Proceedings of the 4th Jordanian Civil Engineering Conference, 28-30 March 2006,

4th Jordanian Civil Engineering Conference

Amman-Jordan

Field and Laboratory Evaluation of A Soft Clay

Southern Iraq
Dr. Mohammed Y. Fattah1
Husam Hikmat Baqir1
Omar F. Al-Rawi1
1 Building and Construction Engineering Department, University of Technology, Baghdad,
Iraq.

Abstract
This paper describes the geotechnical properties of normally consolidated Garmat Ali clay
located at the meeting of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers southern Iraq, to form Shatt Al Arab
river which flows southward entering the Arabian Gulf.
The paper presents the data developed from the field investigations performed at the
Garmat Ali site of the water injection project in Rumaila. Namely, the data of boring
explorations which include the results of field tests such as Dutch cone tests, standard
penetration tests , vane shear tests and field density tests , in addition to the results of
laboratory tests on samples taken from the site .
The sub surface conditions in this area indicates the presence of a deep layer (15 m) of
soft clay.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the geotechnical characteristics of the soft clays
southern Iraq.
Several correlations were obtained from the field and laboratory properties of the soil.
These relationships include the relation between the standard penetration test number (N) and
the cone resistance, the preconsolidation stress and the in-situ vane shear strength, the
plasticity index and the undrained shear strength, and the relation between horizontal and
vertical permeabilities.
From these relationships, several correlations were obtained from which prediction for
geotechnical properties of soft clays can be made. The correlations obtained between the
studied soil properties including, plasticity index, undrained shear strength from vane shear
test, standard penetration number, preconsolidation pressure, cone resistance and permeability
are reliable when compared to the correlations of other soils. The strength ratio defined as
(Su / p) or (Su/N) or (qc / N) increases with the plasticity index, while the angle of internal
friction decreases slightly with the increase of plasticity index.

Keywords: correlations, sol, strength, plasticity, Iraq.

1 Introduction

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If time and budget were not an issue, the design engineer could obtain as many samples as
necessary and conduct as many laboratory or in situ tests as desired to obtain a complete
assessment of subsurface soil and rock conditions. Engineering properties could be quantified
and any inconsistent data could be set aside; additional testing could then be initiated.
Unfortunately, time and budgets are major issues and the design engineer must make critical
decisions at several steps throughout the design to obtain the most reliable and realistic soil
property information., A critical step in obtaining these properties lies in the selection of a
specific test and the interpretation of the test results. For any number of reasons (e.g., cost,
sampling difficulties, etc.), it may be difficult to obtain the specific parameter(s) of interest.
Fortunately, the design engineer can often use well-developed and/or site-specific correlations
to obtain the desired parameter. Also, correlations serve as a quality assurance check on
determined test results.
Correlations to engineering properties come in many forms, but all have a common theme;
specifically, the desired correlation utilizes a large database of results based on past
experience. In the best case, the correlation and experience have been developed or
calibrated using the specific local soil; in other cases the correlation may be based on
reportedly similar soils.
The reliance or use of correlations to obtain soil properties is justified and recommended in
the following cases: (1) specific data are simply not available and are only possible by
indirectly comparing to other properties; (2) a limited amount of data for the specific property
of interest are available and the correlation can provide a complement to these limited data; or
(3) the validity of certain data is in question and a comparison to previous test results allows
the accuracy of the selected test to be assessed. Correlations in general should never be used
as a substitute for an adequate subsurface investigation program, but rather to complement
and verify specific project-related information (Sabatini et al., 2002).

2 Description of the Region

The Tigris and Euphrates meet at Al-Qurnah to form Shatt Al-Arab which flows southward
entering the Arabian Gulf at the city of Al-Fao. In the past (3000 years B.C.), the shore line
was located further north near Basrah where the river emerged in the Arabian Gulf.
Shatt Al-Arab had changed its course in the past from the old channel to its present position.
Its sediments are forming a wide triangle of land bounded by Basrah, Al-Fao and Um-Qasr.
This wide triangle is composed mainly of soft clayey soils, (Hanzawa, 1977). This region is
considered the most well-known soft clay in Iraq.
The paper presents all data developed from the field investigations performed at the Garmat
Ali site of the proposed water injection project in Rumaila near Basrah southern Iraq.
Namely, the data of boring explorations, Dutch cone tests, vane shear tests, field density tests,
and the readings of field instruments are included.

3 Analysis of Test Results

Figure 1 shows the soil different layers of the region with the distribution of both effective
overburden and preconsolidation pressures with depth. The shape is similar to a typical
distribution shown in Figure 2. It can be concluded that the upper (10 m) consists of
overconsolidated clays with overconsolidation ration (OCR) ranging between (1.2) and (4).
This may be attributed to the formation of desiccated crust at the above (3 m) due to
continuous drying.

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Preconsolidation Pc' (kPa)

200

400

800

Effective Overburden
Pressure

5
10
Depth (m)

600

15
20
25
30
35
40
45

Figure 1. Variation of preconsolidation pressure with depth.

Figure 2.Typical profile of preconsolidation stress.

The variation of plasticity index with depth shown in Figure 3 decides that the clay layers of
the region are of medium plasticity.
Figures 4 and 5 present the variation of the standard penetration number (N) and the cone
penetration resistance, qc, respectively with depth.
Figure 6 shows the variation of the undrained shear strength predicted by the field vane shear
test with depth. The effect of sample disturbance can be seen in this figure; the strength of
undisturbed samplesa is always greater than that of disturbed samples.
Figure 7 shows the variation of horizontal and vertical permeability with depth. It can be
noticed that horizontal permeability is greater than vertical one by a factor increasing with

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depth. This means that anisotropy in permeability is of considerable effect at depth greater
than (15 m).
Figure (10) presents the relationship between the undrained strength ratio (Su/ p) and the
plasticity index.
Plasticity Index
10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0
5

Depth (m)

10
15
20
25
30
35
40

Figure 3. Variation of the plasticity index with depth.

Standard Penetration Numbe r ,N
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

10

Depth (m)

20

30

40

50

60

Figure 4. Variation of the standard penetration number with depth.

Cone Penteration Resistance , qc, kPa
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Depth (m)

5
10
15
20
25
30

Figure 5. Distribution of the cone penetration resistance with depth.

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Undraine d She ar Stre ngth , Su, kPa

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0
Undisturbed

Depth (m)

Disturbed

10
15
20
25

Figure 6. Distribution of the vane shear strength with depth.

Permeabilty,k, m/sec. *10

-5

10

0
Horizontal
Depth (m)

Vertical

10
15
20

Figure 7. Variation of horizontal and vertical permeability with depth.

Figure (8) shows a relationship between the undrained shear strength ratio (Su/N) and the
plasticity index. The relation obtained is similar to that obtained by Stroud (1974) for
different clays as shown in Figure 9. The following relationships can be obtained:
Su
From vane shear test (undisturbed)
0.391 PI 11.52
(1)
N
Su
0.251 PI 0.69
From vane shear test (disturbed)
(2)
N
40
Undisturbed
Disturbed

35

(Su/N)

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
15

20

25

30

35

40

Plasticity Index %

Figure 8. Ratio of undrained shear strength determined from vane shear test as function of
plasticity.

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Kimmeridge clay
Wootwich & Reading clay
Upper lies clay
Keuper mari
Flrts

Boulder clay
Laminated clay
Sunnybrook till
London clay
Bracidesham beds
Oxford clay

Unditurbed
0.2

Su/Pc

Undrained Strength Ratio,

Figure. 9. Ratio of undrained shear strength (cu) determined on 100mm diameter specimens
to SPT N, as a function of plasticity (Stroud 1974).

Disturbed

0.1

0
10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Plasticity Index %

Figure 10. Undrained strength ratios for the soil based on vane shear test results.
This correlation is close to that obtained from CKo test for nonvarved sedimentary soils as
shown in Figure 11. A similar relationship is obtained between the strength ratio Su / N (log
scale) and the preconsolidation pressure as shown in Figure 12 from which the following
equation can be obtained :
Su / N = 0.0036* p+0.083
Su / N = 0.0174*ln( p)+0.055

(Disturbed)
(Undisturbed)

(3)
(4)

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Figure. 11. Comparison of field and laboratory undrained strength ratios for
nonvarved sedimentary soils (OCR = 1 for laboratory CkoU testing).
1
Undisturbed
Disturbed

Su/N

0.1

0.01

0.001
12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

Preconsolidation Pressure

Figure 12. Undrained strength ratio obtained from vane shear test and standard pentration test
Vs. preconsolidation pressure.
On the other hand, the relationship of the strength ratio qc / N and the plasticity index is
shown in Figure 13. A non linear increase in the strength ratio can be noticed with increase of
PI which takes the following form :
qc / N 0.0119 e 0.116 PI
(5)
A similar relation is noticed between the cone resistance and the preconslidation pressure as
shown in figure (14) . the following equation can be obtained

p ' 0.015 qc2 0.076qc 12.8

(6)

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0.9
0.8
0.7

qc/N

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
20

25

30
Plasticity index %

35

40

Preconsolidation Pressure, Pc (kPa)

Figure 13. Relationship beyween the strength ratio (qc/ N) and the plasticity index.

20
18
16
14
12
10
0

12

16

20

24

Cone Resistance, qc (kPa)

Figure 14. Correlation between the cone resistance and the preconsolidation pressure.
Analytical derivations are available to evaluate the OCR of cohesive soils using the cone
penetrometer, piezocone, flat dilatometer, and pressuremeter. These methods, via a
correlation, relate OCR to a specific measured parameter in the in-situ test. These correlations
are presented elsewhere (see Kulhawy & Mayne, 1990). Herein, simple empirical and
statistical expressions for estimating p from in-situ test results are presented. These
correlations can be used to provide first order estimates of p and to complement
preconsolidation stress values evaluated from laboratory oedometer tests. Preliminary
estimates of p for intact (i.e., not fissured) natural clays may be made using the approximate
generalized trends as follows for each of the in-situ tests:
Cone Penetration Test (Figure 15):
Field Vane Test (Figure 16):

p = 0.33 (qc vo)

p = 3.54 (su,)

(7)
(8)

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Figure 15. Correlation of p. With CPT qt data (after Kulhawy and Mayne, 1990).

Figure 16. Correlation of p. With VST su, VST data (after Kulhawy and Mayne, 1990).
Figure 17 presents the relationship between the undrained shear strength from vane shear
test and the preconsolidation pressure. A linear relationship similar to that of equation (8) is
obtained .
Pc = 2.792 Su
Pc = 8.136 Su

(undisturbed)
(disturbed)

(9)
(10)

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Preconsolidation Pressure, Pc' (kPa)

20
Disturbed
18

Undisturbed

16
14
12
10
8
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Undrained Shear Strength, Su (kPa)

Figure 17. Relationship between the undrained shear strength and the preconsolidation
pressure.
In cohesive soils, the CPT is routinely used to determine both undrained shear trength and
compressibility. In a similar way to the bearing capacity of a foundation, cone resistance is a
function of both overburden pressure (v) and undrained shear strength (cu):
qc N k Cu v

(11)

so that the undrained shear strength may be calculated from:

(q v )
Cu c
(12)
Nk
provided that Nk is known, or can be estimated. The theoretical bearing capacity factor for
deep foundation failure cannot be applied in this equation because the cone hears the soil
more rapidly than other tests, and the soil is failed very much more quickly than in a field
situation such as an embankment failure.
At shallow depths, or in heavily overconsolidated soils, the vertical total stress in the soil is
small, so that:
q
Cu c
(13)
Nk
Typically, in these conditions, the undrained shear strength is about 1/15th to 1/20th of the
cone resistance.
Nk is not a constant, but depends upon cone type, soil type, overconsolidation ratio, degree of
cementing, and the method by which undrained shear strength has been measured (because
undrained shear strength is sample-size and test-method dependent). The Nk value in an
overconsolidated clay will be higher than in the same clay when normally consolidated.
Therefore it is normal to use areaspecific values of Nk to calculate c. Typically, Nk varies
from 10 to 20. Lunne and Kleven have shown that this variation is significantly reduced,
giving Nk much closer on average to 15, if a correction (Nk *=Nk/) is made to allow for rate
effects, in a similar way to that proposed by Bjerrum for the vane test, but this is rarely done
in practice. Higher Nk values are obtained from mechanical cones than from electric cones,
because of differences in shape..
A relationship between the cone resistance and the undrained shear strength from vane test is
shown in Figure (18) from which the following formula is obtained:
qc=

0.63Cu -19.63

(14)

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Cone Resistance , kPa

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Undrained Shear Strength, kPa

Figure 18. Relationship between the cone resistance and the undrained shear strength from
vane shear test.
For clays, empirical correlations have been developed to relate . To the plasticity
characteristics of the soil. Figure 19 shows a slight trend of . Decreasing with increasing PI
(Mesri and Abdel-Ghaffar, 1993), yet values can be 8 in variance. Considering the overall
importance of . In stability calculations, foundations, and landslide analyses, it is essential to
directly assess . By means of consolidated drained direct shear tests, consolidated drained
triaxial tests, or consolidated undrained triaxial tests with porewater pressure measurements.
The consequences of estimating . Can be economically unwise. As an example, for relatively
long, shallow slip surfaces that may be associated with a landslide, the required forces that
would need to be resisted by some form of stabilization system (e.g., retaining wall,
micropiles) would vary significantly depending on the drained friction angle of the soil. It is
highly recommended that state DOTs develop historical data summaries of . Versus PI to
check validity of future test results.

Figure 19. Relationship between and PI (Terzaghi, Peck, and Mesri, 1996).
The angle of friction can be predicted depending on the values of the standard penetration
number (N). The relation is shown in Figure 20. Compared to data of Figure 19, the same
trend is observed in which slightly decreases with increase of PI for low to medium
plasticity clays.

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Angle of Friction (Deg.)

55

45

35

25

15
15

25

35

Plasticity index %

Figure 20. Relationship between predicted from N values and the plasticity index.
Hydraulic conductivity data, whether obtained from the field or the laboratory, should be
scrutinized due to test complexities. These data should be considered in the context of the site
geology and the method used to obtain the values. They are only as reliable as the method
used to obtain them, keeping in mind that even excellent laboratory and field methodology
may only provide values within an order of magnitude of actual conditions.
Figure 21 presents the relationship between the horizontal and vertical permeabilities. A linear
relationship of the following form can be obtained:
K v 0.534 * K h
(15)
where: rk = 1.87
This result is close to the results reported by Sabatini et al. (2002) in Figure 22 for different
clays, they found that rk ranges between (1) and (1.5).

Kv X 10-6 m/sec.

100

10

0
1

10

100

Kh,X 10-6 m/sec.

Figure 21. Relationship between horizontal and vertical permeabilities.

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Fig. 22. Comparison of vertical and horizontal permeability in intact natural clays. (from
Sabatini et al., 2002).
Figure 23 shows that the values of permeability of southern Iraq clay lies within the boundary
between poor and good drainage conditions.

4 Conclusions
Through analysis of the data collected for the clay of the southern region of Iraq and
comparison of analsis results with published data on different soils in the world, the following
conclusions can be obtained :
1. The correlations obtained between the studied soil properties including, plasticity index,
undrained shear strength from vane shear test, standard penetration number, preconsolidation
pressure, cone resistance and permeability are reliable when compared to the correlations of
other soils.
2. The horizontal permeability is greater than vertical one by a factor increasing with depth.
Anisotropy in permeability is of considerable effect of depths greater than ( 15 m ).
A linear relationship between Kv and Kh is obtained which takes the form :
Kv = rk Kh
where rk =
3.The strength ratio defined as (Su / p) or (Su/N) or (qc / N) increases with the plasticity
index, while the angle of internal friction decreases slightly with the increase of plasticity
index.

References
Hanzawa, H. 1977. Geotechnical Properties of Normally Consolidated Fao Clay-Iraq, Soils
and Foundations, Japan, Vol. 17, No. 4, P.P. 1-15.
Kulhawy, F.H., and Mayne, P.W. 1990. Manual on Estimating Soil Properties for Foundation
Design. Report EL-6800, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alta, CA, August, 306
pp.
Ladd, C.C. 1991. Stability Evaluation During Staged Construction., ASCE Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 117, No. 4, pp. 540-615.

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4th Jordanian Civil Engineering Conference

Mesri, G., and Abdel-Ghaffar, M.E.M. 1993. Cohesion Intercept in Effective Stress Stability
Analysis, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 119, No. 8, pp. 1229-1249.
Sabatini, P.J., Bachus, R.C., Mayne, P.W., Schneider, J.A. and Zettler, T.E., 2002. Evaluation
of Soil and Rock Properties, Report No., FHWA-IF-02-034, Federal Highway
Administration, Washington.
Stroud, M.A. 1974. The Standard Penetration Test in Insensitive Clays and Soft Rocks,
Proceedings, European Symposium on Penetration Testing, Vol. 2.2, Stockholm,
Sweden, pp. 367- 375.
Terzaghi, K., Peck, R.G., and Mesri, G. 1996. Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., pp. 549.

Figure 23. Range of hydraulic conductivity values based on soil type.

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