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CHAPTER two SOIL SETTLEMENT

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

CHAPTER two
SOIL SETTLEMENT
2.1 Introduction:
Foundation settlements must be estimated with great care for buildings, bridges, towers,
power plants, and similar high-cost structures. For structures such as fills, earth dams,
levees, braced sheeting and retaining walls, a greater margin of error in the settlements
can usually be tolerated.
Any structure built on soil is subject to settlement. Some settlement is inevitable and,
depending on the situation, some settlements are tolerable.
The application of an external load to the soil surface produces on amount of volume
change of the soil. This change referred to it is settlement and it is due to compressibility
characteristics of the soil. During the settlement the soil transmits from current body
stress state to a new one under the additional applied load.
The stress change from this added load produce a time-dependent accumulation of
particle rolling, sliding, crushing and elastic distortions in a limited influence zone
beneath the loaded area. Settlement is the accumulation of movements in the direction of
interest (vertical direction) and defined as (St) or (ΔH).
In designing a structure it is commonly assumed that the foundation will not move.
Correspondingly, if cracks appear in the structure it is assumed that the foundation did
move and that this is the sole cause of cracking.

2.2 Settlement Components:

The principle components of settlement are:-
1- Partial rolling and sliding, which produce a change in the void ratio.
2- Grain crushing, which alters the material slightly.
3- Elastic deformation of the soil grains, which produces a very small friction. So if
the applied stress is removed, very little of the settlement is recovered.

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

2.3 Purpose of Settlement:

 Study the settlement behavior.
 Determine the settlement value and time.
 Study the settlement influence to the structure stability.

Figure (2-1): Settlement Influence

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

2.4 Types of Settlement:

Two types of settlements are uniform and differential settlements. Differential
settlement must be minimized, depends on site soil conditions and distribution of loads
on columns supporting the building. Uniform settlement is usually of little consequence
in a building, but differential settlement can cause severe structural damage, as shown in
Figs. (2-2) and (2-3).

NO SETTLEMENT TOTAL SETTLEMENT DIFFERENTIAL SETTLEMENT

Figure (2-2): Types of Settlements Occurs in Footings

Figure (2-3): Differential Settlement

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Soil settlement can be divided into three categories:-

1- Immediate Settlement (Si):- Defined as settlement which occurred directly after
the application of a load, without a change in the moisture content. That is take
place as the load is applied. The magnitude of the contact settlement will depend
on the flexibility of the foundation and the type of material on which it is resting.
For clay, the immediate settlement generally very small comparing to the
consolidation settlement, therefore this immediate settlement mostly ignored.
Usually considered at sand or sandy soil.
2- Primary Settlement (Consolidation) (Sc):- Due to gradual dissipation of pore
pressure induced by external loading and consequently expulsion of water from
the loaded soil mass, hence volume change. It is a time-dependent and take
months to years to develop. The analysis of this kind of settlements are used for
all saturated, fine grained soils when the particle displacement and void reduction
can produce a temporary excess pore pressure. For these soils we want estimates
of both settlement ΔH and how long a time it will take for most of the settlement
to occur, (Important for Inorganic clays).
3- Secondary Settlement (Creep) (Ss):- Occurs at constant effective stress with
volume change due to rearrangement of particles. It is occur in end consolidation
settlement and in organic or highly compressible soil, (Important for organic soil)
In general the total settlement of footing is a summation of these components
as

St = Si + Sc + Ss

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Total Settlement
St = Si + Sc + Ss

Immediate Primary Secondary

Settlement Consolidation Consolidation
Si Sc Ss

2.5 Immediate Settlement Computations:

The amount of immediate settlement can be computed based on the theory of elasticity,
so the settlement of footing on a soil surface of semi-infinite, half space. The settlement
of the corner of a rectangular base of a dimension (B'*
can be computed from an equation from the theory of elasticity [Timoshenko and
Goodier (1951)] as follows:-

(1) and (2))

The influence factors I1 and I2 can be computed using equations given by Steinbrenner
(1934) as follows:

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

1 4

The Immediate Settlement equation can be written more compactly as follows:

-------------------------------------- (2)

Where:-

m = number of corners contributing to settlement as shown:-

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Note: not all the rectangles have the same L'/B' ratio, but for any contributing footing,
use a constant depth H.

Flexible and rigid foundations

The loads exerted on the free surface of the elastic half space we assumed that the soil is
perfectly elastic, so that the distributed load will cause smooth and flexible deformation
of the surface, however, in engineering world we always want to build foundations are
relatively rigid. The magnitude of the contact settlement depends on the flexibility of the
foundation and the type of soil. In practice, most foundations are flexible; if the
foundation is rigid the settlement will be uniform under all points of base, as shown in
the Fig. (2-4), and the influence factor Is will be about 7% less than computed by Eq.
(c). On this basis if your base is "rigid" you should reduce the Is factor by about 7 %.
(that is, Isr = 0.93 IS) or Si (rigid) = Si (flexible) × 0.93

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Figure (2-4): Flexible and Rigid Footings on clay and sand respectively.

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

The Eq. (2) should be used as follows:-

1. Make your best estimate of base contact pressure (q).

2. For round bases, convert to an equivalent square. (e.g. π r2 = 20 m2 B' = √20 ) .

3. Determine the point where the settlement is to be computed and divide the base as
(Fadum method).

4. Note that the stratum depth actually causing settlement is not at H/B → ∞, but is
either of the following:

a. Depth H= 5B where B = least total lateral dimension of base.

b. Depth to where a hard stratum, take "hard" as that where Es in the hard layer is about
10 Es of the adjacent upper layer.

c- Depth to rock or impervious layer.

5. Compute the H/B' ratio.

6- Compute the L'/B' ratio.

7. Enter Table 4, obtain I1 and I2, with your best estimate for μ compute Is and obtain IF
from Fig. 1 or Table 3 in notes.

8. Obtain the weighted average Es in the depth z = H. The weighted average can be
computed (where, for n layers, i H i ) as:
n

The weighted average can be computed as follows:-

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

 Immediate Settlement by Skempton's method :-

The above equation used to calculate the Si for foundation rest on the elastic
homogenous soil, the Iw is the influence factor taken from Table (5).

Example 1:-
Estimate the settlement of the raft (or mat) foundation. Given data are as follows:
qo = 134 kPa, B X L = 33.5 X 39.5 m. Soil is layered clays with one sand seam from
ground surface to sandstone bedrock at (- 14 m); mat at (- 3 m). Es from 3 to 6 m = 42.5
MPa, Es from 6 to 14 m = 60 MPa and Es for sandstone > 500 MPa .
Solution:-.
For clay with sand, estimate µ = 0.25
Es(average) = (3 x 42.5 + 8 x 60)/11= 55 MPa
From base to sandstone H = 1 4 - 3 = 11m.
B' = 33.5/2 = 16.75 m (for center of mat) N=H/ B'=11/16.75= 0.66 (use 0.7),
M=L/B=39.5/33.5=1.18 ≈ 1.2
Interpolating in Table 4, we obtain I1 = 0.0815; I2 = 0.0865

Is= =0.1392

D/B = 3/33.5 =0.09, L/B=1.18 ≈ 1.2 and µ = 0.25; use IF =0.9553 (Table (3) or Figure
(1)).
With four contributing corners m = 4
=134*16.75

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 2:- Estimate the immediate settlement at the center of the rigid raft foundation for
a given data : q = 150 kPa , B × L = 30 × 45 m , soil is layered saturated clays with Es from 3
to 6 m depth is 4500 kPa and its value be 16000 kPa from 6 - 12 m . The foundation is
constructed at a depth 3 m below the ground surface.

25666.7 kPa

L/B=45/30=1.5 & u=0.45, IF = 0.995≈1

Si = 150 * 15 *(1 - 0.452) *0.075 *1 *4/25666.7 * 1000 = 20.9 mm ≈ 21mm

21 * 0.93 = 19.53 mm

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 3:-

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 4:- A TV tower weighting (1000 kN) is constructed on a (3m * 3m) footing on
ground surface on the site shown in Fig. Calculate immediate settlement at a point A of
the footing by:

1- Skempton’s method, (flexible).

2- Timoshenko and Goodier method, (rigid).

1
1

Point A

Es = 170 MPa, µ = 0.4

Solution:-

Es=16 N/mm2 / 1000 N/kN *1000000 mm2/m2 = 16000 kN/m2

q = 1000/(3×3)=111.11 kN/m2 1 3

Shape B×L L/B Iw (flexible Si (mm) Si (mm) 2 4

corner)
(total)

1 1×1 1 0.56 3.26

2 1×2 2 0.77 4.49

18.7
3 1×2 2 0.77 4.49

4 2×2 1 0.56 6.53

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Shape B´×L´ H/B´ L´/B´ I1 I2 Si (mm) Si (mm)

N M (total)

1 1×1 6 1 0.457 0.026 2.71

2 1×2 6 2 0.563 0.050 3.38

13.9
3 1×2 6 2 0.563 0.050 3.38

4 2×2 3 1 0.363 0.048 4.42

Si rigid = 0.93 × 13.9 = 12.9 mm

Example 5:-

A rigid shallow foundation (1 * 2 m) is shown in Figure below. Estimate the immediate

settlement in the center of footing, (µ = 0.3).

Solution:-
qnet = 150 kPa
B´= 0.5 m, L´=1m, H=5B= 5*1= 5 m

Es = (10000*2 + 8000*1 + 12000*2)/5 = 10400 kPa

1m
M= L´/ B´= 1/0.5= 2, N=H/ B´= 5/0.5=10 Es (kN/m2)

I1 = 0.641, I2 = 0.031
1m
Is = 0.641 + (1 - 2*0.3) * 0.031/(1 - 0.3) = 0.659
8000 10000
2m
D/B=1/1=1, L/B= 2/1=2 & µ = 0.3 then IF = 0.709
12000
2
Si = 150 * 0.5 * (1 – 0.3 ) * 0.659 * 4* 0.709 *1000/10400 3m

4m
=12.26 mm
5m
Si (rigid)= 0.903 * 12.26 = 11.4 mm
rock

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 6:-

Estimate elastic settlement under point A of a flexible loaded area seen below (2*3.2) m
and carries a uniform pressure of 228 kN/m2.

Solution:- 2m 1.2 m

H=5B= 5*2= 10 m or H = 12 m 4 1 0.5 m

A
Use H= 10 m
3 2
Es = (6000*2 + 12000*6 + 10000*2)/10 =10400 kPa
1.5 m
D/B=1.2/2=0.6, L/B= 3.2/2=1.6 & µ = 0.3 then IF = 0.778

1.2 m

2m Es = 6 MPa, µ= =0.3

6m
Es = 12 MPa, µ= =0.3

4m
Es = 10 MPa, µ= =0.3

6m
Es = 120 MPa, µ= =0.3

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Shape B´×L´ H/B´ L´/B´ I1 I2 IS Is * B´

N M

1 0.5×1.2 20 2.4 0.73 0.022 0.743 0.3715

2 1.2×1.5 8.3 1.3 0.53 0.0233 0.543 0.6516

3 1.5×2 6.7 1.33 0.5186 0.0316 0.537 0.8055

4 0.5×2 20 4 0.834 0.036 0.855 0.4275

∑= 2.2561

Si = 228* (1- 0.32) * 2.2561 * 0.778 * 1000/10400 =35.02 mm

2.6 Cosolidation Settlement:

Consolidation:- Process the reduction of bulk soil volume under loading due to flow of
pore water. For saturated soils, any increment of loading ( , called surcharge) will be
initially taken up by the pore pressure and result in consolidation until a new equilibrium
is reached where the soil solids (or skeleton) takes up the added load.

2.6.1 Primary Cosolidation Settlement:

It is called consolidation settlement and estimated for saturated clay layer when it
subjected to an increase in the stress. One dimensional consolidation theory is used for
the purposes of analysis. The summary of the calculations regarding to the consolidation
settlement are:

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

clay

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

U ˃ 60%

2.6.2 Secondary Consolidation Settlement

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Figure (2-5)

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 1:- A soil profile is shown in Fig. below. Laboratory consolidation

tests were conducted on a sample collected from the middle of the clay layer.
The field consolidation curve interpolated from the laboratory test results as
shown in Fig. below. Calculate the settlement in the field due to primary
consolidation for surcharge 48 kN/m2 applied at the ground surface.

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 2:- A soil profile is shown in Fig. below. Calculate the settlement due to
primary consolidation for the 15 ft clay layer due to surcharge of 1500 psf applied at the
ground level. The clay is normally consolidation. For the 15 ft sand layer overlying the
clay, given Gs=2.65&e=0.7.

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 3:- The laboratory consolidation data for undisturbed clay sample are as follows:

e1= 1.1, p1= 95 kN/m2

e2= 0.9, p2= 475 kN/m2, what will the void ratio for a pressure of 600 kN/m2? (Note: pc< 95
kN/m2).

Solution:- form Figure below

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

Example 4:- Refer to Ex.2. Assume that the primary consolidation will be complete in 3.5 years.
Estimate the secondary consolidation that would occur from 3.5 years to 10 years after the load
application. Given 𝐶∝ what is the total consolidation settlement after 10 years

Solution:-

Example 5:- A laboratory consolidation test on normally consolidated clay showed the
following:

Stress (kN/m2) e

140 0.92

212 0.86

The specimen tested was 25.4 mm thickness and drained on both side. The time required for
the specimen to reach 50% consolidation was 4.5 min. A similar clay layer in the field is 2.8
thick with the same conditions. Determine:

1- Maximum consolidation settlement.

2- The time required to reach 40 mm.

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University of Kufa\Civil Engineering Department \4th class Foundation Engineering Lectures by Dr. Mohammed Kadhum Fekheraldin

So
lution:-

̅̅̅̅
= 87.5 mm
̅̅̅̅

50% consolidation, 4.5 min.

= 0.197

= 7.06 mm2/min.

= 0.457 = 46%

= 0.166

( )
=32 day

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