Response of cohesive–frictional soils at small to medium shear strain levels from thermo-controlled resonant column testing

The shear modulus and damping ratio are arguably the two most crucial soil parameters to be used in seismic site-response analyses and a wide variety of other geotechnical engineering applications involving soil materials subjected to dynamic loading. The dependency of these parameters on the level of load-induced shear strains in the field has been investigated rather extensively for different types of soils. Most experimental studies, however, have relied on a limited set of controlled environmental factors and stress variables, mainly soil moisture and confinement. The present work is an attempt to gain further insights into the possible impact of an additional critical factor: soil temperature. A resonant column apparatus was upgraded to assess the dynamic response of three types of cohesive–frictional soils as they transitioned from linear to nonlinear behavior under thermo-controlled cyclic torsional loading. Emphasis was placed on shear modulus degradation, and hence variation in damping ratio, with increasing shear strain amplitude (cyclic torque magnitude). Results showed a mostly detrimental effect of increasing soil temperature on the normalized shear modulus, damping ratio, and threshold shear strain of clayey, silty, and sandy soils when subject to small to medium shear strain levels.