Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nonlinearity of one-dimensional creep characteristics of soft clays

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Acta Geotechnica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study focuses on the quantitative description of the evolution of creep coefficient (C αe) with both soil density and soil structure under 1D compression. Firstly, conventional consolidation test results on various reconstituted clays are selected in order to investigate the evolution of C αe with void ratio of soils, which can be described by a simple nonlinear creep formulation. Secondly, the contributions of the inter-particle bonding and debonding for soft structured clays to C αe are analyzed based on test results on intact and reconstituted samples of the same clay. A material constant ρ, function of the bonding ratio χ, is introduced in order to quantify the contribution of the soil structure to C αe, and a nonlinear creep formulation accounting for both soil density and soil structure is finally proposed. Furthermore, the parameters used in the formulation are correlated with Atterberg limits, allowing us to suggest a relationship between C αe, Atterberg limits and inter-particle bonding for a given soil. Finally, the validity of the proposed formulation is examined by comparing experimental and predicted C αe values for both reconstituted and intact samples of natural soft clays. The proposed formulation is also validated by comparing the computed and measured void ratio with time on two intact clays.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Adachi T, Oka F (1982) Constitutive equations for normally consolidated clay based on elasto-viscoplasticity. Soils Found 22(4):57–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Augustesen A, Liingaard M, Lade PV (2004) Evaluation of time-dependent behavior of soils. Int J Geomech 4(3):137–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bjerrum L (1967) Engineering geology of Norwegian normally-consolidated marine clays as related to settlements of building. Géotechnique 17(2):81–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Burland JB (1990) On the compressibility and shear strength of natural clays. Géotechnique 40(3):329–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Biarez J, Hicher PY (1994) Elementary mechanics of soil behaviour. Balkema, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chen XP, Zeng LL, Lü J, Qian H, Kuang LW (2008) Experimental study of mechanical behavior of structured clay. Rock Soil Mech 29(12):3223–3228

    Google Scholar 

  7. Desai DS, Sane S, Jenson J (2011) Constitutive modeling including creep- and rate-dependent behavior and testing of glacial tills for prediction of motion of glaciers. Int J Geomech 11(6):465–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gens A, Nova R (1993) Conceptual bases for a constitutive model for bonded soils and weak rocks. In: Proceedings of international symposium on hard soils–soft rocks, Athens, pp 485–494

  9. Graham J, Crooks JHA, Bell AL (1983) Time effects on the stress-strain behaviour of natural soft clays. Géotechnique 33(3):327–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Karstunen M, Yin Z-Y (2010) Modelling time-dependent behaviour of Murro test embankment. Géotechnique 60(10):735–749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kutter BL, Sathialingam N (1992) Elastic-viscoplastic modelling of the rate-dependent behaviour of clays. Géotechnique 42(3):427–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Leoni M, Karstunen M, Vermeer PA (2008) Anisotropic creep model for soft soils. Géotechnique 58(3):215–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Leroueil S, Kabbaj M (1987) Discussion on ‘Composition and compressibility of typical samples of Mexico City clay’ by Mesri et al. J Geotech Eng Div 113(9):1067–1070

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Leroueil S, Kabbaj M, Tavenas F (1988) Study of the validity of a \( \sigma_{\text{v}}^{\prime } - \varepsilon_{\text{v}} - \dot{\varepsilon }_{\text{v}} \) model in in situ conditions. Soils Found 28(3):13–25

  15. Leroueil S, Kabbaj M, Tavenas F, Bouchard R (1985) Stress–strain–strain rate relation for the compressibility of sensitive natural clays. Géotechnique 35(2):159–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Li Q, Ng CWW, Liu G (2012) Low secondary compressibility and shear strength of Shanghai clay. J Cent South Univ 19(8):2323–2332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Mesri G, Godlewski P (1977) Time and stress-compressibility interrelationship. J Geotech Eng Div 103(5):417–430

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mitchell JK, Soga K (2005) Fundamentals of soil behavior. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  19. Niemunis A, Grandas-Tavera CE, Prada-Sarmiento LF (2009) Anisotropic visco-hypoplasticity. Acta Geotech 4:293–314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Nagaraj TS, Srinivasa Murthy BR (1983) Rationalization of Skempton’s compressibility equation. Géotechnique 33(40):433–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Nagaraj TS, Pandian NS, Narasimha Raju PSR, Vishnu Bhushan T (1995) Stress-state-time permeability relationships for saturated soils. In: Proceedings of the International symposium on compression and consolidation of clayey soils is–Hiroshima, Japan, pp 537–542

  22. Nash DFT, Sills GC, Davison LR (1992) One-dimensional consolidation testing of soft clay from Bothkennar. Géotechnique 42(2):241–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Smith PR, Jardine RJ, Hight DW (1992) On the yielding of Bothkennar clay. Géotechnique 42(2):257–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Stapelfeldt T, Lojander M, Vepsäläinen P (2007) Determination of horizontal permeability of soft clay. In: Proceeding of the 17th international conference of soil mechanics and foundations, vol 3, Madrid, pp 1385–1389

  25. Suneel M, Park LK, Im JC (2008) Compressibility characteristics of Korean marine clay. Mar Georesour Geotechnol 26:111–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Vermeer PA, Neher HP (1999) A soft soil model that accounts for creep. In: Proceedings Plaxis symposium “beyond 2000 in computational geotechnics”, Amsterdam, pp 249–262

  27. Yin JH (1999) Non-linear creep of soils in oedometer tests. Géotechnique 49(5):699–707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Yin J (2015) Fundamental issues of elastic viscoplastic modelling of the time-dependent stress–strain behavior of geomaterials. Int J Geomech. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000485

  29. Yin JH, Graham J (1989) Viscous elastic plastic modelling of one-dimensional time dependent behavior of clays. Can Geotech J 26:199–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Yin JH, Zhu JG, Graham J (2002) A new elastic viscoplastic model for time-dependent behaviour of normally and overconsolidated clays: theory and verification. Can Geotech J 39:157–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Yin ZY, Hicher PY (2008) Identifying parameters controlling soil delayed behaviour from laboratory and in situ pressuremeter testing. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 32(12):1515–1535

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  32. Yin ZY, Chang CS, Karstunen M, Hicher PY (2010) An anisotropic elastic viscoplastic model for soft soils. Int J Solids Struct 47(5):665–677

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  33. Yin ZY, Karstunen M, Chang CS, Koskinen M, Lojander M (2011) Modeling time-dependent behavior of soft sensitive clay. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 137(11):1103–1113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Yin ZY, Xu Q, Yu C (2012) Elastic viscoplastic modeling for natural soft clays considering nonlinear creep. Int J Geomech. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000284

    Google Scholar 

  35. Yu XJ, Yin ZZ, Dong WJ (2007) Influence of load on secondary consolidation deformation of soft soils. Chin J Geotech Eng 29(6):913–916

    Google Scholar 

  36. Zeng LL, Hong ZS, Liu SY, Chen FQ (2012) Variation law and quantitative evaluation of secondary consolidation behavior for remolded clays. Chin J Geotech Eng 34(8):1496–1500

    Google Scholar 

  37. Zhang XW, Wang CM (2012) Effect of soft clay structure on secondary consolidation coefficient. Rock Soil Mech 33(2):476–482

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge with gratitude the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41372285), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (2015QNA64) and the European project CREEP (PIAPP-GA-2011-286397).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221008, People’s Republic of China

    Qi-Yin Zhu

  2. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen-Yu Yin

  3. Ecole Centrale de Nantes, GeM UMR CNRS 6183, LUNAM University, Nantes, France

    Zhen-Yu Yin & Pierre-Yves Hicher

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Shui-Long Shen

Authors
  1. Qi-Yin Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhen-Yu Yin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pierre-Yves Hicher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shui-Long Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhen-Yu Yin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhu, QY., Yin, ZY., Hicher, PY. et al. Nonlinearity of one-dimensional creep characteristics of soft clays. Acta Geotech. 11, 887–900 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-015-0411-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-015-0411-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation