CPTU Dissipation Behavior of Overconsolidated Clay

W. J. Lee & T. J. Kim & S. I. Kim

Department of Civil Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
woojin@korea.ac.kr & chamber@korea.ac.kr
Abstract
Variations of pore water pressure were observed during CPTU dissipation tests on
overconsolidated clay in calibration chamber and the coefficient of consolidation was evaluated
from dissipation test results. It has been known that the excess pore water pressure in OC clay
measured by CPTU with filter element located behind the cone tip or behind friction sleeve
shows the dilatory behavior while the excess pore pressure in NC clay dissipates to the
hydrostatic value in time. Though the methods to evaluate the coefficient of consolidation of OC
clay from dissipation test have been suggested by several researchers, it is still believed that
those methods do not provide reliable predictions.
The large cohesive soil specimens of 1.2m diameter and 1.0m height were prepared through
two-stage consolidation and soil specimens were overconsolidated to OCR values of 4, 10, 20
with an automated calibration chamber system. The distribution of pore pressures at several
locations around the cone during the penetration of CPTU and the magnitude of pore pressure
during CPTU dissipation tests were measured by piezometers installed in cohesive soil
specimen. The location of piezometers was decided through the consideration of shear and
plastic zones by cavity expansion theory. The distribution of pore pressures were analyzed and
compared with those predicted by cavity expansion theory for undrained conditions and the
dissipation test results were compared with those by finite element method.