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Abstract: Over the past 70 years, a number of methods have been proposed for the interpretation of the characteristic ver-
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tical effective yield stress, or ‘‘preconsolidation pressure,’’ of compressible soils as defined using the standard oedometer
test. The concept of the ‘‘preconsolidation pressure’’ has been extraordinarily useful in geotechnical engineering for analy-
sing and predicting settlement behaviour and for normalizing other engineering parameters for comparative purposes. De-
fining this characteristic stress, however, is often problematic and relies heavily on graphical techniques that are subject to
some uncertainty, particularly when using semi-log plots for this purpose. This paper illustrates fundamental difficulties
with the interpretation of oedometer test and presents an alternative technique for defining unambiguous values of the ver-
tical effective yield stress.
Key words: oedometer, preconsolidation pressure, settlement.
Résumé : Dans les derniers 70 ans, plusieurs méthodes ont été proposées pour l’interprétation de la contrainte d’écou-
lement verticale effective caractéristique, ou « pression de pré-consolidation », de sols compressibles telle qu’obtenue à
partir de l’essai odométrique standard. Le concept de « pression de pré-consolidation » s’est avéré très utile en géotech-
nique pour l’analyse et la prédiction du comportement en tassement et pour la normalisation d’autres paramètres d’ingé-
For personal use only.
nierie dans un but comparatif. La définition de cette contrainte caractéristique est cependant souvent problématique et se
base beaucoup sur des techniques graphiques qui comportent des incertitudes, surtout lorsque des échelles semi logarithmi-
ques sont utilisées. Cet article illustre des difficultés fondamentales lors de l’interprétation d’essais odométriques et pré-
sente une technique alternative servant à définir les valeurs ambigües de la contrainte d’écoulement verticale effective.
Mots-clés : odomètre, pression de pré-consolidation, tassement.
[Traduit par la Rédaction]
Can. Geotech. J. 47: 281–296 (2010) doi:10.1139/T09-093 Published by NRC Research Press
282 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 47, 2010
Fig. 1. Example one-dimensional stress – voids ratio relationship (Casagrande 1936). He then proposed a method for defining
showing paths of (A) sedimentation and past stress compression, the preconsolidation pressure based on an empirical graphi-
(B) unloading to in situ stress, (C) unloading and swelling due to cal approach, now well-known as the ‘‘Casagrande’’ con-
sampling, test preparation, and saturation, (D) recompression to struction in which the consolidation test data are plotted
past maximum stress, (E) ‘‘virgin’’ compression to maximum stress, with the voids ratio, e, on a vertical linear axis, and the ef-
(F) final unloading, and (G) potential influence of disturbance to fective vertical stress, s’, is plotted on a horizontal logarith-
compression curve. The Casagrande (1936) construction for inter- mic axis (frequently noted as e-logs’ curves) as shown in
pretation of preconsolidation pressure is illustrated in the inset. e0, Fig. 1. The purpose of this interpretation was to create a bi-
initial voids ratio. linear approximation of nonlinear compressibility behaviour
of soils that readily lent itself to calculation of primary con-
solidation settlement, S, using the now-familiar equations
0
Cc s þ Ds 0
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½1a S¼ H log v0 0
1 þ e0 s v0
for normally consolidated soils with a layer height (thick-
ness) of H and an initial voids ratio of e0, where the increase
in stress, Ds’, is greater than the in situ vertical effective
0
stress s v0 (identical with s p0 in this case), and the settlement
is governed by the slope of the virgin compression portion
of the curve (compression index), Cc;
0
Cr s v0 þ Ds 0
½1b S¼ H log 0
1 þ e0 s v0
0
for overconsolidated soils where s v0 þ Ds 0 > s p0 and the
settlement is governed by the slope of the recompression
For personal use only.
Table 1. Summary of methods for interpretation of preconsolidation pressure using oedometer tests.
Pacheco Silva Plot data as per Casagrande (1936), draw horizontal line at e0, Empirical observation, graphical construc-
(1970) where a line drawn tangent to the virgin compression curve in- tion.
tersects this horizontal line draw vertical line to the compression
curve and a second line to meet the tangent to the virgin com-
pression curve, the stress at this intersection defines s p0 .
Butterfield (1979) Intersection of linear fit lines of ln(1+e) and lns p0 , plotted on linear Empirical observation of test plots, graphical
scales. construction.
Becker et al. (1987) Define the strain energy density (‘‘work per unit volume’’), DWoed, Fundamentally new approach that relates the
for each successive loading increment of the oedometer test, i energy used to compress the sample to the
0
and i+1, etc., using , DWoed = 0:5ðs iþ1 þ s i0 Þ/ (ei + 1 – ei), an ar- applied stress, graphical construction.
ithmetic plot of cumulative DWoed and applied stress, will define
a generally bilinear plot and the intersection of these lines will
0
define the vertical effective yield stress, s vy (equal to s p0 ).
Oikawa (1987) Intersection of linear fit lines of log(1+e) and plotted on a linear Empirical observation of test plots, graphical
scale and stress plotted on a logarithmic (base 10) scale. construction.
For personal use only.
Burland (1990) Determine e100 (e at effective stress of 100 kPa) and Cc, plot voids Empirical comparison of compression beha-
index, Iv = (e – e100)/Cc on a linear scale and applied stress on a viour of remoulded soil to natural soil
logarithmic scale, and s p0 is defined by the intersection of a lin- based on the voids ratio and stress beha-
ear fit of the virgin and recompression segments of the resulting viours in each of these two states, graphi-
curve. cal construction.
Jacobsen (1992) s p0 ¼ 2:5s k , where sk is defined as the point of maximum curva- Empirical observations of Danish clay beha-
ture used within the ‘‘Casagrande construction.’’ viour in oedometer tests, graphical con-
struction.
Onitsuka et al. Intersection of linear fit lines of ln(1+e) plotted on an linear scale Empirical observation of test plots, graphical
(1995) and stress plotted on a logarithmic (base 10) scale. construction.
Fig. 2. Example stress – voids ratio curves for Leda clay (curves a through d; Quigley et al. 1981), Chicago clay (curve e; Finno, R.J. Three
oedometer tests and associated data from site in Evanston, Ill. Personal communication, April 2008.), slurry-formed laboratory sample
(curve f; Grozic et al. 2003), and a highly overconsolidated soil from Åsgard (curve g; Grozic et al. 2005).
(1990), and Onitsuka et al. (1995) methods produced esti- laboratory-prepared specimens within 1% to 3% of the
mates within 1% to 16% of the actual value. In a discus- known value. However, Grozic et al. (2005) demonstrated
sion and reply to Grozic et al. (2003, 2005), Clementino as well that this method also produced some ambiguity for
(2005) illustrated that the Pacheco Silva (1970) method more highly overconsolidated natural soils that exhibited
produced unambiguous interpretations of s p0 for the more rounded test plots, with this variability ranging be-
tween 3% and 55% with the three authors each interpreting Fig. 3. Example of highly overconsolidated soil showing two pos-
three tests independently. Figure 3 illustrates one example sible interpretations using the method of Pacheco Silva (1970) (data
in which Grozic et al. (2005) fit a line through some of from Fig. 2, curve g; Grozic et al. 2005). Note effects of scale
the data within the ‘‘virgin compression’’ range of a sam- comparing the plot in this figure with Fig. 2, curve g.
ple of highly overconsolidated natural soil subjected to a
controlled rate of the strain oedometer test. An alternative
line is also shown, following the guidance of the Pacheco
Silva (1970) approach in which this line is drawn tangent
to the ‘‘virgin compression curve. These two interpretations
demonstrate a subjective variability of about 65% for two
reasonable examinations of this data. Figure 4 illustrates
the variation in OCR, as indicated by the various attempts
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Fig. 4. Comparison of interpreted data from Grozic et al. (2003) showing differences in OCR for individual samples based on use of the
methods of Casagrande (1936), Janbu (1969), Becker et al. (1987), Burland (1990), Jacobsen (1992), and Onitsuka et al. (1995).
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Fig. 5. Interpretation of s p0 using (a) Pacheco Silva (1970) and (b) Casagrande (1936) methods, and (c) illustration of the effects of scale
when using these methods (after Clementino 2005).
For personal use only.
0
nificant numbers of tests for large projects, such an exercise minimum stress and s v0 is of little importance unless un-
can be impractical. loading and swelling behaviour is critical to the engineer-
ing problem being evaluated.
Proposed interpretation principles and The initial part of the test curve represents only recom-
method pression of the swelling and disturbance associated with
sampling, specimen preparation, saturation, and test set-
Because of the aforementioned difficulties with graphical up.
approaches to oedometer data interpretation, a new method The use of e0 derived from the start of the oedometer
is proposed that relies on a few logical steps, has some di- test, at which point the soil sample is entirely unloaded,
rect physical meaning and can be readily incorporated into within the settlement calculations or interpretation of the
spreadsheet calculations or manually calculated, thus pro- test is dubious unless e0 in eqs. [1a] to [1c] is interpreted
ducing an unambiguous single value result. This approach based on in situ water content for saturated soils rather
is based on the following fundamental principles: than e0 derived from the oedometer test.
Deformation behaviour in the oedometer test between the Once the applied effective stress is equal to the in situ
Fig. 6. Application of strain energy density method to the interpretation of s p0 from a block sample of Chicago clay (curve e in Fig. 2). An
alternative interpretation of the early part of the curve completed for this paper is illustrated by dotted lines.
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For personal use only.
Fig. 7. Application of the Casagrande (1936) and Pacheco Silva Fig. 8. Comparison of interpreted values of s p0 using (a) the com-
(1970) methods to the interpretation of s p0 from the block sample of 0
mon Casagrande method, s pðCasagrandeÞ , and (b) the average of all
0
Chicago clay for this paper (curve e in Fig. 2, and same data as methods identified in Fig. 4, s pðaverageÞ .
used for Fig. 6). wn, natural water content; LL, liquid limit; PL,
plastic limit; Su (field vane), undrained shear strength from field vane;
Su (cpt), undrained shear strength from cone penetration test.
Fig. 9. Example application to determine s p0 using proposed method on (a) Leda clay from Ottawa, Ont. and (b) Chicago clay also shown in
curve e, Fig. 2, with expanded e scale for illustration purposes.
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(2) Determine the load increment at which Cc is a maxi- lanandan et al. 2008). Even with small assumed values of
mum, Ccmax, where the ordinates of the corresponding Cr, on the order of 0.05Cc to 0.1Cc (e.g., Leonards 1976;
For personal use only.
0
ending stress and voids ratio are thus noted s vmax and Holtz and Kovacs 1981), this method provides reasonable
emin, respectively. and unambiguous results.
(3) Determine the recompression index, Cr, defined as the As a check on the mathematical determination of s p0 , the
average slope of an unload–reload cycle (e.g., Leonards fundamental principals of this method may also be applied
1976; Vipulanandan et al. 2008), preferably conducted graphically. In this case, a line is drawn coincident with
0
at stresses above and below s v0 and less than s p0 Ccmax, another is drawn parallel to Cr, passing through the
(Fig. 9a). 0
point (s v0 , ev0), and the intersection of these lines defines
(4) Calculate the intercept values along the voids ratio axis 0
s p . One of the advantages of the mathematical approach is
for the compression and recompression index lines (ec that graphical interpolation of s p0 on a logarithmic scale is
and er, respectively) using
avoided.
0
½2 ec ¼ Ccmax logs vmax þ emin
Examination of proposed method
0
½3 er ¼ Cr logs v0 þ ev0
Data from more than 160 oedometer tests were used to
(5) Calculate the intersection of these two lines, the first de- examine the suitability of this approach for general applica-
fined by the Ccmax line and the second defined by a line tion. Many of these tests were completed on low-plasticity
parallel to the Cr line passing through the in situ vertical silty clay from the Great Lakes area of Ontario, Canada.
effective stress, solving for the voids ratio at the precon- However, test results from quick Leda clay, sensitive clays
solidation pressure, ep, by from the New Liskeard and Sault Ste. Marie areas of On-
tario, glacial clays from the Chicago and Detroit areas, and
½4 ep ¼ ðec =Ccmax er =Cr Þ=ð1=Ccmax 1=Cr Þ the results reported in Becker et al. (1987) and Grozic et al.
(6) The ‘‘preconsolidation pressure’’ may then be found by (2003) were also used as a comparison. The range of pre-
consolidation pressures examined fell between 30 and over
½5 s p0 ¼ 10½ðec ep Þ=Ccmax 600 kPa, and the calculated OCR varied between about 1
and more than 10 (using the proposed method). The plasti-
This approach will tend to result in lower values of s p0 if city index, PI, for the samples ranged between about 4 and
the sample is disturbed, as with other methods of s p0 inter- 60. Where recompression index values were not available,
pretation, as a result of the effect of disturbance on the over- approximations were made using Cr = 0.1Cc and Cr =
all test data (e.g., Soderman and Kim 1970; Brumund et al. 0.05Cc for the low-plasticity and sensitive clays, respectively
1976). Use of a recompression index derived from unload– (e.g., Leonards 1976; Holtz and Kovacs 1981).
reload cycles at high stresses will tend to produce larger val- Examples of this evaluation applied to published oedome-
ues of s p0 as a result of larger Cr values arising from greater ter test curves are illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11 and are sum-
potential changes to soil structure (particularly for sensitive marized in Table 2, where the s p0 values interpreted using
clays) at stresses greater than s p0 (e.g., Leonards 1976; Vipu- the Casagrande (1936) (s pðCÞ0 0
), Becker et al. (1987) (s pðBÞ ),
Fig. 10. Comparison of interpreted values of s p0 for (a and b) Wallaceburg clay and (c) Beaufort Sea silty clay from Becker et al. (1987)
using proposed method and showing range of s p0 estimated using Casagrande (1936) method and using strain energy method as reported by
Becker et al. (1987), with additional Casagrande (1936) and Pacheco Silva (1970) method estimates completed for this paper also shown.
0 0
s pðC this paperÞ , single estimate of s pðCÞ completed for this paper.
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Fig. 11. Comparison of interpreted values of s p0 for (a) Port Allen clay from Kaufman and Sherman (1964) and (b) New Liskeard clay from
Quigley and Ogunbadejo (1980) using proposed method and showing reported s p0 using Casagrande (1936) method, with additional Pacheco
For personal use only.
Silva (1970) and strain energy method estimates completed for this paper also shown.
Table 2. Summary of estimated preconsolidation pressure Table 3. Summary of undrained shear strength and preconsolida-
values, Figs. 10 and 11. tion pressure ratio comparisons for 107 samples with available su
data.
0 0 0 0
s pðCÞ s pðPSÞ s pðBÞ s pðPÞ
Test (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) 0 0 0 0
su =s pðCÞ su =s pðPSÞ su =s pðBÞ su =s pðPÞ
Wallaceburg (a) 115 94 120 104
Mean 0.29 0.32 0.23 0.26
Wallaceburg (b) 150 173 145 156
Standard deviation 0.13 0.17 0.09 0.09
Beaufort Sea 200 298 220 272
Port Allen 250 300 300 283 Note: Undrained shear strength determined using either Nilcon push-in
New Liskeard 299 336 338 322 field vane shear, borehole vane shear or adjacent cone penetration test ca-
librated to nearby on-site field vane shear testing.
0 0
Note: Interpretation methods s pðCÞ , Casagrande (1936); s pðPSÞ ,
0 0
Pacheco Silva (1970); s pðBÞ , Becker et al. (1987); s pðPÞ , proposed.
Fig. 12. Comparison of s p0 interpreted using proposed method and methods of (a) Casagrande (1936), (b) Becker et al. (1987), and
(c) Pacheco Silva (1970). r2, square of correlation coefficient.
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0 0 0 0 0 0
Fig. 13. Relationship between ðs pmax s pmin Þ=s pavg and natural water content of 169 samples. s pmax , s pmin , and s pavg are the maximum,
minimum, and average values of s p0 , respectively.
For personal use only.
0 0
Pacheco Silva (1970) (s pðPSÞ ), and proposed method (s pðPÞ ) by Mesri (1975, 1989) be considered applicable and rela-
are identified. In each case where the authors provided val- tively constant for these soil types.
ues for s p0 based on any of the interpretation methods, these Figure 12 compares the proposed interpretation method
values were used. Because none of the natural samples had a with those of Casagrande (1936), Pacheco Silva (1970), and
‘‘known’’ preconsolidation pressure to which all interpreta- Becker et al. (1987) for 169 tests. This figure illustrates that,
tion methods could be compared, the data were compared among those methods examined, the s p0 values determined
with measurements of undrained shear strength, su, using using the proposed approach are more closely correlated
the principles outlined by Mesri (1975, 1989). The measure- with those determined via the strain energy density method,
ments of undrained shear strength were obtained using a va- which is a more rigorous theoretical approach than either of
riety of methods including the Nilcon push-in field vane the two other graphical methods.
device, field vane shear tests conducted within boreholes, Figure 13 illustrates a comparison of the range between
and cone penetration tests calibrated to field vane shear the maximum and minimum values of s p0 derived for each
tests. The results of this comparison are summarized in Ta- test using the four methods of interpretation identified in Ta-
ble 3. This table illustrates that the Casagrande and Pacheco ble 1, normalized by the average s p0 , and the natural water
Silva approaches produce average and standard deviation content of the samples. A frequency diagram illustrating the
su =s p0 values significantly greater than when using either the number of samples and their respective water contents is
strain energy density or proposed methods, indicating a also provided in Fig. 13. This figure generally suggests that
greater degree of variability should the principles suggested the interpreted s p0 values from all methods tend to converge
for the higher water content (or voids ratio) samples be- Fig. 14. Comparison of s p0 interpreted using proposed method and
cause, certainly for the test results used as part of this study, methods of Casagrande (1936), Pacheco Silva (1970), and Becker
these soils also exhibited clearly defined ‘‘breaks’’ between et al. (1987) (shown as strain energy density) for samples with wn >
the recompression and virgin compression portions of the 45%.
test curves. This trend, as well as consideration of scale ef-
fects (as in Figs. 2, 3, and 5), and the observed reverse cur-
vature exhibited by tests of sensitive soils (see curves a to d
in Fig. 2) at high stress levels after ‘‘collapse’’ of an open
fabric suggest that the shape of oedometer test curves for
soils of lower initial voids ratio (generally less than 1) and
potentially higher OCR may be the result of the mechanical
characteristics of particle-to-particle contact within the soil
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embankment settlement. One case is located in the area of methods for interpretation of s p0 could have produced similar
Sault St. Marie, Ontario, and the other three are located in settlement estimates. Settlements estimated using the different
southwestern Ontario. Case 4, of the Tilbury Creek Bridge methods of estimating s p0 are summarized in Table 5.
in Tilbury, Ontario, was reported in some detail by Soder-
man and Kim (1970). In all back-analysis comparisons, ap- A study was recently carried out in southwestern Ontario
plied stresses were computed based on two primary to calibrate foundation settlement estimates, field and labo-
assumptions, common in such work in practice. First, stress ratory data, and measured long-term settlements for bridges
distributions from embankment and foundation loads were and embankments constructed over soft to stiff cohesive
estimated using conventional Boussinesq (1885) methods. soils (MTO 2006). Historically, settlement estimates have
Second, primary consolidation settlements were calculated not compared well with field results (e.g., Soderman and
using conventional one-dimensional consolidation eqs. [1a] Kim 1970) for projects in the region and, with the expansion
to [1c]. For each of the sites, correlations between natural of highways, calibration of settlement estimates with field
water content and the compression indices for similar soils performance was seen to potentially improve decisions re-
were used to supplement oedometer test data to provide a lated to foundation choices and the magnitudes of differen-
more detailed interpreted profile of compressibility. tial settlement between new and older structures that could
Case 1 consisted of a 6.5 m high embankment (including be expected and tolerated. Case 2 consists of a multi-span
surcharge loads) with 228 side slopes built in Sault Ste. highway bridge over a railway corridor for which the em-
Marie, Ontario, placed over approximately 8 m of silt and bankments (26.58 side slopes) and abutment foundations,
sand, and 25 m of soft and sensitive silty clay in which pre- each measuring about 27 m by 3 m, were built over low-
fabricated vertical drains were installed to accelerate consol- plasticity cohesive soils, commonly considered to be fine-
idation. In this case, settlement magnitudes were initially grained glacial till-like mud deposited in a lacustrine envi-
estimated during design using a s p0 profile based on oedom- ronment (e.g., Soderman and Kim 1970). Initially, a 3 m
eter test results, su =s p0 ¼ 0:22 based on correlating cone pen- high embankment was constructed leading to the edge of
etration test (CPT) results with push-in field vane shear tests the bridge foundations, with the subsequent height of the
and oedometer results interpreted using the Casagrande 9.8 m embankment constructed after the integrated bridge
(1936) and Becker et al. (1987) methods, and Cc and Cr val- abutment and retaining wall construction was finished. Case
ues based on oedometer tests and site-specific correlations 3 consists of a single rigid-frame highway bridge over a lo-
between Cc, Cr, and natural water content (as shown in cal road, supported by shallow spread abutment foundations,
Fig. 15). In this case, the maximum centreline settlement at measuring about 36 m by 1.8 m, with 7.3 and 7.8 m high
about 800 days after completion of staged embankment con- approach embankments (26.58 side slopes). As with case 2,
struction (end of primary consolidation) estimated using a 3 m high embankment was built to the edge of the existing
conventional settlement calculation methods was about roadway before building the bridge and remaining embank-
460 mm. Measured settlement at this time was about ment. This bridge was constructed at the same general site
425 mm. The oedometer tests completed for case 1 exhib- as case 2. A profile of the subsurface conditions for these
ited clear ‘‘breaks’’ in the data plots shown in Fig. 16, and two cases, along with site-specific correlations of consolida-
Fig. 15. Profile of subsurface conditions, settlement estimation parameters, and stress conditions for case 1.
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For personal use only.
Fig. 16. Four example oedometer test curves for case 1 with un- Table 4. Summary of estimated preconsolidation pres-
loading curves shown by dashed lines. sure values, case 1.
0 0 0 0
s pðCÞ s pðPSÞ s pðBÞ s pðPÞ
Test (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) (kPa)
BH03-02-10 182 174 188 167
BH03-02-18 224 230 225 224
E-2-10 153 113 149 127
E-2-15 227 221 223 216
Settlement (mm)
Embankment Casagrande
Case Structure type height (m) (1936) Proposed Measured
1 Embankment 6.5 453 465 425
2 (east) Rigid frame 10.0 202 90 88
2 (west) Rigid frame 10.2 228 99 125
3 (east) Simple span 7.3 282 120 121
3 (west) Simple span 8.5 283 120 136
4 Simple span 4.0 356* 63 total{ 12 (abutment)
*As reported by Soderman and Kim (1970).
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{
46 first stage, 17 abutment only
Fig. 17. Profile of subsurface conditions, settlement estimation parameters, and stress conditions for cases 2 and 3.
For personal use only.
face conditions is provided in Fig. 19 along with the corre- In situ preconsolidation pressures were likely higher than
sponding oedometer test results in Fig. 20. Consistent with indicated by conventional interpretation of the oedometer
construction practice at the time, the embankment was parti- tests and, geologically, were the result of lower past
ally constructed through the bridge area to provide access, groundwater levels.
the embankment at and between the bridge abutments was The Casagrande construction was ‘‘very difficult to use’’
removed, the bridge and remaining embankment was con- for these soils.
structed, and the creek was diverted into a new channel be- The parameters cv (coefficient of consolidation) and Cc
tween the abutments. Settlement of the bridge foundations can be ‘‘grossly underestimated’’ due to sample distur-
was measured once the abutments were constructed and, bance as it was interpreted that the lack of a ‘‘well-
therefore, settlements of the embankments constructed prior defined break’’ in the consolidation test plots was indica-
to bridge construction remain unknown. tive of disturbance (note that the original estimate applied
Comparing the large differences between the original set- the Schmertmann (1955) approach to deriving an esti-
tlement predictions and field measurements, Soderman and mated ‘‘field’’ compression index, see Figs. 20 and 21).
Kim (1970) derived a number of conclusions from their study The most probable factor in the overestimation of settle-
Fig. 18. Two oedometer test curves for cases 2 and 3 with unload- consistent with the other cases showing reasonably close
ing curves shown by dashed lines. agreement between the estimated and observed settlements.
Conclusions
The ‘‘preconsolidation pressure’’ has been proven to be a
useful characteristic yield stress for defining a mathemati-
cally convenient bilinear approximation to the nonlinear
stress–strain behaviour of soils undergoing one-dimensional
consolidation within the standard oedometer test. The advan-
tages of the proposed method of interpretation of this char-
acteristic stress, when compared with others, are that it
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0
s pðCÞ 0
s pðPSÞ 0
s pðBÞ 0
s pðPÞ disturbance, as well as issues associated with the rate of
Test (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) strain and choice of using either end of increment time or
BH101-7 250 279 333 316 end of primary consolidation for the selection of stress and
BH101-13 250 254 387 298 voids ratio data points. When examining oedometer test re-
sults and completing settlement calculations using oedome-
ter data, it is further concluded that
ments was an underestimation of the preconsolidation
pressure. the shape of more ‘‘rounded’’ test data curves, when
plotted on semi-logarithmic scales, may be representative
Their study considered that sample disturbance was a sig- of the character of the soils, rather than solely the result
nificant factor in the derivation of preconsolidation pressures of disturbance
for settlement estimates. While the study provided some for soils of a particular mineralogical composition,
useful explanations for the differences between estimated particle-size distribution, and depositional environment,
and observed settlements, the use of higher Cc values based overconsolidation can produce more ‘‘rounded’’ test
on the Schmertmann (1955) construction coupled with curves than these same soils when normally consolidated
higher preconsolidation pressures may have had compensat- soils with in situ voids ratios less than about 1 will sel-
ing effects, potentially obscuring the underlying factors in dom produce oedometer test curves that exhibit clearly
the settlement estimate discrepancies. Tables 5 and 7 sum- defined ‘‘breaks,’’ as the soil fabric has less potential for
marize settlement estimates and estimated s p0 values for this significant particle rearrangement
case, respectively. e0, derived from oedometer tests, should not be used in
Based on a review of over 100 oedometer tests completed conventional consolidation settlement equations as this
on soils from the southwestern Ontario region, it was con- represents only the greatest value of e following unload-
sidered that the ‘‘rounded’’ curves were representative of ing and swelling, and a more appropriate value on which
the soil’s composition and mechanical behaviour, rather to base such settlement calculations is ev0 calculated di-
than directly the result of sample disturbance. Given that rectly from water content determinations for saturated
the soils are plastic and of a relatively higher density than soils
sensitive or quick Leda clays from other regions of Ontario, the recompression index, Cr, should be based on an
these soils may be less subject to the disturbing effects of unload–reload cycle that bounds the in situ vertical effec-
sampling and testing than quick clays. Therefore, the param- 0
tive stress, s v0 , to provide a reasonable approximation of
eters illustrated in Figs. 19 and 20 were based directly on the soil behaviour when subject to additional loads be-
0
the proposed approach for preconsolidation pressure deter- tween s v0 and s p0 , and the use of unloading–reloading cy-
0
mination and the Cc values derived from the oedometer tests cles above s v0 (or swelling index, Cs) may result in
and correlated Cr values. Based on these profiles, settle- overestimating s p0 and any settlement calculated within
ments were estimated for the bridge abutments and these re- the recompression range.
sults are also provided in Table 5. These results are Judgement of the character of oedometer test results and
Fig. 19. Profile of subsurface conditions, settlement estimation parameters, and stress conditions for case 4 showing s p0 profiles estimated at
the time of design and by Soderman and Kim (1970) with consideration of alternative geologic characterization of stress history.
Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV WINDSOR on 11/11/14
For personal use only.
Fig. 20. Twelve oedometer test curves for case 4 with unloading Fig. 21. Two oedometer test curves for case 4 showing unloading
curves shown by dashed lines. See Fig. 21 for interpretation of two curves and estimated field consolidation curve (after Soderman and
example curves. Kim 1970).
subsequent interpretation is critical when using the proposed influenced by anomalies in the test data, e.g., significant
method of s p0 estimation, as with all other methods. Indis- changes in Cc resulting from data permutations between
criminate application of this mathematical method may pro- very small increments in a controlled-rate-of-strain test.
duce inappropriate results if derivation of Ccmax or Cr are Comparison of the mathematical results to a graphical
Table 7. Summary of estimated preconsolidation Brumund, W.F., Jonas, E., and Ladd, C.C. 1976. Estimating in situ
pressure values, case 4. maximum past preconsolidation pressure of saturated clays from
0 0 0 0
results of laboratory consolidometer tests. In Special Report 163.
s pðCÞ s pðPSÞ s pðBÞ s pðPÞ Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. pp. 4–12.
Test (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) (kPa) Burland, J.B. 1990. On the compressibility and shear strength of
BH2B-569 640 375 640 302 natural clays. Géotechnique, 40(3): 329–378.
BH2B-563 250 337 480 269 Butterfield, R. 1979. A natural compression law for soils (an ad-
BH2B-559 250 217 390 213 vance on e-logp’). Géotechnique, 24(4): 469–479.
BH2B-551 113 165 270 183 Casagrande, A. 1936. The determination of the preconsolidation
BH3B-550 158 200 240 179 load and its practical significance. In Proceedings of the First In-
BH2B-543 137 128 150 163 ternational Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engi-
BH2B-533 162 270 230 263 neering, Cambridge, Mass., 22–26 June 1936. Harvard Printing
BH2B-515 223 183 240 272 Office, Cambridge, Mass. Vol. 3, pp. 60–64.
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BH2B-507 251 202 300 299 Clementino, R.V. 2005. Discussion: An oedometer test study on the
BH2B-498 197 192 240 354 preconsolidation stress of glaciomarine clays. Canadian Geo-
technical Journal, 42(3): 972–974. doi:10.1139/t05-010.
Department of Highways Ontario. 1959. Report on foundation con-
check, s p0 values interpreted through other testing ap- ditions at the Tilbury Creek Crossing, Highway 401. Prepared
proaches, an understanding of the geologic history, and con- by H.G. Acres Co. Ltd. Department of Highways Ontario, Tor-
sideration of other mineralogical or mechanical (sampling, onto, Ont.
testing, etc.) factors should be part of any s p0 interpretation Department of Highways Ontario 1960. Report on settlement study
of the Tilbury Creek Bridge. Prepared by H.G. Acres Co. Ltd.
process. Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Toronto, Ont.
As noted by Becker et al. (1988) ‘‘. . . it is not a question of Grozic, J.L.H., Lunne, T., and Pande, S. 2003. An oedometer test
which technique is correct; rather the issue is which techni- study on the preconsolidation stress of glaciomarine clays. Cana-
que provides the most repeatable result and is least ambigu- dian Geotechnical Journal, 40(5): 857–872. doi:10.1139/t03-043.
ous.’’ It is anticipated that the proposed method may prove a Grozic, J.L.H., Lunne, T., and Pande, S. 2005. Reply to the discus-
useful tool for obtaining less subjective estimates of s p0 and,
For personal use only.
tion, Southwestern Region, Geocres 40J2–79. Prepared by oedometer consolidation of a soft varved clay. Canadian Geo-
Golder Associates Ltd. Ontario Ministry of Transportation technical Journal, 9(2): 165–175. doi:10.1139/t72-017.
(MTO), Toronto, Ont. Report GWP 64–00–00. Quigley, R.M., Haynes, J.E., Bohdanowicz, A., and Gwyn, Q.H.J.
Oikawa, H. 1987. Compression curve of soft soils. Journal of the 1981. Geology, geotechnique, mineralogy and geochemistry,
Japanese Geotechnical Society, Soils and Foundations, 27(3): Leda clay from deep boreholes, Hawkesbury, Ontario. Ontario
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tion of oedometer test data for natural clays. Journal of the Japa- Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 120:
nese Geotechnical Society, Soils and Foundations, 35(3): 61–70. 1201–1233.
Pacheco Silva, F. 1970. A new graphical construction for determi- Soderman, L.G., and Kim, Y.D. 1970. Effect of groundwater levels
nation of the preconsolidation stress of a soil sample. In Pro- on stress history of the St. Clair till deposit. Canadian Geotech-
ceedings of the 4th Brazilian Conference on Soil Mechanics nical Journal, 7(2): 173–193. doi:10.1139/t70-022.
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For personal use only.