An Investigation of the Steady Creep of a Spherical Cavity in a Half Space

The stability of a spherical cavity in a half space of a creeping material is investigated. The finite-element method with a nearly incompressible formulation and a stable method of time stepping is used to predict the steady creep state from an initial elastic state. Applications are made to thermal creep problems involving pure halite which obeys a well-documented creep law of the Weertman form. For a spherical cavity in a half space of halite various steady motions are observed depending on the depth, the temperature field, and the internal pressurization of the cavity.