The laterally confined consolidation of initially compacted and wetted swelling clay

Abstract

This paper describes the laterally confined consolidation of an Israeli clay following compaction and swelling on wetting, including the measurement of lateral stresses. The results of the tests are compared to those obtained during consolidation of the clay from an initially slurried condition. In comparing the compression and expansion indices relative to vertical, lateral and mean stress, it was found that they varied, depending on the initial, preparation conditions; the values approached the slurried values with decreasing initial dry density. During unloading, the expansion indices were found to be independent of initial conditions, and essentially the same as those of the slurried soil. The coefficient of lateral earth pressure at rest during loading, K0, of the compacted and then wetted specimens was found to be reasonably constant regardless of initial soil conditions, but significantly higher than the value of the slurried soil. However, during unloading, the relationship between the normalized coefficients of lateral earth pressure at rest, K0'/K0, and the overconsolidation ratio, OCR, was found to be essentially the same as that obtained for the slurried soil.