Experimental database on Malaysian kaolin under monotonic and

cyclic loading: inspection of undrained Miner’s rule

Jose Duque , Jakub Roháč , David Mašín , Jan Najser
1* 1 1 1

1
Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
*duquefej@natur.cuni.cz

Introduction
Reliable predictions of geotechnical structures subjected to cyclic loading require robust constitutive models for soils, able to accurately
reproduce its main features under a wide range of loading types and initial conditions. For the development, improvement and calibration of
constitutive models for fine-grained soils, different experimental databases on soils with different characteristics (e.g., plasticity, structure,
mineralogical composition, among others) are necessary. Such databases should include a wide range of initial conditions on samples
subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading. This study summarizes a comprehensive experimental investigation on a medium-plasticity
Malaysian kaolin. The so-called Miner's rule [1], which states that the application of packages of cycles of different magnitudes in different
sequences does not affect the final accumulation of strains was also inspected under undrained conditions.

Typical test results

Typical results of an undrained cyclic triaxial test with isotropic consolidation and constant deviator stress amplitude of 50 kPa:

Modified Steward’s Approach (MSA)

Conclusions
A comprehensive experimental investigation on a medium-plasticity Malaysian kaolin under monotonic and cyclic loading was performed.
Undrained cyclic tests with packages of cycles in different sequences suggest that Miner's rule is not valid under undrained conditions. A
modified Steward's approach was proposed for the estimation of the accumulated pore water pressure and strains on the tests with variable
loading magnitudes. The experimental database presented in this study will be freely available at the soilmodels.com website, and it is
expected to be used for the development, improvement and calibration of constitutive models for fine-grained soils.

References
[1] Miner, M. (1945). Cumulative damage in fatigue. Journal of Applied Mechanics 12, 159-164.

Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the financial support given by the Charles University Grant Agency (GAUK) with project number 200120.