Creep behavior of unsaturated cohesive soils subjected to various stress levels

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out on disturbed clay samples to analyze their creep behavior. The experimental program included compression triaxial tests with varied degree of saturation of the samples and stress level. Triaxial tests were performed at imposed strain rate varied from 0.005 to 0.10%/min. Various stress paths have also been tested including isotropic consolidation and deviatoric stress. The obtained results showed that shear deformation increases with the initial degree of saturation and stress level of clay samples. At fixed stress level and for both isotropic and deviatoric stress paths, the initial degree of saturation and the second invariant of the strain tensor varied with a similar trend. The variation of axial creep strain is correlated with time in a semi-logarithmic function.