The effects of the principal stress direction on the deformation behavior of frozen silt clay under the cyclic loading

•A series of hollow cylindrical tests were conducted on frozen silt clay by cyclic loading under different principal stress direction.•Effect of the principal stress direction on the deformation characteristics of frozen silt clay were investigated detailly under cyclic loading.•Basic on the test results, an empirical model that can predict the principal strain increases direction and quantity under different principal stress direction was established.