Creep behaviour of undisturbed London clay in triaxial stress space

Abstract

The evolution of the creep strain component in triaxial stress space was investigated through performing a series of multistage drained compression tests on London Clay using a specially designed locally instrumented triaxial apparatus. Experiments along specifically defined stress paths showed significant rotation of the local creep strain component as the samples were sheared towards failure. The results indicate a need for a more complex plastic potential function to correctly predict incremental creep strains at different states in triaxial stress space. Creep deformations for stress path controlled drained compression tests were also found to require a reinterpretation of the classic secondary compression behaviour. Creep strain-rates were found to fall well outside the normal power decay function. Test data and previously reported drained creep test results on London Clay have been combined to provide a complete understanding of the incremental creep component. The experiments show how creep behaviour significantly depends on the stress conditions imposed and the approaching strain rate.