Abstract: The Stress path tests on saturated Wenzhou soft clays were conducted on the GDS dynamic triaxial testing system with variable confining pressures. Tests are performed with the slope of the stress path is set to be 1/3 with different initial effective confining stress and with various stress paths. The test results indicate that, the nonlinear strain hardening phenomena can be observed in different initial effective confining pressures and different stress paths. With the increase of initial effective consolidation pressure, the strength of the soft clay increases. Under a stress path slope of 1/3, all soil hardening curves are similar.

Key words: Soft Clays, Stress Path, Strength Characterization, Dynamic Triaxial Testing Equipment, Effective Consolidation Pressure