Experimental Study on Parameters of Hardening Soil Model with Small Strain Stiffness for Marine Sand in Yangjiang, Guangdong

Abstract:

The resonant frequency and the tilt of the offshore wind turbine foundation should be strictly controlled at natural cyclic load such as wind， wave and current， resulting in the fact that the characteristics of small strain modulus of soil should be considered in the design. The hardening soil model with small strain stiffness （HSS） parameters of typical marine sand in Yangjiang， Guangdong， including the effective stress strength parameters and stiffness parameters， were obtained by using conventional oedometer， GDS triaxial and bender elements. The relationships among stiffness parameters of marine sand were also analyzed. It is found that the measured small strain shear modulus G₀ is much smaller than the predictions made by empirical equations based on clean sands. The method to predict the HSS model parameters of marine sands in this area are furthermore suggested.