Modeling of embankment beneath marine deposited soft sensitive clays considering straightforward creep degradation

One method straightforwardly describing the creep degradation behavior of soft marine clay is proposed and applied to the embankment modeling. Based on the experimental phenomena, the evolution of creep coefficient of soft structured clay is identified comparing with reconstituted clay, and formulated using the creep coefficient of reconstituted clay and a creep-based structure parameter relating to the inter-particle bonding. The contributions of inter-particle bonding and debonding to creep coefficient are thus considered and the creep degradation behavior is then captured straightforwardly. The creep coefficient is extended to 3D and incorporated into a newly developed elasto-viscoplastic model to describe the creep degradation in a direct way. Based on the correlations, the liquid limit is adopted as the viscosity related input parameter. The model is derived using Newton–Raphson algorithm and implemented into a Finite Element code for coupled consolidation analysis. The general applicability on creep degradation of the model is validated by simulating 1D creep, 1D CRS (constant strain rate) and 3D undrained creep tests. Finally, the enhanced model considering creep degradation is applied and validated by simulating one test embankment and one test fill on marine deposited soft sensitive clays.