Underground Singapore 2014

Interpretation of CPT Test Results for an Underground

Project in Soft Clays
S.S. Agus, N. Mace
Mott MacDonald Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore

ABSTRACT: A series of cone penetration (CPT) tests were carried out in the Marina East area where
thick soft clay deposits consisting of mainly marine and fluvial deposits are found. The CPT test re-
sults have been interpreted for the purpose of estimating the undrained shear strength of the soft clays
and to infer the degree of consolidation in the absence of piezometric data given the fact that the area
was reclaimed and hence may still undergo consolidation. It is evident that the undrained shear
strength of the soft clays increases with time as soil consolidates. In some area, estuarine material was
found to be interbedded in the marine clay layer resulting in a lower undrained shear strength com-
pared with the values that have been interpreted and reported in this area. Although the reclamation in
the area took place approximately 35 years ago, the assessment indicates that excess pore-water pres-
sure exists indicating that the soil is still undergoing consolidation. At some CPT points, the degree of
consolidation of the soft clays is found to be quite low with high undissipated excess pore-water pres-
sure.

1 INTRODUCTION

As part of infrastructure development, a reclamation work has been carried out in a near shore area
underlain by thick soft clay deposits in the Southern part of Singapore. The reclamation work carried
out was meant to provide a partial platform for the construction of a cut and cover tunnel in the Mari-
na East (refer to the project location in Figure 1). This is in addition to the ‘old’ reclamation work un-
dertaken between 1979 and 1985. The excess pore-water pressure induced is thought to have not yet
been fully dissipated even until today.

Project location

Figure 1 Project location

A series of cone penetration tests (CPTs) were carried out in the newly reclaimed land (referred to
herein as “near shore area”) and in the area where the ‘old’ reclamation works were undertaken,
which is further away from the shoreline toward the land area (referred to herein as “land area”). In
this study, the results from the CPTs were interpreted and this paper presents the outcome of this
study with emphasis given to site characterization, undrained shear strength, excess pore-water pres-
sure and degree of consolidation.

2 SITE GROUND CONDITION

Generally, the ground condition in the near shore area as given in the factual report consists of an ap-
proximately 10m thick reclamation fill underlain by 40 to 50m thick Kallang Formation soils and Old
Alluvium. The Kallang formation soils present include Upper Marine clay (UMC), Fluvial Clay (F2),
Lower Marine Clay (LMC) and some Estuarine (E) may also exist. Geological profile for the land ar-
ea has been determined through extensive soil investigation works. The soils consist of an about 10m
up to 15m thick reclamation fill layer underlain by Kallang formation layers with varying thickness
from about 20 to more than 40m. The Kallang formation soils in this area include Upper Marine Clay
(UMC), Lower Marine Clay (LMC) sandwiching Fluvial Clay (F2) and/or Fluvial Sand (F1) and Es-
tuarine (E) layers. The Kallang formation soils in both areas are generally still undergoing consolida-
tion and thus excess pore-water pressures exist. Figure 2 show the average representative geological
profile of the site determined from the boreholes data available.

Figure 2 Geological profile of the site (land area)

3 CONE PENETRATION TESTS (CPTS) AND INTERPRETATION

3.1 CPTs Carried Out

The cone penetration tests (CPTs) were carried out in the near shore area using piezocone with a di-
ameter of 36mm and a cone net area ratio of 0.59. Six CPTs were undertaken in this area and are fur-
ther referred to herein as CPT-1 to CPT-6 (or CPT series). The CPTs in the near shore area were con-
ducted a few months after the placement of backfill for the ‘new’ reclamation. At the location of CPT-
1, three additional CPTs were subsequently carried out with an approximately six-month interval to
assess the increase in soil strength as the soils consolidate.

For the land area the piezocone used had a cone net area ratio of 0.8 and seven CPTs were carried out
and are further denoted as CPT-A1 to CPT-A7 (or CPT-A series).

The cone net ratio (a) is the ratio used to compute the total cone resistance (qt) to account for the pres-
ence of porous sleeve on the piezocone to measure pore-water pressure, qt = qc + (1-a)u where qc and
u are the cone penetration resistance and the measured pore-water pressure, respectively.
3.2 Ground Charaterisation from CPT Data Interpretation

One of the major applications of CPT is for soil profiling or determining soil type since typically cone
resistance (qc) is high in sands and low in clays, while the friction ratio or the ratio between sleeve
friction and cone resistance (fr) is the other way around. Although it is not an accurate prediction of
the soil type, the CPT data can provide an indication of soil profile and hence its interpretation can be
regarded as Soil Behaviour Type (SBT) interpretation (Robertson, 1990).

Figure 3 CPT interpretation using Robertson’s method for the near shore area

Figure 4 CPT interpretation using Robertson’s method for the land area
 The soil charaterisation became important particularly in the newly reclaimed land (or in the near
shore area), where a rapid soil movement was detected during the reclamation although the reclama-
tion slope was generally stable. A normalized CPT chart for SBT interpretation proposed by Robert-
son (Robertson and Cabal, 2012) is popularly used, which identifies different soil types ranging from
sensitive fine grained to sandy soils. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the normalized CPT chart for the
near shore and land area, respectively. On the charts, Qt refers to normalized cone penetration re-
sistance equal to (qt – σv) / σv’ and Fr denotes the normalized friction ratio determined as fs / (qt – σv) x
100% with fs representing the sleeve friction, while σv and σv’ are the total and effective overburden
pressure, respectively.

The charts portray that the soils within the area are found to mainly fall within the zones “3” to “5”
(clays, silt mixtures and sand mixtures) while quite significant data are within zone “2” (organic soils)
especially in the land area. The presence of organic matter in the marine clay reduces the shear
strength of marine clay as seen in the discussion in the latter part of the paper. This was not according
to the earlier interpretation of the factual report, which did not detect the presence of organic material
embedded in the marine clay layers. The rapid soil movement recorded during the new reclamation
works is attributed to the lower marine clay strength due to the presence of organic matter. The charts
however do not indicate that the soils are categorized as sensitive fine grained soils (zone “1”).

3.3 Undrained Shear Strength Profiles

The cone penetration resistance (qc) is correlated to undrained shear strength (cu) of the soils follow-
ing the relationship cu = (qt – σv)/Nkt with Nkt representing the cone factor. Agus and Mace (2011) re-
ported that the Nkt value is a function of soil plasticity index and the value for marine clays ranges
from 9 to 16.

(a) (b)

Figure 5 Undrained shear strength (cu) profile for the near shore area: (a) CPT-1 to CPT-6 (b) Increase in
cu for CPT-1 following consolidation

An assessment was carried out using the CPT data obtained. In this case, an average Nkt value of 13
was adopted. Theoretical cu values were also computed using cu/σv’ ratio of 0.22 for marine clays
(Buttling et al., 1987) and 0.295 for F2 soil (Agus and Mace, 2011). In the near shore area, it is evi-
dent from Figure 5(a) that the cu values are largely below the theoretical values indicating that the soft
soils are not fully consolidated under the applied overburden pressure. The soil layer demarcations are
shown based on the average geological profile at the six different CPT points. The comparison of cu
values obtained from the CPT data with the theoretical values enables us to determine the magnitude
of excess pore-water pressure present in the soft clays. The average excess pore-water pressure in the
UMC and LMC layers is found to be approximately 62kPa and 49kPa, respectively. The values are
high and may account for an approximately 30% of the total excess pore-water pressure generated due
to the backfill placement, which signify an around 70% degree of consolidation based on the excess
pore-water pressure.

The earlier interpretation of cu profile for marine clays in this area shows higher cu values for the
UMC layer (Figure 5(b)). The lower cu values for the UMC layer can be attributed to the presence of
organic materials (i.e. Estuarine or peaty soils) interbedded within this layer. This was identified when
a rapid lateral soil movement was recorded during the ‘new’ reclamation works although the reclama-
tion slope was generally stable. In Figure 5(b), the increase in the cu values for UMC is notable unlike
in the case of LMC, which shows an insignificant increase. The consolidation of soft soils in this case
has been accelerated by means of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs). However, the cu values for the
LMC after an about 2 years’ period of treatment are in general still slightly less than the theoretical
values thus indicating incomplete consolidation.

A slightly different approach was adopted to assess the CPT data for the land area (CPT-A1 to
CPT-A6). The theoretical line for the incompletely consolidated soft clays was determined through
Plaxis 2D finite element modelling with soft soil model and large strain analysis adopted. Wong and
Choa (1987) indicated that the large settlement consolidation analysis is more accurate in predicting
the consolidation behavior of the soft soils. The adoption of finite element modelling in this case was
due to the fact that the loading history is complicated since the excess pore-water pressure induced by
the ‘old’ reclamation may not have been fully dissipated and to account for the presence of PVDs with
a limited extent of treatment during the ‘new’ reclamation. The finite element model adopted and the
result with comparison with the cu profiles from CPT, laboratory and field data, and the theoretical
line (using the equation described earlier) are given in Figure 6 (CPT-A1 is presented as an example).

Note:
The cu profile derived from the CPT data using the
average Nkt of 13 agrees well with the measured
laboratory and field vane shear data.

Figure 6 Finite element model to study the consolidation state of soils in the land area and the resulting cu
profiles
 From the finite element modelling, the average undissipated excess pore-water pressure at the time
when the CPTs were carried out is approximately 81kPa and 49kPa for the UMC and LMC layer, re-
spectively. The values correspond to an average degree of consolidation of 42% based on the time-
settlement profiles indicating that an approximately 60% remaining consolidation will take place un-
der the PVDs’ influence.

3.4 Further Evaluation of cu/σv’ Ratio

It is known that cu/σv’ ratio of 0.22 for marine clays as described by Buttling et al. (1987) can general-
ly be taken for normally consolidated clays with an internal friction angle (φ’) of 26o in direct simple
shear conditions (i.e. cu/σv’ = ½ sin φ’ OCR0.8 from the critical state soil mechanics). The cu/σv’ hence
is not a constant but a function of φ’ and its value increases with increasing φ’. For soft soils that are
undergoing consolidation, the cu/σv’ ratio can be computed utilizing CPT data following the relation-
ship below (Robertson and Cabal, 2012) with σv’ taken as the effective overburden pressure after the
excess pore-water pressure has been fully dissipated.

cu/σv’ = Qt/Nkt and for Nkt = 13, cu/σv’ = 0.077 Qt (1)

The variation of cu/σv’ versus depth for the near shore and land areas is given in Figure 7. It is
shown that the plot is more consistent for the near shore area while erratic profiles are portrayed for
the land area indicating more variability in the cu/σv’ ratio.

Figure 7 Variation of cu/σ

σv’ over depth for the near shore and land areas from CPT data

For soils that are undergoing consolidation, the effective overburden pressure is equal to σv’-∆u with
∆u represents the undissipated pore-water pressure and in this case σv’ is the effective overburden
pressure when the pore-water pressure distribution is fully dissipated or hydrostatic. Taking the ∆u as
a proportion of σv’ (∆u = C σv’), the effective overburden pressure of the consolidation soils is equal
to (1-C) σv’ and hence the cu value for consolidating marine clays can be formulated as cu = 0.22(1-
C) σv’. The value of (1-C) thus represents the degree of consolidation of the consolidating marine
clays in terms of the undissipated excess pore-water pressure.
Figure 7 indicates that for the near shore area the degree of consolidation of the UMC ranges from 50
to 91% (cu/σv’ ranges from 0.11 to 0.2), whereas the LMC shows largely complete consolidation. The
value agrees with the degree of consolidation assessed directly from the average excess pore-water
pressure presented in the preceding section with an average value of 70%.

For the land area, majority of the data falls within the range of cu/σv’ between 0.05 and 0.2 for both
the UMC and LMC signifying a range of the degree of consolidation between 23% and 91% with a
large variation across the site. The average degree of consolidation obtained from the finite element
analyses based on the settlement is 42%, lower than that obtained from the cu/σv’ assessment.

3.5 Soil Sensitivity

Another interpretation of the CPT data is presented in the context of soil sensitivity, which is de-
fined as the ratio of undisturbed peak undrained shear strength to the totally remolded shear strength.
Robertson and Cabal (2012) indicates that the remolded cu can be assumed to be equal to the sleeve
friction (fs) and hence the sensitivity (S) is equal to cu (from CPT)/fs. Nonetheless, for relatively sensi-
tive clays with S greater than 10, the estimate of sensitivity becomes inaccurate. Hence, the computed
S value should be regarded as a guide only. Figure 8 shows the plot of S value versus depth for all
CPT data. The zone where the interpretation becomes inaccurate is also indicated.

Figure 8 Sensitivity of soils in the near shore and land areas from CPT data for the near shore and land
areas

The plots indicate that the CPT data points for both the near shore and land areas fall within the
category of medium sensitive to sensitive soils with S value ranging from 2 to 8. It is however inter-
esting to note that the fill layer near the ground surface is also categorized as medium sensitive to sen-
sitive soils indicating possibility that the fill top may be slightly clayey.

The facts presented from this figure are contrary to the facts presented in Figure 3 and Figure 4,
where the presence of sensitive soils is not detected. Notwithstanding this discrepancy, the presence
of sensitive clayey fill gives rise to issues during construction in the area in the case where equipment
that remolds the top soil is used.
 In the case of marine clays, although in the future the consolidation process is complete and the un-
drained shear strength of the marine clays can reach a value ranging from 50 to 100kPa (Figure 5), the
remolding process may decrease the cu value to one-fourth on average (i.e. between 12.5kPa and
25kPa), which will be accompanied by a dissipation of the excess pore-water pressure and settlement
until the consolidation under the applied overburden pressure is complete. This is likely the case when
bored tunneling is carried out through the PVD-improved marine clays whereby the PVDs may get en-
tangled on the tunnel boring machine cutters and remold the underlying marine clay. The sensitivity of
the UMC and LMC derived from this method generally agrees quite well with that published by Tan
(1983), who reported a sensitivity of 1.5 to 6 for the UMC and 3 to 5 for the LMC, both with an aver-
age value of 4.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The CPTs were carried out in both the near shore and land areas, at the site where an underground
project was constructed. An interpretation of the CPT data obtained has been carried out and the fol-
lowing conclusions can be drawn:

1) CPT can be used for ground characterization using the soil behavior type (SBT) chart pro-
posed by Robertson (or Robertson’s chart) and the soils within the area are found to mainly
fall within the zones “3” to “5” (clays, silt mixtures and sand mixtures) with a quite signifi-
cant data are within zone “2” (organic soils) especially in the land area.

2) The assessment of undrained shear strength (cu) profiles indicate that the cu values for the clay
layers are lower than the long-term theoretical values signifying the incomplete consolidation
of the clays. The values are even lower than that interpreted earlier for the UMC, which is at-
tributed to the presence of organic material (estuarine) interbedded within the UMC. The av-
erage degree of consolidation obtained from the average excess pore-water pressure is 70%
for the near shore area.

3) From the finite element analyses carried out for the land area, it is shown that the degree of
consolidation of the UMC and LMC is approximately 42%.

4) The cu/σv’ ratio for the marine clay layers has been revisited and it is found that CPT data can
be used to infer the degree of consolidation from the assessment of cu/σv’ ratio. It has been
found that the degree of consolidation of the UMC ranges from 50% to 91% (70% on average)
for the near shore area, while for the land area of the degree of consolidation from 23% and
91% with a large variation across the site has been identified for the marine clay layers.

5) CPT data can be used to infer the sensitivity of the soils although the method is considered to
be an approximate method or a guide.

5 REFERENCES

Agus, S.S. and Mace, N. 2011. Settlement of Sewer Pipes in Consolidating Soft Clays. Underground Singapore
2011.
Buttling, S., Shirlaw, J.N., and James, J. 1987. The shear strength of Singapore marine clays. In Proceedings of
the 5th International Geotechnical Seminar on Case Histories of Soft Clay, Singapore, 1987: 251-260.
Robertson, P.K. 1990. Soil classification using the cone penetration test. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 27(1):
151-158.
Robertson, P.K & Cabal, K.L. 2012. Guide to Cone Penetration Testing for Geotechnical Engineering. Gregg
Drilling & Testing, Inc., 5th Edition, California.
Tan, S.L. 1983. Geotechnical properties and laboratory testing of soft soils in Singapore. In Proceedings of Inter-
national Seminar on Construction Problem in Soft Soils, Singapore.
Wong, K.S. and Choa, V. 1987. Settlement analysis of soft clay by finite difference method. In Proceedings of
the 5th International Geotechnical Seminar, Nanyang Technological Institute, Singapore, 1987: 283-289.