Abstract:

To investigate the stability of loess slope in Yangling district of Shaanxi province, a series of laboratory undrained triaxial creep tests of loess specimens taken from a slope are performed by stress triaxial creepmeter. The test results indicate that the creep characteristics of loess are obviously influenced by water content, dry density and consolidation pressure. When the water content is invariable, the creep strain reduces with the increase of consolidation; when consolidation pressure is invariable, creep phenomenon is significant with higher water content and the creep strain becomes bigger; as dry density increases, the creep deformation of soil specimen becomes smaller. In the treatment of loess slope, enhancing the drainage ability of loess slope and increasing the compactness of soil can reduce the probability of creep rupture. According to the analysis of experimental data, a new empirical creep model is proposed; it shows a significant advantage of better applicability, higher accuracy and fewer parameters in simulating the creep characteristics of loess in Yangling district after the comparison with Singh-Mitchell and Mesri models.

Key words: loess, creep, complex stress, empirical creep model