Cemented granular soil; Cyclic loading; DEM; Initial shear; Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology; Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Abstract :
[en] In engineering applications such as non-invasive cementation beneath existing structures or naturally induced cementation around piles, cementation can develop in soils that have previously undergone initial static shear. However, the joint effect of cementation and initial static shear stress on subsequent cyclic loading behaviour remains largely uninvestigated, despite its crucial importance for understanding foundation response to seismic events and cyclic loading conditions. This study investigates the combined effects of cementation and initial static shear stress on the subsequent cyclic behaviour of granular soils using the discrete element method (DEM). First, DEM specimens with varying levels of cementation are subjected to undrained cyclic loading under different cyclic stress ratios (CSR) without initial static shear stress and the results align well with experimental results reported in the literature. Then, the role of initial static shear stress on the undrained cyclic response of the specimens is investigated. The results indicate that the liquefaction resistance of cemented soil depends on both CSR and initial static shear stress. The effect of initial static shear stress, which can be either beneficial or detrimental, is more pronounced at low CSR values. A new empirical equation is proposed to describe the relationship between the number of cycles to liquefaction with CSR, cementation level and initial static shear stress, providing the first predictive framework for their coupled effects on liquefaction resistance. Micromechanical analysis reveals that cementation helps maintain structural stability by preventing contact loss between particles, while initial static shear stress accelerates contact degradation and reduces structural stability during cyclic loading. These insights contribute to the development of multiscale constitutive models for cemented soils under cyclic loading conditions.
Disciplines :
Civil engineering
Author, co-author :
Zhang, Aoxi ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > Géotechnique
Zhao, Chaofa; Department of Civil Engineering, Computing Center for Geotechnical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Rattez, Hadrien; Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Collin, Frédéric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo
Language :
English
Title :
Effects of cementation on the cyclic resistance of granular soils with presence of initial static shear stress
Publication date :
2025
Journal title :
Acta Geotechnica
ISSN :
1861-1125
eISSN :
1861-1133
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
NSCF - National Natural Science Foundation of China F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
Funding text :
This work was supported by the SAGE-SAND (Soil ageing around offshore wind turbine foundations - from operational response to decommissioning) project, funded by the Energy Transition Fund (ETF), Belgium and the NSFC-FNRS project (Nos. 52311530699, R.M008.23). Their support is gratefully acknowledged.
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