HERIOT - WATT UNIVERSITY

School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and

Society
FOUNDATION ENGINEERING
CLASS EXAMPLE
The sequence of strata at a site is shown in the Figure below. The granular soil above
the water-table is 30% saturated and a consolidation test on the clay gave the
following results:
Applied pressure
(kN/m2)
Sample thickness
(mm)

50

100

200

400

19.00

18.60

18.40

18.10

17.90

A uniform pressure of 150kN/m2 is transmitted by an oil storage tank, 18.0m diameter.

Using the stress-dispersion method with a dispersion angle of 30 from the vertical,
and by considering stresses at the centre of the clay layer, calculate the consolidation
settlement of the clay.
For the clay:
For the granular:

Gs = 2.70 and e = 0.9

Gs = 2.65 and e = 0.5

bulk = w(Gs + Sre)/(1 + e)

where w = 9.81kN/m3

Ground level
18.0m
3.0m

3.0m

2.5m
Mediun-dense Sand

Clay

Dense Sand

Water Table

SOLUTION