1277

Simple shear testing of sensitive, very soft

offshore clay for wide strain range
G. Lanzo, A. Pagliaroli, P. Tommasi, and F.L. Chiocci

Abstract: Stiffness and damping properties of sensitive, very soft clay sediments of the Italian Adriatic continental shelf
are determined by means of two series of cyclic simple shear tests (one with 12 stages and one with two stages). The ap-
paratus used in this research is capable of investigating the stressstrain behaviour of the soil in a wide range of shear
strains from about 0.0004% to 1%. Test results were expressed in terms of small-strain shear modulus (G0), normalized
equivalent shear modulus (Geq/G0), and damping ratio (D) versus cyclic shear-strain amplitude (gc). These parameters were
analyzed in the framework of existing literature by comparison with empirical correlations developed for onshore materials
of different plasticity and, limited to G0, also for soft soils. The dependence of G0, Geq/G0gc, and Dgc on factors such as
void ratio, stress history, and loading cycles is analyzed and discussed.
Key words: soft offshore clay, simple shear test, cyclic loading, stiffness, damping ratio.
Resume : Les proprietes de rigidite et damortissement de sediments dargile tres molle et sensible provenant du plateau
continental adriatique italien sont determinees par des essais cycliques de resistance au cisaillement simple a deux etapes
(un essai a 12 etapes et un essai a 2 etapes, respectivement). Lappareil utilise dans cette etude permet dinvestiguer le
comportement en contrainte deformation du sol dans un eventail de deformation en cisaillement, denviron 0,0004 % a
1 %. Les resultats des essais sont exprimes en termes du module de cisaillement a faible deformation (G0), du module de
cisaillement equivalent normalise (Geq / G0) et du rapport damortissement (D) versus lamplitude de la deformation en ci-
saillement cyclique (gc). Ces parametres sont analyses dans le cadre de la litterature existante en les comparant aux corre-
lations empiriques developpees pour les materiaux terrestres de plasticite differente, et, seulement pour G0, pour les sols
mous. La dependance de G0, Geq / G0 gc et D gc sur les facteurs tels que lindice des vides, lhistorique des contraintes
et les cycles de chargement est analysee et discutee.
Mots-cles : argile marine molle, essais en cisaillement simple, chargement cyclique, rigidite, rapport damortissement.

Introduction 1995). In particular, cyclic behaviour of soft clays has been

An understanding of the behaviour of very soft offshore
clays under cyclic loading is instrumental for the solution of
a number of marine geotechnical problems such as founda-
tion of offshore structures and stability of submarine slopes
subjected to earthquake excitation or wave action. This be-
haviour is commonly expressed in terms of stiffness and
damping properties of soils. Over the past three decades,
the stiffness and damping properties of onshore soils ranging
from very stiff to very soft have been extensively studied
and found to be a function of several variables such as shear
strain amplitude, magnitude of confining stress, stress his-
tory, number of loading cycles, and strain rate (Dobry and
Vucetic 1987; Stokoe et al. 1994, 1999; Tatsuoka et al.
Received 5 September 2008. Accepted 8 May 2009. Published
on the NRC Research Press Web site at cgj.nrc.ca on
5 November 2009.
G. Lanzo1 and A. Pagliaroli. Department of Structural and
Geotechnical Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza, Via
A. Gramsci 53, 00197 Rome, Italy.
P. Tommasi. Institute for Environmental Geology and Geo-
Engineering, National Research Council, Rome, Italy.
F.L. Chiocci. Department of Earth Sciences, University of
Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
1Corresponding author (e-mail: giuseppe.lanzo@uniroma1.it).
studied by a number of researchers (e.g., Kokusho et al.
1982) and more recently has gained increasing attention
(Shibuya et al. 1997; Shibuya and Tamrakar 2002; Teacha-
vorasinskun et al. 2002). On the other hand, research on the
stiffness and damping properties of very soft offshore ma-
rine clayey sediments is extremely scarce, with a few excep-
tions for large strains (Frydman et al. 1988; Vucetic 1990).
Recent investigations on soft marine clay sediments are es-
sentially devoted to the study of compressibility, undrained
strength, and small-strain stiffness from in situ and labora-
tory tests (Tan et al. 2002).
This paper presents the results of an experimental investi-
gation using a cyclic simple shear apparatus on very soft clay
sediments from the Italian Adriatic continental shelf. Empha-
sis is given to the measurement in a wide strain range of the
stiffness and damping parameters, i.e., the small-strain stiff-
ness expressed by the maximum shear modulus (G0), the
equivalent shear modulus (Geq), and the damping ratio (D),
whose definitions are illustrated in Fig. 1. The influence of cy-
clic shear-strain amplitude (gc), vertical consolidation stress,
void ratio (e), stress history, and number of loading cycles on
the aforementioned parameters is examined and discussed.
Geological framework
The study area is located in the central southern Adriatic

Can. Geotech. J. 46: 12771288 (2009) doi:10.1139/T09-059 Published by NRC Research Press
1278
Fig. 1. Parameters describing the cyclic behaviour of soils: D,
damping ratio; G0, maximum shear modulus; Geq, equivalent shear
modulus corresponding to tc and gc; DW, area enclosed by the loop;
gc, cyclic shear-strain amplitude; tc, cyclic shear-stress amplitude.
Sea, some 14 km off the coast of the Abruzzi region, Italy
(Fig. 2). It is part of the 40 km wide central Adriatic conti-
nental shelf, which extends between the Meso-Adriatic de-
pression and the Tremiti Islands high, with an average slope
in the study area of 0.28.
Along the Italian Adriatic coast, shallow and intermediate
depth water masses move geostrophically counterclockwise
(Artegiani et al. 1997), dispersing towards the southwest
the pelitic sediments discharged by the Po River (1.5  107
Mg/year) and by the minor rivers draining the Apenninic
chain (2.4  107 Mg/year). The Po River sediments re-
leased in the northern Adriatic Sea were found along the
coast even farther south of the study area (i.e., hundreds
of kilometres).
All cross the Adriatic shelf, a well-defined erosional un-
conformity formed during the last glacial sea-level lowstand
(sedimented about 20 000 years before the present) separates
the overconsolidated Quaternary sequences from the overly-
ing sedimentary units deposited during the last sea-level
cycle (Fig. 3). These units were formed by backstepping
transgressive units (20 0008000 years before the present),
mainly siltysandy, overlaid by a highstand muddy deposit
(8000 years before the present) (Trincardi et al. 1996). The
latter, which is the target of the geotechnical characterization,
has a maximum thickness of up to 25 m in the middle shelf
(4050 m water depth) and decreases in thickness towards
the basin, reducing to a 23 m thick drape at the shelf break.
Several seismic units can be defined within the highstand
deposit. They result from the evolution of the continental
shelf environment, which follows the stabilization of sea
level around its present position. However, the corer pene-
trates only the most recent highstand unit and therefore can
be considered representative of the present-day depositional
conditions of the shelf (Fig. 3).
Sampling and geotechnical properties
Two cores for geotechnical testing (cores 2 and 9) were
recovered from the uppermost part of the pelitic unit lying
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 46, 2009
on the Quaternary substratum, 14 km offshore from Punta
Penna, south of the town of Vasto, Abruzzi (Fig. 2). Core 9
is 5 m long and was taken at a water depth of 45 m where
the pelitic unit is 16 m thick. Core 2 is 2 m long and was
taken at a water depth of 70 m, where the pelitic unit is
6 m thick. Cores were recovered through a 90 mm diameter
pneumatic-powered Alpine vibrocorer handled from a pon-
toon boat. To minimize disturbance with respect to gravity
coring, sampling was carried out without vibration (i.e., the
corer engine was switched off). In fact, the vibrocorer was
positioned on the seabed first and then driven into the sedi-
ment at a low penetration rate using its own weight (about
16 kN). Disturbance was evaluated by analyzing digital ra-
diographs of the cores and comparing the curvature of the
depositional laminae produced by different sampling meth-
ods. At coring site 9, sampling was repeated using a faster
release of the vibrocorer. The resulting core (9H) presents
an apparent curvature of the depositional laminae, whereas
that obtained by means of a gradual application of the corer
weight (core 9) is characterized by nearly planar laminae
(Fig. 4).
The reduced disturbance of the material encouraged in-
vestigation of some aspects of the mechanical behaviour of
the intact material (e.g., stiffness and damping properties at
very low strains and compressibility in oedometric condi-
tions).
Simple cyclic shear tests were performed on specimens
from core 2, and oedometer tests and the log of geotechnical
properties were derived from investigations conducted on
samples taken from core 9.
Due to the homogeneity of the depositional conditions in
the study area, the material recovered in cores 2 and 9
(11 km apart) can be considered as being virtually the
same, namely a clay and silt of medium plasticity (CF =
47%50%, PI = 1925, where CF is the clay fraction and
PI is the plasticity index), having a specific gravity of 2.75
(low-plasticity clay (CL) according to the US Geological
Survey (USGS) classification). The natural water content is
close to or slightly above the liquid limit. The material is
rather homogeneous as indicated by the slight variability in
plasticity and grain size and the minimal variability in bulk
density calculated from X-ray absorption, except for minor
small-scale changes (Fig. 4).
A typical log of geotechnical properties measured on sam-
ples from core 9 is shown in Fig. 5. In the shallower layer,
the undrained strength (cu) measured by means of a labora-
tory vane test regularly decreases from 4 kPa at the seafloor
to 1.7 kPa at 1 m below the seafloor. Below this depth, cu
increases linearly down to a depth of 5 m, according to the
0
expected ratio cu =s v0 calculated from the expression by Ler-
oueil et al. (1985), assuming the effective vertical in situ
0
stress (s v0 ) is equal to the preconsolidation pressure (s p0 ).
The relatively high cu and bulk density (r) measured im-
mediately below the seafloor (from 0.2 to 0.7 m) suggest
that the sediment within this depth interval is slightly over-
consolidated. At greater depths, cu increases linearly as in a
normally consolidated cohesive sediment. Among possible
sources of overconsolidation (Perret et al. 1995), those af-
fecting only such a limited portion of the deposit seem to be
restricted to bioturbation and thixotropy. Bioturbation acts to
accelerate consolidation and as a viscous cement and was
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Lanzo et al.
Fig. 2. Location of study area and sampling sites (2 and 9).
Fig. 3. High-resolution seismic profile of the study area, showing the different units forming the continental shelf. Ex. vert., vertical exag-
geration; twtt, two-way travel time.
identified in high-resolution X-ray computerized tomogra-
phy (CT) scans of other Italian shelf deposits in conjunction
with high cu values and low water contents.
Incremental loading oedometer tests were conducted on
samples retrieved at three different depths, namely 0.5, 1.0,
and 2.0 m. Average values of the compression index (Cc)
and swelling index (Cs) are 0.47 and 0.07, respectively. Note
that the value of Cc evaluated from the curve is close to that
obtained from the well-known relationship Cc = 0.009(wL
10) (where wL is the liquid limit), which yields Cc = 0.40.
The oedometer tests are represented in Fig. 6 using the
normalized void index Iv e  e100 =Cc (Burland 1990),
where Cc and e100 are the compressibility index and the
void ratio, respectively, at a vertical effective stress of
100 kPa for the reconstituted sediment. The resulting
Iv log s v0 curves (where s v0 is the vertical effective consol-
idation stress) were successively compared with the intrinsic
compression line (ICL), representing the normalized behav-
iour in oedometric compression of the reconstituted soil and
1279
the in situ values of Iv (Iv0) calculated on specimens from
core 9 (i.e., the sedimentation compression curve (SCC)).
Values of Iv0 are very close to the curve averaging the in
situ changes of Iv with depth, calculated from a large num-
ber of marine sediments (the sedimentation compression line
(SCL) proposed by Burland 1990).
The position of the three normalized oedometer compres-
sion curves with respect to the ICL and SCL (or SCC) con-
firms the indication provided by undrained strength data. At
0
low values of s v0 , the oedometer curves show a greater de-
parture from the ICL as the sampling depth descreases. The
two shallower specimens also exhibit a higher stress sensi-
tivity (Ss) than the specimen from 2.00 m. Ss is the ratio of
the yielding stress to the stress at the same Iv on the ICL,
which is considered a measure of the excess strength with
respect to the reconstituted soil (Chandler 2000). Similar re-
sults are found using, instead of Ss, the ratio of the yielding
stress to the in situ stress, which Leroueil and Vaughan
(1990) related to the strength due to soil structure.
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1280
Fig. 4. Digital radiographs of 500 mm long core sections. Note the
sharp curvature of depositional laminae of core 9H (radiograph in
the centre) produced by fast coring. The variation of the bulk den-
sity (r) calculated from X-ray absorption along the core is also re-
ported for cores 2 and 9.
Cyclic behaviour
Experimental apparatus
Vasto clay was tested in a simple shear testing apparatus
called the double specimen direct simple shear (DSDSS) de-
vice. This apparatus was constructed at the University of
Rome La Sapienza (DElia et al. 2003) based on the proto-
type designed and built at the University of California in
Los Angeles, Calif. (Doroudian and Vucetic 1995). The ba-
sic configuration and the main features of the original de-
vice were maintained in constructing the new version, and
only minor modifications have been made. It is worth recall-
ing the main peculiarity of the device, namely that two
specimens of the same soil are sheared simultaneously in
simple shear mode, instead of just one. Due to its specific
configuration and the stiffness of the device components, all
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 46, 2009
the problems associated with false deformations and system
compliance were reduced to negligible levels, thus enabling
the measurement of soil properties even at very small
strains.
Since its introduction, the DSDSS device has been used to
investigate the cyclic properties of different types of soils in
the range of strain amplitude (gc) between approximately
0.0003% and 1.0% (Lanzo et al. 1997; Vucetic et al. 1998;
DElia et al. 2003; Matesic and Vucetic 2003). The capabil-
ity of the DSDSS device to measure small-strain cyclic
properties of Vasto clay is presented in Fig. 7, where typical
cyclic loops at s v0 = 80 kPa are plotted for five different am-
plitudes ranging between 0.0004% and 1%. It can be seen
that cyclic loops are recorded with satisfactory accuracy
even at small cyclic strains and provide a reliable evaluation
of both shear modulus and damping ratio. At gc values
smaller than 0.001%, Geq can be determined accurately,
whereas the measurement of D is affected by ambient vibra-
tions.
Testing procedure and program
Tests were conducted on saturated specimens, 66 mm in
diameter and 20 mm in height, sampled from core 2 at a
depth of 1.2 m. The shape and lateral confinement of the
specimens are similar to those of the Norwegian Geotechni-
cal Institute (NGI) simple shear device sheared under con-
stant-volume, equivalent-undrained conditions according to
the procedure suggested by Bjerrum and Landva (1966).
Constant-volume conditions were obtained by keeping the
height of the specimens constant. Since the specimens are
confined laterally by the wire-reinforced membranes, which
restrict or almost completely prevent lateral deformations,
maintaining constant height results in a constant-volume
test. Consequently, the variation of vertical stress during cy-
clic shearing due to the imposed constant-volume conditions
was considered equivalent to the variation of the pore pres-
sure that would have developed in a truly undrained test.
Therefore, test results describe the undrained behaviour of
Vasto clay sediments. The concept of the constant-volume,
equivalent-undrained testing is treated extensively in Dyvik
et al. (1987).
The test program included two series of tests, referred to
as series A and B (Table 1). The average natural water con-
tent (w0) and initial void ratio (e0) were 61.5% and 1.635,
respectively, for the specimens in series A and 58.4% and
1.523, respectively, for the specimens in series B. Each ser-
ies of tests was composed of several stages of loading and
unloading at different values of s v0 . At the completion of pri-
mary consolidation, each specimen was subjected to several
steps of strain-controlled cyclic shearing, gradually increas-
ing the magnitude of gc.
Twelve stages were executed for series A. Tests were
conducted according to the following sequence: (i) loading
phase with s v0 from 80 to 320 kPa, (ii) unloading phase
with s v0 from 320 to 20 kPa, (iii) reloading phase with s v0
up to 640 kPa, and (iv) second unloading phase with s v0
down to 40 kPa. In the first loading phase, tests at s v0 lower
than 80 kPa were not carried out because the applied forces
at very small strains are comparable with the accuracy of the
DSDSS load cell. In Table 1, the values of the overconsoli-
dation ratio (OCR) and the void ratio at the end of primary
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Lanzo et al.
Fig. 5. Geotechnical profiles of core 9. Horizontal bars in the water content plot denote the range between plastic and liquid limits.
Fig. 6. Normalized oedometer compression curve compared with
the intrinsic compression line (ICL) and the sedimentation com-
pression line (SCL).
consolidation (ec) are reported for each stage. The gc values
varied between 0.0004% and 0.04%, i.e., slightly below the
volumetric threshold shear strain that is about 0.04% for
soils of similar plasticity (Vucetic 1994). No more than 10
cycles were applied in each step. For series B, only a load-
ing phase was carried out consisting of two stages with s v0
equal to 80 and 160 kPa (Table 1). The gc values covered a
wide range of strains, from 0.0004% to 1%. The number of
cycles (N) applied in each step at constant gc > 0.01% was
equal to 30. In both series, the shape of cyclic straining was
approximately sinusoidal, with a frequency ranging from 0.1
to 0.3 Hz.
Test results and discussion
The results of cyclic tests are presented for small strains,
in terms of maximum shear modulus, and medium to large
1281
strains, in terms of Geqgc, Geq/G0gc, and Dgc relation-
ships. The effects of s v0 , OCR, e, and N are examined and
discussed.
Variation of equivalent shear modulus with strain
amplitude
Average values of Geq and gc pertaining to the different
steps are plotted in Fig. 8 for each s v0 in the loading and un-
loading stages. The Geq data are connected by solid lines
representing the variation of Geq with gc. These curves are
then extrapolated (broken lines) to gc = 0.0001% to estimate
G0.
Figure 8a displays representative Geqgc relationships cor-
responding to the loading and first unloading stages for the
tests in series A. The plots show that the modulus Geq de-
creases as gc increases at all confining stresses. In general,
this reduction starts to appear at gc & 0.001% and becomes
appreciable as gc increases above 0.01%. Further, under the
same s v0 , the Geqgc curves pertaining to the overconsoli-
dated states plot higher than those corresponding to nor-
mally consolidated soils. This is because the specimens
tested upon unloading have higher overconsolidation ratios
and lower void ratios than those tested in the normally con-
solidated state upon loading. In Fig. 8b, typical Geqgc rela-
tionships for the tests in series B are presented, in which the
whole range of shear strains from 0.004% to slightly above
1% was investigated.
Small-strain shear modulus
Literature correlations
It is well established that G0 is influenced by the mean
0
effective confining stress (s m ), OCR, and e. Many attempts
have been made to describe the dependency of G0 on these
parameters, most of which are expressed by relationships in
the form
1 0 n
G0 SFes m s r 1n OCRk
where F(e) is a void ratio function; S, n, and k are nondi-
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1282 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 46, 2009

Fig. 7. Cyclic stressstrain loops obtained from Vasto clay in the B series tests (see Table 1) at s v0 = 80 kPa for eight different values of gc.

Table 1. Summary of cyclic testing conditions.

Vertical effective Void ratio at the

Vertical loading consolidation Cyclic shear-strain end of primary Overconsolidation
Series Stage No. sequence stress, s v0 (kPa) amplitude, gc (%) consolidation, ec ratio (OCR)
A 1 Loading 80 0.00040.04 1.316 1
A 2 Loading 160 0.00040.03 1.211 1
A 3 Loading 320 0.00040.03 1.082 1
A 4 Unloading 160 0.00040.03 1.092 2
A 5 Unloading 80 0.00040.03 1.108 4
A 6 Unloading 40 0.00040.03 1.130 8
A 7 Unloading 20 0.00040.03 1.149 16
A 8 Reloading 80 0.00040.04 1.128 4
A 9 Reloading 320 0.00050.04 1.059 1
A 10 Reloading 640 0.00050.04 0.957 1
A 11 Second unloading 160 0.00050.04 0.982 4
A 12 Second unloading 40 0.00050.04 1.040 16
B 1 Loading 80 0.00041.1 1.298 1
B 2 Loading 160 0.00041.2 1.191 1

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Lanzo et al.
Fig. 8. Variation of Geq with gc for the tests in (a) series A and
(b) series B.
mensional stiffness parameters accounting for the nature of
the soil; and sr is a reference stress, usually taken as the at-
mospheric pressure (pa). The main difference among the var-
ious relationships depends on the choice of void ratio
function (e.g., Hardin and Black 1969; Hardin 1978; Ja-
miolkowski et al. 1994). In particular, Jamiolkowski et al.
(1994) showed that using the void ratio function
1:3
2 Fe e
the effect of OCR may be considered negligible (i.e., k & 0
in eq. [1]) for a wide spectrum of soils, and thus eq. [1] may
be rewritten in a simpler form:
0 n
3 G0 SFes m s r 1n where er is the void ratio at s v0 = sr = 1 kPa (Fig. 9). In
For soft natural clays, it is worth recalling the empirical
correlation proposed for G0 by Kokusho et al. (1982) based
on test results on alluvial clays with e ranging from 0.9 to 4
0 0:6
4 G0 A 7:32  e2 =1 es m 11
where A is a nondimensional stiffness parameter equal to 90
1283
and 127 for normally consolidated and overconsolidated
soils, respectively; and F(e) = (7.32 e)2/(1 + e). Based on
the analysis of normally consolidated soils with e ranging
from 1 to 5, Shibuya et al. (1997) expressed G0 as
5 G0 A 1 e2:4 s v0 0:5
where F(e) = (1 + e)2.4. The empirical parameter A in
eq. [5] has an average value of about 24 000 for a reference
0
stress sr = 98.1 kPa. In both eq. [4] and eq. [5], G0 and s m
0
(or s v ) are expressed in kilopascals.
An alternative way to take into account the dependency of
G0 on state and stress history under isotropic conditions was
proposed by Viggiani (1992) and Rampello et al. (1994).
They expressed G0 only as a function of two independent
variables, namely the isotropic mean effective stress (p)
and the isotropic overconsolidation ratio (R). In fact, the in-
fluence of e (or specific volume v) can be expressed as a
function of p through the compressibility relationship,
which is uniquely determined for normally consolidated
states and accounted for by R for overconsolidated states.
Under these hypotheses, Viggiani and Rampello et al. pro-
posed the following equation:
 
6 G0 S p0 n pr 1n Rm
where S*, n*, and m are nondimensional stiffness para-
meters similar to S, n, and k, respectively; and pr is a refer-
ence stress. It can be demonstrated that eq. [6] can also be
written as

7 G0 =pr S p0 =pr n pe0 =p0 c
where pe0 is the equivalent pressure, and c is a nondimen-
sional stiffness parameter (c = m/L, where L = (l k)/l,
in which l and k being the slopes of the normal compres-
sion and swelling lines in the lnp v plane, respectively).
Proposed formulation
A similar approach may be applied to describe the effect
of stress magnitude and history on the small-strain stiffness
of a soil subjected to oedometric compression using the fol-
lowing expression:
 
8 G0 S s m
0 n
s r 1n OCRm
It must be considered that (see Fig. 9)
1
9 OCR s p0 =s v0 s ve
0
=s v0 ^
0
where s ve is the equivalent vertical consolidation stress de-
fined as
0
10 s ve s r 10er ec =Cc
eq. [9], the value of L, previously introduced for isotropic
compression, can be used without appreciable error for K0
conditions, where K0 is the coefficient of earth pressure at
rest, because l = 0.434Cc and k & 0.434Cs:
L l  k=l Cc  Cs =Cc
Taking into account eq. [9], it is possible to write eq. [8] as
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1284 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 46, 2009

0
Fig. 9. Equivalent one-dimensional consolidation pressure (s ve ). Fig. 10. Variation of G0 versus (a) void ratio at the end of primary
NCL, normal consolidation line. consolidation (ec) and (b) vertical effective stress (s v0 ).

 
12 G0 S s m
0 n 0
s r 1n s ve =s v0 c
or

13 G0 =s r S s m
0 0
=s r n s ve =s v0 c

Estimate of G0 with the proposed relationship

The G0 values estimated from test results can be used to
verify the applicability of the aforementioned relationships.
To this purpose, G0 values from the tests in series A are
plotted in Figs. 10a and 10b as a function of ec and s v0 , re-
spectively. Different symbols refer to different OCR values,
i.e., solid symbols for normally consolidated states (OCR =
1) and open symbols for overconsolidated states (OCR > 1).
In Fig. 10b, the data points with OCR = 1 have been quali-
tatively interpolated using a solid line, whereas those with
OCR > 1 have been interpolated using broken lines averag-
ing the unloadingreloading branches. For both normally
consolidated and overconsolidated states, G0 increases al-
most linearly with an increase in s v0 . However, in agreement
with data from the literature, it can be observed that the G0 0
values corresponding to normally consolidated states plot on Fig. 11. Variation of G0 versus mean effective stress (s m ).
a straight line that is steeper than those corresponding to the
overconsolidated states.
In Fig. 11, the same set of G0 data is plotted versus the
0
mean effective stress s m s v0 2s h0 =3, where s h0 K0 s v0
is the horizontal effective stress. The values of K0 for the
loadingunloadingreloading sequence were evaluated using
the relationships proposed by Mayne and Kulhawy (1982),
assuming the angle of shearing resistance 4 = 318 based on
the empirical correlation between 4 and PI by Kenney
(1959). In Fig. 11, the G0 values pertaining to overconsoli-
dated states plot slightly higher than those referring to the
normally consolidated states.
To reduce the influence of void ratio, the normalized
0
maximum shear modulus, i.e., G0/F(e), is plotted versus s m
in Fig. 12 for normally consolidated and overconsolidated
states. The void ratio functions F(e) proposed by Jamiol-
kowski et al. (1994) and Kokusho et al. (1982), reported in
eqs. [2] and [4], respectively, have been used; the F(e) sug-
gested by Shibuya et al. (1997) was not considered because the data points, which are approximately distributed along
it refers only to normally consolidated soils. The employed straight lines. This circumstance is confirmed by the value
normalization procedure further reduces the scatter between of the coefficient of linear regression (r2) of all data, which

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Lanzo et al. 1285

0 0
Fig. 12. Variation of G0/F(e) versus mean effective stress (s m ). Fig. 13. Values of G0 =s ve =s v0 c versus mean effective stress (s m
0
).

is equal to 0.961 or 0.976 using F(e) in eq. [2] and [4], re- Fig. 14. Values of Geq/G0 versus cyclic shear-strain amplitude (gc).
spectively.
The alternative approach, in which G0 is expressed only
0
as a function of s m and OCR, was also adopted to reduce
the data according to eq. [13]. To apply eq. [13], two param-
eters are needed, i.e., Cc = 0.47 as already mentioned and
er = 2.16; and it was assumed that sr = 1 kPa. The parame-
ters S*, n*, and c were determined through a multiple linear
regression analysis of the G0 data, which yielded the values
of 233, 1, and 0.21, respectively. A value of L = 0.87 was
determined for this soil and, accordingly, a value of m =
0.18 was obtained. The G0 data were therefore normalized
0
with respect to the ratio s ve =s v0 raised to the power c (or,
analogously, to OCR raised to the power m) and plotted ver-
0
sus s m in Fig. 13. The value of r2 is 0.975, implying that
normally and overconsolidated G0 data can be approximated
with a satisfactory accuracy by eq. [13].

Variation of normalized shear modulus with strain

amplitude
The average Geq values (Fig. 8) were divided by the esti- Fig. 15. Variation of Geq,N/Geq,1 with the number of cycles N at
mated G0 to obtain Geq/G0. The variation of Geq/G0 with gc different values of gc.
is presented in Fig. 14 for the tests in series B. The data
points plot between the curves suggested by Vucetic and
Dobry (1991) for clays with PI = 15 and PI = 30 (repro-
duced in the same plot) but plot systematically above the
curves proposed by Darendeli (2001) for the same values of
PI at a mean isotropic confining stress of 100 kPa.
The effect of N on the shear modulus is shown in Fig. 15.
The ratio Geq,N/Geq,1 (i.e., Geq at cycle N (Geq,N) normalized
with respect to Geq at N = 1 (Geq,1)) is plotted versus N at
s v0 = 80 kPa and for three values of gc (*0.01%, *0.1%,
and *1.0%). It can be seen that Geq is virtually not affected
by N at gc & 0.01% but exhibits a progressive reduction as
gc increases. At gc & 1.0%, the ratio Geq,N/Geq,1 reaches a
stable value of about 0.75 after around 20 cycles. Based on
these results, the degradation parameter t = log(Geq,N/Geq,1)/
logN (Idriss et al. 1978; Tan and Vucetic 1989) was also de-
termined and plotted versus gc in Fig. 16. The t values, qual-
itatively interpolated using a bold line in Fig. 16, are

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1286 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 46, 2009

Fig. 16. Effect of plasticity index on degradation parameter of nor- Fig. 17. Variation of damping ratio (D) with gc.
mally consolidated clays (modified from Tan and Vucetic 1989).
0
Data for Vasto clay refer to the B series and s vc = 80 kPa.

Fig. 18. Variation of DN/D2 with the number of cycles (N) at dif-
ferent values of gc.
consistent with data from the literature for different clays
with various PI values.

Variation of damping ratio with strain amplitude

The variation of D with gc for two values of s v0 corre-
sponding to the loading stages of the B series tests is pre-
sented in Fig. 17. The D values corresponding to the second
cycle of straining are plotted together with the Dgc curves
proposed by Vucetic and Dobry (1991) for PI = 15 and 30
and those proposed by Darendeli (2001) for the same values
0
of PI at s m = 100 kPa. The Darendeli curves well represent
the variation of the experimental data with gc over the entire
range of investigated shear strains, even though they slightly
overestimate damping values at medium to large strains.
Conversely, the variation of D is not satisfactory reproduced
by the curves proposed by Vucetic and Dobry. In fact, for
gc = 0.001%0.01% the experimental values lie close to the
curve for PI = 30, whereas the D values for gc higher than
0.1% are superimposed on the curve for PI = 15. by some void ratio function F(e). Once normalized, the G0
The effect of N on the damping ratio is shown in Fig. 18. values plotted versus s m 0
were distributed in both cases
The ratio DN/D2 (i.e., D at cycle N normalized with respect along straight lines with no significant scatter. The normal-
to D at N = 2) is plotted versus N at s v0 = 80 kPa for gc & ization procedures could be utilized for confirming the influ-
0.1% and 1.0%. It can be seen that D is slightly affected by ence of the structure of the natural soils on the mechanical
N at gc & 0.1% and exhibits a progressive reduction as gc behaviour suggested by the normalized compression curve.
increases towards gc & 1.0%. After 30 cycles, the damping In fact, a comparison between the normalized G0 values for
ratio is reduced by about 20% with respect to that measured natural and reconstituted materials has been undertaken in
at N = 2. the framework of an ongoing research project.
At medium to large strains, the plots of the normalized
Conclusions shear modulus and damping ratio versus shear-strain ampli-
Shear modulus and damping properties of sensitive, very tude are satisfactorily reproduced by curves from the litera-
soft offshore clay from the Italian Adriatic continental shelf ture of onshore cohesive soils with similar plasticity. In
were investigated by means of cyclic simple shear tests over particular, the curves of Darendeli (2001) better reproduce
a wide range of shear-strain amplitude, vertical stress, void the variation in damping ratio with gc, and the curves pro-
ratio, and stress history. posed by Vucetic and Dobry (1991) provide a closer approx-
The dependence of the small-strain shear modulus G0 on imation of the experimental data of Geq/G0 over the whole
stress and history parameters (s m0
, e, and OCR) was exam- range of shear strains.
ined. Two normalization procedures were used to reduce The degradation characteristics of the soft clay due to the
the data, i.e., divide G0 by a function of OCR or divide G0 loading cycles of strain were also found to be in satisfactory

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Lanzo et al.
accordance with data from the literature on soils with simi-
lar plasticity characteristics.
Acknowledgments
The testing was supported through a grant from the Min-
istero dellUniversita e Ricerca Scientifica (MIUR).
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wL liquid limit
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List of symbols DW area enclosed by the loop
g shear strain amplitude
Anondimensional stiffness parameter gc cyclic shear strain amplitude
cnondimensional stiffness parameter k slope of swelling line in lnpv plane
cuundrained strength l slope of normal compression line in lnpv plane
Cc compression index L nondimensional stiffness parameter
Cc compressibility index of reconstituted soil r bulk density
Cs swelling index sr reference stress
CF clay fraction s h0 horizontal effective stress
D damping ratio sm0
mean effective confining stress
DN damping ratio at Nth cycle s p0 preconsolidation pressure
D2 damping ratio at 2nd cycle s v0 effective vertical stress
evoid ratio 0
s ve equivalent vertical consolidation stress
ecvoid ratio at the end of primary consolidation 0
s v0 effective vertical in situ stress
ervoid ratio at sr = 1 kPa t shear-stress amplitude
e0initial void ratio tc cyclic shear-stress amplitude
e100void ratio at a vertical effective stress of 100 kPa of 4 angle of shearing resistance
reconstituted soil
F(e) void ratio function

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