eF eI e

Slope of IF (6a)
log 10 ( F ) log10 ( I ) log10 ( F / I )

Because the relationship between effective stress and voids ratio can be closely approximated by a
straight line, the slope is a constant. The slope constant, Cc is called the compression index.

e
Cc (6b)
log10 ( F / I )

The above equation can be used to calculate the final voids ratio from the known final effective
stress and initial conditions as follows:

eF eI C c log10 ( F / I ) (6c)

A similar approach is possible if the soil is over-consolidated and the final stress is less than the
preconsolidation stress, this is shown in Fig. 11.

Again suppose that a soil is at an initial state I and after loading moves to a final state F, as shown in
Figure 11. As before we have:

eF eI e
Slope of IF (7a)
log 10 ( F ) log10 ( I ) log10 ( F / I )

I
eI

eF F

log10 ( I ) log10 ( F)

Fig. 10 Idealised behaviour of a over consolidated soil

Figure 11 Idealised response of OC soil

As the relationship between effective stress and voids ratio is approximately linear, thus:

e
Cr (7b)
log10 ( F / I )

The constant Cr is called the recompression or swelling index. Again this equation can be used to
determine the final voids ratio provided the final effective stress and initial conditions are known, as
follows:
9.9
 eF eI C r log10 ( F / I ) (7c)

Sometimes a soil may move from an overconsolidated state to a normally consolidated state.
Suppose the initial state of the soil is given by point 1 in Figure 12, the point at which it reaches the
preconsolidation stress is denoted by 2 and the final state is denoted by 3. The resulting change in
voids ratio as the soil moves from the initial state 1 to the final state 3 can be considered to occur in
two distinct stages. Stage 1 in which the soil is oveconsolidated and stage 2 in which the soil is
normally consolidated.

(1)
e1
e2 (2)

e3 (3)

log10( 1) log10( 2 ) log10( 3 )

Figure 12 Response of soil moving from OC to NC

Stage 1 (1 2)

During stage 1 the soil is over-consolidated and so:

e2 e1 C r log10 ( 2 / 1 ) (8a)

where 2= the initial value of the preconsolidation stress pc

Stage 2 (2 3)

During stage 2 the soil is normally consolidated and so:

e3 e2 C c log10 ( 3 / 2 ) (8b)

Since the soil is normally consolidated the current state of effective stress will be the
preconsolidation stress and thus the final value of the preconsolidation stress ( pc) will be
3

If the soil at 3, where it is normally consolidated, is unloaded so that the effective stress drops, the
change in void ratio should be determined from equation 7c for over-consolidated soil.

9.10