CREEP STRESS-ANALYSIS OF FROZEN SOILS UNDER MULTIAXIAL STATES OF STRESS

Creep behaviour of the so called Emscher-Marl is investigated in uniaxial compression tests under a temperature of -10°C. Similar to the results of creep tests published elsewhere, it is shown that the secondary creep controls the deformation. In cases of stationary creep the material behaves like a nonlinear elasto-viscous Maxwell fluid. Assuming no hydrostatic pressure effect, the power law applied to the uniaxial case can be transformed to multiaxial states of stress. For structures of frozen soil with a long-term deformation process Norton's power relationship between stress and rate of steady flow leads to reasonable results. As a numerical solution a finite-element computer program in connection with incremental procedure is developed for treatment of creep problems in groundfreezing technology. The calculation of a simply supported beam demonstrates the important influence of the high nonlinearity in stress and strain for frozen soils. © 1979.