DEFORMATION AND STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL SUBJECTED TO REPEATED AND SUSTAINED LOADS

A SIMPLE REPEATED LOADING EQUIPMENT WAS DESIGNED, FABRICATED AND TESTED. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION WAS CARRIED OUT USING THIS EQUIPMENT TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF NUMBER OF REPETITIONS, MAGNITUDE OF STRESS, FREQUENCY AND DURATION OF STRESS APPLICATION ON DEFORMATION AND STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF SOIL SPECIMENS. IT WAS NOTICED THAT THERE IS AN OPTIMUM STRESS LEVEL FOR PREVIOUS LOADING WHICH WOULD GIVE MAXIMUM INCREASE IN STRENGTH VALUES. FREQUENCY OF LOADING HAS EFFECT ON BOTH DEFORMATION AND STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS. THE EFFECTS OF REPEATED AND SUSTAINED STRESS APPLICATIONS WERE COMPARED. SUSTAINED LOADING IS LESS SEVERE THAN REPEATED LOADING AT LOW STRESS LEVELS; BUT AT HIGH STRESS LEVELS, SUSTAINED LOADING MAY BE MORE SEVERE. /AUTHOR/