Soil Mechanicsand FoundationEngineering, Vol. 31. No.

4, 1994

SOIL M E C H A N I C S

A METHOD OF CALCULATING THE

COMPRESSION DEFORMATION MODULUS OF
SANDY AND GRAVELLY SOILS

L. Ma and Ch.-I. Khao UDC 624.131.54.001.24

A method based on use ofHardin "s homogeneous model is proposed for calculation of the deformation modulus
of noncohesive soils. Completely satisfactory correspondence between computed and experimental values of
the deformation modulus of sands is demonstrated.

Beijing is situated at the vertex of an alluvial-proluvial debris cone of the Yung-ding River.
As a result of the fact that the river has repeatedly changed the course of its bed, deposits of Quaternary soils of
variable thickness have formed in the city and its surroundings. Thick gravelly and conglomerate deposits are exposed at a
depth of 3-5 m from the surface in the western and northwestern sectors of Beijing, while enormous strata of silty-clayey soils
exist in the eastern sector. In the intermediate sector of the city and its suburbs, the bed is composed of alternating strata of
silty-clayey, sandy, and conglomerate soils. The total thickness of the Quaternary deposits, which are underlain by
conglomerates of the Tertiary Age, varies from 3 to 200 m. It is natural that such a huge degree of bed nonuniformity may
be the cause of significant and nonuniform settlements of the buildings and structures that have been placed on the bed.
At the same time, reliable determination of the deformation characteristics of the sandy and conglomeratic soils is
extremely difficult due to the complexity associated with the removal of soil specimens without disturbing their natural state
and the difficulty of conducting large-scale field tests, especially below the ground water table (GWT). Over an extended time,
therefore, designers have adopted values of the deformation moduli of these soils on the basis of data of back calculations of
the results of observation on building settlements. The accuracy of these values is, however, highly uncertain. Studies, which
indicated that the values of the deformation modulus E of sandy and conglomerate soils can be obtained using the homogeneous
model "1 e - az" proposed by Hardin [1, 2] for normally consolidated noncohesive soils over a broad range of compressive
stresses, were conducted in compiling the regulatory document "Bed Surveys and Design of Fotmdatio~ for Buildings and
Structures in Districts of Beijing."
According to Hardin, the void ratio ei of a soil at the stress level of interest for construction is related to the active
compressive stress az by the expression

1 / ei = (I / % ) + (I / SiD)(crz. / p~)P, (1)

where e0 is the initial void ratio of the same soil under a zero natural pressure, S1D is the dimensionless soil-stiffness
coefficient, which for the case of uniform deformation at the stress level under consideration may be assumed constant for the
soil in question, Pa is the atmospheric pressure (100 k.Pa), and p is the parameter equal to 0.5 for noncohesive soils.
The coefficient S1D has a close correlation with the relative density D s of the soil, the composition of the materials,
the shape of the particles, and the ratio d40/dgo of the diameters of the soil particles, and is determined from the formula

SiV = K t r t l + D s / 2)[1 +(700 / n~)(d4o / dgo)l, (2)

Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 4, pp. 2-5, July-August, 1994.

0038-0741/94/3104-0123512.50 9 Plenum Publishing Corporation 123

 TABLE 1
state of soil number ' relative 9 initial
Soil type
with respect
to density I
of blows
SPT
density
Ds, %
void
ratio eo

sandy
(sandy, silty,
below average 15 35 0,85
fine, average 30 65 0,75
medium dense 50 85 0,65
fineness
below average 15 35 0,50
gravelly average 30 65 0,45
dense 50 85 0,40
I

~,./~x
6

4'

0
0,e~ aJs. a.~5 am.s a ~

0
a,o5 o.ta a,t5 o,2o 17e5
x (d~o/dgo)
Fig. 1. Histogram of distribution of ratio d4o/dgo for sandy
(a) and gravelly Co) soils, fl/AX is the ratio of the frequency
hl/h of the internal Ax.

where ns2 is a shape factor, which is equal to 15 and 25 for circular and angular particles, respectively, and KID is a coefficient
characterizing the particle material (31 for granite, 29 for glacial conglomerate, 27 for quartzite, 23 for diorite, and 22 for
gneiss [1]).
Knowing the soil characteristics contained in formulas (1) and (2), it is possible using (1) to obtain values of the
deformation moduli for different compressive-stress equations. The studies therefore enable us to determine the above-cited
characteristics for the sandy and conglomeratic soils of Beijing.
1. To determine the ratio d4o/dgo of particle diameters, we analyzed the gradiation of 60 and specimens taken from
holes at depths ranging from 3.3 to 34.1 m in various districts of Beijing, and constructed a composite histogram, which
indicated that (Fig. la) the average value of the ratio d4o/dgo is normal and amounts to 0.45; the probability that the value of
this ratio will fall in the 0.30-0.65 interval is 96%. A constant value of the ratio d40/dg0, equal to 0.45, was therefore adopted
for the sands in the region of Beijing.
An average value of 0.12 for the ratio d4o/dgo was obtained in a similar manner for the conglomerate soil with a sand
filter on the basis of data derived from 24 specimens taken from pits opened to a depth of 0.8-4.5 m. The probability that the

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 TABLE2
Value values of Coj under natural pressure Ozzi, kPa
of e0
, 10o I 20q t 300 I * ~ I 50o I 60o i 700 I 800 900 [10oo
sandy soils
0.85 [ 0.028 0.036 0.042 0.04810.05210.056 0.06 0.0621 0.065 0.067
0.75 i0.019 0.025 0.029 0.033 0.036 0.039 0.042 0.044 f 0.046 0.048
0.65 10.014 0.018 0.021 0.024 0.026 0.028 0.03 0.03210.0~4 0.036
gravelly soils
0.5 0.01410.018 0.022 0.024 0.027 0.029 0.031 !0.033[ 0.034[0.036
0.45 ~ 0.01 0.013 0.015 0.017 0.019 0.021 0.02210.024]0.02510.026
0.4 i0.0o8 0.01 0.012 0.013 0.0140.015 0.01610.01710.019 [ 0.02

St? 100 taa tr, MPa

lot?

2OO

ooo

5o0

600

7oo
',---~,-~~ \ \
8o0
~-- ~,-~-', \ \
9oo

~2"qtk.Pa

Fig. 2. Curves of E versus azg for sandy (1) and gravelly (2) soils of
different densities, a) Below-average density; b) average density; c) dense.

value of this ratio will fall in the 0.05-0.20 interval is 89% (histogram in Fig. lb), i.e., it is possible to set d40/dgo = 0.12
for the conglomerate soils.
2. The coefficient K1D of the particle material was set equal to 16 in the saturated state in conformity with test results
obtained by Hardin for Beijing districts located on the alluvial-proluvial fan represented by quartz, limestones, quartzite, and
sandstones.
3. The average value of the coefficient ns was assumed equal to 20; this corresponds to the predominant oval shape
of the gravelly particles.
4. The initial void ratio eo, the relative soil density D s in the dry state, and data derived from standard nontraditional
tests (SPT) [3] were used as eriterial indicators of the state of the sandy and gravelly soils in conformity with the practice
adopted in China and other eotmtries. An analysis was also performed on specimens under in-situ conditions. Table 1, which
was a classification base for subsequent calculations, was compiled as a result.
Let us proceed to calculation of the compression deformation modulus for the sands and conglomerates. Assuming that
the settlements of the beds beneath the buildings and structures are calculated by the method of layer-by-layer elementary
summation using the scheme of a linearly deformable half-space, the void ratio of the soil in the j-th elementary layer, which
is consolidated under the total pressure (the sum of the natural crzgj and additional trzpj pressures; ozj = trzgj + ozpj, proceeding
from Eq. (1)) is

eij= eoi[l + eoi / Slp)(r / p o ) P ] -I. (3)

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 TABLE 3
natural E values, MPa, for sands
Depth from below-average average density dense
surface, rn pressure,
kPa density
experimental ] compu-
tation [
5 21,3 --'25,5 25,1 -~ 30,0 -'44,2
I0
I00 24,9 -- 29,0 24,9 28.6 - 32,8 30.5 33.6-47.7 39,2
10 24,9 -- 29,0 2 s , 6 - 32,s 33,6 - 47,7
20
200 32.0- 36.2 33 39.7 52,1
35.8 - 39.9 40,7-54,9
15 28,5 - 32,6 32,2 - 36,4 37.2-51,2
300 39,3 48.3 62,9
30 39,1-43.3 42,9-47.0 4 7 . 9 - 62.0
20 3 2 , 0 - 36,2 3 5 , 8 - 39,9 40,7 - 54,9
40 400 46,8 5 0 , 0 - 54,2 54.7 70,9
46,3 - 50.4 55,0-69.1
25 35,6 ".39,8 39,4-43,5 44,3-58,5
500 50.1 57.1-63.1 60.8 80,2
30 53.4 - 57,6 62,1 - 76.2
50 1000 - 73,2 88,1 113,9
Expressing the bed settlement in terms of the variation in the void ratio of each elementary layer with a thickness hj
and using the traditional equation of the method of layer-by-layer summation
11 n

S = )'[Aeij / l + eoi)]h i = f f ' c r ~ h / Ej, (4)

j=l j=l

where Aeij = eoj - eij and trzpj = {rzj - trzgj, the compression modulus of the soil in the elementary layer can be written as

Ej = (1 + eoi)Ozpi / Aeii. (5)

Using the semi-logarithmic equation of the compression curve, the variation in eij can be expressed as

Aeii = Coj ln(crzi / ~ ) ; (6)

where Coj is the compression coefficient.

Substituting (6) in (5), we obtain a general expression for Ej

Ej = (1 + eoi)owi / Coj ln(ozj / 6z~)- (7)

Assuming an additional pressure t~zpj = 100 kPa that approaches the stress level acting in the bed of the building and
structures, the corresponding compression coefficients of the noncohesive soils in the region of Beijing were calculated from
Eq. (6) for the characteristic e0 values presented in Table 1 and for different embedment depths of the elementary soil from
the surface (different values of natural pressure) (Table 2).
Using Table 2, it is possible to determine the corresponding E values from Eq. (7). Curves of E versus the increase
in natural pressure Ozg are shown in Fig. 2. In that case, it was assumed that the initial e0 value (when trzg = 0) at any depth
corresponds to the density of this soil, and the additional pressure az9 = 100 kPa.
To estimate the accuracy of the E values, as determined by the computational method, we conducted laboratory
compression studies on 57 groups of specimens formed from Quaternary alluvial sands and 44 groups of specimens formed
from modem (of the order of 7500 years) sand deposits. We investigated primarily silty and fine sands removed from a depth
of 50 m. The data obtained did not contradict those published in the literature, for example, in [4].
A comparison of the boundaries of variation in E from data derived from laboratory tests and data computed from Eq.
(7) is made in Table 3. The E values for the sands lying above and below the GWT are given in the numerator and
denominator, respectively. The relationships between the depth from the surface and the natural pressure are adopted from the
condkion that the specific gravity of the soil above and below the GWT is 20 and 10 kN/m3, respectively.
Even with a certain conditionality in the purpose of the soil's specific gravity, the data in Table 3 suggest that the
calculated E values of the sandy soils correspond completely satisfactorily with experimental values, especially for the soil
situated below the GWT. This is associated, among other things, with the fact that the K1D values in Eq. (2) were assigned

126
on the basis of test data for the soil in the saturated state. It should also be pointed out that as the depth of embedment of the
sands increases (an increase in natural pressure), the computed E values approach the upper limits of the experimental data,
or even exceed them somewhat. This is most likely explained by softening of the sandy-soil specimens taken from great depths;
this inevitably leads to laboratory E values on the low side.
Analyzing the data presented, one should expect that the computed E values will also correspond satisfactorily to the
actual values for the conglomerate soils.
Conclusion. The studies indicated that to estimate inhomogeneity and calculate bed deformations, the E values of silty-
clayey soils should be determined from laboratory-test data, and those of sandy and gravelly soils by computational means.
This approach, beginning in 1988, has been used by the Beijing Geotechnical Institute in solving engineering problems.

REFERENCES

I. B. O. Hardin, "1-D strain in normally consolidated cohesionless soils," Geotech. Engng., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 113,
No. 12, (1987).
2. B. O. Hardin, "Crushing of soil particles," Geotech. Engng., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 111, No. 10 (1986).
3. B. P. Wrench and E. A. Nowatzki, "A relationship between deformation modulus and SPIN for gravels," in: Use of
In-Situ Tests in Geotechnical Engineering (1986).
4. N. Janbu, "Soil Compressibility as determined by oedometer and triaxial tests," in: Proceedings of the European
Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 1 (1963).

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