Sensitivity

For many naturally deposited clay soil, the unconfined compression strength is much

less when the soil are tested after remolding without any change in the moisture

content. This property of clay soil is called sensitivity. The degree of sensitivity is

2.23

table 2.16 Empirical Equations Related to cu

Reference Relationship Remarks

Skempton (1957) cusVSTd

so

50.1110.00037 sPId

PI 5 plasticity index (%) cu(VST) 5 undrained shear strength from vane shear

test

For normally consolidated clay

Chandler (1988) cusVSTd

s9

50.1110.0037 sPId

s9

c5 preconsolidation pressure

Can be used in overconsolidated

soil; accuracy 625%; not valid for

sensitive and fissured clays

Jamiolkowski et al. (1985)

cu
sc

50.2360.04 For lightly overconsolidated clays

Mesri (1989) cu

so

50.22

Bjerrum and Simons (1960) cu

so

50.45

PI%

100

0.5 Normally consolidated clay

for PI . 50%

cu

s9

50.118 sLId

0.15

Normally consolidated clay

for LI 5 liquidity index . 0.5

Ladd et al. (1977)

1

cu

s9

overconsolidated

cu

s9

normally consolidated

5OCR

0.8

OCR 5 overconsolidation ratio 5 sc

9/so

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62 CHapter2 GeoteCHniCal propertieSof Soil

the ratio of the unconfined compression strength in an undisturbed state to that in a

remolded state, or

St 5

qusundisturbedd

qusremoldedd

(2.102)

The sensitivity ratio of most clays ranges from about 1 to 8; however, highly

flocculent marine clay deposits may have sensitivity ratios ranging from about 10 to

80. Some clays turn to viscous liquids upon remolding, and these clays are referred to

as “quick” clays. The loss of strength of clay soil from remolding is caused primarily

by the destruction of the clay particle structure that was developed during the original

process of sedimentation.

Summary

Phase relations are useful in computing the masses and volumes of the different

phases in the soil and in determining the moisture content, void ratio, degree of saturation, and unit
weights. Two major soil classification systems used in geotechnical

engineering are USCS (Unified Soil Classification System) and AASHTO (American

Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials). While AASHTO is

widely used for roadwork, USCS is used in all other geotechnical applications.

Coarse-grained soil are classified based on their grain-size distributions. Fine-grained

soil are classified based on the Atterberg limits.

Hydraulic conductivity, also known as permeability, is an important parameter

in seepage-related problems, including dewatering. It can be determined through a

constant head or falling head permeability test in the laboratory or estimated using

empirical correlations.

Consolidation is a time-dependent process where the water within the void

spaces of a saturated clay is squeezed out by external loads. The parameters required
for consolidation settlement calculations are determined through oedometer tests on

undisturbed clay specimens. The final consolidation settlement Sc

is influenced by

the preconsolidation pressure, compression index, swelling index, initial void ratio,

initial effective overburden stress, applied loads, and the layer thickness. How fast

the consolidation occurs depends on whether the clay is singly or doubly drained and

on the coefficient of consolidation.

Soils fail in shear and follow the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion. The failure

envelope is defined by the two parameters cohesion cand friction angle f, which can

be defined in terms of total or effective stresses and determined by triaxial or direct

shear tests.

2.24

PRobLEmS

2.1 A large piece of dry rock has a mass of 2450 kg and volume

of 0.925 m

. The specific gravity of the rock mineral is 2.80.

Determine the porosity of the rock.

2.2 The bulk density of a compacted soil specimen (Gs52.70)

and its water content are 2060 kg/m

and 15.3%, respectively. If the specimen is soaked in a bucket of water for several days until it is fully
saturated, what should the saturated

density be?

2.3 The top 500 mm of a site consists of a clayey sand with void
ratio of 0.90 and water content of 20.0%. The specific gravity of the soil grains is 2.68. When the ground
is compacted

at the same water content, there is 45 mm reduction in the

thickness of this layer. Determine the new void ratio and the

moist unit weight of the soil.

2.4 The soil at a borrow area is at moisture content of 8.5%

and unit weight of 17.5 kN/m

. This soil is used in the

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construction of a compacted road base where the dry unit

weight is 19.5 kN/m

and the moisture content is 14.0%. If

the finished volume of the road base is 120,000 m

, what

would be the volume of the soil removed from the borrow

pit? How much water would be added to the soil from the

borrow pit?

2.5 A granular soil with Gs52.65, emax 50.870, and emin 5

0.515 is compacted to a moist unit weight of 17.36 kN/m

at moisture content of 10.5%. What is the relative density of

this compacted sand?

2.6 In AASHTO, which group are the following soil likely to

fall into?

a. A well-graded gravel with approximately 10% fines

b. A well-graded sand with approximately 10% fines

c. A uniform fine sand

d. A high plastic clay

2.7 Figure P2.7 shows the grain-size distribution of four soil A,

B, C, and D. The plastic limit and liquid limit of the fines

are as follows.

Soil LL PL

A 58 34

B 42 22

C——

D 75 31

Describe the four soil and give their USCS symbols.

Grain size (mm)

100

Percent finer
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

10 1 0.1 0.01 0.001

fiGure p2.7

2.8 A 500 m long levee made of compacted clay impounds

water in a reservoir as shown in Figure P2.8. There is a 1 m

thick (measured in the direction perpendicular to the seam)

sand seam continuing along the entire length of the levee, at

10° inclination to the horizontal, which connects the reservoir and the ditch. The hydraulic conductivity
of the sand is

2.6 3 10

23

cm/s. Determine the volume of water that flows

into the ditch every day.

Elev.38 m

Elev.30 m
Elev.28 m

200 m

Sand seam

(Not to scale)

Ditch

Reservoir

Levee

fiGure p2.8

2.9 Seepage takes place around a retaining wall shown in

Figure P2.9. The hydraulic conductivity of the sand is

1.5 3 10

23

cm/s. The retaining wall is 50 m long. Determine

the quantity of seepage across the entire wall per day.

5m

Sand

Impervious stratum

Retaining wall

fiGure p2.9

2.10 The soil profile at a site consists of 10 m of gravelly sand

underlain by a soft clay layer. The water table lies 1 m below

the ground level. The moist and saturated unit weights of the

gravelly sand are 17.0 kN/m

and 20.0 kN/m

3

, respectively.

Due to some ongoing construction work, it is proposed to

lower the water table to 3 m below the ground level. What

will be the change in the effective stress on top of the soft

clay layer?

2.11 The depth of water in a lake is 4 m. The soil at the bottom of the

lake consists of sandy clay. The water content of the soil was

determined to be 25.0%. The specific gravity of the soil grains

is 2.70. Determine the void ratio and the unit weight of the soil.

What would be the total stress, effective stress, and pore water

pressure at the 5 m depth into the bottom of the lake?

2.12 In a normally consolidated clay specimen, the following

data are given from the laboratory consolidation test.

e151.10 s9

1565.0 kN/m

e250.85 s9

2 5240.0 kN/m

a. Find the compression index Cc

b. What will be the void ratio when the next pressure increment raises the pressure to 460.0 kN/m

?
problemS 63

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64 CHapter2 GeoteCHniCal propertieSof Soil

2.13 The soil profile at a site is shown in Figure P2.13. The moist

and saturated unit weights of the sand are 17.0 kN/m

and

20.0 kN/m

, respectively. A soil specimen was taken from

the middle of the clay layer and subjected to a consolidation

test, and the following properties are reported:

Natural water content of the clay 522.5%

Specific gravity of the soil grains 52.72

Preconsolidation pressure 5110.0 kN/m

Compression index 50.52

Swelling index 50.06

a. Is the clay normally consolidated or overconsolidated?

b. If a 2 m high compacted fill with a unit weight of 20.0 kN/m

3

is placed on the ground, what would be the final consolidation settlement?

GL

2.0 m

3.0 m

3.0 m Clay

Bedrock

Sand

fiGure p2.13

2.14 A clay layer with two-way drainage reached 75% consolidation in tyears. How long would it take
for the same clay to

consolidate 75% if it has one-way drainage?

2.15 The soil profile at a site consists of 2 m of sand at the ground

level, underlain by 6 m of clay, followed by a very stiff clay

stratum that can be assumed to be impervious and incompressible. The water table is at 1.5 m below
the ground level. The

moist and saturated unit weights of the sand are 17.0 kN/m

and 18.5 kN/m

, respectively. The clay has an initial void ratio

of 0.810, saturated unit weight of 19.0 kN/m

, and coefficient

of consolidation of 0.0014 cm

2
/s.

a. When the ground is surcharged with 3 m high compacted

fill with moist unit weight of 19.0 kN/m

, the settlement

was 160 mm in the first year. What would be the consolidation settlement in the first two years?

b. If the clay is normally consolidated, what is the compression index of the clay?

2.16 The soil profile at a site consists of a 2.0 m thick sand layer

at the top, underlain by a 3.0 m thick clay layer. The water

table lies at a depth of 1.0 m below the ground level. The

bulk and saturated unit weights of the sand are 16.0 kN/m

and 19.0 kN/m

, respectively. The properties of the clay are:

water content 545.0%, specific gravity of the soil grains 5

2.70, compression index 50.65, swelling index 50.08, and

overconsolidation ratio 51.5.

a. The ground level is raised by placing a 1.5 m high compacted fill with unit weight of 20.0 kN/m

. What is the

consolidation settlement?

b. When the consolidation due to the fill is completed,

it is proposed to construct a warehouse imposing a

uniform pressure of 40.0 kN/m

2

. What would be the

consolidation settlement due to the construction of the

warehouse?

2.17 A direct shear test is conducted on a 60 mm 360 mm overconsolidated clay specimen. The loading
was very slow,

ensuring that there is no pore water pressure development

within the specimen (i.e., drained loading). The following

data were recorded.

Normal

load

(N)

Shear

load

(N)

(kN/m

(kN/m

178 102 49.4 28.3

362 174 100.6 48.3

537 256 149.2 71.1

719 332 199.7 92.2

Determine the shear strength parameters c9and f9.

2.18 A consolidated-drained triaxial test is carried out on a sand

specimen that is subjected to 100 kN/m

confining pressure.

The vertical deviator stress was increased slowly such that

there is no build-up of pore water pressure within the specimen. The specimen failed when the
additional axial stress

Dsreached 260 kN/m

a. Find the friction angle of the sand.

b. Another identical sand specimen is subjected to

200 kN/m

confining pressure. What would be the deviator stress at failure?

2.19 A consolidated-drained triaxial test was carried out on a normally consolidated clay specimen, and
the following results

were recorded: s935150 kN/m

and Dsf 5260 kN/m

An identical specimen from the same clay was subjected

to a consolidated-undrained test with a confining pressure

of 150 kN/m

, and the additional axial stress at failure was

115 kN/m

a. What is the pore water pressure at failure in this second

specimen?

b. What is Skempton’s pore pressure parameter Aat failure?

2.20 The specimens obtained from a clay layer at a site gave the following shear strength parameters
from a consolidated-drained

triaxial test: c9 510 kN/m

and f9526°. A consolidatedundrained triaxial test is carried out on this soil, where a specimen is
consolidated under confining pressure of 100 kN/m

and loaded under undrained conditions. The specimen failed

under an additional axial stress of 107.0 kN/m

. What is the

pore water pressure within the specimen?

2.21 The data from a series of consolidated-undrained triaxial

tests are summarized below. Draw the three Mohr circles,

plot the failure envelope in terms of effective stresses, and

find c9and f9.

Sample
number

Cell pressure

(kN/m

Additional axial

stress at failure

(kN/m

Pore water

pressure at

failure (kN/m

1 100 88.2 57.4

2 200 138.5 123.7

3 300 232.1 208.8

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whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203

Amer, A. M. and Awad, A. A. (1974). “Permeability of Cohesionless Soil,” Journal of

the Geotechnical Engineering Division, American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 100,

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American Society for Testing and Materials (2011). Annual Book of ASTM Standards,

Vol. 04.08, West Conshohocken, PA.

Bjerrum, L. and Simons, N. E. (1960). “Comparison of Shear Strength Characteristics of

Normally Consolidated Clay,” Proceedings, Research Conference on Shear Strength of

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Carrier III, W. D. (2003). “Goodbye, Hazen; Hello, Kozeny-Carman,” Journal of Geotechnical and
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REFEREnCES

referenCeS 65

2.22 Steel plates with mass of 1500 g each were stacked on top

of a 75 mm diameter and 150 mm high clay specimen,

as shown in Figure P2.22. If the undrained shear strength

of the specimen is 45.0 kN/m

, how many plates can be

stacked before the specimen fails? What is the consistency

term for this clay?

2.23 Estimate the friction angle of the soil C in Problem 2.7 (see

Figure P2.7) at 80% relative density and void ratio of 0.61

using the empirical correlations given by

a. Eq. (2.87)

b. Eq. (2.88)

Clay

specimen

Steel plate

fiGure p2.22
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66 CHapter2 GeoteCHniCal propertieSof Soil

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