Influence of temperature on elastic stiffness and time-dependent deformation behaviours of Hostun sand in triaxial compression test

Elastic stiffness and creep deformation of Hostun sand, at different shear stress levels and temperatures, wereinvestigated in this study. Hostun sand is widely treated as a standard sand used in geotechnical engineering research. A comprehensive series of temperature-controlled triaxial compression tests were performed on air-dried samples. During the drained heating stage, the sand sample was heated to different target temperatures (i.e., 30, 45 and 60°C), after which the temperature is held constant. In the shearing stages, the small strain-amplitude cyclic loading (CL) was applied for evaluating the equivalent elastic Young’s modulus (Eeq) at different shear stress levels. Sustained loading (SL) was also applied to investigate the creep behaviour. The results from the experiment are as follows. Shear strengths, both at the peak sand residual stages, decrease with increasing temperature. The Eeq increases with increasing shear stress level, but at the same shear stress level, it decreases with increasing temperature. The Eeq can be expressed as a function of the shear stress level and temperature. The axial creep strain increases with increasing shear stress level and temperature.