Response of Non-Saturated Soil to Cyclic Loading

The response of partially saturated and dry sand materials under cyclic loading is controlled by the compressibility of the pore fluid. For dry sand the limiting axial and volumetric strain occurs within 5 to 15 cycles of load application and is a function of the number of cycles of cyclic stress, relative density, and effective consolidation pressure. In addition the axial strain is shown to be independent of the consolidation stress ratio for loose sand and decreases with increasing consolidation stress ratio for dense sand under a constant cyclic stress