Midterm Exams

• 1st Midterm* Tuesday 29/06/1438 (28/03/2017)

• 2nd Midterm* Wednesday 21/08/1438 (17/05/2017)

 Compressibility of Soil

Chapter 11

All sections except 11.17, 11.18, 11.19

 TOPICS

 INTRODUCTION
 ELASTIC SETTLEMENT
Stress distribution in soil masses
 CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT
• Fundamentals of consolidation
• Calculation of 1-D Consolidation Settlement
• One-dimensional Laboratory Consolidation Test
• Calculation of Settlement from 1-D Primary Consolidation
 TIME RATE OF CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT
1-D theory of consolidation
 SECONDARY CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT
 INTRODUCTION

Why should soil compressibility be studied?

Ignoring soil compressibility may lead to unfavorable settlement and

other engineering problems.

Embankment and building constructed on

soft ground (highly compressible soil)

Settlement is one of the aspects that control the design of structures.

 Why soils compressed?

• Every material undergoes a certain amount of strain when a

stress is applied.

• A steel rod lengthens when it is subjected to tensile stress, and

a concrete column shortens when a compressive load is
applied.

• The same thing holds true for soils which undergo compressive
strains upon loading. Compressive strains are responsible for
settlement of the structure.

• What distinguish soils from other civil engineering materials is

the fact that the deformation of soils is largely unrecoverable
(i.e. permanent). Therefore simple elasticity theory like elasticity
cannot be applied to soils.
 What makes soil compressed?

In soils voids exist between particles and the voids may be filled
with a liquid, usually water, or gas , usually air. As a result, soils
are often referred to as a three-phase material or system (solid,
liquid and gas).
Stress increase

• Solid (mineral particles)

• Gas (air),

• Liquid (usually water)

 Causes of settlement

Settlement of a structure resting on soil may be caused by two

distinct kinds of action within the foundation soils:-

I. Settlement Due to Shear Stress (Distortion Settlement)

In the case the applied load caused shearing stresses to develop
within the soil mass which are greater than the shear strength of
the material, then the soil fails by sliding downward and laterally,
and the structure settle and may tip of vertical alignment. This will
be discussed in CE483 Foundation Engineering. This is what we
referred to as BEARING CAPACITY.

II. Settlement Due to Compressive Stress (Volumetric Settlement)

As a result of the applied load a compressive stress is
transmitted to the soil leading to compressive strain. Due to the
compressive strain the structure settles. This is important only if
the settlement is excessive otherwise it is not dangerous.
• However, in certain structures, like for example foundation for
RADAR or telescope, even small settlement is not allowed since
this will affect the function of the equipment.

• This type of settlement is what we will consider in this chapter

and this course. In the following sections we will discuss its
components and ways for their evaluation. We will consider
only the simplest case where settlement is one-dimensional and
a condition of zero lateral strain is assumed.
 Causes of Settlement

Alien Shear Compressive

Causes Stresses Stresses

Immediate
Subsidence Bearing
Cavities Capacity
Excavation Failure Primary
etc..
Secondary
 Mechanisms of compression

Compression of soil is due to a number of mechanisms:

• Deformation of soil particles or grains

• Relocations of soil particles
• Expulsion of water or air from the void spaces
 Components of settlement

Settlement of a soil layer under applied load is the

sum of two broad components or categories:
1. Elastic settlement (or immediate) settlements
2. Consolidation settlement

1. Elastic settlement (or immediate) settlements

Elastic or immediate settlement takes place instantly at
the moment of the application of load due to the
distortion (but no bearing failure) and bending of soil
particles (mainly clay). It is not generally elastic
although theory of elasticity is applied for its
evaluation. It is predominant in coarse-grained soils.
 Consolidation settlement

Consolidation settlement is the sum of two parts or types:

A. Primary consolidation settlement

In this the compression of clay is due to expulsion of water from
pores. The process is referred to as PRIMARY CONSOLIDATION
and the associated settlement is termed PRIMARY
CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT. Commonly they are referred to
simply as CONSOLIDATION AND CONSOLIDATION
SETTLEMENT.
B. Secondary consolidation settlement
The compression of clay soil due to plastic readjustment of soil
grains and progressive breaking of clayey particles and their
interparticles bonds is known as SECONDARY CONSOLIDATION
OR SECONDARY COMPRESSION, and the associated
settlement is called SECONDARY CONSOLIDATION
SETTLEMENT or SECONDARY COMPRESSION.
 Components of settlement

The total settlement of a foundation can be expressed as:

ST = Se + Sc + Ss
ST = Total settlement
Se = Elastic or immediate settlement
Sc = Primary consolidation settlement
Ss= Secondary consolidation settlement

Total settlement S T

Immediate Primary
consolidation Secondary
settlement consolidation or creep
settlement
 It should be mentioned that Sc and Ss overlap each other and
impossible to detect which certainly when one type ends and the
other begins. However, for simplicity they are treated separately and
secondary consolidation is usually assumed to begin at the end of
primary consolidation.
 Components of settlement

The total soil settlement S T may contain one or more of these types:

Immediate Primary consolidation Secondary consolidation

settlement settlement or creep

Due to distortion or Decrease in voids Due to gradual

elastic deformation volume due to squeeze changes in the
with no change in of pore-water out of the particulate structure of
water content soil the soil

Occurs in saturated Occurs very slowly,

Occurs rapidly fine grained soils (low
during the long after the primary
coefficient of consolidation is
application of load permeability) completed
Time dependent Time dependent
Quite small quantity
in dense sands, Only significant in Most significant in
gravels and stiff clays clays and silts saturated soft clayey and
organic soils and peats
 CONSOLIDATION

A gradual reduction in volume change of a

fully saturated soils of low permeability due
to the drainage of pore water from soil voids
 Rates of Drainage

coarse soils
soil type coeff. of permeability (k) seepage rate
Gravel > 10-2 m/sec very quick
Sand 10-2 ~ 10-5 quick
Silt 10-5 ~ 10-8 slow
Clay < 10-8 very slow

For design purposes it is common to assume:

• Quick drainage in coarse soils (Sand and Gravel)
• Slow drainage in fine soils (Clay and Silt).

fine soils
 Rates of Drainage

For coarse grained soils…

Granular soils are freely drained, and thus the

settlement is instantaneous.
settlement

time
0 0

ST = Se + Sc + Ss
 Rates of Drainage

For Fine grained soils…

GL

settlement
saturated clay

When a saturated clay is loaded time

externally, the water is squeezed This leads to settlements occurring
out of the clay over a long time over a long time…..which could be
(due to low permeability of the several years
clay).

St = Se + Sc + Ss
negligible
 ELASTIC SETTLEMENT

ST = Se + Sc + Ss
This type of settlement occur immediately after the application of load. It
is predominant in coarse-grained soil (i.e. gravel, sand). Analytical
evaluation of this settlement is a problem which requires satisfaction of
the same set of conditions as the determination of stresses in
continuous media.
In fact we could view the process as one of :

 Determining the stresses at each point in the medium

 Evaluating the vertical strains

 Integrating these vertical strains over the depth of the material.

 Theory of elasticity is used to determine the immediate settlement.

This is to a certain degree reasonable in cohesive soils but not
reasonable for cohesionless soils.
 Contact pressure and settlement profile

The contact pressure distribution and settlement profile under the foundation will
depend on:
• Flexibility of the foundation (flexible or rigid).
• Type of soil (clay, silt, sand, or gravel).

Contact pressure distribution Contact pressure distribution

flexible flexible

CLAY Settlement SAND Settlement

profile profile

rigid rigid

CLAY Settlement SAND

profile
 Stress increase due to added loads

There are solutions available for different cases depending on the

following conditions:
 Load: - point
- distributed
• These conditions are the same as these
 Loaded area: - Rectangular discussed at the time when we presented
- Square stresses in soil mass from theory of
- Circular elasticity in CE 382.
 Stiffness: - Flexible
• One of the well-known and used formula
-Rigid
is that for the vertical settlement of the
 Soil: - Cohesive surface of an elastic half space uniformly
- Cohesionless loaded.

 Medium: - Finite
- Infinite
- Layered
 Stress increase due to added loads

In CE 382, the relationships for determining the increase in stress (which

causes elastic settlement) were based on the following assumptions:

 The load is applied at the ground surface.

 The loaded area is flexible.
 The soil medium is homogeneous, elastic, isotropic, and extends to a
great depth.
 Settlement Calculation

For shallow foundation subjected to a

net force per unit area equal to Ds
and if the foundation is perfectly
flexible, the settlement may be
expressed as: Ds

(flexible)

Es = Average modulus of elasticity of soil

ms = Poisson’s ratio of soil
B’ = B/2 center = B corner of foundation
Is = shape Factor
If = depth factor
a = factor depends on location where
settlement of foundation is calculated (a
= 4 center of foundation, a = 1 corner of
the foundation).
More details about the calculation are
Se (rigid) = 0.93 Se (flexible-center) given in Section 11.3 in the textbook.
 Settlement Calculation

Is = f (L,B, H, ms)
(See textbook for values)
 Settlement calculation

Depth factor If Poisson’s ratio of soil ms

Es Average modulus of elasticity of soil Es

 Settlement Calculation

Due to the nonhomogeneous

nature of soil deposits, the
magnitude of Es may vary with
depth. For that reason, Bowles
(1987) recommended using a
weighted average value of Es.
Es(1)

H
Es(2)

where:
Es(i) soil modulus of elasticity Es(3)
within a depth Dz.
whichever is smaller.
Read Example 11.1 page 362 (Text)
Stresses Distribution in Soils
 I. Stresses from approximate methods

2:1 Method
 In this method it is assumed that the STRESSED AREA is larger
than the corresponding dimension of the loaded area by an
amount equal to the depth of the subsurface area.

P
sz  L
( B  z )( L  z ) B
z

L+z

B+z
 Stress distribution in soil masses

• Settlement is caused by stress increase, therefore for

settlement calculations, we first need vertical stress increase,
Ds , in soil mass imposed by a net load, q, applied at the
foundation level.
• CE 382 and Chapter 10 in the textbook present many methods
based on Theory of Elasticity to estimate the stress in soil
imposed by foundation loadings.
B
q [kPa]
• Since we consider only vertical
settlement we limit ourselves to
vertical stress distribution.

• Since mostly we have distributed

load we will not consider point or
line load.
Pressure bulb
 Wide uniformly distributed load

For wide uniformly distributed load, such

as for vey wide embankment fill, the
stress increase at any depth, z, can be
given as:

Ds z = q q kPa
GL
z
D sz
does not
decreases
with depth z
soil
 II. Stresses from theory of elasticity

 There are a number of solutions which are based on the theory

of elasticity. Most of them assume the following assumptions:

The soil is homogeneous

The soil is isotropic
The soil is perfectly elastic infinite or semi-finite medium
 Tens of solutions for different problems are now available in the
literature. It is enough to say that a whole book (Poulos and
Davis) is now available for the elastic solutions of various
problems.

The book contains a comprehensive collection of graphs,

tables and explicit solutions of problems in elasticity relevant
to soil and rock mechanics.
Vertical Stress Below the Center of a Uniformly Loaded Circular Area
Vertical Stress Below any point of a Uniformly Loaded Circular Area

Δσz  q(A-  Β- )

Tables 10.7&10.8

Figure 10.24
 Vertical Stress Below the Corner of a Uniformly Loaded
Rectangular Area

I3 is a dimensionless factor and represents the influence of a

surcharge covering a rectangular area on the vertical stress at a
point located at a depth z below one of its corner.
 Vertical Stress Below the Corner of a Uniformly Loaded
Rectangular Area

Ds z  q * I
3 Corner

I from B
3 q B
m
Eqation 10.30 Z
L
L
Figure 10.26 n
Z Z
Table 10.9
Vertical Stress Below the Corner of a Uniformly Loaded
Rectangular Area
 Newmark’s Influence Chart

Page 344

Dsz  (IV) q M
 Components of Settlement

St = Se + Sc + Ss

St = Total settlement
Se = elastic (immediate) settlement
Sc = Primary consolidation settlement
Ss = Secondary consolidation settlement