Example-1

• The soil profile at a site for a proposed office building consists of a

layer of fine sand 10.4 m thick above a layer of soft normally
consolidated clay 2 m thick. Below the soft clay is a deposit of soft
sand. The groundwater table was observed at 3 m below ground
level. The void ratio of the sand is 0.76 and the water content of the
clay is 43%. The building will impose a vertical stress increase of
140 kPa at the middle of the clay layer. Estimate the primary
consolidation settlement of the clay. Assume the soil above the
water table to be saturated.
Solution:
3m

Fine sand 7.4 m

Clay 2m

Coarse sand

Step 1: Calculate  zo' and e0 at the center of the clay layer.

G e  2.7  0.76 

Sand :  sat   s  w     9.8  19 .3 kN/m
3
 1 e   1  0.76 
 G 1   2.7  1 
 '   s  w     9.8  9.5 kN/m
3
 1 e   1  0.76 
or    sat   w  19 .3  9.8  9.5 kN/m 3
'

Clay : eo  wGs  2.7  0.43  1.16;

 G 1   2.7  1 
 '   s  w     9.8  7.7 kN/m
3
 1 e   1  1.16 
The vertical effective stress at the mid-depth of the clay layer is

 zo'  (19.3  3)  (9.5  7.4)  (7.7  1)  135.9 kPa

1
STEP2 : Calculate the increase of stress at the mid-depth of the clay layer.
You do not need to calculate for this problem, it is given as  z=140
kPa.

STEP3:Calculate  fin .
'

 fin
'
  z' 0   z'  135.9  140.0  275.9 kPa

STEP4:Calculate the primary consolidation

.
settlement.
H0  fin
'
2 275.9
ρ pc  C c log '   0.3 log  0.085 m  85 mm
1  e0  zo 1  1.16 135.9

2
Example-2

• Assume the same soil stratigraphy as in Example -1. But

now the clay is overconsolidated with an OCR=2.5,
w=38%, and Cr=0.05. All other soil values given in
Example-1 remain unchanged. Determine the primary
consolidation settlement of the clay.
Solution:
Step 1: Calculate  zo' and e0 at the center of the clay layer.
Clay : eo  wGs  2.7  0.38  1.03;
 G 1   2.7  1 
 '   s  w     9.8  8.2 kN/m
3
 1 e   1  1.03 
 zo
'
 (19.3  3)  (9.5  7.4)  (8.2 1)  136.4 kPa
STEP2 :Calculate the preconsolidation stress.

 zc
'
 136.4  2.5  341 kPa
STEP3:Calculate  fin .
'

 fin
'
  z' 0   z'  136.4  140.0  276.4 kPa
STEP4: Check if  fin is less or greater than  zc .
' '

 fin
'
  zc
'

STEP5:Calculate the primary consolidation settlement.

H0  fin
'
2 276.4
ρ pc  C r log '   0.05 log  0.015 m  15 mm
1  e0  zo 1  1.03 136.4
3
Example-3
• A vertical section through a building foundation at a site
is shown in Fig. below. The average modulus of volume
compressibility of the clay is mv=5×10-5 m2/kN.
Determine the primary consolidation settlement.
Solution:
Foundationwidth B  10 m, lengthL  20 m

200 kPa
1m

10 m
mv  5  10 5 m2 /kN 10 m

Clay

Gravel

Step 1: Find the vertical stress increase at the center of the clay layer
below the foundation. Divide the clay layer into 5 sublayers, each of
thickness 2 m, that is H0 = 2 m . Find the vertical stress increase at the
middle of each sublayer under the center of the rectangular foundation.
Assume a rough base and use table B1 (Appendix B).

B = 10 m, L = 20 m, L/B = 2, qs = 200 kPa

4
  z  I zp q s
Z
Layer Z (m) B Izp (kPa)
1 1 0.1 0.992 198.4

2 3 0.3 0.951 190.2

3 5 0.5 0.876 175.2

4 7 0.7 0.781 156.2

5 9 0.9 0.686 137.2

Step 2: Calculate the primary consolidation settlement.

n
pc   ( H 0 mv  z ) i
i 1

 2  5  10 5  (198.4  190.2  175.2  156.2  137.2)

 0.086 m  86 mm.
Alternatively: Use the harmonic mean value of  z with n=5 (Eq.6.19)
5(198.4)  4(190.2)  3(175.2)  2(156.2)  1(137.2)
 z   181.9 kPa
5  4  3  2 1
pc  10  5  10 5  181.9  0.091 m  91 mm 5
Example-4

• A laboratory test on a saturated clay taken at a depth of

10 m below the ground surface gave the following
results: Cc=0.3, Cr=0.08, OCR=5, w=23%, and Gs=2.7.
The groundwater level is at the surface. Determine and
plot the variation of water content and overconsolidation
ratio with depth up to 50 m.
Solution:
Step 1: Determine e0 and  z 0 .
'

 Gs  1   2.7  1 
'   w   9.8  10.3 kN/m
3

 1 e   1  0.621 
e0  wGs  2.7  0.23  0.621  z' 0   ' z  10.3  10  103 kPa
Step 2: Determine the preconsolidation stress  zc' .
 zc'   z' 0  OCR  103 5  515 kPa
Step 3: Find the equation for the URL (Slope BC )

e  zc'
A
e B  e0  C r log '
 z0
C eB  0.621  0.08 log( 5)  0.565
e0 Cr
B
eB
Therefore, the equation for the URL is:
log  '
 z' 0  zc' z
e  0.565  0.08 log( OCR) (1)
6
 Substituting w=eGs , Gs = 2.7 and OCR = 515/’z (’=10.3 kN/m3), z is
depth, in equation (1) gives:
50
w  0.209  0.03 log( )
z
You can now substitute values of z from 1 to 50 m and find w; and to find
the OCR substitute e = wGs in Eq. (1). The table and figure below show
the calculated results.

OCR Water content