EFFECT OF DENSITY AND MOISTURE ON CONSOLIDATION OF COMPACTED SOIL

AN INVESTIGATION IS REPORTED OF THE CONSOLIDATION THAT TAKES PLACE IN A COMPACTED SOIL UNDER SPECIFIC DENSITY AND MOISTURE CONTENT. SEVEN REPRESENTATIVE SOIL SAMPLES RANGING FROM FINE SAND TO CLAY WERE SELECTED FROM THE 45 MAJOR SOIL SERIES IN THE UNITED STATES. FOUR TESTS WERE MADE WITH DIFFERENT DENSITY OR MOISTURE FOR EACH SAMPLE. THE RESULTS WERE ANALYZED AND CORRELATED IN A NUMBER OF BASIC DIAGRAMS OF THE CONSOLIDATION STRESS-STRAIN RELATIONS. THE TIME-CONSOLIDATION CURVES AND CONSOLIDATION STRESS-STRAIN CURVES AT VARIOUS DENSITIES AND MOISTURES ARE GIVEN TO SHOW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DISPLACEMENT AND THE APPLIED LOADING. FROM THESE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SOIL UNDER PRESSURE IN THE FIELD CAN BE PREDICTED. BY COMPARING THESE DIFFERENT CURVES, THE RELATIVE SENSITIVITY OF SOILS WHEN ENCOUNTERING WATER AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE CAN BE OBTAINED. THESE CURVES INDICATE THAT SOILS AT MAXIMUM DRY DENSITY AND OPTIMUM MOISTURE HAVE THE MINIMUM CONSOLIDATION. SETTLEMENT FOR SAND IS VERY SMALL COMPARED TO THAT FOR CLAYEY SOILS. CLAY SAMPLES SHOWED A WIDE RANGE OF VOLUME CHANGE. /AUTHOR/