Consolidation Theories of Soils

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 General
 Consolidation is gradual process involving drainage,
compression & stress transfer.

 In geology, it refers to the hardening of soil to a rock like

condition.

 In geotechnical engineering , it refers to adjustment of

loads to applied loading.

 It may require a long time for a soil formation to come to

an equilibrium under load. When equilibrium is reached,
the soil is considered as a fully consolidated.
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 Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…
 The rate at which the volume change (consolidation) occurs
is directly related to the permeability since the permeability
controls the speed at which the pore pressure can escape.

 In pervious soil ( clean sand)- consolidation is almost

instantaneous.

 In soil of low permeability ( clay)- consolidation will be

quite slow.

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 Mechanics of Consolidation
 Consolidation can be explained with the help of a piston and spring
mechanical analogy shown below.
 The spring represents the soil grains and the water represents the
moisture in the soil.

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 Cont’d…

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 cot……….

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 General outline of Terzaghi-Froehlich’s one-
dimensional Theory of Consolidation
 Can be explained with the help of Fig. below
 Consider a clay layer 2H laying between to pervious sand layers and is
subjected to a surface unit load equal to .
 The water is squeezed out the two pervious boundaries – double
drainage

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 Cont’d…
 At the instant the pressure is applied (t=t0), it is entirely carried by the
pore pressure. That means,
 A few instant later, water will start escaping into the sand, so that the
pore pressure at both boundaries will equal to zero.
 At time, t = ∞, consolidation will be completed and excess pore
pressure will be zero.
 At any time, the area between the curve pertaining to that time and the
initial hydrostatic excess pressure diagram gives the load transferred to
the soil grains up to that time.

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 Cont’d…
 Progress of consolidation process at a given point in the soil is
indicated by

where

 The average percent of consolidation of the entire layer at any time is

numerically equal to the percentage change in thickness or settlement.
Then to estimate the rate of settlement, it is necessary to establish the
variation of U with time.

 The relationship is established based on the assumptions stipulated

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below.
 Cont’d…
a) Assumptions used in Terzaghi-Froehlich’s theory
1) Homogeneous soil
2) Complete saturation
3) Negligible compressibility of soil grains and water
4) One dimensional compression
5) One dimensional flow
6) The validity of Darcy’s Law
7) The Coefficient of permeability, k, is the same everywhere within
the layer and remains constant during consolidation.

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 Cont’d…
b) Coefficient of Consolidation, Cv
 - Indicates the combined effects of
permeability and compression for a given void
ratio range.

where
cV - coef. of consolidation
k - coef. of permeability
aV - coef. of compressibility
γω - unit weight of water
.

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 Cont’d…
 c) Longest Drainage Path, H
 - represents the longest distance travelled by drop of water in
reaching an outlet
 The path is longer in a soil stratum with single drainage as shown in
Figure below.

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 Cont’d…
d) Time-rate of settlement:- depends on the
- thickness of clay layer
- number of drainage faces
- permeability of the soil
- magnitude of the consolidating pressure acting on the layer

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 Mathematical Formulation of Terzaghi-Froehlich’s
Theory of Consolidation
 From the flow in earth mass, the time rate of change of volume is
expressed as

 From one dimensional flow, and the case

 Refer Teferra /Leikun (1999) for the step-by-

step derivation of consolidation equation ,
pp 168-177

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 Cont’d…
Generally, the one-dimensional consolidation equation is given as

where

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 Rigorous Solution Using Fourier Series
 As stipulated above, the z coordinate distance is measured downward
from the surface of the clay sample.

 For analysis, the thickness of the sample is designated by 2h, the

distance h being the length of the drainage path ( see Figure on the next
slide).

 The boundary condition are:

a) Double drainage
b) Single drainage

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 A. Double drainage
 Rectangular initial stress

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 Cont’d…
 Triangular initial stress

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 Cont’d…
 Trapezoidal initial stress

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 Cont’d…

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 B. Special triangular initial stress
Type-A

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 cont………….

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 cont…………

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 C. Single drainage
 Rectangular initial stress

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 Cont’d…
 Triangular initial stress

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 Cont’d…
 Trapezoidal initial stress

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 Cont’d…

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 D. Special triangular initial stress

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 Approximate Solution
 By replacing the isochrones with parabolic curves, approximate
solutions have been provided. Tables for degree of consolidation, U,
and time factor, T, for different initial stresses and boundary condition
are prepared. The table is shown in the next slide.

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