DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ARCHITECTURAL

ENGINEERING

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING (CVEN 230)-B03

LABORATORY TEST #7

CONSOLIDATION TEST (ASTM D 2435)

INSTUCTUR: ENG. KHALID RABIE

Ahmad Alasmar 201404090

Loai Hamouda 201403115

Khalid Abdelaziz 201602485

Yousef Eltetr 201514149

Tarek Yabroudi 201402593

Abdelhakem 201516952
Mostafa
Issa Alabed 201205586

DUE DATE: Thursday, May 24, 2018

Spring 2018
Consolidation:

The consolidation index is an index that gives us an idea about how much the degree
consolidation can increase with the increase in the loading over a particular soil. It is obtained
from the logarithmic graph when the void ration is plotted against the amount of stress applied
on the soil when the initial stress is higher or equal to the pre-consolidation pressure. The
consolidation index is the slope of that graph. The degree of consolidation is a measure of the
percentage of consolidation that has occurred when compared to the full primary
consolidation. For example if at the end of the primary consolidation the settlement will be 10
cm, and the settlement that have already happened is 5 cm then the degree of consolidation
will be 50 percent , meaning that half of the possible primary consolidation have already taken
place. When the degree of consolidation is a 100 percent then there no further consolidation is
possible. The rate of consolidation is the speed at which the consolidation occurs, in other
words it is the rate at which the water in the soil voids escape from the soil voids to less
stressed zones causing a reduction is the void ratio of the soil. The coefficient of consolidation
is a coefficient that gives us a measure of the rate at which the consolidation process proceeds.
The time factor is the ratio that gives us the time at which the water pressure have reduced to
the value of the time factor. For example if the time factor is 0.3, this means that water
pressure in the voids have been reduced to 30 percent, which means that the degree of
consolidation became 70 percent. The coefficient of the volume compressibility is the
volumetric strain divided by the stress. This gives us an idea about how the volume changes
with the change of stress applied on the soil sample. The coefficient of volume change is the
volumetric strain, which means that it means that it is the ratio between the change in the
volume and the original volume of the soil.

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What is the difference between normally consolidated soil and over consolidated soil (pre
consolidated soil and under consolidated soil) respect to history:

Normally consolidated soil:

Normally consolidated soil is considered as a soil which has never subjected to vertical
effective stress on it in its history greater than present vertical stress.

Over consolidated soil:

Pre consolidated soil:

Pre consolidated soil is considered as a soil which is subjected at any time in history to
pressure greater than pressure applied on it. The consolidation for normally consolidated soil
will be greater than pre-consolidated soil; because pre consolidated soil has previously
experienced greater pressure, so it is preferable more than normally consolidated soil.

Under consolidated soil:

Under consolidated soil is considered as a soil which has not consolidated under the
present effective stress. Under consolidated soil is not preferable at all, due to it cases distress
in buildings built on it and susceptible to larger deformation.

What is the difference between initial settlement primary settlement and secondary
settlement?

Primary settlement, consolidation is any process which involves a decrease in water content of
saturated soil without replacement of water by air." In general it is the process in which
reduction in volume takes place by expulsion of water under long term static loads. It occurs
when stress is applied to a soil that causes the soil particles to pack together more tightly,
therefore reducing its bulk volume this method assumes consolidation occurs in only one-
dimension. Laboratory data is used to construct a plot of strain or void ratio versus effective
stress where the effective stress axis is on a logarithmic scale. The plot's slope is the
compression index or recompression index. The equation for consolidation settlement of a

normally consolidated soil can then be determined to be:

Secondary settlement, is the compression of soil that takes place after primary consolidation.
Even after the reduction of hydrostatic pressure some compression of soil takes place at slow
rate. This is known as secondary compression. Secondary compression is caused by creep,

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 compression of organic matter, and other processes. In sand, settlement caused by secondary
compression is negligible, but in peat, it is very significant. Due to secondary compression
some of the highly viscous water between the points of contact is forced out. Secondary

compression is given by the formula .

 Initial Consolidation, when a load is applied to a partially saturated soil, a decrease in

volume occurs due to expulsion and compression of air in the voids. A small decrease in
volume occurs due to compression of solid particles. The reduction in volume of the soil just
after the application of the load is known as initial consolidation or initial compression. For
saturated soils, the initial consolidation is mainly due to compression of solid particles.

 Primary Consolidation, after initial consolidation, further reduction in volume occurs

due to expulsion of water from the voids. When a saturated soil is subjected to a pressure,
initially all the applied pressure is taken up by water as an excess pore water pressure. A
hydraulic gradient will develop and the water starts flowing out and a decrease in volume
occurs. This reduction in volume is called as the primary consolidation of soil.

 Secondary Consolidation, The reduction in volume continues at a very slow rate even
after the excess hydrostatic pressure developed by the applied pressure is fully dissipated and
the primary consolidation is complete. The additional reduction in the volume is called as the
secondary consolidation.

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Calculations:
There are two tables given includes a data of the relationships between time and settlement to
determine coefficient of consolidation in each of both. Then, these data will use again in
another method to determine the coefficient of consolidation, which is in Figure 4.

For first Table:

From table 1, there are data which used in figure 1. This figure is using to determine the
coefficient of consolidation.

Table1:

Time (mins) Settlement (mm) Settlement Vs. time (Log Scale)

0
0 0
0.25 0.33
0.5 0.5 0.38
1 0.47
Deformation (increasing) (mm)

1 2.25 0.59
4 0.72
9 0.99
1.5
16 1.25
25 1.5
2
36 1.72
49 1.85
2.5 64 1.94 D100 =2.025mm
81 2
3 100 2.04
1 200 10 2.16 100 1000 10000
400 2.24(mins) (log scale)
Time
1440 2.39

Figure 1: Settlement Vs. Time (log scale)

1 - Time required for 50% consolidation

T v × d2
C v=
t 50 %
T v =0.197 for 50%, d = 7.4mm, d 100 =2.025, t 50% =12.57 mins , d 50=1.1225

0.197 ×7.4 2 mm2

C v= =0.858
12.57 min

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 0
Settlement Vs. time (square root)
0.5
Deformation (increasing) (mm)

1.5

2.5
t 90 %=64 mins
3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time (mins) (square root)

Figure 2: Settlement Vs. Time (square root)

2 – Determine time required for 90 % consolidation and cv:

T v × d2
C v=
t 90 %

d 90=1.95 mm , t 90=82=64 mins , T v =0.848 , d=7.4 mm

0.848 ×7.42 mm2

C v= =0.726
64 min

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For second Table :
From table 2, there are data which used in figure 3. This figure is using to determine the
coefficient of consolidation. Then, these data will use again in another method to determine the
coefficient of consolidation, which is in Figure 4.

Table 2:

Time
(mins) Settlement (mm)
0 0
0.25 0.3
1 0.35
4 0.49
9 0.61
16 0.73
36 0.9
64 0.95
100 0.97

0
Settlement Vs. Time (log scale)
0.2
Deformation (increasing)

0.4

0.6

0.8

1
t 50% =6.75 mins
1.2
0.15 1.5 15 150
Time (mins) (log scale)

Figure 3: Settlement Vs. Time (log scale)

1 – Determine time required for 50% consolidation and cv:

T v × d2
C v=
t 50 %
T v =0.197 for 50%, d = 18.69mm/2= 9.345mm, d 100 =0.915, t 50% =6.75 mins , d 50=0.561

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 0.197 ×9.3452 mm2
C v= =2.549
6.75 min

Settlement
0
Vs. Time (square root)
0.2
Deformation (increasing)

0.4

0.6

0.8 D 90 = 0.9 mm

1
t 50% =36 mins
1.2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (mins) (square root)

Figure 4: Settlement Vs. Time (square root)

2 – Determine time required for 90 % consolidation and Cv:

T v × d2
C v=
t 90 %
18.69
d 90=0.9 mm ,t 90=62 =36 mins , T v =0.848 , d= =9.345 mm
2

0.848 ×9.3452 mm2

C v= =2.06
36 min

Actually, there is a percentage of could be exist in any of both methods because of human error
could be happen in calculations or while determining the degree of consolidations.

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