End-of-secondary compression for some Indian soils

Abstract

ABSTRACT Computation of end-of-primary compression for clayey soils is an important step undertaken to meet the serviceability criteria of geotechnical engineering structures. But for soils that exhibit secondary compression behaviour, computing the end-of-secondary compression values is more significant. One of the prevailing methods suggested for its computation is the c α (coefficient of secondary compression) method. However, without sufficient data, interpretation of the end-of-secondary compressions could be challenging, if not erroneous. This paper presents the computation of the end-of-secondary compression for a set of five soils from India namely Red soil, Bombay marine clay, Kuttanad clay, Cochin marine clay and Peat by conducting long-term consolidation tests to the order of 10 days for each pressure increment. A non-linear creep function was used to determine the limiting creep condition of the soils. The curves obtained are more realistic compared to the c α concept which overestimates secondary compression settlements.