Influence of the initial static stress state on the accumulation behaviour of a coarse-grained soil under long-term cyclic loading

A series of cyclic triaxial tests were carried out to explore the accumulation behaviour of coarse-grained soil (CGS) with different initial static stress states. The test results show that more accumulated axial strain can be detected for the specimen with a higher initial stress ratio or a lower confining stress under identical cyclic loading. The plastic shakedown limits are then identified, which indicates that a higher initial stress ratio or a lower confining pressure yields a lower plastic shakedown limit. Furthermore, the stress states at the plastic shakedown limit for the soils with various initial static stress states are presented in the plane of p -q, and all data trended towards converging on a straight line, which is approximately parallel to the strength envelope. A united plastic shakedown criterion is then proposed for soils under different initial stress states, which provides a simple approach to predicting the plastic shakedown limit.