated soil,
including axial plastic strain accumulation and resilient
modulus, were analysed and interpreted.
During cyclic loading–unloading, plastic axial and volu-
metric strains accumulated with increasing N at a decreasing
rate. Each unsaturated silt specimen tested reached a stable
reversible response within 100 cycles. The number of cycles
required to achieve a stable response is much smaller than
that for dry sand. This can likely be attributed to the effects
of high OCR and suction hardening of the unsaturated speci-
men.
At a given cyclic stress, measured axial plastic strain is
significantly larger at lower suctions and higher tempera-
tures. This is because the yield stress of unsaturated silt
increases with increasing suction (suction-induced harden-
ing), but decreases with increasing temperature (thermal-
induced softening). Axial plastic strain induced by cyclic
loads increases non-linearly with an increase in qcyc : There
is a threshold qcyc above which the accumulation of åpa
becomes much more significant. The threshold qcyc increases
with suction. This may be because the Bishop’s stress and
stabilisation effects induced by meniscus water in the un-
saturated soil increase with increasing suction.
At zero suction, the ratio M NR =M 1R increases with N
because of soil densification under cyclic loads. M NR =M 1R
increases with N by about 10% when cyclic stress is smaller
than the threshold value, while it increases by about 20%
above the threshold. At suctions of 30 and 60 kPa, however,
the influence of N on M NR =M 1R is minor due to negligible
volumetric plastic strain. Similarly, the thermal effect on
M NR =M 1R is also very minor.
The influence of temperature on M R depends on suction
level and cyclic stress. At a given temperature, resilient
modulus increases by more than two-fold when suction
increases from 0 to 60 kPa. At zero suction, as temperature
increases from 20 to 608C, resilient modulus increases by
about 5% at low cyclic stress but decreases by about 5% at
high cyclic stress. At suctions of 30 and 60 kPa, resilient
modulus at each level of cyclic stress decreases by about
15% as temperature increases from 20 to 408C. These
observations reveal that thermal effects on resilient modulus
719
are more significant at unsaturated than saturated states. This
may be because when temperature increases, both the
Bishop’s stress between soil particles and the stabilisation
effect induced by meniscus water decrease.
It is evident that cyclic behaviour of subgrade soil, includ-
ing the accumulation of axial plastic strain and resilient
modulus, are affected by temperature. Since current pave-
ment design methods do not normally consider thermal
effects on soil behaviour, soil deformation induced by cyclic
traffic loads may be underestimated when in-situ temperature
is significantly higher than room temperature.
For those empirically based design guides considering the
effects of soil moisture on soil behaviour and property,
regression parameters in these empirical models should also
be affected by temperature, because suction effects on soil
property are a function of temperature. To incorporate
coupling effects of suction and temperature on soil behav-
iour and property, measured results from suction- and tem-
perature-controlled cyclic tests should be adopted for
calibrating these empirical models.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research grant 2012CB719805 of 2012CB719800
provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the
People’s Republic of China through the National Basic Re-
search Program (973 project) is gratefully acknowledged. In
addition, the authors would like to thank the Research
Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region (HKSAR) for providing financial support through the
research grant HKUST6/CRF/12R.
NOTATION
Fn normal force induced by a single water meniscus
G0 very small strain shear modulus
MR resilient modulus
M NR resilient modulus determined from the Nth cycle
M 1R resilient modulus measured from the first cycle
N number of cycles
p mean net stress
p mean Bishop’s stress
q deviator stress
qcyc cyclic stress
R radius of soil particle
Sr degree of saturation
s matric suction
T temperature
Ts coefficient of surface tension of water
ua pore air pressure
uw pore water pressure
åa total axial strain
åpa plastic axial strain induced by cyclic loads
åra reversible axial strain induced by cyclic loads
ó3 total confining stress
REFERENCES
AASHTO (2003). Standard method of test for determining the
resilient modulus of soils and aggregate materials. Washington
DC, USA: American Association of State Highway and Trans-
portation Officials.
AASHTO (2008). Mechanical empirical pavement design guide: a
manual of practice. Washington DC, USA: American Associa-
tion of State and Highway Transportation Officials.
Alonso, E. E., Gens, A. & Josa, A. (1990). A constitutive model
for partially saturated soils. Géotechnique 40, No. 3, 405–430,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1990.40.3.405.
ASTM (2006). Standard practice for classification of soils for
engineering purposes (unified soil classification system). West
Conshohocken, PA, USA: American Society of Testing and
Materials.
 720 NG AND ZHOU
Atkinson, J. H. (2000). Non-linear soil stiffness in routine design.
Géotechnique 50, No. 5, 487–507, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/
geot.2000.50.5.487.
Baldi, G., Hueckel, T. & Pellegrini, R. (1988). Thermal volume
changes of the mineral-water system in low-porosity clay soils.
Can. Geotech. J. 25, No. 4, 807–825.
Brown, S. & Hyde, A. (1975). Significance of cyclic confining
stress in repeated-load triaxial testing of granular material.
Transportation Res. Rec. 537, 49–58.
Brown, S. F. (1996). Soil mechanics in pavement engineering.
Géotechnique 46, No. 3, 383–425, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/
geot.1996.46.3.383.
BSI (1990). Methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes.
London, UK: British Standards Institution.
Cekerevac, C. & Laloui, L. (2004). Experimental study of thermal
effects on the mechanical behaviour of a clay. Int. J. Numer.
Analyt. Methods Geomech. 28, No. 3, 209–228.
Cekerevac, C. & Laloui, L. (2010). Experimental analysis of the
cyclic behaviour of kaolin at high temperature. Géotechnique
60, No. 8, 651–655, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.7.00017.
Cekerevac, C., Laloui, L. & Vulliet, L. (2005). A novel triaxial
apparatus for thermo-mechanical testing of soils. ASTM Geo-
tech. Testing J. 28, No. 2, 161–170.
Clayton, C., Khatrush, S., Bica, A. & Siddique, A. (1989). Hall
effect sensors in geotechnical instrumentation. Geotech. Testing
J. 12, No. 1, 69–76.
François, B. & Laloui, L. (2008). ACMEG-TS: A constitutive
model for unsaturated soils under non-isothermal conditions.
Int. J. Numer. Analyt. Methods Geomech. 32, No. 16, 1955–
1988.
Fredlund, D. G. (1975). Diffused air volume indicator for unsatu-
rated soils. Can. Geotech. J. 12, No. 4, 533–539.
Gallipoli, D., Wheeler, S. J. & Karstunen, M. (2003). Modelling the
variation of degree of saturation in a deformable unsaturated soil.
Géotechnique 53, No. 1, 105–112, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/
geot.2003.53.1.105.
Highways Agency (2006). Design manual for roads and bridges,
vol. 7. London, UK: The Stationery Office.
Israelachvili, J. N. (2011). Intermolecular and surface forces, 3rd
edn. New York, NY, USA: Academic Press.
Jardine, R. J., Symes, M. J. & Burland, J. B. (1984). The measure-
ment of soil stiffness in the triaxial apparatus. Géotechnique 34,
No. 3, 323–340, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1984.34.3.323.
Jin, M. S., Lee, K. W. & Kovacs, W. D. (1994). Seasonal variation
of resilient modulus of subgrade soils. J. Transportation Engng
120, No. 4, 603–616.
Khoury, N. N. & Zaman, M. M. (2004). Correlation between
resilient modulus, moisture variation, and soil suction for sub-
grade soils. Transportation Res. Rec.: J. Transportation Res.
Board 1874, No. 1, 99–107.
Lackenby, J., Indraratna, B., McDowell, G. & Christie, D. (2007).
Effect of confining pressure on ballast degradation and deforma-
tion under cyclic triaxial loading. Géotechnique 57, No. 6, 527–
536, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.2007.57.6.527.
Lopez-Querol, S. & Coop, M. R. (2012). Drained cyclic behaviour
of loose Dogs Bay sand. Géotechnique 62, No. 4, 281–289,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.8.P.105.
Mancuso, C., Vassallo, R. & d’Onofrio, A. (2002). Small strain
behavior of a silty sand in controlled-suction resonant column -
torsional shear tests. Can. Geotech. J. 39, No. 1, 22–31.
McCartney, J. S. & Khosravi, A. (2012). Field monitoring system
for suction and temperature profiles under pavements. J. Perfor-
mance Constructed Facilities 27, No. 6, 818–825.
Ng, C. W. W. & Menzies, B. K. (2007). Advanced unsaturated soil
View publication stats
mechanics and engineering. London, UK and New York, NY,
USA: Taylor and Francis.
Ng, C. W. W. & Xu, J. (2012). Effects of current suction ratio and
recent suction history on small-strain behaviour of an unsatu-
rated soil. Can. Geotech. J. 49, No. 2, 226–243.
Ng, C. W. W. & Yung, S. Y. (2008). Determination of the
anisotropic shear stiffness of an unsaturated decomposed soil.
Géotechnique 58, No. 1, 23–35, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.
2008.58.1.23.
Ng, C. W. W., Zhou, C., Yuan, Q. & Xu, J. (2013). Resilient
modulus of unsaturated subgrade soil: experimental and theor-
etical investigations. Can. Geotech. J. 50, No. 2, 223–232.
Romero, E., Gens, A. & Lloret, A. (2001). Temperature effects on
the hydraulic behaviour of an unsaturated clay. Geotech. Geol.
Engng 19, No. 3–4, 311–332.
Romero, E., Gens, A. & Lloret, A. (2003). Suction effects on a
compacted clay under non-isothermal conditions. Géotechnique
53, No. 1, 65–81, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.2003.53.1.65.
Santamarina, J. C., Klein, K. A. & Fam, M. A. (2001). Soils and
waves – particulate materials behavior, characterization and
process monitoring. New York, NY, USA: Wiley.
Seed, H. B., Chan, C. K. & Lee, C. E. (1962). Resilience character-
istics of subgrade soils and their relation to fatigue failures in
asphalt pavements. Proceedings of the international conference
on structural design of asphalt pavements, pp. 611–636. Ann
Arbor, MI, USA: University of Michigan.
Sivakumar, V. (1993). A critical state framework for unsaturated
soil. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Sivakumar, V., Kodikara, J., O’Hagan, R., Hughes, D., Cairns, P. &
Mckinley, J. D. (2013). Effects of confining pressure and water
content on performance of unsaturated compacted clay under
repeated loading. Géotechnique 63, No. 8, 628–640, http://
dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.10.P.103.
Tang, A. M., Cui, Y. J. & Barnel, N. (2008). Thermo-mechanical
behaviour of a compacted swelling clay. Géotechnique 58, No.
1, 45–54, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.2008.58.1.45.
Tarantino, A. & De Col, E. (2008). Compaction behaviour of clay.
Géotechnique 58, No. 3, 199–213, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/
geot.2008.58.3.199.
Uchaipichat, A. & Khalili, N. (2009). Experimental investigation of
thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of an unsaturated silt. Géo-
technique 59, No. 4, 339–353, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.
2009.59.4.339.
Wheeler, S. J. & Karube, D. (1996). Constitutive modelling. Pro-
ceedings of the first international conference on unsaturated
soil, Paris (eds E. E. Alonso and P. Delage), vol. 3, pp. 1323–
1356. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Balkema.
Wheeler, S. J., Sharma, R. S. & Buisson, M. S. R. (2003). Coupling
of hydraulic hysteresis and stress-strain behaviour in unsaturated
soils. Géotechnique 53, No. 1, 41–54, http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/
geot.2003.53.1.41.
Xu, J. (2011). Experimental study of effects of suction history and
wetting-drying on small strain stiffness of an unsaturated soil.
PhD thesis, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
Hong Kong.
Yang, S. R., Lin, H. D., Kung, J. H. S. & Huang, W. H. (2008).
Suction-controlled laboratory test on resilient modulus of unsa-
turated compacted subgrade soils. J. Geotech. Geoenviron.
Engng, ASCE 134, No. 9, 1375–1384.
Zhou, C. & Ng, C. W. W. (2013). Experimental study of resilient
modulus of unsaturated soil at different temperatures. Proceed-
ings of the 18th ICSMGE, Paris (eds P. Delage, J. Desrues,
R. Frank, A. Peuch and F. Schlosser), vol. 2, pp. 1055–1058.
Paris, France: Presses des Ponts.