The effect of cohesive soil depth on consolidation coefficient and Compression index

The settlement is the most serious problem of fine-grained soils and caused by a phenomenon called soil consolidation. Most of previous studies were concerned with studying consolidation conditions depending on the consolidation's theories as Terzaghi's theory. In some cases, a simulation of reality is not given. It was necessary to study the effect of soil depth from ground surface on consolidation parameters to simulate what happens to the cohesive soil in nature. Therefore, the consolidation behavior of four cohesive soils was studied in this paper. The studied soil samples were collected from different depths of cohesive soil layers at four different sites, El-Qalubia governorate, Egypt. A series of laboratory consolidation tests were carried out using Oedometer apparatus. So, the effect of soil sample depths (D) from ground surface on consolidation coefficient (Cv) and compression index (Cc) was investigated. Also, the empirical equations were correlated depending on the relationship between soil sample depths (D) vs. Cv and D vs. Cc. Keywords – Fine- grained soil, cohesive soil, soil sample depth, consolidation, consolidation coefficient, compression index, settlement,