NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

Chapter 4 Lecture 26 Stresses in Soil Mass - 10 Topics

1.3.12 Hvorslevs Parameters 1.3.13 Creep in Soils

1.3.12 Hvorslevs Parameters

Considering cohesion to be the result of physic-chemical bond forces (thus the interparticle spacing and hence void ratio), Hvorslev (1937) expressed the shear strength of a soil in the form = + tan (56)

Where and are true cohesion and true angle of friction, respectively, which are dependent on void ratio. The procedure for determination of the above parameters can be explained with the aid of figure 41, which shows the relation of the moisture content (i.e., void ratio) with effective consolidation pressure. Points 2 and 3 represent normally consolidated stages of a soil and point 1 represents the overconsolidation stage. We now test the soil samples represented by points 1, 2, and 3 in an undrained condition. The effective-stress Mohrs circles at failure are given in figure 41b. The soil specimens at points 1 and 2 in figure 41a have the same moisture content and, hence, the same void ratio. If we draw a common tangent to the Mohrs circles 1 and 2, the slope of the tangent will give and the intercept on the shear stress axis will give .

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Figure 41 Variation of true angle of friction with plasticity index. (Redrawn after L. Bjerrum, and N. E. Simons, Comparison of Shear Strength Characteristics of Normally Consolidated Clay, Proc. Research Conference on shear Strength of Cohesive Soils, ASCE, 1960)

1.3.13

Creep in Soils

Like metals and concrete, most soils exhibit creep, i.e., continued deformation under a sustained loading (figure 42). In order to understand figure 79, consider several similar clay specimens subjected to standard undrained loading. For specimen no, 1, if a deviator stress (1 3 )1 < (1 3 ) is applied, the strain vs. time ( . ) relation will be similar to that shown by curve 1. If specimen no. 2 is subjected a deviator stress (1 3 )2 < (1 3 )1 < (1 3 ) , the strain vs. time relation may be similar to that shown by curve 2. After the occurrence of a large strain, creep failure will take place in the specimen.

Figure 42 Creep in soils In general, the strain vs. time plot for a given soil can be divided into three parts: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary part is the transient stage; this is followed by a steady state, which is secondary creep. The tertiary part is the stage during which there is a rapid strain which results in failure. Although the
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secondary stage is referred to as steady-state creep, in reality a true steady state creep may not really exist (Singh and Mitchell 1968), figure 43 shows the plot of creep strain vs. time for a number of soils.

Figure 43 Sustained stress-creep curves for some clays. (After A. singh and J. K. Mitchell, General Stress-Strain-Time Functions for Soils, J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., ASCE, vol. 94, no. SM1, 1968.) It was observed by Singh and Mitchell (1968) that for most soils (i.e., sand, clay-dry, wet, normally consolidated, and overconsolidated) the logarithm of strain rate has an approximately linear relation with the logarithm of time. This fact is, illustrated in figure 44 for remolded San Francisco Bay mud. The strain rate is defined as

Figure 44 Plot of log . log() during undrained creep of remolded San Francisco Bay mud. (After A. Singh and J. K. Mitchell, General Stress-Strain-Time Functions for Soils, J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., ASCE, vol. 94, no. SM1, 1968.) =

(61)
3

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NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

Where = strain rate = strain = time From figure 44, it is apparent that the slope of the log . log plot for a given soil is constant irrespective of the level of the deviator stress. When the failure stage due to creep at a given deviator stress level is reached, the log . log plot will show a reversal of slope as shown in figure 45.

Figure 45 Nature of variation of log . log() for a given deviator stress showing the failure stage at large strains Figure 46 shows the nature of the variation of the creep strain rate with deviator stress = 1 3 at a given time t after the start of the creep. For small values of the deviator stress, the curve of . is convex upward. Beyond this portion, . is approximately a straight line. When the value of D approximately reaches the strength of the soil, the curve takes an upward turn, signaling impending failure

Figure 46 Variation of the strain rate with deviator stress at a given time t after the start of the test
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For a mathematical interpretation of the variation of strain rate with the deviator stress, several investigators (e.g., Christensen and Wu, 1964; Mitchell et al., 1968) have used the rate-process theory. Christensen and Das (1973) also used the rate-process theory to predict the rate of erosion of cohesive soils. The fundamentals of the rate-process theory can be explained as follows. Consider the soil specimen shown in figure 47. The deviator stress on the specimen is = 1 3 . Let the shear stress along a plane AA in the specimen be equal to . The shear stress is resisted by the bonds at the points of contact of the particles along AA. Due to the shear stress the weaker bonds will be overcome, with the result that shear displacement occurs at these localities. As this displacement proceeds, the force carried by the weaker bonds is transmitted partly or fully to stronger bonds. The effect of applied shear stress can thus be considered as making some flow units cross the energy barriers as shown in figure 48, in which is equal to the activation energy (in cal/mole of flow unit). The frequency of activation of the flow units to overcome the energy barriers can be given by =

(62)

Where = frequency of activation = Boltzmann; s constant = 1.38 1016 / = 3.29 1024 / = absolute temperature = Plank s constant = 6.624 1027 erg/s = free energy of activation, cal/mol = universal gas constans = Avogadro s number = 6.02 1023

Figure 47

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Figure 48 Definition of activation energy Now, referring to figure 49 when a force f is applied across a flow unit, the energy-barrier height is reduced by /2 in the direction of the force and increased by /2 in the opposite direction. By this, the frequency of activation in the direction of the force is

Figure 49 Derivation of equation (73)

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/ /2

(63)

And, similarly the frequency of activation in the opposite direction becomes =

/+ /2

(64)

Where is the distance between successive equilibrium positions. So, the net frequency of activation in the direction of the force is equal to / /2 / + /2 = =
2

(65)

The rate of strain in the direction of the applied force can be given by = (66)

Where is a constant depending on the successful barrier crossing. So, = 2

(67)

In the above equation, = Where the shear stress and S is is the number of flow units per unit area. For triaxial shear test conditions. =
2

(68)

1 3 2

(69)

Combining equations (68 and 69), = 2 Substituting equation (70) into equation (67), we get = 2

(70)

(71)

For large stresses to cause significant creep i.e., > 0.25; = 0.25(1 3 ) (Mitchell et al., 1968)/4 is greater than 1. So, in that case, sinh 4 2
1 4

(72)
7

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Hence, from equations (71 and 72) =

(73) (74)

= exp() Where =

(75) (76)

And = 4

The quantity A is likely to vary with time because of the variation of x and with time. B is a constant for a given value of the effective consolidation pressure.

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