EXAMPLES

• (1). Soil conditions at a given site consists of in succession,

5m of sand, 8m of normally consolidated clay, 1m of gravel
and 7m of boulder clay overlying impermeable bedrock.
The water table is 0.5m below ground level. When the
water table is lowered to a depth of 3m below ground level
and maintained at that level for 2 years. Calculate the
resulting consolidation settlement of the ground surface.

Sand : ρ  1.84M g/m 3 , ρ sat  2.07M g/m 3

Normally consolidat ed clay : ρ sat  1.88M g/m 3 , e o  0.94, C c  0.46, C v  1.05m 2 /year

Gravel : ρ sat  1.95M g/m 3

Boulder clay : ρ sat  1.96M g/m 3 , M v  0.00026m 2 /kN, C v  2.34m 2 /year

1
 EXAMPLES
• (2). A building is supported on a raft foundation 45m by
30m. The net foundation pressure being 125kN/m2. The
soil profile is as shown below. The value of Mv for clay is
0.35m2/MN. Determine the final settlement under the centre
of the raft due to consolidation of the clay layer.
30m

3.5m
7m
Water table

25m Sand

4m Clay

2
 EXAMPLES
(3). The following readings were obtained from an oedometer test on
a saturated clay specimen. The load being constant for 24 hours
before addition of the next load increment.
Applied 0 25 50 100 200 400 800
stress
(kN/m2)
Thickness 19.60 19.25 18.98 18.61 18.14 17.68 17.24
(mm)

At the end of the last period the load was removed and the
specimen allowed to expand for 24 hours, at the end of which
its thickness was 17.92mm and its water content found to be
31.8%. The specific gravity of the soil was 2.66.

a). Plot the void ratio versus effective stress curve and determine Mv for
effective stress range of 220-360kN/m2.

3
 EXAMPLES
Cont’d: b). Plot the void ratio versus logarithm of effective
stress curve and determine Cc and pre-consolidation
pressure.

c). Using the data obtained in (a) and (b) above, compute the
ultimate consolidation settlement for a 4m thick layer of the
clay when the average effective stress changes from
220kN/m2 to 360kN/m2.