Repeated loading of cohesive soil – shakedown theory in undrained conditions

The development of industry and application of new production techniques could bring about extraordinary problems that have been neglected. One of these challenges in terms of soil mechanics is high frequency cyclic loading. Well constructed foundation may reduce this troublesome phenomenon but excluding it is usually uneconomic. In this paper, shakedown theory assumptions were studied. Cyclically loaded soils behave in various ways depending on the applied stress rate. Common cohesive soils in Poland, i.e., sandy-silty clays are problematic and understanding of their behaviour in various conditions is desired. In order to study repeated loading of this material, cyclic triaxial test were carried out. Cyclic loading tests were conducted also in one way compression. These methods in small strain regime allow permanent strain increment analysis with resilient response after numerous cycles. This behaviour was subsequently exploited in the study of shakedown theory. This paper contains some conclusions concerning the above-mentioned theory.