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- The document discusses the principle of effective stress in soils and outlines key concepts such as total stress, pore water pressure, and effective stress. - Effective stress is the stress transmitted through the soil skeleton and is equal to the total stress minus the pore water pressure. - In saturated soils, pore water pressure is hydrostatic and increases linearly with depth below the water table. Effective stress therefore decreases with depth in saturated soils. - Examples are provided to demonstrate how to calculate total stress, pore water pressure, and effective stress at different depths for soil profiles with varying saturation and unit weights.

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Jumari Caseles
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74 views11 pages

8 PDF

- The document discusses the principle of effective stress in soils and outlines key concepts such as total stress, pore water pressure, and effective stress. - Effective stress is the stress transmitted through the soil skeleton and is equal to the total stress minus the pore water pressure. - In saturated soils, pore water pressure is hydrostatic and increases linearly with depth below the water table. Effective stress therefore decreases with depth in saturated soils. - Examples are provided to demonstrate how to calculate total stress, pore water pressure, and effective stress at different depths for soil profiles with varying saturation and unit weights.

Uploaded by

Jumari Caseles
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Effective Stresses

Outlines

 Introduction
 The principle of effective stress
 Response of effective stress to a change in total stress
 Partially saturated soils
 Influence of seepage on effective stress
Introduction
 A soil can be visualized as a skeleton of solid particles enclosing
continuous voids which contain water and/or air.
 For the range of stresses usually encountered in practice the individual
solid particles and water can be considered incompressible; air, on the other
hand, is highly compressible.
 The volume of the soil skeleton as a whole can change due to
rearrangement of the soil particles into new positions, mainly by rolling
and sliding, with a corresponding change in the forces acting between
particles.
 The actual compressibility of the soil skeleton will depend on the structural
arrangement of the solid particles.
 In a fully saturated soil, since water is considered to be incompressible, a
reduction in volume is possible only if some of the water can escape from
the voids.
 In a dry or a partially saturated soil a reduction in volume is always
possible due to compression of the air in the voids, provided there is scope
for particle rearrangement.
THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFECTIVE STRESS

 Effective stress: the forces transmitted through the soil skeleton from
particle to particle was recognized in 1923 By Terzaghi
 The the principle applies only to fully saturated soils and relates the
following three stresses:
1. The total normal stress () on a plane within the soil mass, being
the force per unit area transmitted in a normal direction across the
plane
2. The pore water pressure (u), being the pressure of the water filling
the void space between the solid particles;
3. The effective normal stress () on the plane, representing the
stress transmitted through the soil skeleton only.
Effective vertical stress due to self-weight of
soil (overburden pressure)
 The total vertical stress (i.e. the total normal stress on a
horizontal plane) at depth z is equal to the weight of all
material (solids + water) per unit area above that depth, i.e.

 The pore water pressure (static or hydrostatic) at any depth will


be hydrostatic since the void space between the solid particles
is continuous, so at depth z

 The effective vertical stress at depth z will be

where  is the buoyant unit weight of the soil.


Component of Pore water pressure
 If the soil subjected to seepage or to the load the pore water pressure
(pwp). At any time during drainage the overall pore water pressure (u)
is equal to the sum of the static and excess components, i.e.

 The reduction of excess pore water pressure as drainage takes place is


described as dissipation and when this has been completed (i.e. when
ue= 0) the soil is said to be in the drained condition.
 Prior to dissipation, with the excess pore water pressure at its initial
value, the soil is said to be in the undrained condition.
 It should be noted that the term ‘drained’ does not mean that all water
has flowed out of the soil pores: it means that there is no stress-induced
pressure in the pore water. The soil remains fully saturated throughout
the process of dissipation.
Example
 A layer of saturated clay 4m thick is overlain by sand 5m deep, the
water table being 3m below the surface. The saturated unit weights of
the clay and sand are 19 and 20 kN/m3, respectively; above the water
table the unit weight of the sand is 17 kN/m3. Plot the values of total
vertical stress and effective vertical stress against depth. If sand to a
height of 1m above the water table is saturated with capillary water,
how are the above stresses affected?
Example
 What Would happen to  If sand to a height of 1m above
the water table is saturated with capillary water, how are the
above stresses affected?
 Effect of capillary rise
 The water table is the level at which pore water pressure is
atmospheric (i.e. u = 0).
 Above the water table, water is held under negative pressure and,
even if the soil is saturated above the water table, does not
contribute to hydrostatic pressure below the water table.
 The only effect of the 1m capillary rise, therefore, is to increase the
total unit weight of the sand between 2 and 3mdepth from17 to 20
kN/m3, an increase of 3 kN/m3.
 Both total and effective vertical stresses below 3m depth are
therefore increased by the constant amount 3 x 1 = 3.0 kN/m2, pore
water pressures being unchanged.
Example
 A 5m depth of sand overlies a 6m layer of clay, the water table being at
the surface; the permeability of the clay is very low. The saturated unit
weight of the sand is 19 kN/m3 and that of the clay is 20 kN/m3. A 4m
depth of fill material of unit weight 20 kN/m3 is placed on the surface
over an extensive area. Determine the effective vertical stress at the
centre of the clay layer (a) immediately after the fill has been placed,
assuming this to take place rapidly and (b) many years after the fill has
been placed.
a.

b.
Imperial (B.S.) Unit example
Total Stress
Q
Stress (psf) Hydrostatic Stress
0 Effective Stress
G.W.T Loose Fine Sand
10  = 105 lb / ft 3
f ' = 30 o
20

Medium Dense Sand


30  = 120 lb / ft 3
Depth (ft)

f ' = 35 o

50

Dense Sand
 = 125 lb / ft 3
f ' = 37.5 o

70
Example

+M +N

For the sheet pile shown find the ’in point M and N shown
in the figure use  for soil 20kN/m3

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