Publication: Preconsolidation pressure of desiccated soils
Abstract
During desiccation soils are subjected to very high shrinkage stresses, often of the order of 1000 kPa. However, studies on re-saturated desiccated soils do not always show evidence of these soils being subjected to very high stresses. This paper address this important issue and the reason can be attributed to the type of saturation, either by raising the relative humidity or by inundation, which has been found to influence the volume change behavior of these soils. Data shows that resaturation of the dried soil by prolonged exposure to an atmosphere of high relative humidity causes negligible changes in void ratio with very high apparent preconsolidation pressure. Inundation in water, which results in considerable swelling, is found to greatly diminish the effects of the desiccation stresses so that the soils exhibit low apparent preconsolidation pressures. Permeability measurements and Scanning Electron Microscopy indicates that the method of saturation adopted can have significant influence on soil fabric, which in turn affect the compressibility characteristics of soils.
Description
Keywords
Apparent preconsolidation pressure, Consolidation, Desiccated soil, Soil structure