Sample Disturbance Effects in Silt
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 9
Abstract
This paper presents results of testing good-quality piston tube samples and parallel block samples from three silt sites in Ireland and Norway. Theoretical work and laboratory strain damage tests suggest that good-quality tube samples can be obtained provided the sampling process remains undrained and the tubes have a sharp cutting edge. Laboratory tests confirm that at two of the sites the piston tube samples are effectively equivalent to the block samples. However, at the third site densification of the piston tube samples occurred and the laboratory tests produced nonconservative design parameters. Given the uncertainties of the effects of piston tube sampling of the silts, it seems prudent to assess likely disturbance effects using parallel in situ tests, for example piezocone penetration testing (CPTU) or shear wave velocity testing. The CPTU pore pressure data can be used to assess the degree of drainage which is likely to have occurred during sampling, and shear wave velocity can be used to assess possible densification.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Skibbereen Urban District Council, Donegal County Council, and Ward & Burke Construction Ltd. for permission and assistance with accessing the Irish sites. The authors kindly thank Gisle Håland and Statoil for permission to publish the Norwegian data. Field and laboratory work at these sites was carried out by APEX Geoservices, Lankelma Ltd., In Situ Site Investigations Ltd., Irish Drilling, and NGI. George Cosgrave at UCD assisted in many of the laboratory tests on the Irish silts. The authors are also grateful for the assistance of colleagues at NGI: Egil Solhjell, Morten Sjursen, Håkon Akerholt, Kristoffer Kåsin, and Maarten Vanneste for help with in situ shear wave velocity interpretation.
References
Arroyo, M., Pineda, J. A., Sau, N., Devincenzi, M., and Pérez, N. (2015). “Sample quality examination in silty soils.” 16th European Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Thomas Telford Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland, 2873–2878.
Baldi, G., Bruzzi, D., Superbo, S., Battaglio, M., and Pasqualini, E. (1986). “Interpretation of CPTs and CPTUs. Part 2: Drained penetration of sands.” 4th Int. Conf. on Field Instrumentation and In Situ Measurement, Nanyang Technological Institute, Singapore, 143–156.
Baligh, M. M., Azzouz, A. S., and Chin, C. T. (1987). “Disturbance due to ideal tube sampling.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., 111(GT9), 1108–1136.
Blaker, O., et al. (2015). “Method dependency for determining maximum and minimum dry unit weights of sands.” Int. Symp. on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG III), V. Mayer, ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1159–1166.
Brandon, T. L., Rose, A. T., and Duncan, J. M. (2006). “Drained and undrained strength interpretation for low-plasticity silts.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 250–257.
Carroll, R. (2013). “The engineering behaviour of Irish silts.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Clayton, C. R. I., Hight, D. W., and Hooper, R. J. (1992). “Progressive destructuring of Bothkennar clay: Implications for sampling and reconsolidation procedures.” Géotechnique, 42(2), 219–239.
Clayton, C. R. I., Matthews, M. C., and Simons, N. E. (1995). Site investigation, 2nd Ed., Blackwell Science, Oxford, U.K.
Clayton, C. R. I., and Siddique, A. (1999). “Tube sampling disturbance—Forgotten truths and new perspectives.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Geotech. Eng., 137(3), 127–135.
Clayton, C. R. I., Siddique, A., and Hopper, R. J. (1998). “Effects of sampler design on tube sampling disturbance—Numerical and analytical investigations.” Géotechnique, 48(6), 847–867.
Cola, S., and Simonini, P. (2002). “Mechanical behaviour of silty soils of the Venice Lagoon as a function of their grading properties.” Can. Geotech. J., 39(4), 879–893.
De Groot, D. J., and Ladd, C. C. (2012). “Site characterisation for cohesive soil deposits using combined in situ and laboratory testing.” ASCE Geo Congress, ASCE, Reston, VA, 565–607.
Donohue, S., and Long, M. (2010). “Assessment of sample quality in soft clay using shear wave velocity and suction measurements.” Géotechnique, 60(11), 883–889.
Fleming, L. N., and Duncan, J. M. (1990). “Stress-deformation characteristics of Alaskan silt.” J. Geotech. Eng., 377–393.
Hight, D. W. (1993). “A review of sampling effects in clays and sands.” Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) Conf. on Offshore Site Investigation and Foundation Behaviour, Springer, Berlin, 115–146.
Hight, D. W. (2001). “Sampling effects in soft clay: An update on Ladd and Lambe (1963).” Soil Behaviour and Soft Ground Construction, ASCE Geo Institute, Reston, VA, 86–112.
Hight, D. W., Böese, R., Butcher, A. P., Clayton, C. R. I., and Smith, P. R. (1992). “Disturbance of Bothkennar clay prior to laboratory testing.” Géotechnique, 42(2), 199–217.
Hight, D. W., and Georgiannou, V. N. (1995). “Effects of sampling on the undrained behaviour of clayey sands.” Géotechnique, 45(2), 237–247.
Hight, D. W., and Leroueil, S. (2003). “Characterisation of soils for engineering purposes.” Proc., Int. Workshop on Characterization and Engineering Properties of Natural Soils, T. S. Tan, K. K. Phoon, D. W. Hight, and S. Leroueil, eds., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherland, 255–360.
Hird, C. C., and Hajj, A. R. (1995). “A simulation of tube sampling effects on the stiffness of clays.” ASTM Geotech. Test. J., 18(1), 3–14.
Hover, E. D., Ni, Q., and Guymer, I. (2013). “Investigation of centreline strain path during tube penetration using transparent soil and particle image velocimetry.” Géotech. Lett., 3(2), 37–41.
Lacasse, S., and Berre, T. (1988). “Triaxial testing methods for soils.” Advanced triaxial testing of soil and rock, R. T. Donaghe, R. C. Chaney, and M. L. Silver, eds., ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 264–289.
Ladd, C. C., Weaver, J. S., Germaine, J. T., and Sauls, D. P. (1985). “Strength-deformation properties of Arctic silt.” Proc., ASCE Speciality Conf., Arctic ‘85, Civil Engineering in the Arctic Offshore, ASCE, New York, 820–829.
Landon, M. E., De Groot, D. J., and Sheahan, T. C. (2007). “Nondestructive sample quality assessment of a soft clay using shear wave velocity.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 424–432.
La Rochelle, P., and Lefebvre, G. (1971). “Sample disturbance in Champlain clays.” Sampling in Soil and Rock, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 143–163.
Lefebvre, G., and Poulin, C. (1979). “A new method of sampling in sensitive clay.” Can. Geotech. J., 16(1), 226–233.
Long, M. (2003). “Sampling disturbance effects in soft laminated clays.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Geotech. Eng., 156(4), 213–224.
Long, M. (2006). “Sample disturbance effects on medium plasticity clay/silt.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Geotech. Eng., 159(2), 99–111.
Lunne, T., Berre, T., Andersen, K. H., Strandvik, S., and Sjursen, M. (2006). “Effects of sample disturbance and consolidation procedures on measured shear strength of soft marine Norwegian clays.” Can. Geotech. J., 43(7), 726–750.
Lunne, T., Berre, T., and Strandvik, S. (1997a). “Sample disturbance in soft low plasticity Norwegian clay.” Symp. on Recent Developments in Soil and Pavement Mechanics, A. Almeida, ed., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherland, 81–92.
Lunne, T., Robertson, P. K., and Powell, J. J. M. (1997b). Cone penetration testing in geotechnical practice, Blackie Academic and Professional, London.
Mayne, P. W. (2007). “A synthesis of highway practice, national cooperative highway research program synthesis 368.” Cone penetration testing, Transport Research Board, National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Washington, DC.
Monaco, P., et al. (2014). “Overconsolidation and stiffness of Venice Lagoon sands and silts from SDMT and CPTU.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 215–227.
Mori, K., and Sakai, K. (2016). “The GP sampler: A new innovation in core sampling.” Aust. Geomech. J., 51(4), 131–166.
Penman, A. D. M. (1953). “Shear characteristics of a saturated silt measured in triaxial compression.” Géotechnique, 3(8), 312–328.
Pineda, J. A., Arroyo, M., Sau, N., and Gens, A. (2013). “Testing block samples from silty deposits.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterisation (ISC’4), R. Q. Coutinho and P. W. Mayne, eds., Taylor & Francis, Recife, Brazil, 1815–1823.
Rodgers, M., and Joyce, D. (1994). “Piezocone and shear vane in situ testing of soft soils at three sites in Ireland.” 7th Int. Congress Int. Association of Engineering Geology, R. Oliveira, L. F. Rodrigues, A. G. Coelho, and A. O. Cunha, eds., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherland, 381–386.
Sandven, R. (2003). “Geotechnical properties of a natural silt deposit obtained from field and laboratory tests.” Int. Workshop on Characterisation and Engineering Properties of Natural Soils, T. S. Tan, K. K. Phoon, D. W. Hight, and S. Leroueil, eds., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherland, 1121–1148.
Santagata, M., and Germaine, J. T. (2005). “Effect of OCR on sampling disturbance of cohesive soils and evaluation of laboratory reconsolidation procedures.” Can. Geotech. J., 42(2), 459–474.
Santagata, M., Sinfield, J. V., and Germaine, J. T. (2006). “Laboratory simulation of field sampling: Comparison with ideal sampling and field data.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 351–362.
Sau, N., Arroyo, M., Pérez, N., and Pineda, J. A. (2014). “Using CAT to obtain density maps in Sherbrooke specimens of silty soils.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Geomechanics from Micro to Macro, IS Cambridge 2014, K. Soga, K. Kumar, G. Biscontin, and M. Kuo, eds., Taylor & Francis, Cambridge, U.K., 1153–1158.
Schultze, E., and Horn, A. (1965). “The shear strength of silt.” 6th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
Siddique, A., Clayton, C. R. I., and Hooper, R. J. (1999). “The effects of varying centerline tube sampling disturbance on the behavior of reconstituted clay.” ASTM Geotech. Test. J., 22(3), 245–256.
Stark, T. D., and Ebeling, R. M. (1995). “Soil-structure interaction parameters for structured/cemented silts.”, US Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experimental Station, Vicksburg, MS, 109.
Stark, T. D., Ebeling, R. M., and Daly, K. R. (2000). “Stress-strain behavior and hyperbolic parameters of structured silt.” Specialty Conf. GEO-Denver, ASCE, Denver, 21.
Tanaka, H., Sharma, P., Tsuchida, T., and Tanaka, M. (1996). “Comparative study on sample quality using several different types of samplers.” Soils Found. Jpn. Geotech. Soc., 36(2), 57–68.
Terzaghi, K., Peck, R. B., and Mesri, G. (1996). Soil mechanics in engineering practice, Wiley, New York.
Tonni, L., and Simonini, P. (2013). “Shear wave velocity as function of cone penetration test measurements in sand and silt mixtures.” Eng. Geol (Elsevier), 163, 55–67.
Whittle, A. J., and Aubeny, C. P. (1992). “The effects of installation disturbance on interpretation of in situ tests in clays.” Predictive soil mechanics, Proc., Wroth Memorial Symp., G. T. Houlsby and A. N. Schofield, eds., Thomas Telford, London, 742–768.
Wride, C. E., et al. (2000). “Ground sampling program at the CANLEX test sites.” Can. Geotech. J., 37(3), 530–542.
Xu, L., and Coop, M. R. (2016). “The mechanics of a saturated silty loess with a transitional mode.” Géotechnique, 1–16.
Yoshimi, Y., Tokimatsu, K., and Ohara, J. (1994). “In situ liquefaction resistance of clean sands over a wide density range.” Géotechnique, 44(3), 479–494.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 14, 2016
Accepted: Mar 16, 2017
Published online: Jun 13, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Nov 13, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.