Effect of angle between initial and cyclic shear stress on behaviors of marine clay

An angle exists between the initial static shear stress and cyclic shear stress when embankment and retaining walls are subjected to cyclic loadings. To investigate the influence of this angle on the dynamic properties of marine soft clay, tests were performed on Wenzhou soft clay. When the angle was varied from 0 degrees to 90 degrees, the shear strain and excess pore pressure decreased as increased while increased as increased from 120 degrees to 180 degrees. Shear strain developed more rapidly when was 120 degrees, 150 degrees, or 180 degrees than that when was 0 degrees, 30 degrees, or 60 degrees. These results indicate that the number of cycles to failure at the larger angles was greater than at the smaller angles. When was 90 degrees, the strain in the x-axis direction increased as the number of cycles increased. The development of the excess pore pressure associated with specimen failure was different for different cyclic shear stress ratios and shearing angles. The effect of on the strain and excess pore pressure increased as the cyclic shear stress ratio increased.