Author(s)

Yan Jiajia ¹, Fuliao Yi ², Taoyan Li ³, Zhang Lisha ⁴

Affiliation(s)

¹ Powerchina Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, Hangzhou, China
² College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
³ School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, China
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, China

Corresponding Author

Yan Jiajia

ABSTRACT

To study the mechanical properties of sedimentary marine clays in deep seabed, static pore water pressure (SPWP) is often prescribed in triaxial shear tests by applying different back pressure levels (B.P.) corresponding to in-situ position of the water table. In this paper, several undrained and drained triaxial tests have been conducted to study the effect of SPWP on the mechanical behaviors of kaolin clay, which is often used to create artificial marine clay or as a subgrade material in the centrifuge tests of offshore geotechnical engineering. The magnitude of SPWP is found to impact undrained shear strength, initial growth rate of excess pore pressure, friction angle, while has little effect on initial undrained shear stiffness and ultimate excess pore pressure. A new unique line can be determined which is parallel to total stress path by fitting all the critical failure points during undrained shearing. The influence mechanism is considered to be related to a nonuniform distribution of SPWP in different kinds of pores, which makes the clay microstructure changeable under different SPWP. There may exist a "pseudo-suction" when certain SPWP is applied, resulting in a higher friction angle of kaolin clay.

KEYWORDS

Kaolin clay, static pore water pressure, shear behavior

CITE THIS PAPER

Yan Jiajia, Fuliao Yi, Taoyan Li, Zhang Lisha, Effect of static pore water pressure on shear behavior of saturated kaolin clay. Journal of Civil Engineering and Urban Planning (2023) Vol. 5: 1-9. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jceup.2023.050101.

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