The creep characteristics and related evolution of particle morphology for calcareous sand

Abstract

In the study, the creep characteristics and meso-mechanism of calcareous sand under different stresses are explored through triaxial creep tests. The influence of particle size on calcareous sand creep is also considered. Furthermore, the particularity of calcareous sand creep is revealed by comparing with the creep behavior of silica sand. The results show that during creep, the calcareous sand is more stable than silica sand due to the interlocking of irregular particles. When creep deviatoric stress is small, the creep of calcareous sand is manifested as nonlinear attenuation creep (primary creep), and the creep deformation is smooth without creep failure. With the increase of creep deviatoric stress, the creep deformation is concentrated, resulting in a strain concentration zone similar to the shear band, and the associated creep rate first decreases and then suddenly increases, finally, creep failure occurs. With increasing particle size of calcareous sand, the particle crushing increases, which induces a higher creep deformation, however, the overall creep failure is not generated. During the graded creep of calcareous sand, an obvious creep structural effect is observed, which is temporary and results in a significantly reduction of creep rate. Only after the previous creep structure effect is destroyed by the continuously creep process, the creep response can restore to its original behavior. The meso-behavior is represented by particle morphology, i.e., the fractal dimension and aspect ratio. It is found that both confining pressure and particle size can influence the evolution of particle morphology during creep. With the increase of confining pressure, the fractal dimension of calcareous sand decreases which means that particle grinding is always existent, while the aspect ratio of small-sized calcareous sand after creep decreases first and then stabilizes (slightly increases), suggesting that the overall particle breakage is the main cause of deformation. However, the aspect ratio of large-sized calcareous sand continually decreases, indicating that the main contribution for its deformation is angular cracking. The mesoscopic behavior of silica sand is basically unaffected by creep, and its creep deformation is mainly caused by particle rearrangement.