Abstract: In recent years, a series of man-made lands have been built and extended by the means of hydraulic dredging in the South China Sea. The main dredging material used was the calcareous coral sand extracted from nearby lagoons. As a special geomaterial, the mechanical properties of calcareous coral soil are different from that of the conventional terrestrial soil. It is of great significance to study the timedependent creep characteristics of the calcareous coral sand for evaluating the long-term post-construction deformation of lighthouses, airports, breakwaters and other structures constructed on dredged coral reefs. In this study, the volumetric creep test of the calcareous coral sand is carried out by the triaxial drainage test. It is found that the volume of the calcareous coral sand undergoes the significant creep deformation with time under constant loading of confining pressure and presents attenuation creep. Furthermore, a modified Burgers softmatter model is adopted to fit the experimental data. It is observed that this creep model can describe volumetric creep process of calcareous coral sand very well.

Key words: calcareous coral sand, volumetric creep, creep model