CE 5101 Lecture 10

Consolidation Monitoring
OCT 2013
Prof Harry Tan
1
Outline
Consolidation Monitoring Principles
Preconsolidation Pressure
Strength Increase
Settlement Records
Hyperbolic Method
Asaoka Method
2
Preloading and Surcharge
The Problem: Slow and large
settlements
Solution: Preloading reduces
long-term settlements
3
PVD and Surcharge
The Problem: Slow and large
settlements
Solution: PVD and Surcharge
accelerates settlements. This will
reduce amount of residual
settlements remaining after
surcharge is removed
4
How do we know if consolidation has been
completed
5
Measure Pc after surcharge is removed
Take undisturbed thin wall samples, do
Oedometer test to determine Pc
If Pc > Po+Pf, then we have adequate
preloading of the ground
How do we know if consolidation has been
completed
6
Alternatively, we can also
measure the Undrained shear
strength of soft clay after
surcharge removal
Undrained shear strength can
be measured in undisturbed
triaxial samples with UU
compression test to get cu
value. It can also be measured
insitu with filed vane shear test
Typical cu/Pc ratio is a
function of clay drained friction
angle and is about: 0.2 to 0.3
for Singapore Marine Clay
depending on how cu is
determined. For practical design
we use cu/P = 0.25
So we obtain Cu/0.25 = Pc
value of the soft clay after
preloading
FV: Field Vane Shear
TC: Triaxial compression Cu/P=0.3
TE: Triaxial Extension Cu/P=0.2
DSS: Direct Simple Shear Cu/P=0.25
FV:Field Vane
PM: Pressuremeter
Use Settlement Records
Most practical method in many cases
Easy and cheap to measure
Less prone to error
Can monitor many locations of the site
Easy to analyse by:
Hyperbolic Method
Asaoka Method
7
Hyperbolic Method
See papers by Tan SA in 1993 to 1996
Basis of Method Terzaghi Theory give U vs Tv plot for
1D compression with vertical flow only
The method was extended by TanSA to Barron Theory
and Carrilo Theory for application to Vertical Drains 1D
compression under combined vertical and horizontal flow
The method compares very well with the established
Asaoka Method
It has been validated with many case history data
It is now widely used in industry for determining when
desired consolidation is achieved
8
Hyperbolic Method Terzaghi Theory
9
Replot using Tv/U vs Tv
Linear section between
U=0.5 and U=0.9 and slope
is 0.824
Equation of linear section
is:

v
v
T
U
T
Radial lines through U50
and U90 give slopes of
1/0.5 and 1/0.9
From linear plot; Ultimate primary settlement is obtained when Tv is infinity
When Tv is very large, equation reduces
So we get ultimate settlement from the inverse of slope

1 1
U or
U
Hyperbolic Method Extend to Vertical Drains
10
Barron and Hansbo theory for PVD
Carrilo Theory for combined Uv and Uh
Hyperbolic Method Extend to Vertical Drains
a are slopes in Theoretical Plots
11
5 . 0
1
50

9 . 0
1
90

Hyperbolic Method Extend to Vertical Drains

12
For real field data, we can identify from the relationships,
the slopes of:
90 50
, , S S S
i
90
90
50
50

S S S
i

Hyperbolic Method What is a for PVD
13
Typical real
problems, a is
between 0.74
and 0.76, use
0.75 as a very
good estimate for
many cases
Hyperbolic Method Ska Edeby Data
14
Area I Sand Drains of 180mm diam
with triangular spacing of 2.2, 1.5 and
0.9m
Area II Sand Drains of 180mm diam
with triangular spacing of 1.5m
Area IV NO Sand Drains
Hyperbolic Method Ska Edeby Data
15
Hyperbolic Method Ska Edeby Area I
16
Hyperbolic Method Ska Edeby Area IV
17
Hyperbolic Method Advantage of Method
18
Hyperbolic Method Advantage of Method
19
Hyperbolic Method Validation
20
Hyperbolic Method Validation
21
Hyperbolic Method Validation
22
Hyperbolic Method Validation
23
1/Si over-predicts
primary settlements,
but may be OK when
you include
secondary
compression
Asaoka Method (1978)
24
Asaoka Method (1978)
25
Hyperbolic vs Asaoka Method (Tan 1996)
26
Hyperbolic vs Asaoka Method (Tan 1996)
27
Procedure to Use Hyperbolic Method
28
Van Oord Lekir Coast Malacca Reclamation
29
Van Oord Lekir Coast Malacca Reclamation
30