MODULE 9 STUDY GUIDE

The soil settlement caused by loads may be divided into three categories:
1. Elastic settlement
2. Primary consolidation settlement
3. Secondary consolidation settlement

• Compression Index

𝑒 − 𝑒′
𝐶𝑐 =
∆𝑃 + 𝑃𝑜
𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑃𝑜
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝑒 = 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑃𝑜
𝑒 ′ = 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 ∆𝑃 + 𝑃𝑜

𝐶𝑐 = 0.009 (𝐿𝐿 − 10)

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝐿𝐿 = 𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑡

• Swell Index

1
𝐶𝑠 ≈ 𝐶𝑐
5

There are two basic definitions of clay based on stress history:

1. Normally Consolidated: The present effective overburden pressure (also known

as effective in-situ stress) is the maximum the soil has ever experienced.
2. Overconsolidated: The present effective overburden pressure (𝑃𝑜 ) is less than
that which the soil experienced in the past. The maximum effective past pressure
is called the preconsolidation pressure (𝑃𝑐 ).
Primary Consolidation Settlement

For normally consolidated clays:

∆𝑒
𝑆= 𝐻
1 + 𝑒𝑜

𝐶𝑐 𝐻 ∆𝑃 + 𝑃𝑜
𝑆= 𝑙𝑜𝑔
1 + 𝑒𝑜 𝑃𝑜

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝐶𝑐 = 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥
𝑒𝑜 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
∆𝑒 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 (𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 − 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙)
𝐻 = 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟
𝑃𝑜 = 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒
∆𝑃 = 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒

For overconsolidated (𝑷𝒐 < 𝑷𝒄 ) clays:

Case 1: 𝑃𝑜 + ∆𝑃 ≤ 𝑃𝑐
𝐶𝑠 𝐻 ∆𝑃 + 𝑃𝑜
𝑆= 𝑙𝑜𝑔
1 + 𝑒𝑜 𝑃𝑜

Case 2: 𝑃𝑜 + ∆𝑃 > 𝑃𝑐
𝐶𝑠 𝐻 𝑃𝑐 𝐶𝑐 𝐻 ∆𝑃 + 𝑃𝑜
𝑆= 𝑙𝑜𝑔 + 𝑙𝑜𝑔
1 + 𝑒𝑜 𝑃𝑜 1 + 𝑒𝑜 𝑃𝑐

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝑃𝑐 = 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝑃𝑐
𝑂𝐶𝑅 =
𝑃𝑜
• Coefficient of Consolidation

2
𝐻𝑑𝑟 𝑇𝑣
𝐶𝑣 =
𝑡

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝐻𝑑𝑟 = ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ
= 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 1 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒
= ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠
𝑇𝑣 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 (𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙)
𝑡 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

For 𝑈 = 0 𝑡𝑜 60%,
𝜋 𝑈% 2
𝑇𝑣 = ( )
4 100

For 𝑈 > 60%,

𝑇𝑣 = 1.781 − 0.933 log (100 − 𝑈%)

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝑈 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (%)

• Coefficient of Compressibility

𝑒1 − 𝑒2 ∆𝑒
𝑎𝑣 = =
𝑝2 − 𝑝1 ∆𝑝

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝑒1 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
𝑒2 = 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
𝑝1 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠
𝑝2 = 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠
• Coefficient of Volume Compressibility

∆𝑒
∆𝑝 𝑎𝑣
𝑚𝑣 = =
1 + 𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 1 + 𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝑎𝑣 = 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜

• Coefficient of Permeability

𝑘 = 𝑚𝑣 𝐶𝑣 𝛾𝑤

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
𝑘 = ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑚/𝑠)
𝑚𝑣 = 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑚2/𝑘𝑁)
𝐶𝑣 = 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑚2 /𝑠)
𝛾𝑤 = 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 (𝑘𝑁/𝑚3 )
Calculation of Consolidation Settlement Under a Foundation

The increase in effective pressure on the clay layer is not constant with depth. It
decreases with increase in depth measured from the bottom of the foundation.
Using Simpson’s Rule, we can estimate the value of ∆𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒 as:

∆𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑝 + 4∆𝑃𝑚𝑖𝑑 + ∆𝑃𝑏𝑜𝑡

∆𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
6
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:

∆𝑃𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟

∆𝑃𝑚𝑖𝑑 = 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟
∆𝑃𝑏𝑜𝑡 = 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟

An early method is to use a 2:1 slope as shown in the figure:

Reference:
Das, Braja M., and Khaled Sobhan. (2014). Principles of Geotechnical Engineering. Cengage
Learning.