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INTRODUCTION
Cyclic Simple Shear test is used to investigate the dynamic behavior of soils. It has some advantages over
the cyclic triaxial testing as loading mechanism better simulates the earthquake conditions. Also the
consolidation is anisotropic thereby simulating the at rest conditions in the field. The test is used to study
the cyclic response of both the fine grained and coarse grained soils. The cyclic behavior can be
investigated either by keeping the vertical stress constant or consolidated height constant during the cyclic
loading.
Concept:
Cyclic simple shear test has been predominantly used to study the liquefaction characteristics under
constant volume drained conditions wherein the any change in normal stress is equivalent to the change in
effective stress and is equal to the excess pore water pressure that would occur in an otherwise truly
undrained test. Dynamic properties are evaluated in either undisturbed or reconstituted states by using
either stress or strain controlled cyclic simple shear device.
Unsymmetrical wave forms under both the stress and strain control, non-uniformity of pulse duration, load
fall-off at large strains must not exceed tolerances.
Experimental Setup:
1
4
The test can be performed on both the intact and reconstituted specimens
Intact specimens should be trimmed to the lateral dimension of confinement device (70 mm)
Reconstituted specimens prepared at the required density can be tested both at unsaturated and
saturated conditions
Saturation of the specimens can be achieved by pushing water through the bottom of the specimen
under a hydrostatic head of up to 1 m
Anisotropic consolidation of the specimens is achieved under a desired vertical stress by creating
Advanced Shear Box stage in GDSLAB Device Module and the change in height is measured by the
axial LVDTs
Consolidated specimens are then subjected to
o Strain Control
o Stress Control
Under
o Constant consolidated height
o Constant vertical stress
At a desired loading frequency (0.0001 to5 Hz) and loading amplitude (± 8mm fort strain control and 5 kN
for stress control)
The test stops itself as per the inputs given during creation of various stages (max. test time, Mac.
Vertical stress, Number of cycles, Max. shear strain)
Input Loading
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
Shear displacement, mm
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02 0 20 40 60 80 100
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
-0.12
-0.14
Time in sec.
Output Loading
0.08
0.06
Horizontal load, kN)
0.04
0.02
0
-0.15 -0.05 0.05 0.15
-0.02
-0.04
Horizontal displacement,mm
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Normal load, kN
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Time in sec
Analysis Output Loading
20
15
Shear stress, (kPa)
10
0
-0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
-5
-10
Shear strain, (%)
100
Equivalent excess pore water pressure
90
80
70
60
(kPa)
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Number of cycles, N
Stress Control Cyclic Simple Shear Testing
Input loading
CSR = 0.15
𝜎v = 100 kPa
Frequency = 0.1 Hz
20
15
10
Horizontal load, kPa
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
-5
-10
-15
-20
Time in sec
Output Loading
0.08
0.06
0.04
Horizontal Load, kN
0.02
0
-10 -5 0 5 10
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
Horizontal displacement, mm
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Normal Load ,kN 0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Time in sec
15
10
Shear stress, (kPa)
0
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
-5
-10
-15
-20
Shear strain, (%)
100
DATA ANALYSIS
Observation Sheet for controlled Cyclic Simple Shear Test (Constant volume):
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
Time No. of Horizontal Normal Horizontal Shear Shear Normal Pore
cycles Load (kN) Load Displacement Stress Strain Stress pressure=
(kN) (mm) =(C3/A) =(C5/Hc) =(C4/A) v -C8
Calculation of Dynamic Properties
Gs=c/c
Input data:
Output data:
For Strain controlled cyclic simple shear test
Horizontal load versus horizontal displacement
Normal load versus Time
For Stress controlled cyclic simple shear test
Horizontal load versus horizontal displacement
Normal load versus Time
A cyclic simple shear test was performed on silty-sand. The in-situ density and in-situ water content was
1.6 gm/cc and 8 % respectively. The shear strength parameters was c=0 & Φ = 29 deg. The strain controlled
cyclic simple shear test was performed on specimens at 0.1 Hz frequency and 0.12 mm displacement
amplitude. The size of the specimen was 70 mm diameter and 20 mm height. The specimen was
consolidated at vertical pressure of 100 kPa and
0.14
0.12
0.1
Horizontal displacement, mm
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02 0 20 40 60 80 100
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
-0.12
-0.14
Time in sec.
0.06
Horizontal load, kN
0.04
0.02
0
-0.15 -0.05 0.05 0.15
-0.02
-0.04
Horizontal displacement,mm
Normal load versus time
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Normal load, kN
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Time in sec
20
15
Shear stress, (kPa)
10
0
-0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
-5
-10
Shear strain, (%)
ii. Equivalent excess pore pressure versus Number of cycles
(pore pressure ratio = equivalent excess pore pressure/initial vertical stress;
th
At 20 cycle, pore pressure ratio is 1, which indicates that soil has liquefied.)
100
Equivalent excess pore water pressure
90
80
70
60
(kPa)
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Number of cycles, N
Results:
The first five cycles are usually considered for calculating shear modulus and damping ratio. The values
for the first cycle are:
G = 2385 kPa
D = 35 %
The specimen exhibited cyclic liquefaction in 20 cycles. The pore water pressure reached the vertical
normal stress of 100 kPa indicating a state of zero effective stress. The soil showed liquefaction in 20
cycles for cyclic simple shear loading of 0.12 mm horizontal displacement amplitude at 0.1 Hz
frequency. Shear strain corresponding to 0.12 mm horizontal displacement is 0.6 %.