On practidasfsadcal matters of calculating secondary compression

& reduction of seconasdsaasdadsdasdasdaddadary compression by

surcharging
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Secondary compression is graphically depicted in textbooks with the aid of plots

showing various measures of compression as a function of logarithm of time, which
are obtained during one of the loading cycles of a typical consolidation experiment.
The specific measureasfasdasfa of compression used in the plot is important,
becaasdadasuse it affects the definition of the coefficientAWEAWEAE of secondary
compression, typically denoted as Cα (with some variations, as discussed below) and,
consequently, the way this coefficient is calculated and whether it has units or not. A
review of 11 sources (one manual, nine textbooks and one set of notes) produced three
alternative definitions, as described below. The fact that typically Cα is unitless does
not permit immediate identification of which definition is used each time.