SOIL LAYER RESPONSE TO PORE PRESSURE VARIATIONS AT THE BOUNDARY 41

2 25

Pore water pressure: kPa

1 20

15
u/umax

0
0 0·5 1·0 1·5 10
⫺1
5
⫺2
0
t/T
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
(a)
Days
1.0 (a)
75

Pore water pressure: kPa

0.5 H ⫽ 27·3 m
70 Calculated
H ⫽ 15 m
u/umax

0
0 0·5 1·0 1·5 65

⫺0.5 Measured 60
Calculated
⫺1.0 55
t/T
(b) 50
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
1.0 Days
(b)
0.5
Pore water pressure: kPa 155
u/umax

0 150
0 0·5 1·0 1·5
⫺0.5 145
Measured
Calculated 140
⫺1.0
t/T 135 1990 1992 1994
Measured 1991 1993 1995
(c)
130
1.0 0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Days
0.5 (c)
u/umax

0 Fig. 6. Measured and calculated pore pressures against time at

0 0·5 1·0 1·5
⫺0.5 Measured
Calculated
⫺1.0
t/T
(d)
Fig. 5. Calculated and measured excess pore pressures at
different depths for a Trebisacce clay sample with impervious
base (adapted from Cavalera, 1977): (a) z/H 0; (b) z/H 1
3;
2
(c) z/H 3; (d) z/H 1
groundwater repeated themselves almost regularly every
year, as indicated by the legend on the third graph, with the
excess pore pressures exhibiting a maximum value of about
15 kPa at a depth of 3 m. The pore pressure changes are
significantly smaller at a depth of 8 m, and are practically
zero at 17 m. The soil profile at the site under consideration
consists of a silty sand layer 2.7 m thick overlying a silty
clay formation, whose thickness is unknown. The silty clay
is slightly overconsolidated, with an overconsolidation ratio
essentially constant with depth and equal to about 1.35.
Laflamme & Leroueil (2003) presented the profile of the
hydraulic conductivity ks obtained from oedometer tests, and
that of the small-strain shear modulus G0 deduced from
cross-hole tests. These profiles show that ks varies slightly
with depth in the clay formation, with a value of about
9 3 10
10 m=s, whereas G0 increases almost linearly with
depth from 17.6 MPa at a depth of 2.7 m to 23 MPa at a
depth of about 8 m from the ground surface. These experi-
mental data were used by Laflamme & Leroueil (2003) to
three different depths of a soil deposit at Maskinongé in
Canada (adapted from Laflamme & Leroueil, 2003): (a) 3 m;
(b) 8 m; (c) 17 m
evaluate the coefficient of swelling/consolidation of the silty
clay layer, on the basis of the following relationship, derived
from elasticity theory:
2k s G0 ð1
9Þ
cvs ¼ (30)
ªw ð1
2 9Þ
in which ªw is the unit weight of water, and 9 is Poisson’s
ratio of the soil skeleton, assumed equal to 0.25 by these
authors. Laflamme & Leroueil (2003) also performed some
finite element simulations of the soil deposit response to the
seasonal variations of groundwater shown in Fig. 6, under
the assumption that the soil behaviour is linearly elastic and
isotropic. The analyses were performed by using the Abaqus
code (Abaqus, 1995) along with the above-specified values
of G0 , ks and 9. The best agreement between measured and
simulated results was obtained by Laflamme & Leroueil
(2003) when the values of G0 deduced from the cross-hole
tests were directly used, and the value of ks from the
oedometer tests (9 3 10
10 m/s) was multiplied by a factor
of 2.0. By introducing these quantities into equation (30),
values of cvs ranging from 1 3 10
5 m2 /s to 2.5 3
10
5 m2 /s were obtained.
A similar analysis was performed in the present study to
evaluate an operative value of cvs using the analytical
solution described in the previous sections. Following
Laflamme & Leroueil (2003), a silty clay layer with a
thickness H ¼ 27.3 m extending up to a depth of 30 m from