Influence of water content on strength and deformation properties of graded crushed stone under both static and dynamic stress conditions

The aim of this study is to investigate strength and deformation behavior of the graded crushed stone varying with water content, being 5%, 7.3% and 8.6%, respectively, through a series of large-scale monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests. The influence of the water content on strength characteristic such as friction angle, cohesion and deformation modulus (E50) is explored by monotonic triaxial tests. The factors like water content, dynamic stress level, number of cycles affecting the permanent axial deformation were examined by cyclic triaxial tests. The experimental results show that water content has greater influence on the cohesion force than friction angle, and the increase in water leads to a decrease of deformation modulus (E50). The coupling effects between dynamic stress level and water content is required for the permanent axial deformation analysis with number of load cycles. In addition, the envelope curves of the critical dynamic stress are determined with different water content to provide reference for the railway subgrade design. © 2016 ejge.