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Long, M. & Menkiti, C. O. (2007). Geotechnique 57, No. 7, 595611 [doi: 10.1680/geot.2007.57.7.595]
Geotechnical characteristics of Dublin Boulder Clay On presente ici les caracteristiques geotechniques de
(DBC), based on detailed site investigation and site ex- largile a blocaux de Dublin (DBC), basees sur une
perience from some recent large projects in Dublin, are etude detaillee du site et lexperience du terrain acquise
presented. This paper attempts to synthesise available sur de larges projets recents realises a Dublin. Cet
information in parallel with recent work by Skipper et article tente de synthetiser les informations disponibles
al., who provide an updated understanding of the geology en parallele avec les travaux recents de Skipper et al.,
of the DBC. Having assessed the effects of sampling qui ont permis dapporter de nouvelles informations
disturbance, the paper characterises the various forma- contribuant a la comprehension de la geologie de la
tions and sub-units of the DBC. The interpreted material DBC. Il presente une caracterisation des diverses for-
behaviour is related to observed engineering perform- mations et sous-unites de la DBC, une fois determines
ance. It was found from the behaviour of earth retained les effets du remaniement cause par le prelevement.
structures that intact, clayey, DBC formations are two to Linterpretation du comportement du materiau est liee
three times stiffer than assessed from high-quality lab- aux performances techniques observees. Dapres le com-
oratory tests on block samples. DBC is shown to be portement des structures retenues par la terre, on a pu
significantly stiffer than other well-characterised tills. determiner que les formations intactes et argileuses de
Relatively inexpensive multichannel surface wave techni- DBC sont deux a trois fois plus rigides que celles
ques can give very reliable estimates of in situ small- etudiees par des essais en laboratoire de haute qualite
strain stiffness. High undrained triaxial compression sur des echantillons de blocs. On a pu montrer que la
strengths were measured, and it appears that simple UU DBC est significativement plus rigide que les autres tills
tests on high-quality specimens give good results. Signifi- aux caracteristiques connues. Des techniques de MASW
cant strength anisotropy was suggested by undrained (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave) relativement
triaxial extension strengths that were only 3050% of the peu couteuses permettent dobtenir des estimations fi-
triaxial compression strengths. Field horizontal per- ables de la rigidite a petites deformations in situ. Des
meability values of the intact clayey till units have a resistances elevees en compression triaxiale non drainee
representative mean of about 109 m/s, and when com- ont ete mesurees, et il apparat que de simples essais
pared with laboratory values suggest that the material non consolides-non draines (UU) realises sur des echan-
may exhibit some degree of anisotropy of permeability. tillons de haute qualite donnent de bons resultats.
Overall, the measured engineering parameters for the Lobservation de resistances en extension triaxiale non
DBC are favourable for many construction projects. drainee representant uniquement 30 a 50 % des resis-
Further work is required in order to understand the in tances en compression triaxiale suggerent une forte
situ horizontal stress profile and the stiffness anisotropy anisotropie. Les valeurs de permeabilite horizontales in
of the till. situ pour les unites argileuses intactes de till ont une
moyenne representative denviron 10-9 m/s, ce qui, par
comparaison aux valeurs en laboratoire, suggere que le
materiau peut presenter un certain degre danisotropie
de la permeabilite. Dans lensemble, les parametres
techniques mesures pour la DBC sont favorables pour
de nombreux projets de construction. Il est necessaire
de poursuivre les travaux de recherche pour mieux
KEYWORDS: glacial soils; in situ testing; laboratory tests; site comprendre le profil de contrainte horizontale in situ et
investigation; strength; stiffness lanisotropie de rigidite du till.
595
596 LONG AND MENKITI
from other important developments, as listed below and SPECIAL SAMPLING METHODS
shown in Fig. 1. Undisturbed block samples
Undisturbed pushed-in block samples were recovered from
the DPT project. The block samples were taken using
300 mm or 350 mm cubical, thin-walled steel samplers, with
Site 1: Dublin Port Tunnel a 208 or 458 outside angle cutting edge respectively, and
The central part of the DPT project comprises 12 m
9 mm thick sidewalls. These sampler dimensions give an
external diameter twin bored tubes, with lengths of cut-and- area ratio (AR) of 1012%, where AR (Ae Ac ) /Ac , and
cover tunnel at either end. The project involves the excava-
Ae and Ac are the external and internal areas of the cutting
tion of about 1.5 million m3 of soil and rock. Although shoe. Only the central portions of the block samples were
project-wide information is considered, the focus in this
tested.
paper is on experience gained at the northern cut-and-cover
section and shaft WA2, where excavations were carried out
in the superficial deposits to about 25 m depth: see Fig. 1.
Geobore S rotary coring
Further details of the project and a review of case histories
High-quality samples were recovered, at several of the
associated with it are given by Long et al. (2003), Menkiti
study sites, using this wire-line, triple tube rotary-coring
et al. (2004) and Milligan et al. (2006).
technique with polymer flush to optimise sample recovery.
The wire-line assembly allows the sample to be retrieved
immediately after coring, and minimises the time for which
Other sites the sample is in contact with the flushing medium. In
A summary of the other sites considered and the data general, 95% core recovery was achieved with experienced
obtained is given in Table 1, and the site locations are drilling crews. Samples for laboratory tests were cut from
shown in Fig. 1. Note that the sites span an area approxi- the recovered cores and sealed with wax and clingfilm
mately 10 km eastwest and 12 km northsouth, confirming immediately after core recovery. At the DPT site those
the geographical dominance of DBC in the area. obtained in 2000 and 2002/2003 were by Geobore-S boring,
and the 1996 sampling was by a mixture of conventional
double- and triple-tube core barrels.
GEOLOGICAL SETTING
Ireland Since a detailed description of the geology is given by
Dublin Skipper et al. (2005), only a brief summary is provided here.
The area of outcrop of the DBC is indicated in Fig. 1, based
on the Geological Survey of Ireland 1:50 000 scale soils
map of Dublin. Note that this sketch map is not intended to
be a definite geological map of Dublin, but merely aims to
show the location of the study sites and the prevalence of
DBC in the area. In this zone, generally a thin layer of
recent deposits of made ground or loess overlies DBCa
lodgement till deposited under ice sheets more than 1 km
N thick. The following distinct formations of the DBC have
Ballymum
DPT-N been identified by Skipper and co-workers, based on work
cut & cover for the DPT project. As well as at the DPT site all four
DPT-WA2 units have been identified at the Mater Hospital (Fig. 1).
Site Ri South of the River Liffey the third unit (LBrBC) appears to
Fill
ve
r To be absent. Further work is required to define distribution of
lka the various units throughout the city.
Bedrock
Mater
Sand and gravel Hospital
DBC River Liffey Upper Brown Boulder Clay (UBrBC)
This is the weathered uppermost formation of the DBC. It
St James
is a 23 m thick, stiff to very stiff, brown, slightly sandy
Dail
Hospital
Iveagh
clay, with rare silt/gravel lenses and some rootlets, particu-
Gardens St Stephens larly in the upper metre. Farrell et al. (1995a) have con-
Green
firmed that this material is the weathered zone of the
underlying Upper Black Boulder Clay (UBkBC), and that
oxidation has produced the brown colour. The UBrBC
represents a complex pedogenic horizon, which developed
UCD during a period of climate warming and glacial retreat after
Belfield
er the deposition of the UBkBC.
dd
Do
er
Tallaght town Riv
centre Upper Black Dublin Boulder Clay (UBkBC)
This is a very stiff, dark grey, slightly sandy clay, with
0 1 2 km some gravel and cobbles. It is typically 412 m thick. Rare,
sub-vertical, rough and very tightly closed fissures spaced at
0.50.75 m were observed at some locations. Considerable
mechanical effort was required to excavate the material,
Fig. 1. Site locations showing outcrop of DBC which tended to break into peds of similar dimensions. In
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF DUBLIN BOULDER CLAY 597
Table 1. Summary of sites considered other than Dublin Port Tunnel
Ballymun Northern Raft foundation for a large High-quality Geobore-S cores ur , K0 , stiffness from local
Gateway tower block strain gauge transducers.
su , various tests
Dail Eireann Retaining structures for a deep High-quality Geobore-S cores. Isotropic compression, Brangan (2007)
excavation adjacent to the Irish Data from performance of the oedometer, su
Parliament buildings retaining walls
Mater Hospital Large hospital structure High-quality Geobore-S cores. su
MASW geophysics
St James Hospital Platform structures and MASW and cross-hole
(LUAS) underground excavation for geophysics
light rail system
Iveagh Gardens Portal for Dublin Metro MASW geophysics
Tallaght Commercial development with MASW geophysics. Performance
deep excavation of retaining walls
5 Upper Black 5 5
Boulder Clay
Location of piezometer tip below ground: m
10 10 10
Lower Brown
Boulder Clay
Depth: m
Depth: m
15 15 15
Hydrostatic line
from depth 2 m
20 Lower Black 20 20
Boulder Clay
Limestone bedrock
25 25 Upper Brown 25
Upper Black
Standpipe from SI
Lower Brown
Trial excav. Lower Black
Main excav. - east Upper Brown - trial trench
Main excav. - west Upper Black - trial trench
30 30 30
Strata boundaries approximate
given for guidance only wP wL
nmc
and the values given in brackets in Table 2 for this material Also shown in Fig. 4 are some curves for various layers
are typical values reported by Lehane & Simpson (2000). It and lenses within the main strata at the DPT site, but which
can be seen that the DPT site data fall within the reported are typical of those encountered elsewhere. These include
general range. lenses of relatively gravelly material in the UBkBC. These
are often composed of distinct gravel/silt units, and may fine
up or down. Deltaic sequences of sands, silts and clays are
found in the LBrBC.
SOIL COMPOSITION In general, the quantities of the various constituents are
Particle size distribution relatively constant with depth. Based on the average values
Particle size distribution curves for the four formations at quoted in Table 2, it can be seen that there is some tendency
the DPT sites are shown in Fig. 4. Perhaps the most uniform for the quantity of clay and silt to increase with depth.
material is the UBkBC. Data for this site compare very well Except for the LBkBC, the sand content remains relatively
with the range of values for black DBC presented by Orr & constant with depth, and the gravel content reduces with
Farrell (1996) (see Fig. 4), and with the typical values given depth.
by Lehane & Simpson (2000) (see Table 2). The curves
represent well-graded material, and are typical of those of a
lodgement till (Hanrahan, 1977; Trenter, 1999). The single
available test for the UBrBC confirms that its composition is Mineralogy
more or less identical to that of the UBkBC. The composi- X-ray diffraction studies were carried out at the National
tion of both the LBrBC and LBkBC is more variable. For History Museum, London, on samples of each of the four
details of the sub-layers within the LBrBC, the reader is formations. Specimens tested had particle size less than
referred to Skipper et al. (2005). 2 m. On average, 76% of these specimens were composed
Note: The formation most commonly encountered in Dublin is the UBkBC. Values given in
brackets are from general experience in Dublin as reported by Lehane & Simpson (2000).
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF DUBLIN BOULDER CLAY 599
100 Tests from northern cut and cover
Lower Black 100
Upper Brown Tests from trial trench
Range from Orr & Farrell (1996)
Percentage passing: %
Range from Orr & Farrell (1996)
Percentage passing: %
80
80
60
60
40
40
Upper Brown Boulder Clay Upper Black
20
and 20 Boulder Clay
Lower Black Boulder Clay
0
0
00001 0001 001 01 1 10 100
00001 0001 001 01 1 10 100
Particle size: mm
Particle size: mm
Fine Med. Coa. Fine Med. Coa. Fine Med. Coa.
Clay Cobbles Fine Med. Coa. Fine Med. Coa. Fine Med. Coa.
Silt Sand Gravel Clay Cobbles
Silt Sand Gravel
80
Percentage passing: %
80
60
Lower Brown 60
Boulder Clay
40
Unit A 40
Unit B
20 Unit C
Various layers
Unit C (laminated)
20 and lenses
within main strata
0
0
00001 0001 001 01 1 10 100
Particle size: mm 00001 0001 001 01 1 10 100
Particle size: mm
SOIL PLASTICITY
Values of liquid limit and plastic limit for the DPT site IN SITU STRESS
are plotted against depth in Fig. 3 and on the A-line As many of the more recent developments in Dublin
plasticity chart in Fig. 5. Except for the presence of some involve two to three levels of basement car parking, engi-
clayey lenses in the LBrBC, the values are remarkably neers regularly face the problem of attempting to estimate
uniform, and data for all four materials fall in the classifica- the degree of overconsolidation and the coefficient of earth
tion clay of low plasticity on the plasticity chart. Natural pressure at rest (K0 ). It is not possible to estimate these
moisture content values fall very close to the plastic limit. parameters directly from the geological history of the Dublin
Detailed assessment of the data in Table 2 confirms that the sites. This is because the depositional environment of these
average values of index properties for all four materials are lodgement tills was complex, and there is a high degree of
very similar. In the field, the LBkBC clay appeared to be the uncertainty regarding the stress conditions and pore water
most plastic unit. This is in conflict with the limited pressures imposed by past glaciations. Certainly it was
600 LONG AND MENKITI
unlike that of marine or lakebed deposits, which were in order to maintain horizontal strain close to zero. Horizon-
sedimented, consolidated and possibly also unloaded under tal strain was measured by a local (Hall effect) gauge. Three
one-dimensional conditions. series of tests were carried out, with relatively low values
For tills it seems likely that the one of the most important being recorded in each case. In these tests it is not clear
mechanisms resulting in the heavily loaded state of the whether a measurement is being made of the stress condition
material is shearing during glacial advance rather than com- required to maintain zero lateral strain on a disturbed
pression under the weight of glacier ice. This has been sample, or of the in situ K0 value.
confirmed by Garneau et al. (2004), who carried out tests on Current practice in Dublin (e.g. Dougan et al., 1996;
a Dutch glacial till in a lateral stress oedometer and con- Long, 1997) is to use K0 values for DBC in the range 1.0
firmed that material to have anisotropic horizontal stresses. 1.5. In the absence of further data from in situ testing (e.g.
The higher stress corresponded to the direction of ice ad- hydraulic fracture) and laboratory testing (e.g. lateral stress
vance. oedometer), it is recommended that designers continue to
In the absence of data, so far engineers in Dublin have use these values and assess the sensitivity of the output to
based their estimate of K0 on published measurements by the assumptions.
others, as summarised in Table 3. Values of K0 in the range
1.01.5 have been assumed in design.
For the DPT and Ballymun projects a variety of techni- PERMEABILITY
ques were used to estimate K0 , as summarised in Table 4. In the absence of permeable zones, the in situ mass
For a variety of reasons all of the tests proved problematic. permeability (k) of the DBC is a key factor in controlling
High-pressure dilatometer tests values show considerable the behaviour in excavations. For the DPT site use was made
scatter, range between 0.2 and 2.5 with an average of about of the natural ability of the DBC to stand unsupported at
1.5, and show a tendency to a decrease with depth as would steep slopes (Long et al., 2003; Menkiti et al., 2004). It was
be expected. Powell & Butcher (2003) point out that esti- therefore very important to characterise the permeability of
mates of in situ stress from pressuremeter tests in tills are the intact cohesive clay till and the more permeable zones.
difficult, particularly because of the stony nature of the A variety of techniques were used to determine k, as
material. As cores had to be cut using a heavy-duty rotary summarised in Table 5.
saw, it is likely that any residual suction close to the ends It can be concluded from the measurements that typical
was removed during this cutting process, thus giving low permeability values for the intact cohesive till in the UBkBC
values. In the special triaxial tests the samples were loaded and UBrBC formations are in the range 109 to 1011 m/s.
axially at slow rates, and the horizontal stress was increased For design and finite element analyses at the DPT site, a
DPT High-pressure dilatometer (Cambridge Insitu device) 0.22.5 with average of 1.5 Mair & Wood (1987)
Marsland & Randolph (1977)
Hawkins et al. (1990)
DPT Filter paper Low Chandler & Gutierrez (1986)
DPT Special triaxial: no preconsolidation 0.20.3
Triaxial: isotropic consolidation to v90 0.50.64
Triaxial: anisotropic consolidation with K0 0.6 0.450.53
Ballymun Special triaxial: no preconsolidation 0.8
Ballymun Filter paper Low Chandler & Gutierrez (1986)
Variable head through conventional piezometer tips (kh ) Intact cohesive till: 109 BS 5930 (BSI, 1999)
Silty/granular zones: 105 to 106
Mixed cohesive and granular zones: 107 to 109
Variable head through vibrating-wire piezometer Range: 1012 to 108 Boylan & Carolan (2004)
tips with fine bore (kh ) Representative mean: 109
Laboratory triaxial permeability tests (kv ) Average value: 5 3 1011 (low scatter) BS 1377 (BSI, 1990)
Consolidation stage of triaxial tests (kv /kh ) 109 to 1010 BS 1377 (BSI, 1990)
Rowe cell (kv ) 109 to 1010 : little dependence on stress BS 1377 (BSI, 1990)
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF DUBLIN BOULDER CLAY 601
moderately conservative value for the mass permeability of SAMPLE QUALITY
cohesive till of 109 m/s was used (Menkiti et al., 2004). A Three methods have been used to assess sample quality:
higher value of 108 m/s was adopted for the UBrBC. The see Fig. 6(a) and Table 6. Initial effective stress (or suction)
mass permeability for hydraulically continuous silty/granular in the samples, ur , is compared with Ladd & Lambes
zones can be taken as 106 m/s. A similar range of 1011 to (1963) perfect sampling stress ( p9s ). (K0 assumed 1.5
108 m/s for the UBkBC was suggested by Lehane & for DPT. If K0 1, p9s v90 , where v90 is the in situ
Simpson (2000). vertical effective stress.) Suction was measured in a triaxial
cell by applying an initial cell pressure to the samples under
undrained conditions, and recording the equilibrium pore
Anisotropy of permeability pressure. Also plotted are (a) the normalised volume change
Permeability values as summarised above are thought to (V/V0 ), and (b) the normalised void ratio change (e/e0 )
be appropriate values for horizontal flow in the till. Com- both measured during consolidation to the best estimate of
parison of in situ and laboratory data (Table 5) suggests in situ stress following the work of Lunne et al. (1997) and
some degree of anisotropy, with perhaps vertical permeabil- others. For the DPT site, it appears that the residual effective
ity likely to be an order of magnitude lower. This is stresses (ur ) are low, and come close to the v90 or p9s
consistent with the fabric and geology of the DBC units values only near the top of the sequence. However, these
(Skipper et al., 2005). low values could be due to the testing technique used, as
4 4 4
ps
8 8 8
Depth: m
Depth: m
Depth: m
12 12 12
v0
16 16 16
20 20 20
Poor
24 24 24
Very good Acceptable Very good to
1996 rotary cores Good to fair
2000 rotary cores excellent
2002/2003 rotary cores
2002 blocks Sample quality criteria for Sample quality criteria for
clays with OCR 152 after clays with OCR 24 after
Kleven et al. (1986) Lunne et al. (1997)
(a)
2 NMTL - UU
UCD - UU
NMTL - CAUC
4
Depth: m
6
Perfect sampling stress
Ladd & Lambe (1963)
8 assuming K0 10
10
12
14
(b)
filter paper was attached to the samples to accelerate con- Effective axial stress: kPa
solidation. 1 10 100 1000 10 000
For the DPT block samples V/V0 and e/e0 values are
040
Void ratio, e
032
ity of the 2000 cores is generally poorer that that of the
other two sets. This increase in quality of the GeoBore-S
cores with time possibly reflects improved experience in 028
operating this technique in DBC, reorientation of the core
head face discharge to minimise disturbance, and also a
switch from air mist to polymer gel as a flushing medium. 024
Initial sample suctions for Ballymun (Fig. 6(b)) are rela-
tively high, and close to p9s . Suction values also increase
with depth, and the trend is for little deviation from the 020
Oedometer test
perfect sampling line, indicating that sample quality is Isotropic compression test
consistently high. Measured values are generally higher than
for the DPT site. This is likely to be due to the absence of
filter drains on the specimens in this case. Average V/V0
and e/e0 values are also low (Table 6). 250 Janbu (1985) model for sand or silt
M m(a) 05 with m 250
From the point of view of the practising engineer, these
results confirm that triple-tube coring techniques and block
sampling both provide high-quality samples, from which the 200
results of the strength and stiffness tests are more represen-
tative of the in situ conditions.
Modulus, M: MPa
150
Coefficient of consolidation
Compressibility and expansibility Owing to the small specimen size generally used in the
With due regard to the comments made above on the tests (76100 mm diameter and 19 mm height), a wide
applicability of conventional one-dimensional consolidation variety of results has been reported for the coefficient of
theory to DBC, the curves presented in Fig. 7 suggest that consolidation (cv ). Hanrahan (1977), Lehane & Simpson
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF DUBLIN BOULDER CLAY 603
(2000) and Brangan (2007) suggest that values may fall in cores. It may also be due, in part, to specimen preparation
the range 40 20 m2 /year. Similar large uncertainty in the difficulties associated with inserting the benders into the
assessment of field cv of glacial tills has been reported by very stiff and stony samples. It was first necessary to
others (e.g. Trenter, 1999). Consequently, it is recommended excavate a small hole in the specimen and then seal the
that calculations be performed using M and k as an alter- bender element in this hole using a mixture of epoxy resin
native to cv . and reworked till.
In general there is very good agreement between the
results from the three in situ geophysical techniques. Clearly,
SMALL-STRAIN STIFFNESS the resolution of the seismic refraction data is poorer than
In order to provide input for finite element analyses of the that from either the MASW or cross-hole tests.
retaining walls and deep shafts at the DPT site, significant Further evidence of the reliability and accuracy of the
efforts were made to determine the small-strain shear stiff- MASW technique is provided by Donohue et al. (2003) for
ness of the various units, and its variation with strain. work at the St James Hospital site, as shown in Fig. 9(a).
Techniques used at the DPT site included Agreement between the two in situ techniques is excellent.
The practical implication of this work is that the relatively
(a) cross-hole seismic inexpensive MASW technique can be reliably used for deter-
(b) seismic refraction mining in situ shear wave velocity (and hence Gmax ) in DBC.
(c) multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) Shear wave velocity (Vs ) measurements for various DBC
(d ) shear wave velocity measurements using bender ele- sites obtained using the MASW technique are shown in Fig.
ments on triaxial specimens 9(b) (Donohue et al., 2003; Donohue, 2005). It can be seen
(e) measurements from Hall-effect gauges mounted on that, except perhaps for the St James hospital site, the values
triaxial samples are very similar, suggesting the material is relatively uniform
( f ) values measured using unloadreload loops in the high- across the city.
pressure dilatometer tests.
In addition, at the St James Hospital site both cross-hole
seismic and MASW surveys were carried out. At Ballymun, STRESSSTRAIN BEHAVIOUR
Dail Eireann, and Mater Hospital triaxial tests were con- Triaxial deviator stressstrain and stress paths
ducted using sample-mounted transducers. Following measurement of ur as described previously,
In situ measurements of small-strain shear modulus (Gmax ) specimens were saturated then consolidated in two stages,
at the DPT site are plotted against depth in Fig. 8, together first isotropically to 0:5 v90 , and subsequently anisotropically
with the stratigraphy at the test location. It can be observed to ( v90 , h90 ), where h90 is the in situ horizontal effective
that Gmax increases rapidly with depth from about 250 MPa stress, based on the assumed K0 value. This final stress state
in the UBrBC to about 1000 MPa at a depth of 8 m (in the was maintained until the samples stabilised (i.e. rate of
UBkBC) and more slowly below this level. However, it volume change , 0.001%/min). Thereafter, the samples were
increases sharply to about 2000 MPa in a dense sand layer sheared in undrained compression (CAUC) or extension
at Shaft WA2, which is reflected in the cross-hole seismic (CAUE) at a strain rate of 4.5% per day. Some drained tests
data. Slightly higher values of 10001500 MPa are measured were also undertaken.
in the LBkBC, reflecting the high boulder content observed Plots showing some typical stressstrain behaviour and
in this unit during excavation of Shaft WA2. stress paths [in ( a9 r9)=2, ( a9 r9)=2 space] for the
A summary of the results of laboratory bender element UBrBC, UBkBC and LBrBC are shown in Fig. 10, and the
tests is also superimposed in Fig. 8, and the data seem to lie following conclusions can be drawn.
towards the lower bound of the in situ data. This is likely to
be due to sample disturbance effects in the 1996 rotary (a) In general, the behaviour of all three materials is
4 4
8 8
Depth: m
16 16
20 20
44
150 75
Deviator stress: kPa
(a r )/2: kPa
100 50
TE-0-1-B-C, 07 m, block, K0 15
50 TE-0-1-E-F, 12 m, block, K0 15 25
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Axial strain: % (a r )/2: kPa
50 25 36
1200 600 36
K0 assumed 15 44
(a r )/2: kPa
DPT 3, 75 m, core
DPT 4, 77 m, core
DPT14, 38 m, core
400 200
DPT15, 36 m, core
TE67-C-D, 25 m, block
TE67-C-D, 50 m, block
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 200 400 600 800 1000
(a r )/2: kPa
Axial strain: %
400 200 36
Upper Black Boulder Clay
1200 600 36
44
DPT 6, 92 m
800 400
Deviator stress: kPa
DPT17, 10 m
DPT 19, 88 m
400 K0 assumed 15, 200
except DPT6 where K0 20
All samples are cores
0 0
0 4 8 12 16 0 200 400 600 800 1000
Axial strain: % (a r )/2: kPa
400 200 36
400
is about six to eight times stiffer than London clay, and
UBrBC, T-E-0-1-B-C about five times stiffer than Cowden till.
300 UBkBC, DPT4
LBrBC, DPT6
Stiffness from FE back-analysis
Pore pressure: kPa
SPT N: blows/300 mm su (compression): kPa su/p0 (comp.) su (extension): kPa su/p0 (ext.)
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 200 400 600 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 200 400 600 0 1 2 3 4 5
0 0 0 0 0
Upper Brown
4 Upper 4 4 4 4
Black
8 8 8 8 8
Depth: m
Lower
12 Brown 12 12 12 12
16 16 16 16 16
Design line
Fig. 13. Undrained shear strength from SPT and CAUC, CIUC and CAUE triaxial tests
2003) have confirmed this to be the case. A revised stiffness with current Irish practice. Values normalised by the initial
model required to fit the measured movements is shown in mean effective stress, p90 , are also given, and average values
Fig. 12. are presented in Table 7. Other researchers have taken su at
a limiting strain (e.g. 2%), at the point where the stress path
comes close to the MohrCoulomb failure line, or when
UNDRAINED SHEAR STRENGTH pore pressure becomes negative. In this case the first two
CAUC/CIUC/CAUE triaxial testing techniques would give significantly lower su values, whereas
The undrained shear strengths (su ) measured in the the third approach would result in values similar to those
CAUC, CIUC or CAUE tests are presented in Fig. 13 and obtained from the simple peak. For engineering works con-
Table 7, where these tests are defined. Although the choice trol of deformation may be the dominant design factor, and
of su for a dilatant/strain-hardening material is not straight- design stress must be consistent with tolerable strain.
forward, peak values have been used here to be consistent Despite some scatter in the data, there is a trend for
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF DUBLIN BOULDER CLAY 607
Table 7. Average laboratory su values: DPT site
* CIUC, consolidated isotropically undrained compression test; CAUC, consolidated anisotropically undrained compression test; CAUE,
consolidated anisotropically undrained extension test.
increasing strength with depth in the UBrBC and UBkBC the normalised data. Strength anisotropy ratio su-CAUE /
from a value of about 80 kPa in the UBrBC to about su-CAUC is about 0.25. Other researchers (e.g. Karlsrud et al.,
500 kPa at the boundary of the UBkBC and LBrBC clays at 2005) suggest that this ratio should be of the order of 0.4
about 10 m depth. A similar trend can be seen in the 0.5 for material with an Ip of 1015%. It was observed that
normalised data, and the values of su = p90 are indicative of most of the samples failed by forming shallow dipping
material previously subjected to high load. The trend in failure planes (necks), which often engaged pre-existing
su = p90 , particularly that for the CIUC tests, is similar to the discontinuities. It seems likely that the low values are due to
relationship suggested by Lehane & Simpson (2000): see the granular nature of the material. In contrast, compression
Fig. 13. Lehane & Simpsons data were from CIUC tests on failure was consistently of the classical barrel type.
100 mm diameter rotary-cored samples, similar to the 1996 Further study is warranted to investigate the implied
cores under study in this paper. Lehane & Faulkner (1998) anisotropy of undrained shear strength, and the practical
report su = p90 values of about 0.45 for normally consolidated implications for engineering works.
reconstituted DBC. This value represents the lower bound
for the data presented in Fig. 13.
It is not thought that these high values are strongly influ- UU triaxial testing
enced by the stone content. This was not so high as to mean Unconsolidated undrained (UU) triaxial tests are fre-
the pieces were touching. They were generally surrounded quently used in practice, given the time and cost constraints
by a matrix of clayey material. These high strength values of carrying out more sophisticated tests. These tests are used
are consistent with field observations. Significant mechanical as classification tests as well as tests to produce design
effort is required to excavate the material, and the perceived parameters, so a good number of tests are usually carried
strength and stiffness increase with depth. out. Results from a series of UU tests on the DPT 2002/
Extension strength (CAUE) data are also shown in Fig. 13 2003 rotary-cored specimens from a single borehole are
and Table 7 (K0 was assumed equal to 1.5). These tests give presented in Fig. 14(a) and summarised in Table 8. For all
surprisingly low values, which increase approximately line- the units, su values from UU and CIUC tests are very
arly from about 20 kPa near the surface to 130 kPa at 12 m similar. Average CIUC su values for the UBkBC and LBrBC
depth. This linear increase with depth is not as apparent for are 287 kPa and 298 kPa respectively, compared with
Upper Brown
Brown Boulder Clay
2
4
Upper Black
4 Black
Boulder
Clay
Depth: m
8 6
Depth: m
12
10
Lower Brown
12
16
su 6 N line
Silt 14 UU - NMTL
UU - UCD
20 CAUC - NMTL
su 6 SPT N CAUC - UCD
Fig. 14. Undrained shear strength from UU tests: (a) DPT, (b) Ballymun
608 LONG AND MENKITI
Table 8. Average SPT N and laboratory su values: DPT site
Avg. SPT N: Avg. CAUC su : CAUC su /Navg Avg. CIUC su : CIUC su /Navg Avg. UU su : UU su /Navg
blows/300 mm kPa kPa kPa
217 kPa and 383 kPa from the UU tests. A similar finding interpretation techniques (see review by Mair & Wood,
was made at the Ballymun site (Fig. 14(b) and Table 9). 1987) often give much higher values of su . This is likely to
Sample quality assessment for these tests was presented in be due to fact that most of these techniques were developed
Fig. 6(b). Data from two laboratories, UCD and a commer- for either stone-free contractant sedimentary clays or weak
cial laboratory, are reported. This result has practical impli- rocks, rather than the highly dilatant material under consid-
cations in that, once high-quality rotary core samples are eration here. It is also possible that in the DBC the tests
available, it may be adequate to carry out cheaper UU rather were at least partially drained, hence resulting in the higher
than more expensive and time-consuming CIUC tests. strength values.
Cowden, England 90150 High-quality pushed samples Powell & Butcher (2003)
Cheshire, England As above UU tests on U100 samples Dobie (1989)
Cheshire, England As above As above Al-Shaikh-Ali et al. (1981)
Chapelcross, Scotland Lower than DBC UU tests on U100 samples Chegini & Trenter (1996)
Glasgow, Scotland 100200 UU and UC tests on U100 samples. Large dia. plate tests McKinlay et al. (1974)
North East England 50410 UU, CIUC tests Robertson et al. (1994)
Iowa, USA 100150 CIUC tests on Shelby tube samples Lutenegger (1990)
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF DUBLIN BOULDER CLAY 609
mass failure of the material, similar to that reported by This paper gives geotechnical characteristics of the various
Vaughan & Walbancke (1975) for Cow Green till. formations constituting the DBC, and some of the main
(d ) In triaxial extension 9 appears to be about 368, that is, findings, which may be of interest to practising engineers,
similar to the critical state or large-strain compression are as follows.
value. This again may be due to failure along some
microstructural feature in the material. (a) There are clear differences in the engineering para-
(e) Effective cohesion (c9) is close to zero. This is meters between the four units of DBC as defined by
consistent with the small and often rotund clay-sized Skipper et al. (2005).
fraction, the mode of formation, involving a high (b) The two uppermost units are the most important from
degree of shearing and lack of evidence of cementation the point of view of engineering projects, and these
bonding between the particles in fabric studies. seem to be relatively homogeneous with depth and with
location throughout the city.
Peak friction angles (assuming c9 0) have been plotted (c) Localised granular lenses can be encountered. These
against the mean consolidation stress ( p90 ) in Fig. 15. There can have very significant practical implications, for
is a clear tendency for decreasing friction angle with in- example for pile construction and temporary slope
creasing effective stress, particularly for the extension tests. stability.
Thus the material has a curved rather than linear failure (d ) High-quality samples of DBC can be obtained using
surface, similar to the conclusions of Atkinson & Little triple-tube rotary techniques with polymer flush or
(1988) for St Albans till and Robertson et al. (1994) for block sampling where access permits.
Northumberland till. (e) For such high-quality samples, triaxial CIUC or CAUC
tests on these high-quality cores give similar su values
to simple UU tests.
Reconstituted till ( f ) DBC possesses a high degree of anisotropy of
Lehane & Faulkner (1998) report results of triaxial tests undrained shear strength.
on reconstituted DBC. All drained and undrained stress (g) DBC is considerably stiffer and stronger than other tills
paths terminate on straight lines passing through the origin, documented in the literature.
when p9 at failure exceeds 200 kPa. These lines correspond (h) Inexpensive MASW surface wave studies can give
to 9 34 18 in both compression and extension. This reliable in situ values of shear wave velocity (and thus
value is identical to 9cv , and confirms that the behaviour of small-strain stiffness). These data, combined with those
intact DBC in shear compares well with the behaviour of from triaxial tests, which include sample-mounted
reconstituted material. Gens & Hight (1979) and others have transducers, can give the full stiffnessstrain response
found a similar result. of the material for design purposes.
(i) DBC appears to have a curved effective stress failure
envelope with negligible effective cohesion.
( j) Comparison of field (horizontal) permeability values
Large-strain (residual) strength and laboratory (vertical) values suggests some degree of
Loughman (1979) studied the residual shear strength of permeability anisotropy, with the horizontal permeabil-
DBC and found that, in general, the 9res was high (.308) ity being greater than the vertical permeability.
owing to the high silt content of the material. This confirms (k) The material may exhibit some degree of anisotropy of
that, as would be expected from the mode of formation of undrained shear strength.
the material, it has low sensitivity.
Owing to the complicated depositional process involved in
situ, horizontal stress in DBC is poorly understood. Similarly
CONCLUSIONS anisotropy of stiffness has not been fully explored. Both of
There are significant economic benefits in understanding these parameters have important implications for future work
the characteristics of DBC, as it underlies much of the city. in Dublin, which will involve deep excavations (e.g. the
50 50
Blocks
2002/2003 cores
45 45 1996 cores
2000 cores
Friction angle, : degrees
40 40
35 35
25 25
20 20
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Mean effective stress, p0: kPa Mean effective stress, p0: kPa
Compression Extension