Abstract: Current studies on the effect of wave loads on saturated silty clay are still mainly based on laboratory dynamic triaxial tests, which cannot truly reflect the continuous rotation of the principal stress axes induced by wave loads. In this study, a dynamic hollow cylindrical apparatus (DHCA) was used to carry out cyclic shear tests and post-cyclic static tests on Taizhou silty clay under different cyclic stress ratios (CSRs) and cyclic numbers. The cyclic characteristics, including pore water pressure development, stress-strain relationship, backbone curve, and stiffness degradation, were analyzed. A relationship function between the backbone curve and the number of cycles was established. Furthermore, under the same CSR condition, the shear strength after wave loading was positively correlated with the number of cycles. The shear modulus E₅₀ increased with the number of cycles, indicating possible stiffness strenthening rather than the stiffness softening observed in most previous triaxial tests. This study provides new experimental evidence and theoretical references for evaluating the engineering properties of saturated silty clay under wave loading.