The Evaluation of the Initial Shear Modulus of Selected Cohesive Soils

The paper concerns the evaluation of the initial stiffness of selected cohesive soils based on laboratory tests. The research materials used in this study were clayey soils taken from the area of the road embankment No. WD-18, on the 464th km of the S2 express-way, Konotopa-Airport route, Warsaw. The initial stiffness is represented here by the shear modulus (G_max) determined during resonant column tests. In the article, a number of literature empirical formulas for defining initial value of the shear modulus of soils being examined were adopted from the literature in order to analyze the data set. However, a large discrepancy between laboratory test results and the values of G_max calculated from empirical relationships resulted in the rejection of these proposals. They are inaccurate and do not allow for an exact evaluation of soil stiffness for selected cohesive soils. Hence, the authors proposed their own empirical formula that enables the evaluation of the test soils’ G_max in an easy and uncomplicated way. This unique formula describes mathematically the effect of certain soil parameters, namely mean effective stress ( p′) and void ratio (e), on the initial soil stiffness.