Abstract: In practical engineering, soil arching effect is inevitably affected by cyclic loading. To investigate the effects of internal friction angle, cyclic loading amplitudes, and cyclic loading frequencies on soil arching, a discrete element model was set up based on Trapdoor model tests by PFC^2D in this paper. The validity of the discrete element model was verified by comparison between the discrete element results and experimental data of stress and deformation. Furthermore, a degradation parameter α of soil arching was defined to quantify the degradation of soil arching. Results manifested that soil arching did degrade under localized cyclic loading. With the expansion of internal friction angle, the degradation parameter α gradually declined, indicating an attenuation in the degradation of soil arching. In the meantime, the degradation parameter α increased with the growth of cyclic loading amplitudes and frequencies, respectively, implying that the degradation of soil arching intensified.

Key words: localized cyclic loading, discrete element, soil arching effect, Trapdoor model tests, analogical soil