Introduction

The process by which the volume of a partially or totally saturated soil decreases as a
result of an applied stress is known as soil consolidation. When a load is applied to a low
permeability soil, the load is first carried by the water present in the carried saturated
soil, resulting in a quick rise in pore water pressure. As water drains out from the soil's
voids, the surplus pore water pressure is absorbed, and the pressure is transferred to
the soil skeleton, which is gradually squeezed, resulting in settlements. The process of
consolidation continues until the surplus pore water pressure has disappeared .

Procedure

1. First step is to collect the soil specimen using consolidation metal ring, the ring
should be clean and dried and its weight,
2. Make sure that the ring should not contain any soil on its outer part and weight
the metal ring with soil specimen, we take two porous stones
3. 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

4. Place the loading pad on the top porous stone and lock the consolidometer using
metal screws provided.
5. Mount the whole assembly on the loading frame and center it such that the load
applied is axial.
6. 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.

7. First load increment of 1kN/m2 is applied and start the stop watch immediately
and note down the readings of dial gauge at various time intervals. In general,
readings are taken at 0.30, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60 minutes, 2, 4, 8, and 24 hrs.

8. repeat the same procedure and note down the readings.

9. When values of the last load increment are noted, now reduce the load of the last
load. At this point note down the dial gauge reading. Reduce the load again and
again and repeat the procedure until the load gets to its initial reading. At every
point note down the final gauge readings.

10. Now remove the assembly from loading frame and dismantle it.
11. Take out the specimen ring and wipe out the excess water Weigh the specimen
ring and note it down.
 Data obtained

Mass solid (g) 62,5

Diameter (mm) 50
Area (mm²) 1963,495
Height (mm) 20
Hs (mm) 12,01169
SG 2,65

Consolidation test
Weight (kg) DR σ'(MPa) ∆H (mm) Hv (mm) ∆e E
1 239 0,004996 2,39 7,97931 0,198973 0,664295
2 284 0,009992 2,84 7,52931 0,037464 0,626832
4 341 0,019985 3,41 6,95931 0,047454 0,579378
8 408 0,03997 4,08 6,28931 0,055779 0,523599
16 470,5 0,079939 4,705 5,66431 0,052033 0,471566
32 533,6 0,159878 5,336 5,03331 0,052532 0,419034
64 604,5 0,319756 6,045 4,32431 0,059026 0,360008
32 598 0,159878 5,98 4,38931 0,005411 0,36542
16 589 0,079939 5,89 4,47931 0,007493 0,372913
8 582 0,03997 5,82 4,54931 0,005828 0,37874
4 572 0,019985 5,72 4,64931 0,008325 0,387065
2 562 0,009992 5,62 4,74931 0,008325 0,395391

e- log σ'
0.7

0.6

0.5
void ratio e

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1

log σ'
 Mass moist sample + empty cup 88.5
Mass dry sample + empty cup 79.35
Mass of empty cup 45
Mass moist sample 43.5
Mass dry sample 34.35
Mw 9.15
W% 26.6376
Weight of the sample + ring 139.668
Weight of the ring 77.7846
Final weight of the dry sample 61.8837
Diameter 50
Initial height of the specimen 20
Area (mm) 1962.5
HS (mm) 11.8993
Time H LOAD
(min) Readings Gs
∆H (mm) (mm) Hv (mm) eo 2.65
∆e S Sqrt Time
0 0 0 20 8.1007 0.68077 0 1 0
667.5 47 0.47 19.53 7.6307 0.64127 0.0395 1 25.83602137
668 58 0.58 19.42 7.5207 0.63203 0.04874 1 25.84569597
669 64 0.64 19.36 7.4607 0.62699 0.05378 1 25.86503431
671 69 0.69 19.31 7.4107 0.62278 0.05799 1 25.90366769
675 87 0.87 19.13 7.2307 0.60766 0.07311 1 25.98076211
682 109 1.09 18.91 7.0107 0.58917 0.0916 1 26.11512971
697 127 1.27 18.73 6.8307 0.57404 0.10673 1 26.40075756
727 136 1.36 18.64 6.7407 0.56648 0.11429 1 26.96293753
787 140.5 1.405 18.595 6.6957 0.5627 0.11807 1 28.05352028
907 238.1 2.381 17.619 5.7197 0.48068 0.2001 1 30.11644069
1147 239.5 2.395 17.605 5.7057 0.4795 0.20127 1 33.86738844
1440 239 2.39 17.61 5.7107 0.47992 0.20085 1 37.94733192
2880 284 2.84 17.16 5.2607 0.4421 0.23867 2 53.66563146
4320 341 3.41 16.59 4.6907 0.3942 0.28657 4 65.7267069
5760 408 4.08 15.92 4.0207 0.33789 0.34288 8 75.89466384
7200 470.5 4.705 15.295 3.3957 0.28537 0.3954 16 84.85281374
8640 533.6 5.336 14.664 2.7647 0.23234 0.44843 32 92.95160031
10080 604.5 6.045 13.955 2.0557 0.17276 0.50801 64 100.3992032
11880 598 5.98 14.02 2.1207 0.17822 0.50255 32 108.9954127
12960 589 5.89 14.11 2.2107 0.18578 0.49499 16 113.8419958
14400 582 5.82 14.18 2.2807 0.19167 0.4891 8 120
15840 572 5.72 14.28 2.3807 0.20007 0.4807 4 125.8570618
17280 562 5.62 14.38 2.4807 0.20847 0.4723 2 131.4534138
18720 552 5.52 14.48 2.5807 0.21688 0.46389 1 136.821051
 Coefficient of consolidation using Taylor Method Curves

700

600

500
Dial reading (mm)

400

300

200

100

0
110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30

√time (min)

Conclusion
From the graph obtained above, we will be able to obtain some information regarding to the soil such
as coefficient of consolidation by the use of Taylor method curve.