SETTLEMENT of

CONSOLIDATION

Dr. Rustam Effendi

Credited to:
Craig, R.F. (2004). Craig’s soil mechanics. 7th. New York: Spon Press.

Das, B.M. (2008). Advanced soil mechanics. 3rd. London: Taylor & Francis.

Holtz, R.D. and W.D. Kovacs (1981). An introduction to geotechnical

engineering. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Lambe, T.W. and R.V. Whitman. (1969). Soil Mechanics. New York: John Wiley
& Sons.

Mitchell, J.K. And K. Soga. (2005). Fundamental of soil behavior. 3rd. New
Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Murthy, V.N.S. (2003). Geotechnical engineering: principles and practices of

soil mechanics and foundation engineering. New York: Marcel
Dekker, Inc.
Legendary or legacy?
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy •Started in the year 1174 by Bonanno
Pisano.

•When reached its 3rd storey, the

works ceased ➔started to sink into
the ground.

•Left for 90 years

• Six open galleries.

•294 spiral steps to the top of the

tower.
Miraculous!!!
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City

•Built 1900 and 1934. Sunk >341 cm!

• Loose sand permeated with water.
•Luckily, evenly.

•1960's the building moved ~365 cm up!

➔Skyscraper building.
SETTLEMENT
In Banjarmasin
SETTLEMENT:
Phenomena & consequences
•
SETTLEMENT
Common cases in Banjarmasin
SETTLEMENT:
Phenomena & consequences
•
SETTLEMENT
Common cases in Banjarmasin: stores
SETTLEMENT:
Phenomena & consequences
•
Criteria: angular distortion(d/l)
Limiting values for relative rotation
(angular distortion)
Type of damage
Skempton and Meyerhof
MacDonald (1956) (1956)
Structural damage 1/150 1/250

Cracking in walls and 1/300 (but 1/500 1/500

partitions recommended)
Note: The limiting values for framed buildings are for structural
members of average dimensions. Value may be much less for
exceptionally large and stiff beams or columns for which the limiting
values relative rotation should be obtained from structural analysis.
Criteria:
deflection ratio
(D/L)
•
Differential Settlement:
• Local variations in soil compressibility,
• Variation in thickness of compressible soil,
• Differences in footing sizes and pressures,
• Variation in applied loads,
• Overlapping stresses,
Differential Settlement:
•Local variations in soil compressibility,
• Variation in thickness of compressible soil,
• Differences in footing sizes and pressures,
• Variation in applied loads,
• Overlapping stresses,

•Differences in depth of embedment of footings.

• Soil Permeability
• Soil Drainage
• Load to be placed on the soil
• History of loads placed upon the soil (normally
or over-consolidated?)
• Water Table
 SETTLEMENT
• Elastic/immediate
= Shear deformation w/o volumetric reduction.

•Consolidation
Terzaghi (‘43): “A decrease of water content of a saturated
soil without replacement of the water by air is called a
process of consolidation.”
• Creep/secondary
= Compression under constant effective stress.
• Overconsolidated soft clay ~10%.
• Normally consolidated soft clay ~20% of the overall
settlement
Soil in nature:
1. Dry state.
2. Partially saturated state.
 SETTLEMENT
1. Compression of the solid matter.
2. Compression of water and air within
the voids.
3. Escape of water and air from the voids.
 Settlement vs. granular soil
Dry or saturated? Soil Particle size

Boulder > 12”

• Dry sand

granular
Cobble 6 to 12”
•Dr (relative density)
Gravel 2.0 mm (or 4.76mm) to 6”
•Water content can change freely
Sand 0.06 (or 0.076 mm) to 2.0
mm (or 4.76 mm)
Silt 0.002 to 0.06 mm (or 0.074

fine
mm)
Clay < 0.002 mm (=2 mm)
Loosest state
Densest state
• Very fine-grained or
silty sand
May remain unchanged @ rapid change in stress:

liquefaction
 Earthquake: Liquefaction
Caracas, Venezuela (‘67)

Niigata, Japan (‘64)

Settlement vs. cohesive soils
Completely saturated➔ more compressible
Low permeability ➔k:
time-dependent settlement:

consolidation
Consolidation
 Settlement Curves
Time (t)

Granular soils
Deformation (s)

Clays

due to additional stress

Settlement Curves
• correction for construction period
excavation
 Settlement Curves: Clays
Time (in log-scale)
Elastic deformation
Deformation

Consolidation

Creep/
secondary compression
Settlement Analysis
• One Dimensional
•Modified One Dimensional
•Skempton and Bjerrum (1957)
•Elastic Method
•Modified Elastic
•Elastic Finite Element
•Non-Linear Finite Element
•Boundary Element
•Settlement Ratio
•Equivalent Raft
•Equivalent Pier
•Interaction Factor
•Meyerhof (1976), etc.
Terzaghi’s Theory of One Dimensional
is generally applicable in all cases in practice
where
1. Secondary compression is not very significant,

2. The clay stratum is drained on one or both the

surfaces,

3. The clay stratum is deeply buried, and

4. The clay stratum is thin compared with the size of the

loaded areas.
1-D Consolidation Calculation

• Linear elasticity: s ’— ev (Terzaghi, 1925)

• Viscoelastic models (Taylor and Merchant, 1940;
Taylor, 1942; Tan,1957; Gibson and Lo, 1961;
Schiffman et al., 1964; Barden, 1965, 1968)

Gibson and Lo (1961)

•Fibrous peat
 Consolidation
Terzaghi’s assumptions: 1-D consolidation
1. The clay layer ➔homogeneous, laterally confined,
and saturated.
2. Soil particles and water = incompressible
➔the squeezing out of water from the void spaces.
3. Darcy’s law is valid.
4. Deformation of soil = load direction.
5. The coefficient of permeability/consolidation is
constant during the consolidation.
6. Time of consolidation➔ <<<< k.
Consolidation

Compressible

Depth (m)
Layer ~30 m
Consolidation Calculation
(Based on Terzaghi’s theory)
➔assumed fully saturated: Sr = 100%
Sr.e = w.Gs ➔ Sr = 1➔e = w.Gs DH s De
e= = =
H H 1+ e
q Dei
si = H i = e i .H i
DH 1 + ei
ε = vertical strain
saturated clay ΔH = vertical deformation
H Ho = origin height of the element
s = settlement
e = void ratio
Incompressible layer Δe = change of void ratio
si = settlement of the ith layer

Dei DHi = si
soil =
ei water
Hi
water
+ 1 solids Key parameter:
solids
De
Test Data Presentation
Load 1

Load 2

Load 3

Unloaded Load n

Highly nonlinear
Then......
how to determine De
Consolidation (Oedometer) Test

Floating-ring oedometer
Constant Strain Rate

Fixed-ring oedometer
Typical Test Results
24 hrs
Log t
Dial reading

Load 1

Load 2

Load 3

Load n

Load Increment Ratio (LIR) = 1

End of consolidation
Test Data Presentation

~ straight line
Cc= compression index
 Overconsolidated vs.
Normally Consolidated Clay
Over-Consolidation Ratio (OCR)
OCR = pc/p0
OCR = 2 = slightly overconsolidated
OCR = 13 = heavily overconsolidated
Correction: Laboratory to Field Curves

Normally consolidated clay Over-consolidated clay

Kf = corrected compression index (Cc)

 Settlement (Consolidation) Calculation

Normally consolidated clay

p 0 + Dp
De = Cc log
p0 Over-consolidated clay
De
s= H ( p0 + Dp)  pc p0  pc  ( p0 + Dp)
1+ e
p + Dp p 0 + Dp De = De1 + De2
Cc log 0 De = C s log
p0 p0 pc p0 + Dp
s= H De = Cs log + Cc log
1+ e De p0 pc
s= H
1+ e De
p 0 + Dp s= H
C s log 1+ e
s=
p0  pc p0 + Dp 
1+ e
H  C s log + C c log 
s= H
p0 p c
 1+ e 
 
 
Compression Index (Cc)
Typical values:

Soil Cc
Normal consolidated clays 0.20 – 0.50
Chicago clay with silt (CL) 0.15 - 0.30
Boston blue clay (CL) 0.3 – 0.5
Vickburgs clay (CH) 0.3 – 0.6
Swedish clay (CL – CH) 1–3
Canada: Leda clays (CL – CH) 1–4
Mexico City clay (MH) 7 – 10
Organic clays (OH) ≥3
Peats (Pt) 10 – 15
Organic silts and clayey silts (ML – MH) 1.5 – 4.0
San Francisco sediments (CL) 0.4 – 1.2
Clay in the Old San Francisco Bay 0.7 – 0.9
Bangkok clay (CH) 0.4
Banjarmasin 0.2—1.7*
*need more research
Compression Index (Cc)

Empirical Cc:
Soil Equations Reference

Transformed clays Cc = 0.007(LL - 7%) Skempton (1944)

Clays Cc = 1.15(e0 - 0.35) Nishida (1956 )

Cc = 0.256+0.43(e0 -
Brazilian clays
0.84) Cozzolino (1961 )
Sao Paulo clays
Cc = 0.0046(LL - 9%)
Terzaghi a Peck
New York clays Cc = 0.009(LL - 10%)
(1948 )
Clays of low
Cc = 0.75(w0 - 0.5) Sowers (1970 )
plasticity
Taipei clays and Cc = 0.54(e0 – 0.23)
Moh et al. (1989)
silts Cc = 0.007(LL - 7%)
 p0 (=s0)
Then......
how to determine
and
Dp (=Ds )
Overburden stress, p0’ (s0’)
is geostatic stress

(
p0 =   . z i i
'
)
i

 =  sat −  w
'

where
‘ = unit weight of submerged soil
Sat = unit weight of saturated soil
W = unit weight of water
Stress Increment (Dp = sz)
•Strip loads
Stress Increment (Dp = sz)
•Linearly increasing load
Stress Increment (Dp = sz)
•Rectangular foundation (at the corner)

sz = qI

m = b/z
n = l/z
Stress Increment (Dp = sz)
•Rectangular foundation (at the corner)

sz = q(I1+I2+I3+I4)
sz = q(I1-I2-I3+I4)
Stress Increment (Dp = sz)
•Uniformly loaded circular footing

sz /q=Iz
Stress Increment (Dp = sz)
•Irregular shape

sz = 0.005Nq

N= number of influence
area covered by load
q= load/pressure

Scale line = depth of interest

for scaling load area
Total settlement vs. number of sublayers
q

H/n
n
clay layer stotal =  si
H i =2

Incompressible layer
n = number of sublayers

ns
n=2
n
Adequately accurate
stotal

ns= recommended number of sublayers for calculation

Rate of Settlement:1-D Consolidation
Rate of Settlement:1-D Consolidation

U = 0% to 60%

U >60%
Rate of Settlement:1-D Consolidation
Casagrande log t fitting
method
Rate of Settlement:1-D Consolidation
Taylor’s √t fitting method
Rate of Settlement:1-D Consolidation

Cc
Field Case:

Building II
Building I
A B
LI LII

qI qII

Banjarmasin clay:
Cc = 0.2 to 1.7 BI BII
e0= 1.5 to 2.3
gap
Let
• Cc = 1.0 qI=qII=50 kPa Hclay=25 m
• e0= 1.5 BI = BII=10 m
• cv=8 x 10-3 cm2/s LI = LII =20 m
•The buildings are assumed rigid and soil are homogeneous.
a. Find the final settlement at A (sAf) and B (sBf).
b. What are sA(t=1yr) and sB(t=1yr) after 1 year if the buildings were built at
the same time?
Field Case:
Anticipation: Vertical drain
Installation patterns
Anticipation: Vertical drain
Start of consolidation after structures completed.
Time (t)

Chance for differential

Deformation (s)

End of settlement magnitude

consolidation much less than This!

Consolidation starts here!

After acceleration with vertical
drain (or + surcharge).
Remedy
CONCLUSION
After this short course, you will think
many times to sign the letter of
agreement for some one to build a 3-
storey shop-but-house (ruko) next to
your house.
PROBLEMS
AND
SOLUTIONS
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