The consolidation matrix and the consolidation circle

In geotechnical engineering, the consolidation and settlement of structures are among the major problems an engineer must deal with. An appropriate estimation of a soil’s settlement is of significant importance, since it directly influences the performance of buildings and infrastructures that are built on soil.The compressibility characteristics of soils form one of the most important parameters required in the design of foundations. The compressibility behaviour of soils islargely dependent on the compression index, the properties and the parameters of the soil. A number of empirical correlations have been developed in the literature that aresupposedto connect the compression index to other soil parameters. The main objectives of this research were to study the relationships between the compression index (Cc) and the swelling index (Cs), and to investigate the effects of the natural void ratio (e0) and the over-consolidation ratio (OCR) on Cc and Cs, in order to combine them with the pre-compression stress (Pc), the consolidation duration (Tc) and the settlement (Su).Consequently, aconsolidation matrix and a consolidation circle are proposed, which gives us a new method and model to facilitate the calculations of the parameters involved in the soil consolidation, so as to summarize the consolidation phenomenon.