INFLUENCE OF THE NUMBER OF LOAD STEPS IN K₀ CONSOLIDATION ON THE UNDRAINED SHEAR STRENGTH

Abstract

In order to investigate the influence of the number of load steps on the strength characteristics of normally consolidated cohesive soils in K₀-consolidated undrained ((CK₀U)^^^-) triaxial test, K₀-consolidated undrained triaxial compression and extension tests are performed on two different samples.It was found the the c_u/p values obtained by (CK₀U)^^^- triaxial tests tend to decrease with an increase in the number of load steps in K₀ consolidation and the c_u/p value of soil with low plasticity index is subjected more easily to the influence of multi-step loading. This is particularly significant for extension test.