Effect of cyclic loading on the behaviour of a chemically stabilised soft soil reinforced with steel fibres

Abstract This work studies the effect of cyclic loading on the behaviour of a soft soil chemically stabilized with Portland cement and blast furnace granulated slag (proportion 75/25) and reinforced with steel fibres. The influence on accumulated permanent axial strain and on the unconfined compressive strength and stiffness, determined by unconfined compression strength tests, is evaluated for different numbers of load cycles applied initially to the samples. For the conditions tested, the results of the cyclic stage indicate there is a number of load cycles below which the accumulated permanent axial strain increases with the number of cycles, whereas above it, it remains almost constant. The results of the UCS tests show an increase in strength with the number of cycles, which is more pronounced in the tests performed with a low number of cycles. It was also observed an increase in stiffness until 2500 cycles were reached, while for higher number of cycles the opposite occurs.