Effect of episodic pre-failure cyclic loading on whole-life geotechnical properties of soft clays
Effect of episodic pre-failure cyclic loading on whole-life geotechnical properties of soft clays
Changes in soil properties due to loading and consolidation during the life of infrastructure affect the soil response to future events. This concept is encapsulated in the whole-life geotechnical design approach which accounts for the evolution of properties such as strength, stiffness and consolidation coefficient, to improve forecasts of system response through and beyond the design life. This paper explores the changing properties of a soft clay from episodes of pre-failure cyclic loading and consolidation through a series of stress-controlled cyclic direct simple shear (DSS) tests. The scenario is relevant to offshore applications where infrastructure is subject to cyclic seasonal loading, and is particularly relevant to floating offshore wind anchoring systems as these are located in deeper water, farther from shore where soft clays are common. The results quantify the effect of cyclic stress amplitude, number of cycles per packet, and number of consolidation intervals, on the clay properties. The results show increases in undrained strength by up to 70%, stiffness by up to 50% and consolidation coefficient by a factor of up to 30, highlighting the importance of accounting for whole-life effects for reliable and efficient geotechnical design.
clay, cyclic loads, direct simple shear, geotechnical engineering, offshore engineering, UN SDG 11, UN SDG 13, UN SDG 14, UN SDG 7, UN SDG 9
Laham, Noor
d4af2376-9e9c-4b89-aa76-972f2b78fb0e
Kwa, Katherine
18faee0d-75d9-4683-a2c8-604625eecbb0
Suzuki, Yusuke
e7f0950d-ec9e-4756-81ec-179d2e8119d9
White, David
a986033d-d26d-4419-a3f3-20dc54efce93
Gourvenec, Susan
6ff91ad8-1a91-42fe-a3f4-1b5d6f5ce0b8
6 March 2025
Laham, Noor
d4af2376-9e9c-4b89-aa76-972f2b78fb0e
Kwa, Katherine
18faee0d-75d9-4683-a2c8-604625eecbb0
Suzuki, Yusuke
e7f0950d-ec9e-4756-81ec-179d2e8119d9
White, David
a986033d-d26d-4419-a3f3-20dc54efce93
Gourvenec, Susan
6ff91ad8-1a91-42fe-a3f4-1b5d6f5ce0b8
Laham, Noor, Kwa, Katherine, Suzuki, Yusuke, White, David and Gourvenec, Susan
(2025)
Effect of episodic pre-failure cyclic loading on whole-life geotechnical properties of soft clays.
Geotechnique.
(doi:10.1680/jgeot.24.00063).
Abstract
Changes in soil properties due to loading and consolidation during the life of infrastructure affect the soil response to future events. This concept is encapsulated in the whole-life geotechnical design approach which accounts for the evolution of properties such as strength, stiffness and consolidation coefficient, to improve forecasts of system response through and beyond the design life. This paper explores the changing properties of a soft clay from episodes of pre-failure cyclic loading and consolidation through a series of stress-controlled cyclic direct simple shear (DSS) tests. The scenario is relevant to offshore applications where infrastructure is subject to cyclic seasonal loading, and is particularly relevant to floating offshore wind anchoring systems as these are located in deeper water, farther from shore where soft clays are common. The results quantify the effect of cyclic stress amplitude, number of cycles per packet, and number of consolidation intervals, on the clay properties. The results show increases in undrained strength by up to 70%, stiffness by up to 50% and consolidation coefficient by a factor of up to 30, highlighting the importance of accounting for whole-life effects for reliable and efficient geotechnical design.
Text
Laham et al_2024_Manuscript_Geotechnique_revised
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 13 November 2024
Published date: 6 March 2025
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited: All rights reserved.
Keywords:
clay, cyclic loads, direct simple shear, geotechnical engineering, offshore engineering, UN SDG 11, UN SDG 13, UN SDG 14, UN SDG 7, UN SDG 9
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 507270
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507270
ISSN: 0016-8505
PURE UUID: 8a8e7c38-c90a-4303-a067-811a55900500
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Date deposited: 02 Dec 2025 18:08
Last modified: 03 Dec 2025 02:57
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Author:
Yusuke Suzuki
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