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This paper presents the results of a series of monotonic and post-cyclic triaxial tests carried out on a clay specimen and three types of clay-sand mixed specimens. The focus of the paper is on the post-cyclic mechanical behavior of the mixed specimens, as compared to their monotonic behavior. Analyses of the tests results show that cyclic loading degrade undrained shear strength and deformation modulus of the specimens during the post-cyclic monotonic loading. The degradation depends on the sand content, the cyclic strain level and to some degrees to the consolidation pressure.

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Mixed clayey soils occur as mixtures of sand (or gravel) and clay in widely varying proportions. Their

engineering behavior has not been comprehensively studied yet. An experimental program, comprising monotonic,

cyclic, and post-cyclic triaxial tests was undertaken on compacted clay-granular material mixtures, having different

proportions of clay and sand or gravel. This paper presents the results of cyclic triaxial tests and explains the behavior

of the mixtures based on number of loading cycles, cyclic strain amplitude, granular material content, grain size, and

effective confining pressure. The results indicate an increase in degree of degradation and cyclic loading-induced pore

water pressure as the number of loading cycles, cyclic strain and granular material content increase. Also the results

show that the grain size has no significant effect on the degree of degradation and cyclic loading-induced pore water

pressure in the specimens. The effect of granular material content on pore water pressure during cyclic loading in

equal-stress-level was also examined. The pore water pressure increases with the increase of granular material

content.

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The main objective of present study is to possible use of plastic waste materials for reinforcing clayey soils. An experimental study was planned to investigate compressibility and undrained shear behavior of clayey soil mixed with plastic waste. The mixtures were prepared with various amount of plastic waste (i.e. 0%, 0. 5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 3.0% in dry weight) and interactive effect of plastic waste, plastic flexibility, confining pressure and initial density on the behavior of clayey soil was studied by performing compaction, consolidated undrained triaxial and oedometer consolidation test. The results show that plastic wastes do not affect compaction characteristics of clayey soil considerably and adding them to the clay more than a specific value (i.e. 1.0% in this research) causes to change undrained behavior of samples from contractive to dilative. In addition, beyond this specific value, it improves shear strength and reduces compressibility of clay. The rate of increase in shear strength and decrease in compressibility depends on the confining pressure, flexibility of plastic and initial density of samples. It is more noticeable when plastic waste in mixtures is relatively rigid and density and confining pressure are high. Moreover, plastic waste has a negative effect on the free swelling, swelling pressure and swelling index of samples, so that these parameters for plastic waste mixed clay are higher than the associated values of plain clay.