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The main aim of the research was to study the behaviour of a silty clay under two-way cyclic loading. Equipment was developed for the application of a sinusoidally varying deviator stress to a sample in the triaxial cell. The equipment was designed to apply deviator stresses in both compression and extension during each cycle. ii A programme of monotonic and two-way cyclic triaxial tests has been performed on samples of Keuper Marl, isotropically consolidated to a range of stress histories. The build-up of strain and pore pressure during repeated loading is discussed. A model is developed, within the framework of the critical state theory of soil mechanics, to predict the amount of pore pressure produced by a given number of loading cycles at a known stress level. An extension of the model is suggested whereby the varied loading, more appropriate to offshore foundation conditions, may be analysed. In addition, a programme of monotonic and cyclic simple shear tests has been performed. The equipment has been developed, during the course of the research, to enable the direct measurement of pore pressure during shear. At attempt has also been made to monitor the change in lateral stress during shear by means of an instrumented membrane. The results of the simple shear tests have been analysed and are presented in terms of horizontal shear stress and effective vertical stress. An attempt has been made. to deduce the principal stresses present in a sample subject to simple shear loading and a method of relating the results from monotonic tests using simple shear and triaxial devices is discussed.

Slope instabilities have been affecting the grade slope of Provincial Trunk Highway 5 near the junction with Provincial Trunk Highway 10 in northwestern Manitoba for over 50 years. In recent years, the instabilities have resulted in significant damage to the highway pavement surface. In 2011, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation initiated a geotechnical investigation to gain a better understanding of the failure, identify possible failure mechanisms, and explore various remedial design alternatives in order to stabilize the slope. The site was instrumented with slope inclinometers and vibrating wire piezometers, and monitored over a period of two years. An extensive laboratory testing program was completed to compare the results of direct shear tests and torsional ring shear tests for determining the shear strength of the underlying Cretaceous clay shale. Measured values were compared with values back analyzed using limit equilibrium analysis. A coupled finite element model was used to model the expected excess porewater pressure response, and therefore the stability of the slope, during construction of a stabilization berm. It was subsequently calibrated to agree with the measured porewater pressure responses from the instrumentation. Finally, spring flood conditions were simulated to determine the effect of multiple flash flood events on the stability of the slope.

As scouring around foundations is the most common cause of bridge failures, one of the most pressing questions of this research is to determine whether or not it is possible to predict the critical shear stress of different soil types using only soil property information. This report shows that it is possible to predict critical shear stress and determines the soil properties that are required to predict the critical shear stress based on soils from Georgia. Multiple methods to predict soil erodibility categories are developed based on the amount of soil information available to the researcher. The report shows how the methods to predict soil erodibility can be integrated with HYRISK, a scour risk assessment tool. In particular, the probabilities of bridge failures and expected economic losses are calculated for approximately 40 bridges in Georgia; soil erodibility characteristics for these bridges are calculated using the methods developed in this thesis. The goal of this thesis is to provide a faster and more cost-effective approach to calculate critical shear stress ranges likely to be encountered at a bridge foundation. Implementation of theses methodologies will help balance funding for new and existing bridges while simultaneously ensuring safe bridge foundation and minimizing economic consequences associated with overbuilding a bridge and/or having to retrofit or replace a bridge that has scour damage due to underbuilding it to withstand a major storm event.