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- The Leaning Tower of Pisa is 186 ft tall with a 9-ft foundation sitting on weak, unstable
soil.
- It has a 5.5 degree tilt, which puts the top about 15 feet off-center front the base.
- It is found on a weak compressible soil. Pisa is a Greek word which means marshy land.
- It is recognized as a valuable historic building and it is very much treasured where in it is
required that its essential character should be preserved, with their history,
craftsmanship and enigmas. Thus the intrusive intervention on the tower had to be kept
to an absolute minimum and permanent stabilisation schemes involving propping or
visible support were unacceptable as it could have triggered the collapse of their fragile
masonry.
SETTLEMENT
- Defined as the downward vertical movement of the ground or soil due to changes in
stresses within it, often caused by the settlement load on the surface.
- Excessive ground movements can cause damage in buildings, structures and transport
infrastructure, from bridges and tunnels to road pavements and railways.
CONSOLIDATION
- Settlement due to expulsion of pore water in saturated clay.
CAUSES OF SETTLEMENT
- Rearrangement of the soil solids or extrusion of the pore air and/or water
- When a saturated clayey soils, which have low coefficient of permeability, are subjected
to a compressive stress due to a foundation loading, the pore water pressure will
immediately increase, however, due to the low permeability of the soil, there will be a
time lag between the application of load and the extrusion of the pore water and, thus,
the settlement.
FROM THE FIGURE:
Δσ- surcharge, total stress
Δu- immediate increase of the pore water pressure
Total stress = effective stress + pore water pressure
- If a surcharge is applied at the ground surface over a very large area, the pore water
pressure in the clay layer will increase.
- For a surcharge of infinite extent, the immediate increase of the pore pressure at all
depths of the clay layer will be equal to the increase of the total stress, thus, Δσ = Δu.
- After immediate application of the surcharge, the effective stress will be equal to zero
because the pore water pressure takes all the increase in stress.
- For loads over a limited area, it may not be true that the increase of the pore water
pressure is equal to the increase of vertical stress at any depth at time t=0.
● AT t=0;
○ Δσ = Δu
● AT t>0;
○ Δσ’ > 0
○ Δu < Δσ
● AT t=∞;
○ Δσ’ = Δσ
○ Δu = 0
THE THREE COMPONENTS OF GEOTECHNICAL SETTLEMENT
St+= Se + Sc + Ss
ELASTIC OR IMMEDIATE SETTLEMENT (Se)
- Due to elastic deformation of dry soil and of moist soils without any change in the
moisture content
- Calculation is based on theory of elasticity
PRIMARY CONSOLIDATION (Sc)
- Due to drainage of water from voids leading to a volume change in cohesive soil.
- Rate largely depends on the permeability of soil and drainage distance.
- It is more in cohesive soil such as clay.
SECONDARY CONSOLIDATION (Ss) OR CREEP SETTLEMENT
- More relevant for cohesive soils
- Plastic adjustment of cohesive soil fabric under a constant effective stress creep
movement.
● The secondary and the primary consolidation is more significant in clays than the
immediate settlement.
● Consolidation happens more on clays since if the foundation will be on sand, engineers
use piles.
TYPES OF SETTLEMENT IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
1. UNIFORM SETTLEMENT
- Settles the same amount along its length and no damage will occur,
making it the least concerning type of settlement.
2. DIFFERENTIAL SETTLEMENT
- Occurs when one art of a structure’s foundation settles more, or faster,
than the other.
- Caused by:
a. Type of soil
b. Moisture in the soil
c. Weight on the soil
d. Size and depth of foundation
e. Shape of the foundation
3. CURVATURE SETTLEMENT
- As damaging as differential settlement but in a curved manner.
ONE- DIMENSIONAL CONSOLIDATION TEST (OEDOMETER)
-
- The objective of the lab test is to:
1. Simulate the compression of the soil under given external loads
2. To obtain the modulus and indices for consolidation calculation:
- Cc, Cs, Cv, σC’
- The lab test is done by applying Load incrementally.
- For each load increment:
- Specimen is allowed to consolidate and come to equilibrium
- Excess pore pressure approximately equal to zero (total stress= effective stress)
- Load increment is typically kept for 24 hours
- Each load increment doubles the previous one
- From the test, we can get the Deformation vs Stress (applied load/ area), and
deformation vs Time.
FORMULAS TO BE USED
ELASTIC SETTLEMENT CALCULATION
2
(𝑞𝐵𝐼𝑓)(1−μ )
Se= 𝐸𝑠
q = net applied soil pressure on the foundation = P/Af
B= least dimension of the footing
If = Influence factor
μ=Poisson’s ratio of soil
Es = average modulus of elasticity of the soil under the foundation
PRIMARY CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT FOR CLAY
Δ𝑒
S = 1+𝑒𝑜 𝐻
H= thickness of stratum
Eo = void ratio before the vertical load is applied
S = primary consolidation settlement
PRIMARY CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT OF NORMALLY CONSOLIDATED CLAY
S= ((CcH)/(1+eo)) log ((Po+ΔP)/Po)
- Normally consolidated clay- present effective overburden pressure is the
maximum pressure the specimen was subjected to in the past.
PRIMARY CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT OF OVERCONSOLIDATED CLAY
Over Consolidation Ratio, OCR = Pc/Po
- Overconsolidated Clay- present effective overburden pressure is less than that
which the soil experienced in the past.
Case 1: Po+ΔP< Pc
Sc = ((CsH)/(1+eo))log((Po+ΔP)/Po)
Case 2: Po+ΔP> Pc
Sc = ((CsH)/(1+eo))log((Pc)/Po) + ((CcH)/(1+eo))log((Po+ΔP)/Po)
H = thickness of clay layer
Cc = compression index
eo = initial void ratio
Pc = Preconsolidation stress @ midheight of clay layer
∆P = Additional load
Cs = Swell index
● PRECONSOLIDATION PRESSURE - the maximum effective past pressure
SECONDARY CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT
Ss = ((CaH)/(1+ep)) log (t2/t1)
Ca = secondary compression index
ep = void ratio at the end of primary consolidation
COMPRESSION INDEX , Cc
Skempton:
For remolded clay: Cc = 0.007 (LL-7%)
For undistributed clay: 0.009(LL - 10%)
COEFFICIENT OF VOLUME COMPRESSIBILITY
mv = (av)/(1+eave)
COEFFICIENT OF CONSOLIDATION
Cv = k/(mvYw)
COEFFICIENT OF COMPRESSIBILITY
av = (e1-e2)/(P2-P1)
SWELL INDEX
1 1
Cs = 5
𝐶𝑐 𝑡𝑜 10
𝐶𝑐
TIME FACTOR
𝐶𝑣𝑡 2
Tv = 2 ∝𝑢
(𝐻𝑑𝑟)
π 𝑈 2
Tv = 4
( 100 ) : when 0 < U ≤ 60%
Tv = 1.781 - 0.933log(100-U) ; when 60% < U ≤ 100%
k = coefficient of permeability or hydraulic conductivity
T = time corresponding to degree of consolidation
Hdr = thickness of the sample
U = degree of consolidation