Time- and stress-compressibility of clays during primary consolidation

The existence of creep deformation during primary consolidation has been widely accepted; however, there are still contradicting opinions on the mechanisms that govern creep during the primary consolidation phase. This study aims to assess creep effects during primary consolidation such that it is possible to critically evaluate and challenge some of these opinions. A special type of interconnected oedometer tests were designed and conducted. The tests were numerically studied using a soil model based on the isotache concept. These analyses show that the isotache concept can capture the important features of the tests well and thereby describe the time- and stress-compressibility of a soil during the entire soil compression phase