Creep Coefficient of Binary Sand–Bentonite Mixtures in Oedometer Testing Using Mixture Theory
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 18, Issue 12
Abstract
A series of oedometer tests was performed on binary sand–bentonite mixtures considering both the effect of the sand mass fraction and the initial water content of the bentonite matrix. The experimental data reveal that the influence of the initial water content of the bentonite matrix on the overall creep behavior of the mixture is negligible. However, the reference time line (corresponding to 24 h of consolidation) is significantly affected by both the initial water content and the sand mass fraction. The local creep parameter of the bentonite matrix is quite close to that of pure bentonite for a mixture with a sand mass fraction of 50%. However, it decreases with an additional increase in the sand mass fraction due to the increasing heterogeneity of the binary mixtures and the formation of clay bridges between adjacent sand inclusions. An equivalent local creep parameter is defined, and a new structure variable is introduced, which could be approximated by the structure variable responsible for the intergranular structure evolution. Finally, a creep model is formulated using mixture theory. The proposed model has five parameters: one structure parameter that incorporates the intergranular structure effect and four that are dependent on the intrinsic behavior of pure bentonite. Only two conventional oedometer tests need to be done for calibrating the parameters. The model prediction is then compared with experimental data, revealing a satisfactory performance of the proposed model.
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Acknowledgments
The work in this paper was supported by a National State Key Project 973 grant (Grant 2014CB047000; Subproject 2014CB047001) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China and by a Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) project (Grant PolyU12/CRF/13E) and two GRF projects (PolyU 152196/14E; PolyU 152796/16E) from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government of China. The authors also acknowledge the financial support from the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and grants (1-ZVCR, 1-ZVEH, 4-BCAU, 4-BCAW, 5-ZDAF, and G-YN97) from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 18 • Issue 12 • December 2018
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 7, 2017
Accepted: May 22, 2018
Published online: Sep 20, 2018
Published in print: Dec 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Feb 20, 2019
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