TECHNICAL NO-IFS 213

The difference in the percentage mobilized strength in the case of the wide embankment is
principally due to the influence of the weight of the retained embankment behind the reinforced
earth wall. It is the marked difference between Figs 10 and 11 which demonstrates the necessity
of a wholistic approach to the global analysis of a reinforced earth structure situated on a
yielding foundation. As confirmation of the analysis produced by a study of the percentage
mobilized strength of the sub-soil provided by the finite element method, equilibrium methods
using the failure planes predicted by the percentage mobilized strength plot can be used.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mr D. Jackson of the Structural
Engineering Unit, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council in the preparation of this
Paper which is presented with the permission of Mr J. A. Gaffney, Director of Engineering
Services and Mr F. A. Sims, Executive Director of Engineering.

REFERENCES
Daniels, P. (1973). Pile group analysis. MSc Dissertation, University of Leeds.
Department of Transport (1978). Reinforced earth retaining walls and bridge abutments for embankments.
Tech. Memo BE 3/78.
Edwards, L. W. (1978). FELSTA user manual. West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council/Department
of Transport.
Jones, C. J. F. P. & Edwards, L. W. (1975). Thefinite element analysis of the Trent embankments, Report to
the North Eastern Road Construction Unit, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council.
Jones, C. J. F. P. & Edwards, L. W. (1976). Thefinite element analysis of the Surtees embankment. Report
to the North Eastern Road Construction Unit, Durham Sub-Unit.
Jones, C. J. F. P. (1978). Current practice in designing earth retaining structures. Ground Engng.
Nicu, N. D., Autes, D. R. & Kessler, R. S. (1970). Field measurements on instrumentedpiles under an overpass
abutment. Report to the Committee for Foundations in Bridges and other Structures, New Jersey
Department of Transportation.
Wroth, C. P. (1978). The predicted performance of soft clay under a trial embankment loading based upon
the Cam-Clay Model. Int. Symp. Num. Methods in Soil and Rock Mech., Karlsruhe.

Effect of consolidation age on stiffness of sand

0. DARAMOLA*

In geological terms, the age of natural deposits is typically of the order of thousands of years
and thus a deposit would have been subjected to the current or higher stresses since its
deposition. Yet, the possible effects of consolidation age on the stress-strain behaviour of
granular materials has received relatively little attention. Ohsaki (1969) did suggest that the
age of a deposit could affect its strength and the limited available evidence seems to confirm
this view. The work of Seed (1976) showed that consolidation age of 100 days can increase
the strength of a sample by as much as 25%. Oda (1973) noticed that sand of tertiary and
quatemary ages had large N values and that they were sufficiently cemented to be block-
sampled. Similarly, Tohno (1975) observed some cementing effects and high density in aged
deposits. In all cases, no information was given on deformation behaviour.

Discussion on this Technical Note closes 1 September, 1980. For farther details see inside back cover.
* University of Ife, Nigeria.

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 214 TECHNICAL NOTES

b@
60

c IlO) =Age of consdidntion in days

1.0 2.0 3.0 L.0 5.0 6-O

Axial stmin 41%
2.0, 1
1.0 1
2.0 I
3-o I
1.0 1
5.0 6.0

Fig. 1. The effect of the age of consolidation on stress-strain characteristics of Ham River sand

During the course of investigations into the effects of stress-history on the deformation of a
sand, the writer conducted tests on samples which were left under sustained pressure for some
time.
Four samples (approximately 38 mm x 80 mm) of Ham River sand were prepared in about
equally dense states and each was subjected to an effective all round pressure of 400 kN/m2.
The first sample was sheared immediately after consolidation and the other three were sheared
when the consolidation pressure had been left on the sample for lo,30 and 152 days respectively.
All samples were sheared at 0.04 mmlmin, a rate slow enough for complete drainage during
shear.
The results of the tests are as shown in Fig. 1. The respective ages of consolidation and the
pre-shear void ratios e, are also shown on the figure. When the age of consolidation was 10
days, the stress-deformation behaviour was not dis-similar to that of a freshly prepared sample,
being governed basically by density. The axial strain at failure were about the same (55% for
both) also the volumetric strains and dilatations were of the same order. As the age of
consolidation increased, some differences in deformation behaviour became noticeable. The
stress-deformation curves were steeper and the strains to failure reduced, being about 3.2%
at 30 days and about 2.2% at consolidation age of 152 days. The incremental resistance to
deformation Mt given by the ratio of vertical stress increment to the vertical strain increment
was obtained along the curves. This was divided by the average confining stress and plotted
against the stress ratio during shear as shown in Fig. 2(a).

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 TECHNICAL N0TFi.S 215

OSO=Axiatstmin
280 Ml) Age of consolidation
$= &OO.OkN/ ,2
r

I I I
01
1-O 2.0 I 3-o L.0
Stress ratio E#
oh
u z! lal
E@
:: 51 2.0 -

Line of best fit

1 I I I

10 100 1000
Age of consolidation -days
lb)
Fig. 2. Variations of resistance to deformation with consolidation age

Thus the effect of sustained pressure was to increase the resistance to deformation at
practically every stage of the loading, even though this effect was to decrease with decreasing
age of consolidation.
Furthermore, the secant modulus for each test was determined. In order to reduce the
effects of inevitable bedding errors associated with overall strain measurement on the modulus
(Daramola, 1978), the points of 10% and 50% maximum stress difference were used. The
secant modulus of the freshly prepared sample was designated E,,. The secant modulus of the
sample left under sustained pressure for ten days was found to be l-033 EW The corresponding
values for samples of consolidation age of 30 days and of 152 days were found to be l-583 E,
and 1.992 E, respectively. These values, plotted as shown in Fig. 2(b) approximate to a 50%
increase in modulus for every log cycle of time. In practical terms, this suggests that for a
material under sustained pressure for 300 years, its resistance to deformation will be about
3.5 times that of a fresh deposit at the same density.

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 216 TECHNICAL NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is part of a larger study on the deformation behaviour of a sand carried out at
Imperial College, London. Mr David Evans, the head of the Soil Mechanics Laboratory
technical staff, generously provided the equipment. Dr P. R. Vaughan made valuable comments
on the interpretation of the results. The Author wishes to express appreciation for their help.

REFERENCES
Daramola, 0. (1978). The influence ofstvess history on the deformation of a sand. PhD. thesis, University of
London.
Oda, N. (1973). Characteristics of N value of dense sand deposits. Doctoral thesis, University of Tokyo.
Ohsaki, Y. (1969). The effects of local soil conditions upon earthquake damage. Proceedings Specialify
Session 2, 7th Int. Con& Soil Mech. Fdn Engng, Mexico.
Seed, H. B. (1976). Some aspects of sand liquefaction under cyclic loadings. Proc. behaviour of ofishore
Structures, Norway, 374-391.
Tohno, I. (1975). Grain to grain contacts and unconfined compression properties of sand deposits. Proc.,
9th Annual Meetings, Jap. Sot. Soil Mech. Fdn Engng.

Elastic solutions for a deep circular tunnel

M. J. PENDER*

NOTATION
I2 tunnel radius N coefficient of earth pressure at
r radial coordinate rest (total stress)
24 radial displacement circumferential, radial and longi-
u, radial displacement at the tunnel tudinal strain
periphery angular coordinate
V circumferential displacement Poisson’s ratio
Va circumferential displacement at mass density
the tunnel periphery circumferential and radial nor-
Z longitudinal coordinate mal stress
A-F, S,, S, constants vertical and horizontal normal
E Young’s modulus stress
K, coefficient of earth pressure at Tre shearing stress
rest (effective stress) 9 Airy stress function

The displacements about a circular opening in an elastic medium are of interest to the
geotechnical engineer for the design of tunnel linings. The behaviour of a soil or rock mass is
never truly elastic and tunnel cross-sections are rarely circular. However, the simplicity of the
elastic solution for the stresses and displacements about a deep circular opening provides good
preliminary insight into the significance of various parameters (Muir-Wood, 1975; Curtis,
1976). Likewise the assumption of plane strain is made in the interests of simplicity, even
though it is known that the actual deformation path of soil during a tunnelling operation is not
plane, Ward (1969). A tunnel is regarded as ‘deep ’ if the free surface does not significantly

Discussion on this Technical Note closes 1 September, 1980. For further details see inside back cover.
* Civil Engineering Department, University of Auckland.

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