When a soil layer is subjected to vertical

stress, volume change can take place

through rearrangement of soil grains, and
some amount of grain fracture may also
take place.The volume of soil grains
remains constant, so change in total
volume is due to change in volume of
water.In saturated soils, this can happen
only if water is pushed out of the voids.
The movement of water takes time and is
controlled by thepermeabilityof the soil
and the locations of free draining boundary
surfaces.

 Major mechanism of compression

Particle rearrangement
Particle bending
particle breakage
Compressibility
strongly dependent on initial void ratio

 Clay soil and organic soils gen exist at

high e and shows high compressibility
Another significant problem with clay
soil is their low k and nature of particles.
Their compressibility is time dependent.
After loading the structural
readjustment of clays takes time.
This time-dependent compression is
called Consolidation

Definition

Consolidation is a gradual process

involving drainage, compression and
stress transfer.

It is necessary to determine both the magnitude of volume

change (or the settlement) and the time required for the
volume change to occur. The magnitude of settlement is
dependent on the magnitude of applied stress, thickness of
the soil layer, and thecompressibilityof the soil.
When soil is loaded un-drained, the pore pressure increases.
As the excess pore pressure dissipates and water leaves the
soil, settlement takes place. This process takes time, and the
rate of settlement decreases over time.In coarse soils (sands
and gravels), volume change occurs immediately as pore
pressures are dissipated rapidly due to high permeability. In
fine soils (silts and clays), slow seepage occurs due to low
permeability.

 Soils are often subjected to uniform loading over

large areas, such as fromwide foundations, fills
orembankments. Under such conditions, the soil
which is remote from the edges of the loaded area
undergoes vertical strain, but no horizontal strain.
Thus, the settlement occurs only in one-dimension.
The compressibility of soils under one-dimensional
compression can be described from the decrease in
the volume of voids with the increase of effective
stress. This relation of void ratio and effective
stress can be depicted either as anarithmetic
plotor asemi-log plot.

coefficient of compressibility,av.

coefficient of volume
compressibility,mv,

The total stress increases when

additional vertical load is first applied.
Instantaneously,
the
pore
water
pressure increases by exactly the same
amount. Subsequently there will be flow
from regions of higher excess pore
pressure to regions of lower excess
pore pressure causing dissipation.
The effective stress will change and the
soil will consolidate with time.

Estimation
ofPreconsolidation
Stress

The steps in the construction are:

Draw the graph using an appropriate scale.
Determine the point of maximum curvatureA.
AtA,draw a tangentABto the curve.
AtA,draw a horizontal lineAC.
Draw the extensionEDof the straight line portion of
the curve.
Where the lineEDcuts the bisectorAFof angleCAB,
that point corresponds to the preconsolidation stress.

Pre-Consolidation Pressure
The preconsolidation pressure p is the stress
at which major structural changes including
the breakdown of interparticle bonds and
interparticle displacement begin to occur, is
one of the most important properties of soft
clays. It defines the boundary between stiff
and soft deformation response of a soil to
loading.
The
magnitude
of
the
preconsolidation pressure is best expressed in
terms
of
the
value
known
as
the
overconsolidation ratio,OCR.

Pre-Consolidation Pressure
The effective vertical stress at which
major changes in the natural soil
structure begin to take place is called
the preconsolidation pressure and is
denoted by p ;. In the range from vo ,
to p , designated the recompression
range, the soil structure accommodates
the increased effective stress without
significant inter-particle displacement..

Recompression Range
In this stress range, the compression results
from the deformation of the soil structure,
which involves only minor slip at inter-particle
contacts. The greater the inter-particle
bonding and cementation, the greater is the
resistance
to
compression
in
the
recompression range, and the more abrupt is
the
transition
from
recompression
to
compression, because major inter-particle slip
begins the process of destructuration at the
pre-consolidation pressure.

Compression Range
In the range beyond p, known as the
compression range, significant particle
rearrangement is required to develop
interparticle resistance to the increased
effective stress.
In general, however, for all soils in the
compression range, the compressibility
decreases continuously as the effective
stress and the corresponding compression
increase.

Cc

<0.2
0.2-0.4
0.4-0.8
0.8-1.6
1.6-3.2
>3.2

Compressibility
very low
low
medium
high
very high
extremely high

Cr/Cc = 0.1-0.2
Cs/Cc = 0.1-0.4

Settlement computations

If the clay is overconsolidated, and

remains so by the end ofnote
consolidation,
the use of Cr

vo ' '
e Cr log
vo '

CASE I: vo < vf <

p
initial
Cr
eo
final
1
e
VC
L

S c H

Cc
vo

e
Sc
H
1 eo
Cr

1 eo

vf

vo ' '
log

vo '

vf = vo+

22

Settlement computations

If an overconsolidated clay becomes

normally consolidated by the end of vf
consolidation,
CASE II: vo < p
p'
vo ' '
e Cr log
Cc log
< vf
initial
vo '
p'
Cr

eo

e
Sc
H
1 eo
final
Cr
Cc

S c H
1
1 eo

vo

p
vf = vo+

VC
L

Cc

1 eo

p'
log

vo '

'

'
vo
log

'
p 23

C
c Empirical relations
Skempton (1944) estabilished a relationship
between Cc and Liquid limit (wl)for remolded clays as
Terzaghi & Peck (1948) modified Skemptons
equation
Azzouz et al. (1976) proposed a no. of correlations
based on the statistical analysis of a number of
soils.

24

Cc Empirical relations

Rendon-Herrero (1983) relationship

Nagaraj and Murthy (1985) expressed Cc and Cs as

In most cases

25

Classification of soil
compressibility

Geotechnical
Engineering 26
Coduto P-391

Primary Consolidation
Settlement (sp )

H=30 ft
Cc=0.4
e o=1.35
=45.1
vt=450

v=1250

Effective Consolidation Depth

v=0.1p
Circular area = 2D
Square area =2B
Strip area =6.5 B

During the consolidation process, the

following are assumed to be constant:
1.The total additional stress on the
compressible soil layer is assumed to
remain constant.
2.The coefficientof compressibility(aV)of
the soil is assumed to be constant.
3.The coefficient of permeability(kv)for
vertical flow is assumed to be constant

 There are three variables in the consolidation

equation:
1.the depth of the soil element in the layer(z)
2.the excess pore water pressure(u)
3.the time elapsed since application of the
loading(t)

Consolidation Settlement and

Time
To estimate the amount of consolidation which would
occur and the time it would take to occur, it is necessary
to know:
The boundary and drainage conditions
The loading conditions
The relevant parameters of the soil, including initial void
ratio, coefficient of compressibility, coefficient of volume
compressibility , compression index, and coefficient of
consolidation. They are obtained from consolidation tests
on representative undisturbed samples of the
compressible soil stratum.

 A 3 m thick layer of saturated clay in the field under a

surcharge loading will achieve 90% consolidation in 75
days in double drainage conditions. Find the coefficient
of consolidation of the clay.

A 3 m thick clay layer in the field under a given surcharge will undergo
7 cm of total primary consolidation.If the first 4 cm of settlement takes
90 days, calculate the time required for the first 2 cm of settlement

 For a laboratory consolidation test on a soil

specimen that is drained on both sides, the
following were obtained:
Thickness of the clay specimen = 25 mm
P1= 50 kN/m2; e1= 0.92
P2= 120 kN/m2;e2= 0.78
Time for 50% consolidation = 2.5 min
Determine the soil permeability for the loading
range

Limitations of the Theory of

Consolidation
1. The coefficient of permeability kv,
or kh
remains constant during
consolidation.
2. The relation between void ratio or
vertical strain and effective vertical
stress is linear; that is, the coefficient
of compressibility av, or mv, remains
constant during consolidation

Secondary Compression
C

= C /(1+e)
<0.2
0.2-0.4
0.4-0.8
0.8-1.6
1.6-3.2

very low
low
medium
high
very high

Secondary Compression
C
Ss=( C /(1+e))*H*log(t/tp)
tp=t95
C /Cc =0.01-0.07
= 0.046