Experimental study on behaviour of secondary consolidation of soft soils under repeatedly dumped loads

Based on a number of oedometer tests on 13 soil samples,the influence of repeated loading on the secondary consolidation properties is investigated.It is found that with the increase of consolidation pressure p,the secondary consolidation coefficient C■ increases firstly to a maximum value and then decreases under initial loading,but the consolidation pressure corresponding to the maximum value is not equal to the preconsolidation pressure.It is also revealed that with the increase of p,C■ decreases under the first reloading and increases after 35 cycles in overconsolidated state.With the increase of loading cycle number,C■ decreases significantly.The load ratio △p/p has significant effects on C■.Experimental findings and results are significant to the settlement control of soft soil ground.