Work-Based Framework for Sample Quality Evaluation of Low Plasticity Soils
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 10
Abstract
Sampling and laboratory testing of soils is often necessary to evaluate site-specific soil properties. Prior research has been primarily performed for clays, producing accepted practices that enable reliable soil characterization via laboratory testing [e.g., and sample quality designation (SQD)]. Synthetic mixtures of nonplastic to plastic silts and clays are tested using oedemetric constant rate of strain consolidation. Results indicate trends of increasing sample quality with decreasing plasticity and in situ overburden stress that are independent of the level of induced disturbance. A framework for assessing sample quality based on concepts of work and strain-energy is developed and shown to be independent of these effects. Normalization of the initial recompression slope ( or ) by the virgin compression slope ( or ) results in an index (or ) that accurately captures disturbance for soils across a wide range of tested conditions. This method is further evaluated using data from published prior studies.
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Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the collaboration with Will Lukas at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. This work was completed with funding from the National Science Foundation under grant CMMI-1436617. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 10 • October 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 22, 2017
Accepted: Apr 2, 2018
Published online: Aug 7, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jan 7, 2019
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