ARTICLE 16 COMPRESSIBILITY OF

CONFINED LAYERS OF SOIL

Fills and embankments that are wide compared with the

thickness of the underlying compressible ground produce
a one-dimensional state of compression of the ground.
Hence, the information required for computing settlement
due to compression of clay strata under confined
or other conditions that approximate one-dimensional
compression can be derived from compression tests on
laterally confined specimens. The tests are known as
consolidation tests and the apparatus in which they are
conducted is termed an oedometer, Article 16.9.
 16.2 One-Dimensional Compression

In this section, the compressibility of soil is described for the condition of one-dimensional
compression. The discussion is most applicable to transported saturated clays and silts. Settlement
due to one-dimensional compression results only from decrease in the volume of the voids and can
be analyzed in terms of effective vertical stress.

Every natural soil is characterized by its composition and structure (Articles 3 and 4). These two attributes
are not completely independent of each other, because certain compositions favor particular types of
structure. For example, a soil composed of quartz tends to have equidimensional rounded or angular
particles and under natural conditions stabilizes at relatively low void volumes, whereas a soil composed of
illite has plate-shaped particles and the potential to exist at high void volumes. However, even a soil with a
particular composition may have different structures. An obvious example is a natural soil in its undisturbed
and remolded states.

Sand Partcles, low initial

Illite particles,
void and low
high initial void
compression
and high
compression
In addition to the mechanical and physicochemical conditions of deposition and to postdepositional changes
in composition, soil structure is determined by the effective-stress history.

The effective vertical stress 𝜎𝑣′ is defined by the total vertical stress 𝜎𝑣 , and the porewater
pressure u, both of which are external to the soil structure (Article 15.3)

Because of the particulate nature of soil and the existence of various interparticle
bonds, some of which are viscous, the internal structural response to a change in the
external effective stress is time-dependent. Thus, a soil's structure is determined not
only by the effective stress but also by its time-history or aging. The existing state of
consolidation of a natural soil is defined by the in situ void ratio e0, and the effective
′
overburden pressure 𝜎𝑣0 .
Any combination of composition and structure that allows a soil to exist at a high volume of voids,
as indicated by a high natural water content or void ratio, results in the potential for large volume
changes. In most settlement problems the composition of a soil is not altered
by the construction or loading, and compression takes place exclusively in response to an increase
in effective vertical stress. The natural soil structure adjusts to a new external condition of effective
stress by experiencing a decrease in the volume of voids.

The compression response to the initial increments of effective stress is strongly influenced by the
natural structure of the soil. However, after the initial compression begins to alter the
natural structure, the compressibility increasingly reflects the composition. The effective vertical
stress at which major changes in the natural soil structure begin to take place is called the
preconsolidation pressure and is denoted by u;. In the range from 𝜎𝑣′ to 𝜎𝑝′ designated the
recompression range, the soil structure accommodates the increased effective stress without
significant interparticle displacement. In this stress range, the compression results from the
deformation of the soil structure, which involves only minor slip at interparticle contacts. The
greater the interparticle bonding and cementation, the greater is the resistance to compression in
the recompression range, and the more abrupt is the transition from recompression to
compression, because major interparticle slip begins the process of destructuration at the
preconsolidation pressure.
In the range beyond 𝜎𝑝′ , known as the compression range, significant particle rearrangement is
required to develop interparticle resistance to the increased effective stress. In highly bonded
soils this rearrangement involves considerable compression, not only to accommodate the
additional effective stress but also to compensate for the interparticle bond resistance destroyed
by the compression beyond 𝜎𝑝′ .

In general, however, for all soils in the compression range, the compressibility decreases continuously as
the effective stress and the corresponding compression increase.