Effect of compaction conditions and fines content on cyclic undrained strength of saturated soils

This study investigates cyclic undrained strength of five types of sandy/silt soils that have various fines contents and are compacted at different combinations of molding water content and dry density. Results of conventional cyclic undrained triaxial testing of saturated compacted soils are compared. The study also investigates fabrics of the soil specimens compacted at different molding water contents using X-ray tomography imaging. The results show that the cyclic undrained strength properties are significantly influenced by the molding water content and dry density, but the trend differs depending on the fines content of compacted soils. In this paper, as a promising way to evaluate the cyclic undrained strength of compacted soils that have different fines contents and thus compaction properties, we describe the cyclic undrained strength as a function of the degree of saturation and dry density.