AW UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY Geotechnical Engineering III Course NotesTABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10: CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13 GROUNDWATER FLOW ‘TWO DIMENSIONAL FLOW THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOIL AND THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFECTIVE STRESS SEEPAGE FORCES SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL AND THE MOHR CIRCLE LABORATORY TESTS TO MEASURE THE SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL LATERAL EARTH PRESSURES AND EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES RETAINING WALLS ‘THE STABILITY OF SLOPES, BEARING CAPACITY OF FOUNDATIONS STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN SOILS IMMEDIATE (ELASTIC) SETTLEMENT CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT Page No. 22 39 50 56 78 08 126 133 151 162 168 176CHAPTER 1 GROUNDWATER FLOW PERMEABILITY Permeabily is the capacity of a porous medium to allow water to pass through it. Soil consists of solid particles with voids between them. In general, the voids are interconnected, which enables water to pass through them; that is, sols are permeable to water. Any material with voids is porous and, if the voids are interconnected, possecses permeability. Thus rock, concrete, soil and many other materials are both porous and permeable. Permeability is nota fundamental property of sol, but depends upon & ‘number of factors which are summarised as follows: Parole size distribution ‘The smaller the particles, the smaller the voids between them, therefore the resistance to flow of wator incwases (i.e. tre per decreases) with decreasing particle size Particle shape and texture Elongated or irregular particles create flow paths wrich are more tortuous than those around nearly spherical particles. Particles with a rough surface texture provide more frictional resistance to flow than do ‘smooth textured particles. Both effects reduce the rate of flow of water through the soll ie. to reduce permeabilty Mineraloaical composition Different types of minerals have different thicknesses of absorbed Water and thus the effective pore size varies. Void ratio The way in which a soi is placed or compacted has an effect on the siz2 of the voids betwoen the particles, and hence on the permeability. Dearee of saturation Bubbles of air can block seepage channels between paticles, thereby reducing permeability.Sol fabric Many solls consist of layers or laminations of diferent soll types. The: permeabilty in the direction parallel to the laminations is usually several times greater than the permeabilly normal to the laminations Other features which effect permeability are discontinuities such .as fissures, lenses-or intusione of sit or sand, oF pockets of organic material Nature of fuid Permeability depends upon the properties ofthe permeating fui: this is generally assumed to be water and would be different for other fluids, ‘Type of flow. Laws governing permeabilty assume that the flow of water is “laminar* ‘oF streamline, which occurs when the velocity is relatively low. Above a certain citical velocity the flow becomes turbulent and the laws are.no. longer valid ture ‘An increase in temperature causes a decrease in the viscosity of Water, ie. the water becomes more “Tuid” which affects the value of the measured permeabilty. ‘The measured value can be corrected to a standard temperature as described later. RELEVANCE OF PERMEABILITY TO EARTHWORKS Knowledge of the permesbily characteristics of soil is required for many construction projects in which drainage is an important feature ‘Some important applications are outlined below. EXCAVATIONS IN WATER-BEARING GROUND ‘The permeabilty of the soil has an effect on the difficulties encoun- tered in excavations, and on the cost of dealing with them, and Is, relevant to the following factors: 2) estimation ofthe quantity of water likely to flow into the excava- tion, and hence the pumping capacity to be provided: b) whether groundwater lowering is feasible;©) design of sheet pile walls and the depth to which they should be: extended; 4) prevention of “boiling” or heave of sand strata at the bottom of an excavation below the water table, EARTH DAMS ‘The permeabilities ofthe different types of soil, including fiter zones, of Which an earth dam is constructed need to be known in order to estimate the likely quantity of soopage flow through the dam: to provide adequate drainage capacity for filers; and to prevent the de. ‘velopment of excessive pressures. ‘The permeability of the foundation strata is required for the design of a cut-of beneath the dam to minimise seepage losses through the foundations, ‘SEEPAGE PRESSURES Water percolating through any porous material exerts @ pressure, known as the seepage pressure, which can be very high even when the rate of percolation is extremely small Seepage pressures can be estimated from a flow net analysis, for which the permeability of the material must be known (covered In $4 course). ‘Seepage pressures affect the stabiliy of earth structures such as fembankments and cuttings, earth and concrete dams, retaining walls and of subsurface structures such as basements, pumping stations land dry dock floors. Seepage pressures can develop in concrete and rock 3s wall as in sols, PIPING AND EROSION ‘An excessive hydraulic gradient (see section 3 below for definition) in ‘the ground, for instance near the downstream toe of an earth dam, can ‘cause local instability leading to gradual erosion and the formation of annels or ‘pipes’ beneath the structure, This effect is known as ing’ and the progressive subsurface erosion of soil can rapidly lead to disastrous failure. Piping can be avoided by ensuring that the hydraulic gradient (see later) fs kept well within the ertical value, such a8 by loading the danger zone with a sultably graded fiter, or by ‘extending the base width of the dam. Another cause of piping is the presence of dispersive clays,OTHER APPLICATIONS Drainage of highway and airfield bases and sub-bases. Estimation of the yield of water and the rate of extraction from aquifers, Design of graded fiers. DARCY'S LAW In 1856 the Frenchman, Henri Darcy, proposed the fellowing simple relationship concerning the flow of water in sol qo Aki or Q = Akt where = ilend is called the hydraulic gradient. ‘The meaning of tiese terms Is demonstrated in the figure betow.Is the quantty of water flowing perpendicular to an area A in unit time, k= is @ soll and water constant called the coefficient of permeability i = Is called the hydraulic gradiont and is a meacure of the pressure gradient. In order to define the hydraulle gradient imagine. Btandpipes connected to two points © and ®, with vertical heights of rise h above some arbitrary datum level The hydraulic gradient is then the rate of loss of head F along the flow path Af. ax 't is important to realise that water flow depends on relative heads" (hy -h). Water does not flow from high pressure to low Pressure, otherwise a bucket of water would be in a constant {urmoil as the high-pressure water at the bottom attempted to flow upwards towards the surface. Darcy's law is very useful in the solution of engineering problems, however, t contains within it one of the most variable, unreliable and lunmeasurable ‘constants’ ever imagined namely the coefficient of Permeability k. Part of the trouble rests in the extraordinanly wide distribution of permeabilty’s found in natural oils and rocks, ilustrated below: Permeability k (m/sec) 10" 10 10° 10% 10% 10 107 10° 10° 10° 10% 10° ao Gravels Sands Sits Clays The classification of soils based on permeabilty coefficient (k) is given follows: Degree of Permeabilty Tigh Medium 103-10 Low 108-107 Very Low 107- 19% Impermeable (practically) J <10* * i.e. relative to some datum,EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ‘The permeability coefficient (K), as mentioned eater, is related to the dynamic viscosity ofthe fluid (water), denoted nw. Viscosity varies with temperature, and increasse by about 30% from 20°C to 10°C. Water temperature should, therefore, always be taken into account when performing permeabilty test. Itis convenient to relate permeability data to @ standard temperature of 20°C. ‘The ratio of the dynamic viscosity of water at any tomperature T°C (ny) to that at 20°C (nz) is shown graphically below, Ifa petmea- bility test carried out at TC gives a coefficient of permeabilty kr the corresponding value at 20°C, kz, is calculated from the equation. ko = keafnas) where (nx/na) Is read from the graph at T°C, Example: ‘The coefficient of permeability determined in the laboratory was k= 3,3 mm/minute, ‘The temperature of the water used in the labora- toty to calculate the permeability was 20°C. If inthe field the ground water Isat a temperature of 10°C. Find the field permeabilty Solutionov (E261 ‘qT pun atoy wos ninp uo pasag) auniniadwiay pun sajom Jo Aysoosa gpumudp usenjoq: drysuonnjay Dp 4 Sumpusdwis} of oz on ©, sO PSR ns eu 7 on st ord[EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPS TO ESTIMATE PERMEABILITY ‘Several Yormulae have been published relating permeability of sos, ‘especialy sands, to their patcie size characieriscs and other classi. fication data, OF these, two which have been widely accepted are ‘iven below. The fists that given by Hazen (1892) which Is simple but gives the order of magnitude of permeablily and is based on particle size data. The second is the Kozeny formula (1927) and Is ‘modification by Garman (1939) which agroes better than most other formulae with measured permeablites and takes into account the shape of paricles and the soll prosty as well as the paricle size istibuton. Both formulae are intended only fr clean sands, but their Use is sometimes extrapolated of finer sols to obtain an approximate Indication oftheir permeabiy HAZEN'S FORMULA ‘This is based on experimental work with ine, uniform sands, and is an attempt tb relate permeabliy to the effective size Dro, The formula Is given as: K=C; (On) where kis the coefficient of permeability (n/8@) Dio s the effective size (mm) (Crs a factor which ranges from about 16 to 100 (env sec) 100 (cleag uniform sand) 01 (Or) misec if 6 = 0,0016 (D1)? misec Example A gacing curve fra fine uniform sand gave the effective size Dio=0.12 mm the coeticient of psimeabily(k) is thus k 01 0,12 = 1.44x 10* msec ‘The results reported to one significant figure only ie 1x10 miseeKOZENY - CARMAN FORMULA ‘The equation proposed by Kozeny (1927) relates permeabilty to partie size, porosity (n), angulaty of partole, specie surface (S) {and viscosity of water (na). The general equation is: ee CaS ny ‘This equation was modified by Carman (1998) who replaced porosity by void ratio, using the substitution a= e. This le known af the Kozeny-Carman equation ite a ens For a colecton of spherical paticies uniformly sistrbuted in size between diameters d; and dz, the specifi surface (i.e the surface ares Per unit volume of grains), Sis obtained from the equation 6 8 5 ee ‘The constant C is a shape factor equal to 5 for spherical particles, However, sand particles are rarely spherical, so an angulaty factor, f ‘by which Cis multipied, is introduced inte the above equations to allow forthe inegular shape of the gains. The equation then becomes. kos A et Bi, Tre Values of fare as follows: Revindad graine = sa Sub-oundedgrans¢ = 1125 ‘Angular grain f = M4 ‘Note the units in the equation as flows: = coetficient of permeability misec = acceleration due to gravity 10 misect density of water 1000 km? = dynamic viscosiy of water at 20° 1x 10° Pasec = void ratio = specific surface of grains meni? = mm wezgen‘Substiuting these values nto the above equation yields ke {ero _( nae fx x 1000)" Fe) Stepp Sx 10000 2fe he Alem Example: ‘Ater completing a wet sieving analysis the siz fraction retained on feach sieve is Kept separated. Using a hand lens or a low-power ‘microscope, the angular of the grains is assessed by inspection so that the grains of each size fracion can be assigned to one of three groupe designated rounded, ‘sub-ourded’ or ‘angular. The Percentages with each size range is tabulated es shown below. The Specic surface is then estabished and the anguay factor assigned to the particle size range. Paricle size | Proportion at | Spectte | Anguarty s Range ds tod: | Total MassP | Surface | Factor? retained 6 % Waa 1,18 -0,60 4 aa (125 Sub 28 0160-030 34 141 |125 rounded | 845 030-08 a ves |125. 4108 018-0063 | 142 617 |1.1” rounded | 5948 0,063 -0.04 08 sao dat ) 1267 TOTAL OOH are Value of 8? for whole sample = 1 279 mn?ul It the dry density of the sand is 1850 kg/m? and the specific gravity of the particles is 2/5 the void ratio is given by: GPa. e fay 265%1000 eos 7850 ~ 0482 ‘The permeability is then given by k = _2 (0492 8,804 x 10° misec 1278 (1+ 0,432)LABORATORY TESTS TO MEASURE PERMEABILITY Constant Hoad Permoametor ‘The coefficient of permeabilty for coarse-grained soils can be deter- mined by means of the constant head fermeablity test. The sol ‘specimen, at the appropriate densiy, Is cortained in a perspex cylinder of cross-sectional area A. The specimen resis on a coarse fier or a Wire mesh. A steady vertical flow of water, under a constant total head, is maintained through the soil and the volume of water flowing unit time (q) is measured. Tappings fom the side ofthe cylinder tenable the hydraulic gradient ah to be measured. Then from Darcy's law: ax aux k= oe Aah Constant level um | — ‘ah Hy Area =|F He ax Constant head permeamater02 “13 rant: 4 Some: Hy = 220mm ax 450mm; ah = 940-220 = = 120mm \ SL mL on IA (8.000 mm? and 640 mi of water flows in 30 minutes then a i Text 36 Falling Head Permeamotor For fine-grained soils the falling-head test should be used. In the ase of fine-grained soils, undisturbed specimens are normally tested. The length of the specimen is Ax and the cross-sectional area A. A coarse filter is placed at each end of the specimen and a standpipe of intemal {area a is connected tb the top of the eyinder. The Water drains into a resorvoir of constant level ‘The standpipe is filed with water and a measurement is made of the time (ty) for the water level (retative to the water level in the reservoir) to fall from he to hy. At any intermediate time t the water level in the ‘standpipe is given byh and its rate of change by - dh. ‘atoe Areaa \— Standpipe hy Constant level [= Reservolr Falling-Head Permeameter, ‘Attime tthe difference in total head between the top and bottom of the specimen is h. Then applying Darcy's law: at ak aft - Se k = Sent k + 235Flogftws. Exam In a faling head permeabiliy test the intial head of 1,0 m dropped to 0,35 m.n 3 hours, the diameter ofthe standpipe being 5 mm. The soi! ‘specimen was 200 mm long by 100 mm in diameter. Calculate the coefficient of permeability of the soil ax = 200mm == 200x103 m t = 3x60x60 = — 10800sec ho = 10m hy = 035m a mXSX109? = 1,96 10 mi? + A = xx(100x10%)? = 0,008m* * x10 «200x107 40 e 3008x1080 —8qag =~ 485x10" m/sec FIELD PERMEABILITY TEST ‘The reliably of laboratory permeability determinations depends on the cextent to which the test specimens are representative of the in-situ sol mass a8 a whole. For important projects the in-situ determination of Permeabilty may be justifed. One insiu method is the ‘pumping out test, ‘The method involves driving a casing or drilling a borehole into the sell fr rock. Observation wells are put down on radial lines from the ceasing. The main hole and observation wells have perforated casings {0 allow easy entrance of water.Observation 4 — ke BBaloatestid (hs he) Example: During preparations for a pumping test, 2 well was sunk through ‘stratum of dense sand 10 m deep, and into a clay of very low permea- bility beneath, "Observation holes were dlilled at 15 m and at 60 m ‘rom the well. The water in the well and in the observation holes stood originally at the same level, 2,35 m below the top of the well. After pumping until steady conditions had been achieved, the discharge was, {ound to be 19,7 mThour. The water level in the observation hole 15 m ‘rom the well had dropped 1,93 m and that in the hole 60 m away had dropped 0,62_m. Find the coefficient of permeability k in misec.Solution: a 2.36 0.52) |W-1. before pumping —2 10 i ‘after pumping a = 197m mou, y= 15m fe hb 10-2,35- 1,98 =5,72m he = kos ke 187,80 * exg600 "15 (719"-572) k 1,83. 104 misec, 8. PERMEABILITY OF STRATIFIED LAYERS lw be ky Woe fe keQ = kat @ 7 4 = kK ferunitwidthg = = ki! ——— © = _ Stata = Ww = 7 From og = Kvn az = h His constant forall iayers (i = a #. t = a = om Contider a unit area aos kiaoe oe = hutheths er) flow through top layer a fei h - 4h b= Hil similarly we can show he = Ge Halk he Qs Hoks ‘The flow through all layers isthe same Le, a= as aaa “from @ above re-arranging we yet H Wo AR yy Example to be done in class-20- TUTORIAL QUESTION 1 ‘Show why no flow occurs In a bucket of water even though the water at the bottom of he bucket is ata higher pressure that at the surface, ‘QUESTION 2 Ina falling head permeameter tes tho level of water inthe standpipe fel from 41500 mm to $00 mm over a petiod of 180 seconds. The ares of the standpipe was 710 mm? and the soll sample was 8 100 mm in coss- ‘sectional area gnd 180 mm ong. Find the permesbilty coeffcient. (Fs 8,02 x 10° vse) QUESTIONS Ifthe same sol given above were subjected to a constant head of 1 500 mm find the discharge (Ans 6500 mmisec) QUESTION 4 ‘An 82,5 mm diameter permeameter contains @ sand column 480 mm long, \When water flows through under a constant head atthe rate of 191 mlimi, head loss between two tapping points 260 mm apart, is 380. mm, Calculate the eand's coetciont of pemmeably (Ans 0,362 mmvisec) QUESTION 5 ‘A pumping test was carried out in sands extending from ground level to @ ‘depth of 15 m at which an impermeable svatum was encountered, The intial ‘groundwater level coincided with the ground surface. Observaton wels were ‘ited at 3m and 7,5 m from the pumping well A steady state was ‘established after about 20 hours of pumping when the discharge rate was 3.8 lisec. The draw-downs in the two observaton wells were 1,5 and 0,35 m respectively. Calculate the average coefficient of permeability of the sands, (Ans 0,034 mmisec) QUESTION 6 ‘The temperature ofthe water in the laboratory to calculate the permeabity in question 5 waa 20°C. Ifthe groundwater in the field Is at a temperature of 46°C find the fel permeability. (Ans: Kis = 0,029 mmisec)oa ‘QUESTION 7 k = 0,5 mmisec lam Find ky and ky k = 0,006 mmisec [5m (Ans ky = 0,1288 mmisec k= 1.210% mmiseo_|t'm ky = 9.5.x 10° mm/sec)22 CHAPTER 2 ‘TWO DIMENSIONAL FLOW 1, INTRODUCTION Most low situations are three dimensional, such as flow of water into & well or into a square basement excavation. We therefore require an extension of Darcys law from the simple one dimensional situation, ‘The first step along this way isto solve two dimensional flow. We are then able to handle such problems as the flow of water into a long trench excavation or the leakage from a long canal or through a long dam. Here we draw a plane section ofthe flow as indicated below and assume that there is no flow along the axis of the construction Plane flow regime 2. FLOWLINES AND EQUIPOTENTIAL LINES Consider plane flow, and in particular the trajectories of imaginary Packets of water, which we call flow lines. Equipotentials are lines joining points in the ground which share the same excess head. T* figure below shows one line of each sort-23- pict » guipoteatial hie Flow line and Equppotential ‘We now consider that permeability kis independent of position or flow direction. By applying Darcy's law along the equipotential, Vk (fomg= KA; g/A=v=K) ‘Since there is no change of head along an equipotental we know that 0 that there is no component of water velocity along an equipo- Equipotentials and flow lines must, therefore, cross the right tent angles The interinking pattem of fow lines and equipotentials is called a fow ‘et and a typical part of such a net is shown below, Adjacent fow lines must never cross, since two packets of water cannot share the same volume in space. a 426 The quantity of water flowing between any two flow lines must remain constant, q between f, and f; for example. Applying Darcy's law to a small part ofthe flow plane, then, which is so small that the flow unit ccan be considered rectangular (bx ¢) ast pr ohm pr ent ng where the area of flow is considered as one unit of length into the paper, multiplied oy the average separation ofthe flow lines b. That is stan 8 per chanel pr ant ah It the spacing of flow lines is such that all the flow elements are squares’, b= # then . q = kah per channel per unit length Consider that weter is flowing from one ‘source’ at constan’ excess head through a tody of soil with set boundaries into a‘sink’ a: a lower constant excess head, so that each packet of water loses the same excess head h. Imagine that a flow net of sightly distorted squares of various sizes can be drawn, using N, flow channels and Ng equal intervals of excesshead, then by using the above equation = kah h er channel per unit length a per h an kyr ‘total flow per unit length or = kn: per unitlength. Every flow net can be arrived at by trial and error with a pencil and paper and once an arrangement of squares has been produced the Fight answer has automatically been obtained.228. “The uniqueness of these flow solutions can be proved, but only after ‘much rigerous mathematical argument. It is much simpler and more cerjoyable to pick up a pencil and paper and practice one's skils. DRAWING FLOW NETS The procedure i as follows: ) Draw the first flow line and hence establish the fist flow channel b) Divide the frst flow channel into squares. At fist the use of ‘compasses is necessary to check that in each figure b= ¢ but ‘fier some practice this sketching procedure can be done by eye. ©) Project the equipotentials beyond the first flow channel, which tives an indication of the size of the squares in the next flow channel 4) ‘Nth compasses determine the position of the next flow line: draw this ine asa smooth curve and complete the squares in the flow exannel formed, ©) Project the equipotentiais and repeat the procedure until the ‘low net is completed ‘As an example, suppose that itis necessary to draw the flow net for the conditions shown in Figure A. The boundary conditions for this problem are shown in Figure B and the sketching procedure for the fow net is itustrated in Figures C, D, E and F.26 It the low net is correct, the following conditions wil apply 1) Equipotentials will be at right angles to buried surfaces and the ‘surface of the impermeable layer. Beneath the dam the outermost flow line wil be parallel to the surface ofthe impermeabie layer. ‘After completing part ofa low net, its usually possible 0 tell whether ‘or not the final diagram willbe correct. The curvature of the low lines and the direction of the equipotentials indicate if there is any dis- tortion, which tends to be magnified as more of the flow net is drawn and gives a good indication of what was wrong with the frst flow line. This line must now be redrawn in its corrected position and the proce- dure repeated again, amending the fist flow line i necessary, until a. satisfactory net is obtained. Generaly the number of fw channels, N, will not be a whole number and in these cases an estimate is made as to where the next flow line ‘would be if the impermeable layer was lower. The width of the lowest channel can then be found (in F above, N= 3,3). NOTE: In flow net problems we assume that the permeabily ofthe soil is un- form through the sols thickness. This is a considerable assumption ‘and we see therefore the refinement in the construction of a flow net is ‘unnecessary, since the difference between a roughly sketched net and an accurate one is small compared with the actual flow pattern in the soil and the theoretical pattern assumed. (Smith 1973), EXAMPLE OF A FLOW NET ‘As an illustration the flow net for the problem detailed below will be Considered. The figure shows a line of sheet piling driven 6,0 m into a stratum of gol 8,0 m thick underlain by an impermeable stratum. On fone side of the pling the depth of water is 4,5 m; on the other side the depth of water (reduced by pumping) is 0,5 m.27 Sheet piing 45m osm Tho fist stop is to considar the boundary conditions of the flow region, At every point on the boundary AB the total head is constant, therefore ‘AB's an equipotertial; similarly CD is an equipotential. The datum to ‘whieh total head is referred may be any level, bu! in seepage problems. itis convenient to select the downstream water evel as datum. Then the total head on equipotential CD is zero (pressure head 0,5 m; ‘elevation head -0,5 m) and the total head on equipotential AB is 4,0 m (pressure head 4,5 m; elevation head -0,5 m). From point B, water must low down the upstream face BE of the plirg, round the tip E and up the downstream face EC. Water from point F must flow along the impermeable surface FG. Thus BEC and FG are flow lines. The ‘shapes of other flow Ines must be between the extremes of BEC and Fo. ‘The fist trial sketching of the flow net can now be attempted. Flow lines and equipotential must be drawn at right angles to each other land form curvilinear squares. In constructing a fow net, itis a mistake to draw too many flow tines, typically four to six flow channels are sufficient ‘After tial and error (and much rubbing) a flow net shown on page 7 is produced. In the flow net the number of flow channels is 4,3 and the rhurrber of equipotential drops is 12: thus the ratio N/Ny = 0,38. The equipotentials are numbered from zero at the downstream boundary: this number is denoted by Ne. The loss in total bead between any two adjacent equipotent is.2» ‘The total head at every point on an equipotential numaered ny is nA “The total volure of water flowing under the piling per unit time per unit length of piing is given by ‘A plezometer tube ie shown at a point P on the equipotential denoted 0, The total head at P is 10 X42 5,33 m hea dp x45, Le. the water level inthe tube is 3,33 m above the datum. The point P| is distance 2, below the datum le. elevation head s -z,. The pore ‘water pressure at P can then be calculated from Bernoulis theorem: Uy Ye y= 29) Fly +) ‘The hydraue gradient aerots any square in the flow not involves ah ‘measuring the average dimension ofthe square (|= 7). The highest hydraulic gradient (and hence the highest seepage velocity) occurs ‘across the smallest square and vice versa,2. UNCONFINED FLOW NET ‘Athough the problem outined above is important, the general fow of water through a soll does not take place within given boundaries from one ‘drowned’ source to another ‘drowned’ sink. Problems such as flow of groundwater to a river, the leakage from a canal and the ‘seepage through an earth dam, have one aiwater boundary and the: flow nets are said to be unconfined since itis not immedistey obvious where the top flow line should be drawn. ‘The unconfined flow net wil be ilustrated by determining the seepage patterns in earth dams. Three conditions exist for drawing the top flow line (or prreatic surface) 11. When drawing a flow net for seepage through an earth dam itis best to start with the phreatic surface. The phreatic surface is a flow line and also the water table where water pressure Is atmospheric. Since at the phreatic surface pressure head is ‘constant along its length there must be equal drops in elevation head between equipotentials 2. Since the upstream face of a dam is an eqh siart at right angles to it. An exception exists for the ozse where the upstream face comprises a wedge of highly permeable material when the fow starts horizontally, Upstream=30- 3. The geometry and construction of downstream face affect the angle of the tall of the phreatic surface. With no fier the water exists tangentially to the downstream face. With a fiter the water exists vertically downwards. Vertical Vertical Downstream Casagrande Solution for Phreatic Surface “The flow net for a theoretical earth dam is found to have a parabolic shape for both the flow lines and equipotentials and a common focus for both sets of curves. Casagrande developed a graphical construc tion to find the phreatic surface for practical eaees. NOTE: ‘A parabola is @ curve such that any point along itis equidistant from both a fixed point called the focus and a fixed straight lie called the directrix. |-directix FA focus F(C200 A - Dam with toe fiter drain a) Find point A on upstream water surface such that AB = '/, BC. b) Point F isthe focus. ©) Find point E on level with upstream water surface such that AF =AE, @) Find point G such that FG = GE, ©) Construct parabola through A and Gie. FH = Hi, ote. 4) Correct parabela to give phreatic surface.“32 Case B - Dam without oe fiter drain Relationship between a and 4a (Note: Aa + a is measured off the scaled drawing) sate 0.370 01320 0.280 0275 0270 0265 0.260 ‘The construction is self descriptive, NOTE: ‘The Casagrande constructions are specifically for cams resting on an impermeable soil (Kan st 2 10K6. ae ‘SEEPAGE FORCES ‘The potential damaging aspect of water inthe ground isthe pressure in the water. In itself water would be almost insignificant if it weren't for the ubiquitous pressures within it, The loss of pressure in water (cepresented by the equipotential drops) is due to viscous drag between the soi! particles and the passing water. This drag, however, also has the effect of ‘plucking’ the soll skeleton forward, itis often required by engineers to establish the magnitude and effects of seepage water pressures on sol structures. For example, beneath, fr even within an earth dam, or within a sheet piled trench. Eaquipotential lines are lines drawn through points of equal total head. Dividing the equipotental lines into squares, or equal spaces. means thatthe total head lost between any two pair of adjacent equipotentials is the same. ‘The seepage force between two equipotential lines having a differential pressure head Ah and across a flow path of length ¢is given as Ann A= area ‘ahty = excess pore pressure; that due to Ah; or the value over the static head at the point. ‘The determination of seepage pressures will be llustrated by means of an example. Example ‘The section through a dam is shown overleaf, Plot the distribution of uplift pressure on the haza of the dam. Solution ‘The pore water pressure is calculated at the points of intersection of the equipotentials with the base of the dam. The total head of each Point is obtained from the flow net and the elevation head from the section. The calculations are tabulated and the pressure diagram plotted overeat.4 ah = & = 0267~027o35- Pont |] he ae a] (m)_ | (m (m) (kim?) 7a | 180 | 207 203 2_[053-|-1.80-| 233 [22.9 3|-080-|--1.60-| 280] 255 4 [tor 2103.17 [ait 5 433 | 2,40 3,73 3S | | 160-|~240| 4.00] 392 7_[1a7-[-2.40-|-427_[ aig 7A_\200 | 240 | ~4a0_| 43.4 * total head elevation head - scaled off the drawng The total uplift fre is found by computing the area of the pressure diagram. ‘Question Determine the quantity of seepage under the dam shown abeve. Ihe Coefficient of permeability ofthe foundation sol is 2,5 x 10° msec. (Answer 3,1 x 10° m?fsecim run)236 ‘TUTORIAL - FLOW NETS. auctor any ret cmc |i m stent t Find the seepage in cubic metres per day per metre of dam width without the cutoff wall Answer £0,83 m*/dayim ‘Question 2 9 m long cutoff wall is now installed 3 m from the downstream end of the a 20x) (2) Deviator Stress (KPa) 143) 10% Adal etrain % Fig. 3 Devietor stress axial train cuve -no pronounced peak 25 Types of Failure ‘The following modes of failure are commen in samples tested in the triaxial apparatus. (ky ‘Shear Barrelting Barling + shear Distortions such as those shown above give rise to difcuties in the Interpretation of test results. The change in the cross-sectional area of fa specimen must be taken Into account when computing axial stress from measured axial force. During loading the sample shortens and the cross-sectional area increases. In order to calculate the axial stress (or deviator stress) the ‘axial load measured with the proving ring Is divided by the oross- sectional area of the specimen at any given strain A. Thisis glven by the relationship:lu 28 -80- 1 “yy \, AeA i aie, AD gap forme volume change AS intial cross-sectional area of specimen vi intial volame of specimen fe intial length of specimen AV = change in volume at required strain 42 = change in length at required strain ‘Types of Triaxial Test ‘There are three standard types of triaxial test: 8) Unconsolidated undrained b) Consolidated undrained ©) Consolidated drained 2.6.1. Unconsolidated undrained (UU) test - Quick Test ba ® ~ in this test the sample is prevented from draining during shear. ‘Also no drainage, and hence no dissipation of pore pressure is permitted during the application of the all-round cell pressure (3) = The compression strength (le. the deviator stress at failure) is found to be independent of the cell pressure. The correspon- ding Mohr circles are shown in Fig. 4 Undiained tests on saturated sol -total stress circlesal. The shear strengt is expressed as. yo + otand, y= apparent cohesion In terms of total 6. = angle of shearing resistance | stress In this particular case it follows that 2.6.2 Consolidated Undrained Test (CU) Siow Undrained Test. ‘The sample is allowed to consolidate under a cell pressure of known magnitude ie. the drainage taps are left open until all excess pore water pressure has dissipated. Ones conso- lidation is complete the drainage taps are closed, Shearing due to deviator stress induces pore water pressures ‘which can be measured and the effective shear strength parameters determined from the Mohr circle. The rate of strain must be slow in order that the induced pore water pressures are evenly distributed throughout the sample, 2.6.3. Consolidated Drained Test (CD) - Slow Drained Test 27 ‘The sample is consolidated and left to drain unti all xceez pore water pressure has dissipated. When consolidation is complete, the sample is sheared at such a slow rate of strain that any ‘change in the pore water pressure Induced in the sample nas time to dissipate. ‘Since in this test the pore water pressure is effectively zero the applied stresses are effective stresses, ‘The main disadvantage ofthis testis the length of time required, ‘Some clays may take several weeks. Back Pressure ‘The consoldation of the sample is often carried out with postive pressure applied to the drainage lines ofthe triaxial apparatus. This is done so that when consolidation is complete the pore water pressure is some non-zero value (typically 100-200 kPa).“Re ‘Applcation of this back pressure has two advantages: a) _Ithelps keep any dissolved air in the pore water in solution, thus. preventing the formation of ar bubblet b) In materials which dllate (Increase in volume) during ahear in Lundrained loading the pore pressure will decrease, and the positive back pressure ensures that the absolute vaive of the ore pressure always stays above zero to avoid possible cavitation problems. ©) Toseturate the soll sample. 4) To increase pore water pressure to a specific value in order to simulate site conditions ‘The Triax Compression Test - Example ‘Assume we have nine identical triaxial samples fully saturated removed from,a borehole atthe same depth where the effective stress ‘was 50 KNim?, The samples are placed in the triaxial coll with zero ‘extemal ettess, no sample disturbance and unchanged waler content and volume. With no volume change we can have no change in ‘effective stress and thus the pore pressure must now be a suction of -BOKNInY. Indiained Test - Place 3 samples in triaxial cels and subject to cell pressures of 200, 400 and 600 KNim* respectively. The cel pressure Is transmitted through the membrane to the incompressible pore water increasing is pressure. Volume and shape are unaltered and so is effective stress. Now load the specimens with deviator stress (o}-c3). ‘Since tha deformation properties of the soll depend on the effective stress the samples wil fal at the same ay-a3 value. Thus three Mohr circles may be drawn i terms of total stress but only one in terms of effecive stress.a) ° 2) ° ‘Total stress and pore water pressure on removal from ground Application of cell pressure in undrained stat. ‘Application of axial stress to fallure in undrained state,8 Consolidated Undrained Test - Take semples and allow to drain ‘under a uniform back pressure with cel pressures of 200, 400 and 600 KNim? respectively. Thus the pore volume decreases and the ef fective stress becomes the diference between the oall pressure and the back pressure (if any). With consolidation complete drainage is stopped and o; - 03 applied. In this case the different soil structures respond differently (have different strengtns) and o, - a3 at failure varies in each ease 200 400 690 a) rl t 5j 8 b-85- 2) Application of cell pressure; drainage to back pressure 100 KPa b) Application of axial load to failure; undrained eat gq ag gee He — ° 3 555" 22° Bua bn es coy eli Consolidated undrained (cu) triaxial compression test Nohr’s erces in terms of total stress and effective stress Consolidated Drained Test - in this test the specimen is drained the Whole time, that is during cell pressure application and during axial loading to failure. No excess pore water pressures are built up. As the pore pressures are set to the back pressure, the effective siresses are readily obtained from the total stresses.86- 200 400 0 ” | lo Sy oof | ao] x 70s 1230 100 100 t | Lee 1 oyu Ly yee » le =P, PE 200) T 400] T 600 T » 8) Application of coll preeeure. Drainage to back precaure of 100 KNim? ») Application of axial load to falure. Drainage to back pressure: of 100 KNim*3 34 Failure envelope for drained triaxial compression test SHEAR BOX TEST Introduction ‘Shear box tests are an alternative to triaxial testing to determine the shear strength parameters of solls. The basic test procedure and theory are simpler than forthe triaxial fest but the methad suffers from ‘a numberof disadvantages. ‘The main disadvantage is that drainage conditions cannot be so easily controlled as in the triaxial test and pore water pressures cannot be measured. Also, the plane of failure is controlled by the test rather than by the properties of the soil and its probable thatthe shear stress distribution across the specimen is not uniform. ‘The advantage of the test is that preparation of specimens is simpler than for the triaxial test, particularly with rogard to cohesioniess soils, and the use of larger boxes allows gravelly solls'to be tested. A further advantage of the shear box is that testing may be continued to very large strains to determine residual (utimate) shear strengths.32 82 ote Thus, although triaxial testing has largely superseded shear box testing for mest routine work, shear box tests are still used for certain applications. Test Equipment The principal features ofthe shear box apparatus are shown below, N(opplied normal load) \ Load platen —+Plshear force) Induced shear surface Soil specimen Standard Shear Box Apparatus The test specimen consists of a rectangular or circular disc of soll which is mounted between upper and lower porous crainage plates. The soil is confined in a split box, the upper and lower nalves of which ‘can move independently. The lower half of the box {8 usualy extended to provide a water reservor. ‘The specimen can he consolidated under @ vedical dead load and is brought to falure by increasing the horizontal shear load until failure ‘occurs along the split between the upper and lower halves of the box. ‘Sample Preparation The standard shear box specimen is 60 mm square and 20 mm thick ‘The specimen is cut from an undisturbed sample using a special cutter as a template, and trimmed with a palette knife ‘The cutter is pressed down to trim the specimen to the correct size and the soil within the square is trimmed flush with the top and bottom faces.34 28. The specimen is then pushed out of the cutter, weighed to obtain its density, and a moisture content sample is taken from the parings. ‘The sample can then be gently placed inthe assembied shear box with ‘ porous plate and toothed grid top and bottom. ‘The assembled box is placed In the container on the load apparatus. ‘Aloading yoke is placed on top, weights are added to give the required ‘normal pressure and the container is filad with water. Locating screws which hold the top and bottom parts of the box together are removed and then used in alternate holes to ease the two halves of the box apart, Once play has been taken out of the horizontal loading system, shearing can begin. Readings are taken at regular intervals and the test is repeated on at least to further specimens, each with a different normal oad. Analysis of the Test ‘The vertical atroes on the specimen during consolidation ie taken ae: oe here V isthe vertical oad and A is the surface area of the specimen, At the start of the test the shear stress is: H A here H is the horizontal load and A is the specimen surface area. {As the shear displacement increases tre soil area sustaining the shear load is decreased. For a rectangular tox with dimensions L (= length in the direction of H) x B (= breadth) the shear stress after a horizontal displacement hi taken as: Tne ‘The Mohr-Coulomb equation relates strength and stress +etano in terms of total or efectve stress and this plots as a straight line inShear stress,t 90 +, coordinates with a slope of tang and an intercept ofc on the shear stress axis. This faiure envelope may be determined by applying a different vertical stress in each test and measuring the shear stress up to the peak value. ‘After exceeding the peak shear strength the soil educes to a residual fr ultimate value of strength which corresponds to the resistance to sling on an established shear plane, Large displacements are ‘necessary to achieve this minimum ulimate strength ‘As shown in te figure below the peak and residual strengths may be displayed as fallure and postailure envelopes giving peak and residual shear strengths as follows (in terms of effective stresses), Peak shear stength Residual shear strength +, OC peak Displacement, Effective stress normal to on shear plane oy AF Relation of peak shear strengths to residual shear strengths es measured in the shear box 48. Types of Shear Box Tests “Three types of shear box ests are commonly used 2) —_Undrained (quick) test b) —Consoldated undrained test ©) Consolidated drained test35.1 Undrained Test In this test the horizontal load is applied immediately after applying the vertical load and no pore water pressures are permitted to dissipate The rate of shear in this testis rapid, ofthe order of 1,25 mm Per minute, which is continued for about 9 mm, Plots can be made of shear stress against movement for each normal load and of peak cr residual shear stresses against normal stress, = Shear strength parameters c and 4 are total stross parameters and by 3.52 Consolidated undrained test ~ This is ke the undrained test except that the specimen is left to consolidate ater flooding and loading. = Readings of thickness are taken at various time intervals to establish when consolidation is complete. Consolidated drained test This is lke the consolidated undrained test but the rate of ‘movement is kept low enough to allow dissipation of pore water pressures during shearing = The shear strength parameters are in tems of effective stress. 4, EXAMPLES 44 Inaxtal test ‘Three samples of the same clay were tesiad in the triaxial apparatus under undrained conditions (the samples ware previously conso- lidated), At failure the following results were recorded: CellPressurekNim? 200-400 600 Plunger Load kN 030 0,38 048 Each of the samples were 75 mm long and 38 mm in diameter, and it ‘was found that the vertical strain at failure in each case was 8%. Plot the strength envelope and find c and 4 Write down the Mohr- Coulomb strength equation for the examples.2. Answer: 8% strain means new shortened length (9 x 78) = 69 mm Now volume remains constant (undrained) therefore if 0 is the diameter ofthe sample at failure, we have theretore: oy Plunger Load _Deviator Stress « (kPa) (KN) (Pa) (kPa) 200 03 0,3/1,233x 10° =263 443 400 038 0,38/1,233x 10°=308 708 600 0.48 0,46/1,233x10°=373 973 («Pay 300 200 e 400 75 KPa © 100 200 300 400 800 600 700 800 800 1000 (ta) wz42 “2 ‘Shoar Box Tost ‘The following results were obtained from undrained shear box tests on a sandy cay: ‘Normal Load (N) 200 400 800 Shear force at failure (N) 210 241 298 The shear box area at failure for all tests was 3 600 mm? If the specimen of the same soll is tested in triaxial compression at a cell pressure of 150 kPa, predict the doviator stress at which failure will occur Answer: Box area at failure = 3.600 mm? Normal icad N 200 400 800 Normal sess KNini? “35,6 wit 292.2 ‘Shear Force N 210 2at 298 ‘Shear stress KNim? 58,3. 68.9 82.8 = (KNim) 100 50 50 kPa =, 104 200 ado 400 0 (kNim?) wes Now we know plane of failure « = 45+ Mp and with on 8 a= 40" Plot o3= 150 kPa and determine line oa witha = 49° From a draw ab perpendicular to failure envelope to tha point b.94 Trovabv oth = °° putes 160KPanENce 0, = 925 kPa ‘Therefore deviator stress o,-o3 = 325-150 o,-05= 175 KNim? ‘THE UNCONFINED COMPRESSION TEST This testis very widely used world wide, tis a simple test where at- mospheric pressure surrounds the soil sample. The testis carried out by obtaining undisturbed samples from a thin walled tube or block of soil, The sample is made as square as practical and placed in a ‘compression machine adjusted to @ deformation rate of the order of less than 1,5 mm/min, and deformation versus corresronding sample loads are obtained. These data are used to plot a stress-strain curve to obtain the maximum value of compressive stress vihich is q, the Lunconfined compressive strength. “The length to diameter ratio of the sample should be between 2and 3 2etly <3 ‘This is to ensure that a failure plane does not intersect the loading heads. ‘To determine the compressive stress during loading the ctoss sectional area must be corrected as for the triaxial test ‘The corresponding Mohr circle forthe tests ilustrated below. For the single circle for a series of tests itis only possible to extrapolate the: slope of the failure envelope as @ = 0 and the undrainec shear strength Suis S.=0= as P au | eo mo al As A b | fe Loa P-98 4. x Stress strain pot to obtain “unconfined compression strength x a ta | x ‘Mohr's circle for unconfined compression test96- TUTORIAL LABORATORY SHEAR STRENGTH TESTS QUESTION 1 The following are the results of a tiaxiat test on three samples of the same sol Sample 1 | Sample? | Sample 3 Taal Leng ara) —_—_ —p 180 180 80 Initial Diameter (mm) 90 30 80 Pore Water Pressure @ Failure (Pa) 90. 105 Tie Gell Water Pressure kPa) 200 300 [400] ‘Axial Load @ Faire (N) [1250 |“t420—|~Tez0 Length @ Failure (mm) a7 167, 763 Determine (a) the effective and (b) the total shear strength parameters of the sol Ans: (@) ¢= 64,4 KPa; @=5,7° (b) 70,8 kPa; 4 QUESTION 2 ‘The results ofa shear box test are shown below. If a square 50 x 50 mm box ‘was used and the normal forces on samples 1, 2 and 3 were 60 N, 300 N, 625 N respectively, find (a) the soils peak cohesion and fiction angle; (b) the soils residual (utimate) cohesion and friction angle. Sear amcor [Te Tse ps pe tr [epee ‘Sample |__| 07 [76_ 00 [300 [yor [ee [a7 vis toe oe ‘Sampiez [142 [25a 313 | 316 [788 [>a0 [204 | 212 [206 _[aa2 ‘Samole 3 [225 [360 as4_[ 482 [a0 [ae [ats [ara Tsar [337 (Ans: (6) = 75K a, 6, = 236" 6) 6 =41 KPa; 6=28.47)QUESTION 3 “Three specimens of lay having a small airvoid content were tested in the shear box, Shear loading was started immediately after the appication of the normal load, ‘and was completed in 10 minutes. The resuts were as folows: ‘Normal stress (eN/n?) 145 mt 337 ‘Shear stress at aire (KNim‘) TUS tT 132 8) Find the, and @ of the clay. b) What value ofc, would be cbtained from an unconfined compression test on the same soll? (Ane: (a) 6, = 80,9 KPa; = 86" @) 965 KPa] ‘QUESTION 4 ‘An unconfined compression test was caried out ona cytindrcal soll sample having @ tlameter of 38 mm and alength of 76 mm. A fale a load of 230 N was recorded ‘and the sample hed shortened by 12 mm. What Is the unconfined compression ‘strength and the undrained shear stongth? Ans: q.= 170.8 KPa; 6, 85,4 KPa}98 CHAPTER 7 LATERAL EARTH PRESSURES AND EARTH RETAINING ‘STRUCTURES INTRODUCTION “The ground behind a retaining wall exerts a pressure on it The ratio. ofthe pressure an the wall to the overburden pressure is known as the cefficlent of earth pressure, If the wall is constructed with no move- tment of the soll and ts kept fixed, then this ratio I the coeficient of fearh pressure at rest, KG. If the wall moves forward sighty, a minimum value corresponding to Ky, the coefficient of active earth pressure acts on it Conversely, ifthe wallis pushed towards the soil, ‘the earth pressure gradually increases until it reaches a maximum, ‘erresponding to ky, the coefcient of passive pressure, ‘The concept of active and passive earth pressure is of particular importance in sol stability problems, bracing of excavations, design of retaining walls, ané development of pulout resistances using various types of anchorage devices, ‘SOIL STRESSES AT A POINT Consider a column of soll over any element as shown in Figure 1(a). “The vertical pressure is 6, = py = yt as shown. During the formation of the depost. tne element wil be consolidating under the pressure cw ‘The Vertical sess produces @ lateral flow into the surrounding sal ‘The Surounding soll resists the lateral flow effect with 2 developed lateral stress ay, With time a stable stress state wil develop in wich ‘a. and ay wll Become principal effective stresses, since zero displace ‘ments wil produce Zero shear stresses on the vertical and horizontal planes on the element The equilbrum in-situ condition produced at ths stress stat is termed the K, conditions.“|. =p tL | os oro] 1 (@) Stresses during for- _(b) Stable condition (c) Stresses at face of mation of soil de- stresses excavation posit Figure 1 Development of in-situ stresses. ‘The ratio of the lateral and vertical in-situ sell pressures may be de- {ined by a factor Kas Kove, The K, condition, in particular, is the ratio of the effective equilibrium pressure i.e. no’ soll displacements occur, K, is also termed the Coefficient of lateral earth pressure at res. K = Seaial Sing! (for normally consolidated clays and sands) ACTIVE AND PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURES - RANKINE THEORY Consider the Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope thown below.100+ failure envelope a Re ToIRO=sing > TC=RC sing a ‘tang +S. S2)sing sing 21-05 = 20 Sh cosingeossing 0, (1- sing) -2c.c084 = a5(1+ sing) 1nd) oo eet Ising) Tsing are, é st) 1+sing) for we can show:<101 Cohe siontess Soils From equation © with ‘These equations will yield the limiting value of 65 fora fixed value of o;, and, will be greater than o. AL this stage it may be better to use the terms: 6, a8 vertical stress 4 a8 horizontal stress To ilustrate this point more clearly, let us draw tke Mohr circle diagram for the above case, Failure envelope Active pressure corel on min ‘Active lateral pressure Passive lateral pressure Consider now an elemant of sail against a smooth wall102. rey a |e” Ine stresses oy and oy act on the soll element. Ifthe surface AB is now moved away from the element, to A! B', oy will reduce unt a limiting value is reached when the horizontal stress is a minimum, termed the lateral active pressure. The ratio 9% = K, where Kis the coefcont of active earth pressure m= eemion? = %, Active pressure is thus the minimum lateral pressure that must be ‘applied in one direction to prevent failure due to a load imposed in the: perpendicular direction, RR RR RS : RN on Kor Ro, Rl seen | Sip ines. Active pressure case ‘Similarly ifthe smooth wall is moved into the sol, then «will increase until a maximum value is reached (erical Mohr circle), the horizontal ‘09 at this condition is called the passive earth pressure,103 Thorato 7, =i, where K, isthe coefficient of passive earth pressure. rennin ST Rati RR, Rt RHR RR Rant Sip tines Passive pressure case Passive pressure is the maximum normal pressure (or applied pressure) that a soil can support when acted upon by a fixed confining pressure at ight angles to the applied pressure. Cohesive Solls Equations ® gave wo, (si), ee Uesing) — Vising . ee ag Bg 108 ne) sng which fom the previous defntions for K, ard Ke oat 0 Ky 204K, Kt 20K44 = 108 APPLICATION OF RANKINE’S THEORY TO RETAINING WALLS. Rerkine's Assumptions: ‘The proconce of the wall doce not affect the ettece conditions in the soil ‘Yielding ofthe wall causes deformation within the sol Deformation takes place on plane surfaces as predicted by the Mohr= Coulomb theory. ‘The resultant thrust on the wall is taken to act parallel to the surface of the retained material The theory applies to smooth vertical walls ‘The pressure on a retaining wall is a combination of that exerted by the soil skeleions and that exerted by the fee water. The first partis evaluated using effective stress parameters. Vertical walls, non-cohesive soils, zero wall friction Horizontal Backtit H Unitweiahty | \ a & ‘ i art We know that om (aetve)= 6, ISEB 20, Ky also sre (pave)so, Lh why AtdepthH oy =KyyH and opp = Ky 7H ‘The total fore isthe area ofthe preseur diagram PYeKYHH% — Pp=KyyHH%s08- Pus%HPyK, and Py=%HP YK, P, and P, act at the centre of gravity of the pressure diagrams Le. at height '/ from the bottom =", Horizontal Backfill with Surcharge ‘Surcharge = q Nim? 2 roe q H by —& GR tt Fe &w ‘The surcharge increases the vertical effective depth by a constant value at all depths. This, in turn, increases the lateral stress by a constant amount over the entire height ofthe wall « Na he H ha BS aie, 4 ‘ | oe \ee Nee ® a. NN eet Fat Re ‘The resultant thrust may be found fom the area of the pressure diagram42 105 ‘The Effect of Water inthe Backill Hy 4 |\ & Th Tors ‘The presence ofthe water table has two effects, 8) The density of the sol below the water table becomes the sub- merged densiy, b) The water exerts a hydrostatic pressure against the wall. The resulting pressure diagram for the active case is shown. The fe- suiting force is best spit into four parts Pye Key He Pes Key Hy He: Py = % Ky" Hees Pye YH? Cohesive Soils ‘A cohesive soil is partially self-supporting and will exert less pressure fon a wall than an non-cohesive sol. We have found that forthe active pressure condition: aye osky-20 4 lie. cohesion reduces a. Ko R © ©-107- Figure (@) Is a theoretical pressure diagram; but tension cannot exist behind the wall so Figure (b) is used for design purpos Figuie (0) ‘The soils not able to withstand tension and wil crack to a depth of he In periods of wet weather these cracks will fil with water which imposes a further pressure on the wall Figure () ‘Shows the pressure diagram for @ tension erack filed with water, The: depth ofthe tension crack is determined as follows: Atdepthih, 11 K-20 VK, O=heyK,-20 VK. 2esK 1K tone Mi ‘The total force on the wall is given by the area EFB which we may find thus ‘area ABC - area ADCE + area AD! rH Ky-20 VR 4+ Y Pye % yHPK,-2cH \K, 2 Horizontal Backfill wih Surcharge “The surcharge increases the pressure and also reduces the depth of the tension crack,43 = 108: Ifthe surcharge is q Fr ky +qK- 26K, andh.= 267 = aly 1K Pa | Pas z \e, Germ Jor? zKy Non-uniform Surcharge Behind a Vertical Smooth Wall Line Loads 6, wien) * Pa active thrust ue to surcnarge P= kw per unt length of wal tia Pas > 1,2 te tine load is con- et sored roto at on te wa 2 oe — ke Com To nd total fore Pa (negate=109- wo) Load has no fet thi region 44 Limitations On the Use Of the Rankine Method There are two notable cases where the Rankine method should not be used. a ») a) Rankine tends to over-estimate passive resistance and should thus be used with care when analysing large retaining walls in the passive state If the wall has an inverted T-section as shown by case (a) below, Rankine may be used to evaluate the pressures on a vertical lie through the heel cf the wall If rupture surface. Intersects the wall as in case (b), Rankine may no longer be applied Rankine Applies ‘ply Rankine forte eutacs| 4 45-2,=110. b) Rankine does not apply Rupture surface intersects wat ee 5. MOVEMENTS REQUIRED TO DEVELOP ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PRESSURE Very litte horizontal strain (less than 0,5%) is required to mobilise the active case. About 0,5% strain is required to activate half the maximum passive pressure, A strain of about 2% is required to mobilise full passive resistance (‘his ‘may be greater for loose sols) For design purposes this may be translated into practical terme as follows: boy Active Case Sofi Clay | Stif Clay | Very StF] Loose | Dense Clay | Sand_| Sand oeae mae Yon | Yoo | Yoo | Yoo | Koro to develop ful active pressure“me DRAINAGE OF RETAINING WALLS ‘The total pressure acting on the back of a wall is the sum of the [Pressure due to the soll only (effective stress) and that due to the water below the water table (pore water pressure). If by good drainage we ccan reduce the p.wp. on the back of the wall to zero, we can considerably reduce the active thrust on the wall. Note, however, that zero p.w.p. at the wall sol interface does not imply that the p.wp. in the backfil may be ignored, p.wp. on the failure plane must sill be taken into account. ‘A number of schemes for drainage of the backfil are possible which differ widely in efficiency and cast. A few are shown overeat. ‘The drain and weepholes must be capable of carrying the flow of water due to rain faling on the surface of the backill, The quant of waier ‘seeping into the backfill is q= KA. For unit area (A = 1) and i= 1 where q = k where kis the permeabilty ofthe backiil. If for example k= 1 x 10° cm/sec, this is equivalent to a rainfall intensity of 36 mmhr. Under these circumstances the backfil will be saturated. For lowor rainfalls, the backfil becomes partially Saturated and for higher rainfalls ponding will occur if surface runoff i prevented. Retaining Wall with Bottom Drain Granular material weephole no-fines concrete block ‘This type of drain is the minimum requirement of any retaining walls Lnless specially designed to retain water,-12- Retaining Wall with Vertical Back Drain back drain Horizontal or Inctined Drains a Inclined drain iv Horizonal drain | 7. EXAMPLES 7.4 Determine the active and passive forces acting on the wall shown below. tekNim® 3m , 30° 3) cl =0-1B- hk, 1838x0339, 4 2007 kim Pistol 4x 1082 =vexaserxs. 108. kNm 7438 4 7.2 _A3 mhigh staining walis to retain a granular sol having unit weight of 17 kNim? and an angle of internal friction 4" = 25". Ifthe water table, is at a depth of 1,0 m below the surface, find the thrust actng on the: wall andits position, 7 Wn 25" ren? a) (@)=1KH_ = 17104051 £69 KNintim ; (= Rath = 710408 x29 5.58 kN «P= HyO)4= x2 x5.88= 568 kN (nytt, 1032 201i ()=0) © Pr=(SxH,=69x2" 138 kN ‘Total thrust = 42,9 kNim73 at Position of resultant =x Pax = PyKy + Pats (Ps + Pana 42x = (845 x2:38) + (19.81) + (6,68 + 20.0) 067 42.9% = 39,04 x=08tm ‘A4 mhigh wallis to retain @ cohesive soil having @ unit weight of kN, ¢= 20 kPa, =O. Find: 2) The wall pressure profile b) The location and magnitude of the active force: ©) The depth of tension crack “The example wil be done in cla-116- 8. BRACED EXCAVATIONS. Bracing generally consists of vertical sheet pling or planking supported by a series of struts and waylings or anchors. Types of braced excavations are shown bebw. BNL Braced Tench Rar Graces Postiensioned (large excavations) ‘Tebacks (gos ee working sp808) ‘The construction sequence is usually a) sheet ples are driven into the ground; b) ground is excavated from inside the area enclosed by the piles, ©) wailings. and struts. are installed and tightened or anchors tensioned as excavation proceeds. Because of the method of construction and the rigid support given by the struts, pressures on the sheet piling cannot be predicted by normal earth pressure theories, The usual design procedure follows the 'method proposed by Terzaghi, using rules similar to those given below.ue Dense Loose Softto Firm Stiff Fiesured Sand Sand Clay Clay Terzaghi's Rules for Pressure Distributions on Braced Excavations Insand P.= 0,8 K, yHooss where K, is the active earth pressure ‘y" isthe average unit weight ofthe soll HH Js the depth of excavation & Is the angle of wall friction as follows for steel sheet piles against soils Materials a clean gravels, gravel sand mixtures clean sand, sity sand-gravel mixtures ir silly sand, gravel or sand mixed with sitorclay 14" fine sandy sift, non plastic sit rg InGiay Pressure pp = 7H -4c, here c, isthe undrained shear strength In St Fissured Clays pe = 04 yH | movement can be reduced to a minimum and constuction time Is ‘short, this can be reduced toea us The submerged density is used below the water table and pore water pressures are added tothe calculated earth pressures. ‘SHEET PILED WALLS Cantilever Sheet Piing Cantiover sheet piling provides a simple method of construction for walls up to about § m high, Beyond this height bending moments ‘become very large and the method is uneconomic, ‘The piling is driven into the ground to sufficient depth for it to become fixed as a cantilever, resisting pressure from the backil side, The pilng will be pushed forward by the backfil and will tend to rotate about a point near the base, as shown below, This will resut in forces being ceveloped as ilustrated ‘Movement of a Cantilever Retaining Wall h ° 6-119- Pivot point © can be obtained by trial and error balancing moments. However, it is usual to assume that the passive force on the base of the piling can be represented by a single horizontal thrust Pr, resulting in a force diagram of the type shown in the figure below, This greatly simplfies the design calculations without introducing serious errors, ‘Simplified Pressure Diagram p, P aol 4 x ls ‘The first stage in the analysis is to determine active and passive Pressures and water pressures on either side of the wall The minimum driving depth d can be obtained by taking moments about the base of the sheet pling, Thus, for the simpiifed pressure diagram shown "Pod = "MyPa(n+ a) where appropriate water pressures must be included in the calculations, ‘The wall is driven at least 20% beyons the calculated depth d to give @ factor of safety and allow the passive thrust Pp. to be developed. Altematively, a factor of safety is probably better introduced by dividing the coefficient of passive resistance by a factor (usually 1.6). This will result in a higher calculated depth d. Exemle Find the factor of safety for the sheet plle shown,92 -10- 1 -sins3" Vesints sh P= % (65+ 3,67 0,205 x 19.2 K 298 392 P.= 23454 Pp 636% x3,582% 192 Pp= 422,0KN ‘Taking moments about toe 234.9 x (6,0 + 3,6) 122,0%3,6/8 108 = 58f 5-07) voto ‘Anchored Sheet Pile Walls For heights greater than about § m anchored sheet pile walls are usually more economic. This wall takes the form of a cantilever wall, butt has an anchor or tie-back near the top. Like cantilever walls, anchored walls are supported by the passive pressure of the ground in front of the wall, but in addition anchored ods support the wall near the top. This reduces the length of ‘embedment and the thickness of section required. Anchored sheet pile walls ae suitable for heights up to abcut 10 - 12m, depending on ‘oil conditions. ‘The stablity of anchored walls and the stresses developed in them depend on the interaction between wall, anshors and soi. A number of design methods have been developed wnich fall broaaly into “fixed=n earth" and “free earth" support theories. A simplified form of the free earth support method is given. Free earth support method: assumes that the depth of penetration of the wall is insufficient to enable the toe to be rigily fixed as it is with ‘cantilever wails and that the toe is pushed forward until ful passive resistance is developed in front off. The wal itself is assumed to be inflexible so that it rotates about the anchor point which moves forward sufficient for active pressures to be developed behind the wall. The forces on the wall fora simple case zre illustrated below, Forces on an Anchored Retaining Wall, Free Earth Support Method A BI \ toro, a, h hy Sol peepee: Kah 74,620 rel 4 att E For active and passive pressures, the resultant can be calculated in the usual way: for instance, inthe case illustrated: Yaka (n+ dy? acting "sof the way up AE Bho acting ‘sof the way up EC, Out-ot-balance water pressures must also be included in the calcula- tion i present. The required depth d, for stabilty, can then be obtained by taking moments about 8, the anchor point Pots + yd) = Py (h + d)-(h-hy)}93 =n. ‘The value of dis obtained by trial and error. “The force Ry on the te rods is obtained by equating horizontal forces ‘once d has been determined. This will of course, be the force per unit length of wall; the actual force on each tie rod will depend on the rod spacing ‘A factor of sa‘ety can be introduced either by driving the piling 40% ‘greater than the calculated value of d or, preferatly, by dividing the Coefficient of passive pressure by a factor (usually 2). ‘Tie Rod Forces The actual disribution of stresses on a retaining well may be diferent ‘rom what is assumed, leading to an increase in tension in the tie rods In addition, loading of the rod may occur through settlement of the surrounding soll, tending to cause sag in the rod ard increase tension ‘and unequal yield of the wall may lead to some ties taking a greater Proportion ofthe pull than others. Because ofthese variations, rod design tension should be increased to 30% above calculated values for the rods themselves,“13 S4- TUTORIAL EARTH RETAINING STRUCTURES Question 4 Find the activa pressure on the wall shown below. No weephdles exist in the wall, Draw the pressure diagrams and find the overtuming noment about Point A, = ai! tn ares ‘t= 21 KN so bs e x Answer Moment = 367 kN Question 2 ‘A smooth vertical retaining wall etsns sol to @ depth of 7 m. The surface of the sol is horizontal. The upper 4 m of the sol behind the retaining wall has a density of 1 860 kg’, a cohesion of 18 kPa and an angle of itera icton of 12". Below this material isa 3 m thick layer with a density of 2 040 kg/m, angle of friction of 20° and cohesioniess. Assuming both sol ayers are flly ‘saturated, find he thrust acting on the wall and its postion. ans [oni | soa en: 4f sit. Question 3 ‘Allowing for water in the tension cracks, find the total thrust on the wall if tis ‘10 mlong ‘A braced excavation conetructed within a dense clean sand is shown below. Find the forces In each ofthe site thay ara spanad nt Fim cant ar 1, 218k? d= 35° Question § ‘To suppor the sides of an excavation which willbe 3 m deep, itis proposed touse 7 m ong sheet piles without anchors. The solis uniform, cohesioniess and well drained with @ density and friction angle of 1 840 Kolm and 15° respectively. Determine whether the sheet piles can be used with safety and if mot how long they should be made for a factor of safely of 1,5 to be achieved. (Answer =.15,3.m)12s \ on. Horizontal tes A sheet pili to retain soto depth of 6 m in an excavatcn. eae ears 1.3 m below the top of the sheet ple and spaced 1.8m Nomebersiy Ave ‘assist in holding the sheet pile in position. The sol cohesioness. Question 6 = 1.750 kgim? and ¢° = 20" ich half of the Determine a suitable ving depth forthe sheet pleat which haf of Passive thrust will be mobliced and caleulate the force in each tie. Answer 4,03 m; 141.4 kNCHAPTER 8 RETAINING WALLS INTRODUCTION ‘The finction of «retaining wall isto provide Isteral support fora vertical or near-verical slope of soil There are many types of retaining walls and new systems are continually being introduced tothe industry ‘The most common type of retaining walls are ihstrated in Figure 1 and include: + Gravity retainng walls which are constructed of mass concrete, stone, rubble or masonry. They depend on thet own weight for stay. * Cantilever retaining walls ate constructed of reinforced conctete and com rive thin sem and base sab. The structural design of these wall is ‘covered in reinforced conerste design courses and will not be dealt with here © Counterort reining walls are snl to cantilever walls except they have ‘emtical concrete labs Lnown a2 counterforts that tc the wall and bese slab together. ‘The counterforts reduce the shear and beading momeats,wa 2. STABILITY OF RETAINING WALLS [Retaining walls ful for a varcty of reasons and asa result of mumerous causes, The more common causes of faire include the following: 21 Overturning - Fora vallto be sable it should not be able rotate shout its toe. The resultant must be within the base and, to ensure no tension exists ‘beneath the base, the thrust shouldbe within the middle third ofthe base, on s be heel Overtuming moment M, = xP, Restoring moment -M, = wW,-+ SW, Factor of safety against overturning F. 7 > 151020 7.2 ‘Sliding occurs winen the walls displaced laterally and ocurs wien there is Insulficient fiction at th base ofthe wal or passive pressure resistance in font ‘of t, The angle of fiction between the baso of the wall an sil is given the symbol 8. Ifthe wall is cast unsity, 8 = ¢ and if itis procas or stone 8 < 6, Wis not advisable to use the passive resistance ofthe soln romt of the wallForce causing siding ~ P, Force resisting siding = F, =P, + (W,+ W.,) tan Factor of safety aguinst siding ~ [Bearing capacity failure occurs when the pressures transmittod to the sol by the base exceed the shear strength of the soil Tho vatiation of the vertial pressure transmitted frm the base to the soli illustrated in the figure below. "The maximum and minimum pressures occur a the toe and heel respectively. EV ~ Sum of vertical forces acting on base P, = Horiznatal forse ‘From section 2.1, the met moment about the to (pont 0). Maa Me ~My ‘The line of action of the resultant R ioterscts the base at point E, OB is determined a8 1M, ops Mea, av thus "fy -OB = %-x (nd from mechanics: a=“1D. ‘This isnot desirable situation since the tensile strength of soi is very smal, ‘The factor of safety agains bearing capacity fie F given as Fi = elton 33 Where q isthe uliate bearing capacity ofthe so. 24 Overall instability due to slip ofthe surowading soil occurs in cobesive soils. and should be analysed as «slope stability problem. 25 Structural failure of the wall stom, a base may be caused by fauky desion, ‘poor workmanship, deterioration of materials te. |‘Areinfored cs situ concrete caver wall is shown in the figure below. Caulte the factors of safery with spect oovertuning, siding and bearing capacity (tke he ulkmae bearing capacity at an 4 ~ (oe L_ aa “Th scion cane sit nt xara how helo=I ‘Seton ‘area (oa “Weighianit | Lever Arm trom” | Moment (Nm) Jength (N/m) ‘A(a) T x05: 708 1S 2 se07 s6208 1a ane 3 4x07 = 28 20 4 6 x26=186 200.8 27 3 08 x0,7= 056 Oy. 935 6 oz 02 ‘ont BV = ETN SK, yh? = 0,5 0,339 x18 x67" = 134,540 Ky 7H? = 0,5 x3 x 18x1,5°= 60,75 KN ‘Overturning Moment M,=Pe = 134,542,253 = 30047 kN Resisting Moment M,~ 987,26 + 60,75 x0,5~ 101764 kN) 47500? Fanny” it~ fh =233<3-NOTOK Theretove, Bearing Capacity lure would result. The wall must be re-designaor the bearing expaciy of ‘the ol below the wall improved by ihe removing or replacing with compaction or sbilzation. ‘Aestively, the sol may be removed and replaced (with compaction) by esol with higher bearing capaciCHAPTER 9 ‘THE STABILITY OF SLOPES INTRODUCTION “The failure of a mass of sollin a downward and outward movement of «2 siopeis called a sie or slope falure. Siope falures occur in almost very conceivable manner, slowly or suddenly, and with or wthout any apparent provocation. They are usually caused by excavation, by undercutting the foot of an existing slope, by gradual disintegration of the structure of the sol, by an increase of the pore water pressure or by a shock that iquefies the soll. (See section 7) “Two types of slope stablty problems occur in clays; short-term siabilty (end-of-construction case) and long-term stablity (steady ‘seepage case). The short-term case applies after @ cut is made in a slope.” In excavating fora cu, shear stresses are induced which may ‘cause failure in the undrained state. Theoretical It is possie to nalyse the stably of a newly cut slope on the basis of either total or fffectve stresses; however, since itis difcult to ascertain the distributon of pore pressures under these conditions, the © = 0 ‘method of analysis (total stress method) has proved more successful “The long-term case is also encountered in natural slopes and should also be considered in analysing the stability of embankments. In this case, pore pressures may be assumed to be in equilibrium and are determined from considerations of steady seepage, thus, no excess Pore pressures are included. The case is analogous to that of the ‘rained shear test, and effectve stress parameters should be used ‘TYPES OF FAILURE For purposes of analysis, slope failures may be divided Into the cate- govies sted below: a) Plane side Surface side (i) Subsurface sideere ‘The different types of fllure are ilustated below. Matera sing Suriace sina ver aurace \ Sure siding coors syandar mater Weak coesie subsurtace siding mater ‘Subsurface slides occur Potential atthe base of a thin co- sip surface vering of weak material ») Deep seated slip (i) Wedge faire (i) Rotational faitre (i) Failure along an ireguler surface ‘The different types of fallure ae ilustrated below. Wedge Failure Potential wedge fares ‘Wedge failures usually ‘Strata oflow strength occur where the hile is made up of bands of sirong and weak mate- ral. The postions of the fale wedges are conttolled by the occur- Fence of the weak and ssbong bands.o3s- Rotational Failure Za Ny Cohesive soi FA ‘The most common form of ~ Oy failure in cohesive soils is Poremat 86 ) deep rotational sip. ‘The sip sure 2 deepest surfaces which can face ‘form within the weak mate- til are almost invariably the Strong stratum most critical. Thus, the base of the critical slip surface is usually controlled by an un- driving strong stratum, Failure Along an regular Surface Ina slope with complex soil and groundwater conditions, and perhaps an iregular face, failure or potential fa- lure surfaces may not follow “) any of the standard pattems Potential sip surface’ ‘shown above. ‘SHEAR STRENGTH AND THE FACTOR OF SAFETY ‘The shear strength of the soil may be expressed in the form onan $ in terms of total stress, oF wel # (o-utang! in terms of effective stress The factor of safety is defires ax Fey-136- where xis the shear stress on the rotential slip surface required to maintain equilbrium, and F isthe fastor of safety. F measures the factor by which the shear strength would have to be reduced to bring the structure (or slope) to imminent colapse. SURFACE SLIDING Consider a slope comprising a dry granular (i.e. ¢= 0) soll inclined at an angle ito the horizontal. Assume thatthe slope is very wide and consider only the strasses that act in the plane of the cross-section ‘shown below. Stresses upon olement of soil In goneral, there wit be stresses cn three sides of this free body, as Indicated above. However, if we assume the slope to be infinite itis reasonable to assume that the stresses on the two vertical faces are ‘equal and exactly balance each other. Thus only the stresses on the face CD, together with the weight ofthe soil enter into the equilibrium of the free body. ‘The equilibrium of the free body in terms of the total forces T and N’ acting on the face CD is now analysed as follows: Resolving vertically W-T sin -N cos Resolving horizontally T cosi-N sinar ‘These two equations can be solved to give N= Weoos | T=Weini - T=Ntani It the ful shear resistance is mobilised so that T= N tan ¢, then ‘This means that when full shear resistance is moblised and slicing bogins the angle ofincinaton ofthe slope | should equal the angle of Internal fiction ¢. According to this analysis sliding is equally likely to begin at any depth ‘The safety factor for surface slicing in a dry granular (non-cohestve) soll dofned as: Fa me ‘an? Consider now the same slope and conditons as set out above apply but now the slope is ful submerged below the surface of static wate. The same type of analysis used above can be followed except that the buoyant unit weight replaces the. total unit weight. Again full resistance is mobilised when |= 6! so that T=N tan ¢! (N is tre resultant of the effective stress) ‘Thus the maximum stable slope angle is the same for a given non- ‘cohesive (sand gravel) soll whether the slope is completely cry or ‘Somplotely eubmerged under water 8. WEDGE FAILURE For the purpose of this course we shall be concemed with planar wedge failure as lustrated below. This type of slope falure occurs ‘along fissures or relic joints located within the sol or rock mass, ‘= Fisoures and joints in solmase Plano Fature138 ‘The method of analysis proposed by Hoek and Bray will be considered, ‘The analysis deais with two slope geometries both with tension cracks ‘occurring in the upper slope face or the slope faze. These tension cracks may of may not be filed with water. Fallure is assumed to take place aiong a single place. Geometry of slope with tension crack in upper slope surface Angle from horizontal to slope face ‘Angle from horizontal to failure plane Height of siope Depth to bottom of tension crack from top of slope Depth of water in tension crack ‘Weight of failure wedge Horizontal force due to water in tension crack = Pore pressure (resultant force) or failure plane ‘The activity forces, that is those forces causing slope movement, and the resisting forces can be resolved inthe direction of the faliure plane. The factor of safety is then given as resisting forces © “activating forces19 Forces acting on fallure plane Vest [A = reat talur planetunt wisth In terms of aiectve stresses ! eg! tan§ (= shear strength) Resisting sess c!+ (e- pwp) tan 4 (owp = pore water pressure) “Total resiating force =c1A + (W Cos WU Veln ,) tan 4! (Ger unit wiet), ‘Activating forse = W sin Ys +V c08 (per unitwict), _ CASWCos't, -U-V sin, tang" Factor of safety F = rare Note: 1 Ae WW? Se fensity of water = 1 090 kgim® 1 UF KoegteH-2 si pw V= Apeg2a For tension crack in upper slope surface: We “pH? Zea, otFor tension crack in slope face = sana [Zs ryt ty -0 os = ett ‘Ag mentioned earler planar faliure occurs along fissures and joints contained within the ell mass, the shear strength paramotersc' and ¢° should thus be determined in terms of residual strengths c' and 4," ROTATIONAL FAILURE Rotational falure is usually cared out on the assumption tht the slip surface folows a orcular arc, In order to reduce the computational ‘effort to manageable levels, certain simpli¥ving assumptions need to be ‘rade, Even $0, there is usualy 2 great deal of computation involved ‘and circular slip analysis is usually carried out with the aid of a ‘Computer program. It's usually necessary to analyse a number (often @ large number) of cles to dotain the Surface giving the minimum factor of safety Solutions to ciccular slip analysis for slopes of simple geometry, soll ‘and groundwater caridtions have been obtained and presented in a (generalised form which enables the factor of safety of siopes to be Quickly calculated “The factor of safety for circular slipis usually determined in terms of an effective stress analysis, occasionally however, factor of safaty based on total stess analysis may be needed. This is usualy the ‘ease where the shortterm stability of cutings Is required and can be ‘obtained from Taylors curves, discussed below. Two methods of analysing circular failure surfaces will be discussed namely Taylor and Method of Slices Taylor's Method ‘Taylors stabilty curves enable the short-term stabilty of slopes with simple geometry to be rapidly determined. The slope detais are shown below. ‘The factor of safety obtained is for the total stress analysis and total stress soll stength parameters should be used.Death tater, 9 a + i Beg “The stabilty number m is read off the chart given below using the ‘curve appropriate to the values of ¢ and D for the slope and the factor of safely is calculated from For the case of } = 0, depth factor D is important but for @ > 5°, critical slip planes tend to fass through the toe of the slope, so itis no longer relevant,62 <1 Taylor's slope stability curves Method of Slices - Ordinary method * In this method the failure mass is broken up into a series of vertical slices and the equilbrum of each of these slices is considered, ‘The figure below shows one slice with the forces that act on it, itis ‘assumed that the forces acting upon the sides of any slice have zero resultant in the direction normal tothe fallute arc for that slice.on. 1 and Ni are resultants of shear and normal effective stressas acting along failure arc. sis the resultant of the pore water pressure against the failure arc. (= uaey Wis the weight of the sce, ‘The factor of safety, F, is defined in terms of moments about the centre of the failure ar. __ Moment of shear strength along failure arc Moment of weight of failure ma F driving moment. Note that the moment arm for the weight of any ‘slice is equal to rsin 8, Mo =r (= Wising Where Fa the radius ofthe failure are, n is the numberof alice. ‘Assuming ¢' and ¢' are constant along the fallure arc Ma =r 2. (c'+ai'tang") At = resisting momement. (cL stan g! ‘where af is the length ofthe fallure arc cut by the Ith slice and L ie the length of the entire failure arc. * also known a Swedish Circle Method or Felienius Method,ae ‘Thus equation © becomes, Fec'L+tang 5 z, wsing, Consider the slice shown on page 10. Resolving in the direction at right anglee tothe plane, B+ U=w, cose, or W, Cos 6,- Us= Wi Cos =u) A — @ combining equations @ and @ F = c'h+tang’ ¥ (Wicos@\- ust) — @ 13 Wisino, rain ‘Surfate of firm stratum Given the slope. failure surface, flow net and strength parameters above, determine the safety factor. The slope and fellure are are drawn to scale and the analysé follows from the scaled drawing.2145- +The frst step isto break the “foe body" into a series of vertical slices as shown in the figure Py. 14. Slices 2 to 8 are approximately trapezoids, and ther weights can be computed by multiplying the unit weight of he soil imes the wich ofthe sce tmes the average height ofthe slice, Sices 1 and 7 may be teated as tangles. +The next sep is to determine the pore water force on the base of each sice as ikatrated below, ue kX +The angle is then measured for each slice and sin 8, cos 6 and the componens of W determined ‘+ Tre values of alrelevant information are tabulated for each sce. oe ee 8668, 8868146 ‘+The factor of safety is then given by equation 4 where L= Ea EN=E(WCos0-U 42). vette147 {if atension crack exists atthe top ofa slope the factor of safety against rotational failure s reduced because the length of the failure arc is reduced Tension crack 2 feduced by +2 z= ny 7 J No= tan? (45+) =K, Ls length of failure arc which contr- butes tothe resisting moment ob. Inthe event ofthe tension crack being filed with water, the water pres- sure contributes to the disturbing or diving moments (Mp, cents ot feiuee are U= Hat (KN) Moe au = depth of wat in crack (his case rackit ‘les wah war)12 73 74 78 Mas. FACTORS CAUSING SLOPE FAILURE Change of gradient. Undermining at the toe of the slope usually caused by erosion from streams or excavation. Load produced by embankment, fil, rock dump etc 2) Increases the shear stress b) Increases the pore water pressure, hence decreases the strength ‘The more rapidly the load Is applied the greater the chance of failure because the pore water pressure cannot dissipate quick enough. ‘Shocks and vibrations due to machines, earthquakes, blasting ote., re2ult in reduction in shear strength and sudden movement, ‘Changes in water content due to: a) Rainfall - particularly after long dry periods. b) Leaking pipes, irrigation furrows not working - particularly dis- charging atthe top of the slope. ©) Periods of drought - clay dries out and shrinks waich results in ‘racks, with tain the cracks fil wth water hence water pressure build up. 6) Changes in water level which increases the pore water pres- sure. Water flow ) Leaching out of soluble salts and cements which changes ¢ and ¢ (usually reduces) hence failure. b) Flow washes out fines and reduces density hence failure, ©) Produces cavities and sheet openings which result in tunnels ‘and sheets faling downwards due to direction of washing action, Frost action. Top 34 om of sols frozen; water expands and soil ‘mass increases In volume, as ice melts the soil moves downwards - ‘occurs annually17 78 82 23 84 8s 88 87 88 89 -19- Changes in vegetation. Roots add strength and “tick” the soil to the rock. Vegetation also changes the water regime. Biotic. Ants, rodents and other burrowing creatures add to instablity problems especially in steep areas, They also create the beginnings (of water flow problems, ‘TREATMENT OF SLOPE FAILURES Capture and drain surface water, particularly from head of slope. Pump out wells and pits full of water and drain depressions, Fill cracks which would take water. Drain slope with sub-surface drains, pipes cutoff drains ete, Reduce the head loa increase the toe load Le. flatien the slope. ‘Stabilisation by vegetation, particularly one with deep roots, Retaining walls, piles etc. can be driven into the slope to stop movement. Rock anchors, botis stick planes of weakness together. Usually at = 2-5 m centres and taken down beyond slip surface. "Increases c In ‘equation c+ 6 tan 4, Blasting keys into the failure surface.-150- TUTORIAL ‘SLOPE STABILITY Question 1 Determine the factor of safety ofa slope incined at 25° tothe horizontal and having an internal angle of ction @ = 33°. The slope comprises of dump rook (169) Question 2 * ee AaKNm \Tenion crack la ‘a Fale pa Determine the factor of safety forthe above slope [2,16] ‘Question 3 Using Taylor's chart find the maximum slope height (H) for a cutting having a slope angle B = 60°, $= 10°, c= 20 KNim? and 7 = 19 kN’ 1.5m] Question 4 What isthe factor of safety for the slope shown below? ye 8K oe soRPa y=" ast,ssl CHAPTER 10 BEARING CAPACITY OF FOUNDATIONS. ‘When designing foundations, there are two eiteria which must be con- sidered and satisfied separately 1+ There must be an adequate factor of safely against @ bearing ‘capacity fate inthe sil +The settements, and particulary the siferental settiements, ‘must be kept within reasonable limits For foundations on clays, ether bearing capacity or settlement may sgovem the foundation design. With foundations on granular sais, FRawever, the choice of allowed bearing pressure wil, on vitually every ‘occasion, be controlled by settlement, ‘The bearing capacity of a foundation is the average stress on the surface ofthe underiyng sol when the laters onthe point of collapse, Itis.a function ofthe foundation geomety, tne sol weight and the soil stength which is assumed to be defined by the Motr-Coulomb failure condition Le. 14 = cr ontang. DEFINITIONS. timate bearing capacity is the value of the bearing pressure at which the ground fails n shear Maximum safe bearing capacity is the maximum contact pressure to hich the soll can be subjected without risk of shear falure. This is based solely on the stength of the sol and is simply the uitmate bearing capacity divided by a suitable factor of safety which generally varies from 1,75 to 3.0, ‘Allowable besring pressure is the allowed intensity of applied pressure, ‘aking into account both bearing capacity and settlementIs2- 3. COMPUTATION OF ULTIMATE BEARING CAPACITY ‘The problem is generally posed as follows: Q in Consider a rectangular foundation of width 8 and length L resting in a soil mass at depth D. The soll has a unit weight and shear strength parameters c and 6 ‘To solve the problem the following simplifications are made: 1a) The shearing resistance of the overburden soll (along be) is neglected, b) The fiction between the overburden soil and the fouhdation (long ad) as well as between the overburden and supporting sol (along ab) is neglected. ©) The length Lis assumed to be large in comparison with the width B ofthe foundation, ‘The overburden sol is replaced by @ uniformly distributed surcharge: q=10. “The problem is formulated as shown below.-153- ‘The falure pattem consists of three zones: | Il and Ill. Zone | is an active Rankine zone which pushes the radial zone II sideways and the passive Rankine, zone Il in an upward direction. ‘A great variety of solutions to the problem have been proposed. How fever, the utimate bearing capacity of a shallow strip footing proposed by Terzaghi is often used and is given by 4, = CNG DNe + ABIN, Where Ne, Ne and Ny are bearing capacty factors whiey depend on the Value of and are reproduced overeat “The N, term is for the surcharge effect due to overburden which tends to confine the soil and avoid the upward movement along the plane ab, ‘This term produces a very significant contribution to bearing capacity, especialy for large values of 6. The N, term reflects the footing width for ticional sols, but 's seldom a large contribution unless the footing is very wide soe TH We as Sac", Bas" { £30" a £50 220 - aieL_ Fe T 1 3I5 mH S108 z Es GL | ° I © c 500 Volues ot 4W.Ay Bearing capacity factors, Ne, Nqy Ny, after Terzaghi( 1943)s4 ‘These factors are valid for strip footings and require to be adjusted for rectangular and circular footings as follows: Rectangular footings Naect = Nestip (1+02°) Nye = Netip (1 02%) Nyect Gircutar footings Necitcle = 1,9 N,strip Nycicle = 0,6 Nystrip Nycicle = Nastrip It can be seen from the chart that when N= 5,7; N= 1,0 and N, = Q Hence, according to Terzaghi, when ¢ = 0°, the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing is: = 57e + Te for a surface footing, ‘Skempion showed that for cohesive sols (¢ = 0") N. tends te increase: with depth and suggested that values of N, greater than §,7 could be inserted into the Terzaghi equations. He suggested values of N. shown in the graph below. or ° 8 lean euro] | Bearing capacity factor, Ne, for undrained analysis, after Skempton (1951)bs. NET ULTIMATE BEARING CAPACITY AND SAFE BEARING CAPA- cry ‘The previous equations give values of q, the uitimate bearing capacity of the sol on which the foundation isto sit. To obtain the safe bearing capacity, the relevant value for q must be divided by a factor of safety ‘against bearing capacty failure which generally varies from 1,75 to 30, ‘A value of 1,75 would be chosen where there is considerable ‘experience of the soll under consideration and where stict settlement criteria do not apply, and a figure of 3,0 would be taken where litle is known ofthe fleld behaviour ofthe soll and where settlements must be kept to a minimum, It must be remembered that, due to the excavation of material in order that the foundation can be installed at depth D, there wil be a reli in vertical pressure at the foundation level of yD. This means that the factor of safety should be applied to the net and not to the gross value of uliimate bearing capacity. If the excavation is subsequently back- filed, the overburden pressure is restored and the gross bearing capacity therefore applies. For a stip footing: Goat = Ne + YDNg + 0,6/8N,- 1D Ne 7D (Nyt) + 0,578, net and the gross safe bearing capacity = =P +7 Example ‘A circular foundation is to carry a column load of 850 kN The foundation will be installed at a depth of 1,0 m in a soil which has an langle of friction of 10", a cohesion of 40 kNim® and a unit weight of 4B KN". Ignoring the weight ofthe foundation find a suitable dimension for the diameter of the foundation. Assume a factor of safety against beating capacity failure of 3 For a circular foundation: net = 1,30NG+ 1D (Ne =1) 40,378,156 From chart for} = 10", Ne= 8.6, Ne= 27,4) =1.2 1 dan = (1.9 9.640) + (1824 X17) + 0.9 18xB X12) = 8298+ 6488 Sate bearing capaci 5208+6408 | 15,4 3 104.6 + 2,168, ‘Thus ianoring the weight of the foundation. 850 Ba 194,6+2168 B+ 90,18" 501,1=0 328 m ‘The foundation requires a diameter of about 2,35 m. ‘TOTAL AND EFFECTIVE STRESS CALCULATIONS ‘The expressions given previously were derived solely from the con- ditions of equilixium and ftom the Mohr-Coulomd failure condition ‘They are therefore equally valid if expressed in terms of effective stress. For example, in termes of total stress, Terzaghi's expression for 1e bearing capacity ofa strip foundation is = Ne + YON + 0.578, ‘Similarly, in torms of effective stress i! = c'N + DNg# 0,5B2N, Where (refer to figure on page 2) effective stress on surface a-b at failure effective aurcharge at foundation level (2-b) bearing capacity factors corresponding to valuss of 2 = effective body force ie. for the foundation shove the water table z= below the water table z= 7!-137 Example A foundation 2,0 m square Is installed 1.2 m below the surface of a Ssancy gravel having a unt weight of 19.2 kNim® above the water table and a submerged unit weight (y- ya) Of 9.2 kNim®. The shear strength Parameters with respect to effective tress are c' = 0,61 =30" For! = 30° we get Nq = 23 and N, = 20(=16 for square), 4) I tre water tabe is well below the base of the founcation qo =yD= 1.2% 19.2= 23,0 KN 2 KN then the gross ulimate bearing capaci, In terms of effective stress, i (23,0x23) + (0,5x2,0x 19,2 x 16) 196.2 kN? b) Ifthe water table rises tothe level ofthe base ofthe foundation 3,0 8s before, but 3.0.x 23) + (0.5 x 2.0 «9.2% 16) 76,2 KN ©) Ifthe water table rises to ground level =(11,023) + (0,5 x208,216) = 400.2 kN?“153 ‘This example ilustates the considerable reduction in the bearng capacity which occurs fa foundation is flooded by a rising water table. ‘We saw in section 4 thatthe gross safe foundation pressure is given But if 46! = (y= = (GoW) 2-4 “Thon, informe of effective cross Refering to example 5:2 (a) where the water table Is well below the base of tre foundation a) ach= a= 23,0 KN? Theni FOS = 3.0 836-230 30 204 KN! #230 b) the water table rises tothe ground surface 11,0 «Nm? 100.211 +230 30 182.7 kN?<159- TUTORIAL BEARING CAPACITY ‘Question 1 Determine the net utimate bearing capacity forthe foundation shown below, ‘The water tabe Is very deep. cru re 1,5] ON ets peed ey anawes e=10704Pa avestion 2 ‘A 3.m x2 rectangular footing isto be founded ata depth of 1.5 m below ground eve in a sol having shear strength parameters n terms of etectve Stress ofc! = 10 kPa and = 32° and a ealurated unt weight yg = 21 KNIT @) The ultimate bearing capacty withthe water table at founding level Answer 41794 KPa, b) The ultimate hearing capacity i the water table is at the ground surface Answer 1.2694?160 Question 3 Determine the ultimate bearing capacity for a 1.8 x 1,5 m square footing founded at a depth of 0,75 m in a saturated clay which has shear strength parameters ofc, = 45 kNim? and 4, = 0 using a) Terzaghi Answer 323 KPa b) —Skempton Answer 338 KPa Unit weight of clay yx = 20 kN/m® Question 4 Find the gross safe foundation pressure for the strip footing shown below. Assume a factor of safety of 2.5. 05m Answer 135 kPa Question § ‘A block of fats is to be erected on a raft foundation ata site where the soil Profle consists of 1 m of fil material overlying a deep bed of saturated cay ‘The dimensions of the raft wil be 24 m x 12 mand it will be founded at a depth of 2 m below the surface of the ground.=t61- Asie investigation has shown thatthe undrained shear stength of the clay o, = TO KNim’. The unit weights of the ll and the clay are 17 and 20 kNin respectively. Ifthe gross pressure at foundation level from the raft will be 175 kN, check. the factor of safety against bearing capacity failure which should not be less than 26. Answer FOS = 3,2 ie OK Question 6 ‘A square footing is required to carry @ column load of 560 KN with a factor of safety against bearing capacity failure of 3. ‘The foundation is to be placed at 2 depth of 1,5 m below the surface of a loose granular soll where the water table will be at foundation level. The angle of friction ¢" = 28° and the unit Weights of the soil above and below the water table are 16,5 and 18,3 kNim® respectively. Determine a suitable size for the foundation Answer 1.8% 1,8 msquare1 CHAPTER 11 ‘STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN SOILS STRESS DISTRIBUTION In soll mechanic stresses under loca! loading (as against unterm glo- bal toacing) conlitons are determined fom the mathematica! tory ot lastly, The theory of elastic enables the computation of dstibu- tions of stresses caused by loads covering fat, flavible and gid areas of varicus shapes within horizontal surfaces of wide extent - The procedure assumes constant sol parameters, Young's Modulus & and Polssor's Ratio vor (this does not imply that real soil behaves as an ‘dea elastic eo), Stress distributions may be obtained in the form of contours of equal ‘ess or pressure oulbs which serve as a useful conceptual aid, 1. Foruol’e Sttlp Footing re Uniform 1_-pressure,q OB | 0-01g| a 058 0;7 oe 1-08 95 Ow 1-58 o3 "—— 2:0B=163 b) —Cireular Footing Dlareter= Uniform Pemeen8, 05 - (Ws \ : Nee aston , wien " 5 ee M Reef I] io) Byes — i Figure 1 ©) Square Footing Stresses under flexible footings It can be seen, for example, that the influence of a flexible strip footing does not extend much beyond a depth of about twice the footing widt ‘Methods of estimating the distribution of stresses set up ita soll mass are given below. 2. Boussinesque Equation for a Point Load Load P164- “The vertical stress produced by a vertical point load on the surface of a homagenous material ae given by! ‘The above formula may be used for spread footings of breadth b for depths > 3b (erro ~ 346) 3, Vertical stress under the corner of @ flexible rectangular loaded area - Steinbrenner. a “The vertical stress at the comer of the flexible rectangular ares is given by where | isan influence factor determined from the chart given belo. ‘Stresses at other points beneath the rectangular loaded area may be obtained by superpostion, eg To find stress o- at point 0 1 required = 0, due to EOHD - 6; due to EOGA = o: due to FOHC + 0; due to FOGB i cxat 7 due to each ofthe four rectangles=165- stejsz| zie} jez} sol vol] wm | zo] ro aie papeo| JeInBuejoe! € Jo Jeui09 O47 JepUN SseENS ]EUOU [EOHIEA 40} | s10}08} eouONYUL=166 - Design chart. Probably the most useful design chart for estimating foundation stresses is that given by Janbu, Bjerrum and Kjeernsli and shown in the figure below. This chart gives the increase in vertical stress beneath the centre of a uniformly loaded flexible area of strip, rectangular of circular shape, Grovod evel Serka” bprincrease vertical stress. etiective cverburéen pressure roy Tou T ri 3 Circle E58 12108 square ieee) Ls o | U { 10205 | 2 5 10 2 50-167- ‘The theory above is applicable to surface loading only. Ifthe loading is applied at some depth below the ground surface, then the stresses caleuated above will be reduced. A reduction factor i, must be applied tothe calculated stress increase to give 4p (footing at depth) = 1.4 (footing at surface), “The correction factor 1, i given below. The siress distribution theory applies to a “flexible” foundation, ifthe {foundation is “igi”, the settlement reduces. A rigiity correction factor of 0,8is normally used ie. 0,8 p (flexible) =p (igi)= 168- CHAPTER 12 IMMEDIATE (ELASTIC) SETTLEMENT ‘The total settioment of a foundation on a saturated clay cansisis of three part, namely: Prt prt pe Py elastic settlement (or immediate settlement) - p, consolidation settlement ~ secondary settlement - p, Depending on the loading and soll conditions elastic and consolidation settlement may occur simutaneously, altematively full consolidation ‘settiement may only result many years after the elastic setlement, also, in certain sols secondary settlement may not occur ata ‘SECONDARY SETTLEMENT ‘Secondary settlement Is due to a type of creep phenomena occurring very siowiy under conditions of zero increase in etfecive sess. Iti a ‘complex process and not all that much is known about it. With certain soils, however, it constitutes a fairly large proportion of the total settlement, It wil not be deat with in this course CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT Consolidation settlement is due to the slow dissipation of excess pore water pressure fom the soil voids and occurs with a change in volume. ‘The reduction in the pore water pressure after an increase in the total stress ragults in an increase in the effective stress - consoldation seitiomentis thus due to an increase in the effective stress, ‘The principles of consolidation have already been deelt with and thus the sequence cf operations in a typical settlement anaysis wil be shown, From the resuits of laboratory tests and the site investigation characterise the soll profile assigning values of e, and corrected values (of Sc, Cor m, to each layer= 69. Estimate the stress increment resuting from the loading at the centre ‘of each layer or sub-layer of the soll Correct the stress increment for the effect of founding depth. Calculate he settlement of each layer of sub-iayer due to the corrected ‘sless increment. ELASTIC SETTLEMENT Elastic setlement occurs immediately after the application of the load, This elastic (or immediate) settlement occurs under conditions of no volume change which suggests that parts of the surrounding soil must rise to satisty this requirement. Immediate settlement of a foundation in a saturated clay is calculated (on an elastic basis using an expression inthe form =a! are inwaicn 1 = immediate settlement (m) @_ = net load intensity of foundation (kN/n?) B= foundation breadth or width (rn) |= aminviuence factor which depends on the shape and depth of the foundation E = an elastic modulus appropriate to the stress range in the soil (kiwi?) Influence charts such as that shown below in Figure 4 can be used to ‘estimate immediate settiements. In the chart yy is a stress influence {actor that depends on the ratio ofthe foundation breadth to the depth ‘of deformable material and the foundation shape, while 4, is a factor that allows for the effect of founding depth. Fe xe@ Frege % 50 20! = 10 Bis. sf Fro. 208 Squore ° Circe 00. i T0205 | 25,1920 50k f ° ° ‘HIB 10 909 308 807 306 os °SToa os) 2 5 20 of Fue 4 Influence factors for calculation of immediate settiement It the soll consists of @ number of strata with very different E values, as shown below, the chart can still be used by considering the folowing: 8 ek TT x layer 4 E layer 2 & layer 2 & Rigid base ') Calculate the settlement caused by layer 1 with E= €, and a tigi base at death x, (= p,)sin 1) Calculate the settement for a layer of thickness x, and E = E, 2. it) Calculate the settlement fora layer of thickness x, and E = Ey. ‘Then the settlement contributed by layers 1 and 2 Is p; + (pz = ps). Continue for layer 3, The value of q used in the calculation of immediate settioment is the ‘net loading ie. the loading intensity applied by the foundation less the load intensity removed by excavation, EXAMPLE Determine the immediate and consoldation settlement for the 3m ‘square pad foundation carrying a load of 900 kN shown below. a= 9004N, 3x3 mpd footing (texte) Pee anne sx" a wet | am nasa? | "0,18 x 10° m7AN a For this example only we will assume that the net foundation pressure = gross foundation pressure since + the soil removed to cast the footing willbe replaced + the unit weight of concrete « soil =.= 100 kNsin. Immediate settiement referring to chart Figure 4 my 0,34 (423-087 y= 0.82 iy X He = 0:34 x 0,82 = 0,28, 1003x028 ay = Rag E10" (mm) = 338 mm layer? Consider: @) layer 1 and 2 combined with E= 4,2 MPa; then b) layer only with E= 4,2MPa, a) 051 x0,82= 0,42 jp) = 100x3 0,42 x 10° (mm) = 30,0 mu Pap *ioxsxg (mm) m ») pg Influence factors already calculated, 1=0,28 100 X3x028 os fay = age X10" Conn) = 200 mm ps for layer 2 Pea * Puen Pe = 30,0-200 = 10,0 mm Immediate cottloment = pay + Py 336+ 100 9 =4368mm_,tse Gonsoldation settiement We must determine the stress distribution at the centre of each of the Ccompressiole layers. (Assume m, applies to the centre ofthe layers.) Settlement required at the centre ofthe footing, Using the chart: Figure Z (stress distribution section) ‘Stress in layer 1 between the bottom of the foundation and the bottom ofthe layer. bpp: 2 = (4-2y2=1 Apdg = 0,86 B ™ 88 x 100 218 ='1,= 0,33 ‘4p; = 86 kN? ‘Sues atthe centte of layer 2. pn: 2 2B = 3.513 = 4,17 Correct these stresses for depth of founding as per chart: Figure 3 (Gtress distribution section), D=2 D/JBXL = 23 JOxE = (3x3 =30 correction jg = Us = Corrected stresses Ap, 67,9 kNim? ‘pa = 28 x 0,79 = 22,1 kNim? Consolidation settlement p, = m, HAP layer pe) = 08x 10° x2x67.9x 10°) = 40,7 mm layer 2 pig = 0,18 x 10° x3 x 22,1 x 10° (mm) = 11.9 mm total consolidation settiement = 40,7 + 11.9 (p.= 526mm Total settlement +b = 43,6-+52,6 mm 2 mam (say 96m)<4 ‘$4 -TUTORIAL ‘STRESS DISTRIBUTION AND SETTLEMENT ‘Question 1 Find the vertical stess 4,0 m below the centre of a rectangular foundation having a length of 2m and a width of 1,5 m with a contact pressure of 250 kPa, ‘Answer 36 kPa Question 2 Plot the stress distribution at the depths of 2 m and 4 m for apoint load at the surface of 100 KN, Question 3 Calculate the vertical stress at points A, B and C at depths of 2, 4, 6 and 8 ‘metres below a flexible surface pressure of 600 kNim® Pett Answers Point — 4m= 118 KPa Point 6 m= 142 kPa Point 8 m= 3BKPa<5 Question 4 ‘A rigid foundation is 3 x 3 m in size and transmits @ load of 2 500 KN to the soil at its founding depth of 2 m, The soil is a normally consolidated clay with the following properties. 6, =27) (specific gravity) Yea = 18,5 KN? (saturated unit weight) E =20MPa (elastic modulus) ©, =0,25 (virgin compression index) If the water table is at 3m below surface and the clay extends from the surface to a depth of 10 m. Find at the centte ofthe foundation 2) the immediate setlement (Answer p, = 20,5 mm) ) long term consoldation settlement (Answer p, = 203 mm) ©) total settlement (Answer= 178.8 mm) If the water table was lowered by 2 m, what additonal consolidation setie- ‘ment would take place? Answer p = 96 mm Question 5 ‘Arrectangular raft foundation imposes a contact pressure of 155 kNim? on the surface of a foundation soil. Plot the distribution of vertical stress with depth below the centre ofthe foundation to a depth of 18 m. The raft is 36 m x 24 m Part Answer (0m) Ap (KPa) 6 1488 12 1256 18 96,1CHAPTER 13 CONSOLIDATION SETTLEMENT Ths time-dependent volume changes in soil mass which results from changes in normal stress is called consolidation. A mathematical model for the consoldation process has been formulated for a fully ‘saturated soil. This model, however, assumes that the consolidation of the soilis one dimensional. By this we meen that 2) all displacements are vertical so that there are no lateral strains, b) allow of water from the sol isn @ vertical direction only, and ©) the void ratio is @ direct function of the vertical component of effective stress ‘The condition of one dimensional vertical consolidation generally corresponds to the alate of the soll during deposition when it is con- ‘solidating under ite own weight. The lateral extend of euch a deposit is generally large wher compared with its thickness, and some lateral Water movement may occur as well as some slight lateral soil move- ment. Neither of these effects is very important when considering the ‘overall settiements due to consolidation based on extrapolating labora- tory results to the field ‘THE CONSOLIDATION PROCESS: When a load is appled to a fine-grained saturated scil confined in a ‘metal ring with plezometers inserted in the sample (Figure 1a), the water level in the piezometers will move to a new height of h + Ah immediately after the load Ap is applied (Figure 1b). ‘The reason for this is that when a low coefficient of permeabilly exists (as for sits and clays) the water cannot instantly flow out of the soil pores.<7 8) Piezometers have reached static equilibrium under compressive load p. _ ate ‘Ah | | hb i b) Water pressure in piezometers record increase in pressure of ‘4h when load increased by ap. © Atend of consolidation plezometers reach static pesition of (a) and settlement 4H occurs. Figure 1 - Consolidation“178 In applying this load, the soil mass attempts to undergo a volume ‘change (void reduction) which cannot occur unless some water is cexpelied from the soil pores. Since the water does not instantly flow, the load is converted to an increase in the pore water pressure, hence the sudden jump in the piezometer height of ah As the water gradually flows out ofthe soll pores, the plezometer head drops. The consolidation process is considered complete when the water level inthe piezometers retums to the static water level shown in Figure tc THE CONSOLIDOMETER TEST (ALSO CALLED OEDOMETER. Test) The laboratory consolidation test Is carried out in an oedoneter (or consolidometer) ay placing an undisturbed sample of the soll into a steel ring between 20 and 40 mm thick and ranging in diameter from about 45 to 113 mm (common ring dimensions are 20 mm thick and 75 mm diameter). The testis one dimensional because with a metal ring ‘confining the sample no lateral soll or water movement takes place. ‘The test proceeds by applying loads in a geometric progression with a load ratio of Apip = 1 with a typical sequence of 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, {800 and 1 600 kN/m? depending on the equipment available, ‘The oedometer apparatus is shown in Figure 2 and the test procedure outlined as follows: a) The mass, dimensions (height and diameter), specific gravity and moisture content of the specimen is determined so as to ‘obtain the inital vid atl @, b) —Aload is applied to the sample, a stop clock is started and the ‘consolidation cell ie flooded. ‘Readings of displacement are taken at intervals of time until no more displacement is recorded. ©) Additional weights are added and the process is repeated. After ‘consolidation ofthe final load increment is complete, the weights are sequertially removed and the specimen is allowed to swell. ‘The final moisture content of the sample is determined,“179. Prone Figure 2 Atypical cedometer cell Its common practice to present the resuils of the consolidometer test in terms of the applied pressure (p) and void ratio (e). The latter may be determined by considering the folowing: Dry mass of sol Volume of Slits Va = ey or soi Volume of voids. V, = volume of ring - volume of solids In addition consider a sample of soil shown below such that the volume of solids is unity and the original vaid ratio is e,. 4 1 ‘The total volume of the sample is 1 +e, YA, va, e=ValsoV=V+V, VET +e]=180- Hy=Hy+He of Hoe H+ HY H,=H,+ oHy=(1 +04) Hy— (1) Hy Hy=Hy or Hist Be Hy=H.* ets (1 #0) Hy Ha= Ho=(1 + 6<)H,~(1 + e\)H,= AH But, = qo from (1)and He Hy = AH Example {In a consolidation test an increase cf 100 kNim* in the total vertical pressure was applied to a saturated clay sample inital 20 mm thick. ‘After 24 hours the thickness of the semple was reduced to 19,67 mm, ‘The sample was then relieved of pressure and the final thickness was 49,7 mm and the moisture content 20%, f the sample was saturated throughout the test and the specific gravity (Gs) of the particles was 2,66. Calculate the: 2) ntal vova rau e,, b) void ratio after consolidation o,, ©) Void ratio after expansion ey. AH se _ 20-107 _©,-0771 9) te? 2 ” te, » °-181- ANALYSIS OF THE CONSOLIDATION TEST From the resuits of void ratio (e) and the effective pressure (p') an e vs p' orane vs log p’ graph may be plotted as shown Figure 3 below. a) Natural Seale e ve p") Void Ratio e e, A ae c > Bo AD By — Etecive Presse ») Scale Void Ratio e Recampression (Slope = C,) ey a Ae sweiing- Virgin Consetidetion cre Seance Tog Ehecive Presere Figure 3 Consolidation Curves12- ‘The coafficiant of compressibility (m,) is defined as the decroace in unit volume per unit increase in pressure i. te 4 , mage tuisminy — 1) or ons ™" Hap — @ 88/o i te slope of the © vp curve (Figure 3a) which fs not constant fora AP. my must therefore be computed inthe range of presses under conederaton. Fem 2) above for one Gmmaaenel sonal ‘The slope ofthe virgin potion ofthe e vs log p' curve is defined as the: compression index Ci Co" apt gpl PL ing Plog Py og ‘Similarly the recompression or sweling curve - determined during lunloading - has a slope referred to as the recompression index (C,) ‘and expansion index (C.) Note: C, = G, ‘The compression index is more convenient to use since beyond a certain pressure the plot becomes a straight line and therefore has a constant slope, The seitlementis given by:“Be 5 NORMALLY CONSOLIDATED AND OVERCONSOLIDATED SOIL A normally consolidated soil is one that has never been subjected to an effective pressure greater than that at present. (A point somewhere Cn line AB -Figure 3.) ‘An overconsolidated soll is a soil which is at present under an effective ‘tress less than that which it has experienced at some time in its history. (A point somewhere on line CD - Figure 3) ‘Many natural sols are overconsolidated because they have been ‘consolidated by the pressure of overburden which has since been removed by erosion - Figure 4 Volt Ratio ravi aay const) End of dposion bw (overconeoicatea) . pe Etectvep! Presertoverburden _Pracensoidation pressure Pessure pressure Figure 4 "Natural overconsolidation Other factors that may cause overconsolidation isa fall and rise in the water table and suction near the soll surface during dry weather (cesuiting in 2 large posite effective stress in a fine grained Soi).= 186 For overconsolidated sols the overconsoliation ratio (OCR) is defined ‘as the ratio of the preconsolidation pressure to the overburden pressure. % oon= ‘SAMPLE DISTURBANCE AND ITS EFFECT ON e-p CURVES. The shape of the e-iog pls very sensitive to sample disturbance and has the folowing twomain effects a) When a soil, after having been removed from the ground, is reloaded the recompression curve tums gradually int the virgin Contolidation curve and does not follow the curve for unloading, b) As the preconsoliation pressure (p.) is approached the curve for @ disturbed sample is steeper than for the undisturbed sample Casagrande has suggested a method shown in Figure 5 for deter- ‘mining the preconsoliation pressure (p,). old alo Figure 5 Determination of p,2185. a) Determine the point of maximum curvature A. b) Draw horizontal ine AB, ©) Draw tangent AC. ©) Construct bisector AD. e) The intersection of AD and the extension of the straight line portion ofthe curve gives point F at pe. ‘A method of correcting an ¢-log p curve for sample disturbance has been proposed by Schmertmann and is obtained as follows in Figure 6 O42 Ce Figure 6 Determination of field compression curve @) Find the insitu void ratio and the corresponding effective overburden pressure (e, , p'). b) Find p, the preconsolidation pressure as discussed In section 62. ©) Find the mean slope of the rebound curve. 6) Construct tine ab from point a (p', , e,) parallel to the rebound curve to strike b at the value found for p= 185 ©) On the laboratory curve find point ¢ corresponding to e 0,42 e, and join point b toc. ‘The curve abe represents the field relaionship between void ratio and pressure from which the compression index is determined and hence settlement. Clearly the determination of p, is of great importance and thus high standards of sampling and teting must be adopted“187. TUTORIAL CONSOLIDATION The folowing readings were taken in aconsoidometer test. Pressure (KPa) 050100200400 8000 Thickness (mm) 20.0 19.65 1852 1935 10,15 1895 1025 ‘for expansion the melsture content was 25% wih C, = 2.65, 2) Plote-p une ®) ind m forthe range 200-900 kPa ©) Find for stess range 500-600 KPa answer 2 ; 8) 5.806 10% m*aN (opproxmatey) ©) 0.076 (approximate ‘Question 2 ‘Aconsoldometer test gave the folowing results: ‘The saturated unit weight ofthe clay is 20 kNin* and the water table is atthe surface Find 2) The overconsolidation ratio ata depth of m ) The consolidation settlement ina layer ofthe clay 5.0m thick between 3.5 m and 8,5 m deep due to @ Uniform surface load of $0 gore spread over alge area ©) Asin(b) above, but the foad is now 140 kN?Answer a) 26 b) 26mm ©) 175mm Question 3 186 Given the following consolidation test data, plot e versus log p and find the preconsolidation pressure p.. VoID RATIO“ PRN | Fist tad | Unidad Reead o | 120 | 194 - 3 [18 100 10% 725-417 0.61 0,990 25 [15 0,948 0.868 50 [42 0.3, 0.945 700 [ir 0,880 ost 200 | 0,99 0.65; 0.588 400 855, 0843 300 0.736 7600 0.589 Answer Pex 120 kPa= 189- Question 4 {the sample used in (3) above came from the strata as shown halaw, find the consolidation settiement ifthe clay is 2 m thick and the average hcrease in pressure AP = 25 kPa, (Hint: Correct the e-log p curve and find C, Ae or m, hence p). NGL. re You = 18,5 kNim? i mows Yea = 19,8 kN? 3m psl¢mm