Shear strength behaviour of coral gravelly sand subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading

The paper presents an experimental study on the strength behaviour of a coral gravelly sand from Vietnam subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading. A series of direct shear tests were carried out to investigate the shear strength behaviour and the factors affecting the shear strength of the sand such as relative density, cyclic load, amplitude of the cyclic load and loading rate. The study results indicate that the shear strength parameters of the coral gravelly sand include not only internal friction angle but also apparent cohesion. These parameters vary with the relative density, cyclic load, the amplitude of the cyclic load and loading rate. The shear strength increases with the increase of the relative density. The shear strength increases after subjecting to cyclic loading. The amplitude of the cyclic load affects the shear strength of coral gravelly sand, the shear strength increases as the amplitude of the cyclic load increases. The loading rate has insignificantly effect on the shear strength of the coral gravelly sand.