Consolidation of unsaturated soils with pore-water pressure measurement

• Main Author: Yap, Kenneth Chern Lim
• Other Authors: Leong Eng Choon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Geotechnical
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/60002
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The specimens were then tested under a series of constant rate of strain consolidation (CRS) tests and incremental loading consolidation (IL) tests. The test results obtained were compared to study the effects of strain rate in CRS test for specimens at different matric suction. The test results were analyzed through studying the compression curve and pore-water pressure response of the soil specimens. Pore-water pressures for unsaturated soil specimens were measured using a high capacity tensiometer. Apparent pre-consolidation pressure, compression index and recompression index were also determined and compared for soil specimens at different initial matric suctions. Experimental results showed that the compression curve obtained through IL tests and CRS tests agree well along the virgin compression line. Pore-water pressure response of the soil specimens also affected the strain rate that could be used for CRS test. Kaolin specimens showed consistent pore-water pressure response while residual soils specimens showed pore-water pressure response with slight fluctuation. However, there was a lagged response for soil specimens tested using 0.1 mm/min strain rate. This suggested that a fast strain rate was not suitable for kaolin and residual soils, despite a good agreement shown from the compression curves.