Abstract
The coefficient of consolidation (c v or c h) is an important parameter in both geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering, measuring the flow characteristics of soils. In China, conventionally it is obtained from the oedometer test, which is time consuming and of limited accuracy due to inevitable sample disturbance. These difficulties can be overcome by in situ pizeocone dissipation tests which provide continuous measurements of pore water pressure with time. In this paper, existing methods for interpreting coefficient of consolidation in clays from piezocone dissipation tests are briefly reviewed. Piezocone tests were undertaken at different sites in the Jiangsu province of China and piezocone dissipation tests conducted at different penetration depths. Based on the reference c v values determined from the laboratory oedometer tests, comparisons with existing interpretation methods were undertaken. It is shown that the Teh and Houlsby’s interpretation method has a much higher accuracy for determining the coefficient of consolidation of Quaternary clay deposits while the values of c h obtained by the CPTU method are in the range of back-analyzed field values.
Résumé
Le coefficient de consolidation (Cv ou Ch) est un paramètre important en géotechnique et génie géologique. Il est obtenu conventionnellement en Chine par l’essai oedométrique qui demande beaucoup de temps et dont la précision est limitée du fait du remaniement inévitable des échantillons. Ces difficultés peuvent être surmontées par l’essai in situ au piézocône qui donne des mesures continues de la dissipation des pressions interstitielles en fonction du temps. Dans cet article, les méthodes permettant la détermination du coefficient de consolidation dans des argiles à partir d’essais au piézocône sont brièvement passées en revue. Les essais au piézocône ont été réalisés sur différents sites de la province de Jiangsu en Chine et pour différentes profondeurs dans le terrain. Considérant des valeurs de référence de Cv déterminées au laboratoire à partir d’essais oedométriques, des comparaisons avec différentes méthodes d’interprétation ont été réalisées. On montre que la méthode de Teh et Houlsby permet d’obtenir le coefficient de consolidation avec une très grande précision pour des dépôts argileux du Quaternaire tandis que les valeurs de Ch obtenues avec la méthode CPTU se présentent dans la plage de valeurs de terrain obtenues par rétro-analyse.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Originality Foundation (Grant No. 3221001503) and the Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Foundation of Southeast University, China (Grant No. YBJJ0714). The first author received financial support from the China Scholarship Council to attend the University of Texas at Arlington as a visiting research scholar under the guidance of Dr. Anand J. Puppala.
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Cai, G., Liu, S. & Puppala, A.J. Predictions of coefficient of consolidation from CPTU dissipation tests in Quaternary clays. Bull Eng Geol Environ 71, 337–350 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-011-0385-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-011-0385-4