Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lecture12 4on1 PDF
Lecture12 4on1 PDF
The process of consolidation is often confused with Compaction increases the density of an
the process of compaction. unsaturated soil by reducing the volume of air in
The difference between consolidation and the voids.
compaction can be appreciated using three-phase Consolidation is a time-related process of
diagrams as shown below: increasing the density of a saturated soil by
Reduction in the Reduction in the draining some of the water out of the voids.
volume of the air volume of the water
Consolidation is generally related to fine-grained
Air
Air
soils such as silts and clays.
Water
Water Water Water Coarse-grained soils (sands and gravels) also
undergo consolidation but at a much faster rate
due to their high permeability.
Solids Solids Solids Solids
Saturated clays consolidate at a much slower
rate due to their low permeability.
Compaction Consolidation 3 4
The Need for Consolidation Theory One-
One-dimensional Consolidation
Consolidation theory is required
Since water can flow out of a saturated soil
for the prediction of both the
sample in any direction, the process of
magnitude and the rate of
consolidation is essentially three-dimensional.
consolidation settlements to
ensure the serviceability of However, in most field situations, water will not
structures founded on a be able to flow out of the soil by flowing
compressible soil layer. horizontally because of the vast expanse of the
soil in horizontal direction.
Differential settlements that
can lead to structural failures Therefore, the direction of flow of water is
due to tilting should be primarily vertical or one-dimensional.
avoided. Otherwise, youll need As a result, the soil layer undergoes one-
extreme measures to save your dimensional or 1-D consolidation settlement
structure ! in the vertical direction.
5 6
Stress
increase in effective vertical stress is applied so that the vertical
stress. Excess Pore Water stress during the third increment is 200 kPa.
u Pressure
As a result, the soil For each increment, the final settlement of the
sample settles as 0 Time after application of load soil sample as well as the time taken to reach
shown in the figure. the final settlement is recorded.
= + u 11 12
The Oedometer Test (Continued..) The Oedometer Test (Continued..)
The end points from a Vertical Effective Stress (kPa
(kPa)) Since the settlement of h e
50 kPa
number of loading and the soil is only due to Water
log(v)
effective stress is called an overconsolidated
The preconsolidation pressure is like a
(OC) soil. yield stress for soil. c
The OCR for an OC soil is greater than 1. This fact can be appreciated by rotating
Most OC soils have fairly high shear strength. the curve by 90 in anti-clockwise
direction. Doesnt this curve resemble a
The OCR cannot have a value less than 1. load-extension curve for a metal rod?
19 20
e