Experimental study on different compression behaviors of natural clays caused by various stress paths

How to assess the effect of stress path on compression behaviors of natural soils is an important issue in geotechnical engineering practice. A series of GDS triaxial compression tests under different stress paths are performed. The change in compression behaviors under different stress paths is investigated. It is found that the mean yield effective stress and the compression index increase with the increase in stress ratio to the maximum and then decrease with the increase in stress ratio. The comparison of yield behaviors between triaxial compression tests and one-dimensional compression tests indicates that the coefficient of earth pressure at rest increases with stress level during the yielding of compression, and becomes constant when the stress level is in the post-yield state.