The interface resistance during installation is crucial for the stability and safety of suction caisson in offshore geotechnical engineering, which is strongly affected by the penetration rate and soil-structure interface mechanical properties. This research conducts a series of clay-structure interface shear tests using modified direct simple shear device to fully study the mechanical behavior of clay-suction caisson interface. The effect of shear rate, over consolidation ratios (OCRs), interface boundary conditions, stress levels, and interface roughness were considered. Results show that as the OCR increases, the strength of both the clay and interface increase but show distinct patterns under constant volume (CV) and constant normal load (CNL) boundary condition. It was found that the interface strength is positively related to interface roughness and shear rate impact both the clay and corresponding interface strength. Under CNL conditions, the strength of normally consolidated (NC) clay decreases with rising shear rate, while the over consolidated (OC) clay demonstrate a opposite trend. In contrast, the effect of shear rate on interface behavior gets complicated owing to the combination of roughness, stress levels, and OCRs. Under CV conditions, the shear strength of clay and interface exhibits a logarithmic growth relationship with shear rates. The result of this work can provide a basis for interface resistance evaluation for suction caisson installation in clay.

Based on the modified simple direct shear device which can directly measure the interface pore pressure and interface shear displacement, a series of interface shear tests and corresponding pure clay shear tests were conducted at an undrained state in constant normal load (CNL) boundary conditions or equivalent undrained state in constant volume (CV) boundary conditions. The clay-structure interfaces, consisting of seabed clay and Speswhite kaolin clay with overconsolidation ratios (OCR) of 1 and 3, were tested at three shear rates, respec-tively V1 = 0.0002 mm/s, V2 = 0.001 mm/s, and V3 = 0.01 mm/s. The results demonstrated that the shear strength of the clay-structure interface is lower than that of pure clay, and this difference is more pronounced under CV boundary conditions. In CNL condition, though the pure clay strength decreases with increasing shear rate at OCR = 1 and increases with increasing shear rate at OCR = 3, the shear rate effect on clay-structure interface strength is not obvious. In CV condition, the strength of the interface with the normally consolidated (NC) and over consolidated (OC) clay increases approximately linearly with the shear rate on the semi -logarithmic scale. the shear rate parameter p is used to describe the growth rate of pure clay or clay-structure interface shear strength with a tenfold increase in shear rate. As for normally consolidated clay, in CV condi-tion, the corresponding shear rate parameter satisfies that p (with R1 roughness)> p (pure clay)> p (with R2 roughness). The rate parameter corresponding to NC seabed clay is significantly higher than the rate parameter corresponding to NC Speswhite kaolin clay. For OC clay, the shear rate parameter for interface strength is higher than that for pure clay, meeting with the relationship that p (with R1 roughness)> p (with R2 roughness)> p (pure clay).