Iraq University College

Civil Department

Soil mechanics Lab.

CONSOLIDATION TEST

Name :- Ahmed jassim AL-

musawi

Grope :- evening

Date :- / 7 / 2020
SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

Introduction:
Consolidation test is used to determine the rate and magnitude of soil
consolidation when the soil is restrained laterally and loaded axially. ... This test is
carried out on

Aim of the experiment:

To determine the consolidation characteristics of a given soil sample.

Experimental Apparatus:
1. Consolidometer or odometer
o Consolidation ring
o Two porous stones
o Two filter papers
o Loading pad
2. Dial gauge (accuracy of 0.002mm)
3. Stop watch
4. Knife or spatula or fine metal wires
5. Weighing balance (accuracy of 0.01g)
6. Vernier calipers
7. Oven
8. Water reservoir

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 SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

Procedure:
Test procedure for consolidation test of soil contains following steps:

1. First step is to collect the soil specimen using consolidation metal ring. The ring should be clean and
dried and its weight, inner diameter and height are measured using weighing balance and calipers
respectively.
2. Now press the metal ring into the soil sample using hands and it is taken out with soil specimen.
3. The soil specimen should project about 10 mm on either side of metal ring.
4. Now trim the excess soil content on top and bottom of the rings using Knife or spatula or fine metal
wires. This excess soil can be used to measure the water content of soil sample.
5. Make sure that the ring should not contain any soil on its outer part and weight the metal ring with soil
specimen.
6. Take two porous stones and saturate them by boiling (15 minutes) or by submerging (4 to 8 hours) in
distilled water.
7. Assemble the Consolidometer. Place the parts of Consolidometer from bottom to top in the order
beginning with bottom porous stone, filter paper, specimen ring, filter paper and top porous stone.
8. Place the loading pad on the top porous stone and lock the Consolidometer using metal
screws provided.
9. Mount the whole assembly on the loading frame and center it such that the load applied is
axial.
10.Arrange the dial gauge in a position in such a way that it should allow sufficient space for
swelling of soil specimen.

11.Water reservoir is connected to the mounted assembly to saturate the soil. The water level
in the water reservoir should be of same level as the soil specimen.

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SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

12.Now apply the initial trail load which should not allow any swelling in the soil. In
general, 5 kN/m  initial load applied for ordinary soils and 2.5 kN/m is applied for very
2 2 

soft soils.
13.Leave the load until there is no change in dial gauge reading or for 24 hours and note
down the final reading of dial gauge for initial load.
14.First load increment of 10 kN/m  is applied and start the stop watch immediately and note
2

down the readings of dial gauge at various time intervals. In general, readings are taken at
0.25, 1, 2.5, 4, 6.25, 9, 16, 25, 30 minutes, 1, 2, 4, 8, 24 hrs.
15.In general primary consolidation of soil (90% of consolidation) is reached within 24
hours. Hence readings are noted up to 24 hours.

16.Next apply the second load increment of 20 kN/m  and repeat same procedure as said in
2

14 th step.
17.Similarly apply the load increments 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 kN/m  and repeat the same
2

procedure and note down the readings.

18.When values of last load increment are noted, now reduce the load to ¼ of the last load
value and leave it for 24 hours. At this point note down the dial gauge reading. Reduce
the load again and again and repeat the procedure until the load gets 10 kN/m . At every
2

point note down the final gauge readings.

19.Now remove the assembly from loading frame and dismantle it.
20.Take out the specimen ring and wipe out the excess water and Weigh the specimen ring
and note down.
21.Finally Put the specimen in oven and determine the dry weight of specimen.

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SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

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 SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

Calculation:
Q1/ Ans:
Applied Dial reading ∆ h (mm) H (mm) ∆ e =(∆h/H)(1+e0) e = e0 - ∆e
Pressure *.002 (mm)
Kg/cm2
Log σ

0 0.0000 0.0000 19.0000 0.0000 0.8598 0.0000

0.1 22.0000 0.0400 18.9600 0.0039 0.8559 -1.0000
0.25 70.0000 0.1400 18.8200 0.0138 0.8460 -0.6021
0.5 178.0000 0.3560 18.4640 0.0359 0.8239 -0.3010
1 342.0000 0.6840 17.7800 0.0715 0.7883 0.0000
2 496.0000 0.9920 16.7880 0.1099 0.7499 0.3010
4 468.0000 1.2960 15.4920 0.1556 0.7042 0.6021
8 796.0000 1.5380 13.9540 0.2050 0.6548 0.9031
12 625.0000 1.2500 12.7040 0.1830 0.6768 1.0792

mv :
∆e 0.780−0.640
av =
∆o
→ av =
1−8
→ av =0.02

av 0.0211
mv=
1+ e0
→ mv=
1+ 0.8598
→ mv=0.011 3

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SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

2) Cv can’t be calculated because there is no time column in the table above.

∆e
Cc=
∆ log o
→
0.83−0.75
Cc=
037−0.30
→ Cc=1.14

Cr = 0 because there is no loop in the curve.

Pc :

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SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

Q2/ Ans:
a) Casagrande Method.

Cv∗T 50 Cv−1.112
Tv 50 = d 2 → 0.197=
9.52
→ Cv=18.891

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SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

b) Tylor Method.

Cv∗T 90 Cv−10.2
Tv 90 = d 2 → 0.848=
9.52
→ Cv=86.732

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SOIL MECHANICS LAB. CONSOLIDATION TEST

Discussion
1-What is consolidation in engineering?
Consolidation is the process in which reduction in volume takes place by the
gradual expulsion or absorption of water under long-term static loads. When stress
is applied to a soil, it causes the soil particles to pack together more tightly.

2- How do you measure soil consolidation?

It is found by subtracting the stress carried by the water in the continuous void
spaces (i.e. pore water pressure, u) from the total stress of the weight of the
overlying material (σv). Consolidation The reduction of bulk soil volume under
loading due to flow of pore water.

3- What is consolidation of soil and its types?

The compression of saturated soil under steady static pressure is termed as
consolidation which is completely due to expulsion of water from the voids.
Consolidation is generally related to fine-grained soils such as silts and clays. ...
Saturated clays consolidate at a much slower rate due to their low permeability.

4- Why is consolidation testing important?

Civil Engineering - Texas Tech University 1- D Consolidation Test  The main
purpose of consolidation tests is to obtain soil data which is used in predicting the
rate and amount of settlement of structures founded on clay.