Consolidation Test

A H M 531
The Civil Engineering Center

Objective:

General discussion:

When a saturated soil mass is subjected to a load increment, the load is usually carried
initially by water in the pores because the water is incompressible in comparison to the soil
structure. As the water drains out of the soil mass; the load increment is shifted to the soil
structure, this transference of the load is accompanied by a change in the volume of soil equal
to the volume of water drained.
The elapsed time required to transfer the load increment from the water to the soil depends
how rapidly the water is permitted to escape out of the soil. This time depends on several
factors:
1. Degree of saturation
2. Coefficient of permeability of the soil
3. Viscosity and compressibility of the pore fluid
4. Length of path the expelled water must take to find equilibrium

This time duration is very short for coarse grained soils due to high permeability, and also to
unsaturated fine grained soil. The consolidation test is carried only on saturated fine grained
soil as the process of deformation will take a large span of time.

Deformation (compressibility) of soil due to expelling water from the pores is called
consolidation. Consolidation is accompanied with a reduction in the voids ratio and is studied
through several parameters obtained from the lab tests.
The common lab test for measurement of consolidation is one dimensional, where a metal
ring confining the sample prevents lateral soil or water movement so that all water flow and
soil movement are in the vertical direction.
The ring containing the sample may be placed between two porous stone or place over
smooth surface and under a porous stone depending on the condition at which the soil
presents in nature.
After setting the apparatus, load increments are applied to the specimen by means of using a
lever, the device we used in the lab provided 11kg load for each 1kg increment at the tip of
the lever, five increment of loading for at least 24 hours duration where applied.

Coefficient of consolidation Cv:

The measurement of this coefficient is one of the main aims of applying this test, it is used to
estimate the rate of settlement. Formula 1 is used to measure Cv;
*

Obtaining t
50
:
For each load increment, the amount of settlement is recorded at the end of a series of elapsed
time; this settlement is represented by the dial reading.
The dial reading consists of two scales; a small one represent 1mm for each division and a
large scale represent 0.001 mm for each degree (100 revolution of the large scale will move
the small scale one division), and one division in the large scale measures 0.002mm.
A plot of Dial reading VS. Time on a semi log scale (where the time on the log scale and
measured in minutes) is drawn and used to find t
50
as follows;

A H M 531 Consolidation test By: Ahmed Essam Mansour
The Civil Engineering Center 1Visit www.AHM531.com for more lab reports and lecture notes!
A H M 531
1. The dial reading corresponding to the end of primary consolidation.
Represented by the intersection point between the tangent to the curve representing
primary consolidation and the extension of the line representing the secondary
consolidation.

2. The initial dial reading at the beginning of the test (theoretical) cannot be obtained
directly as it is impossible to draw t =zero at the log scale. So the initial dial reading
is found as follows;
Select time t
1
and t
2
(t
2
=4t
1
) at the initial region of the curve, then measure the
ordinate between these two times and lay of this distance above t
1
, and finally draw a
horizontal line ate this point to obtain the initial dial reading.

3. The t
50
is obtained by using Formula 2
*

The drainage path used in Formula 1 is taken to be;
*

Compression index Cc:

This quantity is represented as the slope of the semi log graph between voids ratio and the
pressure, and is obtained from Formula 4;
*

The Voids ratio is measured as follows for each of the five increments.
*

A H M 531
And the pressure of each increment is measured as follows;
*

Sample identification:

Brown saturated clay soil sample.

Equipments:

1. Consolidometer

2. Dial indicator

3. Loading device

4. Timer

5. Two porous stones

Procedures:

1. The sample was placed in the ring and its edges were trimmed, the weight of the
ring +soil sample is recorded.

2. Two porous stones were used to distribute loading over the ring above and below it,
and the set was places in the consolidometer.

3. Load increments were placed at the end of the lever for 24 hours each, starting from
1kg to 2kg, 4kg, 8kg and 16 kg.

4. During the loading process, dial readings was obtained for a series of elapsed times.

5. The weight of the specimen +ring was recorded again at the end of the test.

A H M 531
6. The specimen was dried and the weight of the dry specimen +ring was obtained.

Calculations:

Discussion and results:

Five curves of dial reading VS. time curve was obtained and it was obvious that with time the
dial reading increases which means that the deformation increase too, and that is due to
expelling the water continuously with time.
At curves of the 8kg and 16kg loading, the first point was in a position that made the slope of
the initial part of the curve very large, and that indicates that it these two increments caused
raped expelling of water at the as soon as the are applied to the sample. Some of the graphs
was repeated because of not choosing the correct scale that clearly defines the primary
consolidation from the secondary compression.


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What factors affect the time required for load transfer from water to soil structure?

What parameters are measured in a consolidation test?

A H M 531

The Civil Engineering Center

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