CE 240 Soil Mechanics & Foundations Lecture 9.

Compressibility of Soil I (Das, Ch. 10)

Class Outline
Introduction of compressibility Elastic settlement Elastic settlement calculation Improved relationship for elastic settlement Introduction to consolidation

Transcosna Grain Elevator, Canada Oct. 18, 1913

West side of foundation sank 24-ft

Settlement

Palacio de las Bellas, Artes, Mexico City The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Compression - Introduction
Structure foundation cause excessive stress (load) Surface stress (load) cause soil settlement Soil settlement can be divided into 3 categories:
Elastic settlement (immediate settlement) can be described by the Hookes law Primary consolidation settlement due to expulsion of pore water Secondary consolidation settlement due to plastic adjustment of soil skeletons.

In a mathematic expression we have (next page )

Settlement
ST = Sc + S s + Se where ST = total settlement Sc = primary consolidation settlement Ss = secondary consolidation settlement Se = elastic settlement

Significance
The amount of soil volume change that will occur is often one of the governing design criteria of a project; If the settlement is not kept to tolerable limit, the desire use of the structure may be impaired and the design life of the structure may be reduced; It is therefore important to have a means of prediction of the amount of soil compression or consolidation; It is also important to know the rate of consolidation as well as the total consolidation to be expected.

Elastic settlement
The elastic settlement in the soil occurs instantaneously when the load (weight of the foundations) exerts on the soil. This is why the elastic settlement is also called immediate settlement; No alternation of the moisture content of the soil by elastic settlement; The magnitude of the contact settlement depends on the flexibility of the foundation and the type of soil.

Flexible and rigid foundations

In chapter 9 when we discuss the loads exerted on the free surface of the elastic half space we assumed that the soil is perfectly elastic, so that the distributed load will cause smooth and flexible deformation of the surface; However, in engineering world we always want to build foundations are relatively rigid; The magnitude of the contact settlement depends on the flexibility of the foundation and the type of soil.

stress
perfectly flexible foundation on clay

strain

stress
perfectly rigid foundation on clay

Figure 10.1

strain

perfectly flexible foundation on sand

perfectly rigid foundation on sand

Figure 10.2

Youngs modulus E Youngs modulus is the stress needed to compress the solid to shorten in a unit strain.

E=
Poissons ratio

z / z

Poissons measures the relativity of the expansion in the lateral directions and compression in the direction in which the uni-axial compression applies.

r / r = z / z

check the dimensionality: dz z = E z = E z z Se = dz = z E

Improved relationship for elastic settlement

Be = Be = B 4 BL

(rectangular ) (circular)

Modulus increase with depth

Figure 10.4

t: thickness of the foundation

Figure 10.5

Figure 10.6

Reading Assignment: Das, Ch. 10 Homework: 10.2

Be = Be = B

4 BL

(rectangular ) (circular)