Book Description

A comprehensive series of undrained shear tests were performed on a lean sensitive marine clay in both the normally consolidated and overconsolidated state. The types of tests performed included triaxial compression and extension and direct simple shear tests on K0-consolidated specimens. It was found that the clay is highly anisotropic with respect to its undrained shear strength and its stress-strain characteristics. Undrained shear strengths from compression tests were 1.7 to 1.8 times greater than from extension tests. Undrained strengths from direct simple shear tests were somewhat higher than the strengths from extension tests. Similar anisotropic behavior was also observed for undrained moduli. Failure strains were found to be influenced by the stress system during consolidation and the mode of shear. K0-consolidated specimens sheared in compression failed at extremely low strains and showed significant strain softening. The importance of these observations as they may relate to problems of undrained stability is discussed.