Experimental study on the cyclic strength of structural soft clay

The experimental study of the undrained cyclic behavior on a structural soft clay located in XiaoShan, a place at Southeast of China, are carried out on undisturbed, remolded and cemented samples. The cyclic liquefaction resistance obtained is carefully compared to study the influence factor, such as failure criterion, confining pressure, structural characteristics, cyclic number and cement content. It is shown that the structural characteristics play an important pole on the dynamic strength of clays. When subjected to a low confining pressure level, the cyclic strength of natural soft clay is obviously higher than that of remolded samples. But when the natural structure is damaged, the cyclic strength of these two kinds of soils tended to be the same. The cyclic strength of cemented clay increased as the cement content increased, due to the increased friction of soil particle induced by cementation in this study.