Test research on the tensile properties of remoulded clay

The tensile behaviors of remoulded clay are investigated with a strain-controlled tensile apparatus. A lot of tests are conducted in order to evaluate the effects of dry density, moisture content, and ratio of height to diameter on the tensile stress-strain curves, tensile strength, peak stain and tensile strain energy density. The experimental results show that (1) moisture content and dry density have crucial influence on the tensile behaviors of soil. With the increasing moisture content, the tensile strength first increases and then decreases linearly. The tensile strength decreases linearly with the decreasing dry density. Changes in the height and diameter of soil samples have little effect on the tensile strength under the condition of the same ratio of height to diameter. (2) Peak strain is dependent on the shape of the stress-strain curve and is mainly affected by the tensile strength, plasticity and failure mode. (3) The stress-strain curves can be roughly divided into four types according to the curve shape. (4) The tensile strain energy density is determined by the tensile stress-strain curves. Moisture content and dry density have a great effect on the tensile strain energy density because the former affects the tensile strength and plasticity and the latter has an impact on the tensile strength and internal structure. For the soil samples with the same ratio of height to diameter, changes in height and diameter have little effect on the tensile strain energy density.