Abstract: In practical situations, soils are frequently subjected to the simultaneous action of consolidation and shearing, namely, sheared under partially drained condition. To simulate this action, the triaxial compression testing method is adopted while keeping the water outlet valve open during shearing at different axial-strain rates. Partially drained shearing tests are carried out on remolded saturated kaolin specimens. The stress-strain behavior under the interactions of volumetric strain and pore-water pressure is analyzed. The test results show that under partially drained condition, the induced pore-water pressure increases and the shear strength decreases with the increase in the rate of axial strain. The critical-state line is, however, independent of the axial strain rate and the drainage condition.

Key words: saturated Kaolin, partially drained shearing, strain rate, pore pressure, volumetric strain, shear strength