EFFECTS OF DYNAMIC TRAFFIC LOAD FREQUENCY ON CONSOLIDATION BEHAVIOR OF SOFT CLAY UNDER LOW EMBANKMENT: EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION

Soft soil is widely distributed over coastal and riverside regions, where the embankment loads are sensitive for differential settlement. In a marine environment, dynamic loading forms a significant proportion of the loading and this decides the safety of many structures founded on the ocean bed. Low embankments may be subjected to dynamic loading in the form of traffic loads, earthquake forces, ocean wave loads, and wind loads. When dynamic cyclic loading is applied, the post-construction settlement of the embankment might increase significantly in comparison with that for static loading, depending upon the magnitude and frequency of the load and the nature of soft soil. This paper used a model of dynamic traffic load to study the effect of cyclic loading frequency on the consolidation behavior of soft clay under low embankments. The experimental results show that the consolidation deformation of the soil samples is independent of the frequency of the dynamic cyclic loading, which was simulated to follow the half-sine wave, and it is consistent with the classic theory of consolidation developed by Terzaghi.