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Student Name:
Yazan Walid Rashid
Student number:
2005430004
Supervisor:
Dr. Orabi Al-rawe
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Consolidation is a process by which soils decrease in volume. It occurs
when stress is applied to a soil that causes the soil particles to pack together
more tightly, therefore reducing its bulk volume. When this occurs in a soil
that is saturated with water, water will be squeezed out of the soil. The
magnitude of consolidation can be predicted by many different methods. In
the Classical Method, developed by Karl von Terzaghi, soils are tested with an
oedometer test to determine their compression index. This can be used to
predict the amount of consolidation.
When stress is removed from a consolidated soil, the soil will rebound,
regaining some of the volume it had lost in the consolidation process. If
the stress is reapplied, the soil will consolidate again along a
recompression curve, defined by the recompression index. The soil
which had its load removed is considered to be overconsolidated. This
is the case for soils which have previously had glaciers on them. The
highest stress that it has been subjected to is termed the
preconsolidation stress. The over consolidation ratio or OCR is defined
as the highest stress experienced divided by the current stress. A soil
which is currently experiencing its highest stress is said to be normally
consolidated and to have an OCR of one. A soil could be considered
underconsolidated immediately after a new load is applied but before
the excess pore water pressure has had time to dissipate.
Consolidation analysis
Spring analogy
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1. The container is completely filled with water, and the hole is
closed. (Fully saturated soil)
2. A load is applied onto the cover, while the hole is still unopened.
At this stage, only the water resists the applied load.
(Development of excessive pore water pressure)
Primary consolidation
where
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c is the settlement due to consolidation.
Cc is the compression index.
e0 is the initial void ratio.
H is the height of the soil.
zf is the final vertical stress.
z0 is the initial vertical stress.
Secondary consolidation
Time dependency
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While drainage is occurring, the pore water pressure is greater than
normal because it is carrying part of the applied stress (as opposed to
the soil particles).
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There are three modes of shear failure: general shear failure, local
shear failure, and punching shear failure. These modes characterize
the stress-strain dynamics that happen in certain soil types.
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Local shear failure has elements of both general and punching shear
failure. It has well-defined slip surfaces that fade into the soil mass
beyond the edges of the foundation and do not carry upward to the
ground surface. Slight bulging of the ground surface adjacent to the
foundation does occur. Significant vertical compression takes place
beneath the foundation.
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just cause shear failure in the soil. Allowable bearing capacity refers to
the loading per unit area that the soil is able to support without unsafe
movement. Such that, (qult) = (safety factor)x(qa). The formulas for
calculating the qult are:
where
qult = ultimate bearing capacity,
c = cohesion of soil (measured with a shearvane - as a rule of thumb,
the unconfined compressive strength is about twice the cohesion of the
soil),
g = effective unit weight of soil,
Df = depth of footing, or distance from ground surface to base of
footing,
B = width of continuous or square footing,
R = radius of circular footing,
Nc, Ng, Nq = soil-bearing capacity factors, dimensionless terms, whose
values relate to the angle of internal friction, j. These values can be
calculated when j is known or they can be looked up in the table below.
Nq = eptanjtan2(45o + j/2)
Nc = (Nq - 1)cot(j) when j > 0o or Nc =5.14 when j = 0o.
Ng = 2(Nq + 1)tanj
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