CHAPTER ONE:

SOIL COMPRESSIBILITY and CONSOLIDATION

The Leaning Tower of Pisa shown in the figure is
the classic example of differential settlement caused
by consolidation.
Construction of the tower started in 1173, and by
the end of 1178 when two-thirds of the tower was
completed, it had tilted. Since then the tower has
been settling differentially.
The foundation of the tower is located about 3 m
into a bed of silty sand that is underlain by 30 m of
soft clay resting on a deposit of sand.
A sand layer approximately 5 m thick intersects the
clay.

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1.1 Introduction
Need for study of compressibility and consolidation?
Soil engineering problems are of two basic types:
The first type is when soil compression leads to settlement in a soil mass.
The second type includes cases in which there is danger of shearing
stresses exceeding the shear strength of the soil.

Therefore as part of the first problem, understanding soil compressibility

or consolidation behaviour is mandatory.

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How compression happens?
When structures are built on soils, they transfer loads to the subsoil
through the foundations. The effect of the loads is felt by the soil normally
up to a depth of about two to three times the width of the foundation.
The soil within this depth gets compressed due to the imposed stresses. The
compression of the soil mass leads to the decrease in the volume of the
mass which results in the settlement of the structure.
The compressibility characteristics of a soil mass might be due to any or a
combination of the following factors:
Compression of the solid matter.
Compression of water and air within the voids.
Escape of water and air from the voids.
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It is quite reasonable and rational to assume that the solid matter and the
pore water are relatively incompressible under the loads usually
encountered in soil masses.
Therefore, the change in volume of a mass under imposed stresses must
be due to:
 The escape of water (if the soil is saturated)
Partly due to the compression and escape of air from the voids and
partly due to the dissolution of air in the pore water (If the soil is
partially saturated)

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Soil in nature may be found in any of the following states:
Dry state.
Partially saturated state.
Saturated state.

Regarding the above three situations the following points should be noted:
Settlements of structures built on granular soils are generally considered only
under dry state or saturated state. Because the water can freely drain in the
granular soil, saturation is a temporary situation.

However, in very fine-grained (cohesive soils) the water content may remain
almost unchanged during a rapid change in stress and it takes time to remove or
change the water content. Therefore, Saturated or partially saturated states are
considered.
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Therefore, settlement of a saturated fine grained (cohesive clay soil) is a
subject of this chapter.
The total settlement of saturated cohesive/clay soil composes of the
following three components.
Immediate or elastic settlement (Se)
Consolidation settlement
i) Primary consolidation settlement (Sc)
ii) Secondary consolidation settlement (Ss)
Or

ST = Se + Sc + Ss

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a) Immediate or elastic settlement
Is the portion of the settlement of a structure which occurs more or less
simultaneously with the applied loads.
This settlement is due to the immediate compression of the soil layer under
undrained condition and is calculated by assuming the soil mass to behave as an
elastic soil.
Immediate settlement analyses are used for all fine-grained soils including silts
and clays with a degree of saturation S ≈ ≤ 90 percent and for all coarse-grained
soils with a large coefficient of permeability.

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b) Consolidation Settlement
When saturated soil is subjected to an external load, the pore water pressure
increases immediately on the application of the external load. With time, the
increase of pore water pressure gradually decreases, and the effective stress
gradually increases; as pore water drains from the soil, the pore volume and
total volume of the soil gradually decrease. This entire process is called
“consolidation”
Or
Consolidation is the time-dependent settlement of soils resulting from the
expulsion of water from the soil pores.

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Consolidation may be due to one or more of the following factors:
External static loads from structures.
Self-weight of the soil such as recently placed fills.
Lowering of the ground water table.
Desiccation.
In practice, consolidation settlement of granular soil (sand and gravel) is
small and is usually ignored. In these type of soils elastic settlement and
consolidation settlement occurs simultaneously.
Consolidation settlement is generally calculated only for clayey and silty
soils, where drainage is slow and consolidation can be significant.

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Types of consolidation settlement
i) Primary consolidation settlement is the change in volume of a fine-grained soil
caused by the expulsion of water from the voids and the transfer of stress from the
excess pore water pressure to the soil particles.
ii) Secondary consolidation settlement is the change in volume of a fine-grained soil
caused by the adjustment of the soil fabric (internal structure) after primary
consolidation has been completed.
Typically, the secondary consolidation settlement is very small for mineral soils
(sand or clay); therefore, it is often ignored in the practical design.
For organic soils such as peat, however, the secondary consolidation settlement
is should be evaluated if a foundation is to rest on organic soils.

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Consolidation Theory
Terzaghi (1925) developed one-dimensional consolidation theory based on the
assumption that settlement of a structure is due to the presence of one or more
layers of soft clay located between layers of sand or stiffer clay as shown in the
figure.

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In the laboratory this condition is simulated most closely by the confined compression or
consolidation test.
Consolidation of a saturated clay-water system is determined by means of the apparatus
known as an oedometer or consolidometer.
A typical Oedometer apparatus is shown in the following figure.

(a) A typical consolidometer apparatus, (b) Loading Frame

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Oedometer test :
The following are common procedure oedometer test:
 Place soil spacemen of usual size (64mm diam. and 2.5mm thick.) inside the metal
ring with two porous stones one at top and other at top.
Porous stone should be kept in water before application
Keep the specimen in water during the test.
Apply the load through a lever arm. An initial seating load should be applied based
on the soil type (usually 2.5 to 5 kN/m2) for a duration of 2 to 24 hr.
Each load is usually kept for 24 hrs. The load is usually doubled each time after 24hr.
Record compression and time from a micrometre. Recording should be made at
certain interval of time (e.g. 1/4, 1/2, 1,2,4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480 and 1440
minutes)
At the end of the test the dry weight of the specimen is determined.
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 The plot between the dial gauge
reading and time is required for
determining the coefficient of
consolidation which is useful for
obtaining the rate of consolidation
in the field.

This plot shows the process of

consolidation under a particular
load increment

Time-Deformation plot during consolidation for a given

load increment. Instructor: Demboba M. 14
 The plot between the final void ratio
and the effective stress is required
for determination of the magnitude
of consolidation settlement in the
field.

It relates final void ratios reached

under different load increments and
the corresponding effective stress
under each load increments.

Typical plot of e - log σ’

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The change in void ratio which is used to
plot the above graph (e-logσ’) can be
calculated in the following manner.
1) Calculate the height of solids (Hs)

3) Calculate the initial void ratio(eo)

4) For the first incremental load σ1(Total load /

2) Calculate initial height of voids (Hv) unit area of specimen) which causes deformation
ΔH1,calculate the change in void ratio as:

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5) Calculate the new void ratio after At this time σ2 = effective stress σ2’.
consolidation caused by the pressure In similar manner one can obtain the void
increment as: ratios at the end of consolidation for all
load increments.
For the next loading, σ2 (the The effective stress (σ’) and the
cumulative load per unit area of corresponding void ratio (e) at the end of
specimen), which causes additional consolidation are plotted on a semi
deformation ΔH2, the void ratio at the logarithmic graph paper.
end of consolidation can be
calculated as

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Example: 1

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Normally Consolidated and Over consolidated Clays
A clay is said to be normally consolidated if the present effective overburden
pressure σo is the maximum pressure to which the layer has ever been
subjected at any time in its history,
whereas a clay layer is said to be over consolidated if the layer was subjected
at one time in its history to a greater effective overburden pressure, σc’, than
the present pressure, σo’.
The maximum effective past pressure (σc’) is called pre compression
pressure.
The ratio σc’/σo’ is called the over consolidation ratio (OCR).
Over consolidation of a clay stratum may have been caused due to some of
the following factors:
Weight of an overburden of soil which has eroded
Weight of a continental ice sheet that melted
Desiccation of layers close to the surface.
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Diagram illustrating the geological process leading to over consolidation of clays
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The stress history and e–log σ’ relationship can
be verified in the laboratory by loading the
specimen to exceed the maximum effective over
burden pressure and then unloading and re
loading again (expansion and recompression)
as shown on the figure.
The shapes of the curves are related to the stress
history of the clay. The e–log σ’ relationship for a
normally consolidated clay is linear (or nearly so)
and is called the virgin compression line.
If a clay is over consolidated, its state will be
represented by a point on the expansion or
recompression parts of the e–log σ; plot.
The plots show that a clay in the over
consolidated state will be much less compressible
than that in a normally consolidated state.

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Graphical Procedure to determine pre-
consolidation pressure
The earliest and the most widely used
graphical method was the one proposed by
Casagrande (1936).
The method involves locating the point of
maximum curvature, a, on the laboratory e-
log σ’ curve of an undisturbed sample as
shown. From a, a tangent is drawn to the
curve and a horizontal line is also
constructed. The angle between these two
lines is then bisected. The abscissa of the
point of intersection of this bisector with the
upward extension of the inclined straight
part corresponds to the pre-consolidation
pressure σc’.
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Basic parameters related to consolidation
The compressibility of the clay can be represented by one of the following
coefficients.
1) The coefficient of volume compressibility (mv), defined as the volumetric
strain per unit increase in effective stress. The volume change may be expressed
in terms of either void ratio or specimen thickness.
mv = (ΔV/V)
Δσ’
The above equation can also be expressed as:
mv = av / (1 + eo) where:

av is known as coefficient of compressibility.

The value of mv for a particular soil is not constant but depends on the stress
range over which it is calculated.

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2) The compression index (Cc) is the slope There are several empirical correlations
of the linear portion of the e–log σ’ plot to calculate the compression and swelling
and is dimensionless. indexes.
For any two points on the linear portion of the As an example:
plot
(Suggested by skempton (1994))

3) The swelling index (Cs):

The expansion part of the e–log σ’ plot can be (Suggested by Nagaraj and Murthy
approximated to a straight line, the slope of 91985))
which is referred to as the swelling index Cs.
Other correlations should be refered
whenever necessary

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Calculation of settlements
The total settlement of a foundation on a soil is the sum of elastic or initial
settlement, Primary consolidation settlement and secondary consolidation
settlement.
ST = Se +Sc + Ss
Where:
ST= Total settlement
Se = Elastic settlement
Sc = Primary consolidation settlement
Ss = Secondary consolidation settlement
Determination of each of settlement components are discussed in the following
slides.

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a) Elastic settlement
A number of solutions for calculation of elastic settlement exist in the
literature for different: theories, initial governing assumptions, foundation
geometries, and specific situations. Most of them are based on theory of
elasticity and they provide closer results.
Some of these methods includes the following :
Mayne and Poulos (1999)
Timoshenko and Goodier (1951)
Janbu et al., (1956) method (under an undrained condition)
Schmertmann's method (using CPT values)

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The existing equation based on theory of elasticity is:

Where:
Se = Immediate settlement
Δσ = Net pressure applied
B = Width of the foundation (= Diameter of circular foundation)
μs = Poisson's ratio of soil
Es = Modulus of elasticity of soil
Ip = Non dimensional influence factor
Schleicher (1926) expressed the influence factor for the corner of a flexible
rectangular footing as:

Where m1 = Length of the foundation divided by width of the foundation (L/B)

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Example 2:

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In the above equation of elastic settlement calculation, Δσ is assumed to be
applied at the surface. But practically foundations are placed at certain depth
and deeper foundations embedment tends to reduce foundation settlement (Se).
Therefore the above equation results in a conservative value.
The improved relationship for elastic settlement calculation which is provided by
Mayne and Poulos (1999) is given below.

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To use this relation ship one needs to determine
the equivalent diameter of a rectangular
foundation
Where:
B =Width of foundation and
L = Length of foundation.
For circular foundation Be = D (Diameter)
The modulus of elasticity of compressible layer
is given as:

Es = Soil’s modulus of elasticity at depth z ≥ 0

k = Rate of increase of modulus of elasticity
with depth
z = Depth starting from the bottom of the
foundation.

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Example 3:
For the following shallow foundation supported by a silty clay estimate the elastic
settlement based on the given information.

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b) Consolidation settlement
i) Primary consolidation settlement

The primary consolidation settlement can be determined based on the following

equations:
Normally consolidated soils (σc’ = σo’, or over consolidation ratio OCR = σc’/ σo’ =
1):

Over consolidated soils (σc’ > σo’, or over consolidation ratio OCR = σc’/ σo’ > 1):

Under this condition, two subcategories exist:

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An alternative approach that produces the same or very similar results requires the
coefficient of volume compressibility mv, which can also be found from odometer
results

As it can be expected, the value of mv is stress and state dependent; therefore, it can
be calculated under both normally and over consolidated conditions, provided the
laboratory data are available. Knowing the value of coefficient compressibility (mv),
the consolidation settlement can be calculated as:

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Example 4: For a soil profile shown below if the a uniformly distributed load Δσ, is applied at the
ground surface what is the primary consolidation settlement if,

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Vertical stress increases due to various types of loads using Boussinesq method.

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Another approximate but popular
method to compute vertical stress
increases is the “2:1 method,” as
illustrated in the figure.
In this method, the vertical stress is
assumed to propagate and diminish
downward at a 2:1 (vertical to
horizontal) slope, and the total load at
any depth beneath the foundation is
equal to the total load at the bottom of
the foundation.

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For a rectangular foundation of When calculating the settlement of a soil
dimensions B × L, the vertical stress layer beneath a foundation, the average
increase at depth z below the vertical stress increase in the soil layer is
foundation is: used.
The vertical stress increase beneath a
foundation is nonlinear.
For example, the vertical stress increase
For a strip (continuous) foundation of beneath the centre of a uniformly loaded
width B, the vertical stress increase at circular area (radius R, pressure p) is
depth z below the foundation is: shown in the following figure.
A weighted average vertical stress increase
can be calculated using the following
method (Simson’s Rule).

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Example 5: Determine the average vertical
stress increase in homogeneous silty clay
soil layer due to the foundation loading.
The load on the column, including the
weight of the foundation, is Q = 1000 kN.
The groundwater table is at the bottom of
the foundation.
The soil’s effective cohesion is 30 kN∕m2,
and the effective friction angle is 15∘. The
bulk unit weight above the groundwater
table is 17.5 kN∕m3; the saturated unit
weight below the groundwater table is 18.5
kN∕m3. The foundation embedment is 0.6
m, and the foundation dimensions are B × B
= 1.2 m × 1.2 m.
(Use The Boussinesq equation and 2:1
approximate methods)
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Secondary consolidation settlement (Ss)
Theoretically, primary consolidation The term “consolidation” is reserved for
ends when pore water pressure the process in which settlement of a soil
becomes zero. The later time occurs from changes in effective stresses
settlement response is called resulting from decreases in excess pore
water pressure. The rate of settlement from
secondary compression, or creep. secondary compression is very slow
Secondary compression is the change compared with that from primary
in volume of a fine-grained soil consolidation.
caused by the adjustment of the soil We have separated primary consolidation
fabric (internal structure) after and secondary compression. In reality, the
primary consolidation has been distinction is not clear because secondary
compression occurs as part of the primary
completed. consolidation phase, especially in soft
clays.

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The magnitude of secondary
consolidation can be calculated as:

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Example 6:

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Time rate of consolidation
In the previous discussions equations used to calculate consolidation
settlement gives the magnitude of deformation or settlement only. They do
not provide any information regarding the rate of primary consolidation.
Therefore, Terzaghi proposed the first theory to consider the rate of one
dimensional consolidation for saturated clay soil based on the following six
assumptions:

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From figure (b) Combining the above equations gives, the
basic differential equation of Terzag’s
consolidation theory:

Or With boundary conditions of:

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Because consolidation progresses by
the dissipation of excess pore pressure,
the degree of consolidation at distance
z is:

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The average degree of consolidation for In the case where the initial pore water
the entire depth of the clay layer at any
time t can be written as: pressure (uo) is uniform with depth,the
value of time factor (Tv) and their
corresponding average degree of
consolidation can be approximated by the
following equations:

By substituting the expression for excess

pore water pressure uz,

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LABORATORY AND FIELD CONSOLIDATION
The time factor (Tv) provides a useful expression to estimate the settlement
in the field from the results of a laboratory consolidation test. If two layers of
the same clay have the same degree of consolidation, then their time factors
and coefficients of consolidation are the same. Hence,

and, by simplification:

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 Solution
Example:7
(a) Step 1: Calculate the drainage path.
A sample, 75 mm in diameter and 20 mm high,
taken from a clay layer 10 m thick, was tested in an
oedometer with drainage at the upper and lower
boundaries. Step 2: Calculate the field time
It took the laboratory sample 15 minutes to reach
50% consolidation.
a. If the clay layer in the field has the same drainage
condition as the laboratory sample, calculate how
long it will take the 10-m clay layer to achieve 50% (b) Step 1: Calculate the drainage path
consolidation.

b. How much more time would it take the 10-m

clay layer to achieve 50% consolidation if drainage Step 2: Calculate field time
existed on only one boundary?

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Example:8
The foundations supporting two columns of a building
are shown in the figure. An extensive soil investigation
was not carried out, and it was assumed in the design of
the foundations that the clay layer had a uniform
thickness of 1.2 m. Two years after construction, the
building settled, with a differential settlement of 10 mm.
Walls of the building began to crack.
The doors have not jammed, but by measuring the out-of-
vertical distance of the doors, it is estimated that they
would become jammed if the differential settlement
exceeded 24 mm.
A subsequent soil investigation showed that the thickness
of the clay layer was not uniform but varies, as shown in
the figure.
The owners would like to get an estimate of the expected
total differential settlement and how long it will take
before the doors become jammed.

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Strategy: Determine the settlement under
each foundation, and then calculate the
differential settlement.
Since you know the differential settlement
that occurs over a two-year period after
construction, you can find the degree of
consolidation and then use this information Note: For a more accurate value of Δσz you should use
to calculate the expected time for the doors the vertical stress increase due to surface loads on
to become jammed. multilayered soils (Poulos and Davis, 1974).

Solution: Step2:Calculate the primary consolidation settlement

(Sc)
Step 1: Calculate the vertical stress increase
Sc = Ho mv Δσ
at the center of the clay layer under each
foundation. Let’s use the
Approximate (2:1) method,

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Step 3: Calculate the differential settlement. For 24-mm differential settlement:
Differential settlement (δ) = 82.7 - 25.2 = 57.5 mm

Step 4: Calculate the time for 24-mm differential

settlement to occur.
Current differential settlement (δc) = 10 mm
Degree of consolidation:
Therefore, in the next 10.25 years, the
total differential settlement would be 24
mm.

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