Studies on Cyclic and Dynamic Loading on Cohesive Soil in Road Engineering

Abstract

Soil investigations concerning cyclic and dynamic loading differ from static analysis. The Problem with the abovementioned loads becomes more important, when cohesive soils are taken into consideration. There are plenty of scientific reports containing the analyses of non-cohesive soil behaviour, yet there is still a lack of similar studies on cohesive soils. Repeated loading and dynamic excitations differ between themselves and parameters which are used to describe those phenomena are not congruent. Road constructors seek new approaches to design methods, which would take into account more types dynamic and cyclic excitations. For a successful utilisation of these occurrences in designing codes, mechanical parameters, such as resilient modulus Mr, shear modulus G and Poisson ratio υ or dumping ratio D, need to be determined. The laboratory tests were conducted on sandy clays, which are a common soil in Poland, using specialized laboratory equipment, such as a resonant column and cyclic triaxial apparatus. The aim of the work presented in this paper was to measureand analyse the abovementioned mechanical characteristics. The paper ends with conclusions regarding the application of cyclic and dynamic loading characteristics in road design.