AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON ELASTIC AND CREEP DEFORMATION BEHAVIOURS OF A SAND

An automated triaxial loading system that can accurately control both the loading and temperature histories
was developed. A series of unconventional triaxial compression tests with an air-dried sand sample were performed. Various loading histories consisting of: i) continuous monotonic loading (ML); ii) sustained (creep) loading (SL); and iii) cyclic loading (CL) with small amplitude were employed in this study. Shearing the sand sample with these different loading histories was performed under different but constant controlled temperatures surrounding the sample to study the temperature effects on the elastic and creep deformation behaviours of the sample. The followings are found from the experimental results. The peak and residual shear strengths tend to decrease with an increase temperature. The equivalent elastic Young’s modulus increases with increasing stress level in a hypoelasticity manner, but at the same stress level, it decreases significantly with increasing temperature. Creep strain is obvious and it increases with the increasing stress level and temperature.