Compaction and Consolidation
• Soil compressibility can be viewed in two different
contexts – compaction and consolidation
• Soil compaction is defined as the method of
mechanically increasing the density of soil by reducing
volume of air.
• Soil consolidation is a process by which soils decrease
in volume. According to Karl Terzaghi, consolidation is
any process which involves a decrease in water content
of saturated soil without replacement of water by air.
Compression due to foundations
• When the foundations are loaded, soil
underneath the foundations will be subjected to
additional stresses.
• Due to the increase compressive stress on the soil
layers, they will undergo volume change and
hence, compression.
• As a result, the foundations will undergo
settlements.
• The settlement under the structure depends on
the applied stress and the compressibility
characteristics of soil.
• Dissipation of water is slow in clays and fast in
sands
• As Civil Engineers, we need to find
(a) The settlement of compressible layer, and
(b) The time required for the settlement to
complete.
Settlement of foundations
• There are three components of the settlement
of the foundations:
Si - Immediate (elastic) settlement
Sc - Consolidation settlement; and
Ss - Secondary or creep settlement.
• Total settlement, St = Si + Sc + Ss
• Different components are prominent in different
soil types.
Immediate or elastic settlement
• Mainly due to the distortions of the soil particles.
• Happens instantaneously as the load is applied due
to:
– expulsion of pore water in cohesionless soils; and
– change in shape in cohesive soils without
volume change.
• Predominent in sandy and gravely soils.
Cone Penetration Test (CPT)
Immediate Settlement – Terzaghi and
Peck Method
Immediate Settlement – Parry Method
Parry in 1971 proposed that
= qBaCDCWCT /N where
= settlement in mm
q = pressure from the foundation in MN/m2
a = 200 in SI units
B = width of the footing in meters
CD ,CW , and CT are factors for excavation, depth of
the water table and thickness of the
compressible layer respectively
N = Average SPT value over a depth of 2B
Immediate Settlement – Parry Method
CD and CT are read directly from charts and CW is
found by the following equations.
Consolidation Settlement
• When the soil at a site is loaded, say by a
structure, the stress within the soil mass
increases
• Immediately after loading, there is an elastic
compression of soil which we have discussed
• At the same time, i.e. at time = 0, if the soil is
saturated, the increase in total stress is
completely taken by the water in the soil
underneath the structure.
• Water takes the additional increase of stress by
way of increasing its own pressure – an increase
of pore water pressure (pwp).
• The increase in pwp dissipates with time due to
movement of water to surrounding areas with
less pressure through pores in soil. This is faster
(almost immediate) in sands than in clays
• This results in gradual transform of pressure from
pore water to the soil particles as time goes by
(t>0), underneath the structure.
• With this, as time goes by (t>0), soil particles become
closer together as water between the particles
migrate out of the area.
• Hence, the foundation and with it the structure,
settles under its own weight.
• This whole process is called “consolidation”
• We will discuss this with the help of an analogy
1. The container is completely filled with water, and the hole is closed. (Fully
saturated soil)
2. A load is applied onto the cover, while the hole is still unopened. At this stage,
only the water resists the applied load. (Development of excess pore water
pressure)
3. As soon as the hole is opened, water starts to drain out through the hole and
the spring shortens. (Drainage of excess pore water pressure)
[Link] some time, the drainage of water no longer occurs. Now, the spring
alone resists the applied load. (Full dissipation of excess pore water pressure.
End of consolidation)
Leaning
Tower
of
Pisa
PALACE OF FINE ARTS
MEXICO CITY
Oedometer (Consolidation) Test
Oedometer
Oedometer Test
• The dry weight is used to calculate the
height Hs of the sample at the end of the test
• If the thickness of the soil sample at the end of
each load increment, H1, is known, the void
ration e1 can be calculated by
e1= (H1- Hs)/Hs = (H1 / Hs) - 1
• Hence, the void ratio at the end of each load
increment, ei , can be calculated
• This is plotted against the effective stress ’ on
the sample
Typical
e-log ’ curve
Note: abcgh – behaviour
of Normally Consolidated
Clay
PRECONSOLIDATION dfgh – behaviour of Over
PRESSURE
Consolidated clay
Typical e-log ’ curve
• If the clay is NC at the time of testing we will
be able to get the full curve – loading,
unloading and reloading
• However, If the clay is OC , we will only get the
reloading curve
• Most of the soil in the northern hemisphere
are OC
• In any case, once a sample is removed from
the ground and taken to the laboratory, it
becomes OC
Compression Index and Swelling
(Recompression) Index
= Slope of NC curve
Cc
Cs ~ swelling index
= Slope of OC curve PRECONSOLIDATION
PRESSURE
Cs
Coefficient of Volume Compressibility
• The coefficient of volume compressibility,
mv, is defined as the volume change per unit
volume per unit increase in effective stress
• where ,
V0 is the initial volume of soil, V is the
volume change and is the stress increase
that causes the volume change V
Coefficient of Volume Compressibility
• The coefficient of volume compressibility,
mv, for a particular soil varies depending on
the stress range for which it is calculated
• The British standards recommends the use of
mv for a stress increment of 100 kPa in excess
of the effective overburden pressure of the
in-situ soil at the depth of interest.
• Considering the
thickness change in
Oedometer test,
V / V0 = H / H0
• Therefore
mv = ( H / H0) / or
the settlement of the sample , H can be
expressed as,
H = mv H0
Theory of One Dimensional
Consolidation
• By making use of eight assumptions, and
treating the consolidation as a one
dimensional process, Terzaghi has derived an
equation relating the pore water pressure u,
depth z within the consolidating layer, and
time t.
Terzaghi’s Assumptions
1. Soil is Homogeneous and Saturated
2. Water and Soil Particles are individually
incompressible
3. All stresses are uniformly distributed over any cross
section of the soil
4. Darcy’s Law is valid
5. Permeability remains constant throughout the
application of the load
6. Total stress remain constant during consolidation
7. Small strains and correspondingly small changes in
void ratio are considered
8. The Coefficient of Consolidation is constant for a
particular load increment involving only small changes
in voids ratio.
Coefficient of Consolidation
• The relationship between the pore water pressure u.
depth z and time t is given by,
where k is the coefficient of permeability of soil, mv is
the coefficient of volume compressibility, w is the
unit weight of water and Cv is defined as the
coefficient of consolidation
This equation is one of the forms of the Diffusion
equation
Solution of the equation….
• One of the most popular ways of solving a diffusion
equation is by the use of separation of variables
• With that, one can find the complete solution of
as
• Where is the additional stress applied and H is
the length of the longest drainage path
Settlement after time t
• We can use the equation for variation of pore
water pressure to estimate consolidation
settlement of a clay layer. The settlement after
a time t has elapsed, of a layer with a drainage
path H is given by,
Final and Fractional Settlements
• Settlement after a long time has elapsed after
the loading is termed as “final settlement”,
• As time goes to infinity in the above equation,
we get, = mv()H
• Fractional settlement, U, generally expressed
as a percentage, is the settlement after any
given time t as a fraction of , is
• This equation connects two quantities U and
Tv , both are dimensionless
• Tv = Cv t /H2 , is termed as the “Time Factor”
• U and Tv are uniquely related and the numbers
are
U% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Tv 0.00785 0.0314 0.0707 0.126 0.197 0.286 0.403 0.567 0.848
Graphically….
Variation of Degree of Consolidation with Time Factor
0
0.1
degree of consolidation, U(%)/100
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0.001 0.01 0.1 1
Time Factor, Tv=Cvt/H2
Approximation of U – Tv Relationship
for U < 50%
Use of Cc and Cs in calculating
consolidation settlement
e = Cc [ (log ’)]
= Cc [ log i+1 ’– log i ’]
= Cc log (i+1 ’ / i ’)
eC For NC clay
c
(log ’)
log i ’ log i+1 ’
• Considering the e
thickness change in
Oedometer test, + e0
e / (1+e0)= H / H0
• Therefore, settlement
H = [e / (1+e0)] H0)
But , e = Cc log (i+1 ’ / i ’) For NC clay
Therefore, H = Cc log (i+1 ’ / i ’) H0 / (1+e0)
For NC Clay, and
H = Cs log (i+1 ’ / i ’) H0 / (1+e0)
For OC Clay
If the overburden effective pressure at the level we
are interested is 0 ’ and if the increase in stress is
’ then i = 0 ’ and i+1 ’ = 0 ’ + ’
Then, H = [Cc H0/ (1+e0)]log [(0 ’ + ’) / 0 ’]
For NC Clay, and
H = [Cs H0/ (1+e0)]log [(0 ’ + ’) / 0 ’]
For OC Clay
Example
A building site consists of two clay layers, each of 1m
thick, sandwiched among three sand layers. Thickness of
the sand layer at the top is 2.5m, that at the middle is
6m and that at the bottom is 2m. The bottom sand layer
is underlain by impervious rock. Water table is at the
surface level and the saturated unit weights of sand and
clay layers are 20 and 22 kN/m2 respectively. The
building load is uniformly distributed and calculated to
be 60 kPa at the surface level. For clay, preconsolidation
pressure is 80 kPa and Cc/(1+e0) = 0.1 and Cs/(1+e0) =
0.01 .
Find the total consolidated settlement of the deposit.
• The value of mv for a particular soil is not a
constant
• It depends on stress range over which it is
calculated. This is noted in consolidation test.
• Hence Sp is calculated by viewing the soil
deposit as layers and taking the applied stress in
increments.
Empirical relationships for
compression index
• Skempton (1944)
Cc = 0.009(LL – 10) for undisturbed clays
Cc = 0.007(LL – 10) for remoulded clays
• Rendon – Herrero (1983) Cc = 0.5Gs(PI)/10
• Kulbawy and Mayne(1990) Cc = PI/370
• Park and Kuomoto (2004)
Cc = n/(371.747 – 4.275 n)
where n is the in-situ porosity
Secondary consolidation
• Occurs due to creep – rearrangement of particles at
constant effective stress
• Existence is very evident from laboratory testing
• Settlement calculations can be done by using slope
of the secondary compression curve
Secondary consolidation (contd…)
• Up to now, there is no established theory on how to
determine the slope of the secondary compression
curve as it depends on several independent variables
• Although it is believed that this occurs after the
primary consolidation is over (100%) that may not be
true
• It is important to note that settlement due to the
secondary compression cannot be neglected, especially
in materials like peat where it can be as high as the
primary consolidation settlement.
Problems
1. The final consolidation settlement of a layer of clay, 5m thick,
is calculated to be 280mm. The coefficient of consolidation
for the loading range is 0.955 mm2/min. Considering two way
drainage, find the time required for (a) 90% consolidation
and (b) 100 mm settlement
2. A layer of clay has a thickness of 4.0 m and drains both ways.
Cv for the appropriate loading range is 0.695 mm2/min. Final
consolidation settlement is calculated to be 120 mm. Provide
estimates of the consolidation settlement that may be
expected in 1, 2, 5 and 10 yrs after construction.
for U<50%, use U2 = 4Tv /
for U>50%, use U = 1 –(8/ 2)
