CH#06 Consolidation - PPT Rauf Khan

Geotechnical Engineering-I
“CONSOLIDATION”
CH#06
CE 509
Engr. Muhammad Farhan
Malik
IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY
REFERENCE BOOKS
• Advance Soil Mechanics.
By Dr. Aziz Akbar.
• Geotechnical Engineering (Principles and
Practices).
By Donald P. Coduto.
INTRODUCTION
• When a load is applied on a material, stresses and strains
are produced in the material.
• In elastic materials such as steel , the stresses and strains
are produced simulataneously with out any time lag in
between.
• Whereas in non-elastic materials (e.g. Soil) stress-strain
relationship is time dependent, that is, on application of
load, stresses are produced but signs of deformation
become visible only after some time.
• The material in which stress-strain relationship is time
dependent are known as Visco-elastic materials and soil
fall under this category of materials.
• .
• Furthermore when soil are subjected to load, they
deform and even when load is released some
permanent deformation remains recorded in its
memory.
• Thus the soil have a system of memory which
registers the foot prints of each and every loadings in
the form of its geological history.
• in this chapter we study the stress- strain relationship
of a soil mass subjected to external loadings.
CONSOLIDATION OF SOIL
• As stated earlier when a load is applied to a soil
mass, the soil compresses.
• The compression of soil may be due to any of the
following factors or the combined affect of these
factors:
1. Distortion (Change of shape) of soil grains.
2. Compression of air and water in soil voids.
3. Reduction of volume due to expulsion of water and/
or air from the voids.
• Under usual range of loadings applied on a soil mass
through the foundations of civil engineering
structures, the distortion (that is the deformation
caused due to crushing of soil grains) is small and
negligible.
• fine grained soils in nature are generally saturated
and the amount of air is very small and insignificant.
• Water being incompressible fluid does not cause
significant deformation in soils under practical range
of loadings. Thus deformation in saturated soils are
mainly due to the reduction in volume brought about
expulsion of water from the voids. This phenomena is
known as Consolidation.
• Thus consolidation is the Compression of
soil mass due to expulsion of water when
subjected to external compression loads.
• The consolidation process is essentially a
drainage process.
CONSOLIDATION (OEDOMETER) TEST
• When a soil mass under the foundation of a structure is loaded
vertically, the compression of the soil can be assumed to be one
dimensional. To simulate the one dimensional compression in the
laboratory, the soil sample is compressed in a special device called
oedometer or consolidometer.
• In this test a soil sample is carefully trimmed and placed into a
consolidation ring. The ring is relatively rigid and does not allowed
any lateral deformation. On both ends of the sample porous stones are
placed to facilitate drainage from either ends during consolidation
process. Usually the ratio of the diameter to the height of the sample
is between 2.5 and 5 depending upon the diameter of the sampler.
• To study the relationship between load and deformation, compression
load on the test sample is applied in several increments and each
increment is allowed to remain on the sample until the further
consolidation is negligible (usually 24 hours).
• For each increment of load deformation versus
time are recorded and time consolidation curve
is drawn.
• Usually the load is applied in increments of
0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.4, 12.8 and 25.6
kg/cm2 and for each load increment
deformation is recorded at time intervals of
0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480
and 1440 minutes.
• After completion of loading sequence,
unloading is done in decrements to provide
data for expansion during load release.
• We mostly interested in engineering properties of
natural soils as they exist in the field, so
consolidation tests are usually performed on high
quality Undisturbed samples.
• It is also important for samples that were saturated
in the field to remain so during storage and testing.
• If the sample is allowed to dry, a process we call
Desiccation, negative pore pressure will develop and
may cause irreversible changes in the in the soil.
Consolidation Apparatus
• The test begins by applying vertical normal load P. It
produces a vertical effective stress of;
σ’Z = P/A - U
Where;
σ’Z = Vertical effective stress.
P = Applied Load.
A = Cross sectional area of soil specimen.
U = pore water pressure inside the soil specimen.
• The water bath barely covers the specimen , so the pore water
pressure is very small as compared to the vertical stress and thus
may be ignored;
σ’Z = P/A
• The vertical strain εz is noted by monitoring the dial
gage, for each corresponding increase in load.
εz = Change in Dial Gage Reading
Initial height of the sample
• Increase the load to some higher value and allow the soil to
consolidate again, thus obtaining a second value of (σZ ,εz).
• This process will continues until we have reached the desired
peak vertical stress; from this loading sequence we obtain the
loading curve ABC.
• We then incrementally unload the sample and allow it to rebound
thus producing unloading curve CD. Shown in the figure
presented in the next slide.
• Data is plotted on logarithmic scale.
AB representing the Recompression Curve
BC representing the Virgin Curve ,CD representing the Rebound Curve
SIGNIFICANCE
• The consolidation properties determine from the
consolidation test are used to estimate the magnitude
of both primary and secondary settlement.
• The consolidation parameters we find out;
1. Compression Index (Cc) .
2. Recompression Index (Cr) .
3. Coefficient of Volume change (mv) .
4. Pre-consolidation pressure .
5. e – field Density .
6. Coefficient of Consolidation (Cv) .
Cc = Compression Index
σ’Z0 = Initial vertical effective stress Cc = Δe/ log(σ’Zf / σ’Z0)
σ’Zf = Final vertical effective stress
Cr = Recompression Index
σ’C = Pre- consolidation pressure
Pre-consolidation pressure is the

maximum pressure that the soil
has been subjected in the past. It
varies with depth and is used to
identify over consolidation of
specimen.
NORMALLY CONSOLIDATED (NCC)
• A soil is said to be normally consolidated

when;
σ’C = σ’ 0Z
σ’C = Pre-consolidation Pressure.
σ’ 0Z = Present effective overburden pressure.

OVER CONSOLIDATED (OCC)
• The soil is said to be over consolidated when;
σ’C > > > σ’0Z
• This shows that soil has been subjected to some over burden pressure in the
past which has been removed.
• This over burden pressure may be due to;
1. Snow loading
2. Past Structure which now has been removed.
3. Level of ground is lowered.
4. Lowering of the ground water table.(In the past ground water table is high)
OVER CONSOLIDATED RATIO (OCR)
• Over consolidated ratio is defined as ratio

of pre-consolidation pressure to present
effective overburden pressure.
OCR = σ’C / σ’ 0Z
• Greater the value of OCR the more the

soil is consolidated.
• For NCC OCR = 1
• For OCC OCR > 1

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Geotechnical Engineering-I

Pre-consolidation pressure is the

• A soil is said to be normally consolidated

σ’C = Pre-consolidation Pressure.

σ’ 0Z = Present effective overburden pressure.

• Over consolidated ratio is defined as ratio

• Greater the value of OCR the more the

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