Laboratory and field determination of preconsolidation pressures at Gloucester

Abstract

In recent literature several special test methods have been proposed to measure the preconsolidation pressure of a compressible clay soil. Five methods, in addition to the conventional oedometer test, were applied to the marine clays from the Gloucester test site. The preconsolidation pressures measured using these laboratory tests were compared with that mobilized in situ below the centre of a test embankment. The investigation showed that the preconsolidation pressure is directly related to the rate of strain and that special techniques such as constant rate of strain, controlled gradient, single-stage loading, and anisotropic triaxial consolidation tend to overestimate the in-situ preconsolidation pressure. The conventional oedometer test using a load increment ratio of 0.5 and a reloading schedule of 24 h applied to good-quality undisturbed samples produced preconsolidation pressures that compared best with the in-situ values. Keywords: preconsolidation pressure, laboratory, in situ, strain rate effects, disturbance.