Study on Cyclic Bearing Capacity of Suction Pile Based on Equivalent Cyclic Creep Model

Abstract

In the process of cyclic loading, strain development not only presents the strain softening phenomenon, but also a strain hardening phenomenon, depending on the different values of static deflection stress. The strain hardening and strain softening characteristics of soft clay are studied by cyclic triaxial tests. The test results show that when the static deflection stress is zero, the value of cyclic cumulative strain is small, and the strain development presents the softening phenomenon. When the static deflection stress is greater than zero, the accumulation strain increases with increasing cyclic deflection stress, and the strain development present strain hardening phenomenon. Therefore, a strain softening index and strain hardening index were proposed to describe the cyclic characteristics of soil. Moreover, an equivalent cyclic creep model was established by considering the strain hardening index to describe cyclic characteristics of suction pile. The results obtained using the proposed method are in reasonably good agreement with the measured results. This can provide a new method for analyzing the cyclic characteristics of soil and the suction pile.