Influence of Cell Pressure on Clay Volume under Suction Control

The cell pressure in most of the geotechnical testing is used to simulate natural soil confinement or to meet specific conditions that serve the purpose of the test. One dimensional oedometer tests were found to overestimate some geotechnical parameters. Application of cell pressure is not an exact simulation for different lateral soil stiffness but can be used to obtain a reliable data. In this work variable cell pressures were applied to suction controlled clay samples. The system control of suction relies on axis-translation technique in which the desired suction value is obtained through the control of air pressure applied from the top of the sample and pore water pressure introduced through high air entry porous ceramic disc from the bottom. The volume changes and compressibility data are presented and discussed.