The long-term compression behavior of clay is significantly affected by temperature paths. However, most studies on temperature paths focus on short-term changes in volume and pore pressure, with limited research on how temperature paths affect soil secondary consolidation characteristics. To experimentally investigate the time-dependent compression behavior of lateritic clay under different temperature paths, a series of temperaturecontrolled isotropic consolidation tests from 5 to 50 degrees C were conducted with consideration of heating/cooling rate and thermal cycle paths. The results indicate that the accumulation of thermal-induced pore water pressure increases with the rate of temperature variations, but a faster rate leads to smaller volumetric changes. Moreover, thermal cycling does not cause irreversible thermoplastic volumetric strain with a suitable heating/cooling rate, and the cycle paths do not influence this outcome. Furthermore, the creep rate of heated samples increases significantly, and the heating/cooling rate also affects the creep rate: a slower heating rate results in a faster creep rate. Additionally, the creep behavior ceased after the thermal cycle, and it appears that the thermal cycle paths have no effect on the creep rate. Finally, this study summarizes the mechanism of the influence of temperature on the creep behavior of clay, and reasonable explanations are proposed for the thermo-mechanical behavior caused by different temperature paths.

This paper presents a simple thermo-elasto-plastic constitutive model for saturated fine-grained soils, addressing thermal volume change, excess pore pressure, and shear strength. The model incorporates a novel temperature-dependent plastic modulus formulation that attributes the thermoplastic strain to an internal state variable representing the thermal stabilization of soils due to cyclic thermal loading. It can capture the accumulative volume expansion of highly overconsolidated (OC) soils, and the accumulative contraction of normally consolidated (NC) and slight OC soils after several heating-cooling cycles. A thermally induced pore pressure formula is derived with consideration of thermo-elastic expansion of pore water and soil particles, thermo-plasticity of soil skeleton as well as the elastic unloading due to the decrease of effective stress under undrained heating. The effect of temperature on the shear strength was emphasized. An insight into the evolution of shear strength with temperature is provided. The consolidated stress history and stress path play a vital role in the thermal effect on the shear strength. The proposed model comprises nine parameters, which can be easily calibrated by element tests (triaxial tests and oedometer tests). The adequacy of the proposed model has been verified with experimental results from fine-grained soils documented in the literature.

It is crucial to comprehend soil thermomechanical behavior while designing underground energy structures to ensure safety. Studies on the soil response to thermal cycles in terms of the generation of thermal-induced volume change and pore water pressure are rare, and relevant research on how these responses might affect soil consolidation parameters and shear strength is very limited. To experimentally investigate the effect of thermal cycling under drained and undrained conditions on the isotropic consolidation parameters and triaxial shear strength of lateritic clay, this paper employs a temperature-controlled triaxial apparatus to conduct a series of isotropic mechanical consolidation and thermal consolidation tests, as well as undrained triaxial shear tests. The thermal response in volume change and pore water pressure are discussed, and the changes in the consolidation parameters, the preconsolidation pressure, and the shear strength are identified. It is concluded that increments of irreversible contraction of lateritic clay are observed during thermal cycling under drained conditions and further lead to a slight increase in the preconsolidation pressure. Nevertheless, thermal cycling hardly affects the swelling and compression index. The shear strength increases after being subjected to thermal cycling under drained conditions, which can be attributed to the increase in cohesion. When drainage is not allowed during thermal cycling, the generation of pore water pressure occurs during temperature variations and completely dissipates after the thermal cycling phase, and its reversibility is unaffected by the stress level and number of cycles. Furthermore, thermal cycling has little effect on the consolidation parameters, preconsolidation pressure, and shear strength. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms controlling the response of clay to thermal cycling.